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Apple Exec Says Users Who Want ‘Sideloading’ Move to Android

Andrew Orr ·

Apple released a whitepaper [PDF] about the safety of the App Store, and the company’s head of user privacy, Erik Neuenschwander, spoke to Fast Company about it.

Without iOS, users wouldn’t have a mobile operating system platform they could choose from that is impossible to be targeted by malicious sideloading. In Apple’s view, in other words: Do you want the best privacy and security possible? Your choice is iOS. Do you want sideloading? Your choice is Android.

First, “if you want X move to Android” is a bad argument. I like Cory Doctorow’s text on the subject. Second, it’s not “sideloading” it’s downloading your software from the internet like desktop users have enjoyed for decades. Apple has smart people and I’m sure they can figure out a way to bring Gatekeeper to iOS.

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Apple TV+: How The World of 'Physical' Was Created

Charlotte Henry ·

In a new video, the cast and crew of new Apple TV+ show Physical reveal how they recreated 1980s California. Writer and showrunner Annie Weismann explains how her own experience with eating disorders influenced the show. The stars, including Rose Byrne and Rory Scovel, also explain what it was like heading back to 1981. The first episodes are available to subscribers now, with new ones landing each Friday, and the show is very much worth watching.

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7,000 Crypto Mining Computers Seized in Iran

Andrew Orr ·

Police in Iran have recently seized 7,000 computers used as cryptocurrency miners, it’s biggest haul so far. These miners were located inside an abandoned factory.

In late May, Iran banned the mining of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin for nearly four months as part of efforts to reduce the incidence of power blackouts blamed by officials on surging electricity demand during the searingly hot and dry summer.

According to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, around 4.5% of all bitcoin mining takes place in Iran, giving it hundreds of million dollars in revenue from cryptocurrencies that can be used to lessen the impact of U.S. sanctions.

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Amazon and Apple Most Valuable Brands, but Chinese Firms Closing in

Charlotte Henry ·

Amazon and Apple are still the world’s most valuable brands according to a Kantar Brand Z survey. However, as Reuters noted, Chinese firms are hot on their heels.

“Chinese brands are steadily and slowly progressing, and have made significant headway as more companies leverage their own technological developments and demonstrate their abilities to align with the major trends shaping China and the global market,” said Graham Staplehurst, global strategy director at Kantar BrandZ. Five brands more than doubled their value, led by Chinese e-commerce giants Pinduoduo (PDD.O) and Meituan (3690.HK), China’s top liquor maker Moutai (600519.SS), China’s TikTok and America’s Tesla (TSLA.O). Tesla, founded in 2003, was the fastest growing brand and became the most valuable car brand, growing its value by 275% year-on-year to $42.6 billion, Kantar said.

NetNewsWire Update Supports iCloud Sync, Twitter Feeds
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NetNewsWire Update Supports iCloud Sync, Twitter Feeds

Andrew Orr ·

Open source RSS reader NetNewsWire released an update on Tuesday that adds features that may be welcome for users: Sync via iCloud, BazQux, Inoreader, NewsBlur, The Old Reader, and FreshRSS, Share extension, Widgets for Today, Unread, and Starred articles, Special support for Reddit and Twitter feeds. So far this has been my favorite RSS reader to use and I enjoyed moving from Feedly to iCloud.

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WWDC21 Shows How Apple is Building the Metaverse

Andrew Orr ·

I’m not sure who the author is behind Codevoid but they nicely pieced together Apple’s continuing work with AR and the metaverse. I had similar thoughts when I watched WWDC21 and I like the way this article connects the dots.

The AR metaverse aren’t about immersive, focused interactions. Ephemerality will underpin the experiences. Those experiences need to provide you with contextual information when & where you need it — either ambiently as you move about the world, or as part of a more intentional ‘tell me more’ interaction.

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Users Not Excited by iOS 15, iPadOS 15 Features

Charlotte Henry ·

Users appear to be somewhat underwhelmed with the iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 features announced at WWDC 2021. The results of a survey by SellCell, reported by MacRumors, revealed that nearly half were not excited.

Over 50 percent of all of the survey’s respondents said that the ‌iOS 15‌ and ‌iPadOS 15‌ updates are only “slightly” or “not at all” exciting. 28.1 percent rated the updates “somewhat” exciting, but as few as 19.3 percent are “extremely” or “very” excited about them. Within ‌iOS 15‌ and ‌iPadOS 15‌, 23 percent of users said that the most exciting upgrade is ID cards in the Wallet app, 17.3 percent are most excited about enhanced Spotlight search, and 14.2 percent are most excited about new Find My features.

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Low GPU Prices in Europe Could Mean US is Next

Andrew Orr ·

GPU prices in Europe fallen as much as 50% after China ordered that cryptocurrency miners halt operations.

More budget-oriented cards like the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT are seeing the most positive results, with a near 50% drop in price compared to last month. For flagship cards like the RTX 3080 and RX 6800 XT, however, prices haven’t moved as much.

In the United States, GPU pricing is slowly catching up to Europe, but it’s still going down nonetheless.

‘Meddify’ Pill Reminder Gives You Actionable Notifications
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‘Meddify’ Pill Reminder Gives You Actionable Notifications

Andrew Orr ·

Meddify: Pill Reminder, developed by Oleksandr Bandyliuk is a brand new app to help people remember to take their pills. The developer said that the main feature of the app are Actionable Notifications and talked about privacy: “The key feature of the app is Actionable Notifications. Actionable Notifications allow marking the dose as taken or missed in one tap without launching the app. I care about Privacy. It means you don’t need to create an account to use the app. The app does not use servers to store your data. And I don’t have access to your data. All your data is stored only on your current device.”