Apple today said that it is implementing new features that are designed to make children safer online, including an updated age rating system, a simpler way for parents to set up child accounts, changes to what kids see on the App Store, and a new API that will let developers confirm age range to deliver age appropriate experiences to kids.
The changes are outlined in a new Helping Protect Kids Online white paper that is available on Apple's developer site. Apple essentially wants to give parents more control over what their children see and do online in a privacy preserving way, while also heading off less tailored legislation calling for the App Store to be responsible for age verification.
Seriously, though, stop using read receipts — on any of your messaging apps. Turn them off. There is little upside to giving away this tiny clue about how you’re spending your time and attention. There is plenty of upside to reverting to a more primitive form of communication where you send a text and have no idea what happens to it next. You might even find solace in not knowing if the message was read. Maybe it just got lost in cyberspace, and maybe you should move on with your day rather than fretting.
When you pull up to the speaker box in the drive-thru at chains like Wendy’s, McDonald’s, and Taco Bell, the first question you will likely hear is a distinctly modern one: “Will you be using our mobile app today?” If you respond yes to the friendly cashier, you’re asked to provide a code or other signifier, like your name, to help the worker identify your order. By the time you receive your steaming bag of burgers and fries, it’s possible that you haven’t actually spoken to any of the humans involved in preparing or serving the meal you’re about to consume.
While the iPhone 16 Pro Max and Plus have larger batteries due to their larger screens, the iPhone 16e has the largest battery Apple has ever put in a 6.1-inch iPhone.
DC's YouTube review reveals that despite being marketed as capable of pairing with gym equipment to display heart rate data at a glance, Powerbeats Pro 2 cannot simultaneously maintain a Bluetooth connection to a phone for music playback, a limitation Apple has since confirmed.
MacPaw has created a viable contender to Apple’s App Store with Setapp. The apps themselves are nifty and worth playing with, the subscription terms are good, and there’s something excellent, well-curated, and viable here that’s worth looking into, even if only for the seven-day trial period.
If you’ve ever wanted to try your hand at being a barista but doubt that you actually have the skills to create latte art or, perhaps more importantly, deal with caffeine-deprived customers, the new mobile game Good Coffee, Great Coffee officially made its debut on the App Store and Google Play store last night. And I absolutely cannot get enough.
Did you know that Xcode can spell check your code and comments? Based on my experience working on large teams and large Xcode projects, this is a little-known feature. I routinely find spelling errors, not only in code comments but in symbol names. For the latter, this is particularly frustrating when a misspelled symbol is widely used because correcting that error — a rename that affects a substantial portion of the codebase — produces a large diff. Once you notice that your entire team has been passing around a “databaesQuery” for six months, it will drive you insane until fixed.
Apple is facing a likely antitrust fine as the French regulator prepares to rule next month on the company's privacy control tool, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said.
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It is expected to issue its decision next month ordering Apple to halt its anti-competitive practice and will likely impose a fine too, the people said, making it the first regulatory veto against the ATT.
Researchers at George Mason University have discovered a way to track just about any Bluetooth device using Apple’s Find My network. The hack, dubbed nRootTag, can be used by hackers to make any Bluetooth device into “unwitting homing beacons.”
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The researchers claim 90 percent success with their nRootTag hack, which can be performed remotely without administrator access to a device. It also doesn’t matter what platform the device is on; devices running Android, Windows, and Linux have been hacked, as well as smart TVs and VR headsets.
The weekend is here. Time to watch another episode of Severance.
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Thanks for reading.