0:01

Apple pledges

0:03

disaster relief

0:05

and Myanmar.

0:07

The EU may go

0:09

easy on Apple and

0:12

meta. And another suit

0:14

against Apple over AI

0:17

promises. It is Monday

0:19

the 31st of March

0:22

2025. I'm Ken Ray

0:24

and this is news

0:26

from Mako Sken. brought

0:29

to you by yours

0:31

truly and supported by

0:34

people like you. Patrons

0:36

through Patreon. Find out

0:39

more and add your

0:41

support at patreon.com/Macco S.

0:44

Can. News today that's

0:46

both heartening and

0:48

kind of disappointing. Apple

0:51

Insider had Apple CEO

0:53

Tim Cook hitting the

0:55

hell site on Sunday

0:57

on Sunday. pledging donations

0:59

to relief efforts in

1:01

Myanmar and Thailand after

1:03

a pair of devastating

1:05

earthquakes last Friday. Signing a

1:08

BBC report on Sunday, the

1:10

beast says the death toll

1:12

from the Myanmar earthquake has

1:14

surpassed 1,700 people with more

1:17

than 3,400 people injured. Survivors

1:19

and bodies are still being

1:21

pulled out from collapsed buildings.

1:24

18 people died in

1:26

Thailand as well. a

1:28

second earthquake measuring 6.4

1:30

magnitude struck approximately 12

1:32

minutes after the first one.

1:34

In the Tragedies Wake, Apple

1:37

CEO posted, our hearts go

1:39

out to all those in

1:41

Myanmar and Thailand affected by

1:43

the devastating earthquake, Apple

1:46

is donating to support

1:48

relief efforts on the

1:50

ground. Heartening, as I say. The disappointing

1:53

part, though... Currently at

1:55

least, the company is not

1:57

facilitating donations from the public.

2:00

earlier this year, Apple welcomed

2:02

donations through services such as

2:04

Apple Music, the App Store,

2:06

and Apple podcasts for wildfire

2:08

relief efforts in and around

2:10

Los Angeles. And something Apple

2:12

used to do a lot.

2:14

I remember donating through iTunes

2:17

for Hurricane Katrina relief way

2:19

back in 2005. Stop doing

2:21

that over the last few

2:23

years. Personally, I welcomed the

2:25

return in January. Because it's

2:27

good to be able to

2:29

give when you can to

2:31

a service that's secure and

2:34

that's already got your payment

2:36

information. Kind of curious, why

2:38

not this time? And maybe

2:40

it'll change. Back in January,

2:42

Apple Pledge support of its

2:44

own for wildfire relief about

2:46

a week before it opened

2:48

avenues for public donations. And

2:51

maybe they'll do that again.

2:54

Word on the street has the

2:56

European Union taking it easy on

2:59

Apple and meta, apparently to please

3:01

the US President. According to a

3:03

piece from the Financial Times, the

3:06

EU is set to impose minimal

3:08

fines on Apple and Facebook owner

3:10

meta this week under its Digital

3:13

Markets Act, as Brussels seeks to

3:15

avoid escalating tensions with US President

3:17

Donald Trump. Remember that

3:20

time Apple pledged $500 billion

3:22

in U.S. investment over the

3:24

next four years, and the

3:26

next day Apple shareholders voted

3:28

to keep the company's inclusion

3:30

in diversity initiatives in place,

3:32

and the president landed on

3:35

Apple like a bag of

3:37

hammers? But you do you,

3:39

EU, try to please him.

3:41

I'm sure that's going to

3:43

be effective. The

3:45

two companies won't walk away

3:47

blameless. The piece has Apple's

3:49

expected to be fined and

3:52

ordered to resolve its app

3:54

store rules over anti-steering concerns.

3:56

Met is expected to be

3:58

fined in order to change

4:00

its pay or consent property.

4:02

position that forces users to

4:04

either consent to digital tracking

4:06

or pay a subscription fee

4:09

for an ad-free meta-experience. Such

4:11

violations could cost the company's

4:13

penalties of up to 10%

4:15

of their global turnover according

4:17

to the Financial Times, while

4:19

the commission is now said

4:21

to be aiming for fines

4:23

that fall far below that

4:26

10% threshold. The report says

4:28

levying any form of fines

4:30

on American tech companies risks

4:32

a backlash as Trump has

4:34

directly attacked EU penalties on

4:36

American companies calling them a

4:38

form of taxation while comparing

4:40

fines on tech companies with

4:42

overseas extortion. Hey, maybe if

4:45

they tell them it could

4:47

have been worse. No, you

4:49

don't think so? Oh well.

4:53

This next story kind of

4:55

makes me feel like a

4:57

dope. You know I'd predicted

4:59

a lawsuit against Apple for

5:01

its smarter Syria promises that

5:03

ended up being delayed. Yeah,

5:06

that's not the part that

5:08

makes me feel like a

5:10

dope. The part that makes

5:12

me feel like a dope?

5:14

I had a lawsuit in

5:17

my head. Silly me. Apparently

5:19

with fewer beliefs together than

5:21

the EU. Folks in Canada's

5:23

British Columbia. or targeting the

5:25

Cupertino Company with a class

5:27

action suit. The Vancouver Sun

5:30

says a Canada-wide class action

5:32

lawsuit has been launched in

5:34

British Columbia, alleging Apple Canada

5:36

engaged in misleading advertising when

5:38

it marketed the iPhone 16

5:40

by promising it would include

5:43

innovative artificial intelligence features that

5:45

it did not have. The

5:47

argument. that Apple promised a

5:49

lot of really cool features

5:51

that would require an iPhone

5:53

15 pro or an iPhone

5:56

16 of some sort. As

5:58

such, says the suit, consumers

6:00

paid an unlawful... price premium

6:02

for the iPhone 16 model

6:04

smartphone that they did not

6:06

need based on artificial intelligence

6:09

features that did not exist.

6:11

The suit accuses Apple and

6:13

Apple Canada a breach of

6:15

contract, fraud, deceit, and unjust

6:17

enrichment under provincial consumer protection

6:19

laws and the Federal Competition

6:22

Act. Well, plaintiffs say Apple

6:24

knows well the rules and

6:26

laws against false advertising. The

6:28

suit argues that in the

6:30

race for AI market share,

6:32

it decided to violate them

6:35

anyway, misleading customers and believing

6:37

that the products possessed AI

6:39

features, functions, and benefits the

6:41

products simply do not have,

6:43

and, according to company and

6:46

industry insiders, may never have.

6:49

I really look forward to

6:51

this story going away. In

6:54

like three or four years,

6:56

maybe. Apple syncopated seating continues.

6:58

Macrumors says the Cupertino Company

7:01

seated the second release candidates

7:03

of iOS and iPadOS 18.4

7:05

to developers on Friday. The

7:08

article goes over the stuff

7:10

we're already expecting, including priority

7:12

notifications. a food section for

7:15

Apple News Plus, the long-awaited

7:17

sketch style for image playground,

7:19

and stuff like that. The

7:22

next round of OS updates

7:24

from Apple is expected sometime

7:26

in April. I've seen more

7:29

than one article say it's

7:31

expected this week, though if

7:33

memory serves. Sometime in April

7:36

is the only indication given

7:38

by Apple. And finally today.

7:40

There's something new for iPhone

7:43

users in the EU or

7:45

there will be a piece

7:47

from 9 to 5 Max

7:50

as folks in the European

7:52

Union can now set Google

7:54

Maps as their default navigation

7:57

app on Apple's communicator or...

7:59

they will be able to

8:01

soon. Google on Friday released

8:03

a major update for Google Maps

8:05

users on iOS according to the

8:08

report. While the headline says they

8:10

can make Google Maps their navigation

8:13

default now, the text of the

8:15

article says the option to choose

8:17

a navigation app other than Apple

8:20

Maps will be available to users

8:22

in the EU with iOS 18.4

8:24

which is expected to be released

8:27

to be released to the public.

8:29

in the next few days. That

8:31

update hit one day after

8:33

another default option that I

8:36

totally missed last week. It was

8:38

late last week that MAC

8:40

rumors ran a piece saying

8:42

that WhatsApp can now be

8:44

selected as the default calling

8:47

and messaging app on iPhone, but

8:49

this time not just in the EU.

8:51

According to that report, a

8:53

change in the latest version

8:55

of WhatsApp available on the

8:57

App Store causes the meta-owned

9:00

encrypted chat platform to now

9:02

show up in the messaging

9:04

and calling options list in iOS.

9:06

The piece explains. If you

9:08

select WhatsApp for messaging and

9:10

or calling, your iPhone will

9:12

automatically open the app when

9:14

called upon instead of Apple's

9:17

built-in options, messages, and phone

9:19

or Face Time. I went

9:21

to double check whether that

9:23

was available by going to

9:25

settings, then apps, then default

9:27

apps. There I found both

9:29

messages and WhatsApp as options

9:32

for messaging. Under calls I

9:34

found Face Time, iPhone, WhatsApp, and

9:36

Zoom, which I totally forgot

9:38

was even on my phone.

9:40

What is this? 2021? Not

9:42

available as default for messaging

9:45

and calling or Skype, which

9:47

is not surprising. and signal,

9:50

which is somewhat surprising.

9:52

Also not available

9:54

as messaging default, or

9:56

Yahoo Messenger, and AOL

9:59

instant messenger. because it's

10:01

not 2004 and wishing

10:03

will not make it

10:06

so. So in this

10:08

time of economic uncertainty

10:10

advertisers seem to have

10:12

pulled back a lot.

10:15

Currently there are none

10:17

on the schedule for

10:19

the foreseeable future and

10:22

I can see the

10:24

schedule through the end

10:26

of this year. That

10:29

may change, of course.

10:31

I know the folks

10:33

at Backbeat do what

10:36

they can. Right now,

10:38

though, at least for

10:40

this show, there is

10:43

a lot of nothing

10:45

on the horizon. So

10:47

to those of you

10:50

who support this show

10:52

through Patreon, thank you.

10:54

I am truly grateful.

10:57

If you're somebody who's

10:59

always thought, gee, I

11:01

should do that. Well,

11:03

Patreon pledges get tallied

11:06

tomorrow. No guilt and

11:08

no worries if you

11:10

can't or you simply

11:13

don't want to. But

11:15

if you can, and

11:17

you do, that would

11:20

be greatly appreciated. Now

11:22

here's me to tell

11:24

you how. Macoaskan, brought

11:27

to you by me

11:29

and supported by people

11:31

like you. Patrons through

11:34

Patreon. Find out more

11:36

and add your support

11:38

at patreon.com/Maco S. Can.

11:41

Advertising handled by Backbeat

11:43

Media, online at Backbeat

11:45

Media.com. You can reach

11:47

me a couple of

11:50

ways. Info at MacoScan.com

11:52

or call 716-70. 4080

11:54

Until now Next

11:57

time, that

11:59

is news

12:01

from Mac

12:04

-O is news I'm

12:07

Can Ray.

12:10

West Ken. I'm Ken

12:13

Ray. Leonard likes

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