Amber Neely, AppleInsider:

After being unable to locate one of his AirPods, a Massachusetts man’s trip to the emergency turned it up in an unlikely place.

And:

I went back out in the morning and shoveled [snow] for an hour,” he told WWLP News 22. “When I came in, I tried to drink a glass of water again and couldn’t,” said Gauthier.

Gauthier’s family joked that maybe he’d swallowed it, but the idea felt “too coincidental.” A trip to the emergency room lead to an x-ray, which lead his doctor to discover the AirPod lodged in his esophagus.

I can’t imagine doing this. But there it is, on the X-Ray. Crazy. I wonder if this will impact his warranty.

CNBC:

“Hyundai Motor is getting requests from multiple companies for cooperation in joint development of autonomous, electric vehicles but nothing has been decided since it’s in early stage,” the company said, according to a CNBC translation of a regulatory filing.

More specifically:

“Hyundai Motor is not in talks with Apple on autonomous vehicle development,” it added.

And:

Kia Motors also said it was not in talks with Apple.

I’m fascinated by the secrecy of Apple’s auto efforts. Part of this is how long this has been going on, how many people have come and gone on this project, how much attention it has received from the media and, after all this time, how little is known.

I would love to see Apple’s detail-focused design skills applied to a car. But between internal combustion engines vs EV, driven vs driverless, and the move away from car ownership, the evolution/disruption of this space seems to still be a future event. And this is an expensive space to set up in, especially if you buy in and the space changes underneath you.

Harvard Business Review:

“Without personalized ads,” [Facebook] says in its ads and on its website, “Facebook data shows that the average small business advertiser stands to see a cut of over 60% in their sales for every dollar they spend.”

Hmm. Really?

It’s an eye-popping figure, and one that suggests that Apple’s pro-privacy policy is poised to deal a devastating blow to small businesses. But where does the data for this apocalyptic claim come from? And does it hold up under scrutiny?

And:

To properly evaluate this claim, you first need to understand the popular metric that Facebook used here to quantify advertising success: return on ad spend, or ROAS. The metric indicates the amount of revenues associated with advertising — but it does not indicate the amount of revenues caused by advertising.

And:

In its campaign against Apple’s new policy, Facebook is claiming that when it compared the ROAS for campaigns that leveraged personalized information with campaigns that didn’t, it found that small businesses would suffer a 60% cut in revenues if they were deprived of personalized advertising.

That scary-sounding number, however, is almost certainly too high. Randomized controlled trials that compare personalized advertising with no advertising tend to reveal much smaller differences.

Follow the headline link for more of this takedown. I’d be quite happy with a much smaller version of Facebook that allowed me to keep in touch with friends and family without all the privacy busting. I’d even pay for the privilege so I stopped being the product.

Salvador Rodriguez, CNBC:

Facebook on Monday will begin urging some iPhone and iPad users to let the company track their activity so the social media giant can show them more personalized ads.

The move comes alongside Apple’s planned privacy update to iOS 14, which will inform users about this kind of tracking and ask them if they want to allow it.

I actually have no problem with Facebook’s approach here. I don’t see this as striking back, but more as playing by the rules.

Follow the headline link and check out that pair of iPhone screen shots, about halfway down the page. Facebook is making their case to the user, then asking for permission to do their tracking thing. Key for me is that Facebook’s “learn more” link goes to a page that is honest about what happens to the user’s data.

Problem 1 is captured in the headline linked Washington Post article:

Under a new “App Privacy” label added last month, there’s a blue check mark, signaling that the app won’t share a lick of your data. It says: “Data not collected.”

I downloaded a de-stressing app called the Satisfying Slime Simulator that gets the App Store’s highest-level label for privacy. It turned out to be the wrong kind of slimy, covertly sending information — including a way to track my iPhone — to Facebook, Google and other companies.

And:

As I write this column, Apple still has an inaccurate label for Satisfying Slime. And it’s not the only deception. When I spot-checked what a couple dozen apps claim about privacy in the App Store, I found more than a dozen that were either misleading or flat-out inaccurate.

And:

Apple’s big privacy product is built on a shaky foundation: the honor system. In tiny print on the detail page of each app label, Apple says, “This information has not been verified by Apple.”

Apple’s response:

“Apple conducts routine and ongoing audits of the information provided and we work with developers to correct any inaccuracies. Apps that fail to disclose privacy information accurately may have future app updates rejected, or in some cases, be removed from the App Store entirely if they don’t come into compliance.”

Problem 2 is highlighted in this thread:

https://twitter.com/keleftheriou/status/1356011069395755009

The problem showcased here is the App Store’s infestation with scammy, copycat apps. Read the thread. It does a great job laying out all the details.

Is the App Store simply too big to police properly?

Apple:

To celebrate Black History Month, Apple commissioned more than 30 Black photographers to capture and share their hometowns with the world through their unique lens, all shot on iPhone 12 Pro. All across the US, these photographers set out to showcase the people and the pockets of their cities that embody their local culture.

Follow the headline link, check out the pics. And don’t miss Apple’s Racial Equity and Justice Initiative, highlighted on their front page.

Juli Clover, MacRumors:

Apple is now selling standalone ear cushions designed for the AirPods Max, allowing AirPods Max owners to purchase cushions in different colors.

And:

The ear cushions are available in all of the ‌AirPods Max‌ colors – silver, black, red, sky blue, and green – and are priced at $69. ‌AirPods Max‌ ear cushions attach to the ear cups magnetically and can be popped right off, so making a swap to a new color is simple.

Here’s a link to the Apple Store AirPods Max ear cushion replacements purchase page.

As you’d guess, you get two ear cushions for $69. Can’t help but wonder if we’re gonna see people doing the mix and match thing, walking around with mismatched colors. Team up with a friend and buy two different color sets, trade so you each have mismatches.

And I suspect we’ll see a wave of “singles”, with a bit of a markup, on eBay.

Apple:

January 28 is Data Privacy Day, a time to raise awareness about the importance of protecting people’s personal information online. Apple is commemorating Data Privacy Day by sharing “A Day in the Life of Your Data,” an easy-to-understand report illustrating how companies track user data across websites and apps. The report also shares how privacy features across Apple’s products give users more transparency and control, empowering people with the tools and knowledge to protect their personal information.

From A Day in the Life of Your Data:

John and his 7-year-old daughter, Emma, are spending the day together. In the morning, John uses his computer to look up the weather, read the news, and check a map app on his smartphone for traffic conditions for a trip to the playground next to his daughter’s school.

So far, so good.

During the ride, there are 4 apps on his phone collecting and tracking their location data periodically in the background. After the data has been extracted from the device, app developers sell it to a host of obscure third party data brokers that John has never heard of. Although the location data collected is claimed to be anonymous, user tracking allows data brokers to match John’s location history from these apps with information collected from his use of other apps. This means information tracked across different apps and from multiple sources is available for any company or organization to purchase, and could be used to create a comprehensive profile about him that includes his precise day-to-day movements.

Apple does a great job making the case for its privacy model. Facebook complains that Apple is abusing their position to their own benefit. But at the heart of Apple’s new ruleset is transparency. If you don’t track a user’s data without their knowing, you won’t have an issue. If you want to track your user’s data, tell them and ask their permission.

To me, this is a clearcut issue. Transparency is good. Surreptitious tracking is evil. The end.