Welcome to the 84th issue of Mobile Apps News!
Hope you are healthy and safe!
I hope you’ll enjoy this newsletter and spread the word to your friends and colleagues.
This issue includes news of:
A music streaming app that uses blockchain (Audius )
Several stories about new iOS 15 features.
Though-provoking articles like this one: Facebook Banned Me for Life Because I Help People Use It Less.
There’s a job opening at my workplace for a technology department head, see Univ. of Arizona Libraries: Technology Strategy & Services Dept. Head.
(Please spread the word to your colleagues!)Tips, accessibility, pandemic news, remote work, and articles about the future
️ ❤️ Enjoy! (And if you like this issue, please “heart” it and share it - thanks!)
📱Apps
Apple Acquires Classical Music Service Primephonic, Will Launch Dedicated Classical Music App - MacRumors
What Is Audius? The Music Streaming App That Supports Artists - MakeUseOf
Also see: Katy Perry, Nas, and Jason Derulo Are Investing Big in a Spotify Rival - Rolling Stone
“Audius is not only using the blockchain to add potentially significant revenue streams for artists, but it also allows them to cooperatively own the platform itself.”
✅ App lists
Best iPad task management apps: iPad/iPhone Apps AppGuide - AppAdvice
Top Apps For Incredible Hiking Adventures - Travel Off Path
7 Best Language-Learning Apps for Casual & Serious Students - iPhone Life
Best Autism apps - Laptop Mag
🆕 App & hardware updates
Apple Announces Details of Storing State IDs in Wallet - TidBITS
You won’t have to hand over your phone. The info will be transmitted, similar to ApplePay.Hot New Features in Safari in iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 - TidBITS
The Macworld iOS 15 superguide: Tips, how-tos, bug fixes, and more - MacWorld
Redesigned iPad mini 6 available to order now - MacRumors
The iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini are Apple’s new mid-tier flagship iPhones - MacRumors
📚 My offerings
How to Write Effective Content for Websites and Email - Webinar, Oct. 27, 2021 - NEFLIN
Ebooks: Best Podcasts: Technology and Society
See the whole set of ebooks: Best Podcasts for Diverse Audiences
New job listing: Univ. of Arizona Libraries: Technology Strategy & Services Dept. Head
Join us! Salary range is in the listing. Learn more about the department: TESS. Please forward to your colleagues who may be interested.
🤪 Just for fun
Hilarious Museum Face Swaps That Are True Works of Art - LiveAboutdotcom
Mematic app review: create the next viral memes from your iOS device 2021 - App Picker
☑︎ Tips
40 One-Sentence Email Tips - Josh Spector
Digitize Any Text with Live Text in iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 - TidBITS
and iOS 15: How to use the awesome new Live Text feature - Macworld
Useful feature!The Ultimate Guide to Microphones for Academics, Scientists, and Educators in 2021 — Echo Rivera
Good advice. I like and use the mic she recommends.
It’s Time to Stop Paying for a VPN - New York Times
I still pay for one, but I moved from ExpressVPN to Mullvad VPN. To learn why, see The Best VPN Service.How to Find Lost iPhone: Dead, Offline, Turned Off, or Otherwise (iOS 15 Update) - iPhone Life
♿ Accessibility
To hell with unreadable, low-contrast texts! - Contract Rebellion
Good site about color contrast for web design.Death by a Thousand Words: COVID-19 and the Pandemic of Ableist Media - Refinery 29
PDF: Still Unfit for Human Consumption, 20 Years Later - Nielsen Norman Group
RT @CaseyPeroni: An office environment by its nature discriminates. Some.. disabled people, single parents, long distance commuters all face an up hill battle before, during & after work to differing degrees. WFH is not a privilege it’s a game charger to level inequality at work.
🤔 Thought-provoking
Crowds can wise up to fake news - MIT News on SoundCloud
“A new study by MIT researchers suggests an alternate approach: Crowdsourced accuracy judgements from groups of normal readers can be virtually as effective as the work of professional fact-checkers.”
Universities Say They Want More Diverse Faculties. So Why Is Academia Still So White? - FiveThirtyEight
“It’s a problem that academia — like the rest of American society — doesn’t like to acknowledge: Academia has a problem with race.”
Online students engage more in lectures than physical attendees - Phys.org
“The students express that it is easier to ask questions like, 'how exactly does it affect the molecule?' in a chat than in a physical space, where students don't want to be pegged as the 'he or she that asked the dumb question'.”
Meet the Self-Hosters, Taking Back the Internet One Server at a Time - Vice
“Tired of Big Tech monopolies, a community of hobbyists is taking their digital lives off the cloud and onto DIY hardware that they control.”
The extreme right’s favorite web provider just got hacked - Mother Jones
“Epik, the domain registrar known for hosting far-right websites and social media services, was recently hacked, according to a release from someone claiming to be associated with the online collective known as Anonymous.”
File not found: A generation that grew up with Google is forcing professors to rethink their lesson plans - The Verge
“But it may also be that in an age where every conceivable user interface includes a search function, young people have never needed folders or directories for the tasks they do.” I found this fascinating.
What Happened to Facebook, Instagram, & WhatsApp? – Krebs on Security
About the October 4th outage — by one of my favorite security experts. Includes some interesting comments.
Facebook Banned Me for Life Because I Help People Use It Less - Slate
Worth reading — very interesting.
Adjusting the focus - Material Design
Making design more inclusive.
😷 Pandemic
Looking through the COVID fog: Toward resilient, reimagined libraries - College & Research Libraries News
What to know about storing ‘verifiable’ COVID vaccine records in your Apple Wallet - Mashable
The Unvaccinated May Not Be Who You Think - Zeynep Tufekci in the New York Times
Excellent. Covers several issues around vaccine hesitancy (such as fear of needles) that are not being discussed much elsewhere.Why Some Experts Think Nasal Sprays Are the Best Approach for COVID-19 Vaccines - Healthline
A daily pill to treat COVID could be just months away, scientists say - PBS News Hour
Denmark appears to have beaten covid-19 — for now. Here’s how it did it - Washington Post
💻 Remote work
Is Going to the Office a Broken Way of Working? - The New Yorker
How We Work Without Meetings at Levels - Levels on Medium
Redesign your live meeting agenda doc with these templates - Reynolds Journalism Institute, Univ. of Missouri
Why ‘Work from Anywhere’ Works for Refugees - Reasons to Be Cheerful
🤖 The future
Gartner releases its 2021 emerging tech hype cycle: Here’s what’s in and headed out - ZDNet
Tiny Lasers Could Finally Bring Us Really Smart AR Glasses - IEEE Spectrum
Why the ‘metaverse’ will prove to be more than a buzzword - Fast Company
Quantum computing will take off ‘like a rocket ship’ this decade - Fast Company