Video Offers Closer Look at Apple Face Mask

YouTube channel Unbox Therapy has today shared a new video giving a closer look at Apple's reusable face masks for corporate and retail employees.



Apple's own face mask was designed by the company's Engineering and Industrial Design teams amid the global health crisis for corporate and retail employees, and the boxes include Apple's famous "Designed by Apple in California" text.

The video described the packaging alone as an "unboxing experience unlike anything you would expect for a reuseable face mask." It shows that each box contains five individually sealed masks with adapters to join the ear loops for a more secure fit. The packaging for each mask is printed with instructions for use, encouraging users to wash their hands, open the mask, and then adjust the straps for a comfortable fit.

Unbox Therapy observed that the mask, made of three pieces of high-quality fabric, feels better than conventional masks. The mask has a design with a triangle shape to accommodate the nose without fogging glasses, a rounded section for the chin, and adjustable strings for the ears.

Although Apple did not provide a medical classification for air filtration capability, the video's informal testing suggested that the mask is effective at blocking airflow out of a user's mouth. "It feels very secure. As far as breathing is concerned, I'd say it's fairly comparable (to a surgical mask) but I definitely feel more sealed off than a standard surgical mask," Unbox Therapy remarked.

The mask comes in a range of sizes and can be washed up to five times, with up to eight hours of use possible before a wash. As the mask is intended for corporate and retail employees, it is not available to the general public.

The video also reviewed ClearMask, a consumer option designed to overcome the barriers to visual communication that come with conventional opaque masks. Apple is also using ClearMask, in addition to their in-house design, for retail employees.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tags: Apple retail, COVID-19 Coronavirus

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How Android 11 Beats iOS 14 for Handling Messaging Apps

Android 11 and iOS 14 are both here, and the software upgrades pack in a slew of improvements and new features for Android phones (er...some of them) and iPhones, respectively. Many of the tweaks and enhancements in Android 11 center around one particular area, though, and it’s an area where Google’s smartphone…

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Left 4 Dead 2 Gets Huge 'Last Stand' Update, But Mac Version Remains 32-Bit

After almost a decade since the game's release on Mac, Valve's iconic co-op zombie shooter "Left 4 Dead 2" has just got a huge update thanks to new content pack "The Last Stand."

It has been many years since the infection first hit. Radio silence, no sign of life, nothing but lingering hopes... CEDA is not going to save us. But there is hope! A few brave souls have continued the fight against all odds, and soon we can all benefit from their resilience.

Created by the L4D2 community and officially endorsed by Valve, the update includes over 1,000 changes to the game, including 26 new survival maps, new weapons, new enemy types, new animations, and unused dialogue. There are also several new achievements, many bug fixes and a handful of user interface enhancements to make the game feel fresh again.

The only downside to today's development for old-school gaming fans is the dawning realization that "Left 4 Dead 2" for Mac remains a 32-bit game, which means it's currently incompatible with macOS 10.5 Catalina and later, and the chances that Valve will update the title to 64-bit anytime soon don't look great. (Aspyr, it's worth noting, stopped selling 32-bit Mac games last year.)


If your Mac is still running macOS 10.14 Mojave or older, then you won't have a problem playing 32-bit games like "Left 4 Dead 2." For everyone else, Valve suggests a couple of remaining options:

• After upgrading to macOS 10.15 Catalina, consider installing macOS 10.14 Mojave on a separate APFS volume on your computer along with Steam. This will allow you to flip over to macOS 10.14 on restart of your computer where you can continue to play all of your 32-bit Mac games. More information here.


• Use Bootcamp on Mac to launch your games in Windows on your Mac computer. More information about Bootcamp can be found here.

It bears repeating that Boot Camp will not be supported on forthcoming Apple Silicon-based Macs and likely never will, with Apple preferring to emphasize virtualization going forward. Ultimately though, the hope is that the performance gains of Apple Silicon will prompt developers to make triple-A games native for Mac.

Find your friends, dust off your guns, and face the zombie horde one last time in The Last Stand Update, a massive Left 4 Dead 2 update built by the community.

Left 4 Dead 2 is also FREE this weekend starting right now, and on sale for 80% off! https://t.co/mwhl6NIZCC pic.twitter.com/U0waG0NiQT

— Valve (@valvesoftware) September 24, 2020

As a launch promotion, Valve has made "Left 4 Dead 2" free to play for the duration of the weekend, and for anyone who wants to keep playing beyond Sunday, the game is available for just $2 on Steam.
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EU to Appeal Against Apple's $15 Billion Tax Bill Ruling

The European Commission on Friday said it would appeal a court ruling that overturned its demand that Apple pay 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) in tax to the Irish government (via CNBC).

"The Commission has decided to appeal before the European Court of Justice the General Court's judgment of July 2020 on the Apple State aid case in Ireland," Margrethe Vestager, the head of competition policy in the EU, said in a statement.

The EU's General Court in July sided with Apple, and said the EU's executive arm, led by antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager, had failed to show Ireland's tax arrangements with the company were illegal state aid.

Both Apple and Ireland appealed the original 2016 ruling, which stated that Apple owed the country over 13 billion euros in tax payments because the arrangements between the two countries were unfair.

In 2016, Apple CEO Tim Cook called the EC's original decision "total political crap" and said that Apple believed it would be reversed. "The decision is wrong, and it's not based on law or facts, it's based on politics. And I think it's very important that we stand up and say that very loudly," said Cook at the time.

The final decision will now be made by the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU), the highest court in Europe.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tags: European Union, European Commission, Apple-Ireland tax case

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