This is a useful starting point if your company does not yet have an anti-hacking security procedure in place. Even if you know every one of these, odds are good that there are plenty of folks you know who have never given these steps a first thought, let alone a second.
Any suggestions for additions/changes to the list?
This test used an iPad Air purely as a hotspot, no use of the display at all. More than 8GB of data was served, which is more than the standard monthly data allowance that comes with most plans. Good to know.
Lamiraux leaves behind a strong legacy.
Lamiraux first joined Apple in 1990 as a software engineer for the Mac platform, which would later be renamed OS X. In 2000, he earned a managerial position for OS X platform experience before becoming director of engineering for that department in 2004.
In 2005, he switched over to iOS under the important Apps and Frameworks section as director of software engineering, and became vice president of the department in September 2009.
Lamiraux reported directly to Craig Federighi and retired once he shipped iOS 7.0.3.
This is absolutely fantastic. Imagine the implications of teaching history with tools like this at your disposal.
In the video below, the fly-through starts at about :50.
Adam Engst walks through the Mavericks Finder’s tab interface, working through all the dragging techniques and keyboard shortcuts. Good stuff.
Kyle Richter paints a picture here, projecting Apple’s path to a seat at the console table.
Apple has sold roughly 700 Million iOS devices since the introduction of the original iPhone, in addition they have sold in excess of 13 Million Apple TVs. Compare that to the 78 Million (as of March 2013) PlayStation 3′s sold since it was released in 2006, and 78.2 Million Xbox 360′s sold from its release in 2005 through June 2013. It is no wonder that the iPod touch (and iPhone) is considered one of the world’s leading gaming platform, with roughly 9x the sales of traditional consoles. When looking at the number of available titles, Xbox 360 comes in with 958 games, PS3 with 793 available games, and iOS with an almost unbelievable 166,510 games. Yes, the average quality of an Xbox or Playstation game is higher than that of the average iOS game, but that is a trend that we as developers can change. The average Xbox game sells for $24.60, while the average Playstation 3 game sells for $28.92, once again the almost unbelievable number for average iOS game price is 76¢. So, Apple has significantly more devices, with an exponentially larger game selection, at a fraction of the cost. This is a good position to be starting from.
This is just the starting point. Read the whole thing. Agree or disagree, this is excellent food for thought.
A fascinating bit of history, nice read for a Sunday morning.
The iPhone has long been available in India, but only at its full, unsubsidized price.
The contract system, which is widely prevalent in other parts of the world, is a rarity in India. Telecom operators in India don’t subsidize the handset for their subscribers as the lack of a universal data base–such as the U.S.’s social security number–makes it difficult to track users and determine their credit worthiness.
Reliance Communications, then known as Reliance Infocomm Ltd., had partnered with LG Electronics Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., and Nokia Corp., to offer subscribers a handset at a huge subsidy. A Nokia handset that cost about 10,000 rupees ($161) in the retail market was given to users for an upfront payment of a mere 501 rupees. The offer drew about a million new subscriptions within 10 days of the launch, but consumers dumped the phone and switched service providers) after a few months, leaving Reliance Communications with massive losses.
This time, Reliance Communications is minimizing its risks by tying up with credit card companies, which will be responsible for the billing. People without credit cards can’t sign up for the offer.
If this succeeds, this could be a big win for Apple.
I applaud T-Mobile’s efforts to make their way into the already crowded iPhone and iPad space. But this iPad rollout just strikes me as ham-handed:
T-Mobile CEO John Legere tweeted today to clarify his company’s free 200MB monthly plans for iPads on its network. He reiterated that “everyone” gets 200MB of free data with no strings attached.
Earlier today, customers trying to buy iPads on T-Mobile were told they would have to pay a $10 monthly fee to access the “free” data, contradicting an offer from last week.
That is a sure way to squander any good-will gained. If your plan is to buy your way into the market using the iPad data plan as a loss-leader, then get the word out to your staff, make sure everyone is on the same page.
I’ve mentioned the Sony QX smart lens before, but this is an actual review.
The Cyber-shot DSC-QX100 is the high-end version of Sony’s newly released iPhone-compatible wireless camera accessories, packing in a Carl Zeiss lens at an attractive price point. Like the low-end QX10, it’s a forward thinking device with a great deal of potential that remains held back by shaky software.
I hope the limitation is, indeed, software-specific and not some form of hardware/networking latency. Software problems can always be fixed.
Before, it would take 10 or more seconds for the PlayMemories application to establish a connection with a QX camera and begin shooting. Now, that connection time is closer to 5 seconds. While this is a big improvement, we don’t feel it’s enough, though Sony may be hampered by the limitations of Wi-Fi Direct.
I sure hope it’s not an inherent limitation of their networking model. I really love this concept and want it to succeed.
Blender is an open source 3D modeling program that runs on Mac OS X as well as on Linux and Windows. Blender is free to download. You can support the Blender project by making a donation on the Blender site, or by buying books and DVDs via the site.
The headline links to an excellent, free tutorial created by Vicki Wenderlich. If you’ve ever thought about designing in 3D, this is a terrific place to start.
Kids around the world are signing up for the Hour of Code, an effort by code.org to demystify the art of programming, to bring more young folks into the field. Their mantra is “Every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn computer science.”
The official video, shown below, features people like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerburg, Jack Dorsey, Ruchi Sanghvi, and many many more. A worthy cause.
Bits of Steve woven in with an overview of the new campus. I especially like the line, “The idea is to bring California back to Cupertino.”
This is pretty cool.
You can order online and check for in-store pickup availability. If your model is available, Apple will send you a text when your iPad is ready for pickup.
When Canadian telecom Nortel went bankrupt in 2009, there was a bidding war between Google and a consortium called Rockstar Bidco for more than 6,000 Nortel patents. Rockstar, which is owned by Microsoft, Apple, RIM, Ericsson, and Sony, won the auction for $4.5 billion.
This afternoon, Rockstar filed suit against Google for patent infringement. You can read the complaint here.
From the complaint:
On August 1, 2000, United States Patent No. 6,098,065 (the “‘065 patent”) was duly and legally issued for an invention entitled “Associative Search Engine.” Rockstar is the assignee of the ‘065 patent and has granted an exclusive license to NetStar, who holds all rights and interest in the ‘065 patent. A true and correct copy of the ‘065 patent is attached hereto as Exhibit A.
Google has infringed and continues to infringe the ‘065 patent by its manufacture, use, sale, importation, and/or offer for sale of systems, methods, products, and processes for matching search terms with relevant advertising and/or information based on those search terms and other user data, including but not limited to Google’s process of receiving search requests from a user, using its search engine to generate search results based at least in part on the search request, selecting—through Google’s AdWords and/or any other products, methods, systems, or services Google uses to store and choose relevant advertising—a relevant advertisement based on the search request and/or user data, and providing the search results together with the particular advertisement to the user; and additionally Google’s systems, methods, products, and processes of using other user data aside from the search request to help select the search result and/or advertisement; and additionally and alternatively its contributing to and inducement of others to manufacture, use, sell, import, and/or offer for sale infringing systems, methods, products, and processes in the manners described above. Google is liable for its infringement of the ‘065 patent pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 271.
This is going to get messy.
Wow. Just wow.
In movie buff circles, there’s an ongoing trivia question that is getting close to an answer: “Who is the first actor to appear in three trilogies?”
There were plenty of near misses. Christopher Lee is in seven Hammer Dracula films, and three Lord of the Rings films (the Extended Cuts, anyway) but only two of three Star Wars prequels. Emilio Estevez made three Mighty Ducks movies, but the Young Guns and Stakeout franchises stalled at two. And so on.
Don’t want to spoil this. If you are interested in such minutia, read the article (I found it fascinating). Then try your hand at this question:
Who is the only actor to star (not necessarily appear) in 3 separate billion dollar franchises? Feel free to tweet me (@davemark) if you think you have it.
Seven years ago, Intellectual Ventures paid $750,000 for a patent. They are now suing Symantec and Trend Micro for infringing the patent for about $310 million.
The two companies are asking a federal judge to bar IV from seeking such large licensing fees on the grounds that a patent acquired for so little couldn’t possibly be worth so much. That’s on top of more traditional arguments that Symantec and Trend Micro do not violate IV’s patents in the first place.
In court filings and at a hearing in August, Symantec and Trend Micro lawyers argued that the law prohibits IV from calculating such a high royalty. A patent license is, by definition, less valuable than outright ownership of a patent, Symantec and Trend Micro lawyers said.
If this argument succeeds, this will change the game for patent trolls, especially if the Supreme Court allows defendants in patent battles to recover attorney fees.
If there’s one company in the world I want spending more on R&D, it’s Apple.
Apple’s investments in research and development continue to grow, surging another 32 percent in fiscal 2013 to reach $4.5 billion — its highest-ever sum spent in a 12-month span.
I see this growth as responsible (it’s in line with the increase in net sales) and a great predictor of innovation to come.
Yesterday, emails went out to all customers who ordered a 3G-enabled iPad on or before June 7, 2010:
If you purchased or ordered an iPad with WiFi + 3G on or before June 7, 2010, you could be entitled to $40 from Apple under a class action settlement.
Note the use of the word “could”.
You may be entitled to a $40 payment from Apple under a settlement that has been reached in class action lawsuits titled In re Apple and AT&T iPad Unlimited Data Plan Litigation. The United States District Court for the Northern District of California authorized this notice. The Court will have a hearing to consider whether to approve the settlement so that the benefits may be provided.
You may be entitled to a $40 payment. Here’s the claim:
The lawsuits claimed that iPad 3G purchasers were not provided with access to an “unlimited” data plan in the manner originally advertised. Apple and AT&T deny all allegations and are entering into this settlement to avoid burdensome and costly litigation. The settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing.
And here’s the kicker:
You must submit a valid Claim Form by February 3, 2014. The Claim Form will require you to affirm that the ability to switch in and out of the “unlimited” data plan was a factor in your decision to purchase an iPad 3G.
I’ve seen this sort of language before, but I always find it a bit odd. I need to affirm that the ability to switch in and out of the unlimited data plan influenced my decision to buy an iPad 3G. I can honestly say, I would have bought an iPad no matter what. I guess there’s no $40 for me. Ah, well. Wonder who gets my $40.
This article gave me a new perspective on the Surface 2. The author does a side-by-side comparison against the Asus T100, which runs Windows 8.1, something the Surface 2 cannot.
Over the past week, I’ve had the fortune to play with both Microsoft’s Surface 2 and the Asus T100 Transformer Book. These are very similar devices — convertible laptops with detachable keyboards — except for one big and fundamentally life-altering difference: Where the Surface 2 is powered by Nvidia’s ARM-based Tegra 4 SoC, the Transformer Book has Intel’s x86 Bay Trail under the hood. As a result, while the Surface 2 runs Windows RT, the T100 runs full Windows 8.1. Yes, every program and game that you use on your Windows desktop PC also works on the T100. Steam works on the T100. Team Fortress 2 works on the T100. Photoshop works (surprisingly well!) on the T100.
A common selling point of the Surface 2 vs the iPad is the fact that you can have the desktop experience on the go, as opposed to the desktop/tablet model the Microsoft marketing folks assail. This is a bit of a crack in that facade.
So much of Apple’s history stems from that house.
Steve Jobs built the first 100 Apple 1 computers at the Crist Drive home with help from Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Patricia Jobs. The first 50 were sold to Paul Terrell’s Byte Shop in Mountain View for $500 each, according to the evaluation. The rest were assembled for their friends in the Homebrew Computer Club.
“I’d get yelled at if I bent a prong,” Patricia Jobs told The Daily News in an interview last month.
The original computers are now worth tens of thousands of dollars. One sold for $213,000 at an auction in 2010.
The home is also where Jobs courted some of his first investors, including Chuck Peddle of Commodore Computer and Don Valentine of Sequoia Capital, according to the evaluation.
The first partnership for Apple Computer Co. was signed on April 1, 1976, and nine months later the company was established and operations moved to nearby Cupertino.
“These significant events took place at the subject property,” Commissioner Sapna Marfatia wrote in the evaluation.
Pretty impressive results. John Poole, founder of Primate Labs, shared these thoughts:
The iPad Air’s A7 processor is running at 1.4 GHz, 100 MHz faster than the iPhone 5s’ A7 processor. It’s not clear if the iPad Air processor runs at a higher speed thanks to a larger battery (providing more power), a larger chassis (providing better cooling), or some combination of the two. I expect the new iPad mini’s A7 processor will run at 1.4 GHz as well.
The iPad Air is over 80% faster than the iPad (4th Generation), close to the 2x increase promised by Apple.
The iPad Air is over 5x faster than the iPad 2, yet is only $100 more expensive. I do not understand why Apple kept the iPad 2 around, especially at a $399 price point. What market are they targeting?
Three reviewers, three positive takes.
Walt Mossberg reviewed the iPad Air for the Wall Street Journal:
In my tests, the iPad Air far exceeded Apple’s claim of 10 hours of battery life. For over 12 hours, it played high-definition videos, nonstop, with the screen at 75% brightness, with Wi-Fi on and emails pouring in. That’s the best battery life I’ve ever recorded for any tablet.
I’ve been testing the iPad Air for about a week and found it a pleasure to use. This new iPad isn’t a radical rethinking of what a tablet can be, but it’s a major improvement on a successful product. It is the best tablet I’ve ever reviewed.
That isn’t just because of its slimmer, lighter design, but because Apple boasts 475,000 apps optimized for tablet use—far more than any other tablet platform. (The iPad also can run all of the million or so apps available for the iPhone.) By contrast, the vast majority of apps available for rival Android tablets are just stretched versions of phone apps.
Damon Darlin reviewed the iPad Air for the New York Times:
It easily runs for 10 hours on a charge, just as Apple promises — despite the battery’s smaller size and the increased demands put on it. In my test of pretty heavy use, it downloaded and played three hourlong episodes of “Game of Thrones” and a few hours of music. I scrolled through Twitter and Flipboard, played games and perused the web. That’s almost a typical day for me and my iPad. It will get you through a normal day and then some with no worries.
The iPad Air also sports two antennas to pull in Wi-Fi signals faster than the old one did. Called MIMO for multiple-input and multiple-output, these antennas make a noticeable difference when your fast Wi-Fi signal is weakest, like in a back bedroom or the basement. (You’ll have to have a recent MIMO compatible router to see the magic, though.)
Finally, David Pogue reviewed the iPad Air on his Tumblr, as he makes the transition from the New York Times to his new digs at Yahoo. Pogue points out much of the same things, but also made this point:
This time around, there’s no gotta-have new feature—nothing on the level of the Retina screen, Siri voice recognition, or even a fingerprint reader (like the one on the iPhone 5s).
That big public yawn must drive Apple’s engineers crazy. The thing is, making the iPad smaller, lighter, and faster without sacrificing battery life or beauty is a tremendous achievement.
Of course, if you haven’t already, be sure to read Jim Dalrymple’s personal take on the iPad Air, too.
Currently, all wireless broadcasting uses two frequencies, one for transmit, and one for receive.
The underlying technology, known as full-duplex radio, tackles a problem known as “self-interference.” As radios send and receive signals, the ones they send are billions of times stronger than the ones they receive. Any attempt to receive data on any given frequency is thwarted by the fact that the radio’s receiver is also picking up its own outgoing signal.
For this reason, most radios—including the ones in your smartphone, the base stations serving them, and Wi-Fi routers—send information out on one frequency and receive on another, or use the same frequency but rapidly toggle back and forth. Because of this inefficiency, radios use more wireless spectrum than is necessary.
The technique behind the startup is similar to that used in sound canceling headphones.
To solve this, Kumu built an extremely fast circuit that can predict, moment by moment, how much interference a radio’s transmitter is about to create, and then generates a compensatory signal to cancel it out. The circuit generates a new signal with each packet of data sent, making it possible to work even in mobile devices, where the process of canceling signals is more complex because the objects they bounce off are constantly changing.
Not sure if this technology is a game changer all by itself. This is useful when there’s a lot of back and forth, but not so much when receiving or sending large chunks of data. But I suspect it represents the overall direction of WiFi and cellular evolution.
Given how much analyst spin saturates all the reporting, good to have this baseline for comparison.
This has been making the rounds over the past few days. I must confess, I felt a little sadness when I saw Sir Alec Guinness. Note that the first few clips have no sound. Do not adjust your sets.
First, there’s the timing.
The opening of Apple’s first store in Rio de Janeiro will come just in time for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, which promises millions of tourists. Apple opened its first store in China in 2008 just ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
More to the point, opening an Apple Store in one of the economic centers of South America is a real challenge.
Several South American countries, including the two largest economies—Argentina and Brazil—heavily tax electronics that aren’t at least partially manufactured locally. The hope is that such taxes will coerce companies to set up local factories, but so far few have obliged. Apple has perhaps been the most stubborn of the lot; it makes no components of its products in the region. The result is that its devices suffer an enormous mark-up, between 60% and 70%. iPhones sell for as much as $3,500 in Argentina, and iPad prices are scarcely any more reasonable; South America is the worst place to buy an iPad.
Worth keeping an eye on the economics of this move.
Om Malik on the importance of keeping the local newspaper around. John Henry bought the Boston Globe. Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post. Will the risk associated with billionaires owning a prominent local voice be balanced by the value of keeping those voices around?