Apple gets working on iOS workplace workability, while the U.S. Senate mulls rolling back net neutrality protections. All that and more in The Daily Crunch for March 23, 2017. And if Instagram hurts your precious peepers and delicate sensibilities, I have good news for you. 1. Apple acquires Workflow iOS automation app Apple has acquired Workflow, a tool for iOS that lets you string together commands across apps and services to make it easier to do complex workflows (get it!) on iPads and iPhones. It's a sign that the company is serious about iOS as a productivity tool. Workflow got some love at the Apple Design Awards at WWDC in 2015, which just goes to show that Apple tips its hand sometimes regarding future acquisitions when it's giving out kudos. 2. Senate debates permanent net neutrality rule rollback This administration was never going to be good news for the FCC's protection of net neutrality rules, but it's come to this in a remarkably short time. Trusting the marketplace to protect access seems short-sighted. 3. What's up with the airline laptop ban? Why did the U.S. ban laptops and tablets from specific airports and airlines from majority Muslim countries? Frederic breaks it down, including some of the reasons why the claims of intelligence causes don't add up. 4. Medium asks users for some cash Blogging platform Medium has revealed its new business model, which is a subscription plan that asks for $5 per month (special introductory pricing, full price TBD) in exchange for a new reading experience, some exclusive articles and... not much else. It'll honestly be a tough sell, but maybe more than a few people will be interested – for the love of content. 5. This robot fruit is not delicious I kind of want to eat this robot fruit even though that's not what it's for. It's actually for tracking how voyages for shipments of fruit go, in order to help prevent bruising and damage en route. But it's possible eating one will make you a cyborg. 6. Nintendo offers fix for non-problem Joy-Con problem When is a manufacturing problem not a problem? When Nintendo says it isn't, despite the fact that it'll fix the things if you have the issue and call them to let them know. At least there's a fix. 7. Instagram gets a bit more sensitive Instagram wants its image to be squeaky clean, for users and for advertisers, so its new practice of blurring photos that don't violate its terms of service, but that might rub some viewers the wrong way, seems like an attempt by the network to have its cake and eat it too. |