Khari Johnson writes that in order for Siri Shortcuts to succeed, we can’t have trust issues.

Trust was a central theme at an AI conference held by Affectiva last week in Boston, where the emotion detection company is attempting to remain transparent while powering emotion recognition services in vehicles. Affectiva wants to give in-camera cars the ability to recognize when you’re distracted, tired, or angry, and track people’s emotions.

Trust has never been an issue with Siri. Apple’s privacy protections means that what you ask Siri isn’t associated with your personal identity. Other assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant may be able to do things that Siri can’t. But Siri’s strength is being able to do things without needing to collect your personal data and ship it to “the cloud.”

An emergency physician took to Reddit to explain the Apple Watch ECG and what the FDA approval actually means.

In summary, the new Apple Watch looks like a great tool, but it is not meant to be a medical grade device and not a substitute for medical and professional evaluation in the case of symptoms. Even if your Apple Watch ECG appears totally normal that does not necessarily mean you do not have atrial fibrillation or other cardiac abnormalities.

Basically, I was totally wrong when I wrote about the ECG function. Also, FDA-approved doesn’t mean the Apple Watch is a medical device. It’s in the Class II category which puts it on the same level as condoms and home pregnancy kits. The Verge has details as well.

The EU’s Article 11 and Article 13 have been approved, and critics say they will be catastrophic.

The fallout from this decision will be far-reaching, and take a long time to settle. The directive itself still faces a final vote in January 2019 (although experts say it’s unlikely it will be rejected). After that it will need to be implemented by individual EU member states, who could very well vary significantly in how they choose to interpret the directive’s text.

What I find particularly concerning is something called a “link tax.”  It means there could be a fee on sharing hyperlinks to various news articles online. This is targeted at news aggregators (mainly Google News) because it links to stories with snippets. TechDirt has more information, and there’s a website called SaveTheLink to sign a petition.

I’ve been seeing reports and reading peoples’ experiences today complaining about disappearing iTunes Movies. The reason? The studio behind them is removing them from the Canadian version of the iTunes Store.

As da Silva and others have pointed out before, the “Buy” button in digital stores is, at best, mislabeled. You cannot truly buy any digital thing online; you can only rent it, and any online video store is little more than an expensive, glorified, extremely convenient Blockbuster. In conclusion, let’s go back to DVDs. We have requested comment from Apple and will update if we hear back.

The problem is that digital ownership isn’t the same as physical ownership. Despite using a “Buy” button, it can still be argued that you’re renting it. They can remove your iTunes Movies, but not your physical DVDs.

Under Tim Cook’s leadership, privacy is Apple’s best product.

In 2018, no issue is more important than user privacy–or the lack of it. We’re tracked by private industry on an unprecedented scale…If you want to be part of this world, designed by advertisers and tech giants, you must relinquish your right to privacy…Well, unless you use Apple’s products.

I’ve been banging this drum for a while now. Privacy is the main differentiator between Apple and its competitors. Non-tech people who hold an iPhone Xs and an Android flagship aren’t going to notice differences in screen, CPU speed, camera specs, etc. But if you tell them that Apple products are more private, then you may have sold a product.

Joanna Stern writes about how iOS 12’s Screen Time feature couldn’t cure addiction, specifically smartphone addiction.

Just one little problem: For those of us who compulsively check our phones—sometimes even when watching our children on the playground, or crossing the street—Apple’s lock is like Scotch tape on a pack of cigarettes. If you’re not super addicted, though, there’s hope.

With much respect for Ms. Stern, I hope she didn’t actually set out thinking that Screen Time could cure a smartphone addiction. Apple is many things; a replacement for a licensed psychologist it is not. For more information on smartphone addiction, Psychiatry Advisor has some criteria.