Glenn Fleishman pulled together this reasonably comprehensive look at options for capturing over the air TV signals and recording them on your Mac. If you’ve thought about cutting the cable cord, this is for you.
How to set a full-time Mac boot password (i.e. a BIOS password)
Don’t do this. But it is an interesting read. But don’t do it. And go back up your Mac.
Jean-Louis Gassée on Apple, United, and customer service
Jean-Louis Gassée, Monday Note:
When I was selected to run Apple France more than three decades ago, I had a disdainfully Parisien attitude to customer service. You inserted an interface card backwards and your Apple ][ no longer boots? Well of course it doesn’t…you did it wrong.
After a few combative customer service encounters, I experienced an epiphany: No matter how “wrong” they may be, we’re a prosperous business, we can afford to take care of these situations, but we can’t afford to let unhappy, affronted customers damage our reputation.
The flip side of this Parisien approach?
Whenever a call was escalated to my office, I would immediately offer to buy back the customer’s machine. The offer was always emphatically declined, so we moved on to arrangements for shipment or perhaps a personal appointment at our service shop. Our business concluded, I would ask if the happy caller had children: “Yes…but why?” “For the t-shirts, of course, a small thank-you for bringing your problem to our attention…what sizes would you like?”
Carrots instead of sticks, then bigger carrots. Great read from Jean-Louis. He knows of what he speaks.
On the design of the new (and old) Mac Pro
Thoughtful post from Marco Arment on the current Mac Pro design, with collected thoughts on where Apple should go with the model currently in the works.
This particular paragraph captured my feelings about the 2013 Mac Pro design:
While minimalism is one aspect of one view of good design, it’s often overused, underconsidered, and misunderstood, resulting in products with surface-level appeal that don’t actually work very well because they were optimized for visual design and minimalism rather than overall real-world usefulness.
And from the wrapup:
There is no single design, no single set of trade-offs, that addresses a large set of pro users: they all want different things, and the only way to serve that with one product line is to have it be extremely versatile and offer a wide variety of configuration options. You can’t do that with a minimalist industrial-design indulgence like the 2013 Mac Pro.
Good read.
How to track and manage your iPhone’s cellular data usage
Michael Potuck, 9to5Mac:
There are several reasons it may be helpful to track your cellular data usage. You might not have an unlimited cellular data plan right now and may be wondering if you should switch to one, you may be trying to cut down on overage fees, or you might want to discover if you could reduce your current plan and save some money.
You also might be having issues with applications that are using more cellular data in the background than expected. Let’s take a look at a few different ways to track and manage your cellular usage.
Take a few minutes to scan through the post, get a sense of what’s covered. Then pass this along to the folks you support to show them how to keep track of their data usage.
Why Nintendo killed the NES Classic Edition
Nintendo’s NES Classic Edition is a fascinating case study in marketing. Since Nintendo announced the console in November, they’ve sold almost a million of them in North America, all while maintaining a constant shortage, creating a demand frenzy. Given the simplicity of the product itself (it’s a retro product, no cutting edge parts), I’ve always seen that shortage as artificial.
As we reported Friday, Nintendo has now pulled the plug on the NES Classic, announcing that the last run will ship in April. Nintendo has a successful product, was basically printing money, and they walked away from that particular business.
The question is, why?
[Read on in the main Loop post for the logic…]
Historic retail job losses and Amazon’s obsession with being the “site of first resort”
Thoughts on 2017 being a tipping point for brick and mortar retail job losses, caused by Amazon’s pursuit of being the “site of first resort”.
LEGO Macintosh Classic with e‑paper display
Wow. Take a moment to click through and check out the pictures. This is some beautiful work.
A bit of real-world Clips experience
Thoughts on Apple’s new Clips app, with a short sample I pulled together.
In praise of the versatile Mac mini
Dan Moren, writing for Macworld, starts with this Phil Schiller comment:
“The Mac mini remains a product in our lineup. Nothing more to say about it today,” Phil Schiller told reporters, according to John Gruber.
and then digs into the past and potential future of the Mac mini. Good read.
Interested in building a Hackintosh? Your GPU options just blossomed.
Jeff Benjamin, writing for 9to5Mac:
I’m currently in the process of building a new Hackintosh rig for 2017, so imagine how surprised and happy I was to hear that Nvidia is working on beta drivers for its GPUs with the latest Pascal architecture. Up until today, I had just settled on being relegated to a Radeon RX 480, or a Maxwell-era Nvidia card.
And:
With today’s announcement, the Hackintosh just got exponentially more appealing. Nvidia’s announcement is positive for a variety of reasons: there’s the prospect of using an eGPU setup with a MacBook Pro, along with future prospects of Nvidia cards powering future Mac Pro hardware.
As I’ve mentioned before, if you do decide to build a Hackintosh, start here.
YouTube won’t allow ads until videos hit 10,000 view threshold
Starting today, we will no longer serve ads on YPP videos until the channel reaches 10k lifetime views. This new threshold gives us enough information to determine the validity of a channel. It also allows us to confirm if a channel is following our community guidelines and advertiser policies. By keeping the threshold to 10k views, we also ensure that there will be minimal impact on our aspiring creators. And, of course, any revenue earned on channels with under 10k views up until today will not be impacted.
9 things to ask Siri that your kids will find hilarious
A solid list. Got more of these? Leave them in the comments.
These high school journalists investigated a new principal’s credentials. Days later, she resigned.
Washington Post:
A group of reporters and editors from the student newspaper, the Booster Redux at Pittsburg High School in southeastern Kansas, had gathered to talk about Amy Robertson, who was hired as the high school’s head principal on March 6.
The student journalists had begun researching Robertson, and quickly found some discrepancies in her education credentials. For one, when they researched Corllins University, the private university where Robertson said she got her master’s and doctorate degrees years ago, the website didn’t work. They found no evidence that it was an accredited university.
“There were some things that just didn’t quite add up,” Balthazor told The Washington Post.
The students began digging into a weeks-long investigation that would result in an article published Friday questioning the legitimacy of the principal’s degrees and of her work as an education consultant.
On Tuesday night, Robertson resigned.
Journalism! You can read the student’s article here.
Oh Samsung
Motherboard:
Last month, the CIA got a lot of attention when WikiLeaks published internal documents purporting to show how the spy agency can monitor people through their Samsung smart TVs. There was a caveat to the hack, however—the hijack involved older models of Samsung TVs and required the CIA have physical access to a TV to install the malware via a USB stick.
But the window to this sort of hijacking is far wider than originally thought because a researcher in Israel has uncovered 40 unknown vulnerabilities, or zero-days, that would allow someone to remotely hack millions of newer Samsung smart TVs, smart watches, and mobile phones already on the market, as well as ones slated for future release, without needing physical access to them. The security holes are in an open-source operating system called Tizen that Samsung has been rolling out in its devices over the last few years.
Got any Samsung devices in your house? Might want to read the details here.
Panic on making a living building apps for iOS vs macOS
From long time macOS and iOS developer Panic (the folks who produced the excellent Firewatch game, mentioned yesterday):
If you remember, 2016 was the year we killed Status Board, our very nice data visualization app. Now, a lot of it was our fault. But it was another blow to our heavy investment in pro-level iOS apps a couple years ago, a decision we’re still feeling the ramifications of today as we revert back to a deep focus on macOS. Trying to do macOS quality work on iOS cost us a lot of time for sadly not much payoff. We love iOS, we love our iPhones, and we love our iPads. But we remain convinced that it’s not — yet? — possible to make a living selling pro software on those platforms. Which is a real bummer!
The macOS marketplace is so much smaller than that for iOS, it’s much easier to stand out in the crowd, get the word out on excellent work. In addition, the smaller market allows for higher prices, so you can break even selling fewer copies.
Australian regulator sues Apple over alleged iPhone bricking
Reuters:
The U.S. technology giant “bricked” – or disabled with a software update – hundreds of smartphones and tablet devices, and then refused to unlock them on the grounds that customers had had the devices serviced by non-Apple repairers, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said in a court filing.
And:
The regulator said that between September 2014 and February 2016, Apple customers who downloaded software updates then connected their devices to their computers received a message saying the device “could not be restored and the device had stopped functioning”.
Customers then asked Apple to fix their devices, only to be told by the company that “no Apple entity … was required to, or would, provide a remedy” for free, the documents added.
From the ACCC’s official post on the matter:
The ACCC alleges Apple represented to consumers with faulty products that they were not entitled to a free remedy if their Apple device had previously been repaired by third party, “unauthorised repairers”. However, having a component of the Apple device serviced, repaired, or replaced by someone other than Apple cannot, by itself, extinguish the consumer’s right to a remedy for non-compliance with the consumer guarantees.
“Consumer guarantee rights under the Australian Consumer Law exist independently of any manufacturer’s warranty and are not extinguished simply because a consumer has goods repaired by a third party,“ ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said.
Tricky issue. Do I have the right to repair my own goods, or have them repaired by a third party of my choosing? If I do go the third party route, should Apple be able to void my warranty? Did Apple intentionally brick the iPhones in question? Core questions.
While you chew on that, consider the related controversy concerning John Deere’s tractor repair policies.
And, more recently, the account of the WiFi garage-door-opener seller who bricked a customer’s garage door after a bad review.
Interesting stuff. Welcome to the future.
Cabel Sasser hilariously roasts Firewatch rip-off
Firewatch is an excellent game. If you’ve never played it, consider carving out some time. It’s US$19.99 and available on Xbox One, PS4, and on Mac/Linux/PC via Steam. Here’s a link to the website.
If you are familiar to the game, you’ll appreciate this tweet from Cabel Sasser, co-founder of Panic, the folks who published Firewatch, upon encountering an iOS game called New Firewatch:
https://www.twitter.com/undefined/status/849319016418209793
Watch the video. This sort of thing is like weeds in a garden. If there’s no attempt to get rid of them, they overtake and destroy the garden.
iPhone: New iBook is an excellent, detailed exploration of the original iPhone
I dug into Christoph Kabisch’s new iBook with zero expectations. A look back at the original iPhone? How good could this be?
As it turns out, the book was a fascinating read with lots of detail, both in word and images. I owned the original iPhone, was there when it was announced and rolled out. I thought I remembered the details, but this book made it clear how much slipped out of my memory.
When you read it, be sure to tap on each image. Some move to a larger frame, others are 3D models that rotate.
The book is only 99 cents. Here’s a link. Worth it for the pictures alone. A terrific journey back in time.
UPDATE: Don’t miss the iPhone OS simulator on page 40. Incredible.
New Siri patent
Patently Apple:
In the future, if Siri doesn’t recognize the voice of the owner of the device, accessing Siri or the computer associated with it will be impossible.
And:
Today a user will say “hey Siri” and Siri will respond. In the future, the command to call up Siri may be customized to your voice. For instance, a user sets up Siri to recognize the phrase “Hey there, Boss.” The customized phrase and the voice must match what’s in Siri’s database before the digital assistant will respond. The customized phrase is technically referred to in Apple’s patent filings as a “Lexical Trigger.”
And:
In the future, in order to access Siri, a person will have to know a passcode, use a fingerprint or be recognized by the system via face recognition. Unless your iDevice recognizes you on multiple security levels, Siri will remain unresponsive to commands or requests.
As long as I can turn this off via a setting, this seems like a natural evolution.
Tim Berners-Lee wins $1 million Turing Award
MIT News:
MIT Professor Tim Berners-Lee, the researcher who invented the World Wide Web and is one of the world’s most influential voices for online privacy and government transparency, has won the most prestigious honor in computer science, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) A.M. Turing Award. Often referred to as “the Nobel Prize of computing,” the award comes with a $1 million prize provided by Google.
Tim Berners-Lee changed the world as much as anyone else in the computing or business world. Folks like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk etc. all changed the world, no doubt. But all of them became incredibly wealthy in the process. Nice to see this announcement.
On a related note, here’s an interview with Tim where he discusses the Turing Award and what’s become of his beloved brainchild, the web.
NFL and Amazon reach one year deal, Thursday night games exclusive to Prime members
Wall Street Journal:
The National Football League has reached a deal to stream 10 Thursday night games with Amazon.com Inc., the online retailer that is aggressively trying to position itself as a premier source of entertainment content.
The one-year agreement is valued at around $50 million, according to people familiar with the matter. That price tag represents a fivefold increase over the NFL’s agreement with Twitter Inc. for the same number of games last season.
To me, this deal makes much more sense than last year’s Twitter deal. The Twitter deal seemed like dipping a toe in the waters, an experiment with no real end goal. With Amazon, the deal seems more practical, a move to drive traffic, to increase Amazon Prime signups. Note that the games will still be available on TV via CBS and NBC.
Not sure this kind of move would ever make sense for Apple, unless buying an Apple TV was the only way you could watch Thursday Night Football.
Funny story about the new Mac Pro announcement
There’s a new Mac Pro coming, eventually, but there’s an interesting story that unfolds. Pop over to the main Loop post for all the details. My 2 cents? Well worth it.
Life explained like a video game
[VIDEO] Just perfect. Amazing analogy. Video in the main Loop post.
Bluetooth headphones mega-review
Marco Arment supplements his wired headphone review with this for Bluetooth headphones:
My criteria for this review is what someone seeking good all-around headphones today probably wants:
- Bluetooth
- Closed-back for isolation, ideally with active noise cancellation (ANC)
- Portable enough to fit in a small bag; suitable for listening at a desk, bringing on an airplane, and wearing outside
- Definitely under $500, and ideally under $300
Bookmark this, pass it along.
The MIT Dropouts Who Created Ms. Pac-Man
I found the whole article fascinating, but this part in particular grabbed my attention:
Macrae and Curran’s arcade route – a series of machines they owned and operated both for their own profit and for the benefit of students – quickly expanded to three dorms, but they soon had trouble with declining revenues as people began to master the games. As arcade operators themselves, they had a direct financial stake in making the games more interesting. So they did what any clever MIT student would do in that situation: confront the problem with mathematical precision.
And:
At this point in the video game world there were these kits called speed-up kits or enhancement kits that were being sold directly to arcade owners. The first really successful one was for Asteroids because people learned how to beat Asteroids, and they could play forever on a quarter. So somebody game up with a little circuit that you could clip on, and wow, it made the game much more difficult.
I had no idea that was a thing. Amazing little nugget of video arcade history.
Apple wants to sell HBO, Showtime and Starz in a single bundle
Peter Kafka, Recode:
Apple isn’t done trying to sell you pay TV.
Here’s Apple’s latest proposal: It wants to sell consumers a premium TV bundle, which combines HBO, Showtime and Starz.
Apple already sells each of those channels individually. But it has approached the three networks about rolling them up into a single package, as conventional pay TV operators sometimes do.
No value in a bundle unless it is cheaper than the sum of its parts. And that’s been a tough thing for Apple to achieve, at least so far.
The iPad turnaround is coming
Jean-Louis Gassée offers a state of the union on the iPad past and near future, and the potential for the iPad to take more business from the Mac and PC. Very interesting read.
Apple to roll their own graphics processors for iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and Apple Watch
Imagination Technologies:
Imagination Technologies Group plc (LSE: IMG, “Imagination”, “the Group”) a leading multimedia, processor and communications technology company, has been notified by Apple Inc. (“Apple”), its largest customer, that Apple is of a view that it will no longer use the Group’s intellectual property in its new products in 15 months to two years time, and as such will not be eligible for royalty payments under the current license and royalty agreement.
That is a major blow to the company. Their stock dropped about 60% on the news, shaving hundreds of millions off the market value in just one day.
But Imagination will not go quietly:
Apple has used Imagination’s technology and intellectual property for many years. It has formed the basis of Graphics Processor Units (“GPUs”) in Apple’s phones, tablets, iPods, TVs and watches. Apple has asserted that it has been working on a separate, independent graphics design in order to control its products and will be reducing its future reliance on Imagination’s technology.
Apple has not presented any evidence to substantiate its assertion that it will no longer require Imagination’s technology, without violating Imagination’s patents, intellectual property and confidential information. This evidence has been requested by Imagination but Apple has declined to provide it.
Seems clear that Apple is going its own way, that this is more of a license fee negotiation to avoid a complex and costly lawsuit. Though a custom GPU is no trivial task, Apple owns enough chip design experience and can hire any additional GPU-specific expertise they need to make this work.
Note that Apple owns 8% of Imagination and was reportedly in talks to buy the entire company in March 2016 but the talks are said to have ended without an offer. This does smell a bit like a hardball negotiating tactic, with Imagination going public they way they did. Apple’s long advance notification could be the first step in the dance to lower royalties.
Legal issues aside, if Apple and Imagination do part ways, this seems a positive move for Apple, a chance to control even more of the stack, reduce their fabrication costs, and add more graphics power across the product line.
Lexus April Fools’ Day prank
[VIDEO] This is so well done, you might be fooled into thinking this was real. At least if you didn’t read the fine print about 38 seconds in.
If only this was real. Video embedded in main Loop post.