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Charlotte Henry

Charlotte is a media junkie, covering how Apple is not just a revolutionary tech firm, but a revolutionary media firm for TMO. She is based in London, and writes and broadcasts for various outlets.

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Articles by Charlotte Henry

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A Look at The New New York Times Audio App

Charlotte Henry ·

The New York Times is preparing to make another significant intervention in the audio market by launching a standalone app. The beta version is set to be released on Tuesday. Axios got a preview.

The new app includes a section called “Magazine Stand,” which features narrated pieces from The Times and publishers it works with as part of Audm, a subscription narrated article company The Times acquired in 2020. Publishers participating in the beta launch of the app via Audm include New York Magazine, Rolling Stone, Mother Jones, Foreign Policy and Atavist. It also includes a new carousel that makes it easier for users to binge all of their favorite podcasts from “Serial Productions,” a company The Times acquired in 2020 that created the hit true crime podcast “Serial.”

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Instagram Rolling Out New Teen Safety and Parental Control Features

Charlotte Henry ·

Instragram’s Take a Break feature, which encourages younger users to stop scrolling is now available in various countries. The company also release a blog post outlining further moves it will be making in a bid to protect younger users.

We’ll be taking a stricter approach to what we recommend to teens on the app, we’ll stop people from tagging or mentioning teens that don’t follow them, we’ll be nudging teens towards different topics if they’ve been dwelling on one topic for a long time and we’re launching the Take a Break feature in the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, which we previously announced. We’ll also be launching our first tools for parents and guardians early next year to help them get more involved in their teen’s experiences on Instagram. Parents and guardians will be able to see how much time their teens spend on Instagram and set time limits. And we’ll have a new educational hub for parents and guardians.

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Apple Silicon Native Version of OneDrive Syncing Client Now Available

Charlotte Henry ·

Microsoft made a pre-release version of its OneDrive syncing client for macOS, designed to run natively for Apple silicon, available on Wednesday. This will no doubt come as welcome news to many users. Microsoft released a blog post explaining it, and MacRumors reported on the details.

The official support for M1 Macs should make the OneDrive Arm preview run faster on Apple’s latest machines, since the client will no longer need to go through Apple’s Rosetta 2 translation layer. OneDrive users need to be in the Office Insider program or Windows Insider program to use the Apple silicon preview version of OneDrive. Microsoft says it will be rolling out this feature to the Insiders ring over the next few days. To get the pre-release internal build, click the OneDrive icon in the menu bar and select Help & Settings -> Preferences, then click the About tab. Under “About Microsoft OneDrive,” select the checkbox to join the OneDrive Insiders preview, then under Pre-release builds, select Get Apple silicon build.

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Morgan Stanley Sets US$200 Target Price For AAPL - Cites Apple Car, AR/VR

Charlotte Henry ·

Morgan Stanley has set AAPL a US$200 price target. In a note seen by AppleInsider, the bank cited Apple’s expected moves into cars and AR/VR as the reasons for this price hike.

Lead analyst Katy Huberty said that the bank is cautious on IT hardware heading into 2022 but noted that Apple should benefit from “a light to quality,” driven by new products being priced-in, as well as the iPhone and App Store Huberty points out that Apple shares don’t appear to bake-in the impact of new products. She points out that Apple is developing products aimed at both the AR/VR and self-driving car markets, and the new price target reflects that. “Today, we know that Apple is working on products to address two significantly large markets – AR/VR and Autonomous Vehicles – and as we get closer to these products becoming a reality, we believe valuation would need to reflect the optionality of these future opportunities,” she wrote.

Cool Stuff Found

Apple TV+ Suggests Christmas Viewing

Charlotte Henry ·

In a new Christmas trailer, Apple TV+ suggests shows and films that it recommends for viewers over the festive period. The content featured includes Swansong, The Morning Show, Ted Lasso, and, of course, A Charlie Brown Christmas. All this content is available to subscribers now or will be becoming available shortly.

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iPhone 13 And Apple Watch Carrier Rebate Wrangles

Charlotte Henry ·

A significant number of customers have reportedly found it difficult to get an expected rebate back from carriers on various products, including the iPhone 13 and Apple Watch. One of those was Bloomberg News’s Mark Gurman. In his latest Power On newsletter, he described the issue and the various ways some people had resolved it., which is likely to be useful to others.

My struggles with the rebates process started with the Apple Watch. I had purchased the Apple Watch Series 7, which came out in October, and submitted a request to T-Mobile for its $100 rebate.  Several weeks after my submission, to my surprise, T-Mobile’s promotion website said that my claim was denied because the product wasn’t activated during the promotion window. This, of course, was false. Multiple hourlong phone calls with T-Mobile customer service didn’t resolve the situation, nor did messages sent to the company’s support team over Twitter. Ultimately, the issue was only fixed after talking to T-Mobile at the corporate level. We figured out that my rebate was denied because the fine print of the deal—depending on how you read it—requires the opening of an entirely new phone number.

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The Struggles Faced by Apple's Hourly Workers

Charlotte Henry ·

We’ve heard lots recently from Apple whistleblowers like Ashley Gjovick and Cher Scarlett, and the broader #AppleToo movement. But the conversation tends to focus on the company’s corporate staff. The Verge has a very powerful and distressing report, containing allegations about what it’s like for those who work in places like the Apple Store.

Over the past five months, Apple’s hourly workforce has been watching as corporate employees advocate for more pay transparency. Some have organized with employees in Cupertino under the banner #AppleToo, to call for better working conditions. Others are just now beginning to speak out — realizing that the issues their well-compensated corporate colleagues are experiencing could be greatly exacerbated on the frontlines. The Verge spoke with 16 current and former employees on Apple’s retail, support, and sales teams who say their complaints about working conditions and pay have largely been ignored. Some say they are governed more by algorithms and systems than actual managers, making it difficult to get holistic help. All of them note that while they came into the job believing in Apple’s mission, they see a profound breakdown in how the company’s corporate values translate to the frontlines.

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Does Spotify Wrapped Prove The Streaming Servince is Better Than Apple Music?

Charlotte Henry ·

Over on iMore, Joe Wituschek argues that Spotify is better than Apple Music for a lot of reasons, and the recently released Wrapped feature is one of them. He makes some compelling arguments as to why he has given up on Cupertino’s offering. However, I stick with Apple Music because I do think the curation and radio shows (which you can listen to on-demand as a subscriber,) make it worth the money. This is particularly true if you get an Apple One bundle.

Don’t get me wrong, Spotify isn’t without its problems either. Support for the HomePod is still nonexistant and, even though they were able to build an Apple Watch app and cellular streaming to it for a while, it took them YEARS to implement the feature. Apple Music even arguably has some design wins over Spotify with its Now Playing screen and more advanced audio features with Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio. No music streaming service is going to be perfect but, if there ever was one that got as close as possible, it has to be Spotify. The user interface and navigation are clean and easy to understand, the personalized playlists are spot on, and the performance of the app (across mobile and desktop) are really responsive.