In a welcome change from pundits pontificating, Apple executives Craig Federighi and Greg Joswiak appeared on John Gruber’s The Talk Show podcast to discuss the company’s announcements at WWDC 2020.
Essayist Craig Mod points out that the fit and finish of software isn’t on par with what today’s tech companies are doing in hardware. He suggests that developers need to refocus on their craft.
In response to and in support of the protests surrounding the killing of George Floyd, Apple dedicated the Apple Music user interface to a statement in solidarity with Black communities, curated a collection of movies addressing racism in Apple TV, and published an open letter from Tim Cook.
Confused by President Trump’s executive order aimed at rolling back liability protections given to online forums? The Verge’s Adi Robertson gives the order a line-by-line read to provide context, background, and a reality check.
The tech giants have all donated money and supplies, and worked to disseminate useful information about the COVID-19 pandemic. But could our top tech minds come up with innovative new approaches to dealing with these unprecedented problems?
The media company O’Reilly has announced that it is not just canceling its in-person conferences, it’s also exiting the entire in-person conference business. The world has been forced by the SARS-CoV-2 virus to change, and it may never return to its previous state. But that may not be an entirely bad thing.
Numerous brick-and-mortar stores are closed, and you’re likely stuck at home, perhaps without some gear you need to do your job. Josh Centers offers some advice about package precautions, why you may need to look beyond Amazon, and how Best Buy is adapting to the coronavirus pandemic.
We’re having trouble paying attention to anything outside the COVID-19 news, so here’s what we think we can contribute at the moment. Let us know what else you might like to hear from TidBITS on this topic.
Will wonders never cease! Netflix actually listened to feedback from its customers about how much they hated auto-play previews and—a full year later—introduced an option to disable them. Hallelujah!
Nagged by the question of whether Apple still uses the term “Macintosh” anywhere, Adam Engst pores over targeted Google search results to confirm that the company has excised “Macintosh” from all modern uses, with a few odd exceptions.
Forget Big Brother. We have much more to worry about from the numerous “Tiny Brother” location data companies that track our every movement via software embedded in smartphone apps.
A new bill coming before the Senate would establish a quasi-judicial body in the Copyright Office that would be empowered to levy fines of up to $30,000 for even inadvertent instances of copyright infringement. This is the last chance to stop or modify the CASE Act.
By most accounts, the release of iOS 13 and macOS 10.15 Catalina have been troubled, with numerous significant bugs making it past Apple’s internal testing and the public beta phase. Former Apple engineer David Shayer explains the underlying reasons these releases have had so many problems.
Apple’s own software, as well as apps produced by independent developers following Apple’s lead, are increasingly reliant on ellipsis buttons that have no clear meaning or consistent action.
Apple took well-deserved flak in the press for having contractors listen to Siri conversations—and inadvertent initiations where people didn’t know they were being recorded. But Adam Engst suggests that we users should instead teach Siri about its mistakes.