Apple

When Apple is 2 years behind you, put your things in order

Daniel Eran Dilger, Apple Insider, steps through a series of cases where Apple was seriously behind, then overtook the competition. A few examples:

2007: A year prior to Peak iPod, Microsoft announced its own Zune to much fanfare as the “iPod-killer,” just as pundits began imagining in parallel that phones playing MP3s would kill Apple’s iPod empire. Everything seemed so dire for Apple. Zune could do wireless WiFi sync and MP3-playing feature phones appeared to cost much less than an iPod!

However, that year Apple introduced iPhone. Steve Jobs described it as “a widescreen iPod” in addition to a phone and “breakthrough internet device”. Zune staggered along like a zombie until it was terminated while basic phones playing MP3s were blown away by Apple’s “iPod phone” with a real web browser.

And:

2011: Google floated another feature Apple lacked for several years: Near Field Communications, or NFC, used in Google Wallet contactless payments. Google was supposed to rule in this arena, but Wallet failed to ever gain much traction, despite efforts to build out NFC payment infrastructure. Apple didn’t have NFC because it was so behind.

What Apple did instead was rapidly introduce Bluetooth 4 (starting with iPhone 4s) and build out a platform of near-proximity wireless integration between iOS devices, Macs and Apple Watch that was later branded as Continuity. Prior to launching Apple Pay, the company also lined up the dots for Touch ID, building security right into the design of its products.

Apple didn’t introduce Apple Pay until 2014, at least three years behind Wallet. However, the effort Apple put into building foundational support, and its prescience in supporting the much faster Bluetooth 4 rather than NFC for nearby connectivity, launched Apple far ahead of Google in both support for modern Bluetooth and in NFC payments, despite (or perhaps, because of) not being first to rush a loose payment concept to market.

Lots, lots more here. Terrific job, Daniel.

Upcoming Apple Watch to include game-changing health features

Jonathan S. Geller, BGR:

According to our source, Apple’s sights are now set on the epidemic of diabetes, and the company plans to introduce a game-changing glucose monitoring feature in an upcoming Apple Watch. An estimated 30 million people suffer from diabetes in the US alone, according to the American Diabetes Association, so Apple’s efforts could lead to a historic achievement in the world of health and fitness.

And:

Apple also plans to introduce interchangeable “smart watch bands” that add various functionality to the Apple Watch without added complexity, and without increasing the price of the watch itself. This could also mean that the glucose monitoring feature will be implemented as part of a smart band, rather than being built into the watch hardware.

A smart band is a natural evolution of, extension to the Apple Watch. Each Apple Watch includes a diagnostic six pin port, so there’s already a path for data flow between your existing Apple Watch and a new band.

The newly redesigned Shazam

Ryan Christoffel, writing for MacStories, walks through the new look for Shazam. I do like the new design. The old one was cluttered, and sometimes confusing.

Sal Soghoian announces Masters of Automation conference

Sal Soghoian on the CMD-D conference front page:

Sal here, with something pretty cool to share with you. We’ve started a new conference to bring together the Apple automation and scripting community!

The conference is called CMD-D (pronounced “Command-D”), and it will be held August 9th at the Santa Clara Convention Center. It’ll be a full day of exploring the current state of automation technology on both Apple platforms, sharing ideas and concepts, and showing what’s possible—all with the goal of inspiring and furthering development of your own automation projects.

To assist in this exploration of all things Automation, I’ve invited some of my smartest friends to present sessions focused on their own areas of automation expertise, on macOS and iOS. And, for those new to automation, we’re also planning a Scripting Boot Camp on August 8th.

Some of those friends include Jason Snell, Andy Ihnatko, Jon Pugh, and John Welch. This looks like a great conference.

Messages, iPhone rotation, and that pesky handwriting view

Grab your iPhone, bring up Messages, tap on the text field to start a message to someone, then rotate your iPhone sideways. Did a giant scribble box take over your screen? If so, this is for you.

A tiny tip, but one that many people seem unaware of. In the lower right corner of that scribble box is a keyboard icon. Tap it, and your Messages screen returns to its normal, rotated self. And that will stay the default rotation view for Messages.

Want to return to the scribble view? Tap the button again (the label changed to a curlicue).

10 Years of iPhone — A Developer’s Perspective

Long time iOS developer Adrian Kosmaczewski lays out the evolution of the iPhone and the App Store from the wild west earliest days through the ten years since.

This is a fantastic read, full of interesting details. No development background required. And smack dab in the middle of it is a book I wrote with Jeff LaMarche, complete with the very first of many fruit cross-sections to adorn Apress’ line of iOS/Mac development books.

I still remember reacting to the first cover shot they sent our way:

“Wait, you want to put a piece of fruit on the cover? Why?”

“It’s Apple related. So fruit. Get it?”

Many, many arguments later, that fruit cover stuck and turned out to be iconic in its own small way. The book sold, helped a lot of people get started, so ultimately it did its job. And Jeff and I had a helluva ride.

Apple Park, 1 year recap

[VIDEO] The latest video (embedded in the main Loop post) from Matthew Roberts, showing off a year of drone footage as Apple Park went from barely under construction to close to completion.

iPad mystery

Jean-Louis Gassée digs into the mystery of the bell shaped iPad sales curve. From rollout in April of 2010 through the first quarter of 2014 the curve was rising. Since then, the curve has been steadily falling, though it is still too early to truly see the impact of Apple’s new, low-price iPad strategy.

A great read, with some thoughtful explanations (see the iPad’s “lean back” consumers and “elongated upgrade cycle”).

Microsoft: Lessons from last week’s cyberattack

Microsoft Blog, on the WannaCrypt ransomeware attack:

The WannaCrypt exploits used in the attack were drawn from the exploits stolen from the National Security Agency, or NSA, in the United States. That theft was publicly reported earlier this year. A month prior, on March 14, Microsoft had released a security update to patch this vulnerability and protect our customers. While this protected newer Windows systems and computers that had enabled Windows Update to apply this latest update, many computers remained unpatched globally. As a result, hospitals, businesses, governments, and computers at homes were affected.

And:

This attack demonstrates the degree to which cybersecurity has become a shared responsibility between tech companies and customers. The fact that so many computers remained vulnerable two months after the release of a patch illustrates this aspect. As cybercriminals become more sophisticated, there is simply no way for customers to protect themselves against threats unless they update their systems.

Amen. This has long been a bugaboo shared by Windows and Android and to a far lesser extent by macOS and iOS. Getting your users to update to the latest OS is a non-trivial problem.

More from Microsoft:

This attack provides yet another example of why the stockpiling of vulnerabilities by governments is such a problem. This is an emerging pattern in 2017. We have seen vulnerabilities stored by the CIA show up on WikiLeaks, and now this vulnerability stolen from the NSA has affected customers around the world. Repeatedly, exploits in the hands of governments have leaked into the public domain and caused widespread damage. An equivalent scenario with conventional weapons would be the U.S. military having some of its Tomahawk missiles stolen. And this most recent attack represents a completely unintended but disconcerting link between the two most serious forms of cybersecurity threats in the world today – nation-state action and organized criminal action.

This should be a wake up call. But just as the OS installed base is hopelessly fractured, the decision making mechanic behind these exploits is similarly fractured, mainly due to the need for secrecy. What are the chances the NSA, CIA and Microsoft are going to collaborate to work towards a solution?

[H/T John Kordyback]

Moom hit by takedown notice, removed from sale

From the ManyTricks blog:

Tonight we received notice that Moom is in violation of US patent number 8434019, Apparatus and method for positioning windows on a display. Yes, someone has patented positioning windows on a screen via a grid. Given we’ve been notified of a patent violation, we have no choice but to remove Moom from sale, effective immediately.

Honestly, we have no idea how to proceed here—the notice arrived at 8pm on a Friday evening, meaning it will be a few days until we can even speak to an attorney about our options, if any. We’re not a big company by any stretch, and certainly don’t have the resources for a patent fight.

Moom is an awesome Mac window management tool that pops up when you roll over a window’s green zoom button. Here’s a link to the Moom product page.

I get the necessity, the importance of the patent system. But there should be some sort of accommodation for situations like this, a low cost review process that includes a grace period so a product can still be sold for, say, 30 days, without harm, while the patent is reviewed by someone at the patent office and a ruling is made to either grant an exception to the patent or to approve the takedown notice.

Google recently started a program, called PatentShield (we wrote about it a few weeks ago) that allowed a company to use Google-held patents as a countermeasure to a takedown notice like this.

Another possible path would be to create a revenue threshold level. In other words, if you bring in less than, say, $100K from an invention, you could pay a percentage to a fund and not be subject to takedown notices for anything less than egregious violation (direct copying of a protected product, for example). The fund would be used to fund some form of review process.

None of these are the answer. But to me, the existing patent system has to evolve, especially when it stifles innovation, the opposite of its intended purpose.

[H/T Craig Grannell]

How to instantly tell whether an iPhone is stolen

Stolen Phone Checker:

CTIA’s Stolen Phone Checker – powered by the GSMA Device Check service – is a public service designed to limit the resale of lost and stolen mobile devices in the United States and to help consumers, businesses, and law enforcement agencies make informed decisions about the status of a mobile device.

Looking to buy a used phone? Go to this page and enter the IMEI/MEID/ESN and submit. Good idea.

[Via 9to5Mac]

VIDEO: Microsoft’s Fluent Design System at work

[VIDEO] The video embedded in the main Loop post was built to showcase Microsoft’s new Windows 10 design language, which will roll out over the coming months. As you watch the video, think motion, depth, and translucency effects. It all flies by fast, so it might take a few viewings to wrap your head around the subtleties.

Not seeing a lot of capability that I don’t already see in iOS, but the trend definitely seems to be more depth, a move away from the completely flat design that had become a hallmark of Windows.

Apple Watch can detect an abnormal heart rhythm with 97% accuracy, UCSF study says

Sarah Buhr, TechCrunch:

According to a study conducted through heartbeat measurement app Cardiogram and the University of California, San Francisco, the Apple Watch is 97 percent accurate in detecting the most common abnormal heart rhythm when paired with an AI-based algorithm.

The study involved 6,158 participants recruited through the Cardiogram app on Apple Watch. Most of the participants in the UCSF Health eHeart study had normal EKG readings. However, 200 of them had been diagnosed with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (an abnormal heartbeat). Engineers then trained a deep neural network to identify these abnormal heart rhythms from Apple Watch heart rate data.

The future is wide open.

Apple wearables sales outpacing iPhone out of the gate

Neil Cybart, Above Avalon:

According to Apple’s most recent earnings and management commentary, the company sold more than five million wearable devices last quarter. When combined, Apple Watch, AirPods, and W1 chip-enabled Beats headphones are now outselling Mac in terms of unit sales. More impressively, Apple wearables are tracking ahead of iPhone in terms of unit sales out of the gate. As competitors continue to approach wearables with caution, Apple is doubling down.

Unit sales, not total revenue, but still impressive. Nice job by Neil pulling this together. Take a look at the chart labeled Exhibit 2, which does a nice job putting all this into perspective.

Why Apple had to borrow $98 billion

CNBC:

According to FactSet, as of the end of the first quarter of 2017, Apple has taken on more than $98 billion in debt.

And:

Apple generates cash flows of nearly $40 billion every six months. It’s the richest company in the world, with more than $256.8 billion in cash and marketable securities sitting on its books.

Why does such a rich company have to borrow money?

And:

As of the end of 2016, Apple had more than $230 billion stored overseas. That’s because, when Apple earns money from sales outside the U.S., it’s taxed once by the country where it makes those sales, then taxed again by the U.S. when it brings the money back home. As a result, Apple doesn’t bring that money home.

This from Tim Cook, in his recent interview with Jim Cramer:

If you sell globally, you earn money globally. If you earn money globally, you can’t bring it back into the United States unless you pay 35 percent plus your state tax. And you look at this and you go, ‘This is kind of bizarre.’ You want people to use this money in the United States to invest more. We are in a good position, but an unusual one. Our good position is we can borrow. And so to invest in the United States, we have to borrow. This doesn’t make sense on a broad basis.

Complicated problem. If that 35% rate is dropped to the rumored 10%, would that be enough to repatriate all that cash?

Apple awards Corning first Advanced Manufacturing Fund investment

From Apple’s press release:

Apple today announced Corning Incorporated will receive $200 million from Apple’s new Advanced Manufacturing Fund as part of the company’s commitment to foster innovation among American manufacturers. The investment will support Corning’s R&D, capital equipment needs and state-of-the-art glass processing. Corning’s 65-year-old Harrodsburg facility has been integral to the 10-year collaboration between these two innovative companies and will be the focus of Apple’s investment.

And:

Apple has committed to investing at least $1 billion with US-based companies as part of the fund, which is designed to foster innovative production and highly skilled jobs that will help lay the foundation for a new era of technology-driven manufacturing in the US.

Logical investment in a company whose fortunes are tightly bound with yours.

Another sign that Apple Watch is completely disrupting the traditional watch market

Lauren Thomas, CNBC:

Fossil Group’s latest financials show the watchmaker is clearly hurting from Apple’s encroachment into the traditional hardware sector.

Shares of Fossil closed down more than 20 percent Wednesday, following the company’s dismal first-quarter earnings report.

“Our results for the first quarter … continue to reflect a challenging retail environment and a watch category undergoing significant change,” Fossil CEO Kosta Kartsotis said on the earnings conference call.

Results like these fly in the face of naysayers, support the notion that Apple Watch is entrenched and is solidifying its hold on this market.

I got rejected by Apple Music — So I redesigned it…

Visual designer and Northwestern University student Jason Yuan:

Earlier this year I applied and interviewed for a graphic design internship at Apple Music (an opportunity of a lifetime), and was turned down with a very kind letter stating that although they liked my work, they wanted to see more growth and training.

Jason’s solution? Redesign Apple Music:

What you’ll find below is a case study offering potential solutions to address some of Apple Music’s problems, as well as ideas for future development. My process was guided by qualitative user research, Apple’s official Design Principles, and my own designer intuition.

To me, there’s always value in a project like this, value in identifying flaws in an existing design, as well as in prototyping fresh design approaches. Feedback like this is a gift to the Apple Music team. Hope someone there takes a look.

The Fifth Avenue Apple Cube has vanished

Gothamist:

The famed Fifth Avenue glass Apple Cube is no more, at least for the foreseeable future. Though the cube existed just yesterday, this morning tipster Josh Weiner spotted a gaping chasm by the GM Building where the monument to interminable lines for the Genius Bar once stood.

And:

Apple apparently spent $2 million to take down the cube to help facilitate its massive expansion at the 767 Fifth Avenue space—the store plans to swell from 32,000 to 77,000 square feet in order to accommodate more tourists and their unending questions about iPads. Apple has temporarily taken up residence at the former FAO Schwarz space inside the GM Building, so instead of being full of expensive toys for children, it is now full of expensive toys for adults, and also children.

Click to the page, check out the picture of the Apple Cube deconstruction from above. Note the caption. Nice.

Apple acquires sleep tracking company Beddit

CNBC:

Sleep-tracking is an intriguing potential health application for the Apple Watch, as it explores new use-cases in the health and wellness market. An estimated 50 to 70 million US adults have sleep or wakefulness disorders, according to the CDC.

The company brought on sleep researcher Rob Raymann to its health team more than three years ago, according to LinkedIn.

From the Beddit privacy policy page:

Beddit has been acquired by Apple. Your personal data will be collected, used and disclosed in accordance with the Apple Privacy Policy.

Interesting acquisition for Apple. It’ll be interesting to see how they incorporate the device and the data collected into the ecosystem.

A video walkthrough of the Amazon Echo

[VIDEO] There’s a lot going on here. Google, Apple, and Amazon are working on their user lock-in strategies. Keep that in mind as you watch the video embedded in the main Loop post.

Wired reviews the new Apple iPad

Solid review. At its core:

Apple’s big iPad problem is that it can’t convince people to upgrade, because an iPad is just a screen you hold in your hands that runs some apps that do some stuff. For users, that’s wonderful. If you already have an iPad you like, you don’t need a new one.

And:

If you are ready to upgrade, though, consider this the tablet for you. It brings the guts of an iPad Air 2—the most popular iPad model—into the body of a first-gen iPad Air. Will you notice the extra thickness and weight? No. (It weighs a pound, barely more than the Air 2. You’ll be fine.) What you might notice is the difference in the screen. This one’s not laminated to the glass the way it is on other new iPad models, which means you’ll see a little more of your own reflection in the display. It’s still high-res, still crisp, and still plenty good.

The Apple 9.7 inch iPad is $329. To me, if you are in the market for a starter iPad, this is a no-brainer.

Mac Pro: Failure and future

Jean-Louis Gassée unpacks last month’s Apple Mac Pro confessional, seasoned with Microsoft’s new Surface devices and recent financial results.

Lots to enjoy here, but one particular conjectural question stands out for me:

Apple’s Developer’s Conference (WWDC) will be held in four weeks. We’ll be treated to the usual discussion of whether the iPad is a laptop replacement, of course, but Mac talk could prove to be even more interesting. In particular, will Apple announce an ARM-based Mac?

That seems far-fetched to me, though rolling their own Mac processors certainly seems a logical path for Apple to take in pursuit of owning the entire stack. Given how small (in terms of number of units as well as revenue) a slice the Mac Pro represents, seems to me (and I’m far from an expert) it’d be hard for Apple to recoup their investment on a custom Mac-targeted ARM chip.

That said, read Jean-Louis’ take here. Always thoughtful.

Amazon officially rolls out the Echo Show, an Alexa device with a touchscreen

From Amazon’s official Echo Show page:

  • Echo Show brings you everything you love about Alexa, and now she can show you things. Watch video flash briefings and YouTube, see music lyrics, security cameras, photos, weather forecasts, to-do and shopping lists, and more. All hands-free—just ask.
  • Introducing a new way to be together. Talk to family and friends who have an Echo or the Alexa App.
  • See lyrics on-screen with Amazon Music. Just ask to play a song, artist or genre, and stream over Wi-Fi. Also, stream music on Pandora, Spotify, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, and more.
  • Powerful, room-filling speakers with Dolby processing for crisp vocals and extended bass response
  • Ask Alexa to show you the front door or monitor the baby’s room with compatible cameras from Ring and Arlo. Turn on lights, control thermostats and more with WeMo, Philips Hue, ecobee, and other compatible smart home devices.
  • With eight microphones, beam-forming technology, and noise cancellation, Echo Show hears you from any direction—even while music is playing
  • Always getting smarter and adding new features, plus thousands of skills like Uber, Jeopardy!, Allrecipes, CNN, and more

I’m guessing a bunch of these pre-ordered units will be shipping to Apple folks for study and disassembly.

Apple extends warranty to 3 years for iPad Pro Smart Keyboards w/ sticking keys & other ‘functional’ issues

9to5Mac:

Apple has launched a new extended repair program for its Smart Keyboard for iPad Pro, allowing customers experiencing certain issues with the product to receive repairs or replacements from Apple for three years after the device is purchased. Apple informed its retail staff and authorized service providers of the new policy in an internal memo obtained by 9to5Mac (pictured below).

The program covers the Smart Keyboard for both the 9.7-inch (Early 2016) and 12.9-inch (Late 2015) iPad Pro models, and applies to keyboards experiencing certain Functional Issues, including: sticking/repeating keys, sensor issues, problems with the keyboard’s magnetic connector, connection issues, and unresponsive keys.

Got an iPad Pro Smart Keyboard? Tuck this one away.

Preorders of Amazon’s touchscreen Echo Show said to start today

From the leaked image:

  • The new Echo Show will retail at $229.99 in the US
  • Pre-orders can be taken starting Tuesday, May 9, 2017
  • Pre-sale items will begin shipping to customers on 6/28/17

Is this real? It’s just an image, but very well done. The two dates in the image appear in two different formats, which does make me suspicious.

So far, there’s no mention of the Echo Show on Amazon.com. We shall see.

If the Amazon Echo is real, this will certainly inform any similar product plans from Apple. The bar has clearly been established by Amazon in this category.

Diary of an ex-Apple intern

Michael Grothaus, writing for Fast Company:

Competition for internships is intense, particularly at hot companies like Apple, Google, Tesla, and others. So how do you get an internship at these coveted companies? I spoke to Maxime Britto, who is now a software engineer and the founder of Purple Giraffe, a French online school for mobile developers. But before he founded Purple Giraffe, he got his start at Apple working as an intern. In his own words, here’s how he did it and what the experience was like.

Fascinating read, short but on point.

Apple named world’s largest wearables vendor

MacRumors:

Apple became the world’s largest wearables vendor in the first quarter of 2017 with an estimated 3.5 million Apple Watch shipments, according to new research data shared this afternoon by Strategy Analytics.

Apple Watch shipments overtook Fitbit shipments during Q1 2017, allowing Apple to capture 15.9 percent global marketshare to become the top wearables vendor.

Crushing it.

If you want to dig through the data, here’s a link to the original Strategy Analytics report.