Christies to auction off working Apple I

Written by

Christies auction page:

An Apple-1 motherboard: labelled Apple Computer 1 Palo Alto Ca. Copyright 1976 on obverse with four rows A-D, and columns 1-18, white ceramic MOS Technologies 6502 microprocessor, 8K bytes RAM in 16-pin 4K memory chips with an additional 4k piggy-packed onto on RAM bank to create 12K of RAM the heat sink removed along with voltage regulators which have been placed onto the metal casing enclosure (which acts as a heat sink), original 3 “Big-Blue” power supply capacitors, firmware in PROMS (A1, A2), low-profile sockets on all integrated circuits, fitted with original Apple cassette interface card lettered with “G” within triangle, above D9 is an added 1702 EPROM ; the metal casing painted green with Datanetics keyboard to front (20 ¼ x 17 x 6in.) ; vintage Viatron monitor model no. 3001-301 (20 x 11 x 9in.) ; in working condition. Provenance: The EPROM and extra RAM added by the first owner; acquired by Frank VanGilluwe III; sold to Andrew “Zack” Zacharias for $300 May 1978.

The auction is scheduled for next Thursday, June 15th.

What If the iPad Smart Keyboard Had a Trackpad?

Written by

John Gruber, Daring Fireball:

Here’s an idea I tossed out on the latest episode of The Talk Show, while talking with Jim Dalrymple about what Apple might do with the iPad Pro: what if they added a trackpad to the Smart Keyboard?

And:

I’m not talking about adding an on-screen mouse cursor to iOS for clicking and dragging. That’s a terrible idea.

And:

When you’re using the iPad’s on-screen keyboard, you have a crummy (or at the very least sub-par) keyboard for typing but a nice interface for moving the insertion point around. When you’re using the Smart Keyboard (or any other hardware keyboard) you have a decent keyboard for typing but no good way to move the insertion point or select text. Using your finger to touch the screen is imprecise, and, when an iPad is propped up laptop-style, ergonomically undesirable.

Great read. Moving the insertion point and selecting text is one of the least satisfying things about iOS. Not sure this is exactly the right answer, but it is a thoughtful talking point, well worth chewing on.

Apple Park’s tree whisperer

Written by

Steven Levy, Backchannel:

As the campus came into shape, Muffly — who was granted full-time status as Apple’s senior arborist in 2011 — had to actually get the trees. This task was even harder because the arborist and his small team (he calls them his “elves”) needed more trees than originally estimated. When Jobs presented his plan to the Cupertino City Council in June 2011, he said that Apple would add to the 3,700 existing trees for a total of 6,000. But when Muffly began his work, he realized that nearly all the (non-indigenous) existing trees would have to go.

“It was all junk trees and parking lots here,” he says. “So it was a long process.

There’s a lot to enjoy in this story. There’s the background on Steve Jobs and his history with trees, coupled with the process of selecting trees for Apple Park, with an emphasis on saving and planting native trees. Native trees are built to consume the rainfall for a specific area, grow well in the native soil without supplement. Steve Jobs knew this and hired an arborist who shared his vision.

An iceberg flipped over, and its underside is breathtaking

Written by

Melissa Wiley, Smithsonian:

While exploring Cierva Cove, a glacial bay off the peninsula, a scientist aboard Cornell’s boat became excited by one iceberg in particular. “Everything I was seeing was pretty exciting,” Cornell admits. “This particular iceberg at the time kind of blended in with all the crazy stuff we were seeing.”

But as they approached the mass, which rose about 30 feet out the water, Cornell understood his guide’s excitement. Whereas most iceberg tips are covered in snow or have been weathered by the elements, this one was free of debris, exposing glassy, aqua-green ice with water flowing through it—“almost like an ant colony,” he says.

Hard to argue with the headline. Pretty cool image. And in some ways, this is like seeing an endangered species.

Siri creator, now with Samsung, on the future of AI assistants

Written by

Arjun Kharpal, CNBC:

Adam Cheyer was one of the people behind Siri which was acquired by Apple in 2010. Since then, Cheyer has created a next generation voice assistant called Viv which was acquired by Samsung in 2016. Viv is [now] a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung with the South Korean titan looking to integrate the technology into future products.

Watch the video embedded at the top of the article. Interesting to hear Cheyer’s point of view. Interesting that he specifically leaves out Google in his list of companies competing in this space.

One guitar, many hands

Written by

[VIDEO] I fell down a well of guitar videos yesterday. More specifically, a well of multiple people playing a single guitar. Who knew this was a thing, and that there were so many of them.

I picked three, all embedded in the main Loop post. Please do add your own favorites to the comments.

Android vs. iOS: Are iPhones really safer?

Written by

The article leads off with this:

In a new Apple ad, a thief breaks into “your phone” but struggles to get into an iPhone. Here’s how it plays out in the real world.

I was all set to read about how the ad was wrong, that Android phones were actually just as safe. But:

There are several reasons why iPhones are more secure than the various phones running Android software, according to Mike Johnson, who runs the security technologies graduate program at the University of Minnesota.

Side note: That’s no small-time opinion. The University of Minnesota has one of the best computer science programs in the US.

Moving on:

The old rule about PC viruses seems to be holding true with mobile phones, as well. Android phones make up more than 80% of the global smartphone market, and hackers are more likely to succeed if they write programs for these devices, just because of sheer numbers.

The Windows vs Mac logic. Certainly true.

Plus, he says, the process of “patching” security holes is easier on iOS devices. Apple’s iOS operating system only runs on iPhones, while Alphabet’s Android software runs on phones made by numerous manufacturers. It’s more complicated to deliver patches, or bug fixes, that work across so many device makers and carriers. Android can release a patch, but it won’t necessarily be available on all devices right away.

“Fragmentation is the enemy of security,” Johnson says.

And:

Last year, Wired magazine reported that one security firm was offering up to $1.5 million for the most serious iOS exploits and up to $200,000 for an Android one, a sign that iOS vulnerabilities are rarer.

Add to that Apple’s underlying review process, designed to restrict the use of private APIs, controlling techniques that could end-around Apple’s security processes. Not perfect, but world’s better than the more wild-west Android ecosystem.

Fireflies

Written by

A fascinating, interactive firefly simulation.

The Siri Speaker, screen or no screen, and some thoughts about actual news

Written by

Mark Gurman and Alex Webb, this Bloomberg post:

The iPhone-maker has started manufacturing a long-in-the-works Siri-controlled smart speaker, according to people familiar with the matter. Apple could debut the speaker as soon as its annual developer conference in June, but the device will not be ready to ship until later in the year, the people said.

There’s more to the post, but that’s certainly the core chunk of news.

Now make your way over to this Daring Fireball post, where John Gruber digs through the Bloomberg piece, making three major points.

  • The Bloomberg article is long on words, short on actual news, journalism stretched for time. I hate to see this become habit and I certainly do my best to keep my stuff short and to the point (but being an old codger, I do tend to wander occasionally).

  • This:

The closer we get to the WWDC keynote, the more likely things are to get spoiled. But here we are 5 days out and no one has leaked just about anything about iOS 11 or MacOS 10.13, or what’s going on with this 10.5-inch iPad Pro, or if there’s anything new coming for WatchOS or tvOS. Again, there’s a lot of time between now and Monday morning, but it might be time to give Tim Cook credit for “doubling down on secrecy”.

Excellent point. In the olden days, Apple was a much smaller universe, with far fewer analysts, journalists, and op-ed speculators. To keep secrets in these times is truly an accomplishment. Kudos.

  • And finally, there’s the question of screen or no screen. From Gruber:

At the end of Gurman and Webb’s report: “Apple’s speaker won’t include such a screen, according to people who have seen the product.” That sets up a delicious claim chowder standoff with Ming-Chi Kuo, who wrote two weeks ago, “We also believe this new product will come with a touch panel.”

I put the question out there on Twitter, what recent products has Apple shipped without a touch screen? My thinking was, are any of these products similar to the Siri speaker concept? There’s the iPod shuffle, the Mac Pro, AirPods, the Airport Express, and the Apple TV.

To me, the Airport Express and the Apple TV seem the closest to the Siri speaker, screen-wise. To configure either of these devices, you use a separate screen. The complexity of the settings is too much for a built-in panel to properly serve.

And if the screen is intended as a feedback device, like a built-in iPad, for showing the weather or playing videos, that seems like a second generation add-on, a secondary SKU. Pure conjecture on my part, but I cast my claim-chowder-registered vote for no-screen.

The greenest Apple Store in the world

Written by

Nick Mafi, Architectural Digest:

Apple—the forty-one year old technology company from Cupertino, California—is known for unveiling technology that is often ahead of the curve. Which is to say, once Apple does something, the competition tends to follow suit. Climate scientists will hope this will again be the case as Apple recently unveiled their most eco-friendly store to date. The store will not only be filled with trees, but will operate from a handful of sustainable sources as well. Aptly, the store will be located in Singapore, the greenest city in Asia. With the opening over the weekend, Apple finally opened their first-ever store in Southeast Asia.

If nothing else, click through to the article and check out the picture of that staircase, beautifully crafted from Italian marble. Gorgeous.

At Amazon’s bookstore, no coffee but all the data you can drink

Written by

Francis X. Clines, New York Times:

We all may have thought that product delivery by drone was the next big Amazon thing. But the future turns out to be a typical retail store in the Time Warner Center off Columbus Circle. Another half dozen are due this year, including a second Manhattan store, on 34th Street.

The speculation is that dozens more are planned nationally and that Amazon, which already handles nearly half of the nation’s book sales, may eventually expand into selling far more products than the books and Kindle electronics the stores currently offer.

And:

Ask a worker about the narrow predictability of data mining, and the reply comes: “It’s data with heart.” Amazon says its recommendations include in-house “curators’ assessments” to add a variable touch to the crowdsourcing.

This seems the future of the brick and mortar, slowly crushing the mom and pops under a massive pile of data.

Latest Apple Park drone footage — Is that a barn?

Written by

[VIDEO] Matthew Roberts latest footage is gorgeous (click through to the main Loop post to watch it).

One question: About two minutes in, we see a shot of an outbuilding that looks like a barn, sitting off center on what appears to be a concrete pad. Anyone know what that is? If so, please tweet at me.

I do find it fascinating to watch an architectural vision come to full fruition. This is a beautiful design, incredibly detailed, massive in scope.

UPDATE: Yup, it’s a barn. According to this Mercury News article:

Underscoring that Apple Campus 2 is at once one of Silicon Valley’s wildest sketches of the future and a portal to its past, the company has set aside a place on its state-of-the-art campus for the Glendenning Barn, named for a pioneer family whose land became a magnet for tech companies after the blooms faded from their orchards. Constructed in 1916 with planks of redwood, the barn was built to last, though its founders couldn’t have foreseen all that it would withstand: the decline of local agriculture, the rise of big tech and several changes of the guard in Silicon Valley, not to mention Apple’s earth movers.

Thanks for all the response. Love this bit of preserved history.

Eurasian filings indicate new MacBooks, iPads and Apple Magic Keyboard coming at WWDC

Written by

Benjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac:

Several reports have indicated WWDC will introduce several new Apple hardware products alongside the headline software announcements like iOS 11 and macOS 10.13. Today, Eurasian regulator filings (which have proved reliable before) suggest that new iPad and MacBook (Pro?) models are on the way, as has been reported before.

The filings also suggest that a revision to the wireless Apple Magic Keyboard is imminent

Can’t wait for the keynote. We are so close!

Why Apple should replace the Navbar in modern iOS design

Written by

Brad Ellis, Medium:

The UINavigationBar, navbar for short, has been around since the original iPhone. Historically, navbars have been convenient and clear, easy to understand and easy to build.

The navbar is the strip at the top of your phone that lets you move in and back out of views. As an example, in the Messages app,the nav bar has an Edit button on the left side, the title Messages in the middle, and a create new message icon on the right. If you tap on a message thread, the nav bar will change to a “<” on the left. Tap that “<” and you’ll navigate back to the main view.

Back to Brad’s post:

Then phones ballooned, enough that the iPhone 7 Plus supplanted sales of the iPad mini. Now, if you own a modern iPhone, navbars can feel unwieldy — literally out of touch.

Burgeoning screens mean the distance between the navbar and our thumbs has grown. The screen on a 7 Plus is so tall it would take a thumb-length increase of 150 percent to reach those pesky buttons with one hand. Just another knuckle or two. Nothing weird.

He does have a point. I use a Plus, and when I need to work the navbar, I either have to use my other hand to reach the top of the screen, or do a weird slidey move to work the phone down so I can reach the navbar with my thumb.

iOS does feature that double-touch the home button gesture to bring the top of the phone halfway down, but I find that takes too long, given that I have to also do the double-touch to restore to full screen. The double-touch is my least favorite solution. [UPDATE: Yup, you can tap to dismiss this. Still don’t like it.]

Read the post for thoughts on how Apple is already addressing this issue and steering away from the venerable navbar. Terrific.

Oh Samsung

Written by

Chaos Computer Club blog:

Biometric authentication systems – again – don’t deliver on their security promise: The iris recognition system of the new Samsung Galaxy S8 was successfully defeated by hackers of the Chaos Computer Club (CCC). A video demonstrates how the simple technique works.

The video is embedded in the main Loop post. This seems incredibly easy to replicate. Did Samsung even try to break their own iris recognition system? Sigh. Oh, Samsung.

The new Microsoft Surface Pro: What that $799 price really means

Written by

Microsoft just rolled out the latest and greatest version of its Surface tablet/laptop hybrid, branded as the Surface Pro. Here’s a link to the official Surface Pro product page.

Much has been made about the Surface Pro’s price of $799. But what do you get for your money?

The $799 Surface Pro ships with:

  • Intel® Core™ m3 processor
  • 128GB SSD
  • 4GB RAM
  • Intel® HD Graphics 615

That’s a pretty bare-bones machine. Apple’s cheapest machine (the $999 MacBook Air) comes with 8GB of RAM. I can’t imagine using a modern version of Windows or macOS with less than 8GB. Let’s tweak that so we can compare apples with Apples.

Bumping the Surface Pro to a minimally livable (in my opinion) 8GB brings the price to $1299. There’s just no cheaper way to get to 8GB without bumping the processor up to the Intel® Core™ i5, which is the same processor in the $999 MacBook Air. To be fair, these are different processor and screen generations, but the price bump from $799 to $1299 to get to 8GB is an important factor.

If you are considering buying a Surface Pro, take a few minutes to step through the configurations and compare the specs with the MacBook Air and 13″ MacBook Pro. And keep in mind the inherent differences between Windows and macOS.

Apple launches app development curriculum for high school and community college students

Written by

Apple press release:

Apple today launched a new app development curriculum designed for students who want to pursue careers in the fast-growing app economy. The curriculum is available as a free download today from Apple’s iBooks Store.

App Development with Swift is a full-year course designed by Apple engineers and educators to teach students elements of app design using Swift, one of the world’s most popular programming languages. Students will learn to code and design fully functional apps, gaining critical job skills in software development and information technology.

Here’s a link to Apple’s Everyone Can Code page.

And here’s a link to the ECC curriculum in iTunes.

Apple’s HR head Denise Young Smith moving to newly created Inclusion and Diversity VP role

Written by

Jordan Kahn, 9to5Mac:

Apple’s head of Worldwide Human Resources Denise Young Smith will now run diversity programs for the company under a newly created VP position, according to sources familiar with the move. The executive shuffle will see the creation of a new VP role for Apple’s Inclusion and Diversity team with Smith reporting directly to CEO Tim Cook. Sources say Smith has long had a passion for diversity initiatives at the company and the newly created position reflects an increased focus on the company’s efforts.

And:

Smith has been at Apple for over 20 years and was first promoted to VP of worldwide HR back in 2014 from her previous role as head of HR for just Apple’s retail stores, a role that Steve Jobs handpicked her for during the early days of Apple’s retail efforts.

Apple Watch versus GPS reference clock

Written by

[VIDEO] Watch the video (embedded in the main Loop post) on a big screen if you can, so you can really see the movement of the Apple Watch second hand. Not sure I’d expect anything different, but there is something quite satisfying watching the digital and analog line up so precisely.

Ikea entering the HomeKit smart lighting business

Written by

Ben Lovejoy, 9to5Mac:

Smart bulbs from the market leader Philips start at $25 per bulb for white and $50 for color, a price that soon adds up if you’re looking to fit out your entire home.

But all that is set to change in the summer as Ikea has announced that its smart lighting system will be HomeKit-compatible as of the summer. Ikea’s smart bulbs start at just $11.99.

And:

The existing product line is limited to white bulbs, but once you’ve bought the gateway for $79.99 (which includes two bulbs), you can add smart bulbs at prices ranging from $11.99 for a 1000-lumen E28 bulb, through $14.99 for a 400-lumen E12, $17.99 for a 980-lumen E27 to a $19.99 G10 spotlight. Dimmers and motion sensors are also available at similarly affordable pricing.

Ikea getting in the game brings down prices, legitimizes the sector, and will help popularize the concept of adding smart bulbs to your home.

‘Big and loud’ not the intention with flagship D.C. Apple store in the Carnegie Library

Written by

Washington Business Journal:

Apple representatives say their plans for the historic Carnegie Library will respect and improve the building’s historic architecture.

“Some of you may say ‘Apple! I don’t want to see another glass box. We had enough of that with the Spy Museum,'” Apple development lead Michael Brown said of the International Spy Museum’s failed 2014 plan for the Carnegie Library.

And:

Brown, along with reps from architect Beyer Blinder Belle, gave a closer glimpse at Apple’s plans during a National Capital Planning Commission historic preservation meeting last week. Apple has a letter of intent with Events D.C., the District’s sports and convention arm that runs the building, to operate a global flagship store in the 63,000-square-foot building. Apple would take up most of the circa-1903 building, sharing space with the Historical Society of Washington and Events D.C.

I do find it interesting that Apple will be sharing this space. Will the other groups have separate entrances? Will there be any actual shared space?

No matter, Apple’s plans will have to pass muster with the Washington D.C.’s strict Historic Preservation Review Board. When complete, this is going to be a destination Apple Store.

Apple’s self-driving car spotted on freeway

Written by

Juli Clover, MacRumors:

For the last few weeks, Apple has been testing its autonomous driving software in three Lexus RX450h SUVs, which have been photographed around the San Francisco Bay Area. This morning, MacRumors reader Andrew was able to capture some video of one of the SUVs, giving us our closest look yet at the vehicles Apple is using to test its system.

Not sure how much we can draw from this. I think it’d be more interesting to get a closeup look at the camera rigging and the computers inside the car. I suspect we’ll eventually have WWDC sessions that focus on self-driving car APIs.

Facial recognition helps parents find son 27 years after his abduction

Written by

Jennings Brown, Vocativ:

When Fu Gui was six, he was abducted on his way home from school in Chongqing, China. He was then trafficked to Quznahou, about 1,000 miles away, where he was sold to foster parents. Now, 27 years after he was taken from his family, he has been reunited with them. And it’s all thanks to the latest cross-age facial recognition technology from Chinese tech giant Baidu.

And:

In 2009, nearly two decades after Gui was kidnapped after school, he uploaded the earliest photo he had of himself, taken when he was 10, adding it to the database of tens of thousands of images. In January of this year, Gui’s father uploaded a photo of Gui when he was 4.

Baidu’s AI was capable of matching the two images, taken six years apart.

This is a breathtaking application of facial recognition technology. And this tech is becoming more sophisticated, and facial data more ubiquitously available every single day.

Apple and glucose level monitoring – “Stick it in your ear”

Written by

Jean-Louis Gassée, Monday Note:

Apple appears to be working on blood glucose monitoring as a way to address Type 2 Diabetes.“Stick it in your ear”. Literally.

This is a detailed, thoughtful piece on Apple’s pursuit of the holy grail of glucose level monitoring, continuous monitoring without drawing blood. Terrific read.

How the Beatles Wrote ‘A Day in the Life’

Written by

[VIDEO] Nicholas Dawidoff:

“A Day in the Life” isn’t a song to sing, as are “Eleanor Rigby” (ideal for both car and karaoke), “Hey Jude” (written to soothe John Lennon’s young son, no lullaby works better at children’s bedtime), or “In My Life” (a perennial at weddings and funerals and, I can’t help mentioning, rock’s analog to Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116). Nor is “A Day in the Life” guided by melody like so many Beatles creations. It’s an elaborate production, filled with sophisticated George Martin and Geoff Emerick musical trickery (distortion, echo, dubbing, reverb). An orchestra plays, and then one singer’s voice gives way to another’s—John’s worldly reflections transitioning to Paul’s sketch of domestic memoir, and then back again—before orchestral cataclysm and a final resting place.

And:

And then, after all the chaos and destruction, what next? George Harrison had suggested a fade to humming. But it didn’t work. Paul thought that the song needed firmer resolution. Three Steinway pianos and a harmonium were rolled into action, and at every keyboard the players were instructed to hit the single chord of E major simultaneously and hard, with the sustain foot pedal down, letting it carry as long as possible. There were nine takes. The tone is so big, so capacious and resonant because Martin and Emerick thought to put the recorder on half speed.

Some terrific writing in this piece. If you are a fan of (or have never heard) A Day in the Life, take a listen to the video embedded in the main Loop post.