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Gen Z: "If you don't have an iPhone it's kind of frowned upon."

Andrew Orr ·

The iPhone is the most popular device with Gen Z, the generation coming after millennials. Specifically, teens these days use iPhones so that no one is left out of iMessage group chats. Business Insider also found that iPhone ownership has created a “culture of multitasking” which I agree with, but I don’t think it’s limited to iPhones.

Some experts blame the rise of smartphones — and especially the iPhone — for fueling a pervasive culture of multitasking. Teens who spoke with Business Insider said they recognized that multitasking was not efficient. “It doesn’t really work out that well,” Jimenez said, acknowledging that she does it anyway. Experts say that trying to process two or more things at once may not even really be possible.

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How Apple Defied Gravity in AirPods Ad

Charlotte Henry ·

Apple’s new AirPods ad, Bounce, is a typically beautiful, artistic, creative, offering from the company and its ad agency TBWA\Media Arts Lab. AdWeek told the story of how the gravity-defying clip was created.

To achieve the trampoline effect on a sidewalk, the set was crafted six feet above the floor of the soundstage, enabling the talent to bounce deep into the ground for maximum lift. The talent, by the way, is a French actor chosen in part for having trampoline experience—but he’s not an acrobat or professional dancer, as the ad’s creative team wanted a lead who moved in a natural way rather than with otherworldly grace. The ad’s most impressive moment, when the star tumbles off a bench and into a wall behind him, was also achieved with practical effects. The scene was first shot right-side-up, then the set was Ad 90 degrees, allowing the actress in the scene to keep sitting (really lying on her back) while the star fell backward to bounce off what appears to be a wall.

Podcast

Founder, Bombich Software, Mike Bombich (#2) - TMO Background Mode Interview

John Martellaro · · 3 Comments

Mike Bombich is the founder and president of Bombich Software, the developer of Carbon Copy Cloner. That’s a backup app for the Mac that has saved the day for many users. He’s a former Apple employee.

In this timely post-WWDC show, Mike joins me to explain the structure of APFS drives and the new read-only System files in macOS Catalina. He explained new features of volumes in macOS 10.15, especially how the System is isolated from the Data volume (which contains /Users). He also explained the new firmlinks that tie these two volumes together, making them appear as one. Finally, Mike explained how Carbon Copy Cloner external drives can no longer be HFS+ in Catalina but must become APFS.

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Apple Catalyst Team Explains How it Works

Andrew Orr ·

Ars Technica spoke with members of the Apple Catalyst team to find out how it works and how it will affect the Mac ecosystem.

Apple seeks to funnel some of its success with the iOS App Store over to macOS using Catalyst. We’ll go over how developers use what Apple has built step-by-step, as well as what challenges they faced. And we’ll share Apple’s answers to our questions about how the company plans to maintain a high standard of quality for Mac apps as an influx of mobile-derived apps hits the platform, what Apple’s long-term plans for cross-platform apps across the entire ecosystem look like, and more.

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A Cashless Society Could Affect Strippers and Other Sex Workers

Andrew Orr ·

I’ve written musings here and there about the cashless society, but sex work as an affected industry hadn’t crossed my mind. I think it’s an important conversation to have, though. I wonder what an alternative could be? Special jewelry with NFC chips that can accept peer-to-peer payments? Imagine tipping a stripper with Apple Pay. Sorry Tim Cook.

But without cash, the club I work at is free to exploit. Cash handed directly to a dancer gets pocketed, but credit card charges are skimmed—and because workers are more or less off the books, we have no recourse to contest absurdly high fees. When a customer pays several hundred dollars to spend time in a dark room alone with a dancer, the club takes a 70 percent cut.