It’s getting increasingly harder for anyone, in any capacity, not to sanction or boycott Russia. Whoever doesn’t is going to get the worst possible publicity. I’ve seen that Russian-owned pro-cycling teams have been banished from competition everywhere although individual Russian cyclists on other teams can race. In looking at the current professional women’s tennis (WTA) tournament in France, I see the two Russian players are now without a country listed. I cannot see international events of any kind taking place in Russia as long as Putin is in power.
Here is a story regarding Anna Netrebko’s ouster from the Met Opera:
Apparently, they wanted her statements to go further than what she said previously.
Please try to keep all comments on the topic of technology and ideally the connection to the Apple world. I understand the desire to share other things—it feels like something we can do in a situation where we otherwise feel powerless—but madness that way lies.
To hold myself to the standard, here’s an update on our friend Julia Petryk of MacPaw, who was featured in an article in an Icelandic site. If you click the link below, you’ll get English via Google Translate:
I also saw that Readdle has announced it will no longer accept or support customers from Russia, and it has pulled its apps from the Russian App Store and Google Play store.
I started thinking about whether TidBITS should be providing services to Russia as well, but when I looked at our subscription list, I could find only about five or six subscribers with a .ru address who weren’t already bouncing. They could be actual people, though Sendy reports when there’s activity on a message, and none of them have any activity recorded at all. The vast majority of .ru subscribers I’ve seen in the past three years have been bot-created spam accounts that I delete on a weekly basis.
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Not sure if you’re referring to my post but for those who watch and know about the Met, they are big on technology starting with their Live in HD series at movie theaters and computer subscriptions as well. During the early part of the pandemic, there were daily free operas able to view and these were available all over the world. So technology is a big part of their organization and losing one of their “stars” who is a big draw for them is relevant. I realize that opera is still not as popular as other genres. I wonder if the Met will drop her content from their web site or block Russia from access.
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Yeah, that was the latest example. I’m sure the Met has lots of tech involved, but it’s unrelated to the Ukraine situation or them dropping the Russian singer. I’m just trying to keep this discussion from encompassing everything that could conceivably be connected to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Here’s more on Apple’s Maps actions regarding Ukraine and Crimea.
I have a question: Are iPhones altered for use in Russia to limit internet related access?
The Times reporting that Telegram have blocked RT from sharing outside Russia… but no actions on the misinformation being shared inside Russia.
I hadn’t known that the founders of Grammarly were Ukrainian. It’s now headquartered in San Francisco but still has offices in Kyiv. And now the company has suspended access in Russia and Belarus.
I wonder if other cloud-based services will cut off usage for Russia? I looked around and discovered that Adobe and Microsoft have both stopped sales of products in Russia.
And from a week ago, another statement from Microsoft.
Ben Thompson has an interesting piece in Stratechery about some of the tech-related issues involved in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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And Unclutter is now doing a fundraiser where you can pay whatever you want for their app and all proceeds will go to support Ukraine.
The Tech and War blog is a very good read as it provides relevant information and it helped fill me in on some details about motivations regarding semiconductors. Most of the world is stuck in short term thinking with regards to products we use and create and pay minimal attention to the immense control we relinquish to actors who too often lack in integrity and decency. Those actors can be technology companies and countries, and notably China. To our detriment, China and Russia have been operating with longer range thinking than most of the rest of us. I can’t help but believe that China desires to build “economic and technical systems that are independent of the West” and this includes semiconductors (choices were outlined in the blog). While China will play both sides, ultimately, it will make moves to achieve its goals regardless of the pain it inflicts on its population. The United States, Europe, rather all free countries and their technology companies need to get their acts together. Can Apple think bigger and untangle itself? The pleas to the world on how an international event affects everyone, spoken from a country and a leader under attack, this time in Kyiv, may sound desperate, but they are real.
Launching Calendars 5 from Readdle today. A notice pops up mentions that team members are under fire. This is not just companies facing a challenge.
At the Apple Event on Tuesday, there was no oral statement or slide on the situation in Ukraine. However, Apple telegraphed its position visually: Tim Cook was wearing a blue sweater with a yellow band for his Apple Watch.
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Interesting they chose a ‘subtle nod’ over more visible/audible statements.
I read just the other day that CEOs although they like to present as bold leaders, when it comes to action often are very cautious to expose themselves and stray from the pack, IOW they like to play it safe and stick with what their peers (in this case their competitors) are doing. As long as Apple’s main competitors aren’t more vocal, Apple can hold back.
But once an entire industry starts moving, many more companies will move too. The question just becomes who wants to go down as a leader, and who wants to follow. It took Starbucks about 30 min yesterday to follow once McD had announced they’re shutting down in Russia.
I wonder if he had the Ukrainian colors as his watch face. This turns out to be quite easy to do via the iPhone Watch app > Face Gallery > Stripes.
I didn’t think he did. I remembering noticing at one point and it looked like he was using the California watch face.
I just started watching and captured the screen. It was California.I think you can see it here. (The stripes watch face has no numbers or indicators, just color and three hands.)
Here’s a variation on a Ukrainian Flag watch face:
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The two stripe option defaults to the Ukrainian Blue and Yellow.
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Russian App Store and iTunes Store payments have been shut down. And it’s not just debit/credit cards. Apparently gift cards no longer work either. So effectively the Russian stores are now off.
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I’ve been amazed at the speed at which Readdle responds to my customer support filings, mostly about suggested features.