Senators Introduce COVID-19 Consumer Data Protection Act

Today a group of Republican senators announced plans to introduce the COVID-19 Consumer Data Protection Act.

The legislation would provide all Americans with more transparency, choice, and control over the collection and use of their personal health, geolocation, and proximity data. The bill would also hold businesses accountable to consumers if they use personal data to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

A good move, I think. We need thoughtful legislation passed to preempt the contact tracing train.

SteamVR Drops Support for Mac Customers

Steam announced today that SteamVR is dropping support for macOS so the team can focus on Windows and Linux.

We recommend that macOS users continue to opt into the SteamVR [macos]branches for access to legacy builds.

Users can opt into a branch by right-clicking on SteamVR in Steam, and selecting Properties… -> Betas.

SteamVR first came to the Mac in 2017 when Apple added support for external GPUs. They’re most likely reacting to a lack of interest on the part of users and a lack of commitment on Apple’s part.

The Start-to-Finish Guide to Launching a Successful Podcast Bundle: $44.99

We have a deal on another training bundle for your #stayhome time, the Start-to-Finish Guide to Launching a Successful Podcast Bundle. It features 9 different  courses on creating, producing, and distributing a podcast, including how to conduct an interview, marketing, and more. It has more than 500 lessons and 39 hours of video content. The whole bundle is $44.99 through our deal.

Apple Results Show Reason For Positivity

Lots of Apple watchers think there is plenty to be positive about, following the company’s latest results announcement. Ed Hardy on Cult of Mac outlined his five reasons to be cheerful.

A significant part of the increase in company revenue came from growth in services like the App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade and others. “Our long-running investment in our services strategy is succeeding,” said CEO Tim Cook. “This business is growing and is a reflection of our enduring, large and growing installed base.” The company did not break out how its new video and gaming services are doing from the general increase in revenue.