A real life story of how a device attached to someone’s iPhone and Apple Watch changed their lives in a very positive way. Great read.
Apple announces iOS app design and development accelerator in Bengaluru, India
Apple is continuing their pattern of investing locally, both in iOS development accelerators, and in partnering with local businesses (see the accelerator announcements in Indonesia, Italy, Brazil, and the Didi investment in China).
On the ability to walk around a room while your iPhone charges wirelessly
Apple is clearly hiring folks with wireless charging expertise. Is it possible to wirelessly charge with no contact mat or other direct contact?
The best iOS apps for scanning documents
Andrew O’Hara did a nice job pulling together this list. More importantly, he did a nice job describing the features you should look for in a scanning app. I definitely learned something here.
Video game-themed street map (from the folks who made the Inside Mac cutaway)
From the folks who created the beautiful behind the scenes poster showing a cutaway of the original Mac, this litho is a gamer-themed street map made from the titles of over 500 video games and other references from the history of gaming.
The FM radio inside every smartphone
If one side (either Apple or Android) adopts and promotes FM, it’ll spread by necessity.
AnandTech’s iPhone SE review: “Clearly the best 4-inch smartphone on the market”
A remarkable review, a wealth of detail.
Tim Cook jams as Apple releases Chinese music-themed update to GarageBand
Quoted in Apple’s press release is JJ Lin, a Singaporean singer and songwriter:
“As a musician I’m always looking for ways to take my music in new directions and GarageBand has been such a great tool for me to experiment and add new elements to my songs on-the-go,” said award-winning music artist JJ Lin. “I love how the latest update to GarageBand adds traditional Chinese instruments along with brand new loops so I can play around with mixing traditional and modern sounds to create completely new styles.”
Lin is based in Taiwan. You can see him in action, GarageBand jamming with Tim Cook in the video embedded in the main post.
The major and minor tweaks that just came to iTunes
Kirk McElhearn, writing for Macworld:
I find the changes Apple has wrought to the interface of iTunes 12.4 to be both positive and intuitive, and I think all users will find these new ways of navigation to be more efficient, once they get used to them.
Read on for the details.
iOS 9’s contextual keyboard shortcuts window
David Chartier:
When using a hardware keyboard with iOS 9, you can hold the Command key to view a cheat sheet of an app’s shortcuts (assuming its developer has updated to add some). But I noticed this morning that those shortcuts can be contextual, based on the task at hand or which panel or tab you are currently viewing.
Intel culture just ate 12,000 jobs
Jean-Louis Gassée, writing for Monday Note, on Intel finally throwing in the towel on their smartphone chip business.
Something about Apple
There’s just something about Apple. I feel it. And, if you’re reading these words, you no doubt feel it too.
Radiohead’s moon shaped pool of up-sell money
Radiohead is making the adjustment to a new reality. Streaming is here and the new mainstream. The up-sell to their fan base is Radiohead’s way of not just living with the “barely scraping by” that comes from their share of streaming money. Interesting read from M.G. Siegler.
How to take anything apart
This web site is a crowdsourced effort to collect disassembly instructions. As an example, this link walks through the process of completely taking apart a Strat-like electric guitar. Lots of pictures. Everything comes apart.
How to find which files iTunes has deleted
Backups will save your music, and the layered Time Machine backup will allow you to track down specific missing files.
Gorgeous puzzle game Mekorama hopes to be 2016’s Monument Valley
I am a big fan of Monument Valley. When I came across Luke Dormehl’s review of Mekorama, I had high hopes. I downloaded the game, gave it a whirl, was not disappointed.
Apple’s big bet on China is also a bet on driverless cars
Apple’s investment in Didi seems quite nuanced, serves Apple on a number of levels.
Tim Cook arrives in China, rides in Didi car, meets with Chinese app developers
CNBC:
Apple chief executive Tim Cook met some of China’s hottest app developers and used a Didi Chuxing car to visit Apple’s store in the popular shopping district Wangfujing on Monday, after arriving in Beijing for a charm offensive.
Tim Cook is playing it smart with respect to China.
Living with Gboard
I think Gboard is brilliant and it is now my default iOS keyboard. Here’s why.
The two finger iPad gesture when using an external keyboard
This is brilliant. Just tried it. External keyboard in place, type, type, type. Then, reach over and touch the screen with two fingers, slide around, and the cursor moves as advertised. Love this.
Who pays writers?
Are you a writer looking for a gig? Trying to get a sense of who pays what? Here’s a great resource.
Google’s GBoard for iOS adds search right into your keyboard
A very clever idea from Google, a keyboard plugin that brings search right to the keyboard in any app. Watch the embedded video to see this for yourself.
Jason Snell’s 2016 MacBook review
If you are considering the 2016 MacBook, definitely read this review. It focuses on the product itself, rather than a comparator between the new MacBook and the previous model (though there’s some of the latter as well).
New Apple Music / Taylor Swift ad, this one a lip sync to The Darkness
Solid song. The overall concept is repetitive. Feels like a deal was made to deliver x number of these. Video embedded in main post.
Apple invests $1 billion in Didi, China’s version of Uber
Lots of interesting facets to this deal. The whole thing happened in 22 days, an incredibly short span for such a large investment. Shrewd move on Apple’s part.
How to remove Flash on the Mac
Adobe rolled out another Flash security advisory on Tuesday. Thought this post from Peter Cohen was worth a revisit.
Hacker Lexicon: SQL injections, an everyday hacker’s favorite attack
Wired:
SQL injection vulnerabilities are among the most common vulnerabilities around and have consistently appeared at the top of vulnerability lists for years. The computer security firm Imperva calls it the “most pernicious vulnerability in human computer history” and says that between 2005 and 2011, SQL attacks accounted for 83 percent of data breaches during that period.
Read on to learn how this works.
OS X security and privacy guide
This guide dives pretty deep, but is very readable. Chock full of links and suggestions, all designed to help safeguard your privacy.
Inside Macintosh
Beautiful cutaway print showing what really goes on inside the original Mac.
The fingerprint lock on your phone isn’t cop-proof
Bloomberg:
If a person has enabled Apple’s Touch ID, her fingerprint will unlock the phone for 48 hours after locking before the device requires a PIN. Systems on newish Samsung and LG phones work similarly. Los Angeles and Oakland are among the cities that have already granted or received warrants for the use of a finger to unlock a phone. The next step may be a lawsuit that determines whether a fingerprint is off-limits.
Legal scholars say law enforcement is likely to win that fight.
The core of a coming legal battle, but one that law enforcement can avoid entirely.