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The Swift-Built Edition Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Coding In The Kitchen: How Devin Davies Whipped Up The Tasty Recipe App Crouton, by Apple

Let’s get this out of the way: Yes, Devin Davies is an excellent cook. “I’m not, like, a professional or anything,” he says, in the way that people say they’re not good at something when they are.

But in addition to knowing his way around the kitchen, Davies is also a seasoned developer whose app Crouton, a Swift-built cooking aid, won him the 2024 Apple Design Award for Interaction.

Coming Soon

Find My Gains Option To Share Lost Item Location With An 'Airline Or Trusted Person' In iOS 18.2, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

Apple in iOS 18.2 beta 2 added a new feature to the Find My app, which is designed to allow you to share a lost item's location with a trusted person. Apple says that the feature is meant to help you locate an item through a third-party, like an airline employee.

tvOS 18.2 Beta Adds Support For 21:9 Projector Aspect Ratio, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

Apple today provided developers with the first beta of tvOS 18.2, and the update adds support for the 21:9 aspect ratio that projectors use.

visionOS 2.2 Adds New Wide And Ultrawide Settings For Mac Virtual Display, by Chance Miller, 9to5Mac

Apple says that the Ultrawide setting is the equivalent of using two 4K monitors side by side. Like most visionOS windows, you can stretch the Mac Virtual Display to be as wide or narrow as you like.

Apple Suggests iOS 18.4 Will Allow iPhone Users In EU To Set Default Maps And Translation Apps, by Joe Rossignol, MacRumors

In a recent document outlining the steps it has taken to comply with the EU's Digital Markets Act, Apple revealed that it will allow iPhone and iPad users in the EU to set default navigation and translation apps starting in "spring 2025." That timeframe suggests these options will be added in iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4, which should be released in April.

Apple In Indonesia

Apple To Offer Extra Indonesia Investment To Remove iPhone Ban, by Faris Mokhtar, Bloomberg

Apple Inc. has proposed investing almost $10 million to make additional goods in Indonesia, according to people familiar with the matter, as it seeks to have the country’s ban on sales of its latest iPhone removed.

The plan would involve Apple investing in a factory in Bandung, southeast of Jakarta, in partnership with its list of suppliers, the people said, asking not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak publicly. The facility would make products such as accessories and components for Apple gadgets, the people said.

Indonesian Lawmaker Calls Apple’s Tax Holiday Demand “Absurd,” Supports iPhone 16 Ban, by Herman, Jakarta Globe

House of Representatives member Mufti Anam criticized Apple for allegedly requesting a 50-year tax holiday and expressed his support for the continued ban on iPhone 16 sales in Indonesia.

“We are disclosing the government’s reason behind this ban, Apple is asking for a 50-year tax holiday. This is absurd. They deserve to be blocked from our country,” Mufti said during a meeting with State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir and Commission VI of the House of Representatives on Monday.

Stuff

Apple Removed iMac Option To Buy Color-matched Trackpad And Mouse Together, by Ryan Christoffel, 9to5Mac

Apple does sell each accessory as standalone purchases, but importantly, not in the color-matched variants that the iMacs include.

IDrive Review: An Excellent App Handling Local And Internet Backups, by Chris Barylick and Lloyd Coombes, Macworld

An excellent suite of tools for local and internet backups, with a ton of online backup space for a good price.

Develop

Apple Preparing For Upcoming Siri Onscreen Awareness Feature With New iOS 18.2 API For Developers, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

With the latest wave of betas, Apple has a new API that lets developers make onscreen content in their apps available to ‌Siri‌ and ‌Apple Intelligence‌.

Notes

Apple Explores Push Into Smart Glasses With ‘Atlas’ User Study, by Mark Gurman, Bloomberg

Apple is exploring a push into smart glasses with an internal study of products currently on the market, setting the stage for the company to follow Meta Platforms into an increasingly popular category.

The initiative, code-named Atlas, got underway last week and involves gathering feedback from Apple employees on smart glasses, according to sources with knowledge of the matter. Additional focus groups are planned for the near future, said the sources, who asked not to be identified because the work is secret. The studies are being led by Apple’s Product Systems Quality team, part of the hardware engineering division.

This Is Why You Like To Speed Up Podcasts, Movies And Music, by Jackson Weaver, CBC

Nicholas Quah is far from the only person to speed up his podcasts.

But, as a critic with New York Magazine and Vulture, he is one of the few to make a public plea to the world to not only speed up podcasts but also virtually every kind of media.

To some it's a crazy trend. (According to American sportswriter Bill Simmons, it's sociopathic.) But for those who agree with Quah, it's the new way of life.

Bottom of the Page

I don't listen to podcasts at any speeds other than 1x. Yes, life is short, and podcasts are plentiful. But I'll rather listen to fewer podcasts.

(This is also why I value podcast players that have some smartness in managing podcast episodes.)

However, I do understand why, for certain podcasts and for certain listeners, listening at a higher speed may make some sense.

Now, for watching movies at higher speeds, intentionally -- this is the first time I am hearing of this, and I am completely baffled. I sure hope filmmakers, who already have to contemplate on people watching their precious films on a small hand-held screen in multiple sittings (that's me!), don't give up completely.

~

Thanks for reading.