Tesla Launches Charging Station that can be Plugged into A Wall Outlet

[The Mac Observer Express]

The Mac Observer Daily Headlines e-mail. Visit The Mac Observer at <https://www.macobserver.com/> -- You'll get your Mac news here from now on...
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Headlines at The Mac Observer for Wednesday, January 16, 2019
<https://www.macobserver.com/>

1. Tesla Launches Charging Station that can be Plugged into A Wall Outlet
2. Apple Pay Boss to Deliver Keynote at Major Industry Conference
3. Facebook to Introduce Stricter Rules in Countries Holding Elections This Year
4. Mastercard Plans to Stop Free Trials That Keep Billing You
5. iPhone X Smart Battery Case Description Referenced AirPower Charging Mat, Now That’s Dissapeared
6. KeepSolid Launches Family Organizer App
7. IBM PC Unboxing, Interpreting Watch Data – TMO Daily Observations 2019-01-16
8. PDF Converter OCR 6 for Mac: $19
9. Universal TV Exec Jason Katims Joins Apple
10. How Modern Technology is Putting Our Youth on Edge
11. How to Use JavaScript When Creating Shortcuts
12. Apple Watch Could Soon Come to Medicare
13. 27 Adobe Alternatives to Use on Different Platforms
14. YouTube Bans Pranks Like Bird Box Challenge
15. Former Apple VP Scott Forstall Discussed Creativity, Apple TV, and Steve Jobs
16. Changing its Mind, Roku Bans Alex Jones
17. Apple’s Services Future. It’s Going to Be Different.
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1. TESLA LAUNCHES CHARGING STATION THAT CAN BE PLUGGED INTO A WALL OUTLET
Tesla launched its first charging system that can be plugged into a standard wall outlet using a common NEMA 14-50 plug.
<https://www.macobserver.com/news/tesla-launches-charging-station-wall-outlet/?utm_source=tmo-express&utm_medium=email>

2. APPLE PAY BOSS TO DELIVER KEYNOTE AT MAJOR INDUSTRY CONFERENCE
Apple Pay chief Jennifer Bailey will deliver a keynote address at major payments technology conference TRANSACT.
<https://www.macobserver.com/news/jennifer-bailey-transact/?utm_source=tmo-express&utm_medium=email>

3. FACEBOOK TO INTRODUCE STRICTER RULES IN COUNTRIES HOLDING ELECTIONS THIS YEAR
Facebook will introduce stricter rules on political advertising to a number of countries holding elections this year. The rules and tools aimed at curbing election interference will go live in India, Nigeria, Ukraine, and the European Union. The rollout will begin on Wednesday in Nigeria. Katie Harbath, Facebook’s Director of Global Politics and Outreach, told Reuters that only advertisers located in the country will be able to run electoral adverts there. Rob Leathern, a Director of Product Management at Facebook, also discussed the importance of storing electoral adverts in a searchable library.
We’re learning from every country,” Leathern said. “We know we’re not going to be perfect, but our goal is continuing, ongoing improvement.” Facebook believes that holding the ads in a library for seven years is a key part of fighting intereference, he added.. The library will resemble archives brought to the United States, Brazil and Britain last year.
<https://www.macobserver.com/link/facebook-stricter-rules-countries-holding-elections/?utm_source=tmo-express&utm_medium=email>

4. MASTERCARD PLANS TO STOP FREE TRIALS THAT KEEP BILLING YOU
Mastercard announced a new policy for merchants who keep your card information after you sign up with a free trial.
<https://www.macobserver.com/news/mastercard-stops-free-trials/?utm_source=tmo-express&utm_medium=email>

5. IPHONE X SMART BATTERY CASE DESCRIPTION REFERENCED AIRPOWER CHARGING MAT, NOW THAT’S DISSAPEARED
A product description for the iPhone X Smart Case referenced the AirPower Charging Mat. Those references have since been removed.
<https://www.macobserver.com/news/iphone-x-smart-battery-case-airpower-charging-mat/?utm_source=tmo-express&utm_medium=email>

6. KEEPSOLID LAUNCHES FAMILY ORGANIZER APP
The Family Organizer app by Keepsolid offers several features, like a family calendar, shopping list, and family task manager. Fill your family calendar with collective and personal events, invite others, and schedule all sorts of activities. The calendar will be synchronized between your family members, allowing everyone to keep track of others’ plans. This is further facilitated by a handful of convenient features and colorful, clear visualization. Create and manage shopping lists, set reminders, and use other handy functionality to ensure that your groceries are done and that they are exactly what you needed. Never again will you lack an important ingredient or have ​unnecessary extra because of some confusion. Assign tasks to family members and track their completion with ease. You will always know how everyone’s faring, whether Lil’ Jimmy visited the dentist, or if someone needs your help. Great feature for everyday planning and collaboration. App Store: Free
(Offers In-App Purchases)
<https://www.macobserver.com/cool-stuff-found/keepsolid-family-organizer/?utm_source=tmo-express&utm_medium=email>

7. IBM PC UNBOXING, INTERPRETING WATCH DATA – TMO DAILY OBSERVATIONS 2019-01-16
Kelly Guimont has Bryan Chaffin and Andrew Orr on to discuss the state of IBM PC packaging and how to interpret Apple Watch heart rate data.
<https://www.macobserver.com/podcasts/tmo-daily-observations-2019-01-16/?utm_source=tmo-express&utm_medium=email>

8. PDF CONVERTER OCR 6 FOR MAC: $19
We have a deal on  PDF Converter OCR 6 for Mac. This software allows you to make PDFs editable and searchable, while retaining the original layout, graphics, and hyperlinks. You can also scan 27 languages, merge multiple documents, and more. You can get this app for $19 through our deal.
<https://www.macobserver.com/link/pdf-converter-ocr-6-mac-19/?utm_source=tmo-express&utm_medium=email>

9. UNIVERSAL TV EXEC JASON KATIMS JOINS APPLE
Mr. Katims as created moves like Parenthood, Roswell, About a Boy and Rise. He was also involved with Friday Night Lights, Boston Public, and The Path.
<https://www.macobserver.com/news/jason-katims-joins-apple/?utm_source=tmo-express&utm_medium=email>

10. HOW MODERN TECHNOLOGY IS PUTTING OUR YOUTH ON EDGE
The business approach to and pace of modern technological change is showing up as paralysis and depression, especially amongst our youth. Eventually, something has to give.
<https://www.macobserver.com/columns-opinions/how-modern-technology-is-putting-our-youth-on-edge/?utm_source=tmo-express&utm_medium=email>

11. HOW TO USE JAVASCRIPT WHEN CREATING SHORTCUTS
Redditor u/keveridge put together a nice guide on how to use JavaScript when creating Shortcuts. JavaScript lets you perform complex actions that would be hard to do with regular shortcut actions.

We make use of the Safari web browser, running within the shortcut, in order to execute the JavaScript. To do so, we:


make an HTML file that contains our code and provides an output;


pass the contents of the file to Safari as a Data URL;


use Get Contents of Web Page to render the page provide the output to the shortcut.



<https://www.macobserver.com/link/guide-javascript-shortcuts/?utm_source=tmo-express&utm_medium=email>

12. APPLE WATCH COULD SOON COME TO MEDICARE
Apple is in talks with at least three private Medicare plans to subsidize the Apple Watch for at-risk seniors. 
<https://www.macobserver.com/news/apple-watch-medicare/?utm_source=tmo-express&utm_medium=email>

13. 27 ADOBE ALTERNATIVES TO USE ON DIFFERENT PLATFORMS
It seems that Adobe is raising the price of its subscription in specific countries, although U.S. users have been spared. Lifehacker compiled a list of 27 Adobe alternatives in response.
I haven’t tried out all of these apps myself, nor am I the target audience for them—as I don’t really dabble in 3D animation, alas. While we normally recommend apps we’ve used at Lifehacker, in this case, I’ve included recommendations from the various Twitter users who have suggested them when applicable.
On my iPad I quickly bought Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer, and both of them work great for my workflow.
<https://www.macobserver.com/link/27-adobe-alternatives/?utm_source=tmo-express&utm_medium=email>

14. YOUTUBE BANS PRANKS LIKE BIRD BOX CHALLENGE
The guidelines are in response to popular challenges that imitate a Netflix movie called Bird Box.
<https://www.macobserver.com/news/youtube-bans-pranks/?utm_source=tmo-express&utm_medium=email>

15. FORMER APPLE VP SCOTT FORSTALL DISCUSSED CREATIVITY, APPLE TV, AND STEVE JOBS
Former Apple software Vice President Scott Forstall has focussed on Broadway productions since leaving Silicon Valley. However, he does occasionally hark back to his time in tech. He did that in an October episode of the Philosophy Talk podcast,  the full video of which was posted on YouTube on Tuesday. The interview, noticed by 9to5Mac, gives a fascinating insight into creativity and working for Steve Jobs.  Mr. Forstall also discussed Apple TV, which he said came from somebody presenting him with the idea of a 10-ft user interface. It “was invented because someone was encouraged to do whatever they wanted for a month,” Mr. Forstall explained.
<https://www.macobserver.com/cool-stuff-found/scott-forstall-creativity-apple-tv-steve-jobs/?utm_source=tmo-express&utm_medium=email>

16. CHANGING ITS MIND, ROKU BANS ALEX JONES
Doing the opposite of most major internet companies, Roku decided for a couple of hours it would allow Alex Jones on its platform.
“After the InfoWars channel became available, we heard from concerned parties and have determined that the channel should be removed from our platform. Deletion from the channel store and platform has begun and will be completed shortly.”
If Roku was going to cave so quickly it shouldn’t have decided to let Alex Jones on in the first place. At least pretend to put up a fight for a couple more days.
<https://www.macobserver.com/link/roku-bans-alex-jones/?utm_source=tmo-express&utm_medium=email>

17. APPLE’S SERVICES FUTURE. IT’S GOING TO BE DIFFERENT.
Apple’s growing services business, and its increasing openness to having its software on other people’s hardware, is one of the most fascinating stories in tech at the moment. Tech blogger turned venture capitalist M.G. Siegler has written an excellent summary of the situation on Medium. As he says, the future for the company “is going to be… different.”
Incidentally, it was a pod that really started to change the equation. The iPod. In order to reach a wider audience with that device, Apple had to do something that was seemingly against Steve Jobs’ DNA: make software for Windows. (Ice water! In Hell!) And the slope ultimately proved slippery, albeit in a slow way. Eventually, we got (and then lost) Safari for Windows. And in the more recent era, Apple Music for Android. And Alexa.
<https://www.macobserver.com/link/apple-services-mgsiegler/?utm_source=tmo-express&utm_medium=email>