You can still find Connect content through search results, but Apple will remove artist-submitted posts in May.
Australian CommBank Adding Apple Pay in January
Apple Pay adoption in Australia has been slow because of tough negotiations. However, CommBank will be supporting the payment service starting in January 2019.
Currently you can order and activate a CommBank PayTag for your iPhone with a one-off fee of $2.99. CommBank PayTag is a small sticker, around a third of the size of a credit card. The PayTag is attached to the back of your iPhone, allowing you to make Tap & Pay purchases using your phone.
Apple Orders J.J. Abrams Series Starring Jennifer Garner
Apple gave a straight-to-series order of a show starring Jennifer Garner, and produced by J.J. Abrams called My Glory Was I Had Such Friends.
Giving Up Meat Won't Cure Climate Change
I’ve seen a lot of these headlines. The latest one is from FastCompany: “If these insanely good athletes can give up meat, so can you.” Is that enough to fix climate change? Nope.
The whole point of Markkanen’s campaign with Neste, called #DontChoke, is to ask people to pledge to take simple actions to decrease their personal carbon footprint.
While I don’t doubt that giving up meat would be better, we also need to take a good, hard look at our rich overlords. Example: This study found that 10% of rich people are responsible for 50% of carbon emissions, whereas 50% of poor people are responsible for 10%. Nice symmetry.
The Marvel Series Cancelled by Netflix Won't Be on Disney+ Anytime Soon
Here’s the opening of a detailed story from Variety.
Fans of the Marvel Television series recently canceled by Netflix who hope to see the shows revived on Disney+ may be out of luck.
Sources tell Variety that the deal for the original four Marvel shows includes a clause that prevents the characters from appearing in any non-Netflix series or film for at least two years after cancellation. That means that “Daredevil,” “Luke Cage,” and “Iron Fist” — which were all canceled this year at Netflix — could not come to the Disney streaming service until 2020 at the earliest.
Iron Fist image credit: Marvel.
Djay Moves to Subscription Model
Popluar iOS music app djay moved to a subscription model and simplified how users access it across multiple devices.
The Storyteller's Essential Mac Bundle: $15.99
We have a deal for you on the Storyteller’s Essential Mac Bundle, a collection of apps aimed at storytellers from Mariner Software. It includes Mariner Write, Contour 2, Narrator, Persona, StoryMill, and Montage. Our deal is for $19.99, but coupon code GREENMONDAY20 at checkout brings it down to $15.99.
Someone Built an Unofficial Apple Music Web Player
A software engineer built an unofficial Apple Music web player so that the service can be accessed by Linux users.
Older People are Driving Growth in Wearables
When you think of consumers of wearable technology, the over-55s are not necessarily the demographic that springs to mind. However, Fortune found that health monitoring features such as the Apple Watch’s new ECG app appeal to older people. Consequently, the number of users in that age group is expected to rise faster than the average.
The number of people using smart wearables is expected to grow 9% next year, but among people age 55 and older, it will jump more than 15%, according to research firm eMarketer. The reason is that wearable makers like Apple and Fitbit have been adding health monitoring features that appeal to older consumers. Apple added a fall detection app and an EKG monitor to the Apple Watch Series 4 this year, for example, while Fitbit is adding a feature to detect sleep apnea.
American Flavor GDPR, $100K for your smartphone – TMO Daily Observations 2018-12-13
Dave Hamilton and Andrew Orr join host Kelly Guimont to discuss new consumer privacy legislation and a contest to give up your smartphone.