CES 2021 will be an all-digital event

After trying to put on a brave face, CES bowed to reality with a justifiable overabundance of caution and made this announcement well in advance so that everyone involved can bet prepared for a very different CES. Will it return to in-person in 2022? That will depend entirely on how successful the virtual 2021 show is perceived by CTA.

Target to close stores on Thanksgiving after similar move by Walmart

This is a big, brave move by these retailers to make the decision to forgo the biggest sales weekend of the year (Dave corrected me and pointed out they are only closed on Thanksgiving Day. Too much wishful thinking on my part) in favour of customer safety. It’s only July so they could still change their minds though. It will be interesting to see if retailers like Best Buy and Apple follow suit.

Apple’s FY 20 third quarter earnings call this Thursday

This will be an interesting report if only because this will be Apple’s first full quarter under the pandemic. They did well during the last quarter but don’t expect huge blockbuster numbers this time around. They will still have sold millions of products and earned billions of dollars though. I think they’ll be OK.

How visually impaired Kristy Viers uses her iPhone

In honour of “30 years of the Americans with Disabilities Act”, give a thought to the things, big and small, many of us take for granted and how people like this young woman persevere.

Introducing the MyHeritage Photo Enhancer

The examples of what the service offers are incredible. If you’ve got old, sepia-toned, poor quality photos, the photo enhancer does an amazing job of bringing out long lost details in the shots. You’ll see pictures of your great-grandparents in ways you never thought possible.

It’s time to take UFOs seriously. Seriously.

I think this is really interesting in an entirely “thought experiment” kind of way. I do believe there is “alien life” out there but do I believe they’ve visited Earth? No. How about you?

Apple Security Research Device Program

How soon do you think it will be before we see some developer release “benchmarks” for this iPhone? Thanks to Rich Mogull for the link.

Fun with charts, Apple Silicon edition

How this plays out will be interesting but as Snell says, it’s a mortal lock they will be faster than their equivalent Intel counterparts.

Camo uses your iPhone or iPad as a pro webcam for your Mac

I’ve been a beta tester for Camo for a couple of weeks and, while it works mostly as advertised, $40/year to rent camera software seems steep for personal use considering simply plugging your iPhone into your Mac via USB and using the latest version of QuickTime accomplishes the same thing for free.