MagnusCards app helps people with autism navigate daily life

People with autism look and navigate through world differently and sometimes there needs to be special tools to help them. And that’s why Nadia Hamilton founded tech startup Magnusmode, which was inspired by her brother Troy who has autism and subsequently led to the development of the app MagnusCards. The app gamifies daily activities and helps break these down tasks into smaller, more actionable steps with visual “how-tos” or digital flash cards so the user can get through different activities.

In an interview with Betakit, Hamilton describes how having illustrated guide helped Troy get through daily activities. “Getting dressed can be an overwhelming task for someone like Troy because he’s afraid of making a mistake. He’s afraid of getting to the end of doing whatever he’s doing and finding out he did it wrong,” said Hamilton. “There’s a lot of anxiety surrounding everyday activities for people with cognitive special needs. This keeps them from going through the door and even doing it.” The app is available on both iOS and Android.

Katherine Adams Joins Apple as General Counsel & SVP

With the retirement of longtime general counsel Bruce Sewell —Apple today announced that Katherine Adams, formerly senior vice president and general counsel of Honeywell, will join Apple as general counsel and senior vice president of Legal and Global Security, reporting to CEO Tim Cook and serving on Apple’s executive team. 

The company also announced Bruce Sewell, who has served as Apple’s general counsel since 2009, will be retiring at the end of the year.

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Hundreds of new emoji coming to iPhone and iPad

Emoji have become the preferred way to quickly communicate ideas and now iOS is making giving users more precise options with hundreds of new emoji. 

Hundreds of new emoji, including more emotive smiley faces, gender-neutral characters, clothing options, food types, animals, mythical creatures and more, are coming to iPhone and iPad with iOS 11.1.

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Google Store now focuses on selling Google-made products

The internet was abuzz with news earlier that Android Wear might have been abandoned by Google after the section dedicated to these products disappeared from the Google Store. But it seems the reason isn’t as drastic as that one. With the growing number of Google hardware, it seems the company wants to focus on promoting and selling Google-made products. Hoi Lam, a Googler who works with the Android Wear team, confirmed this news on Twitter. Lam adds they have been working over the past year on “custom store fronts with online retailers” for Android Wear. You can see his series of tweets below the cut. 

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