Starting with watchOS 8, Apple introduced a new accessibility feature called Assistive Touch. The cool thing about this feature is that it allows you to control the watch via gestures and your arm movements. Meaning, now you don’t even need to touch the Apple Watch screen to use it.
And:
Using on-device machine learning, the feature makes use of the watch’s accelerometer, gyroscope, and optical heart rate sensor to read how your muscles and tendons move. The result is that the watch can tell when you’re pinching your fingers or clenching your fists. You can also enable a motion-based cursor that works like a mini-mouse when you tilt your arm.
Great post, love the animated GIFs that show various gestures at work.
This appears to be a cause for celebration in right-to-repair circles, but I don’t see it as a big deal at all. Almost no one wants to repair their own cracked iPhone display or broken MacBook keyboard; even fewer people are actually competent enough to do so.
Not sure how big the audience for right-to-repair is, but I do count myself in its number. And if it was easier to do, I suspect that number would be much larger. Imagine if repairing a cracked display was a simple, five minute operation. Wouldn’t you rather order the new display and make the swap yourself?
It used to be relatively easy to customize and repair your gear. As parts have given way to part assemblies (glued/soldered assemblies that become a single replaceable requirement, even if a single part fails) and the quest for smaller makes devices harder to open, harder to take apart, the ability to repair your own gear has become harder, almost impossible.
So those small numbers John points out are real. But should this be the way it is? Again, wouldn’t you love the ability to swap out a display as easily as you used to be able to swap out RAM on your old Macs?
More from Gruber:
Nothing announced today changes the fact that Apple still requires Apple genuine parts for all authorized repairs, no matter who does the repairing.
Yup.
Today’s announcement, to my eyes, is about nothing more than reducing regulatory pressure from legislators who’ve fallen for the false notion that Apple’s repair policies, to date, have been driven by profit motive — that Apple profits greatly from authorized repairs, and/or that their policies are driven by a strategy of planned obsolescence, to get people to buy new products rather than repair broken old ones.
Going into an Apple Store with a problem has never felt like a money grab scheme to me. I’ve always felt like the support staff wants me to leave satisfied. If they can find a way to get me a fix without spending money, they’ll do so. But when there’s no way but to replace a parts assembly for $900 on an out-of-AppleCare device, that’s what they do.
Don’t get me wrong: this program is nice, and perhaps a bit surprising given Apple’s public stance on the issue in recent years. We’re better off with this Self Service Repair program in place than we were without it. (Making service manuals available might actually help extend the lifetime of older devices for which Apple no longer sells parts.) But to me it clearly seems to be a small deal, not a “big deal”, as Chen claims.
I agree. It’s a big deal for folks who want to do their own repairs, but for the vast majority, it doesn’t change a thing.
Questions: Will Apple expand the parts they offer for Self Repair beyond those offered in their existing Independent Repair Provider program. For example, will we be able to repair, say, charging ports? Might we be able to buy parts for our devices and bring the part and device to an independent repair shop (perhaps bringing the shop a part they cannot get from Apple)?
If you follow the Right to Repair movement, you are certainly familiar with Louis Rossman. He’s made passing Right to Repair legislation his life’s work.
As you are no doubt aware, yesterday Apple announced their Self Service Repair program. Louis Rossman’s take on the program, laced with a healthy dose of skepticism, is embedded below.
In a nutshell, Louis lays out his issues with Apple’s existing Independent Repair Provider program, and expresses concern that this new Self Service Repair program will suffer from those same issues. If you care about Right to Repair, take the time to watch the video. Louis does make his case about the IRP program pretty clearly.
And he does make this statement:
Do this right, and we can start from scratch, let bygones be bygones, and I will give you all the credit in the world. No shade. I am serious. I have no problem giving Apple credit. Do this right. If they do this right, I will buy and use a Macbook as my daily driver. Not even meming.
I do not see the same downsides in this new program, which is focused on individuals and not shops. No inventory issues (repair shops need to stock parts which, according to Louis, Apple prevents), since individuals will just order what they need. And waiting for a part is no different than waiting for Apple to ship out your device, and does not require a trip to the Apple Store.
One question that Louis does raise, that we won’t know for some time, is how granular a repair Apple’s new program will allow. Can I order just the part I need (say, a $100 MacBook LED display vs a $900 display assembly)? If so, that would be a home run for do-it-yourselfers.
Back in August, Apple said that it would pay out $100 million and make several changes to the App Store to settle a class-action lawsuit brought about by developers, and the settlement offer received preliminary approval yesterday
How much will developers get?
Developers who earned $1 million or less through the U.S. storefront for their apps in every calendar year between June 4, 2015 and April 26, 2021 can receive between $250 and $30,000.
Sounds like a floor of $250. Not nothing.
As to the timing?
Going forward, briefs, papers, and memoranda in support of the final approval of the settlement must be filed by April 29, 2022, and a Fairness and Final Approval Hearing will take place on June 7, 2022. If and when final approval is granted, developers will begin to receive money from Apple.
Apple yesterday released the third developer and public betas of iOS 15.2, and in addition to the changes reported yesterday, the update also includes a notable tweak to the Music application. For the first time, you can now search within a playlist for a specific song.
This does deserve a “finally”. Especially if you put effort into building a playlist of favorites that you listen to regularly.
In typical Apple fashion, the search bar is hidden within the user interface. To find the new search field, open a playlist in the Music app on your iPhone, then swipe down from the top to reveal the new “Search” field.
That pulldown to reveal the search bar is low discoverability but, to be fair, it is a device used pretty consistently throughout iOS.
