Apple and magic

Written by

Carolina Milanesi:

Another common argument shared by some Apple critics is that the inability to deliver a killer product rests solely with Tim Cook. When we consider the two new lines of products Apple brought to market under Cook — Apple Watch and AirPods — I struggle to see how people could honestly believe Cook is failing.

And:

I have been wearing an Apple Watch every day since it first came out. Yet, whenever people ask me if I love it, I hesitate to say I do because it is hard to explain why. Apple Watch gives back what you put in. You need to invest some time in setting up your preferences when it comes to notifications, pick your apps, buy into fitness, and add your credit cards. Most importantly, you need to trust Apple Watch to pick up some of the responsibility you have given to your iPhone for so long. When you do so, Apple Watch becomes a trusted companion you will not easily go without.

And:

This is the slogan of Apple’s AirPod commercial and, if you ask anyone who has tried them, they will agree. The feeling of magic is not because the user is aware of Apple’s unique approach of having two separate streams of music play simultaneously into each AirPod. The magic is delivered as soon as you pair your AirPods by simply taking away any pain previously inflicted by Bluetooth-enabled headphones requiring you to pay attention to flashing colored lights while pressing odd buttons.

All solid takes. Apple products are at their bests when they focus on fit, finish, and fine details. For example, compare the AirPods pairing times with any other BlueTooth earphones. Apple clearly put a lot of work into the design of the W1 chip and pairing time, whittling it down to practically instantaneous.

Compare the AirPods pairing time to the BeatsX pairing time. BeatsX also uses the W1 chip, but is noticeably slower to pair. Not that BeatsX are slow, it’s that the AirPods are fast. Magically fast. And that’s the point.

BeatsX Earphones shipping dates, reviews, comparisons to AirPods

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Apple’s new BeatsX Earphones are now live in the Apple Store, both brick and mortar and online.

BeatsX are available in four colors: white, black, gray, and blue, all priced at $149.95.

The white and black models ship pretty much immediately. If I order them online today, I can have them by Tuesday for a $17 next day shipping charge, $19 if I want them before noon, or free two shipping if I am willing to wait until Wednesday. Obviously, depending where you live, your shipping charges may be different.

The gray and blue models are currently showing delivery dates of February 23-28 (13 to 18 days from now) with free two day shipping, one day sooner with the overnight shipping fees mentioned above.

As to reviews, Chance Miller, 9to5Mac did a nice job gathering a series of YouTube reviews comparing the BeatsX Earphones to the AirPods, looking at things like sound quality and fit.

If you are trying to choose between BeatsX and AirPods, watch the videos. Each has a slightly different take, as a whole they should help give you a sense of which appeals to you more.

iCloud was quietly storing years of cleared browsing histories

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The Verge:

This morning, a Russian forensics firm named Elcomsoft announced a way to extract years’ worth of web browsing records from Apple’s iCloud storage system, a method first reported by Forbes. Those records included site names, URLs, and when a given site was visited. Cleared browsing records are also visible in the records, although they are marked as “deleted” in the table. Mobile browsing records are also visible, although the sites themselves appear to be hashed in the most recent versions of iOS.

Wow. Looking forward to Apple’s official take on this.

Bill Nye Saves the World

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[VIDEO] Bill Nye Saves the World is coming to Netflix on April 21st. I am looking forward to this one. Click through to the main Loop post for the trailer.

Steve Jobs’ NeXT IPO application

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Click through for a glimpse at the NeXT public offering application, the so-called Form S-1. The form is dated November 18th, 1996, about seven months before Steve Jobs came back to Apple.

If that IPO had gone through, the world might be a radically different place.

Samsung files for a ‘Samsung Hello’ trademark

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The way I read this, this is Samsung striking out on their own, moving to brand their own voice personality, apart from “OK Google”, and competing with Siri and Alexa (and to a lesser extent, Cortana). The main difference is, Apple and Amazon have complete control over the hardware on which their voice assistants run. Google is, at some level, dependent on third party hardware (thought Google Home and the Pixel phone are Google from the ground up). Samsung does control its hardware, but is dependent on Google for Android.

All very interesting.

The Apple Watch killer app? The flick of the wrist.

Written by

Bernard Desarnauts, writing about a Wristly panel of more than 2,400 Apple Watch users:

A majority of the panel members were checking their notifications via the watch regularly, which by definition means they’re not looking for that information on their phone.

And:

We found that an average Apple Watch user is using his or her iPhone quite a bit more than non-Apple Watch users.

Interesting. Here’s why:

This data point can be explained by the stage of market development, whereby an Apple Watch user is by definition among the power users of mobile.

Makes sense.

But what is insightful and somewhat contradictory to this data point is that those same Apple Watch owners open/pick up their iPhone at least 20 percent less than non-Apple Watch owners.

This quantifies the anecdotal reporting from our panel; wearing an Apple Watch helps reduce the number of notifications and interruptions from your iPhone, and helps users remain focused on what is happening in the moment.

And:

Our panel consistently shares high usage rate of Siri and the other voice capabilities of the Apple Watch. In early June, the survey measured 65 percent of the users reporting using it more than expected. And we recently noted that Voice to Text was the second favorite way to respond to incoming messages. It also regularly garners rave reviews from our panelists when asked about their experience with Siri on the Apple Watch.

In a nutshell, the Apple Watch is doing what its supposed to, offering a less socially jarring way for users to keep connected with their incoming notifications.

Two anecdotes from the study:

  • “Walking down the street carrying a cup of coffee in each hand, I was able to raise my wrist slightly and say ‘Hey Siri call…’ without having to set the coffees down and without having to touch the watch whatsoever!”

  • “Scheduled a haircut on my iPhone while picking up lunch…I lifted up my wrist, ‘Hey Siri…’ and it was done. Love those little moments.”

I’ve had this same experience. Apple Watch lets me keep my iPhone in my pocket and gives me hands free access to Siri. These points may be obvious to anyone with an Apple Watch, but interesting to see these results quantified.

Very interesting read.

Apple is not late to the VR game

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Facebook is shuttering 200 Oculus VR popup stores. Magic Leap is said to be struggling to pull together a demo for a critical Board meeting. And some are complaining that Apple is late to the VR game. Click through to the main Loop post for details, and a bit of op-ed.

New York Times offers free Spotify with NYT subscription

Written by

Gerry Smith, Bloomberg:

New York Times Co., looking for ways to persuade readers to pay for news, is working with Spotify Ltd. to give new digital subscribers to the newspaper free access to the world’s largest music-streaming service.

Readers who buy one-year online subscriptions to the Times will also get unlimited access to Spotify’s premium service, which costs $120 annually, the companies said Wednesday.

And:

The news-and-music subscription costs $5 a week, a 20 percent discount on the retail price for an all-access digital subscription to the Times.

A solid deal, if you want the All Access Times subscription, which includes insider access (special features) as well as a bonus subscription you can share with a friend. If you just want the regular digital access, you are better off finding the 50% discount offer on the web and subscribing to Spotify (or Apple Music) separately.

Either way, subscribe to some source of real news. Keep the news sites alive.

The perpetual motion machine is finally here

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The concept of a perpetual motion machine brings up images of con artists and snake oil.

Since the birth of the industrial revolution, tricksters have tried to sell the world on the impossible. But this one has the blessing of physicists at Berkely and others have been able to replicate their findings.

From New Scientist:

Now, in a paper published this week, Norman Yao at the University of California, Berkeley, and his colleagues have revealed a blueprint for making a time crystal. The recipe has already been followed by two teams.

For Yao’s time crystal, an external force – like the pulse of a laser – flips the magnetic spin of one ion in a crystal, which then flips the spin of the next, and so forth, setting the system into a repeating pattern of periodic motion.

Stay skeptical, but with just a touch of hope and wonder.

Font Squirrel offers free fonts and some quite useful tools

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From this Robservatory post about Font Squirrel:

They offer a huge assortment of fonts, all licensed for free commercial use, with a nice set of categories and search engine. And free…though the tradeoff is a fairly heavy advertising load.

And:

Font Squirrel not only has a great collection of fonts, but they offer a free web font generator. Using the generator, you can create fonts that are embedded in your page, so that they’re available even when users don’t have those fonts installed locally.

There’s more to Font Squirrel. Definitely worth a look.

iOS and the neglected touch down state

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Visual and user interface designer Max Rudberg compares the touch down state (the visual change when you press, but before you release, a button) in Apple Watch, Android, and iOS. There are excellent animated GIFs for each example.

Max makes his case well. By comparison, iOS does feel a bit stiff.

How to use iPhone’s built-in Magnifier tool

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iOS comes with a built in magnifying glass, perfect for reading fine print, clarifying small detail. The linked post walks through the setup and use. Nicely done.

References to next-generation MacBook Pros with Kaby Lake chips found in Sierra code

Written by

Christian Zibreg, iDownloadBlog:

A developer-only preview of what would become the macOS Sierra 10.12.4 software update references a total of eight next-generation MacBook Pro models with the latest Kaby Lake processors from Intel.

Lower power consumption and, more importantly, support for 32GB of RAM. Interesting and inevitable.

UPDATE: A little birdie tells me that Kaby Lake’s built-in memory controller does not support 32GB RAM. So the move to Kaby Lake does not necessarily mean we’ll see Macs with 32GB RAM without the addition of a separate memory controller.

Apple hires Amazon’s Fire TV head to run Apple TV business

Written by

Mark Gurman, Bloomberg:

Apple Inc. has hired Timothy D. Twerdahl, the former head of Amazon.com Inc.’s Fire TV unit, as a vice president in charge of Apple TV product marketing and shifted the executive who previously held the job to a spot negotiating media content deals.

The moves suggest a renewed focus on the Apple TV and on providing more content for the device, an effort that has been stalled in the past by failed negotiations.

This feels like a recognition that the Apple TV was stalled and a change to get things moving again.

And this from Jason Snell:

The way this reads, Apple TV is getting a product leader who reports to Phil Schiller, while Eddy Cue’s group keeps control over dealmaking. I wonder if this means the Apple TV product will get more of a chance to be a good product, separate from Apple’s content deals. Too often the Apple TV has seemed like an empty box for Apple’s content deals (or would-be content deals), rather than a product that was striving to be the best it could be.

The Apple TV, while somewhat frustrating, has a lot of potential. Unfortunately, this is an area where Apple’s competition—from Amazon, Roku, and Google—is extremely strong, and with products that cost a fraction of what the Apple TV costs. The Apple TV’s strongest advantages right now are artificial ones, namely exclusive access to iTunes content and AirPlay. It’s not a bad box, but it needs to be better. Maybe this change is a sign that Apple knows that, too?

Exactly.

The core design principles of Apple’s spaceship campus

Written by

Reuters:

But what was most striking to those who worked on the project was Apple managers’ insistence on treating the construction of the vast complex the same way they approach the design of pocket-sized electronics.

Apple’s in-house construction team enforced many rules: No vents or pipes could be reflected in the glass. Guidelines for the special wood used frequently throughout the building ran to some 30 pages.

Tolerances, the distance materials may deviate from desired measurements, were a particular focus. On many projects, the standard is 1/8 of an inch at best; Apple often demanded far less, even for hidden surfaces.

And:

Apple’s novel approach to the building took many forms. Architect German de la Torre, who worked on the project, found many of the proportions – such as the curve of a rounded corner – came from Apple’s products. The elevator buttons struck some workers as resembling the iPhone’s home button; one former manager even likened the toilet’s sleek design to the device.

But de la Torre ultimately saw that Apple executives were not trying to evoke the iPhone per se, but rather following something akin to the Platonic ideal of form and dimension.

Fascinating read. Skip the video.

I wish Apple loved books

Written by

Daniel Steinberg:

I was an early embracer and adopter of iBooks Author. I could produce beautiful books. The software was initially frustrating but they improved it in significant ways early.

Then they stopped.

And:

iBooks Author could have been a trojan horse into the personal publishing business. It would have been classic Apple. Instead of small authors going to Amazon’s platform, they would have started with iBooks Author. Apple should have made it easy for them to push to Amazon as well. Why? Because these people wanted to publish on Amazon but they weren’t considering publishing with Apple. Thousands of authors would have come to Apple to create content and stayed with Apple after publishing content there.

Daniel Steinberg knows of which he speaks. He’s an excellent writer, and dedicates himself to teaching others. If you get the chance to hear one of his talks, do so. More to the point, he’s no curmudgeon.

A post worth reading, especially if you care about books and teaching.

[UPDATE] Apple plans new smaller Ultra Accessory Connector (UAC)

Written by

Jordan Kahn, 9to5Mac:

Apple is planning to adopt a new connector type for accessories for iPhone, iPad and other Apple devices through its official Made-for-iPhone (MFi) licensing program. Dubbed the “Ultra Accessory Connector” (UAC), Apple has recently launched a developer preview of the new connector type to prepare manufacturing partners for the component that in some cases will replace the use of Lightning and USB connectors, according to sources familiar with the program.

I can see the benefit of a smaller footprint for tiny devices. Question is, will this be a new standard for all devices or purely for the smallest? And will there be an easy adapter that you can pop onto the end of a Lightning connector, or will this require an all new set of cables?

UPDATE: From this Ars Technica post:

A 9to5Mac report making the rounds today claims that Apple would be adding support for a new connector to its “Made For iPhone” accessory licensing program. Dubbed the “Ultra Accessory Connector” or “UAC” in Apple’s documentation, the report claims this is a new port, smaller than Lightning or USB-C, that could be used to charge devices or transfer data.

In reality, the UAC is just Apple’s name for a port that is already used in some digital cameras and other accessories—Apple has just given it a new moniker. Currently, it goes by a few different titles: Mitsumi calls it an “Ultra Mini Connector” and Nikon calls it a “UC-E6” cable. In any case, it appears to be just another connector for the regular-old USB spec. When contacted for comment, Apple told us that it was adding the port to the MFi program at the request of licensees, not because it’s trying to push licensees to support a new kind of connector.

Google AMP and the original URL

Written by

Google Developers Blog:

Today, we’re adding a feature to the AMP integration in Google Search that allows users to access, copy, and share the canonical URL of an AMP document.

My biggest issue with AMP is the difficulty in turning a Google-AMP formed URL back into a non-AMP URL I can share. For example, here’s an AMP formed URL from the Google News page:

https://news.google.com/news/amp?caurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Famphtml %2Flocal%2Feducation%2Fsenate-to-vote-today-on-confirmation-of-betsy-devos%2F2017%2F02%2F06%2Ffd4b7e9c-ec85-11e6-9662-6eedf1627882_story.html#pt0-135000

As you can plainly see, the original URL is encoded, then wrapped. Only way to easily pass this along is to send your recipient through Google’s site, not to the site that wrote the story in the first place. The biggest issue I have here is that of supporting the creator here. They deserve the page views.

More from the Google blog:

Today, we’re adding support for this functionality in form of an anchor button in the AMP Viewer header on Google Search. This feature allows users to use their browser’s native share functionality by long-tapping on the link that is displayed.

This is an excellent first step. Basically, even if the URL is encoded (as shown above), you can still click on the anchor button to copy the original URL. However, if you click in Safari’s address bar, you’ll still see the encoded URL.

My 2 cents: I’d love it if Apple offered a way to opt out of AMP. As Google says in the blog, AMP opens the door to confusion, makes URL phishing harder to detect since all URLs are harder to read, and the original URL hidden from the user.

Your Vizio TV is secretly tracking you

Written by

The Federal Trade Commission:

Starting in 2014, Vizio made TVs that automatically tracked what consumers were watching and transmitted that data back to its servers. Vizio even retrofitted older models by installing its tracking software remotely. All of this, the FTC and AG allege, was done without clearly telling consumers or getting their consent.

And:

On a second-by-second basis, Vizio collected a selection of pixels on the screen that it matched to a database of TV, movie, and commercial content. What’s more, Vizio identified viewing data from cable or broadband service providers, set-top boxes, streaming devices, DVD players, and over-the-air broadcasts. Add it all up and Vizio captured as many as 100 billion data points each day from millions of TVs.

And, worst of all:

Vizio then turned that mountain of data into cash by selling consumers’ viewing histories to advertisers and others. And let’s be clear: We’re not talking about summary information about national viewing trends. According to the complaint, Vizio got personal. The company provided consumers’ IP addresses to data aggregators, who then matched the address with an individual consumer or household.

Holy shit!

The race underground

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Fascinating documentary on PBS about the race to build the first subway. Turns out the Great Blizzard of 1888 was the trigger, crippling the entire northeast of the United States, heaping up to 40 feet of snow in places, shutting down all transportation.

Well worth watching.

The weird, yet interesting, Super Bowl ad with Adam Driver (Star Wars’ Kylo Ren)

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[VIDEO] There were lots of fine Super Bowl ads yesterday, but none struck me as weird and interesting as the Snickers spot with Star Wars’ Adam Driver.

The ad is embedded in the main Loop post. Take a watch through it, then read on.

The ad is just weird, right? What makes it interesting to me is the fact that it was shot “live”, or at least gave that impression. After all, Adam Driver (Jeremiah in the ad) mentions that it is the third quarter, and even points out the current score. And then proceeds to “ruin” the commercial by missing his lines and causing the set to self destruct.

As to the live part, I suspect the spot was all filmed in advance, planned for the third quarter. As to the correct score, I suspect that was a live voiceover drop-in. You can’t really see him say the score. Driver doesn’t emerge from the shadows until he announces that it is the 3rd quarter.

But I did find the spot fascinating, its live drop-in setting the stage for future Super Bowl ads.

The Apple Watch “wow” moment

Written by

Rene Ritchie:

When iPhone first came out, it was cool but it wasn’t some abstract coolness that made people’s eyes light up. It was the specific coolness of pinch-to-zoom in Photos or Maps, or Cover Flow in iPod. Those were immediately, undeniably cool.

When Apple Watch first came out, I had trouble finding a similar demo. It didn’t help that Watch wasn’t a minimally delightful product in the same way as iPhone. Apple introduced it with a bevy of features which made isolating one as the go-to demo harder: Mickey may have made people smile but it didn’t make them want to immediately rush out and buy.

And:

But Apple Pay and Wallet? That’s the “Wow!” moment. That’s the demo I’d been looking for and the one that’s been right in front of me this whole time. It’s what my friends, who recently go Apple Watch, are messaging me all excited about. It’s what the guy at the coffee shop counter loved when I stepped up, tapped, paid, and was on my way while the person beside me was still counting out cash. It’s the magic.

And:

Apple has succeeded in making paying for things not just cool but fun as well. Paying for things. Fun. That’s something to show off.

My guess is we haven’t seen a lot of this yet because the U.S. has only just begun to adopt tap-to-pay technology. That’ll change, though. And as it does, I think we’ll see a lot more of those “wow” moments, and Apple will sell a lot more Watches.

I’ve long felt this way, almost since the first time I put an Apple Watch on my wrist. Paying for things with the Apple Watch is a killer feature, but a feature that is struggling for critical mass. Apple Pay continues to grow, but relatively slowly. Once Apple Pay is everywhere, ubiquitous, an Apple Watch will be as easy to sell as the iPod, iPhone, and iPad.

Apple and the long game

Written by

Jean-Louis Gassée, Monday Note:

Apple’s unexpectedly strong numbers caused Wall Street’s doomsaying visionary sheep to suddenly tell rosier AAPL share price tales.

And:

Apple plays the Long Game and seems to play it well.

And:

A reliable measure of Apple’s ambitious expectations is its R&D expense: It keeps climbing, 19% higher than last year. Another sign can be found in the Off-Balance Sheet section of the 10-Q. This year, Apple has committed $24B in manufacturing purchase obligations — money promised to suppliers. That’s a 16% increase over last year’s $20.7B. This doesn’t mean that the company’s output will increase by a similar amount, but it’s always a reliable trend indicator. For example, we saw the same number go down from $21.6B in December 2014, to $20.7B in 2015, a timeframe in which Apple revenue also declined.

This is but a small slice of Jean-Louis’ look at Apple’s long game. His Monday Note is always a great read.

Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Google, 93 others file travel ban amicus brief

Written by

Elizabeth Dwoskin, Washington Post:

On Sunday night, technology giants Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Netflix, Twitter, Uber and many others filed a legal brief opposing the administration’s contentious entry ban, according to people familiar with the matter. The move represents a rare coordinated action across a broad swath of the industry — 97 companies in total— and demonstrates the depth of animosity toward the Trump ban.

The amicus brief was filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, which is expected to rule within a few days on an appeal by the administration after a federal judge in Seattle issued late Friday a temporary restraining order putting the entry ban on hold. The brief comes at the end of a week of nationwide protests against the plan — as well as a flurry of activity in Silicon Valley, a region that sees immigration as central to its identity as an innovation hub.

From the brief:

Immigrants make many of the Nation’s greatest discoveries, and create some of the country’s most innovative and iconic companies. Immigrants are among our leading entrepreneurs, politicians, artists, and philanthropists. The experience and energy of people who come to our country to seek a better life for themselves and their children—to pursue the “American Dream”—are woven throughout the social, political, and economic fabric of the Nation.

And:

America has long recognized the importance of protecting ourselves against those who would do us harm. But it has done so while maintaining our fundamental commitment to welcoming immigrants—through increased background checks and other controls on people seeking to enter our country.

And:

Immigrants or their children founded more than 200 of the companies on the Fortune 500 list, including Apple, Kraft, Ford, General Electric, AT&T, Google, McDonald’s, Boeing, and Disney.

Here’s a link to the amicus brief, in case you want to read it for yourself.