Matthew Cassinelli was part of the team that created Workflow, which Apple acquired and turned into the Shortcuts app. He recently created a shortcut that lets you enter your zip code and automatically call your legislators.
Hello. You can use this tool to immediately call your senator/representative based on your ZIP code. Contact them now.
This week, Apple celebrated Apple TV+ flagship The Morning Show receiving three Golden Globes nominations. Deadline spoke to the company’s heads of world video – Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg about what it all means.
“Honestly we had really mitigated expectations because no streamer has ever received nominations in any significant categories the first year, it took minimum two years before they got traction to get nominations,” Jamie Erlicht, Apple’s head of Worldwide Video, said. “We expected that it would be very hard to do, but we also had to believe in the quality of our shows and that if anyone had a chance to get early awards recognition, Apple TV+ would be one to do it. It’s been validating what we knew, that we had something special here.” Added Apple’s fellow head of Worldwide Video Zack Van Amburg, “After the debut of Apple TV+ just last month, today’s nominations are a true testament to the powerful storytelling that went into The Morning Show, as well as all of our Apple Originals.”
iOS 13.3 added an improvement to minimize junk messages you get, but it also made SMS two-factor authentication more annoying.
In a blog post called “Preventing Tracking Prevention Tracking” WebKit’s John Wilander explained a new Safari capability.
There are lots of different pricing options for the newly released Mac Pro, with upgrades possible to the processor, RAM, GPU, and storage.
Twitter engineer Nolan O’Brien said that Twitter will preserve JPEGs as they are uploaded. This means that uploaded images will retain their original quality.
It’s a small change that has the potential to make a big difference to the way photographers view and use the platform. Nolan’s thread has inevitably kick-started a conversation about plans for other image formats and user-requested changes, so Twitter could make itself even more photo-friendly soon.
Another interesting note is that Twitter automatically strips EXIF data from photos, which I didn’t know. This is nice because this metadata can contain private information, such as where the photo was shot.
Angry Birds first appeared in the iOS App Store 10-years ago, and has grown into a worldwide phenomenon, downloaded 4.5 billion times.
The unloved, beautiful, black duckling of a 2013 Mac Pro has been a workhorse for John for almost six years. He tells its story.
Charlotte Henry and Bryan Chaffin join host Kelly Guimont to discuss the new bonuses with the Apple Card and Bryan’s impending Mac purchase.
We have a deal on HUB, a set of wireless, noise cancelling earbuds. They offer up to 8 hours of playback time on a single charge, with the charging case capable of charging another 100 hours of playback time. And, you can use the charging case to charge your other devices, too. They also feature Bluetooth 5.0, and they’re rated as IPX5 waterproof, which means they can resist a sustained, low-pressure water jet spray. They’re $74.99 through our deal, but coupon code GREENMONDAY20 brings the price down to $60.
Terraforming Mars, a Steam game that was previously only available for PCs, has made its way to iOS. It’s a strategy game in which players try to terraform Mars to make it habitable. You play as a corporation, and each one has a different specialization, like metal, heavy industry, financier, biotech, or energy. You work together with other corporations in the terraforming process, and compete to get points based on your contributions. You can play solo with AI opponents or online with humans. It requires a minimum of iOS 10 to download. App Store: US$8.99
Today Apple released iOS 13.3, iPadOS 13.3, and tvOS 13.3 with bug fixes, improvements, and a couple of new features.
Apple and Facebook representatives met with lawmakers today where senators pushed for the companies to compromise their users’ security by including encryption backdoors. In particular, Sen. Lindsey Graham said:
My advice to you is to get on with it. Because this time next year, if we haven’t found a way that you can live with, we will impose our will on you.
“Encryption backdoors for thee, but not for me.”
The Mac Pro and Pro XDR Display are now available to order from Apple.com. This is an update to the 2013 Mac Pro.
Throughout 2019, EU Lawmakers have regularly look at antitrust issues around so-called Big Tech. Reuters reported that they are likely to increase those efforts in 2020.
EU antitrust regulators are considering taking a tougher line against tech giants by forcing them to do more to ensure a level playing field, a senior European Commission official said on Tuesday, a move which could affect Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Google. The four U.S. tech companies are currently in EU competition enforcers’ crosshairs, with rivals complaining about being shut out of key markets. The Commission has traditionally ordered companies to halt anti-competitive practices.
There has been much talk about Facebook-backed cryptocurrency Libra. Much of that has focussed on the effect in Western markets. However, Wired noted it could be a significant player in China.
In China, the vast majority of consumer commerce runs on WeChat, which has transitioned from a simple chat app to a platform for just about everything. Most of the rest of the world lacks this kind of fully integrated experience, which is hugely valuable to the platform, but also a great experience for consumers: the convenience, access and range of available services is unparalleled. Of course, the key to offering a fully-baked platform like this is scale, and Facebook has that in spades. The company has leveraged that scale time and again to launch new products to great success, even in cases where it lacks a first mover advantage. With Libra’s initial integration across WhatsApp and Messenger – and eventually, likely also Instagram – it could instantly be ready for use by billions.
iTunes and App Store customers are used to getting emailed receipts for their subscriptions and purchases. However, 9to5Mac reported that some users are no longer receiving them.
Apple has regularly sent email receipts for all digital purchases made in the App Store and iTunes, but that seems to have changed at some point recently. It seems likely that this is a bug rather than a purposeful feature change, though. A growing thread on Apple’s support website indicates that this problem has become rather widespread… The key here is that users are still being charged, they just aren’t receiving receipts for those charges. This can be rather confusing, especially when many users have multiple monthly subscriptions.
Tim Cook has been spending some time in Japan, he posted images of him meeting key suppliers, developers, creators, and an Apple Store.
The Apple Card Pay Monthly plan for iPhones is live, meaning users can purchase a new device, interest free, and pay for it over 24 months.
VSCO recently acquired Rylo, a company founded by two former Apple engineers who worked on iPhoto for iOS.
Apple is suing a former employee claiming he broke his employment agreement when he launched his own firm and hired former colleagues.
Apple is giving customers a special deal. Through December 31 you can get 6% cash back on Apple purchases, instead of the usual 3%.
The Federal Trade Commission is considering a revamp of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Google wants to help them change the rules, and asked the agency to eliminate rules that categorizes anyone watching kids content online as actual kids.
In September, Google agreed to pay US$170 million to the FTC to resolve claims that YouTube violated COPPA by serving targeted advertisements to children under 13…After the FTC settlement, YouTube told creators that they would have to identify when videos are aimed at children under 13. When that happens, YouTube now turns off ads that rely on web browsing behavior and other targeting data, which earn more for YouTube and creators.
Charlotte Henry is a London-based technical journalist. A self described media junkie, she writes about Apple – and now for the Mac Observer as well as our UK Associate Editor. She has also written for City A.M. (London’s daily business tabloid,) Computer Business Review, the Independent on Sunday and CapX. Her new book is: Not Buying It.
In this special holiday edition of BGM, Charlotte and I chat about our favorite Christmas movies and what makes them so great for us. There are also some honorable mentions. We finish with a diagnosis of Apple TV+ The Morning Show.
