U.S. suppliers may have trouble making custom screws for Apple products, but other components can be manufactured without issue.
macOS 10.14.4 Brings Safari Automatic Dark Mode
macOS 10.14.4 will bring automatic Dark Mode to Safari. This means that if a website offers a dark theme, it will automatically be enabled.
What Mark Zuckerberg Really Meant in his Wall Street Journal Piece
There has been a lot of reaction to *that* Mark Zuckerberg piece in the Wall Street Journal last week. The Facebook CEO and founder tried to allay users’ fears about how the service uses their data. TMO’s Andrew Orr described it as “tone deaf,” which seems pretty on the money to me. Kara Swisher used her New York Times column Friday to rewrite the column and explain to readers what Zuckerberg really mean. Not surprisingly, it is funny, cutting, and well worth a read.
The post was essentially the greatest hits that we have heard Mr. Zuckerberg sing for a while now. He focused on the enormous advertising system that powers Facebook, while ignoring almost entirely the news from the last disastrous year, including Russian abuse of the platform, sloppy management of data, recent revelations that the company throws some pretty sharp elbows when it needs to, and more. You kind of get why Mr. Zuckerberg would want to forget it all.
Here's Why iPhone Assembly Doesn't Happen Here
Apple relies on China for a huge part of its manufacturing needs. But why can’t the company bring it back to the United States? Custom screws.
The challenges in Texas illustrate problems that Apple would face if it tried to move a significant amount of manufacturing out of China. Apple has found that no country — and certainly not the United States — can match China’s combination of scale, skills, infrastructure and cost.
Manufacturing and cheap labor are the reasons why Apple and other companies go to China. The GOP can talk about bringing jobs like that back, but it’s not an easy problem to solve.
Roku Channel Adds Premium Subscriptions
The Roku Channel is adding premium subscriptions to its streaming video service. The update adds support for over 25 subscriptions.
UK Health Secretary: Government Could Ban Social Media
Matt Hancock warned social media firms the UK government would legislate, or even ban them, if they did not take action on harmful content following the death of 17-year-old Molly Russell.
iPhone, Apple Watch: The New Tricorder
9to5Mac writes: “Apple has been granted a patent today which illustrates how future products such as iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch could have built-in sensors to detect harmful, poisonous gasses, such as CO…” [and others.] Now we’re getting into Star Trek’s Tricorder territory. I expect these kind of technical advances to continue. Early earthquake warnings?
CuriosityStream 2-Year Subscription: $29.99
We have a deal on a 2-year subscription for CuriosityStream, the streaming and on-demand service with more than 2,000 documentaries and shows. It works in a browser, iOS, Apple TV 4 and above, Android, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Xbox One, and more. It’s $29.99 through our deal.
T-Mobile Hotspot Intended for Rural Customers
It costs US$72 (or finance it) and data plans start at US$10/month for 2GB of data, all the way up to US$85/month for 22GB of data.
Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram to be Integrated
Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zucerkberg plans to integrate Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and, Instagram. A detailed report in the New York Times said that the move could happen at the end of 2019 or 2020. Mr. Zuckerberg reportedly wants all the services to use end-to-end encryption. It would mean that a user with a Messenger account, could send an encrypted message to a user with just a WhatsApp account, for instance.
By stitching the apps’ infrastructure together, Mr. Zuckerberg wants to increase the utility of the social network, keeping its billions of users highly engaged inside its ecosystem. If people turn more regularly to Facebook-owned properties for texting, they may forgo rival messaging services, such as those from Apple and Google, said the people, who declined to be identified because the moves are confidential. If users interact more frequently with Facebook’s apps, the company may also be able to build up its advertising business or add new services to make money, they said.
