Market Watch: The Apple Car could run traditional automakers off the road

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Vitaliy Katsenelson, Market Watch:

I had this “Aha!” moment recently when I visited a Tesla store and saw its cars’ power train. It looks just like a skateboard — basically a flat slab of metal (which houses the battery), four wheels, and an electric engine the size of a large watermelon. That’s it — the Tesla has only 18 moving parts.

Many Tesla showrooms have that full size power train on display. It really is something to behold, a marvel of efficiency.

If both Tesla and Apple bypass the dealership model, the GMs of the world will be at an even larger competitive disadvantage. They will have to abandon the dealership model too. Yes, I know, selling cars directly to consumers is not legal in many states, but if the U.S. Constitution could be amended 27 times, the law on car sales (which is an artifact of the Great Depression) can be amended as well. The traditional dealership model is unlikely to survive anyway, as its economics dramatically degrade in the electric-car world. A car with few moving parts and minimal electronics has few things to break. Consequently, electric cars will need less servicing, throttling the dealerships’ most important profit center.

And:

Think back to the day when Apple introduced the iPhone. No one suspected that it (and the smartphones that followed) would enable a service like Uber, which is putting cabdrivers worldwide out of business.

The baby boomer generation romanticizes cars. Most boomers can recite the horsepower and other engine specs of every car they have ever owned. For the tail end of Gen-X (my generation) and Millennials, a car is an interruption between Facebook and Twitter.

Obviously, this is conjecture. We do not know if Apple is building a car. But the idea of an Apple Car is fascinating, and this article homes in on some interesting truths if Apple does go down that path. Read the whole thing.

Want to get started with Logic Pro? Here’s one path.

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Interested in digging into Logic Pro, but find the interface a bit intimidating? Here are two resources that might ease the learning curve.

First, spend some time with this excellent, free 4 part series from Justin Kahn, writing for 9to5Mac. To me, there’s enough depth to really understand the basics, while maintaining a slow enough pace that it’s still easy to follow.

Second, take a look at this series of slides, part of a music production course from the esteemed Berklee College of Music. The slides focus on the details of the mixer and the channel strip. To me, these are the most complex pieces of the Logic Pro interface.

Have some other suggestions for learning Logic Pro? Ping me on Twitter or post a comment.

UPDATE: Mark Dalrymple posted an excellent list of Logic learning resources in the comments.

Jean-Louis Gassée: Who killed Windows Phone

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Jean-Louis Gassée, Monday Note:

Just back from three weeks in the Country of Good Sin’s heartland, I see Microsoft’s fresh and well-received Fourth Quarter Fiscal Year 2017 Results. The numbers acknowledge what was already notorious: Windows Phone is dead.

Country of Good Sin? That’s France, though I’d love to know the origin of that particular nickname. Hopefully, some kind reader will enlighten me.

UPDATE: From Jean-Louis:

https://twitter.com/gassee/status/889852346049601536

Moving on:

The gross failure of what once was the most powerful and richest tech company on the planet led to a search for a platform killer. Detectives didn’t think they had to go far to nab a suspect: Android. Microsoft’s Windows Phone was murdered by Google’s smartphone OS. How could Redmond’s money-making software licensing business model survive against a free and open source platform? Case closed.

No so fast.

And:

Microsoft’s smartphone troubles started well before the birth of Android. In a reversal of the famous dictum Victory Has Many Fathers But Defeat Is An Orphan, Windows Phone’s collapse seems to have had many progenitors deeply embedded in the company’s decades-old culture.

This is a great read. Jean-Louis engages in some interesting fiction, speculating on what would happen if Microsoft were to give away Windows Phone, à la Android. Still possible!

Snopes locked in legal battle for control of its website

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Poynter, a few weeks ago, in a post that lays out the legal details:

The owner of Snopes is locked in a legal battle with a small digital services company for control of the popular debunking site.

Proper Media — a company that owns, operates and represents web properties — has issued a legal complaint and demand for a jury trial with Snopes owner Bardav, Inc. for what it calls “a lengthy scheme of concealment and subterfuge to gain control of the company and to drain its profits,” according to documents filed in the Superior Court of California in San Diego County.

And from this New York Times article:

The site, which gets all of its revenue from advertising, created a crowdfunding page on Monday, seeking $500,000 from readers to remain operational indefinitely. It says that Proper Media, the vendor that runs its advertising services, has withheld the site’s revenue and has refused to relinquish control of the site. That leaves Bardav — the company that owns and operates Snopes — with no way of moving the site to a new host or installing its own ads, said David Mikkelson, a founder of the site.

What a mess. It’s all so twisted. If only there was a site one could go to to get the real story. Oh. Wait.

UPDATE: We received an email from Procopio, the law firm representing Snopes, with details on their current legal strategy. Here’s a link to the press release that lays it all out.

Jamming GPS signals is illegal, dangerous, cheap, and easy

Written by

Gizmodo:

If I were to plug the gadget into my car, it would jam up the Global Positioning System signals within a 16-foot radius, rendering my smartphone’s Google Maps app useless and disabling any tracking devices that might be on my vehicle. That may sound harmless enough, but when one considers that thousands of lives (everyone in an airplane right now, for instance) and billions of dollars depend on reliable and accurate GPS signals, it’s easy to understand why my little jammer and others like it are illegal to use, sell, or manufacture in the United States. Every time I turn it on, I could incur a $16,000 fine.

But they’re easy to get online, and I’m not the only one who has ordered one.

Why do people risk the fine to jam GPS?

He’s seen truckers trying to avoid paying highway tolls, employees blocking their bosses from tracking their cars, high school kids using them to fly drones in a restricted area, and even, he believes, undercover police officers using them to avoid tails.

On the downside, your efforts could cause planes to crash. So there’s that.

Apple said to be developing its own OLED technology in order to reduce reliance on Samsung

Written by

DigiTimes:

Apple has purchased evaporators from Korea-based Sunic System to build a 2.5G OLED panel line to develop related technology and products in Taiwan, according to a Korea-based ET News report.

“Apple is eagerly developing its own OLED technology in order to reduce its reliance on Samsung Electronics for the supply of OLED panels, while enabling it for product differentiation”, said the report.

Apple’s move will break the dominant position held by Japan-based Canon Kokki in the evaporator market, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report. Canon Tokki is currently the primary supplier of evaporators and ships the bulk of its output to Samsung.

This is a big move by Apple. Not only does this help reduce their reliance on an arch-competitor, it allows them to more finely control their supply chain. At the rarified levels at which the iPhone sells, it can be difficult to source high quantities of the more state-of-the-art parts.

Bringing manufacturing in house is a bet that the up front cost will be more than amortized by the number of iPhones sold. Given Tim Cook’s supply chain expertise, my bet is that this is no gamble on Apple’s part.

UPDATE: As several readers have pointed out, it’s more likely that Apple will provide this equipment to a selected partner, let them run the factory. Makes sense.

The Rock’s crazy, long form Siri commercial

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[VIDEO] Not quite sure what to make of this. At almost 4 minutes long, it’s too long for a commercial, though it could easily be cut into reusable snippets. Could this be the beginning of a long-term deal between Apple and Dwayne Johnson (formerly known as The Rock)?

And what about the voice of Siri itself? In the commercial, it’s the voice we all know and love, that of Susan Bennett. But in iOS 11, Apple is shifting to a synthesized voice, a voice that, to me, bears no resemblance to the Siri we’ve all grown to know and love.

Is this new investment in Susan’s Siri voicing a sign that Susan Bennett will have a home in iOS 11?

No matter, take a few minutes, click through to the main Loop post, and watch The Rock, Dwayne Johnson, take Siri through his day. Boring, this is not.

UPDATE: Just installed iOS 11 beta 4 and the old Siri voice is back, no settings changes on my part. So could the synthesized Siri voice be an experiment, one that was rolled back? Or is this new version a better synthesis of Susan Bennett’s Siri? Either way, it’s good to have you back, Siri.

The backup speech, in case the moon landing went terribly wrong

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Friday marked the 48th anniversary of humanity’s first step on the moon. Came across this article, where William Safire talks about the speech he was asked to write for then-President Richard Nixon to deliver if things went terribly wrong.

Shortly before the mission, Apollo 8 astronaut and White House liaison Frank Borman called President Nixon’s speechwriter, William Safire.

“You’ll want to consider an alternative posture for the President in the event of mishaps,” Borman told Safire, according to an NBC “Meet The Press” interview with Safire on July 18, 1999.

At first, Safire didn’t understand what Borman meant — he told NBC that it sounded like “gobbledygook” — but Borman quickly clarified.

“I can hear [Borman] now: ‘Like what to do for the widows,'” Safire said. In short, Borman wanted a backup speech ready in case the Apollo 11 crew died.

A morbid scenario, but a fascinating read.

ARKit app lets you redecorate, plop new furniture in place

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Dave here. I love ARKit, love the endless possibilities it brings. In today’s episode, watch this ARKit user select some new furniture, plop it in place, angle it just so, and even resize it for the space.

https://twitter.com/madewitharkit/status/888469295478517762

I can see a future where this is how you try/buy your furniture, and how you order custom-sized pieces for an exact fit.

How to use iOS 11’s new File app

Written by

Michael Potuck, 9to5Mac:

Files replaces the iCloud Drive app in iOS 11 and brings a number of enhancements to working with your files on your iPhone and iPad. There is a Browse and Recents tab at the bottom of the Files app. In the Browse tab you can easily navigate between files stored on iCloud or on your device, a Recently Deleted location along with Favorites, and Tags. Let’s dive into some of the details.

Even if you are not running the iOS 11 beta, this is easy to follow and an important concept that comes with iOS 11.

Steven Soderbergh’s latest film shot entirely on iPhone

Written by

Variety:

Juno Temple is set to co-star with “The Crown’s” Claire Foy in Steven Soderbergh’s next movie, sources tell Variety.

The official title of the pic, which Soderbergh will direct, is currently unknown, but sources says it has a working title of “Unsane.”

Plot details are being kept under wraps, but insiders say Soderbergh shot the entire film on an iPhone, similar to the indie hit “Tangerine.”

Big fan of Soderbergh. His movies include Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and the Oceans 11 series, just to name a few. He does love to experiment.

Ireland seeks custodian for Apple cash as collection nears

Written by

Peter Flanagan, Bloomberg:

The Irish government is setting up a fund to manage the estimated 13 billion euros ($15.2 billion) it will collect from Apple Inc. in back taxes, nearly a year after the European Commission ruled the country had provided a sweetheart deal on tax to the U.S. firm.

The government and Apple will jointly appoint a custodian to hold the money to be deposited by the iPhone maker, the finance ministry said in an emailed statement. The funds will be held in escrow pending appeals by Apple and Ireland, which could take years. One or more investment managers will also be hired to manage the money.

And from Apple:

“The European Commission’s case against Ireland has never been about how much Apple pays in taxes, it’s about which government gets the money,” said Apple spokesman Josh Rosenstock. “The United States government, the Irish government and Apple all agree we’ve paid our taxes according the law. Since virtually all of our research and development takes place in the United States, according to the law, we pay the majority of our taxes in the U.S.”

The appeals process is just beginning. It could be years until this is resolved.

A smart fish tank left a casino vulnerable to hackers

Written by

CNNTech:

Hackers attempted to steal data from a North American casino through a fish tank connected to the internet, according to a report from security firm Darktrace.

Despite extra security precautions set up on the fish tank, hackers still managed to compromise the tank to send data to a device in Finland before the threat was discovered and stopped.

“Someone used the fish tank to get into the network, and once they were in the fish tank, they scanned and found other vulnerabilities and moved laterally to other places in the network,” Justin Feir, director for cyber intelligence and analysis at Darktrace, explained to CNN Tech.

Why connect a fish tank to the internet? So you can monitor/feed your fish from anywhere in the world.

With great convenience comes great hackability.

Apple reportedly working on electric car batteries with China’s biggest battery maker

Written by

Fred Lambert, 9to5Mac:

Today, China’s Yicai Global reported that CATL, China’s largest automotive battery maker, is working with Apple on a confidential project:

“The Cupertino-based tech titan is working with Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd. (CATL), a battery manufacturer in China’s Fujian province, on a scheme based on a confidentiality agreement. The parties are working together in the field of batteries, sources involved with the cooperation said.”

Neither Apple or CATL commented on the report.

If true, that’s a line in the sand between Apple’s car project being hardware-based, as opposed to a software-only car OS.

Interesting wrinkle.

The iPad easing its way into being your only computer

Written by

Benedict Evans:

There’s a pretty common argument in tech that though of course there are billions more smartphones than PCs, and will be many more still, smartphones are not really the next computing platform, just a computing platform, because smartphones (and the tablets that derive from them) are only used for consumption where PCs are used for creation. You might look at your smartphone a lot, but once you need to create, you’ll go back to a PC.

And:

100m or so people are doing things on PCs now that can’t be done on tablets or smartphones. Some portion of those tasks will change and become possible on mobile, and some portion of them will remain restricted to PCs for a long time. But there are another 3bn people who were using PCs (but mostly sharing them) but who weren’t doing any of those things with them, and are now doing on mobile almost all of the stuff that they actually did do on PCs, plus a lot more. And, there’s another 2bn or so people whose first computer of any kind is or will be a smartphone. ‘Creation on PC, consumption on mobile’ seems like a singularly bad way to describe this: vastly more is being created on mobile now by vastly more people than was ever created on PCs.

In a nutshell, Ben argues that there are, and probably always will be, tasks that are best done on a personal computer.

But the newest generation of users are growing up on their phones and tablets, without the experience of using a PC, developing methods and habits that work in the phone/tablet environment. And there are a relatively small number of PC-first folks, and a huge number of PC-never folk coming.

Great argument.

Twitter: Significantly less abuse on Twitter today than six months ago

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From the official Twitter blog:

Our commitment to move faster to make Twitter safer started in January. First, we conducted research to understand the issues at a deeper level, then we made a range of product updates. We then convened our Trust and Safety Council to gather feedback and help guide us as we move forward.

While there is still much work to be done, people are experiencing significantly less abuse on Twitter today than they were six months ago. What follows is some new data on the progress we’ve made, what we’ve learned, and our plans to continue improving.

Read the blog post for some of the details Twitter offers to back up this claim. Anecdotally, I have noticed a lot less discussion about abuse in my timeline lately. Could just be my particular feed, though. Hopefully, Twitter is on the road to solving this problem.

Can you guess the rock band logo from just one letter?

Written by

Kottke:

Dorothy has designed a pair of posters of alphabets fashioned from rock band logos: one for classic rock and one for alternative rock. How many of the band names do you know? Me? Fewer than I would like.

This was both fun and incredibly difficult. Pick the genre you know best and give it a try.

How to use one-handed keyboard mode on iPhone

Written by

Christian Zibreg, iDownloadBlog:

Apple’s stock keyboard on iOS 11 comes with a special mode designed to make typing with larger iPhones easier. Available on 4.7 and 5.5-inch iPhones but not on iPad, it shrinks the keys and moves them closer to your thumb.

I love this mode. I was unable to get it to work via Settings > General > Keyboard, but I was able to get it to work using the long press on the keyboard’s emoji icon. It’s a beta, so I feel certain both methods will work consistently when iOS 11 is released.

Great idea.

Neilson Music: Hip-hop is bigger than rock music for the first time

Written by

Amy X. Wang, Quartz:

“Change—shit, I guess change is good for any of us,” Tupac raps at the start of one of his most beloved singles, recorded in 1995 and released the following year after his death. Back then, rap, hip-hop, and R&B were still subcultures, brimming with loyal followers but lagging just below the attention of the mainstream. Fame was fierce, yet limited.

Just over a decade later, the status quo’s been flipped on its head. According to Nielsen Music’s latest semi-annual report, hip-hop (including R&B) is now the biggest genre in the US, overtaking rock music for the very first time. Hip-hop claims 25.1% of all music consumption, while rock music is at 23%.

That’s be just over two decades, no? But I digress.

Why this happened has as much to do with US’s listening methods as it does the undeniable talent of many modern-day rappers. In the 1990s, CD sales still dominated. Digital-music streaming has now outstripped physical album sales and iTunes downloads as the primary way people listen to songs; with this new order comes both a new audience and a revamp of music charts.

The article tells the tale of the data embedded in this Neilson Music report. Lots to process there, including the death of the album.

Woz in China: iPhones are priced very high because they are worth it

Written by

Seung Lee, SiliconBeat:

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak defended the high price tag of iPhones, which is rumored to cost $1,200 for the upcoming 10th anniversary model, because the quality is so good and “a safe bet.”

And:

“Apple products are safe. And Apple’s pricing is high in the extreme,” said Wozniak to South China Morning Post reporters on Wednesday. “It’s a safe bet for a lot of people, and when you love Apple you are willing to pay for it.”

Wozniak also spoke highly of Chinese smartphones, which are much cheaper than iPhones.

“Here is what I admire about Chinese phones: really good, intelligent decisions about how to lower the cost but keep enough of the functionality in,” said Wozniak.

Though it’s not clear if this was planned, Woz is being a bit of an ambassador here, his China visit and comments following directly on the heels of Apple’s promotion of Isabel Ge Mahe as Managing Director of Greater China.

Steve Jobs opera set to premier this week after two years of preparation

Written by

MikeyCampbell, AppleInsider:

Almost two years after the Santa Fe Opera commissioned “The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs,” the narrative, music and rehearsals are complete and the production is set to open this Saturday as part of a limited six-show run.

And:

Throughout the course of 19 scenes, beginning with the launch of iPhone in 2007, the opera navigates the transformative experiences of Jobs’ life, from his days at Reed College to his time with spiritual advisor Kobun Chino Otogawa to the launch of the Apple I.

As can be expected, personal relationships appear to feature prominently in the production. Scene synopses and a cast list show interactions with Steve “Woz” Wozniak, former girlfriend Chrisann Brennan, wife Laurene Powell Jobs and father Paul Jobs. In true opera fashion, Otogawa’s ghost makes multiple appearances.

It’ll be interesting to see how this is received.

The most popular drum beat in the world

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[VIDEO] Dave here. I’ve been playing music since I was a kid. I started with an out-of-tune, broken down, flea-market guitar, then moved on to pretty much any instrument I could get my hands on. Master of none, tryer of all. But the one instrument I could never quite get going with is the drums.

I always felt awkward trying to make my feet do one thing while each hand did something completely different. Part of it was not understanding the rules. Then came the video embedded in the main Loop post. For some reason, watching this video, it all just clicked for me. And so I thought I’d share it with you.

To me, the best part of this video is the look on the drummers face. The thousand yard stare. Enjoy.

Apple patents mechanism to secretly call 911 using your fingerprint

Written by

CNBC:

A patent granted on Tuesday depicted technology that would sense the “manner” in which a finger touched the iPhone screen to trigger a 911 call. For example, the phone might look for a particular sequence of fingers, the level of force, a gesture (pinching or swiping), or a certain cadence of taps to the screen, the filing says.

When the “panic command” is activated, the phone would provide the users’ location to responders, and could also livestream audio or video from the iPhone.

Here’s a link to the patent.

The key to this, for me, is the ability to subtly make a call to 911, capturing audio and video, all without a potential attacker being aware the call was placed. Terrific idea.

Smuggler caught with 102 iPhones stuffed in her clothes

Written by

Brian Ashcraft, Kotaku:

Customs officials in Shenzhen, China have arrested a woman with 102 iPhones stuffed into her clothing.

Shenzhen borders Hong Kong, and, over the years, customs officials have arrested all sorts of smugglers.

According to XMNN, customs officials recently stopped a woman after noticing that the way her body bulged appeared strange. The officials searched her, discovering she was allegedly smuggling 102 iPhones of various models as well as 15 luxury wrist watches. The total weight of her haul was over 44 pounds.

Not sure what drove this particular smuggler. Was it a price disparity between iPhone values in Hong Kong and Shenzhen? More an issue of scarcity? A combination of both?

What I found most fascinating was the picture with the smuggler and the two border agents. The smuggler’s face is pixellated, the agents’ faces are not. And the smuggler is pointing to the iPhones, all laid out in front of her. Was she made to do this? It feels less mug shot, more selfie.

My week at SoundCloud, or finding out you are fired via your Apple Watch

Written by

Matthew Liam Healy, Medium:

Two weeks ago I moved from Scotland to Germany to start a new job as an iOS engineer at SoundCloud. On Monday of last week I started that job. By Thursday evening I, along with 172 of my new colleagues, was officially being laid off. And then, on Friday, I received somewhere in the region of sixty emails about potential new jobs.

It’s been a wild week.

Follow the link to read the whole thing. That’s some story. I hope Matthew gets a new job right quick.

Apple updates Logic Pro X with new drummers and performance improvements

Written by

Juli Clover, MacRumors:

Apple today updated its professional audio editing software Logic Pro X to version 10.3.2, introducing bug fixes, performance improvements, and a couple of new features.

Today’s update brings three new Drummers able to play percussion in the styles of Pop, Songwriter, and Latin, and the new Drummer loops can be added to songs and customized with performance controls.

Apple has also improved the responsiveness of the graphical user interface, introduced an automatic time align feature for improved morphing in Alchemy, and debuted new tools for fine tuning the pitch of an audio region.

Follow the link for the full change list.

Apple names Isabel Ge Mahe as Managing Director of Greater China

Written by

Apple press release:

Apple today announced that Isabel Ge Mahe, vice president of Wireless Technologies, has been named vice president and managing director of Greater China, reporting to CEO Tim Cook and COO Jeff Williams. In this newly created role, Isabel will provide leadership and coordination across Apple’s China-based team.

And:

lsabel has led Apple’s wireless technologies software engineering teams for nine years, focusing on development of cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, location and motion technologies for nearly every Apple product. She has also overseen the engineering teams developing Apple Pay, HomeKit and CarPlay.

In China, she has worked closely with Apple’s R&D team and carrier partners to develop new China-specific features for iPhone and iPad, including recently announced iOS 11 features such as QR Code support, SMS fraud prevention and enabling the use of a phone number as an Apple ID.

This is a highly visible role in an area critical to Apple’s growth.