Yearly Archives: 2015

The New York Times:

George Bell — a simple name, two syllables, the minimum. There were no obvious answers as to who he was or what shape his life had taken. What worries weighed on him. Whom he loved and who loved him.

Like most New Yorkers, he lived in the corners, under the pale light of obscurity.

In discovering a death, you find a life story and perhaps meaning. Could anything in the map of George Bell’s existence have explained his lonely end? Possibly not. But it was true that George Bell died carrying some secrets.

A well written and painfully sad story that will make you ask of yourself, “Will I be remembered when I’m gone?” Some of us won’t like the answer to that question.

Digg:

Two weeks ago, a YouTube channel called “Tony is Back!” was born. It claims — in a series of three commercials — that the Frosted Flakes mascot is now here to help the adults who grew up eating his nutritious cereal. Unfortunately, Tony is no longer any sort of role model.

Each of the three commercials functions like a brutal and disturbing garden-path joke, made plausible by the production value, “They’re Grrrrreat!” tagline, and inclusion of one obviously trademarked and highly-protected mascot/spokestiger. Even stranger, the channel created a website and a hashtag (tonyisback.com and #tonyisback, respectively). The site, like the commercials, looks professional enough to fool an average person. Many of the links point back to the official Kellogg website.

These might be considered NSFW but they are definitely weird and demented. How the site is still up even after the Facebook and Twitter pages have been suspended is beyond me. Perhaps it’s an attempt at a viral campaign by Kellog itself? Regardless, if you like your Sunday humor dark and weird, these videos will be right up your alley.

The Robb Report:

I decided to upgrade my Mac to El Capitan, but my computer said, on one condition: I must “carefully” read and agree with something. And so I did what anyone else would: I cleared my afternoon schedule and got right down to business; reading, carefully, the entire document. It turns out that I was much too pessimistic! I needed only 33 minutes.

I should note that I’m an attorney with a good understanding of license, trademark, and copyright law. I’m also a software developer with 20 years’ experience. So your own read-through may take more or less time, accordingly.

I thought it’d be a “fun” project to see what the “El Capitan License” actually says. Cool idea, huh? Kind of like spelunking through a cave that everyone says they’ve been through, but maybe no one really has. What will I find wedged in a wall or lurking in the dark around the next turn?

Like so many of us, I have never read these agreements we see all the time so it’s good that a trained professional did on our behalf. It’s also good to not see any truly onerous restrictions in Apple’s licensing terms.

Consumer Reports:

A number of websites recently created a stir with reports of a potential shortcoming of the iPhone 6s smartphones. According to those “chipgate” reports, the battery life on iPhone 6s models with an A9 central processing unit made by Samsung is worse than the battery life on models with a CPU made by TSMC. The phones with the Samsung chip also run hotter, the reports claim, than the phones with the chip made by TSMC.

While Consumer Reports’ tests had confirmed that the battery life on the 6s and 6s Plus is slightly shorter than that on the iPhone 6, they had not addressed the chipgate rumors. So, much like they did for last year’s “bendgate,” our engineers developed a special protocol to test this apparent issue. Those tests simulate real-world usage as opposed to relying on the benchmarks used by other organizations in their off-the-shelf tests.

As much as I dislike Consumer Reports for any number of reasons, I’m always fascinated by their testing and experiment methodologies.

CNET:

“Pirates” focuses on the heated personal rivalry between Steve Jobs of Apple and Bill Gates of Microsoft, recounting the parallel and often intertwined stories of the two companies and their tempestuous founders. Written and directed by photojournalist and documentary-maker Martyn Burke, the TV movie was based on the book “Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer” by Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine. It was first shown on TNT in June 1999.

“Pirates” is focused on recounting events rather than getting into the heads of its characters, so there’s not a great deal of insight into their motivations.

I watched this when it came out and remember thinking, while it was a “fun” movie, it really wasn’t very good. I’ll have to watch it again in light of the past 15 years. I was in the third row of the Macworld Expo Keynote audience when Noah Wylie came out in character as Steve Jobs and the place went bananas.

Oh shit, SELL SELL SELL.

The Boston Globe:

Hot air balloon festivals are a visual treat for many. Not only do they provide a stunning perspective for their passengers, but their playful shapes, colors, and themes make these floating vessels excellent subject matter for photographers, both on the ground and in the sky. Here is a look at some of the 2015 balloonist gatherings around the globe.

I’ve always told my students, if you ever want guaranteed great photos, find a hot air balloon festival.

Let’s see: Trade my MacBook that comes with a new, modern operating system for a piece of shit hardware that runs an operating system nobody wants…

Fuck no!

I have 4k video turned on all the time. I figure that video, and the tools we use, are only going to improve over time, so I might as well start capturing it now.

Thanks to Carbon Copy Cloner for sponsoring The Loop this week. What’s your plan when your Mac’s hard drive dies? Plan ahead and get back to work in minutes with a Carbon Copy Cloner bootable backup. CCC—the app that saves your bacon.

Jim’s Note: I’ve used this app for many years. I trust and love it.

Washington Post:

You may have heard that Apple’s on the hook for $862 million in potential penalties after a jury ruled that it infringed on a patent owned by the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

The university appears to be asking for roughly half that amount, about $400 million, but that is still a huge amount of money, particularly in relation to a) the size of the university’s budget and b) how much Apple’s spent on Washington lobbyists to head off just these types of lawsuits. And the stakes aren’t limited to the fines: If Apple is forced to pay future royalties, it’ll add to the production costs of future iPhones and iPads. While that won’t necessarily lead to increased prices for consumers, it could drag down the company’s profits over the long run even as it grapples with the reputational fallout of having copied someone else’s work.

Apple is almost sure to appeal, and it could very well get the fines reduced further or eliminated, as it did with another recent patent case this year. Still, the ruling represents a stinging rebuke for a company that has spent years accusing its rival, Samsung, of essentially stealing its hardware designs.

Many have and will call the University of Wisconsin–Madison a “patent troll” but that’s not necessarily the case in this particular situation. This does bring into question once again patents and lawsuits. The jury award could also open Apple up to further damages if they also loses a second lawsuit UW-Madison filed against the iPhone 6S, 6S Plus and the iPad Pro.

Medium:

Finding great stock photos is a pain. You’re left with either low-res amateur photos, people wearing cheesy headsets, or photos that are out of budget for the project you’re working on. Below is an ongoing list (so bookmark it) of the best stock photo sites I’ve come across.

I love using my own photos to illustrate things but sometimes, you just need one particular kind of shot. There are lots of sites that will charge you for lots of different kinds of images but, if you’re on a budget or just cheap, check out some of the sites listed at this page. Many of them have newsletters you can sign up for that will send you a daily list of new images.

Apple on Thursday released substantial updates for its iWork suite of applications on all its platforms: iOS, Mac, and the Web. There are a lot of changes in these updates—here are the major ones.

iMore:

Researchers from ANSSI, France’s National Information System Security Agency, have demonstrated a “hack” where, using transmitters from a short distance away, they can trigger Apple’s Siri and Google Now under certain specific circumstances.

Like usual, it’s something to be aware of but not overly concerned about. Once again, we should all be more concerned about the state of security reporting at mainstream publications.

Siri and Google Now are enabling and empowering technologies that help people live better lives. We should all be informed and educated about any potential security issues, but not sensationalized or made to feel scared in any way.

When I saw the Wired story, I (predictably) thought there was more to it than what was reported. As usual, whenever you read about “security threats” to Apple’s products, it’s always good to wait a few days until calmer heads investigate and give you a better, fuller version of the story.