HuffingtonPost:

While it’s jarring to witness, say, Hollywood’s Walk of Fame or Mecca’s Grand Mosque nearly empty, it’s also impressive; seeing these locations virtually deserted is proof that we’re all making an honest attempt to flatten the curve by staying home.

Some remarkable photos of formerly busy places devoid of people.

Love this opening salvo:

Greatly anticipating its arrival, I unboxed the iPad Pro Magic Keyboard as soon as it appeared at my door, and before I even attached my iPad Pro, I was put off. It felt too stiff to open. Then I did attach my iPad Pro (immediate thought: “Man, these magnets are strong”), closed and opened the iPad-as-laptop configuration a few times, and formed a crushingly disappointing first impression. I didn’t like it.

But read on. The rest of the review is a bit of a love letter to the Magic Keyboard. Chock full of fascinating detail, this is the Magic Keyboard review to read, Gruber at his best.

A few useful tips, along with links to details on keyboard shortcuts and trackpad use.

The Apple TV+ Beastie Boys documentary goes live this Friday. This review captures the spirit of the documentary pretty well. It’s got some spoilers, but if you are a fan, you probably know all this stuff anyway.

Definitely on my Up Next.

Apple:

Apple announced that starting today, even more customers around the world can enjoy many of Apple’s most popular Services. The App Store, Apple Arcade, Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, and iCloud are now available in 20 more countries, and Apple Music is available in 52 additional countries.

This is important news. Apple is turning a massive, slow moving ship, from dependence on iPhone sales to more and more dependence on services.

Bloomberg:

Carnival executives knew they had a virus problem, but kept the party going. More than 1,500 people on the company’s cruise ships have been diagnosed with Covid-19, and dozens have died.

At least seven more of the company’s ships at sea have become virus hot spots, resulting in more than 1,500 positive infections and at least 39 fatalities. Carnival notes that “other cruise companies have been impacted.”

Carnival’s ships have become a floating testament to the viciousness of the new coronavirus and raised questions about corporate negligence and fleet safety.

No offense to fans of cruises but this is an entire industry we’d be better off without.

ZoomerBackgrounds:

Video calling in style. Dazzle your co-workers and friends. Choose your favorite look from our community-uploaded collection.

With so many people using Zoom, it would be inevitable that someone would start offering Zoom backgrounds. Some of these are hilarious.

UC Davis:

Traffic accidents and crash-related injuries and deaths were reduced by half during the first three weeks of California’s shelter-in-place order, which began March 20. The reductions save the state an estimated $40 million per day — about $1 billion over the time period — according to an updated special report released this week from the Road Ecology Center at the University of California, Davis.

The report, “Impact of COVID-19 on California Traffic Crashes,” is published on the center’s website. Its maps, charts and findings compare hot spots for injuries and fatal crashes on state highways and major roads patrolled by the California Highway Patrol between Feb. 27 and April 11, 2020 — the days leading up to and following the order — and the same period in 2019.

Altogether, the reduction amounts to about 15,000 fewer collisions per month and 6,000 fewer injuries or fatal accidents per month that can be directly attributed to the shelter-in-place order.

I’m sure the results of this report would be replicated in every other area where shelter in place orders were implemented.

Unusual to see an article like this in Apple’s knowledge base. But these are unusual times.

Justin O’Beirne:

Would Apple continue working on its new map during the pandemic?

We seemingly got our answer when Apple started testing a new map expansion last month and then released it a few weeks later.

And:

But Apple hasn’t just been expanding—it’s also been updating the areas it has already mapped, such as here in Chicago.

Follow the link to Justin’s excellent site, scroll through to see what’s new. The Maps team has been busy!

Samuel Axon, Ars Technica, does a good job laying out both sides of this long-simmering argument. Why Apple should, why they likely won’t ever again release a 4″ iPhone.

Jim and I discussed this on last week’s Dalrymple Report. The new iPhone SE tells the tale, I think.

I think it boils down to this: I believe people who would prefer a smaller iPhone are still buying an iPhone. They are not moving to another platform. From a sales perspective, there’s no incentive for Apple to make a smaller phone. This ship has sailed.

Netflix:

For many years, Netflix has allowed teachers to screen documentaries in their classrooms.

However, this isn’t possible with schools closed. So at their request, we have made a selection of our documentary features and series available on our YouTube channel.

There are a lot of great documentaries listed here for those of you who don’t have Netflix. I highly recommend the “Our Planet” series.

CNET:

Apple is changing leaders at Beats, the premium headphone and earphone maker it acquired in 2014 for $3 billion. Longtime president Luke Wood is exiting and veteran Apple exec Oliver Schusser, who heads up Apple Music and International Content, is taking over at the end of this month.

Apple hasn’t publicly announced the leadership change, but Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, told Apple employees about the transition via email in recent weeks. A Beats spokesperson confirmed to CNET that Schusser will lead Beats after Wood’s departure on April 30. Schusser will also continue to run Apple Music and International Content, reporting to Cue. The consolidation is a homecoming of sorts for Apple Music, which was built on the backbone of the earlier Beats Music streaming service.

The move has been in the works for a while, Cue said in his note to employees. Cue wrote that he was sensitive to making a management change in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, remarking that “the timing of the announcement isn’t ideal.”

Changing leadership at any time isn’t always easy but it must be doubly so in the midst of a worldwide pandemic.

TidBITS:

The Zoom videoconferencing service has faced unprecedented scrutiny amid massive growth, largely from consumer and school users relying on its free service tier. At the beginning of April, TidBITS published my extensive list of every Zoom security, privacy, and encryption flaw, design mistake, and judgment error.

Even during the writing and editing of that article, new exploits and problems emerged while Zoom was simultaneously addressing all the concerns it could. The company’s all-hands-on-deck efforts continued in the following days, but have finally slowed down as it has gotten ahead of urgent changes. Let’s look at the now-solved issues, new disclosures, and Zoom’s update on its roadmap.

Many felt that Zoom was just “catching up” because of the onslaught of new users and new scrutiny. The fact is, Zoom didn’t care about user privacy as much as it did growth. But the analysis of its shortcomings by security experts made them act (somewhat) faster to lock down the app to where it can be relatively safe and secure for most users.

Ars Technica:

The multi-platform, Web-based interface for the Apple Music streaming service exited beta and officially launched today. It lives at music.apple.com and is accessible through any modern Web browser.

In many respects, the design and layout of the site closely resembles that of the native Mac app. The layout of store pages is similar, and the visual language is the same. It has the same player controls at the top, and it also has the left-aligned navigation bar with “For You,” “Browse,” and “Radio.”

It’s interesting, though, that the website prominently features “open in Music” (in Safari on Apple devices) or “open in iTunes,” depending on the platform. This suggests that Apple still sees the website as a supplement to the native app experience, not a full replacement for it. Also, the Apple Music Web app lacks some of the personal library features that were grandfathered into Music from iTunes on Macs.

Personal preference (and old eyes) make me like the website version more than the iOS one.

The current version of the public release of macOS Catalina is 10.15.4.

In the beta of macOS Catalina 10.15.5 is an update of the Energy Saver System Preferences pane. Follow the link for details.

From Apple’s post:

macOS Catalina 10.15.5 introduces battery health management, a feature designed to improve the lifespan of your Mac notebook’s battery.

And:

All rechargeable batteries are consumable components that become less effective as they get older—and their age isn’t determined only by time. A battery’s lifespan depends on its chemical age, which is affected by factors such as its temperature history and charging pattern. As your notebook’s battery ages chemically, its charging capacity gets smaller.

And:

The battery health management feature in macOS 10.15.5 is designed to improve your battery’s lifespan by reducing the rate at which it chemically ages. The feature does this by monitoring your battery’s temperature history and its charging patterns.

Based on the measurements that it collects, battery health management may reduce your battery’s maximum charge when in this mode. This happens as needed to ensure that your battery charges to a level that’s optimized for your usage—reducing wear on the battery, and slowing its chemical aging.

Bottom line, you’ll get this new battery intelligence when you update to macOS Catalina 10.15.5. Automatically.

If you’ve held off updating to Catalina, this is a strong reason to make the leap, once 10.15.5 becomes public.

A good resource if you’re trying to get your head around the size and look of the new SE.