Latest news with #AveryEllis
Engadget
2 days ago
- Engadget
Apple's Liquid Glass is Windows Vista done well
It's hard to look at Apple's new "Liquid Glass" aesthetic and not think about Windows Vista, Microsoft's much-maligned OS which also touted transparencies and glass-like effects as a bold new vision for computing. You can see the similarities between Apple's UI and Vista's "Windows Aero" design language everywhere, from the glassified app icons in iOS 26 and macOS Tahoe 26 which look a lot like VIsta's glossy icons, to the transparent backgrounds used in drop down menus, which hearken back to VIsta's transparent window borders. The key difference is that Apple is just doing it all better. (Sorry, not sorry, Windows fans.) While Microsoft started off with an intriguing idea, it failed to execute the Windows Aero UI well in Vista. Mostly, that's because Vista itself was a huge mess — it was far slower than Windows XP, it was notoriously buggy and it handled drivers poorly. And if you actually wanted to partake in the glory of Aero transparency bars, you needed a computer with a powerful GPU. That was far more rare in 2007 than it is today, when even integrated graphics can run basic 3D and fancy UI elements well. With its homegrown chips, Apple also provides decent graphics capabilities in its devices that support iOS 26, iPadOS 26 and other new software releases with Liquid Glass. It also helps that Liquid Glass isn't really a huge change for Apple, unlike the jump from Windows XP to Vista. Apple has been creeping towards a flashier UI and more widespread use of transparencies ever since iOS 7 was released in 2013, which dropped the archaic skeuomorphic design trend in favor of a flatter and more stylish aesthetic. So sure, your icons and menus may have a bit more shine to them in iOS 26, but they mostly work the way you remember. (You could also argue Apple itself kickstarted the move towards transparencies in desktop operating systems with the original Mac OS X in 2001, which gave its iconic dock a glossy background.) I can argue for the overall wisdom of Apple's Liquid Glass, at least compared to Windows Vista, and personally I also think it gives iOS a much-needed dose of personality. But I can't really convince you otherwise if you think it looks ugly, as many of my Engadget colleagues do. Senior News Editor Avery Ellis calls it "busy and obnoxious," and Editor-in-Chief Aaron Souppouris noted that "it truly feels like Aero, rooted in the mid '00s.... I don't need light refracting around my pause button." Fair complaints! And as usual, you can also reduce transparency effects and motion elements in Apple's Accessibility Settings, if these elements truly bother you. But after spending a bit of time with the first iOS 26 developer beta, I'm more intrigued by Liquid Glass than anything else. It makes app icons look like tiny jewels that I just want to touch, and I dig the transparency effects throughout the OS — they almost seem like a preview for a future where we're using holographic Apple devices. (That's also something I felt while using visionOS on the Vision Pro, which served as the launchpad for Liquid Glass.) I also genuinely love iOS 26's revamped Safari, which lets you browse completely in full screen. As you scroll down, the location bar at the bottom of your screen shrinks and gets out of the way. But if you scroll up or tap into the location bar, it pops back up to give you the sharing and navigation options you're used to. Devindra Hardawar for Engadget It could also be that I'm a sucker for novelty. Back in my Windows XP days, I used to use apps like WindowBlinds to customize the OS and add transparent effects. And there are signs that Apple may be going a bit too far with transparencies, like with the iOS 26's Control Center (above). It looks fine if you're swiping it down while inside an app, but if you're on the home screen, it's just one of many levels of glass-like windows. I could see that being a bit overbearing for some users. It's also worth noting that interface redesigns are often rejected at first glance, especially since you're seeing them abstracted through screenshots and videos. Even Apple's slick marketing magic doesn't replicate the experience of using Liquid Design. In my experience, iOS 26 really isn't that different from everything that came before. Once you get over the initial shock of a new interface, you may see it with new eyes. There's also still plenty of time until Apple's new operating systems arrive this fall though, and the company is often quick to tweak major design changes if beta users complain about them. I could see Apple toning down the Control Center's transparent background, or even better, giving users more control over the amount of Liquid Glass elements on your screen. Personally, I don't mind it when companies stretch their interface ideals a bit too far – there's always room to move back. That's far better than being too conservative and never really pushing your aesthetic vision forward.
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
‘Any moment could be the last': Red states could preview gender-affirming care under Trump
Avery Ellis wasn't born in Idaho, but it is the state he calls home. It's the state where he came out first as gay, then as transgender. It's the state where he first performed drag, under the name Tom from Accounting. It's the state where he found and built queer community. It's the state where he met his partner, and where he started medically transitioning. But last October, Ellis was left to wonder if his state would ever care for him like he cared for it. Because of a new state law, his state insurance refused to cover his prescribed doses of testosterone. Now, Ellis is fighting to access gender-affirming care in a place that he loves. If he lived just hours away, in Washington, things could be different — at least for now. But transgender people across the country — even in blue states considered sanctuaries — could soon find themselves facing the same hurdles as Ellis in Idaho if President Donald Trump fulfills campaign promises to prevent Medicaid funds from being used to pay for gender-affirming care. Ellis moved from South Carolina to Twin Falls, Idaho, in 2016 — the beginning of Trump's first term in office — and started connecting with the LGBTQ+ community. Idaho isn't most people's idea of a gay mecca, but he met more queer people in this city of just over 50,000 people than he ever had in South Carolina. 'I was able to get the courage to come out as myself,' Ellis told RANGE. By 2022, Ellis said he was ready to begin transitioning and, between then and late 2024, he received gender-affirming care using the state's Medicaid plan with no issues. That care consisted of hormone therapy. He took regular doses of testosterone, which he received through the pharmacy of Planned Parenthood Twin Falls — one of just two Planned Parenthood locations in Idaho, which has since closed to all in-person appointments and now provides telehealth care only. Ellis described the feeling of taking testosterone as 'finally becoming myself.' But in the fall of 2024, that access to care was feeling exceedingly tenuous as the political climate in Idaho became more unfriendly towards transgender people. 'It always feels like any moment could be the last moment I have access to [gender-affirming care],' Ellis said. 'And for that to possibly get taken from me is a very terrifying experience.' Earlier that year, the Idaho legislature had passed House Bill 668 — signed into law by Governor Brad Little in March 2024 — which would prevent any public funds, including Medicaid state insurance dollars, from being used 'for gender transition procedures.' The prescription of testosterone itself wasn't banned, but any treatment 'to affirm the individual's perception of [their] sex in a way that is inconsistent with [their] biological sex,' was. Because he used state insurance to pay for his testosterone, Ellis was hyper-aware of the law, but until late October, he'd still been able to receive free care. The law went into effect July 1, and somehow, Ellis had slipped under the radar. On October 23, that changed. When Ellis went to his pharmacy to pick up his testosterone, the pharmacist asked a new question: 'Are you male, female or nonbinary?' Ellis answered truthfully, but because that was inconsistent with the 'female' sex he had to list on his Medicaid registration, the pharmacist was unable to fill his prescription. 'I had to out myself as trans at the pharmacy,' Ellis said. It was uncomfortable and humiliating, he said. If Ellis was a cisgender man using prescribed testosterone, he said, the pharmacist would have been able to issue an override. But because Ellis was transgender, he was without care. Just across the state border in Washington, the harsh realities of seeking gender-affirming care in a red state like Idaho can feel lightyears away; in 2022, the state legislature passed the Gender-Affirming Treatment Act, which 'prohibits health plans from denying or limiting coverage for gender-affirming treatment.' But advocates worry that Trump could still use the Idaho law, and the nine others like it that prevented Ellis from accessing care as the playbook for restricting access across the country, even in blue states where care is currently covered by Medicaid. Trump made promises during his campaign that he would prohibit Medicaid — the nationwide health insurance program for low-income Americans — and Medicare, federal health insurance for Americans 65 and older, funding from going to any health care providers that offer gender-affirming care. This could impact the 20% of transgender adults who receive insurance coverage through Medicaid nationally. In his first few weeks in office, Trump hasn't yet done that, but he has signed a rapidfire slate of other anti-transgender executive orders, including one that cut access to insured gender-affirming care for the children of military members. On January 28, he signed an executive order taking aim at gender-affirming care for people under the age of 19 and asking the Department of Health & Human Services to take regulatory actions, including turning off access to Medicaid funds from the federal government. Trump has also banned transgender people from military service and trans athletes from women's sports. Even the word 'transgender' has been scrubbed from federal websites, along with critical information and datasets about transgender care. Because all state insurance programs use federal Medicaid dollars alongside state monies, the federal government under Trump could refuse federal payments for health care procedures frequently under political fire, like gender-affirming care and reproductive health care, or refuse to provide any Medicaid dollars at all to states that require insurance to provide the services. In Washington, federal dollars pay for between 50 percent and 90 percent of the costs for services provided by Apple Health — Washington's state insurance program that utilizes Medicaid funds — depending on if they fall under traditional Medicaid or the expansion created under the Affordable Care Act. This reliance on federal funds creates a vulnerability that Trump's administration has already shown a willingness to exploit, as he has threatened to shut off the valve of federal funding to hospitals that provide gender-affirming care for people under 19 and schools that allow students to 'socially transition.' Washington state Sen. Nicole Macri, co-chair of the Legislative LGBTQ Caucus and legislative advisor to the state's LGBTQ Commission, told RANGE that because Washington state law guarantees gender-affirming care, it's not going to disappear overnight as the result of a Trump order. But ensuring continued protection 'comes down to a funding issue,' because Washington currently has a multi-billion dollar budget hole. While the current budget is balanced through June 2025, the state's projected spending is set to vastly outpace tax revenue, and departments will certainly face cuts. What those cuts are and in which departments is up in the air as both a new governor and a new legislature braces for the end of the currently balanced budget. If the federal government cuts its half (or more) of the funding, the burden would shift to Washington. With tight budget constraints, Macri said it's unclear how the state could make up the difference and maintain its legal obligation to pay for care. If Trump follows recommendations in conservative policy blueprint Project 2025 to cut Medicaid matching payments for all services in states that allow recipients to receive reproductive or gender-affirming care, it would become an even tighter squeeze for Washington. In his opening salvo in office, Trump has already begun to bring Project 2025 to fruition, including appointing the architect of Project 2025 to lead the Office of Budget and Management. Because Washington has seen higher levels of Medicaid enrollment and tax revenue that's lagging behind inflation, Macri said she doesn't 'have clarity,' about what lawmakers will do if they're left on the hook for the insurance payments. The lack of certainty and whirlwind of action from the administration has made creating a firm response plan difficult, and 'could be devastating to our state budget,' Macri said. In one potential scenario, she fears Trump could threaten to pull Medicaid matching payments for any procedure for states that mandate gender-affirming care coverage. 'They're making all sorts of threats,' she added. 'We don't know how they're going to play out or how quickly.' The uncertainty and the sheer speed at which the Trump administration is moving — signing 35 executive orders in his first week alone — has left transgender Americans panicking. Crisis hotlines saw record numbers of calls from LGTBQ+ youth just days into the Trump administration. Transgender people raced to secure necessary documentation like passports. Families prepared to move to friendlier states, or even countries. In Spokane, LGBTQ+ justice nonprofits like Spectrum Center have seen an influx in requests for resources, financial help and emotional support, the group's Director of Advocacy KJ January told RANGE. ' We have just random emails that are like, literally just like, 'I'm scared. I don't know what to do.'' Spectrum Center opened applications for their Gender Affirming Products Program — which funds gender-affirming products and services like legal name changes, passport application fees, clothing, haircuts and more — on January 22. They had the money to pay around $300 for up to 50 recipients, January said. Within three days, all the slots were filled and a waitlist had been created. Even for the organizations uniquely prepared to help, it's a struggle. January said that Spectrum, which receives some state funding, fears that funding opportunities could dry up — at the state level because of Washington's budget deficit, at the federal level because of attacks on DEI and at the individual level because if economic conditions worsen under Trump's proposed tariffs, individuals may have less to give. This could leave Spectrum fighting other progressive nonprofits for a limited pool of funding. And, she added, it's so hard to know what to tell people in crisis when she doesn't 'know what tomorrow is going to look like. It's terrible, and it just compounds.' For Ellis in Idaho, the state government feels hostile as well, starting their legislative session by passing an official request that the Supreme Court to overturn gay marriage. 'My newsfeed is exhausting,' Ellis told RANGE. 'Watching my life be questioned and demeaned by a very vocal group of people is scary and very exhausting.' Though the federal government has the power to put blue states like Washington in check by taking money off the board, it's not a checkmate — yet. Macri said that despite ' the level of concern and panic that is reverberating,' throughout the state, there are a lot of reasons for Washingtonians and other blue state residents to stay hopeful. Depending on what method Trump uses if or when he comes for Medicaid-funded gender-affirming care, action will likely get tied up in courts, which means care won't vanish immediately. State officials have been preparing alongside advocates for 'the range of threats,' and strategizing about mitigation possibilities. Even in the worst case scenario of complete lockdown of Medicaid funds, Washington state law still requires gender-affirming care to be paid for by insurance. That law would have to be overturned by state lawmakers before people could legally lose access to their care — 23 other states and Washington, D.C. have similar nondiscrimination laws. And queer people have strong allies in state government right now, Macri said — 'strong Democratic majorities [who] have been big champions for LGBTQ Washingtonians.' Nationally, queer organizations are preparing to legally challenge Trump's transphobic policies. Two LGBTQ+ groups have already filed a joint lawsuit against his order that prevents transgender people from serving in the military. And in Spokane, organizations like Spectrum are jumping into action to build coalitions, like their new Rapid Response Team that's preparing to mobilize queer people and allies against anti-queer policies that could come down the pipeline locally, statewide or nationally by providing information and action opportunities, like testifying at city council meetings or the state legislature. Odyssey Youth Movement — a community center and organization serving LGBTQ+ youth — hosted a Valentine's Day Ball at Spokane gay bar Nyne to gather community and raise funds to support their programming. But in Idaho, Ellis feels stuck on an island. Since Medicaid stopped covering his care, his access to testosterone has been in flux. Some months, he's paid out of pocket for it. With the service GoodRX, Ellis said that cost him $35, but he lives paycheck to paycheck: $35 is a tank of gas, or a trip to the grocery store. 'Some months I don't know if I'll be able to afford an extra $35,' Ellis said. Now, he has new insurance, but because Idaho has no requirements that insurance cover gender-affirming care, he isn't confident it will continue to cover his hormone therapy in the current political climate. His therapist recommended he move out of the state, but Ellis is stuck. 'I'm poor, so my contingency plan is based around what I can afford,' Ellis said. 'Even though it's scary living in Idaho, I just don't have the ability to move to a safer state.' He's left with an impossible choice: 'Buckle down and make a decision on if I want to live out and proud and be a beacon of hope,' or conceal himself and go back in the closet. The post 'Any moment could be the last': Red states could preview gender-affirming care under Trump appeared first on The 19th. News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday. Subscribe to our free, daily newsletter.
