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iPhone has a one-handed feature called Reachability that I’ve been trying to use since iPhone 11 Pro Max made it to my hands. Bryan M. Wolfe explains how to turn it on and use it.

The Accessibility feature lets you reach items at the top of the mobile device by swiping down on the bottom edge of the screen to bring the top into reach. Here’s how to use it.

It’s called Reachability.

It’s meant to help you reach buttons and objects on the screen that may be too far for your thumb to reach. For many folks, this will be top navigation buttons while using their phone one-handed.

Good step-by-step instructions.

Brittany A. Roston:

Sleep deprivation is more dangerous than past research on the topic had found; it impacts every part of life, increasing the risk of wrecking one’s car, messing up at work, struggling to maintain attention during class, and more.

More? Isn’t that enough?

Lack of adequate sleep impacts more than just one’s ability to pay attention. Sleep-deprived individuals were found to be twice as likely to make placekeeping errors when compared to people who got enough sleep. As well, the sleepy individuals were also three times more likely to struggle with maintaining attention.

About what? Oh. Wait. Yeah. Been there. Done that.

Not me. I love it. Charlotte Henry found a problem.

For $4.99 a month I’d argue you need to be playing two or maybe three Apple Arcade games on a regular basis to get good value. Browsing through the list of titles available with a subscription, there was not enough that jumped out at me. Ultimately, there is only so much time (and phone memory) that users can assign for games. If there are blockbusters available elsewhere, that is surely where people will turn. I know I did.

Different strokes for different folks. It’s a must-have if you have kids.

Good list from Christine Chan:

If you’re tired of all the ads but don’t want to use Reader View every time you surf the web, you can add content blockers to your iPhone or iPad, which will put them out of sight and help keep your activities private while you’re online.

I use 1Blocker on iOS and iPadOS, Ghostery on the Mac.

Nice list from Charlie Sorrel:

The Option key (sometimes marked ⌥ on your Mac’s keyboard) offers you extra options, whether you’re using the keyboard or the mouse.

Remember that keystroke. It’s gold.

Option-clicking on these icons gives you far greater control of some of your Mac’s core functionality… When you do so, a different menu will appear (or at least an augmented version of the standard menu). In those new menus, you will see extra options.

Cool.

Apple:

The costs of providing repair services has exceeded the revenue generated by repairs

So, repair is not a good business to be in?

Apple has launched an independent repair provider program… we currently only support sole proprietors and repair providers who conduct repairs as a business, and not individuals. Repairs performed by individuals, who are more likely to be untrained technicians, increases the likelihood that repairs will not follow proper safety and repair procedures and could result in improper function, product quality issues or safety events.

There’s no money in repair for Apple, customers shouldn’t try it, either, but it’s OK for businesses to lose money.

What would you do if you saw an AirPods earbud lying on the ground in front of you?

Aaron Holmes:

Pablo Rochat, a San Francisco-based artist, printed out dozens of life-sized stickers designed to look like Airpods and stuck them to the ground all over the city.

The prank was primarily intended to catch people’s attention and cause them to do a double-take

Indeed. I would stop and pick them up, thinking score!

Rochat:

Most people found it funny, but a few people were pissed that they got pranked

Would those same people feel pissed if they picked up a fake $10 bill?

Math is my life. I’m a math major. Don’t ask why I can’t remember whether we have four girls or five girls. I’m not so good with faces. Maybe one of them is a neighbor.

Guess what? Apple TV+ will be a $25-billion business by 2025. If you count subscriptions and advertising and wishful thinking.

Mike Wuerthele:

JP Morgan is predicting a big future for Apple TV+ and Apple’s services, driven not just by subscription volume, but by the potential to grow advertising dollars flowing into Apple’s coffers.

Lots of predictions, no facts. Math works wonders, though. Even a $10-billion Apple TV+ run rate breaks down to $834-million per month. At $4.99 a month, Apple will need over 167-million subscribers.

Those are big numbers. About the same as Netflix. Disney+ signed up 10-million subscribers on the first day.

Assuming there are no other free offers, [JP Morgan] expects that to dramatically expand to 101 million paid subscribers with a growth curve very similar to Apple Music, all of whom will contribute $4.99 a month to Apple’s bottom line.

Big numbers need big numbers.

Tom Philip asks the wrong question.

Deciding what to watch won’t get much easier down the road, mind you. NBC’s streaming service, Peacock (Katy Perry will see you in court), is on its way, as is HBO Max, soon to be the exclusive home of Rick and Morty and Friends, which all but guarantees a massive day-one viewer base.

Disney signed up 10-million customers on day one.

Subscribing to every single streaming service is a pain, yes, and now pretty much disproves that the great cord-cutting experiment performed throughout the 2010s led to any kind of meaningful savings, or indeed a less fractured content landscape.

I’m not going to choose just one, but the price tag adds up to about what we paid for cable TV.

It seems that everyone has an opinion on anything, and some– especially elected officials– have an ever-changing opinion on everything. I want AirPods Pro for a very selfish reason. Adam Clark Estes found a reason to criticize God’s gift to humanity:

I’ve never loved the AirPods. That’s mainly because I’m one of the few people whose ears just don’t fit with the mostly universal design. But they wouldn’t be so popular if they weren’t great earbuds. So when Apple announced the AirPods Pro with different fit options and a flurry of new features, I thought it must be time for me to be a fanatic.

Sure. Hop on the train. We have space.

AirPod Pros aren’t supposed to be airtight at all. So I wasn’t surprised that the AirPods Pro silicone tips didn’t squeeze into my ear canal as much as they nestled neatly on its edges.

I want airtight and sound tight.

The AirPods Pro claim 4.5 hours of listening time, and in reality, that feels quick. It was a surprise the first time I walked my dog with the AirPods and realized one of the buds was dead.

Mine come with AppleCare+. What’s the secret sauce? Noise-canceling. I have four or five school-age girls. Maybe six. Some days it’s six. Silence is golden.

What is hard to believe is that 639 shows and movies are just the beginning. Zach Epstein with more:

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the day you’ve been eagerly awaiting is finally upon us. Disney+ has launched! The already-crowded streaming media space is getting even more crowded with Apple TV+ having just gone live and other launches including NBC Peacock and HBO Max looming, but no Netflix competitor has gotten anywhere near as much buzz as Disney+. Why is that? Well, it’s pretty simple: First, Disney’s new streamer is remarkably affordable at just $6.99 each month, or just $5.83 per month if you pay annually. Second, Disney+ is launching with a massive catalog of incredible content that’s all available to stream today, on day 1!

I had trouble logging in and streaming had some hiccups. That says something about demand.

Ed Bott:

Google spends a lot of money marketing and advertising its flagship Pixel devices, but do those flashy ads translate into sales? Not according to the company’s annual financial reports, which show that it may well have sold fewer than 10 million devices in the last year.

Or less. Google is not known for its accuracy.

Finally. DXOMARK’s review on iPhone 11 Pro Max camera.

Previous Apple iPhone generations have always been among the best smartphones for imaging, and the iPhone 11 Pro Max is no different. It matches our top score for Video, recording video clips with good detail, a very wide dynamic range, and smooth stabilization in most circumstances. Its still image results also put it among the best, thanks to consistently good results from the primary camera, which is now accompanied by a very capable ultra-wide lens with one of the widest fields of view we have seen. Bokeh simulation mode and zoom performance at long range are not quite up with the very best, but if those areas are not top priorities, the new iPhone is an easy recommendation for any mobile image creator, especially those who are already invested in the iOS ecosystem.

They like it.