There are more than 30 million people estimated to be living with mild to moderate hearing loss in the US—and for many, that condition is just a fact of life. They don't seek treatment, and the accumulated efforts to interact with the outside world can build up to more serious health problems, like social isolation and even dementia.
On a more personal level, there are small moments in everyday life that can easily be missed when you can't hear clearly. That type of moment is the center of Apple's latest holiday ad, which casts a real person who's had this type of experience. John Pelletreau is a normal dad from Chicago who has experienced hearing loss. But he's been able to connect better with his loved ones thanks to the tech giant's new hearing health features for the AirPods Pro 2 earphones, which include a clinical-grade hearing aid, the first over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aid software device authorized by the FDA.
It's the little things that get you. Small seemingly insignificant moments that result in a tsunami of consequences. Like habitual breathing through one's mouth as a toddler or underestimating a business-mogul-turned-reality-star-turned-US-President-turned-convict-turned-US President-Again. So, yes. Small things. Like your hearing. That concert you attended; maybe you have ringing in your ears the next day but things return to normal. You shrug it off and, due to the hubris of youth, you attend that concert. And then another. Before you know it, your hearing is shit.
Dr Sumbul Desai, vice president of Health at Apple, wants to change people's perception of hearing health. "We actually don't think about anything related to our health until you lose it often. And I think that's one of the things that we're really trying to change is how do we drive people to be more proactive and preventative around their health to lead longer and healthier lives."
The upcoming tvOS 18.2 update adds a rotation of Snoopy screen savers to 2021 and newer Apple TV models, but it seems that an additional "TV and Movies" category of screen savers has been canceled, or at least postponed. These screen savers were expected to be based on various Apple TV+ series and movies.
When “Severance” returns for Season 2 on Jan. 17, its mysteries and cliffhangers will surely leave fans with plenty of burning questions. Enter “The Severance Podcast With Ben Stiller and Adam Scott,” a companion podcast to the sci-fi series that will provide analysis and weekly insights from the show’s star and director.
Apple today increased trade-in values for iPad models in the United States, including the iPad Pro, iPad Air, iPad, and iPad mini.
The team behind the note-taking app Craft released a new version this week, after months of beta testing and more than a year in development. It includes lots of changes, but three big ones: new ways to style your documents; a new section called Collections that lets you compile and organize related stuff; and a bunch of new task-management tools.
Shoppers have been lured by the convenience of apps that have made it much easier in recent years to make purchases from retailers' websites using mobile devices.
"What we've always seen is this gap between shoppers looking and browsing from their phones, but then they go back to their computers and buy," said Caila Schwartz, director of consumer insights at Salesforce. That gap is shrinking as retailers streamline payment methods including Google Pay and Apple Pay, store billing and shipping information for loyalty members and tailor merchandise suggestions to users.
There were quite a few missteps from the Apple advertisement department this year. Has the bad run ended today? Has Apple realized what it has been doing wrong? I sure hope it has.
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