Details on Apple’s New Subscription Podcasts

Nathan Gathright: I read through the “Apple Podcasters Program Agreement” and related documentation so you don’t have to. Here’s a thread of 11 things that caught my eye that I hadn’t seen mentioned anywhere else. […] 10. 💸 Just like the App Store, Apple owns the customer relationship and can choose to offer a refund if they decide you...

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‘The Fine Print: What Apple Didn’t Talk About’

Dan Moren has a good rundown of some details from today’s announcements: An AirTag that has been separated from its owner for a long period of time will make an audible noise when it’s moved, as part of a privacy feature to let you know there’s a tag present. You can reset an AirTag by tapping with an iPhone or “NFC-capable device” — strange...

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Hacking McDonald’s Notoriously Finicky Ice Cream Machines

Andy Greenberg, writing for Wired: Of all the mysteries and injustices of the McDonald’s ice cream machine, the one that Jeremy O’Sullivan insists you understand first is its secret passcode.Much crazier story than you’d think.(Here’s a cached version that gets you around Wired’s odious paywall and super-annoying animated ads.) ★ 

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[Sponsor] Tom Bihn: Big Restock Coming Thursday

13 different bags including the popular Synik 30 backpack and Monster Truck tote will be restocked on 4/22 at 7:00am. What’s with the restock, you may ask? At any given time, some TOM BIHN bags are sold out / in production, and here’s why: a control-freak level of quality, cut and sewn in Seattle in small batches, and, as a Certified B Corporation,...

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‘A Very Good Weird’: Israel Drops Outdoor COVID Mask Order

Dan Williams, reporting for Reuters: Israelis went about barefaced on Sunday after the order to wear masks outdoors was rescinded in another step towards relative normality thanks to the country’s mass-vaccination against COVID-19. With about 81% of citizens or residents over 16 - the age group eligible for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine...

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More on Eliminating Outdoor Mask Mandates

Dr. Paul E. Sax, writing for the New England Journal of Medicine’s Journal Watch: But what about the community solidarity engendered by wearing a mask outside in public? Isn’t this worth something? A way of showing that I’m 100% part of Team Mask? Maybe — certainly there’s a strong component of this messaging among the highly adherent...

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Apple TV+ Original Content Quality

José Adorno, writing for 9to5Mac: A new study reveals that Apple TV+ has the highest-quality content when compared to Netflix, HBO Max, Prime Video, Disney+, and Hulu. The analysis from Self Financial uses IMDb scores with US customer data. The study found that although Apple TV+ had the highest average IMDb score for its titles...

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Irrational COVID Fears

Good column by David Leonhardt for The New York Times today: “We’re not going to get to a place of zero risk,” Jennifer Nuzzo, a Johns Hopkins epidemiologist, told me during a virtual Times event last week. “I don’t think that’s the right metric for feeling like things are normal.” After Nuzzo made that point, Dr. Ashish Jha of...

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Apple Is Allowing Parler Back on the App Store

Brian Fung, reporting for CNN: The letter — addressed to Sen. Mike Lee and Rep. Ken Buck and obtained by CNN — explained that since the app was removed from Apple’s platform in January for violations of its policies, Parler “has proposed updates to its app and the app’s content moderation practices.” On April 14, Apple’s app review...

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Derek Thompson on Wearing Face Masks Outdoors

Derek Thompson, writing for The Atlantic: But as more and more of the population is vaccinated, governments need to give Americans an off-ramp to the post-pandemic world. Ending outdoor mask mandates — or at the very least telling people when they can expect outdoor mask mandates to lift — is a good place to start, for a few reasons. Requiring...

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