Apple

Google creep

Google, don’t make it jarring to move from one app to another. You’ll stick out like a sore thumb.

Apple Car, Tesla, and the charging station problem

According to this Reuters article, Apple is talking with charging station companies:

Apple is now asking charging station companies about their underlying technology, one person with knowledge of the matter said. The talks, which have not been reported, do not concern charging for electric cars of Apple employees, a service the company already provides. They indicate that Apple is focused on a car, the person added.

If Apple is building a car, of course they’re going to be involved in the rollout of charging stations. And that’s where things become problematic.

Apple’s McDonald’s solution for India

Tim Culpan, writing for Bloomberg, homes in on India’s desire that Apple build all devices sold in India in India, and proposes and McDonald’s franchise approach as a possible compromise. Very interesting.

Where Google lags Apple badly

The FCC is stepping in to address the lag in user adoption by Google and Apple. But wait, look at the numbers. Apple is certainly holding up their end.

Echo vs Siri

M.G. Siegler, on using an Echo for three months, vs. his long-time Siri experience. Some good points, along with some counterpoints.

Apple fails to get India’s 30% local sourcing waiver, but don’t count them out

Live Mint:

“There is nothing to show that Apple’s technology is cutting edge. DIPP has been asked to come out with a clear-cut guideline defining ‘cutting edge’ and ‘state-of-the-art’ technology for which such a waiver can be given. There are other companies also in the queue. It could create controversy if we waived the norms for only one without stated guidelines,” the official cited above said.

A second government official said the fact that Apple did not have a manufacturing facility in India went against it. This person also spoke on condition of anonymity.

This isn’t over.

The time Steve Jobs killed a Q&A with bluntness

[VIDEO] M.G. Siegler, writing about a closing keynote speech Steve Jobs gave at the 1997 WWDC conference (recalls that Steve Jobs was newly returned to Apple at the time):

It’s almost unbelievable how prescient nearly everything Steve Jobs says here actually is. If not all of it came to pass, nearly all of it did. And he spoke about things in great detail. As Rands notes, Jobs wasn’t underestimating the future, he was writing it, seemingly on the fly in that conversation.

Watch the video, embedded in the main post.

Editing your Siri query

Some thoughts on Google’s I/O announcement and some specifics on editing your Siri query.

The best iOS apps for scanning documents

Andrew O’Hara did a nice job pulling together this list. More importantly, he did a nice job describing the features you should look for in a scanning app. I definitely learned something here.

Tim Cook jams as Apple releases Chinese music-themed update to GarageBand

Quoted in Apple’s press release is JJ Lin, a Singaporean singer and songwriter:

“As a musician I’m always looking for ways to take my music in new directions and GarageBand has been such a great tool for me to experiment and add new elements to my songs on-the-go,” said award-winning music artist JJ Lin. “I love how the latest update to GarageBand adds traditional Chinese instruments along with brand new loops so I can play around with mixing traditional and modern sounds to create completely new styles.”

Lin is based in Taiwan. You can see him in action, GarageBand jamming with Tim Cook in the video embedded in the main post.