Originally published at: https://appletalk.com.au/2018/12/tuesday-morning-news181218/
One of the more recent class-action lawsuits against Apple argues that Apple’s monopoly over the App Store allows it to overcharge customers for apps, thanks to the 30% cut that Apple receives from every app sale and in-app purchase. As explained by Ars Technica, one of Apple’s arguments that could potentially derail the entire thing is a ruling from 1977 that says only a company’s direct customers can sue for antitrust violations, and with Apple claiming that app sales are between developers and their customers, you can kind of see where the company is going with this, even if it is a little confusing.
Time’s list of the best iPhone and Android apps of 2018 tells us about the apps that you should consider using, if you’re not already. It’s a good list — almost all the apps are ones that you might not pick up on normally, and it’s particularly telling that while all of the apps are available on iOS, only three are available on Android. I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether that’s merely a curious observation or some kind of commentary on the state of mobile platforms as we head into 2019.
MacStories has something similar, with the best new apps, app updates, and games of 2018. The highlights include Agenda, a powerful date-based note-taking app and HomeRun, the best app for HomeKit, especially if you have an Apple Watch and like triggering scenes from your wrist. The best update was to Things, a GTD-app that has been around for almost as long as the iPhone itself, and Alto’s Odyssey was decided as the best game.
A minor update to iOS is rolling out today, with iOS 12.1.2 fixing issues to do with eSIM activation on the iPhone XS, XS Max, and iPhone XR, as well as addressing potential issues with mobile data connectivity in Turkey for the same devices. It’s unclear whether this is the update that allows Apple to circumvent the latest iPhone sales ban in China, but there’s certainly nothing like that in the release notes.
The Verge reports Apple has hired designer Andrew Kim away from Tesla, and in the context of Tesla’s chief vehicle engineer moving back to Apple, fuels speculation that Apple is once again working on an actual car. Kim’s main claim to fame so far is his work on an updated Microsoft logo and design language, which you might have seen back in 2012, but he’s since worked for both Microsoft and Tesla.
Variety says the Jeremy Lin, director of the Fast and Furious, has signed an agreement to bring his entertainment agency Perfect Storm Entertainment to Apple in a partnership that will see original TV produced for Apple. We’re still in the dark about what plans Apple has for all of these TV shows, but it’s looking more and more like Apple are planning to pull a Netflix and unveil their own library of original programming.
Patent applications by Apple tell us that Apple did theorise putting both Face ID and Touch ID on an iPhone, but that idea quickly went away once the home button was removed from iPhones. The interpretation of the patent text by AppleInsider could be considered a bit of a stretch, as the patent itself only mentions an “alternative form of authentication than that associated with the biometric feature”, which I would think rules out Touch ID, and could simply refer to, say, a passcode, but again, this is all in a patent, so your guess is as good as mine.
9to5Mac documents the history of temporary Apple Stores, whether that’s transitory locations while the main store was being renovated, smaller spaces for construction works, or pop-ups located in US shopping centres.
The Internet Archive has a collection of .WOZ disk images for the Apple II, which you can use and play via their online emulator. Maybe you’ll recognise some of these titles, but otherwise it’s a good reminder of how far we’ve come.
Apple latest video is a six-minute music video from Paul McCartney that is now available to watch exclusively on Apple Music. “Who Cares” calls for an end to bullying, and the idea is that after watching the video, bullying will be the kind of thing you can just laugh and shrug off.
