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App That Forced Users to Leave Positive Review Removed From App Store

Charlotte Henry ·

Apple has removed from the App Store an app that forced users to leave a good review before they could use it, iMore reported. It was, though, possible to leave bad reviews in other ways, such as on the web.

Kosta Eleftheriou highlighted the strange behavior of the app in a tweet. The video appears to show a review prompt that can’t be bypassed, and one that won’t accept anything lower than a three-star review before only letting users hit ‘submit’. The app does have plenty of bad reviews, but these are all about being forced to leave good ones. It is unclear how a developer would be able to bork the App Store review prompt so comprehensively like this, but Eleftheriou claims the developer has more than 15M downloads and “$MILLIONS” in revenue, of which Apple receives a commission.

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USB-C Spec Update Could Support Up to 240W

Andrew Orr ·

The USB Implementers Forum introduced a version 2.1 update to the USB Type-C specification. We could see the standard support power levels of up to 240W.

Cables supporting 240 watts will have additional requirements to accommodate the new levels. And USB-IF will require the cables to bear specific icons “so that end users will be able to confirm visually that the cable supports up to…240W,” USB-IF said in the specification document.

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Tidal and Spotify Now Support Music Downloads on Apple Watch

Charlotte Henry ·

Apple Watch music fans who use Spotify and/or Tidal can now download tracks and listen to them via the wearable. (The feature is already available with Apple Music.) iMore summed up the recent developments.

Tidal says the app will bring music streaming and playback control to Apple Watch independent of your iPhone, and you can even listen offline, downloading your favorite songs for playback anywhere. Spotify added the same feature to its app earlier this week. Spotify is today rolling out downloads to Apple Watch so that users can listen to content without their phone.

Ambient Noise App ‘Dark Noise’ Updated for M1 Macs
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Ambient Noise App ‘Dark Noise’ Updated for M1 Macs

Andrew Orr ·

Ambient noise app Dark Noise updated to version 2.4, and this brings support for M1 Macs with other improvements: 2.4 is a minor update with optimizations for running on the new M1 Macs; On a Mac unsupported features should no longer show up in settings; The volume slider on the player page will now work by only changing the audio of Dark Noise while running on a Mac.

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Patent Suggests Apple Looking to Make iPhone Display Glass Thinner

Charlotte Henry ·

Apple is looking to make the glass used for the iPhone’s display thinner. That’s according to a patent spotted by AppleInsider.

In a patent granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday titled “Insert molding around glass members for portable electronic devices,” Apple says you can have the same glass cover that can stick out from the rest of the enclosure like curved glass, but while also maintaining the thinness of the main glass sections across the screen. Apple’s solution is to incorporate a glass structure around the edge of where the glass cover will sit. This glass section acts as an intermediary between the main enclosure and the thin glass cover.

TMO Deals

Merino Wool Felt and Leather iPad Pro and iPad Air Sleeve: $79.99

Bryan Chaffin ·

We have a deal on the Hampshire iPad Pro (11″) and iPad Air (10.9″) sleeve. This sleeve is made from Merino Wool felt and leather, and it features a pocket and a loop for your Apple Pencil, too. It’s also designed to hold the Magic Keyboard with your iPad, and the front flap closes with a magnetic clasp. It’s $79.99 through our deal.

Notability Launches Feel Good Journal for Mental Health Month
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Notability Launches Feel Good Journal for Mental Health Month

Andrew Orr ·

May is Mental Health Month, and writing app Notability released a Feel Good Journal in the Notability Shop. It’s free to all users, providing zen doodling, self-care bingo, habit tracking, journal prompts, intention setting, and coloring. It includes motivating trackers, calming exercises, and grounding reminders to help you feel your best. Features include: Trackers: Set goals for the year, find daily gratitudes, acknowledge yourself, start new healthy habits, and even track the songs that add a skip in your step; Activities: Including coloring and completing a maze; Reminders: The journal also includes inspiring quotes to keep you motivated, and doodle and note pages so you can keep track — in your own way— of what made you feel good that day.

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Getting Dolphin Emulator Running on an M1 Mac

Andrew Orr ·

Dolphin is an emulator for two recent Nintendo video game consoles: the GameCube and the Wii. In a blog post the team talked about getting it to run on an M1 Mac.

Using the Rosetta 2 translation layer with Dolphin’s x86-64 JIT, the M1 easily ran most games at full speed and handily outran like-class Intel Macs. The experience wasn’t entirely smooth due to jitter from Jitting a JIT, yet the processor proved itself more than capable of handling Dolphin.