Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2017/07/friday-morning-news210717/
Following proposed laws in Australia which would allow companies access to encrypted messages (or at least the ability to decrypt them), Apple has sent its top privacy advocates to discuss the issue with Australian Governor General George Brandis and senior staff. Good guy Apple has consistently lobbied for privacy and encryption across all of their platforms, even though it’s unclear what the proposed laws would compel tech companies to do.
Apple sees China as such an important part of its business that Apple’s Chinese operations now have their own Managing Director. Isabel Ge Mahe is the first VP and Managing Director of Apple’s business in Greater China, reporting directly to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Apple COO Jeff Williams.
Speaking of China, Apple is rumoured to be working with China’s largest battery maker to make electric car batteries. Reports claim CATL is working with Apple to produce car batteries for a secretive project, even though the last we heard, Apple’s electric car program was up in the air.
While a previous rumour claimed Samsung would be returning to produce iPhone chips next year, a follow-up rumour now says TSMC will be the sole supplier of iPhone chips next year. Supplier diversity is always something Apple is interested in, but it’ll be interesting to see what happens when there’s a more significant performance gap between what TSMC can output compared to Apple’s other manufacturing partners.
An update to Apple’s Clips app adds Disney and Pixar content, letting you include Mickey and friends in any of your animated shorts. There’s a few new usability improvements included in the update, and Apple also announced that Clips will soon be installed by default on iOS devices, either with yesterday’s iOS 10.3.3 update or with iOS 11.
Carrier billing for the App Store has made the leap to Denmark, Hong Kong, and Sweden. It’s anyone’s guess when we’ll see this in Australia, surely if there was some financial benefit to telcos, we’d already have it.
Drone footage of Apple Park is set to become more and more scarce, but not because the finishing touches are being put on Apple’s futuristic spaceship campus. Apple is reportedly cracking down on drone pilots in the area, hiring security to stop drone pilots from performing flyovers, even though there currently isn’t a no-fly zone over the area.
Glenn Fleishman breaks down the typographical differences between a dash, en, and em-dash, explaining that iOS 11’s smart punctuation coverts double-dashes to an en-dash, when it should really be an em-dash. Also, I had no idea there were usage differences in Australia compared the US.
If you’re looking something to play this weekend and are a fan of the Professor Layton series on the 3DS, the seventh title in the series is now available. Layton’s Mystery Journey debuts on iOS before its English-version counterpart does on the 3DS outside of Japan, and while it’s not cheap at $24.99 on the Australian App Store, it’s also a game that would normally set you back at least twice that on the 3DS.
