Tom Warren (tweet, MacRumors)
Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming (xCloud) will officially arrive on iOS and PC tomorrow, April 20th. The service will arrive on devices via browsers, allowing Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers to play Xbox games on iPhones, iPads, and PCs.
[…]
Both Apple and Microsoft got into a public war of words over xCloud, and Apple initially insisted that Microsoft would have to submit individual games for review. Apple eventually offered a compromise to allow cloud gaming apps to run on iOS with individually reviewed games, but Microsoft branded it a “bad experience for consumers.”
Apparently, Apple’s compromise was even worse than the sweet solution.
Previously:
App Store Game iOS iOS 14 Microsoft Microsoft xCloud Web Xbox
Chance Miller (tweet, MacRumors, Hacker News, Slashdot):
After removing Parler from the App Store back in January, Apple has reportedly decided to allow the app to come back. According to a new report from CNN, Apple has approved Parler’s latest attempt to return to the App Store follow improvements to the moderation system…
Normally, developers have to develop and submit an app to see whether its gets approved. You can’t ask beforehand whether an approach is acceptable. In this case, Apple is pre-announcing that it will approve the app based on a proposal of how the moderation will work. This is odd because the previously removed version of the app already met the letter of Apple’s guidelines. The issue was that in practice the moderation didn’t work to Apple’s satisfaction. But now it’s pre-approved even though Apple hasn’t even tried the app.
Mark Gurman:
Apple’s decision to reinstate Parler comes ahead of a Wednesday hearing scheduled by the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust and Consumer Rights[…]
I guess that explains it. The letter from Apple to the congressmen is here.
Previously:
Update (2021-05-18): Hartley Charlton:
The controversial social media app Parler has today returned to the App Store, several months after Apple suspended it for breach of App Store rules.
App Review App Store iOS iOS 14 iOS App Parler
Tim Hardwick:
Surtees Studios has released Bartender 4 for macOS Big Sur, following extended testing in public beta. As well as macOS 11 support, the popular tool for rearranging or hiding Mac menu bar items now runs native on M1 Macs and comes with several new features and core abilities.
With Big Sur, Apple increased the space between menu bar items, which reduces the space available for icons. To alleviate this problem, Bartender 4 now allows users to revert to pre-Big Sur spacing or even use no spacing so to fit in more menu bar apps.
$15, with a 50% discount for upgrades.
Bartender Mac Mac App macOS 11.0 Big Sur
Jeff Johnson:
Xcode has been pushing the “com.apple.security.files.user-selected.read-only” entitlement on us for ten years, and this seemed fine with the App Store too all these years… until a couple days ago. If it turns out that “com.apple.security.files.user-selected.read-only” is unnecessary for my app, and Apple wants it to be removed, then I am happy to remove it… in a reasonable amount of time. But I won’t tolerate a metaphorical gun put to my head, forcing me to remove the longstanding entitlement immediately on threat of not being able to release an app update that’s important to me and my customers. So I’m going to fight that. I did fight it, and I “won”. At least I won this battle, if not the war. In any case, there’s a kind of insanity in rejecting an update for an entitlement already possessed by the version of the app currently available in the App Store.
[…]
For App Store customers, the lesson is that you ought to be very skeptical about App Store review. After all, if I can argue an app reviewer into accepting my submission despite their reservations, then so could a scammer! Note that I never actually explained to app review why I needed the entitlement.
Previously:
Update (2021-05-03): James Thomson:
Got a metadata rejection for Dice because they don’t like the screenshot I used for the sticker pack because it “doesn’t show the app in use”. But it’s not an app, it’s a single sticker.
[…]
It would be churlish to point out that I’ve been using this image for the last 18 months without a problem…
App Review App Store Rejection Entitlements Mac Mac App Mac App Store macOS 11.0 Big Sur Programming Sandboxing Xcode
Adobe:
We’re deeply saddened to share that our beloved co-founder, Dr. Chuck Geschke, has passed away. Chuck was a hero and guiding light for so many of us in the technology industry. He leaves an indelible mark on our company and the world.
Unfortunately, the longer article that this tweet linked to has been moved or removed.
AP (via Hacker News, Slashdot):
After earning a doctorate from Carnegie Mellon University, Geschke began working at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, where he met Warnock, the Mercury News reported. The men left the company in 1982 to found Adobe, developing software together.
Kim Lyons:
Their first product was Adobe PostScript, the programming language that helped boost the desktop publishing industry.
Geschke was chief operating officer of Adobe from December 1986 to July 1994 and president from April 1989 until his retirement in April 2000. He served as chairman of the board with Warnock from September 1997 to January 2017 and was a member of the board until April 2020, when became emeritus board member.
Matt Rickard:
Geschke and Adobe have an amazing story that goes back nearly 40 years.
Run ins with Steve Jobs, the Photoshop distribution deal, and even a kidnapping…
Previously:
Adobe History Mac PDF PostScript Rest in Peace Xerox
