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The Fun-Meetings Edition Saturday, March 19, 2016

What Have They Been Smoking At Apple Music?, by Steven Levy, Backchannel

So — who are those editors putting the playlists together? It turns out they are music nerds who might have otherwise been displaced by technology. People from radio; people who used to work at publications; people who used to work at record companies — hard core passionate music people. They check in to work at offices in Cupertino or LA (though a few work remotely) and perform curation tasks that include making those playlists, which they draft and discuss in meetings that must be more fun than the ones at your job. The important thing is that they are human beings. Apple believes that only flesh-and-blood music lovers can properly select and format these lists, artfully making the segues from one tune to the next.

The Art Of The Apple Event, by Jason Snell, iMore

In the end, these Apple events are just product announcements — the brilliance is that the stagecraft makes them much more interesting to journalists and fans alike.

Accessibility Features

'Apple Saved My Life', by David Goldman, CNN

Born legally blind, the 20-year-old Rath says he was severely bullied as a child and had difficulty learning. He attempted suicide when he was 11 years old, and was diagnosed with depression at the same age.

But when he got his first MacBook Pro on his 14th birthday, he found that the computer's accessibility features allowed him to see things he otherwise wouldn't have been able to see. He could read his schoolbooks and zoom in on software that allowed him to edit video.

Develop

Stack Overflow’s Developer Survey Analysis Hurts Women, by glitterwitch ★dust, Medium

All I could think about when I read these findings is how many men in tech will use this data as a reason to stop caring about diversity—or even to believe that achieving it is impossible and not worth striving for. Their misperceptions are only confirmed when unrepresentative data with inaccurate and biased conclusions are published.

It’s quite simple. If you deny my existence, there’s no way you can imagine me being your peer, let alone your superior. There’s no way you can respect my contributions or my perspective. And this is one of many reasons why women aren’t more represented in the field.

Notes

Eight Months Into Job, Evernote CEO Announces New Leadership Team, by Arik Hesseldahl, Re/code

Eight months into his new job, Chris O’Neill, the CEO of the organization software company Evernote, announced a new management team of seven executives he says will “build upon Evernote’s successes” and “see what’s next for the company as a whole.”

What Engineers Can Learn From The Design Of The Penis, by M. Sophia Newman, The Atlantic

“It’s an observation with obvious medical applications in humans,” she said in her TED talk, “[and] also relevant in a broad sense, I think, to the design of prosthetics, soft robots, basically anything where change in shape and stiffness are important.”

But the insight is not Kelly’s alone. The concept of using the design of the penis for other purposes is part of an established field called biomimicry, the science of applying nature’s design lessons to human problems.

Rumor of the Day

9.7-inch iPad Pro To Start At Higher $599 Price, Come In 32 GB & 128 GB Capacities, by Mark Gurman, 9to5Mac

With the iPad Pro name and features, the new 9.7-inch iPad will be Apple’s first to come with a starting price higher than $499. The smaller iPad Pro will start at $599 and include 32 GB of storage, according to sources. The $599 base configuration is for a WiFi-only model, while higher-priced versions with 128 GB of storage and the ability to connect to LTE cellular networks will also be offered. Apple will announce the new iPad at its event on Monday, March 21st.

Bottom of the Page

It is unlikely I will want to buy anything that will be announced by Apple this coming Monday. Still one more year before my current phone contract runs out -- and I will surely be tempted by newer phones then.

Unless, of course, Apple's show us a new wireless earpods. That will tempt me.

Unless, of course, Apple's new wireless earpods only works with the new iPhone. That will drain all the joy out of me.

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Thanks for reading.