Apple has begun promoting Apple Pay as a way for people to donate to several causes amid the ongoing global health crisis. Apple has highlighted four causes in particular that users can donate too with Apple Pay. All the fundraising appeals are on behalf of GoFundMe.org.
America's Food Fund, launched by Leonardo DiCaprio, Laurene Powell Jobs, and Apple, is working to ensure that all people have reliable access to food in this critical time of need.
Frontline Responders Fund is focusing all its resources on getting critical supplies including masks, gowns, and gloves to medical professionals in hospitals across the world.
The Mental Health Fund aims to support the work of several organizations hosting text-based hotlines that offer crisis intervention and a gateway to long-term care.
The Small Business Relief Fund provides micro-grants to qualifying small businesses negatively impacted by the health crisis. The initiative will supply financial assistance and support to U.S. businesses by providing grants, tools, and resources to help during the crisis.
Apple says Apple Pay is the easiest way to donate to the causes you care about: "With no forms to fill out or accounts to create, you can instantly give with just a tap."
Sunday November 17, 2024 5:18 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple released the AirTag in April 2021, so it is now three over and a half years old. While the AirTag has not received any hardware updates since then, a new version of the item tracking accessory is rumored to be in development.
Below, we recap rumors about a second-generation AirTag.
Timing
Apple is aiming to release a new AirTag in mid-2025, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman....
Sunday November 17, 2024 3:03 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
While the Logitech MX Master 3 is a terrific mouse for the Mac, reports claiming that Apple CEO Tim Cook prefers that mouse over the Magic Mouse are false.
The Wall Street Journal last month published an interview with Cook, in which he said he uses every Apple product every day. Soon after, The Verge's Wes Davis attempted to replicate using every Apple product in a single day. During that...
Wednesday November 13, 2024 2:09 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple is set to release iOS 18.2 next month, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. There are a handful of new non-AI related feature controls incoming as well....
Saturday November 16, 2024 9:45 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Earlier this month, we reported about some iPhone users temporarily losing all of their notes in the Notes app after accepting Apple's updated iCloud terms and conditions. Apple has now indirectly acknowledged this issue in a new support document that outlines steps to follow if your iCloud notes are not appearing on your iPhone, iPad, or Vision Pro.
Fortunately, the notes can be re-synced...
Sunday November 17, 2024 12:33 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
It appears that Apple is discontinuing the Lightning to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter that it released alongside the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus in 2016.
The adapter was recently listed as "sold out" on Apple's online store in the U.S. and most other countries, according to MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. The adapter remains available from Apple in only a handful of countries, such as...
"100% of donations (less the 2.9% and $0.30 per donation transaction fee) will go directly to these organizations as they continue to coordinate, mobilize, and distribute meals to those impacted by COVID-19."
They've raised $14,202,400 so far. 2.9% of that is $411,869.60.
Must. Be. Nice.
Of which Visa immediately takes 1.35% and $0.05, Mastercard takes 2% + $.10 for interchange. Plus the cut GoFundMe's merchant bank takes to cover their risk. And the costs of fraud and the services used to detect it. And the costs of your compliance lawyers, since charities are regulated. And at this point we haven't paid for GoFundMe's servers, software engineers, sales and marketing...
Meanwhile, 1.35% is less than the 2% rewards e.g. Chase Double Cash gives out, and doesn't cover the free interest or costs on the Apple/GS side, so the banks are losing money.
Easy to armchair quarterback a business when you don't consider any of the real costs.
That’s great, these all seem like very urgent and important funds. But I have two questions.
- Where has Apple promoted these funds? Is there a press release or an ad or something?
- I was confused by the following line in the article:
All the fundraising appeals are on behalf of GoFundMe.org ('https://www.gofundme.com').
Isn’t GoFundMe just a fundraising platform? Doesn’t “on behalf of” mean that they are the ones who are ultimately asking for or benefitting from these funds? Unless I’m not aware of a different use of the phrase.
