💥 The iPhone case market minefield

💥 Apple's 'Action Button' Throws a Curveball at iPhone Case Makers

Apple’s new Action Button has thrown a wrench into the works for case makers.

Case manufacturers traditionally rely on rumors and speculations about new iPhone models, leading to challenges when introducing significant hardware changes.

Several prominent case brands, such as Nomad and MOFT, accurately predicted the inclusion of the Action Button and designed their cases accordingly.

However, other significant players like Peak Design and Bellroy made a different bet, assuming a continuation of the traditional ringer switch.

Consequently, their cases feature a cutout above the volume buttons, exposing the ringer switch and making the Action Button harder to reach.

This goes to show that the world of iPhone case manufacturing is a high-stakes game of guesswork and precision!

🎨 Google Halting Updates for $5,000 Meeting Room Display

Google has announced the discontinuation of its collaborative Jamboard whiteboarding software by late 2024.

The company is directing users towards third-party apps that integrate with Google Workspace services.

Google will support customers transitioning to other whiteboard tools like FigJam, Lucidspark, and Miro, which offer features like infinite canvas size and use case templates.

The Jamboard app will become read-only from October 1st, 2024, and users will have until December 31st, 2024, to back up their files.

Google’s $5,000 Jamboard meeting room display will also be discontinued and will stop receiving software updates from September 30th, 2024.

🏢 Amazon Reverses Policy: Tracking and Sharing Employee Office Attendance Data

Amazon is now tracking and sharing individual office attendance records, a reversal of an old policy, as the company doubles down on forcing employees back into the office.

Employees can now see a “Badge Report” on their internal HR dashboard, showing the days they’ve badged into an Amazon corporate office over the past eight weeks.

The company says the data will help guide discussions between employees and managers about coming into the office.

Amazon is still dealing with employee backlash over its RTO policy, more than 6 months after announcing the 3-times a week, in-office mandate. The company has been slowly ramping up the rhetoric and the consequences for those struggling to comply with the in-office mandate.

In August, they rolled out a new policy that forced employees to relocate near office "hubs," or effectively be forced into a "voluntary resignation."

⚡ 3 Cool Tools

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