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Archive for February 2025

The Transcended-Both-Groups Edition Sunday, February 2, 2025

Three Apple Watch Features You're Probably Not Using, But Should Be – According To Apple's VP Of Fitness Tech, by Britta O'Boyle, TechRadar

"The two apps that have really driven that are the Activity app and the Workout app. The Activity app was designed to help everybody sit less, move more, and get some exercise, whether they actually worked out or not. And the Workout app was designed to bring measurement as motivation during those session-based activities. They have remained among the most popular apps on Apple Watch, no surprise there", Blahnik said.

But he also added: "While we may have thought that Activity Rings were for people that maybe don't want to work out and are less sporty and the Workout app would be for people that are more sporty, what we've really seen is both of those apps have transcended both groups."

Stuff

Want To Find ‘The You You Are’? Audiences Can Now Download The ‘Severance’ Self-Help Book, by Natalie Oganesyan, Deadline

In yet another feat of ingenious marketing, Apple has now released an eight-chapter edition of “The You You Are,” the middling self-help book that regardless proves radical for the innies at Severance, inspiring them to lead a revolt against titan of industry Kier Eagan’s Lumon in Season 1.

'Wheels' Provides A Nice Interface To Help Skaters Track Their Journey, by Michael Burkhardt, 9to5Mac

With Wheels, you can start tracking a ride with just one tap, making it incredibly simple. Once you’re in a ride, Wheels will passively track your speed and distance, giving you an overview of your travels without needing to look at your phone mid-ride. The app has a sweet dashboard for monitoring your stats, and contains graphs to compare to previous rides.

Notes

India Axes Import Tax On Some Smartphone Parts In Boost To Apple, Xiaomi, by Shivangi Acharya, Reuters

India has removed import duties on some components key to producing mobile phones, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced in the annual budget on Saturday, in a boost for local production efforts and benefiting firms such as Apple and Xiaomi.

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The following are what I've consumed in the month of January. And, thank you to my lucky stars?, I can recommend all of them for your reading pleasure if the subject matters interest you.

The Ministry of Time by Kallane Bradley. (I always like a good time-traveling story, and this novel has the bonus of good setup and world-building too.)

The Wedding People by Alison Espach. (Characters that makes you care; what more can one ask for?)

Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky. (Okay, the last few chapters are, it seems to me, mostly self-congratulatory, and you may skip them without missing anything.)

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Thanks for reading.

The Shaping-Fitness Edition Saturday, February 1, 2025

A Decade Of Apple Fitness With Jay Blahnik: “We’re Excited About AI’s Role In Health And Fitness”, by Matt Kollat, T3

With AI-driven technology playing an increasing role in health and fitness, Blahnik sees even greater potential for Apple Watch and Fitness+ in the years to come. “We’re excited about AI and Apple Intelligence’s role in shaping fitness. Small, intelligent nudges – like realistic activity goals or personalised workout recommendations – can have a massive impact on motivation.”

Already, Apple’s AI is influencing features like adaptive goal setting, suggested workouts based on historical data, and even reminders to diversify training routines. The ability to fine-tune personal recommendations will continue to enhance the user experience, ensuring workouts feel both intuitive and rewarding.

Notes

Apple To Compensate Early Apple Watch Owners In Lawsuit Settlement, by Hartley Charlton, MacRumors

Apple has reached a $20 million settlement to resolve a class-action lawsuit alleging that certain early Apple Watch models suffered from a battery defect that caused screens to detach or crack.

Apple Reportedly Gives Up On Its AR Video Glasses Project, by Victoria Song, The Verge

While Mark Zuckerberg and Meta press forward with augmented glasses projects buoyed by its million-selling set of smart Ray-Bans, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman says that Apple just pulled the plug on an AR glasses project. Codenamed N107, they’re described as something that would’ve looked similar to regular glasses but with added displays in the lenses that could connect to a Mac.

Apple Asks Court To Halt Google Search Monopoly Case, by Lauren Feiner, The Verge

If Mehta doesn’t grant the stay pending appeal, Apple requested at the very least that it gain access to discovery and depositions as a non-party while the Circuit Court considers its appeal. “Absent a stay,” the company writes, “Apple will suffer irreparable harm.”

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When you have a note in your notes app to remind you on how you are giving different priorities to different podcasts in your podcast-listening app, so that you can listen to a bunch of podcast episodes in a certain order, maybe it's time to be less picky on you want to listen to podcasts?

And that's what I did this past week.

Let's see how long I can keep this up.

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Thanks for reading.