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The Rear-Casing Edition Wednesday, January 24, 2024

The Apple Macintosh Was First Released 40 Years Ago: These People Are Still Using The Ageing Computers, by Chris Baraniuk, BBC

The original Macintosh can still sell for as much as a modern computer. And for collectors they are a piece of computing history, with the signatures of the team who built it moulded into the plastic of the rear casing.

Some Mac 128K owners, however, use the devices to play quirky games like Frogger or Lode Runner on their treasured machines. All in black and white. The first Macintosh with a colour screen, the Macintosh II, only arrived in 1987.

After 40 Years, The Mac Is Immortal, by Dan Moren, Macworld

Despite all the fears over the years: that Apple didn’t care about the platform, that it would be subsumed into iOS, that its best days were behind it, the Mac–as Phil Schiller notably said to this very publication on the occasion of the computer’s 30th anniversary—”keeps going forever.” With 40 years behind the computer, that half-century mark may seem a tantalizing prospect–but in the end, it’s just a waystation on the road to immortality.

Apple Launching 2024 Swift Student Challenge On February 5, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

The Swift Student Challenge tasks students with creating an innovative coding project using the Swift Playgrounds app. Apple plans to select 350 winners for this year's challenge, and there will be a category that recognizes a total of 50 Distinguished Winners for standout submissions.

Distinguished Winners will be invited to Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, California, where they will be able to connect with their peers and the Apple team, while all winners will be granted a free one-year membership in the Apple Developer program.

Eight Secure Ways To Share Sensitive Information Over The Internet, by Adam Engst, TidBITS

What should you do when faced with the need to share sensitive information over the Internet? The answer depends on the nature of the information you’re sharing, the systems available to you, and the technical capabilities of the recipient.

Apple At Hollywood

Apple TV+ Scores 13 Oscar Nominations For 'Killers Of The Flower Moon' And 'Napoleon', by Benjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac

Martin Scorsese epic Killers of the Flower Moon led Apple’s haul, including the prestigious Best Picture nod and Lily Gladstone for Best Actress. Ridley Scott’s Napoleon scored nominations for costume design, production design and visual effects.

Apple TV+ Lays Off Eight Staffers In Kids Area, by Nellie Andreeva, Deadline

Apple TV+‘s Kids operations underwent layoffs today. The cuts impacted eight people across music, production, development, a fraction of the overall staff involved in kids content, Deadline has learned.

The layoffs come amid a shift at Apple TV+, which sunsetted its deal with Skydance Animation and is ramping up its own animated film pipeline, starting with the recently announced first original Peanuts feature film under the streamer’s long-term deal with WildBrain.

Stuff

Apple Releases Updated Firmware For First-Generation AirPods Pro, by Eric Slivka, MacRumors

Apple today introduced a new firmware update for the first-generation AirPods Pro. The new firmware is the same 6A321 version that was released for the third-generation AirPods last week and is up from the 6A300 firmware introduced last September.

Day One Adds 'Shared Journals' Feature For Collaboration With Friends And Family, by Chance Miller, 9to5Mac

Day One describes this as “a new way for you to safely share life’s moments with friends and family, while upholding the privacy and security you trust.”

Now Playing: Customizable Mac Music Status Via Sleeve 2, by Jason Snell, Six Colors

What made me instantly buy Sleeve was its extensive capability to customize the currently playing track information. You can choose to show album art at a wide range of sizes (or omit it entirely), with your choice of corner rounding. You can choose display track name, album name, and artist name, and display them in a variety of fonts and weights.

Notes

Another Business Falls Prey To An Apple Maps Wipeout. This Time The Entire Street's Missing, by Daniel Miles, ABC News

So having a major retailer telling her customers that the business was temporarily closed was more than a slight annoyance for Ms Ridout.

"It's just bloody ridiculous. I feel helpless like I've been taken hostage," she said.

"I'm angry at the fact that some massive corporation has the right to essentially wipe me off the map like I don't matter.

Apple Fights To Block Masimo’s New Watch On Heels Of Import Ban, by Christopher Yasiejko, Bloomberg Law

While Apple Inc. pulled every available lever to fight an import ban of its flagship Apple Watch models, the company also has been working to stymie Masimo Corp.’s looming launch of its Freedom watch.

Masimo, a maker of medical technologies, calls the Freedom “a more elegant smartwatch” that includes the patented blood-oxygen measurement technology at the heart of the long-running patent and trade secrets fight between the companies.

Bottom of the Page

Yet another little thing that annoys me: I get a nice and useful volume control directly on my iPhone's lock screen when I uses AirPlay. Why can't I get that same nice and useful volume control when listening on my iPhone's speakers or AirPods?

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Thanks for reading.