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By now you’ve all heard that a verdict was reached in the Epic vs. Apple, one that is declaring victory. There are a lot of documents in the case, but here are the basics.

A decision was reached today in the high-profile Epic Games v. Apple trial, with U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruling that Apple’s anti-steering conduct is anti-competitive, and ruling in favor of Apple on all other counts.

In a 185-page ruling, Judge Rogers said “the Court cannot ultimately conclude that Apple is a monopolist under either federal or state antitrust laws,” but she said the trial “did show that Apple is engaging in anticompetitive conduct under California’s competition laws.” Rogers concluded that “Apple’s anti-steering provisions hide critical information from consumers and illegally stifle consumer choice”.

Apple also released a statement on the ruling:

Today the Court has affirmed what we’ve known all along: the App Store is not in violation of antitrust law. As the Court recognized ‘success is not illegal.’ Apple faces rigorous competition in every segment in which we do business, and we believe customers and developers choose us because our products and services are the best in the world. We remain committed to ensuring the App Store is a safe and trusted marketplace that supports a thriving developer community and more than 2.1 million U.S. jobs, and where rules apply equally to everyone.

OSXDaily:

Resetting your Apple ID password is normally a pretty easy task, but if you don’t have access to the device that you’re already signed into, things could get super complicated and inconvenient. However, Apple offers another option with an Apple ID recovery key, which can be used to reset an Apple ID account as well.

Apple ID Recovery Key acts as an extra layer of security for your Apple account, in case you forget your password and lose access to your trusted device.

For your iPhone or iPad, you’ll need to be running iOS/iPadOS 14 or later, a pretty reasonable requirement.

Once you’ve created your recovery key:

From now on, you’ll have just two ways to reset the password for your Apple account. You can either reset the password from a device that you’re already logged into, or you can use the recovery key instead. The latter would prove to be a lifesaver when don’t have access to your trusted devices.

Interestingly, the Recovery Key is an old mechanism, removed a while back and then returning in iOS 14, et al.

Reed Albergotti, Washington Post:

Many who are familiar with the program say Apple is slow to fix reported bugs and does not always pay hackers what they believe they’re owed. Ultimately, they say, Apple’s insular culture has hurt the program and created a blind spot on security.

“It’s a bug bounty program where the house always wins,” said Katie Moussouris, CEO and founder of Luta Security, which worked with the Defense Department to set up its first bug bounty program. She said Apple’s bad reputation in the security industry will lead to “less secure products for their customers and more cost down the line.”

And:

In interviews with more than two dozen security researchers, some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because of nondisclosure agreements, they point to Apple’s rivals for comparison. Facebook, Microsoft and Google publicize their programs and highlight security researchers who receive bounties in blog posts and leader boards. They hold conferences and provide resources to encourage a broad international audience to participate.

And:

Most of them pay more money each year than Apple, which is at times the world’s most valuable company. Microsoft paid $13.6 million in the 12-month period beginning July 2020. Google paid $6.7 million in 2020. Apple spent $3.7 million last year, Krstić said in his statement. He said that number is likely to increase this year.

This is a long article, filled with bug bounty stories, many of them anonymously told. Hard to truly know whether this is the squeaky wheel getting all the attention, or something more problematic. But read the article (here’s an Apple News link if you don’t have access to WaPo).

Definitely reads like Apple puts less money into bug bounties, shines less of a light onto bug researcher efforts and successes than its competitors.

Steven Levy, Wired:

During a panel discussion afterward, the interviewer asked a provocative question. “This might be crazy,” she began, “but is there any connection between the world of the counterculture and psychedelics, and Pixar?”

The panelists on stage—Ed Catmull and John Lasseter, both central to Pixar’s development—fell into an uncomfortable silence. Drugs and the counterculture are edgy subjects for employees of a Disney division beloved by generations of children. Finally, Lasseter said, “Is Alvy Ray Smith in the audience?”

And:

Yet, despite a healthy ego and a raconteur’s élan, after Lasseter’s callout—and some laughter in the room—Smith stayed in his seat and said nothing.

Call it restraint. “As far as history goes, I feel like he got shafted, both in Pixar history and in computer graphics history in general,” says Pam Kerwin, a former Pixar colleague. “Everything that you currently use in Photoshop right now basically came from Alvy.” Even self-­driving cars and augmented reality, “which are all about image processing, machine vision … Alvy and his colleagues brought all that stuff into the world.”

Three reasons to follow the headline link and drink up this article:

• It’s written by Steve Levy, Apple critic and tech writer, author of one of my all-time favorite books, Insanely Great: The Life and Times of Macintosh, the Computer That Changed Everything. He can write.

• This is an interesting look at a critical stage in computer graphics history.

• Some Steve Jobs anecdotes, told by someone who regularly butted heads with him.

Follow the headline link for details.

Here’s the official link to pitch a community idea to Twitter. They’ll respond with a “don’t call us, we’ll call you” email to let you know they got your request. Then send a separate response if they want to take things further.

Two key roles:

A moderator (or mod) is someone who helps keep conversations safe and on track in a Community. They are chosen and overseen by a Community admin, and may be tasked with other duties as the admin sees fit.

An admin is the owner of a Community. Their duties may include keeping conversations safe and on track, reviewing member reports, hiding member Tweets, or removing disruptive members from the Community. They may also choose moderators to help with these tasks. Admins are responsible for managing the Community, which includes adding, modifying, and/or removing Community rules, title, and description. As the admin of a Community, you may invite as many moderators as you wish.

If you start a community, you are the admin. You recruit and bring on moderators, set the specific rules for your community. Twitter pays no one.

Stumbled on this over the weekend as a toss-off in a Twitter mention. I’ve seen edited versions of the keynote on YouTube, had no idea Apple Podcasts offered this up on their official podcast channel.

From the description:

Watch Apple CEO Steve Jobs kick off the Macworld Conference & Expo 2007 with a keynote address from San Francisco’s Moscone West. Check out the exciting new developments at Apple, which include the addition of Paramount movies to iTunes, Apple TV, which allows you to wirelessly play all of your iTunes content from your Mac or PC on your television, and the pioneering iPhone. This revolutionary product is a widescreen iPod with touch controls, a mobile phone, and an Internet communications device all in one.

I love that iPhone is mentioned last.

The quality of the video is excellent, and includes the tail end of the music that played as folks waited for Steve Jobs to take the stage. Be sure to jump to about 56 minutes in to hear the voice mails from Al Gore and then Tim Cook.

An amazing look back.

Michael Potuck, 9to5Mac:

Ahead of WWDC in June, Apple announced Background Sounds would be coming to iOS to help users find focus, calm, and rest. Now in the iOS 15 beta, the feature is available to test out. Read along for how to use iPhone Background Sounds in iOS 15, what you get, what you don’t, and more.

Background Sounds is definitely worth knowing about. You’ll find them in both iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 in Settings > Accessibility > Audio & Visual > Background Sounds.

The default sound is the sound of rain, with critter sounds in the mix. I find it very soothing. Did all my writing with that on in the background.

There are switches to leave the sound playing (at reduced volume) when other media is playing, as well as when the screen is locked.

And to make this a bit easier to turn on and off, go to Settings > Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcut and enable the Background Sounds shortcut. That’ll add a Background Sounds toggle to the Accessibility Control Center control (which you’ll also need to add to Control Center).

Worth exploring.

Follow the link for in interesting comparison of Apple Music vs Spotify, posted on Reddit. It’s blunt, biased, but interesting.

One particular part I found very interesting:

The amount of library customization iTunes gives you, is unlike anything else out there. I can adjust the volume of individual song files, set when the song will start & stop or remember the time mark to start playing from when it was last played.

And:

Another thing I’m bonkers about is the Star Rating system. Everyone else seems to have gotten rid of this in favor of a like/love button. But the degrees to which I like songs is different; 3 stars is an “Ok” whilst 5 stars is an “I’m obsessed with this!” and I think that distinction is very important.

I do love the star rating system, though it feels lost in the shuffle if you tend to listen to music on your iPhone or HomePod.

To see this for yourself, start up a song in the Music app, then try to find the star rating system. Easy enough to Love (or Unlove) the song. But where are the stars?

If you hop over to your Mac and fire up the Music app, you have access to both the stars and the love:

• Open the Music app on your Mac
• In the iTunes window that appears, control-click a song, then click Get Info (or type command-I)
• The Get Info window lets you Love/Unlove as well as give the song a star rating.

In addition, if you’ve got a Home Pod, ask Siri to give the song a star rating:

• Play the song on your HomePod
• Say “Hey Siri, rate this song 5 stars”

Is the star rating system an artifact, a still grudgingly supported thing of the past?

PYMNTS:

Seven years post-launch, new PYMNTS data shows that 93.9% of consumers with Apple Pay activated on their iPhones do not use it in-store to pay for purchases.

That means only 6.1% do.

The survey was conducted between Aug. 3-10, 2021, 3,671 U.S. consumers.

Apple Pay’s adoption and usage isn’t much larger than it was 2015 (5.1%), a year after its launch, and is the same as it was in 2019, the last full year before the pandemic.

Does this mean Apple Pay usage is saturated? The folks who are going to use it are using it?

The growth in total Apple Pay transactions since 2015 has come almost entirely from more stores having contactless terminals to accept it, more people having new iPhones that can use it, and the overall growth in retail transactions.

And almost none of that growth comes from more iPhone users wanting to use it instead of plastic cards.

Pulling out that credit card is a tough habit to break. I think it’ll take a much bigger marketing push from Apple to change that ingrained behavior. Some sort of carrot, even a temporary one.

For example, when Apple Card came out, it offered a 3% discount if I used the card on any Apple purchases. That’s a solid discount, more than any other card in my wallet, and I was able to set it and forget it for all my monthly Apple services payments (iCloud usage, Apple TV bundle, etc.) That carrot got me into the habit.

Apple does offer regular Apple Pay promo discounts, but none of them are regular enough (at least in my spending patterns) to pull me in, to cement the habit.

If I was a regular subway rider, that’d do it. Or if my favorite restaurants offered an Apple Pay discount, that’d do it too.

I actually love the Apple Watch Apple Pay experience. Maybe once (and if) we’re ever able to move past masks, Apple Pay will start to grow again.

The Singer-Songwriter EZX was recorded in a choice room, relatively small and transparent to ensure minimum ambient coloration. In total, it includes five full kits recorded with sticks as well as one configuration and several additional instruments sampled with brushes. To paint the broadest picture possible, each kit was handpicked for its contrasting qualities, character and tonal complexity. Seeking to deliver the most homogeneously composed kits, the selective process was scrutinized in extreme detail – from the matching of heads with tuning and cymbal sizes with drum timbres down to the delicacy of the drummer’s stroke.

This expansion pack is for EZdrummer 2 and Superior Drummer 3, and is tailored for acoustic pop, Americana, folk and similar genres. I have quite a few of the expansion packs from them and they are worth it.

From yesterday’s Apple Newsroom post:

Driver’s licenses and state IDs in Wallet are only presented digitally through encrypted communication directly between the device and the identity reader, so users do not need to unlock, show, or hand over their device.

Gruber, after getting the chance to speak with Apple about the details:

The Wallet system Apple has designed for ID is very much like Apple Pay. When you pay with a physical credit card, you often hand your card to an employee. When you pay with Apple Pay, you never hand your phone to an employee. It wouldn’t even work, because no one else can authorize an Apple Pay transaction without your biometric authentication. This ID feature for Wallet is exactly like that: it doesn’t work without your biometric authentication, and your phone does not unlock when you use it.

And:

When using a Touch ID iPhone with Apple Wallet’s ID feature, you must register one and only one finger when you add your ID to your Wallet, and whenever you verify your ID in Wallet, you’ll need to use that same finger. Apple has never recommended allowing your spouse or partner to register one of their fingers on your iPhone, but many people do that. This feature is designed to ensure that the same person who enrolled their state ID in Wallet is the same person verifying it biometrically.

This makes so much sense.

Side note: If you do add multiple fingerprints to any of your Touch ID devices, be sure you label them (Dave’s right thumb, Sarah’s left index, etc.), else you’ll find yourself with a collection of unidentifiable Finger 1, Finger 2, etc. with no easy way to figure out whose fingers have access to your device.

Back to Gruber:

So if you’re just buying booze, say, and the clerk or server needs to check your age, they could prompt only to verify that you’re 21 or older, without even seeing your exact birthdate, let alone any other details from your ID. It is exceedingly more private than handing over a physical ID card, perhaps even more so than using Apple Pay compared to handing over a physical credit card.

Terrific post, read the whole thing, especially that first footnote. Some great advice here.

Abner Li, 9to5Google:

Back in April, we told you about an in-development “Guacamole” feature that will let you use Assistant without hotwords. This Google Assistant capability will launch as “Quick phrases,” and we now know more about how it works.

Great job of reverse engineering/decoding the “quick phrases” mechanism.

Here are a few of the quick phrase examples:

• Set alarms: “Set an alarm for 7 a.m.”
• Cancel alarms: “Cancel the alarm”
• Show alarms: “What time is my alarm set for?”
• Send broadcasts: “Send a broadcast”
• Respond to calls: “Answer” & “Decline”
• Ask about time: “What time is it?”
• Ask about weather: “What’s the weather?”

Follow the headline link for lots more examples.

Imagine if Apple let you customize Siri in this way (or let you change the “Hey, Siri” trigger phrase). Both would be big improvements.

At the core of this agreement is Apple’s definition of a “reader” app:

Reader apps provide previously purchased content or content subscriptions for digital magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music, and video.

And:

Because developers of reader apps do not offer in-app digital goods and services for purchase, Apple agreed with the JFTC to let developers of these apps share a single link to their website to help users set up and manage their account.

Apple’s announcement:

Apple today announced an update coming to the App Store that closes an investigation by the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC). The update will allow developers of “reader” apps to include an in-app link to their website for users to set up or manage an account. While the agreement was made with the JFTC, Apple will apply this change globally to all reader apps on the store.

The change goes into effect in 2022. Feels like Apple is breaking down the overall App Store structure so they can make changes to individual categories to address the wave of anti-trust scrutiny/legislation.

Nikkei Asia:

Manufacturers of Apple Watch 7, as the device is expected to be called, began small-scale production last week but encountered critical challenges in reaching satisfactory production performance, multiple people familiar with the situation said.

And:

Three sources said the current disappointing production quality could be attributed to the complexity of design, which is significantly different from that of previous generations of the watch, and the assemblers found issues when putting together electronics modules, components and displays.

And (SPOILER RUMOR ahead):

The next Apple Watch will come with new features such as blood pressure measurement, they said, which means production involves fitting a greater number of components into a similar size body.

Interesting that an assembly issue popped up this late in the process, as if the assemblers were not prepared for how this generation of Apple Watch goes together.

Assuming this is not a major hurdle requiring back-to-the-drawing-board retooling, this seems more likely to impact the availability date, rather than the announcement date.

First things first, here’s a quote from Apple on the bill:

The Telecommunications Business Act will put users who purchase digital goods from other sources at risk of fraud, undermine their privacy protections, make it difficult to manage their purchases, and features like “Ask to Buy” and Parental Controls will become less effective. We believe user trust in App Store purchases will decrease as a result of this legislation — leading to fewer opportunities for the over 482,000 registered developers in Korea who have earned more than KRW8.55 trillion to date with Apple.

And Gruber:

I think the latter half of Apple’s statement is true — user trust in in-app purchases will decline. The gist of these legislative proposals — like this month’s “Open App Markets Act” from U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) — is, effectively, to require iOS and Android to be, to some degree, more like Mac and Windows. Put aside the specific details, that’s what these laws are saying: phones should work like PCs in terms of loosening the control of the platform owners (Apple and Google) over what software can be installed, and what that software can do.

And:

I am confident that the overwhelming majority of typical users are more comfortable installing apps and making in-app purchases on their iOS and Android devices than on their Mac and Windows PCs not despite Apple and Google’s console-like control over iOS and Android, but because of it.

I certainly feel this way. I am more comfortable making an in-app purchase that goes through Apple. Though I do feel somewhat protected by purchases that go through my credit card, watched over by their fraud protection services. But that said, fraud means changing credit cards, which is always a pain.

The comparison to a Mac seems appropriate. I buy Mac software through the Mac App Store. But I also buy software directly from the developer, if that developer is well known and trusted (thinking about BBEdit, Keyboard Maestro in particular). I think I’d be OK if I had the same options on iPhone. Obviously, at the root of this decision, for me, is fear of malware.

One last bit from Gruber:

But from what I’ve seen over the last few decades, the quality of the user experience of every computing platform is directly correlated to the amount of control exerted by its platform owner. The current state of the ownerless world wide web speaks for itself.

Thoughtful insight. Chewing on this.

Good post from Gruber, worth following the headline link and reading the whole thing. There’s a lot more.

Apple:

Apple today announced that it is working with several states across the country, which will roll out the ability for their residents to seamlessly and securely add their driver’s license or state ID to Wallet on their iPhone and Apple Watch.

The states in question:

Arizona and Georgia will be the first states to introduce this new innovation to their residents, with Connecticut, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma, and Utah to follow.

And:

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will enable select airport security checkpoints and lanes in participating airports as the first locations customers can use their driver’s license or state ID in Wallet. Built with privacy at the forefront, Wallet provides a more secure and convenient way for customers to present their driver’s licenses and state IDs on iPhone or Apple Watch.

How will this work?

Similar to how customers add new credit cards and transit passes to Wallet today, they can simply tap the + button at the top of the screen in Wallet on their iPhone to begin adding their license or ID. If the user has an Apple Watch paired to their iPhone, they will be prompted to also add their ID or driver’s license to their Wallet app on their Apple Watch. The customer will then be asked to use their iPhone to scan their physical driver’s license or state ID card and take a selfie, which will be securely provided to the issuing state for verification. As an additional security step, users will also be prompted to complete a series of facial and head movements during the setup process. Once verified by the issuing state, the customer’s ID or driver’s license will be added to Wallet.

And:

Apple’s mobile ID implementation supports the ISO 18013-5 mDL (mobile driver’s license) standard which Apple has played an active role in the development of, and which sets clear guidelines for the industry around protecting consumers’ privacy when presenting an ID or driver’s license through a mobile device.

Follow the headline link for details (and images) on the storing and sharing of your ID.

M.G. Siegler:

For the 11th straight year that Apple has been making iPads, there will be no native Weather app for the device. This despite the fact that such an app launched on day one with the iPhone, fourteen years ago. And despite the fact that a Weather widget, made by Apple, has existed for a few years now. With iPad OS 15, that widget is getting the same upgrade that it got in iOS 14. That is, it’s moving to the home screens of millions of devices.

OK, sounds good, a weather widget on the Home Screen, what’s not to like?

And when they click on it, they’ll see… this bullshit.

Pausing so you can follow the link.

Honestly, it’s embarrassing. Apple has outsourced its soul to an absolutely awful weather.com webpage. On load, you’ll see crappy ad after crappy ad. Keep scrolling and you’ll quickly be subsumed by shitty click-bait-y ads. “Kill the Goblin!” And go further still and it’s full-on porn-y spam. Apple is sending millions upon millions of their users to this experience. Apple!

And:

That default Weather widget is about to land on tens of millions of iPad screens with the launch of iPad OS 15 this fall. And with that, Apple will be sending tens of millions of dollars (maybe more?) indirectly to weather.com — which, incidentially is now owned by IBM. Insert the Steve Jobs giving the finger image here.

Just for you, M.G., here’s that famous photo.

Side note: The photo was taken by Jean Pigozzi, and shared with Andy Hertzfeld, who shared it with the world.

Is weather.com paying for this placement on iPad? Why is the iPhone weather experience so different from iPad? Have long wondered this. Anyone know the real scoop?

Bradley Chambers, 9to5Mac:

While Apple does allow you to create shared albums in iCloud Photos, it doesn’t allow a way for families to create a single library for all of their family photos or even easily give another person access to copy photos to their own library. For many people, the iPhone is their primary camera, and therefore Apple needs a way to help families unify their photo library.

Shared albums do exist, but the photos are not original quality and videos are length limited. Not the same thing as a family member seeing what I see.

Google solves this problem with something they call Partner Sharing:

You can share photos of specific people or share photos from a specific date onward. Photos will be shared automatically as they are backed up to your account.

If you read the Google tech note, you’ll see it’s not perfect, but it does allow more automated sharing of original content than Apple. And I stress the word automated.

I’d love a set it and forget it approach that let my wife’s iPhone photos make their way into my stream, giving us a single family album to search and look back on.

Nice writeup, Bradley.

CNBC:

South Korea’s parliament has approved a bill that will make it the first country to impose curbs on Google and Apple’s payment policies that force developers to only use the tech giants’ proprietary billing systems.

And:

The bill, approved Tuesday, means that developers will be able to avoid paying commission to major app store operators — like Google and Apple — by directing users to pay via alternate platforms.

And Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives:

“It’s a potential watershed moment,” Ives said on CNBC’ “Street Signs Asia” on Monday ahead of the decision in Seoul. “Not necessarily for what this means in itself, but for the ripple effect as it shows that they’re not just words, but actually actions.”

This bill may likely have a relatively small direct impact on Apple’s App Store revenues, but the indirect impact may be huge, if other countries follow suit.

Joanna Stern, Wall Street Journal, on her water damaged MacBook Pro:

See, with no AppleCare+ to cover accidental damage, Apple said it would repair the machine in five to seven days…for $999. Nearly its original price! The Apple Genius said buying a new laptop would probably make more sense. Then I brought it to an independent repair shop. It was fixed within a day…for $325.

It’s exactly what Apple and various tech companies don’t want you to do. It’s exactly what proponents of the “Right to Repair” want to make it easier to do.

Watch the video, embedded below.

From Benjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac, yesterday:

In an investor note, Ming-Chi Kuo today said that he expects the upcoming iPhone 13 models to feature a low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellite communication mode. This would allow an iPhone 13 user to send messages and make phone calls, even when they are not within standard 4G/5G cell tower coverage.

And today, from Juli Clover, reporting on this paywalled Bloomberg article:

There are at least two emergency features that will rely on satellite networks, and while satellite technology has been in the works for years, these capabilities are not likely to launch in 2021.

The first feature, Emergency Message via Satellite, is designed to let users text emergency services and contacts using a satellite network when there is no signal available, and it will be integrated into the Messages app as a third communications protocol alongside SMS and iMessage. It will feature gray message bubbles rather than green or blue, and message length will be restricted.

And:

The second feature will let users report major emergencies like plane crashes and fires using satellite networks. It will be similar to a “911” call in the U.S. and can provide information like a user’s location and medical ID, in addition to alerting emergency contacts.

Sounds like this will be built into the iPhone 13 hardware, not intended as an alternative to traditional carriers, and those grey bubbles won’t roll out until next year.

José Adorno, 9to5Mac, quoting this Billboard Pro post:

Those numbers make Donda Apple Music’s third-most streamed album ever in the first 24 hours of release, and it set another record by topping Apple Music’s top albums charts in 152 countries in that time span.

And:

According to the magazine, West also became Apple Music’s most-streamed artist and took 19 of the top 20 spots on the streaming service’s Daily Top 100 Global songs chart.

Here’s a link to Donda on Apple Music.