The Health-Data-Audit Edition Sunday, November 17, 2019
Texas Dad Says Apple Watch Changed The Life Of His Son With Autism: 'We Had Tried Everything', by Rachel DeSantis, People
Sam, 21, is on the autism spectrum, and though he's the epitome of a social butterfly — "People just fall in love with him," Scott tells PEOPLE — he's long struggled with an exceptionally loud speaking voice.
"He just never had the ability to modulate it," says Scott, 59. "For years we've been struggling with this, since he started talking… and the voice level is really, really, really loud."
Sam is initially responsive when asked to use his "inside voice," but the fix is only temporary, and soon, his noise levels rise once again.
How To Lock Down Your Health And Fitness Data, by David Nield, Wired
While you unfortunately can't control where all of your health information goes—as a Google partnership with Ascension, the nation's second-largest health system, has unfortunately proved—you can still dedicate a few minutes to health data audit, making sure your calorie burns and step counts are completely private. Or if not, that they're only shared by choice.
It shouldn't take long, and it follows the same principles as any other data privacy audit: Check which data is being collected, which parts of it are public, and how many of your apps can access to it.
We can't cover every single fitness app out there, but these are the main players. If you're using something else, you should be able to use a similar process to check what information is being logged and how it's being used.
Firefox's Fight For The Future Of The Web, by Alex Hern, The Guardian
Baker's pitch is that only Mozilla is motivated, first and foremost, to make using the web a pleasurable experience. Google's main priority is to funnel user data into the enormous advertising engine that accounts for most of its revenue. Apple's motivation is to ensure that customers continue to buy a new iPhone every couple of years and don't switch to Android.
"Apple's stance is 'you should trust us and we're different and better,'" says Baker. "I believe that's a serious commitment right now at Apple. And that works – as long as everything that you want and need is OK coming through Apple and you can pay for it all. But the minute there's something heterogeneous, or there's something that doesn't fit with Apple, or there's something new, then you're out of luck.
"Even if you do download a replacement, iOS drops you back into the default. I don't know why that's acceptable. Every link you open on a phone is the choice of the phone maker, even if you, as a user, want something else.
The Apple Watch Series 5 Is My First Smartwatch And I'm Glad I Got It, by John Lim, Mashable
When matched, the Apple Watch and the iPhone form into one being. Everything - from app integration to pinging information between both - is natural and easy. It's not surprising to know some might buy an iPhone just to get the full Apple Watch experience. It's all part of Apple's ecosystem, a well-oiled machine comprising of parts moving in unison.
NoiseBuddy: Control Noise Cancellation And Transparency Modes Of AirPods Pro On A Mac, by John Voorhees, MacStories
Earlier this week, Guilherme Rambo released a new Mac utility called NoiseBuddy that toggles between the noise cancellation and Transparency modes of AirPods Pro and the Beats Solo Pro headphones when they're connected to a Mac.
Sayonara Wild Hearts Is Apple Arcade's Wildest Ride, by Ed Hardy, Cult of Mac
The look of Sayonara Wild Hearts reminds me of some of the classic arcade titles of days gone by, with elements of Tempest and Zaxxon blended with a racing game to create something beautiful.
It's A Disservice To Urge Young People To Become Entrepreneurs, by Jeffrey A. Tucker, AIER
The legend of the twenty-something business wunderkind is everywhere in pop culture.
Here's the problem. The data are in. It turns out that the whole thing is a gigantic myth.
Young founders of businesses fail, almost certainly, and at a much greater rate that people who are much older, wiser, more skilled, and more knowledgeable about the industry. It turns out that succeeding in business is extremely difficult. It takes maturity above all else to achieve it.
Shouldn't Entertainment Brand Names Be … Entertaining?, by Jake Hancock, VentureBeat
A primary objective of a name that reinforces the parent brand is to help customers understand what it is and where it fits within the existing portfolio of products. This is where conventions like +, Max, and Go are falling short.
Creating a strong descriptive name is one of the hardest creative challenges. To start, brands must free themselves of the need to create something distinctive with every new offering. The question shouldn't be "what's the flashiest name for this offering." Rather, marketers should ask, "how can this name best help consumers engage with our brand?" CBS All Access and Showtime Anytime are a couple of examples of apps that describe intuitive benefits within their names, all while reinforcing the brand at the heart.
Linkfire Strikes Apple Music Deal To Provide Artists Additional Streaming Data, by Chris Eggertsen, Billboard
Music marketing firm Linkfire has struck a deal with Apple Music to provide artists with additional attribution data from the streaming service, according to a new post on the company's website.
"Discover which of your links, channels, and activities are actually driving streams on Apple Music, and where those streams are coming from," the post reads. "You can now match your off-platform campaigns with on-platform behavior and cut down on budget burners."