Reuters:
China has dropped some of the world’s leading technology brands from its approved state purchase lists, while approving thousands more locally made products, in what some say is a response to revelations of widespread Western cybersurveillance.
Astonishing that there’s not been a single film edited with Final Cut Pro X to hit the theaters in the last four years. Interesting development.
Bloomberg Business:
Apple Inc. was told to pay $532.9 million after a federal jury said the company’s iTunes software used a Texas company’s patented inventions without permission.
This one’s not over.
Serenity Caldwell explores the possibility of the Apple Watch having a repairable/replaceable core. Good article. A solid idea.
My take on the pricing model for the highest end Apple Watch. There will be math!
Mark Gurman, writing for 9to5mac:
This Concierge program, spearheaded by Retail Senior Vice President Angela Ahrendts, moves away from the classic appointment model. Instead, a customer describes the issue to an Apple Store employee, who inputs the issue into an updated iPad application. Using a special algorithm, the application provides the customer a wait time based on issue priorities.
A malicious app can track your movement without getting permission to access your GPS info. Just tracking your power usage can help malware track your location.
Jean-Louis Gassée, writing for Monday Note, presents three terrifically well reasoned analogies, all designed to bring home a single point: That Apple is not prepared to enter the automobile business.
A very interesting read.
This is a fantastic collection, really gives you a sense of what the Apple Watch can do, what the actual apps will look like.
Apple got permission from Martin Scorsese to use excerpts from his NYU Tisch School of the Arts commencement speech, given last year, in a new “Make a film with iPad” ad they ran during the Oscars broadcast.
Pitch perfect ad. Watch the video below.
From Apple’s press release:
Apple® today announced a €1.7 billion plan to build and operate two data centres in Europe, each powered by 100 percent renewable energy. The facilities, located in County Galway, Ireland, and Denmark’s central Jutland, will power Apple’s online services including the iTunes Store®, App Store℠, iMessage®, Maps and Siri® for customers across Europe.
Not only is it running on 100% renewable energy, but the Danish data center is doing something positive with the extra heat their equipment generates.
Academy Awards are chosen using two different systems, one for Best Picture and one for all the rest of the awards. The non-Best Picture awards go to the nominee with the most votes. Simple. But the Best Picture voting is a little more complex. Read on for the details.
M.G. Siegler makes the case that Apple building a car is inevitable, that cars are in Apple’s DNA
Mark Gurman, writing for 9to5mac:
Apple intends to release the upcoming iOS 8.3 as a public beta via the company’s existing AppleSeed program in mid-March, according to the sources.
Spoiler alert, best bet is to make a reliable backup of your Mac, enable FileVault encryption, use a password everywhere you can and use a different password at every opportunity. This is worth reading.
Interesting list of historical notifications. I added a few of my own.
1998 was still a low point for Apple. Steve Jobs had just returned, had some new plans in place, but the triumphant arc of new products that would once again change the world had not yet begun.
The Chronicle of Higher Education sent two reporters, one a seasoned reporter and one fresh out of college, to a conference for college computing administrators to grab some time with Steve Jobs. Follow the link to read about the interview and listen to the whole thing.
I can’t comment on the Nest Protect smoke alarm. I don’t own one, have never had to set one up or disable one. But this video feels like the opening of a science fiction movie on the order of Alien or Terminator.
Fear the future, SkyNet is here!
Jordan Kahn of 9to5mac did a great job pulling together the list of Apple’s recent auto-related hires, along with some background for each one.
What’s not to like?
Bloomberg supplies more evidence that Apple is working on a car.
This is a real passion project, a museum, located in Savona, Italy, dedicated to all things Apple.
A gorgeous walk through the process of handcrafting a guitar.
Samsung acquires LoopPay, which uses magnetic induction to mimic an existing credit card and is compatible with most existing merchant terminals. Is that enough to be a threat to Apple Pay? Samsung is betting it is.
Is this evidence that points to Apple building some form of automotive hardware? Seems like it.
Browett had an interesting run at Apple. He replaced Ron Johnson and was replaced by Angela Ahrendts.
A remarkable trend: Android device “email open rates” are done significantly, while iOS opens are up a fair amount. Read on for specifics.
Projected Apple Watch sales numbers from the Wall Street Journal, plus projected production numbers, and some thoughts on Apple Watch and planned obsolescence.
You might know most of these, but chances are you don’t know all of them. I didn’t.
Now anyone, with or without a Mac or iOS device, will be able to create an Apple ID and sign in to the iCloud beta website to start using Pages, Numbers, and Keynote for free. Great idea for Apple.