Connected #331: Honey, Did You Put Kickstands on my Yoga Mat? ⇢

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This week on Connected:

The guys review CARROT Weather 5, dream up new health devices for Apple to make and dive into the new iOS 14.5 beta. Also: Myke won’t wear an anklet, Federico has words for certain drivers and Stephen files feedback about the Reminders app.

(It’s Feedback #FB8989457)

On Connected Pro, the longer, ad-free version of the show, Federico updates everyone on Italian political changes before admitting to reading the rules. And apparently, Casey Liss was behaving badly.

My thanks to our sponsors:

  • Squarespace: Make your next move. Enter offer code CONNECTED at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.
  • PDFpen, from Smile: The all-purpose PDF editor for Mac, iPad & iPhone.
  • Mack Weldon: Reinventing men’s basics. Get 20% off your first order with promo code CONNECTED.

70% of Most Active ‘Civic’ Facebook Groups are Terrible Places ⇢

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I think we’ve all known Facebook is a cesspool, but now we have hard numbers, as Kate Cox writes at Ars Technica:

As Facebook scrambles to deal with its most problematic groups in the wake of January’s assault on the US Capitol, a new report finds that leaders inside the company knew as long ago as August that 70 percent of its top “civic” groups had too much hate speech, misinformation, violent rhetoric, or other toxic behavior to be recommended to other users.

Researchers inside the company warned executives months ago that top groups were plagued with misinformation and calls to violence, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. “We need to do something to stop these conversations from happening and growing as quickly as they do,” the researchers wrote in internal documents obtained by the WSJ.

Of the top 100 most-active US civic groups, 70 percent “are considered non-recommendable for issues such as hate, misinfo, bullying, and harassment,” the presentation said. “Our existing integrity systems aren’t addressing these issues.”

Seems about right.

SpaceX Planning to Fly First All-Civilian Mission This Year; Two Seats Donated to St. Jude Backers ⇢

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Darrell Etherington, writing at TechCrunch:

SpaceX has announced its first all-civilian private spaceflight mission, a high-priced galactic tourism launch that it hopes to fly by the fourth quarter of 2021. The mission, which will use SpaceX’s Dragon crew spacecraft and its Falcon 9 rocket, will include Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman, who is CEO of Shift4 Payments, as well as three crew members to be selected and donated by Isaacman, his company and St Jude’s Children Research Hospital. That’s one way to drive product adoption.

The mission is being called Inspiration4, and there’s already a significant digital presence for it, including a website with a countdown timer. Two of the of seats on the four person ride will be donated to St. Jude recipients, with one going to an ambassador for the children’s medical research center, and another going to a member of the public that will be chosen from entrants to an online contest based on either making a donation to St. Jude. The final seat will go to an entrepreneur who builds a business on Shift4’s platform, which enables payments for online stores.

Here’s a bit from SpaceX’s press release:

Isaacman has committed to give $100 million to St. Jude and is inviting everyone to join him in attempting to raise upwards of $200 million or more in support of St. Jude’s multi-billion dollar expansion aimed to accelerate research advancements and save more children worldwide. He will also offer additional support to the St. Jude fundraising effort in the form of other prizes, including flights in a military jet and flight gear.

…and St. Jude’s:

“From the beginning, St. Jude has been at the forefront of innovation and inclusion, leading in cancer research, care and treatment for some of the world’s sickest children regardless of race, ethnicity, beliefs or a family’s ability to pay,” said Richard C. Shadyac, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer of ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude. “This partnership brings two missions together to create one incredible moment in time that will make an impact on many lives for years to come in the global effort to cure childhood cancer.”

This is mind-blowing, and I couldn’t be happier St. Jude is going to part of this amazing mission.

Apple Releases macOS Big Sur 11.2 ⇢

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According to Apple, the update improves Bluetooth reliability and addresses the following issues:

  • External displays may show a black screen when connected to a Mac mini ( M1 , 2020) using an HDMI to DVI converter
  • Edits to Apple ProRAW photos in the Photos app may not save
  • iCloud Drive could turn off after disabling the iCloud Drive Desktop & Documents Folders option
  • System Preferences may not unlock when entering your administrator password
  • Globe key may not display the Emoji & Symbols pane when pressed

It’s available in Software Update now.

Sponsor: TextExpander ⇢

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My devices feel busted without TextExpander, and it helps me sound smarter. In January alone, it corrected “teh” to “the” automatically nearly 200 times.

Take your time back and increase your productivity. 512 Pixels readers get 20% off their first year.

Apple Releases Chrome Extension for iCloud Passwords ⇢

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Sam Byford at The Verge:

Apple has released an official extension for the Windows and Mac versions of Chrome that lets you use passwords stored in your iCloud Keychain. For anyone who uses Chrome as their browser and iCloud Keychain in lieu of a dedicated password manager, this could make bouncing between Windows and Mac computers much easier.

This should make life easier for people using this part of iCloud, but it’s not enough to take me away from 1Password.

Update: It’s been pulled, at least for now.

Mac Power Users #573: Rosemary Orchard Returns ⇢

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This week on the show, the Queen of Automation drops by to talk about her current gear and use of Plex, as well as how she is using HomeKit and managing files.

On More Power Users, they tied me down to talk about iPhone 12 Pro sizes.

My thanks to our sponsors:

  • TextExpander from Smile: Get 20% off with this link and type more with less effort! Expand short abbreviations into longer bits of text, even fill-ins, with TextExpander from Smile.
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Yoink ⇢

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Yoink for Mac improves your workflow by providing a “shelf” for your files and snippets, and with Yoink for iPad and iPhone, you can store anything you can drag, copy, share or download.

It’s a great app that really shines on each platform. My thanks to Yoink for sponsoring 512 Pixels this week.