Portland, Maine Votes to Ban Facial Recognition

Amongst various ballot initiatives to pass on Tuesday, voters in Portland, Maine decided to ban the use of facial recognition tech by police and city agencies. The Verge reported that private citizens will be entitled to at least $1000 if the police use such technology on them.

The initiative follows a city council vote in August, which put a preliminary ban in place as an ordinance. Today’s vote replaces that ordinance with a stronger measure, which cannot be revoked for at least five years. The ordinance was placed on the ballot earlier this year by the Southern Maine chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, as part of a raft of other progressive initiatives including a $15 minimum wage and new limits on rent increases. The new measure also adds concrete penalties, entitling private citizens to a minimum of $1,000 in civil fees if they are surveilled in violation of the ordinance. Violations of the ordinance are also established as grounds for terminating or suspending a city employee. Private sector use of the technology is not affected.

AirPods Menu Bar Tool ‘ToothFairy’ Updated to Version 2.7

ToothFairy is a Mac app that lives in the menu bar to connect your AirPods with a single click or key press. It works with other Bluetooth accessories too, like mice, keyboards, and gaming controllers. Version 2.7 readies the app for macOS Big Sur and brings changes: Added AppleScript support for listing devices, getting their properties, and toggling connections; Updated the sample scripts in the “Run shell script after connecting/disconnecting” section of the manual; Added new icons for AirPods Pro, Beats Studio 3, controller, headphones, Playstation, Powerbeats 2020, Siri Remote, and Xbox; The “Improve sound quality by disabling audio input from device” option now works better when a Bluetooth device auto-connects rather than being connected via ToothFairy. It’s also more reliable in cases where macOS reports that it has set the audio input device but actually hasn’t. ToothFairy is available on the Mac App Store for US$4.99.

Bookshop.Org Unites Indie Sellers to Battle Amazon

Apparently this launched earlier this year but I haven’t heard of it until now. Bookshop.org is a virtual bookshop that partners with indie book sellers as a rival to Amazon.

Hunter believes the reason for Bookshop’s quick success is readers’ fondness for their local booksellers. “Bookstores have been in trouble for a while because of Amazon’s growth, but this pandemic has really accelerated it. Amazon has gotten much more powerful, while there are 100-year-old stores that are hanging on for survival,” he said. “I think we were so successful because enough people were conscious of that, and wanted to rally around around their beloved bookstores, because they care about the world that we emerge from this pandemic into.”

Apple MagSafe Duo Charger May Launch Soon After Being Certified in South Korea

Customers may be able to get their hands on Apple MagSafe Due charger in the near future. MacRumors reported it has been certified by South Korea’s National Radio Research Agency (NRRA), indicating it is getting close to becoming available.

Apple announced the ‌MagSafe‌ Duo during its ‌iPhone 12‌ launch event in October. The charging accessory is vaguely reminiscent of Apple’s canceled AirPower charging mat, featuring space to charge both an ‌‌‌iPhone 12‌‌‌ and Apple Watch (but not ‌AirPods‌) at the same time. Apple hasn’t provided specific availability or price details for the charging pad, and it’s not yet listed on Apple’s online store. Apple’s ‌iPhone 12‌ press release simply says that it will be arriving at a “later date.”

Ignore Instagram. TODAY is Election Day in the US

Certain Instagram users found out on Tuesday that when they opened the app, they saw a banner that said, “Tomorrow is Election Day.” Ignore that because as you’ll see everywhere else in the news, TODAY is Election Day. Also, check out Charlotte’s article if you want to stay informed of the results.

“While we turned off the ‘Tomorrow is Election Day’ notice last night, it was cached for a small group of people if their app hadn’t been restarted,” Instagram wrote on Twitter on Tuesday, responding to a number of users who had received the message. “It’s resolving itself as people restart.”

Wallpapers Inspired by Apple’s ‘One More Thing’ Event

Apple announced a new event on November 10 called “One More Thing” and designers have created a couple of iPhone wallpapers for the occasion.

Because the company sent press invitations for the event titled “One more thing” to be held on November 10th last night. The predictions are that we will meet the first ARM-powered MacBook and AirTag at the event.

And The Winner of the 2020 Streaming War is... Apple TV+?

Lots has been made of the 2020 streaming war. New players joined just before or at the start of the year, and others (Quibi), have promptly surrendered. When it started year ago, not many people thought that Apple TV+ would come out on top. However, writing for Fast Company, Joe Berkowitz argues that the newcomer may have done just that.

Apple TV Plus may not have a specific prestige aesthetic yet, the way HBO shows once felt like HBO shows and AMC shows felt like AMC shows, but what it does have is momentum and potential. While the must-see Disney Plus original content beyond Mandalorian still seems stalled in a galaxy far, far away, Apple TV Plus has a treasure trove of decent-to-great programming to tap into right now

Former Apple Software Engineer David Shayer - BGM Interview

David Shayer worked as an Apple software engineer for 18 years. He worked on the Apple Watch, iPod, and Radar, Apple’s bug tracking system, among other projects. He was an independent Mac software developer for a decade, and clients included Apple, Microsoft, Symantec and the U.S. Navy.

David told about how he learned to program, some of which was on an Apple II and some on a Mac in the 1980s. He went on to tell me about how he was hired by Apple. Twice. The second time he worked on the iPod file system and database. In the process he learned how Apple products are designed, and that included some great stories about Steve Jobs, his design sense, and the iPod team’s interaction with Jobs. There were other fascinating Steve Jobs stories. We finished with his revealing article about how Apple OS software development works.

Pandora HomePod Mini Support is Here

Pandora now supports the HomePod mini ahead of its launch on November 6. Juli Clover tells us the details.

According to Pandora, ‌HomePod‌ integration requires the latest version of the Pandora app. Once it’s installed, open the Pandora app on an iPhone or an iPad, and then select ProfileSettingsConnect With ‌HomePod‌Use in Home to get it working. Music can be requested from Pandora by adding “on Pandora” to any ‌Siri‌ request for a song.

‘Dark Sky’ 6.8.5 Adds Improved Location Search, New Watch Complication

Apple recently updated the Dark Sky app to 6.8.5 and it adds a couple of new features and improvements. Adds the extra large watch complication with watchOS 7; Improves location search with more suggested and relevant results; Adds a new location icon to indicate when Precise Location is disabled; Fixes an issue that could cause a duplicate forecast page after moving it from Recent Searches to Saved; Includes stability and performance improvements. Although Apple acquired the Dark Sky app it still requires a US$3.99 purchase.

Fifth watchOS 7.1 and tvOS 14.2 Developer Betas Now Available

The latest beta version of watchOS 7.1 and tvOS 14.2 are now available for developers to download, AppleInsider reported. In both cases, they are the fifth developer betas.

The new watchOS 7 and tvOS 14 beta versions can be downloaded from the Apple Developer Center by users enrolled in the test program, or as an over-the-air update by users who are running an earlier version of the beta software. The newest betas replace the fourth betas released on Oct. 22. New features include support for health features in Russia and Korea on Apple Watch, and no known new user-facing features on Apple TV. To install the new update, an Apple Watch must be at least 50% charged, placed on a charger, and within range of an iPhone. Updates on the Apple TV can be installed via the Settings app.