AP Tests Being Rejected Over HEIC Images⇢

Monica Chin, at The Verge:

Nick Bryner, a high school senior in Los Angeles, had just completed his AP English Literature and Composition test last week. But when he snapped a photo of a written answer with his iPhone and attempted to upload it to the testing portal, it stopped responding.

The website got stuck on the loading screen until Bryner’s time ran out. Bryner failed the test. He’s retaking it in a few weeks.

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Face Mask Emojis⇢

Pat Dryburgh:

I wasn’t surprised to find that there is currently only one Emoji that includes a visible medical face mask. However, I was sad to see that the expression on the faces of every version of this Emoji looked rather gloomy.

No doubt when this emoji was first introduced, face masks in Western society were primarily worn by professionals or those under medical care. However, we have since joined our brothers and sisters in places where medical face masks are worn by everyone and as some people have pointed out, this makes communicating emotions through facial expressions really tough.

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Connected #295: Another Italian Interjected⇢

This week on Connected:

Follow-up. Microsoft has reinvented OpenDoc. A conversation about watchOS 7. Follow-up. Microsoft has reinvented OpenDoc. A conversation about watchOS 7. Follow-up. OpenDoc. watchOS 7. Are you getting it? These are not three separate episodes … this is one episode, and we’re calling it “Another Italian Interjected.”

Also: Myke had an accident, I had to stop the show for a few minutes and Federico learned about a feature on the Apple Watch.

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AT&T Doubles Down on "5G E" Badging⇢

Nick Statt at The Verge:

AT&T’s actual 5G network is rolling out to major parts of the US this year, but the company’s fake 5G network — which it calls “5G Evolution” and shortens to “5G E” when it appears in the corner of smartphones — has remained the subject of controversy for the last two years.

Now, the carrier has decided that it will continue the charade even after the National Advertising Review Board (NARB) recommended it cease using the misleading term as well as the phrase ”5G Evolution, The First Step to 5G,” according to telecom news site Light Reading. What’s AT&T’s argument? Well, according to the report, AT&T says it will comply with the recommendation as it applies to advertising, like marketing campaigns and branding, but that the logo doesn’t qualify as such and therefore can stay.

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Liftoff #124: Space Koozie⇢

This week on Liftoff:

The Artemis Accords have been unveiled, but will their adoption be hurt by their rollout? Could Starship be more useful as a refueling station than a lander? Jason and Stephen get into these questions and more this fortnight.

The first crewed launch from U.S. soil is set to take place next week. Busy times in space.

My thanks to our sponsor:

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Upgrading the Mac Pro⇢

iJustine has upgraded her Mac Pro with 1.5 TB of RAM, an OWC Accelsior 4M2 drive and a set of wheels. This is the first installation video I’ve seen of the wheels, and it looks a lot easier than I expected to put them on:

While I don’t have much of an interest in the wheels, I keep eyeballing my internal storage as it slowly fills up. That OWC drive is expensive, and while I really don’t want to put 3.5-inch hard drives in this machine for archival storage, I may have to sooner or later.

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Sponsor: TextExpander⇢

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TextExpander lets you instantly insert snippets of text you create into emails, messages, documents, and anywhere else you can type, using a quick search or abbreviation. You can even turn snippets into forms with fill-in fields and more to easily customize what you type.

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Apple SVP Deidre O’Brien, on Re-Opening Apple Stores⇢

Apple Senior Vice President of Retail & People Deidre O’Brien, in an open letter on Apple.com:

Our commitment is to only move forward with a reopening once we’re confident we can safely return to serving customers from our stores. We look at every available piece of data — including local cases, near and long‑term trends, and guidance from national and local health officials. These are not decisions we rush into — and a store opening in no way means that we won’t take the preventative step of closing it again should local conditions warrant.

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Mac Power Users #536: Our Bags⇢

This week on MPU:

A nerd’s bag can say a lot about them. This week, David and Stephen empty theirs to talk through their choices and how they’ve changed over the years.

My thanks to our sponsors this week:

  • 1Password: Have you ever forgotten a password? You don’t have to worry about that anymore.
  • 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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