[VIDEO] Well, that didn’t take long. As seen in the video embedded in the main Loop post, a user’s picture taken by one Galaxy S8 is used to unlock another Galaxy S8. Not good, not good.
Wait, we can spin this. That’s how good the camera on the S8 is. So realistic, it can hack itself!
Face palm.
[VIDEO] Three new iPad Pro ads, hitting themes that should resonate with students. The titles are “Light and powerful”, “All day battery”, and “All your school stuff”. Videos embedded in the main Loop post.
If you have even the slightest interest in space and rocketry, take a minute to watch the latest SpaceX launch. This is the first time a previously launched rocket has been reused. This will change the equation, make it much cheaper to launch a satellite. Amazing accomplishment.
You can watch the launch here.
If you just want the launch itself, jump to about 18:45 in. The landing of stage 1 back on Of Course I Still Love You (the drone ship) is a little trickier, as the video feed was cut off due to a line of sight issue, but jump to about 27:30 in to get the crew reaction. First there’s a groan of disappointment as the folks watching find out the video cut out, but then…well, watch for yourself.
I absolutely love what SpaceX has accomplished here. They have changed the future of space exploration.
[Video] So many questions. How did they get their phone back? Did they intentionally drop the phone from the airplane and just get lucky with the landing?
Regardless, this is some entertaining video, circa 2014. Video embedded in main Loop post.
Samsung rolled out their latest and greatest smartphone yesterday, the Galaxy S8. Interesting phone, includes a new digital assistant named Bixby, a fingerprint scanner/encrypted facial recognition, and a desktop dock (a la Microsoft’s Continuum).
What does this have to do with the Mac? Click through to the main Loop post and follow along, see if you agree.
Great writeup. Daring Fireball origin story, intertwined with the story of The Deck. Short and sweet.
Relatively new to iOS? Got a friend who is? Pass along this link to Apple’s official step-by-step iOS backup guide.
It’s simple and interactive, perfect for folks new to iOS backup.
There have been several well documented efforts to raise money to buy the browsing history of individual members of Congress. Can’t be done, at least not legally. That’s not the way it works.
Read on for the details but, bottom line, don’t give these folks your money.
Click. Drag. Type. Bang, zoom, you’ve got your cross browser CSS gradient all generated. Nice.
Ingrid Lunden, TechCrunch:
A report published this week from mobile analytics firm Verto has found that Apple Music attracted 40.7 million monthly unique users to its service in the U.S. in February. In comparison, Pandora came in at number two with 32.6 million users, and Spotify took third place with 30.4 million unique users for the month.
Spotify is still in front when counting paid users, but this is a good sign for Apple Music.
Want the details? Here’s a link to the Verto report.
This is a solid walkthrough of the new version of the latest rev of Apple’s iOS Security Guide.
If you are a fan of music, take a few minutes to dig through this multimedia piece by the New York Times. Year by year, you’ll make your way through the critical work in Chuck Berry’s catalog, focused on the beat and guitar licks he introduced to the world, each accompanied by covers of his songs, as well as songs that influenced his evolution and songs derived from his work.
Great job by Guilbert Gates and the Times multimedia team. The songs load instantly, stop on a dime, making it easy to quickly shift gears, control the pace. I love this.
Sarah Perez, TechCrunch:
The MLB.com At Bat and NHL iOS applications have been updated today to take advantage of one of the new, but still under-the-radar features available in the just-launched version of Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS 10.3: personalized home screen icons. That’s right — you now can replace either of these apps’ default icon with one featuring your favorite team’s logo instead.
These are terrific examples of custom icons at work. Makes me wonder if Apple implemented these in response to requests from MLB and the NHL.
Excuse me, gotta go change my icons.
OK, so this is bad. But as always, read up on this and on what you can do to protect yourself. Here are a few pieces to start. Readers, please do add in your own suggestions (both habit and reading) in the comments, or send to me via Twitter.
The Washington Post:
In a party-line vote, House Republicans freed Internet service providers such as Verizon, AT&T and Comcast of protections approved just last year that had sought to limit what companies could do with information such as customer browsing habits, app usage history, location data and Social Security numbers. The rules also had required providers to strengthen safeguards for customer data against hackers and thieves.
From the left:
“Today’s vote means that Americans will never be safe online from having their most personal details stealthily scrutinized and sold to the highest bidder,” said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy.
And from the right:
”[Consumer privacy] will be enhanced by removing the uncertainty and confusion these rules will create,” said Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who chairs the House subcommittee that oversees the FCC.
Privacy will be enhanced? Give me a break.
The New York Times:
The bill not only gives cable companies and wireless providers free rein to do what they like with your browsing history, shopping habits, your location and other information gleaned from your online activity, but it would also prevent the Federal Communications Commission from ever again establishing similar consumer privacy protections.
There’s so much more to this. Read up on what’s just happened, then consider what it means to you, consider changing some online habits. With that in mind, a bit more reading:
The Tor Project: Read about anonymity and how Tor works, consider downloading Tor or a similar browser. At the very least, this will put one level of indirection between your internet travels and your IP address.
How to Go Invisible Online by Kevin Mitnick: This is a very understandable detailed practical guide. Though the focus is on email, it will help you understand how tracking works, how to insert encryption into the process.
VPNs are for most people, including you: What is a VPN? Why use one? Good explanations here.
I’m far from an expert on this stuff, so please do weigh in if there are better explanations, better resources to consider.
British Business Energy:
The map above, shows the various electrical plugs and sockets used around the world. As you can see, few countries use just one type of plug or socket.
And:
The map was created by us by combining this map from Wikipedia, along with plug and socket types from the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).
Here’s a link to the map. For more detail, check this Wikipedia page. Bookmark ’em both.
This is a CNET headline that caught my eye:
Samsung store catches fire a day before Galaxy S8 announcement.
An omen?
The Verge:
Apple released iOS 10.3 yesterday with a new modern file system, but like any software update there are many undocumented changes. One particular change has been revealed through Apple engineer Renaud Lienhart, who works directly on the iOS operating system. “iOS 10.3 feels ‘snappier’ because many animations were slightly tweaked & shortened, for the better,” says Lienhart on Twitter.
Here’s the tweet:
https://twitter.com/NotoriousBUGS/status/846539233305124865
Why the snappiness?
Apple’s new file system in iOS 10.3, that’s rolling out to millions of iPhones and iPads, should help make the OS feel a little faster, too. As APFS is designed to be low latency, this should also improve read and write speeds on iOS devices. You won’t notice this immediately, but apps that write a lot of data to a disk (like video processing) might seem faster
Lots of people talking about this. My favorite quote? This, from John Gruber:
I upgraded my phone today, and it did seem to me that it took an unusual amount of time. Understandable, considering it was changing the file system. This is one of those things where if it all goes according to plan, normal people will have no idea it happened. But for us nerds, what Apple pulled off today seems almost impossible — tens of millions of devices are being upgraded to an altogether brand new file system, in place, silently. My sincere congratulations to Apple’s file system team on a job well done.
That’s the key. These last few months, I’ve been upgrading all my devices each time a new beta hits and have yet to encounter a problem. Apple really deserves kudos here.
UPDATE: Tiny nit, but a cricket told me the Verge got one detail wrong, that Richard Lienhart is no longer an Apple Engineer. Just passing that along. Story core still correct.
Small fonts an issue on your Mac, especially as your eyes get older? Rob Griffiths walks you through the solution, the Zoom tab in the System Preferences Accessibility pane. Good tips.
[VIDEO] Jeff Banjamin, 9to5Mac, walks you through the new Apple TV remote app (video embedded in the main Loop post). Biggest plus? It’s now available on the iPad. Biggest complaint?
Unfortunately one of my main complaints about the initial Apple TV Remote app release — the lack of software volume controls — has yet to be addressed. I understand that the hardware version of the remote utilizes its built in IR blaster to communicate with a television, but it would be nice if there was a software provision for adjusting volume via the app.
UPDATE: As noted in the comments and on Twitter, this is an HDMI issue. If the TV supports HDMI-CEC, the remote can control volume.
First things first, the draft 2017 emoji list has been finalized. Here’s the official list (follow the link and search for “2017 Emoji List”).
Part of the evolution of emoji is the portrayal of gender. To truly understand the newest emoji, read the excellent What is Gender and and Why Does it Matter to Emoji?, which does an excellent job telling the story of emoji and its history with gender.
From the post:
Filling out the middle of the spectrum, we have a set of three new people emoji with inclusive gender, characters that were conceived to represent all people regardless of gender.
These emoji are intended to depict a child, an adult, and an older person. I proposed the addition of the gender inclusive emoji characters in order to provide better representation for people who want to express themselves in emoji as exactly that: just people.
Not everyone identifies as male or female. Some of us identify as a bit of both, or neither, or something else altogether. Regardless of your gender identity, I hope we can all find adequate ways to express ourselves in emoji.
And finally, thought you might find it interesting to see an actual proposal for change
A few highlights:
In 2016, Apple audited 705 suppliers and compliance with a 60-hour maximum work week reached 98%, an all-time high. Apple also tripled the number of supplier sites in the Energy Efficiency program, resulting in the reduction of over 150,000 metric tons of carbon emissions — the equivalent of taking 31,000 cars off the road for a year.
And:
For the first time, Apple suppliers achieved 100% UL Zero Waste to Landfill validation for all final assembly sites in China. Since 2013, Apple’s Clean Water program saved over 3.8 billion gallons of fresh water, enough to provide every person on the planet with 18 glasses of water.
And:
Apple’s responsible sourcing efforts expanded beyond conflict minerals to include cobalt for the first time. For the second year in a row, 100% of Apple’s tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold (3TG) smelters and refiners are participating in independent third-party audits.
And:
In 2016, Apple trained more than 2.4 million workers on their rights as employees.
Think about all the products you use every day. How many of the companies that produce those products spend their money this way, make these sorts of efforts?
Reminds me of the time a shareholder asked Tim Cook to consider only doing things that were profitable. Tim’s reply:
“When we work on making our devices accessible by the blind,” he said, “I don’t consider the bloody ROI.” He said that the same thing about environmental issues, worker safety, and other areas where Apple is a leader.
Amen, Tim. Amen.
Click through to the ad, then either click (or tap) to step through the pages or, if you are on a larger display, click the magnifying glass for a larger version.
I found the whole thing fascinating. Guns without orange tips, a full size 10-speed bike for $69.99, a Nintendo set that came with a robot, so much chewy goodness.
There’s both a useful tip and a lesson here.
The tip: If you use Apple Maps on a regular basis, take a moment to fire up the Settings App and make your way to:
Settings > Maps > Driving & Navigation
Look over the page. Among other settings, here’s where you can tell Apple Maps to avoid Tolls and Highways. You can also enable the Compass on your directions page.
The lesson: Where to hide the settings has long been a decision for app developers and their choice might not always be obvious. For example, Apple Maps has a switch to turn Traffic on an off. That switch is embedded behind the info icon (upper right corner of the Maps main view). But the switches for Tolls are in Settings.
Bottom line, if you did not know to look, the Tolls switch would be difficult to find. If you go to the Settings search box (drag down on the main Setting page) and type Tolls, nothing shows up. So you are left to search the tree of possibilities.
Or, more likely, head to Google and find your answer there.
I normally avoid these slide show advertising buckets, but this is Jason Snell and, per usual, he does a nice job. In this case, he walks through a set of 25 examples of Workflow in action. If you’ve never used the app, make your way through the examples to get a sense of what Workflow can do.
Interested in learning about Clips? Read this CNET article, or just watch the video embedded in the main Loop post.
The Guardian:
The US-UK ban on selected electronic devices from the passenger cabins of flights from some countries in north Africa and the Middle East was partly prompted by a previously undisclosed plot involving explosives hidden in a fake iPad, according to a security source.
When it was sneakers and underwear, they did not ban sneakers and underwear. This seems arbitrary at best.
David Chartier, writing about an experience at AltConf in 2015, when the Apple Watch was brand new:
It was a good keynote, but my favorite part happened in the Metreon theater. About 50 minutes in, a cacophony of Apple Watches all beeped nearly at once—according to the Activity features, it was time for us to stand.
Beautiful. A real moment in time.
BBC:
A four-year-old boy saved his mother’s life by using her thumb to unlock her iPhone and then asking it to call 999.
Roman, who lives in Kenley, Croydon, south London, used the phone’s voice control – Siri – to call emergency services.
Police and paramedics were sent to the home and were able to give live-saving first aid to his mother.
Great story.
Anita Balakrishnan, CNBC:
Apple said on Tuesday that Swift Playgrounds would be available in Simplified Chinese. Swift Playgrounds is an app, only available on iPads, that helps kids learn to code through games. Not only does Playgrounds help kids learn to code, but it teaches them Apple’s new coding language, Swift, released in 2014.
And:
Getting kids hooked has historically been part of Apple’s long game for the iPad — Steve Jobs once told Barack Obama that it was “absurd” that teachers still used chalkboards instead of iPads.
This is an important move that got little attention. This is Apple paying great attention to the details in opening up the iOS device market in China, paving the way via education. Smart.
This is like an external keyboard case with a slot for an iPhone (or an iPad), except with this model, there’s an external display that is driven by the iOS device’s processor.
Neat idea. A bit of a missing link between iOS and macOS.