Readdle’s Apps are Ready for iOS 14 Features

Readdle is ready for iOS 14, having recently updated its suite of apps for iOS 14. Spark, Documents, Calendars, Scanner Pro, and PDF Expert are all set. Here are some new things. Documents: Widgets for recent and favorite files, music, and file actions; picture-in-picture on iPhones. PDF Expert: Scribble for Apple Pencil; widgets for recents and favorite PDFs; faster folder navigation. Calendars: Widgets for events, tasks, and conference calls; faster search for events; create events with your voice. Scanner Pro: Widgets for important documents and fast scanning; search through OCRed text with Spotlight; annotate your scans. Spark: Set Spark as your default email app; widgets for important emails and calendar; OAuth support for Office 365 accounts.

News Publishers Consider Abandoning iOS Over Privacy Feature

Over at The Verge, Casey Newton wrote about the increasingly heated battle between Apple and advertisers. There are a couple of tidbits I wanted to comment on.

If you believe that free, ad-supported news is beneficial to a healthy democracy, it’s worth noting that all these pro-privacy changes come at a cost.

Free is great, free news is greater, and transparency is greatest. I believe discussing a healthy democracy involves advocating for open source software, which would necessitate a stance against Apple. So I don’t disagree, and as Mr. Newton notes, we need strong privacy laws as well. He also shares an interesting link to Vox, in which some news publishers are considering abandoning iOS if they can’t monetize their users.

Tidbits Managing Editor Josh Centers (#7) - BGM Interview

Josh Centers is the managing editor of TidBITS, as well as the author of many Take Control Books: Notes, Home Automation, Apple TV, co-author of Take Control of Preview. He also published Take Control of iOS 13 and iPadOS 13. And he’s recently joined The Prepared as an editor.

In his seventh appearance on the show, Josh explored the new faetures of iOS 14 and what he likes most—as he prepares for his forthcoming Take Control book. The App Libraries feature was at the top of his list. In segment two, Josh and I discussed a major, impressive research article he recently wrote about the often contentious relationship between developers and Apple and its handling of the App Store. We finished with thoughts on a next gen Apple TV 4K.