Business

YouTube Music, a new music streaming service, is coming soon

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YouTube blog:

YouTube Music is a new music streaming service made for music: official songs, albums, thousands of playlists and artist radio plus YouTube’s tremendous catalog of remixes, live performances, covers and music videos that you can’t find anywhere else – all simply organized and personalized.

And better search:

YouTube Music search works even if fans don’t know exactly what they’re looking for … we’ll find it if they describe it (try “that hipster song with the whistling”) or give us some lyrics (try “I make money moves”).

And:

While fans can enjoy the new ad-supported version of YouTube Music for free, we’re also launching YouTube Music Premium, a paid membership that gives you background listening, downloads and an ad-free experience for $9.99 a month. If you are a subscriber to Google Play Music, good news, you get a YouTube Music Premium membership as part of your subscription each month.

To me, the branding is confusing, but the access to the tremendous catalog of things you can only find on YouTube is compelling. Will user posted content be included?

For example, will this video of Dave Grohl and his daughter Violet performing Adele’s “When We Were Young” be included in the mix? If so, will uploaders be compensated in the same way as when their videos are watched?

Apple and Global Accessibility Awareness Day

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Today is the 7th annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day (the third Thursday each May).

Apple customized their home page to embrace the occasion and, at the same time, announced that they are teaming up with leading educators for blind and deaf communities across the US to bring accessible coding to their schools.

From the official press release:

Beginning this fall, schools supporting students with vision, hearing or other assistive needs will start teaching the Everyone Can Code curricula for Swift, Apple’s powerful and intuitive programming language.

And:

“Apple’s mission is to make products as accessible as possible,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We created Everyone Can Code because we believe all students deserve an opportunity to learn the language of technology. We hope to bring Everyone Can Code to even more schools around the world serving students with disabilities.”

How to get rid of a persistent macOS Messages badge icon

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This happens to me periodically, both on iOS and macOS. Lasts through restarts, eventually goes away all on its own. Read all the way to the end (it’s short) for the thing that solved this for Glenn. Tucking that away in my brain for the next time it happens.

[VIDEO] Test run of an in-glass fingerprint sensor

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[VIDEO] Marques Brownlee shows off an in-glass fingerprint sensor and compares its performance side-by-side with an iPhone 8 and Touch ID.

There’s a lot to love about this video (embedded in the main Loop post) but, for me, the highlight is Marques explaining just how the OLED reflection process works, how it shines the screen at your finger and uses the bounced light to detect your fingerprint.

Beautifully done.

Microsoft plans low-cost tablet line to rival iPad

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Bloomberg:

Microsoft Corp. is planning to release a line of lower-cost Surface tablets as soon as the second half of 2018, seeking a hit in a market for cheaper devices that Apple Inc. dominates with the iPad, according to people familiar with the matter.

Microsoft has tried this before. The software giant kicked off its consumer-oriented hardware push in 2012 with the launch of the original Surface RT. At the time, it was priced starting at $499. After the tablets didn’t resonate with consumers and product reviewers, Microsoft pivoted to the more-expensive Surface Pro, a line which has gained steam and likely contributed to demand for a pro-oriented iPad, which Apple launched in 2015.

The Surface RT was the first generation Surface and was hamstrung by performance issues. If Microsoft truly is going to build something to rival the 2018 education iPad and its $329 list price, performance has to be better than their first kick at the can.

I own and regularly use the $329 iPad. It is fast, I’ve never noticed a bit of lag with the Apple Pencil, and the screen is excellent. There’s nothing about the $329 iPad that says budget to me. If Microsoft is going to play at that level, they have to offer a similar experience.

The new AI-powered Google News app is now available on iOS

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I’ve been playing with this news app. An interesting approach, very customizable. If you download it, be sure to tap the “…” icon next to each story for more options.

This is especially valuable in the For You tab, where it lets you select “More stories like this” and “Fewer stories like this”. Helps the app learn your prefs.

Note that the app requests access to your location. Presumably, this is to help customize the local stories feed. But I felt uncomfortable enabling that access. A comment on the times we live in, I think.

Steve Jobs anecdotes from pioneering game dev John Carmack

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First things first, from John Carmack’s Wikipedia page:

Carmack was the lead programmer of the id video games Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, Rage and their sequels. Carmack is best known for his innovations in 3D graphics, such as his Carmack’s Reverse algorithm for shadow volumes. In August 2013, Carmack took the position of CTO at Oculus VR.

And:

Carmack and Kang married on January 1, 2000 and planned a ceremony in Hawaii. Steve Jobs requested that they postpone the ceremony so Carmack could attend the MacWorld Expo on January 5, 2000. Both declined and made a video instead.

Carmack had a rollercoaster of a relationship with Steve. Follow the headline link and just dive in. I found it a fascinating read.

Another life saved by Apple Watch

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South China Morning Post:

An alert from his smartwatch prompted 76-year-old Hongkonger Gaston D’Aquino to go to hospital, even though he was feeling fine. It turned out his coronary arteries were almost completely blocked.

And:

“I told the doctor I don’t know why I’m here, but my watch tells me I have an elevated heart rate. He says, ‘Are you feeling anything?’ I said no, I feel fine, I’m feeling all right, nothing’s wrong.”

Hooked up to an electrocardiograph machine – which records the heart’s electrical activity – he learned something was wrong. He was immediately referred to cardiologists.

“I told them about the Apple Watch giving me this reading, and they told me that the watch gives pretty accurate readings,” says D’Aquino. After batteries of tests over the next three days, “they told me that out of the three main coronary arteries, two were completely blocked, and one was 90 per cent blocked.”

Stories like this roll in on a regular basis. To me, this is just a taste of the health benefits that are coming down the pike. Apple’s combination of a massive ecosystem and customer base, along with massive R&D funding give it a distinct advantage in this space.

While people might complain about Siri, they will flock to Apple Watch and the Apple ecosystem if they recognize that the device on their wrist can actually save their life.

[VIDEO] Tim Cook on his meeting with Trump

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[VIDEO] This is a snippet from a longer interview Tim did on Bloomberg’s The David Rubenstein Show. The full interview will be released in June. The video is embedded in the main Loop post.

Apple Music continues its #OneNightOnly campaign with free Shawn Mendes concert

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Following up on their Dr. Dre event at the O2 Academy Brixton in London back in March, Apple Music announced a free Shawn Mendes concert for this Thursday evening:

https://twitter.com/AppleMusic/status/996049405294862336

The concert will be hosted by Zane Lowe at the Hollywood Ford Theaters in Los Angeles, with a live Q&A to follow.

California DMV: Apple self-driving fleet now up to 55 vehicles

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Serhat Kurt, macReports:

Apple Apple now has 55 vehicles and 83 drivers under its permit to test autonomous vehicles, the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) said in an emailed response to questions.

And:

Apple has the second highest number of self driving cars after GM Cruise,which as 104 vehicles, as of now.

I find it surprising that Apple has more self-driving vehicles than Waymo. From the Waymo Wikipedia page:

In 2018, the company placed separate orders for “thousands” of hybrid-drive Pacifica minivans and 20,000 Jaguar I-Pace electric sedans. The vehicles are intended to help launch ride-hailing services in various cities, enough to accommodate hundreds of thousands of riders each day.

That aside, it is interesting to watch Waymo (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) roll out their vision, while Apple, per tradition, keeps its cards closely held.

Woz on the importance of HP in the creation of Apple

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For many years, Woz has maintained a series of email lists to pass along news stories, technology he finds interesting, favorite jokes, things like that. A few days ago, Woz shared a link to a brilliant article about Hewlett Packard and the HP-35 calculator.

Jump to the main Loop post for Woz’s comments on this article (used with permission) and some nuggets about the creation of Apple. […]

A review from early 2008: “The Apple iPhone will only ever be a bit player”

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This is just such a fun read, “claim chowder” (to borrow from John Gruber) at its best:

The geeks have all bought one and many have got theirs unlocked. The Nike wearing Soho crowd have splurged the cash. The wannabes and the I-must-have-that crowd have weighed in, swapped networks and got their devices. But that’s it. There’s a ton of people all sitting staring at the iPhone and — SADLY — (this is the bit that’s winding me up), turning their backs and walking away. I could name you 20 people, right now, that I know personally, who WOULD have an iPhone if they were marketed at a more reasonable price — 100 pounds maximum — and were unlocked to work on any network. But those 20 people won’t. They’re staying exactly where they are, back in the old world. Or, actually, back in the real world.

Nokia, Samsung, LG, Sony and HTC (and, er, the Google offering) are safe. The iPhone, on the current trajectory, will only ever be a number 4 or number 5 device.

To be fair, Ewan MacLeod was not alone in that opinion. Steve Jobs saw what no one else could see. He knew. And he made it happen.

And Ewan clearly got on board, as evidenced by this tweet from last week:

https://twitter.com/Ew4n/status/993920014150447106

[Via Eric Jackson via Aaron Block]

Android has it, iOS needs it: Copy two-factor codes from text message

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Jacob Kastrenakes, The Verge:

If you use two-factor authentication to secure your accounts, you’re probably used to this process: type in your password, wait for a text messaged code to arrive, memorize the code, and then type it back into the login prompt. It’s a bit of a pain.

Absolutely. Happens a lot. And this describes the process pretty well. Android has a fix:

In the new update, Messages will detect if you’re receiving a two-factor authentication code. When it does, it’ll add an option to the notification to copy the code, saving a step.

This is a step in the right direction. When a two-factor text is received, a copy button appears at the same time. Tap it, then paste it into the prompt.

It’d be nice to see this in iOS. But even better, it’d be nice to avoid the codes in the first place. The purpose of the codes is to prove that you have access to a verifying device. The codes themselves exist purely to give you a way to “move” the verification from the second device back to the original.

But iOS already does such an excellent job communicating between devices. I can copy on my iPhone, paste on my Mac, for example. And if the code is coming in on the same device that made the request, well that’s even easier.

What I’m suggesting is that Apple/Google work to create a verification service that eliminates all the friction. If I request a code on my Mac, popup a verification text message on my iPhone and, worst case, just make me tap “Yep” on an alert to verify the code, or “Nope” to let them know I didn’t make the request.

No reason for me to copy/paste or type in a number. Tap “Yep” and I’m in. Let the verification handshake happen in the background. Any reason this can’t be done?

Apple ad blends everyone from Season 1 of Carpool Karaoke

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[VIDEO] At first blush, this ad looks like it was filmed in a super stretch limo. But of course, that’d be logistically impossible. To me, this blending of scenes from each episode of Carpool Karaoke’s first season is seamless and impressive.

Worth watching the ad (embedded in the main Loop post), just to see if you can spot any clues on how this was all pulled together.

Pen and paint New Yorker cover illustrator on moving to iPad

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Kif Leswing, Business Insider:

Even if you don’t know who Mark Ulriksen is, you’ve probably seen his work.

His “gracefully awkward” art has graced several magazine covers, including a widely praised New Yorker cover featuring Martin Luther King kneeling with Colin Kaepernick from earlier this year.

Here’s a link to that cover.

Ulriksen is a self professed “technological illiterate”. Fascinating to watch him discover the world of digital brushes, texture, splatter, etc., all courtesy of his new iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, and Procreate.

Google now says controversial AI voice calling system will identify itself to humans

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Nick Statt, The Verge:

Following widespread outcry over the ethical dilemmas raised by Google’s new Duplex system, which lets artificial intelligence mimic a human voice to make appointments, Google has clarified in a statement that the experimental system will have “disclosure built-in.”

And:

“We understand and value the discussion around Google Duplex — as we’ve said from the beginning, transparency in the technology is important,” a Google spokesperson told The Verge in a statement this evening. “We are designing this feature with disclosure built-in, and we’ll make sure the system is appropriately identified. What we showed at I/O was an early technology demo, and we look forward to incorporating feedback as we develop this into a product.”

This is good. But as I’ve said before, much better if Google had weighed in with awareness of the ethical issues at the same time as they rolled out their demo.

A thought: Does Google have an ethics office? Or someone whose job it is to spot issues like this? If not, that might be worth exploring.

The problem isn’t Duplex — It’s Google

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[VIDEO] Rene Ritchie absolutely nails it with this take (embedded in the main Loop post) on Google Duplex and ethics. If you’ve not yet encountered Rene’s Vector podcast, this is an excellent first taste.

Interesting how on the exact same page we are. Rene’s concerns mirror my own.

Google now lets you delete the search, browsing and viewing history it keeps on you

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Ben Lovejoy, 9to5Mac:

To see the data Google stores on your web searches, browsing and YouTube viewing, visit the My Activity page.

You can delete individual items from this timeline by clicking on the three-dot menu top-right. You can also click the Details link in this menu to see additional information, such as other YouTube videos you watched in the same session.

Here’s a link to the My Activity page. Take a look at your options.

This is another wave of impact from the EU’s GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).

Apple announces joint venture for breakthrough carbon-free aluminum smelting method

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Apple:

Aluminum giants Alcoa Corporation and Rio Tinto Aluminum today announced a joint venture to commercialize patented technology that eliminates direct greenhouse gas emissions from the traditional smelting process, a key step in aluminum production. This is a revolutionary advancement in the manufacturing of one of the world’s most widely used metals.

As part of Apple’s commitment to reducing the environmental impact of its products through innovation, the company helped accelerate the development of this technology. And Apple has partnered with both aluminum companies, and the Governments of Canada and Quebec, to collectively invest a combined $144 million to future research and development.

And:

[Apple Engineers] Lynch, Yurko and Sassaman learned that Alcoa had designed a completely new process that replaces that carbon with an advanced conductive material, and instead of carbon dioxide, it releases oxygen. The potential environmental impact was huge, and to help realize it quickly, Alcoa needed a partner.

Apple once again demonstrates its commitment to do what it can to minimize the environmental impact of its products.

The Senate has forced a vote on net neutrality

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The Verge:

Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) and 32 other Democrats have submitted a new discharge petition under the Congressional Review Act, setting the stage for a full congressional vote to restore net neutrality. Because of the unique CRA process, the petition has the power to force a Senate vote on the resolution, which leaders say is expected next week.

Razor thin margin. 50 committed votes. Needs one more. Surprising to see this as even a possibility.

Of course, even if this vote does come to pass, it still has to make it through the House, then face a potential Presidential veto.

Privacy, and a thoughtful plan to improve the outdated Contacts app

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Ryan Gray:

Our current Contacts apps are full data we’ve collected about other people. It’s out of date and inaccurate. It has things people wish we didn’t have. Anyone can share the data they’ve collected with anyone else. App developers can easily ask for this information (and most people will give it to them).

This is a backwards system. You should be the owner of your contact information. You should grant access to others deciding who can see what specific pieces of information. Ironically the one company that seems to best share this view is the one people trust the least to handle this kind of data: Facebook.

Ryan brings up an excellent point. As is, my Contacts database is full of outdated information. And I have no way of telling whether that information is still valid. Everything is static, a screenshot of the moment in time when I first received the contact card.

From Ryan’s proposed replacement, which he calls “People”:

Of course, you can easily share one of your cards with anyone nearby (and get theirs). But a shared card is not just sent once. It’s a subscription. If you change your phone number or if you move you’ll be able to push the updates out to anyone who is subscribed. You’ll also be able to block anyone, revoke access, or prevent someone from sharing your card.

The more I think about this the more I love the idea. I’m not sure how easy an implementation this would be, but I do think it’d be doable, at least at a very basic level. But the privacy implications would be tricky to handle properly.

That said, this is an idea I hope gets some traction and, hopefully, a look from within Apple.

[H/T Dan Murrell]

Apple plans to sell video subscriptions through TV app

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Bloomberg:

For the first time, Apple plans to begin selling subscriptions to certain video services directly via its TV app, rather than asking users to subscribe to them through apps individually downloaded from the App Store, according to people familiar with the matter.

And:

Right now, the TV app aggregates content from other providers, allowing people to locate shows from a wide array of apps and channels like ABC, NBA League Pass and HBO, rather than having to hop between different apps. But then Apple sends customers outside its app to buy access to those channels or watch shows. With the pending change, subscription purchasing would move to the TV app. Apple could eventually move the streaming to its own app, instead of sending users to third parties.

Is this an indicator of Apple’s plans for packaging their own custom content? Will everything sit under the TV app? If so, will Apple build a TV app equivalent for macOS? Will subscriptions be manageable from the web?

Apple says inventory of all iPhone replacement batteries now available without delay

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Joe Rossignol, MacRumors:

Apple has confirmed that “service inventory of all iPhone replacement batteries is now available without delay,” in an internal memo distributed to Apple Stores and its network of Apple Authorized Service Providers on April 27. The document was obtained by MacRumors from a reliable source.

What this means is that Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers can now order iPhone replacement batteries from Apple and receive them without facing extended shipping delays, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that every Apple Store or authorized repair shop will have supply available right away.

This whole thing was a mess. Glad to see availability moving along.

Apple, HyperCard, and a glimpse of how far we’ve come

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Check out the video in this tweet, a small piece of a larger project covering HyperCard:

https://twitter.com/itstheshadsy/status/993885366217330689

At the time, back in 1990, this was absolutely groundbreaking. Since the internet was still in its infancy, images and data for a project were always stored locally. And images were massive, compared to the relatively tiny hard drives of the time.

The solution? Video discs and computer controlled video disc players. Back then, paper maps were filmed on incredibly precise animation stands (like those used for special effects camera fly-throughs), then cut into frames and stored on video disc. The computer moved along the maps by stepping through frames, each one a picture of a portion of a map at a slight offset from the previous frame.

In this example, the HyperCard stack presents a picture of the heart, and clicking on various buttons or hot points tells the video disc player to jump to an appropriate image or video.

How far we’ve come. Now, all those image can be stored locally, or brought up as needed from the cloud. And using cloud-shared resources means content can be updated as needed.

Fascinating look back. HyperCard was a truly groundbreaking piece of work by Bill Atkinson, one of the members of the original Macintosh team. If you are not familiar with Bill, take a look at his Wikipedia page. We owe him a lot.

Apple confirms use of drones to improve Apple Maps, says privacy remains a priority

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Chance Miller, 9to5Mac:

A report in 2016 indicated that Apple was planning to use [drones] to collect data for Apple Maps, and now the company has confirmed that initiative. The company says, however, that its stance on privacy will remain the same throughout its use of drones.

I believe the report in question was this piece from Mark Gurman for Bloomberg.

Apple, to Reuters:

“Apple is committed to protecting people’s privacy, including processing this data to blur faces and license plates prior to publication,” the company said.

Think about the statement, XXX announces plan to use drones. Now plug in Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook. To me, different take for each company. Google’s drones would likely perform the best. Apple’s would look the best. But which would go to the greatest length to protect my privacy?

Watch Google Assistant make a phone call to schedule an appointment. Stunning.

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Google AI blog:

Today we announce Google Duplex, a new technology for conducting natural conversations to carry out “real world” tasks over the phone. The technology is directed towards completing specific tasks, such as scheduling certain types of appointments. For such tasks, the system makes the conversational experience as natural as possible, allowing people to speak normally, like they would to another person, without having to adapt to a machine.

You can jump to that page and click on examples of Google Assistant using Google Duplex to make phone calls, interact with real-world people.

But the best thing to do is jump to this Verge page and watch the video of Google CEO Sundar Pichai actually running those demos. It’s incredible.

I’ve encountered two waves of thinking about this. On one hand, there’s the thinking that robots are coming for our jobs, that this technology will displace human assistants, human call centers, and that we’ll have an even larger wave of junk calls to deal with.

But on the positive side, consider this tweet:

https://twitter.com/SteveStreza/status/993950092309676032

Well worth considering the good that can come from this technology.

Also worth noting that it is 26 days until WWDC.

Google adds AR object identification to its Camera app

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[VIDEO] Watch the video (embedded in the main Loop post) to get a sense of Google’s state-of-the-union in terms of augmented reality and object identification. The big move Google made is promoting this technology to the Camera app, giving up precious screen real estate to a Google Lens button.

Augmented reality is one area where Apple has held its own, perhaps even moved ahead of Google in some ways. But this exposure of the Google Lens platform at the highest level is a strategic move by Google.

26 days until WWDC.