Apple

Podcast

Mac Gaming, Crypto Credit Cards, iOS 15, with Jeff Butts - ACM 553

Bryan Chaffin · · 1 Comment

Bryan Chaffin and Jeff Butts talk about the current state of Mac gaming, with Jeff focusing on improved Mac support at Steam. They also dive deeper into crypto credit cards where you can either spend your crypto and/or earn cryptocurrency rewards like Bitcoin on your purchases. And, Jeff has been deep into iOS 15 betas, and he talks about some of his favorite new features.

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Apple Allegedly Shutting Down Surveys by Employees on Pay Equity

Charlotte Henry ·

Apple has allegedly shut down a number of surveys regarding pay equity started by employees. Lawyers told The Verge this could be illegal.

“Apple cannot bar its employees from discussing pay equity as it relates to protected classes,” says Vincent P. White, a labor lawyer with White, Hilferty & Albanese. “If they were, they could tell people not to talk about pronouns. The logical outgrowth of that doesn’t even track. I view their effort to shut this down as an act of retaliation.” The first known survey began in the spring and asked people to volunteer salary information in addition to how they identify in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, and disability. After about 100 responses, Apple’s people team — the company’s name for what is commonly called human resources — asked employees to take the survey down, saying the demographic questions constituted personally identifying information, or PII. Last week, employees tried to start another pay equity survey but were again told to take it down because it included a question on gender. When they created a new survey without the gender question, the Apple people team allegedly said it had to be shut down because it was hosted on the company’s corporate Box account.

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COVID-19 Pandemic Delays Opening of First Apple Store in India

Charlotte Henry ·

The opening of the first Apple Store in India has been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Indian Express reported. The Mumbai location had been set to open this year to boost the company’s retail presence in the crucial market.

While Apple has a strong franchise retail network across India, it’s online store launched last September has been helping the company reach buyers beyond its retail network. This January, in an earnings call after announcing the company’s 2020 results, Cook said Apple had sold over a million devices in the country for the first time. “If you take India for example, we doubled our business last quarter compared to a year ago,” he told analysts while qualifying that Apple’s “absolute level of business there is still quite low relative to the size of the opportunity.”

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Here's What Apple's AirPower Charging Mat Actually Looked Like

Charlotte Henry ·

Remember AirPower, Apple’s wireless charging mat that never made it to release? Well, The Verge has was sent pictures of a prototype and took a closer look…

Giulio Zompetti, a 28-year-old from Italy, says he has been able to purchase a prototype AirPower unit from Chinese e-waste sources. “The unit lacks all of its exterior housing, and shows this beautiful and heavy stainless steel chassis,” says Zompetti. In photos supplied to The Verge, you can see the AirPower mat powering a prototype iPhone, with its 22 coils on the front-facing side and 22 controller circuits on the rear. In order for this AirPower prototype to work, it has to be paired with special prototype iPhone hardware to activate the coils. “It doesn’t work with production devices, because the coils are woken up by the device,” explains Zompetti, who says he’s been able to charge two prototype devices simultaneously so far. Zompetti says he received the unit in December and was able to interact with it initially through a serial lightning cable.

(Image Credit: Giulio Zompetti)

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How Educators in Australia are Embracing Swift

Charlotte Henry ·
Some educators at schools in Queensland, Australia are embracing Apple’s Swift programming language. The company published a feature that includes some teachers and students sharing their experiences.
At Siena Catholic College and St Augustine’s College, two high schools in Southeast Queensland, teaching students the principles of app development using Swift is unlocking their creativity and allowing them to reach new levels of innovation and problem solving. “Our decision to choose Swift was clear and based on the simplicity, versatility, and limitless creativity the language provides,” says Paul Dionysius, who teaches technology courses at Siena Catholic College. “Every day we’re seeing our students develop enterprising ideas and designing real-world solutions to problems, building the essential skills for success in the 21st century. We have future blockbuster developers here today — I am certain of that and incredibly proud.”
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UK Man Joseph O’Connor Arrested for Hacking Apple’s Twitter Account

Andrew Orr ·

Joseph O’Connor, also known as “PlugWalkJoe” has been arrested for hacking Apple’s Twitter account in 2020. He also faces charges for “takeovers of TikTok and Snapchat user accounts.”

O’Connor openly identified himself as “PlugWalkJoe” and confirmed that the hackers had obtained Twitter credentials to take over the accounts via an internal company Slack. At the time, O’Connor was fairly bullish about his involvement and apparent safety, “They can come arrest me. I would laugh at them. I haven’t done anything,” he told the Times.

He had also compromised the Twitter accounts of Elon Musk, former President Barack Obama, Bill Gates, President Joe Biden, and a few others.

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No, But Really, Don't Use Hydrogen Peroxide Disinfectants to Clean Apple Products

Charlotte Henry ·

Apple has updated a support document, reminding users not to clean their products Hydrogen Peroxide disinfectants, MacRumors spotted. This includes using things likes Lysol, although there are alternative solutions that are safe to use.

Apple has confirmed it is okay to use a 75% ethyl alcohol wipe to disinfect products…Apple says to avoid getting moisture in any opening when disinfecting products, and warns against submerging an Apple product in any cleaning agents, as liquid damage is not covered by Apple’s standard warranty.

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Apple Employees Angry as Getting Approval to Work From Home Gets Harder

Charlotte Henry ·

The row over Apple employees returning to the office continues. The Verge reported that staff members feel it is becoming increasingly difficult to get approval to work from home, with some with medical conditions particularly concerned.

One employee said they were currently on an Americans with Disabilities Act accommodation that allowed them to work from home, but were told that accommodation would be denied when the company went back to the office. “I will be out of a job in September,” they wrote in Slack. Apple typically gives employees 30 days to find a new job within the company if their current team denies a medical accommodation. But one worker said in Slack that there weren’t any open remote positions. Some employees say they were told only people with documented medical conditions would be approved for permanent remote work. But the form that Apple employees use to request such an accommodation asks them to release their medical records to the company, which made some people uncomfortable.