If you’ve never set up a custom keyboard shortcut on your Mac, this post from Kirk McElhearn is a double dose of good.
Siri, Alexa, and company: The bot power rankings
A top 25 list of conversational bots, including Siri and Alexa. Lots to read, almost every example with a link so you can learn more or, in some cases, give the bot a try.
Behind the scenes: Twitter bets everything on Jack Dorsey
A fascinating read, written by the guy who wrote “Hatching Twitter”. A real insider’s story, full of poison and plotting.
Self driving cars and honking
From Google’s Self-Driving Car monthly report, details on how self-driving horns work.
On Apple, Steve Jobs, and the loss of simplicity
Ken Segall knew Steve Jobs well. Segall was a former TBWA\Chiat\Day creative director, he worked on a long range of advertising projects for both Apple and NeXT, and he was and is a fierce advocate for simplicity.
He did an interview for The Guardian, weighing in with his thoughts on simplicity.
No Apple Display with integrated GPU at WWDC
Sounds like no new MacBook Pro announcement, too. Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long for both.
Inside Apple and Tim Cook’s operational brilliance
This back and forth between Motley Fool analysts Dylan Lewis and Evan Niu digs into the steps it takes to get an iPhone from the factory to your hand. A terrific read (or listen, if you prefer).
The family who share their lives with a 300 lb bear
I don’t know if this is staged or not, but I just love the photos. Stay safe!
A pocket-sized battery that can charge your MacBook and your iPhone
We’ve now got a battery I can put in my pocket that will give my MacBook a boost and multiple charges for my tablet and iPhone. The future!
The upside to buying your own cable modem
Jeff Benjamin takes a new high-speed cable modem for a spin, replacing the cable company’s native unit. The result? Speeeeeed.
AnandTech’s review of the 9.7″ iPad Pro
Lots of pros balanced with one con, especially when deciding between the 9.7″ and 12.9″ iPad Pros.
Police are filing warrants for Android’s vast store of location data
The Verge:
None of the witnesses saw Graham’s face in February, and Graham himself wasn’t talking. He was physically similar to the man who held up the bank in February — but it was only enough to keep the case going, not enough to make it stick.
So investigators tried a new trick: they called Google. In an affidavit filed on February 8th, nearly a year after the initial robbery, the FBI requested location data pulled from Graham’s Samsung Galaxy S5.
Remind you of a certain Police song?
A friendly walk through Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends Report
Mary Meeker is a well respected venture capital analyst. Each year, she releases a report revealing a series of important internet trends, slices through vast troves of data. The post gives a link to the original presentation as well as a link to a friendly walkthrough of some of the more important slides.
When should Apple introduce its innovations?
This is just one part of a long series of Apple analyses John Kirk is writing for Tech.pinions. The series is great, but this one is just chock full of goodies, a fun read. Take a minute to dig in, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
Yahoo publishes National Security Letters after FBI drops gag orders
Yahoo just became the first company to go public about NSLs it has received without needing to duke it out with the feds in court. I found the letters to be a fascinating read.
Apple readying new external 5K Display as current model goes out of stock, may feature integrated GPU
If true, this is great news. Props to Marc A. Morissette, who wrote about this exact solution back in February.
Massive library of 3D objects: Rotate to view you want, then download
From the PixelSquid site:
Browse thousands of objects in our library, spin for the right angle, and then download a PNG or layered PSD with perfect transparency. With PixelSquid objects, you’ll never need to spend your time masking.
Great concept. Worth a look.
New Apple Spaceship Campus 4K drone footage
[VIDEO] Lots of progress. The footage production gets better and better each month. Great job.
Already own an Apple TV app? Apple won’t show it on the tvOS top charts
From Apple developer Equinux’s blog:
Apple now hides an app in the charts once you’ve installed it. Give it a try: Go install TV Pro Mediathek (VOD for German TV content) from the App Store (currently #3 Top Grossing in Germany) and then go back in to the App Store: boom – it’s gone from the charts and the next-placed app has moved up.
Here’s why.
How to find and delete hidden files cluttering your Mac
Great how-to from Kirk McElhearn.
Possible 2016 MacBook Pro refresh image shows 4 USB-C ports, OLED touchpad
This is a rumor, not reality, but a good number of people are buying into it. If the image is correct and Apple does roll out a new MacBook Pro at WWDC, it will have 4 USB-C ports and a headphone jack. That is all.
Driving a 5K Apple display
WWDC brings with it the prospect of a MacBook Pro refresh (likely) as well as a 5K external display refresh (less likely, but possible). Rene Ritchie explores the tree of possibilities for driving a 5K display.
“My idea was simple, buy Apple, and immediately make Steve CEO”
iClarified:
Larry Ellison, co-founder, chairman and CTO of Oracle, recently gave the Commencement Speech at USC. In his speech, Ellison recounts forming a plan to save Apple with his best friend, Steve Jobs.
Absolutely fantastic story.
Samsung is adding new obtrusive ads to your old smart TV
What I find remarkable about this is that your old Samsung TV, one that never had ads, will now suddenly sprout ads. Talk about customer hostile behavior. This takes the cake.
The lightning headphone adapter
Rumors are circulating that Apple’s next-generation iPhone will drop the 3.5-millimeter headphone jack, with new iPhone headsets relying on the lightning port or Bluetooth instead.
Whether or not this is true, there is another report of a Chinese accessory maker advertising a series of Lightning-to-headphone adapters with separate volume controls.
Caltech sues Apple over Wi-Fi tech
Interesting.
Following Coke, Toyota leads, Apple removes lesbian couple from international versions of ad
Assma Maad, writing for BuzzFeed:
But looking at the various versions of the video published worldwide, it’s clear that several adaptations are not completely faithful to the original. The lesbian couple present in the English version does not appear in the French version
This really surprised me.
The Apple Watch is being shunned by Apple’s most important community. Umm, no.
Business Insider ran the headline: “The Apple Watch is being shunned by Apple’s most important community”.
The implication being that developers have lost interest in building Apple Watch apps. I think this is way off base.
A dark, dark vision of the augmented future reality
Warning: the embedded video is pretty dark. Has a Blade Runner sort of feel to it. Imagine a future where everywhere you look, there’s data analysis and advertising. All reality is seen through an augmented translation. Keiichi Matsuda has put together a striking vision.
TSA gave my MacBook Pro to another passenger at LAX, and now it’s gone
Shudder. This is a story to which I can definitely relate. That moment when you are forced to surrender your phone, your wallet, your computer, then hope that all your goods are there when you go to retrieve them after the security scan.