Day: September 4, 2023

HomePod 2 is exactly what I wanted – but then there’s AirPlay

I’m a long-time HomePod mini user. As soon as Apple announced the cheapest version of its smart speaker, I immediately bought a pair to use with my . Then I bought more pairs to spread around my apartment. Even so, I always felt the need to have something with a fuller sound. Now I’ve bought a HomePod 2, and it’s exactly what I wanted – except because there’s AirPlay 2.

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Report: Apple claims iMessage not big enough to fall under purview of EU ‘gatekeeper’ competition law

Via Financial Times, Apple is claiming that iMessage is not big enough to classify as a gatekeeper service under the definitions of the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) regulation. The justification for this argument is somewhat unclear, given that iMessage is a preinstalled app on every iPhone sold and is clearly one of the most used apps on the platform. Apple has not commented publicly.

The first list of gatekeeper services — which will be compelled to follow these tough new DMA regulations — is due to be published this week. Apple’s App Store is expected to be included, likely paving the way for alternative app stores and third-party iPhone app side-loading.

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Get the best trade-in value for your iPhone 14 with Decluttr

iPhone 15 is just around the corner, which means now is the best time to trade in your old iPhone, as previous models are about to lose value. For instance, your old iPhone can lose up to 15% of its value one month after the launch of a new iPhone and up to 27% after three months. But luckily, 9to5Mac’s official trade-in partner Decluttr helps you sell your current iPhone for a good price. For a limited time, you can get an extra 10% on your trade in and a 28-day price lock guarantee using code 9TO5MAC23.

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The Greshams of Greshamsbury

Before the reader is introduced to the modest country medical practitioner who is to be the chief personage of the following tale, it will be well that he should be made acquainted with some particulars as to the locality in which, and the neighbours among whom, our doctor followed his profession. There is a county in the west of England not so full of life, indeed, nor so widely spoken of as some of its manufacturing leviathan brethren in the north, but which is, nevertheless, very dear to those who know it well. Its green pastures, its waving wheat, its deep and shady and—let us add—dirty lanes, its paths and stiles, its tawny-coloured, well-built rural churches, its avenues of beeches, and frequent Tudor mansions, its constant county hunt, its social graces, and the general air of clanship which pervades it, has made it to its own inhabitants a favoured land of Goshen. It is purely agricultural; agricultural in its produce, agricultural in its poor, and agricultural in its pleasures. There are towns in it, of course; dépôts from whence are brought seeds and groceries, ribbons and fire-shovels; in which markets are held and county balls are carried on; which return members to Parliament, generally—in spite of Reform Bills, past, present, and coming—in accordance with the dictates of some neighbouring land magnate: from whence emanate the country postmen, and where is located the supply of post-horses necessary for county visitings. But these towns add nothing to the importance of the county; they consist, with the exception of the assize town, of dull, all but death-like single streets. Each possesses two pumps, three hotels, ten shops, fifteen beer-houses, a beadle, and a market-place.

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