Apple unable to recover data from missing teen’s phone, found on capsized boat

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Statement from Pamela Cohen, mother of one of the two missing boys:

“We learned yesterday that Apple went as far as they could to try to get Austin’s iPhone working, which, as Apple advised, was the first step in the process of retrieving information that might help us understand what happened to the boys. Apple also made it clear that getting the iPhone to power up was its only commitment to Blu Stephanos, which differs from what we heard from his attorney in court. For the generous efforts by Apple’s engineers, who we understand worked tirelessly to try to help us, we are so very grateful.

Hyperloop’s first public test

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The Verge:

It only lasted about two seconds, but wow, what a sort of thrilling two seconds it was! Hyperloop One, the LA-based startup striving to realize Elon Musk’s pipe dream, conducted it’s first public open-air test in the Nevada desert Wednesday.

Video embedded in the main post.

6 ways Apple can improve Apple Music

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Some solid suggestions from Kirk McElhearn. I hope Apple reads posts like this, really considers some of the pain points. I’d also suggest that Apple spend some quality time with SoundShare.

Elon Musk, the world’s raddest man

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This is both terrifically informative and fun to read. If nothing else, make your way through the comic at the top of the article, where the author receives an unexpected invitation. Fantastic!

Oracle and Google copyright retrial

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Reuters:

Oracle Corp and Google faced off on Tuesday in a $9 billion copyright retrial, with Oracle accusing Google of stealing programming to become the world’s leading smartphone player and Google saying it acted legally as a true innovator.

Lots of eyes on this, fear of rash of copyright lawsuits if Oracle wins.

Senate demands answers from Facebook on trending bias in news articles

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New York Times:

The chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee demanded on Tuesday that Facebook explain how it handles news articles in its “trending” list, responding to a report that staff members had intentionally suppressed articles from conservative sources.

A ridiculous display of arrogance.

WhatsApp releases Mac app

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WhatsApp has a user base of more than a billion users worldwide. Facebook paid about $20 billion for the company back in 2014. Now WhatsApp has expanded their reach to the desktop, with clients for Mac and Windows.

Steve Jobs and the origins of Apple Watch

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The sense I get from reading this is, though Steve may not even have been aware of the Apple Watch design effort, his battle against cancer was a major motivating force behind the Apple Watch design and creation.

A smartphone fingerprint sensor without a button

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Imagine if your phone knew who was holding your phone, no matter where your finger made contact. This tech is likely coming to Android. It will be interesting to see if Apple responds in some way.

Listen to the top song for every week from 1958-2016

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I’m a big fan of Polygraph’s music chart mechanism. You can pick a specific year at which to start, then start listening. As the week’s go by, you’ll hear the top song on that week’s Billboard chart. Very fun.

PayPal offers $50 iTunes gift card for $40, via eBay

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Periodically, PayPal runs a promotion selling iTunes gift cards at a discount. Caveat emptor. That said, I’ve made this purchase before and it’s worked just fine for me. This is available strictly via email.

Apple, podcasting and the open market

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Late last month, Apple brought in some podcasters to discuss the business of podcasting. This post links to a series of three posts that explore this meeting and its consequences: The New York Times and blog posts from Marco Arment and Federico Viticci.

Netflix adds much needed setting to let you adjust data rate

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From the Netflix blog:

The default setting will enable you to stream about 3 hours of TV shows and movies per gigabyte of data. In terms of bitrates, that currently amounts to about 600 Kilobits per second. Our testing found that, on cellular networks, this setting balances good video quality with lower data usage to help avoid exceeding data caps and incurring overage fees. If you have a mobile data plan with a higher data cap, you can adjust this setting to stream at higher bitrates.

Read the post to learn how to get to the settings, learn what each one means.

Apple Music adds $4.99 student pricing plan

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TechCrunch:

Apple today launched a new plan to boost subscribers to its streaming music service and competitor to Spotify, SoundCloud, Tidal and others. It’s introducing an Apple Music student plan which will discount the service by 50 percent for those who are enrolled in an eligible college or university.

That means in the U.S., where an individual membership to Apple Music costs $9.99 per month, the student membership will be $4.99 per month instead.