Business

Apple I and a Steve Jobs autograph on the auction block

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CNET:

Right now, an Apple-1 computer valued at $700,000 is being auctioned off, with a current bid of $140,000. And starting Oct. 20, a Newsweek magazine from 1988 signed by Jobs will be auctioned off at a starting bid of $1,000. It’s estimated the magazine will sell for between $10,000 and $15,000, according to RR Auction Executive Vice President Bobby Livingston.

Here’s a link to the Apple I auction page. As I write this, the current bid is up to $204,999. Bidding closes noon PT/3p ET tomorrow.

And here’s a link to the coming (October 20th) auction of the Steve Jobs signed Newsweek cover.

A small-screen iPod, an Internet Communicator and a Phone

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Horace Dediu, Asymco:

Apple is now the biggest watchmaker in the world, overtaking Rolex during the last quarter. This achievement happened less than two and a half years after Apple entered the watch market. Rolex, on the other hand, was founded in 1905, 112 years ago at a time when watches were the avant-garde of technology.

Horace follows with a nice job of walking through the numbers. That part of his post is interesting, but further down the column is something I found even more so:

It’s fitting therefore to remember how the iPhone was launched; as a tentpole troika: A wide-screen iPod, an Internet Communicator and a Phone. Today the new Watch is a small-screen iPod, an Internet Communicator and a Phone.

And:

The iPhone was born a phone but grew up to be something completely unprecedented, unforeseen by its creators and, frankly, undescribable in the language of 2007.

The Watch was born a timepiece but it is traversing through the early iPhone and pulling in a new direction all of its own. The fact that we are talking about “Resting Rate”, “Arrhythmia” and “Atrial fibrillation” at a timekeeping launch event indicates that new behaviors will follow and so will the language we’ll use to describe this child-like product once it grows up.

The Apple Watch is still linked to the iPhone, still traveling in an iPhone orbit. But it is clearly towards having a direction all its own, independent of the iPhone. But bigger picture, both devices, linked or not, still serve as interfaces to the Apple ecosystem.

Original Apple Watch doesn’t support watchOS 4 heart rate features

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Jeff Gamet, MacObserver:

If you’re planning on using the new heart rate monitoring features in watchOS 4 on your original Apple Watch think again because they aren’t there. Apple Watch Series 0, as it’s now called, can track your heart rate, but the new monitoring options require an Apple Watch Series 1 or newer.

Solid point, good to know.

Side note: Here’s how to tell which Apple Watch series/model you have.

7 things to try out in iOS 11

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Colin Devroe:

Tomorrow iOS 11 is being released to the public, I thought I’d jot down a few things that I believe people should do on the day they upgrade, so that they don’t just move on with their busy lives and forget.

Good list, quick read.

The BirchTree watchOS 4 review

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Matt Birchler pulled together a fantastic review of watchOS 4. This is too big to quote out, but worth your time to step through. There’s good and bad here, no punches pulled.

Of particular interest is the new Siri watch face and the detailed discussion of the new Dock. Well done, good read.

The LTE Apple Watch and the red dot

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Yesterday, we posted the Hodinkee review of the cellular Apple Watch, with some focus on the red dot placed on the edge of the Digital Crown.

To add to the discussion, this from Matthew Achariam’s Red Dot blog post:

We got an unknowing first glimpse at the latest design of the Apple Watch more than two years ago. No less, adorned on the wrist of Tim Cook was a stainless steel watch with a bright red crown cap.

This pic is a closeup from the original Reuters’ pic of Tim’s wrist from a few years ago:

Note the red dot. More from Matthew:

Leica’s brand is iconic due to their distinct red mark which it has used since 1913. It is instantly recognizable.

And:

French fashion designer, Christian Louboutin, employs a similar technique, coating the soles of the shoes he creates in a bright glossy red.

And:

In horology watchmakers use color as a tool to differentiate between editions and various releases constantly. Industrial designer and long time Ive collaborator, Marc Newson, has created several watches that Ive has drawn inspiration from for the Apple Watch. Newson’s Hemipode watch also features red caps, adorned on secondary buttons.

And:

By nature, changing anything that touches so many people always elicits a reaction. If you want an LTE enabled Apple Watch, you’re getting a red crown cap—a decidedly non-neutral color is now the only option. In the past, you had some semblance of choice in getting a non-neutral color. This small red dot breaks the modular styling of the watch. For better or worse, the watch design team decided that this marker and what it represents was of greater importance.

A small thing, perhaps, but the red dot is an important, distinguishing design element.

iFixit’s iPhone 8 teardown

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Lots and lots of detail. A few highlights:

Fully topped off, this 3.82 V, 1821 mAh cell will deliver up to 6.96 Wh of power.

The iPhone 7 battery is 7.45 Wh, the Galaxy S8 has 11.55 Wh. Apple says the iPhone 8 battery life is comparable to the iPhone 7, even with the smaller capacity. Not clear how it compares with the Galaxy S8.

The 8’s sensor is bigger than the 7’s, but specs the same 12 MP resolution. This means the individual pixels are larger, letting in more light, improving colors, and decreasing noise.

The sample pictures I’ve seen all show this to be true, especially easy to see in low light.

There’s lots more, with some terrific pictures. Scroll about halfway down for some nice shots of the Qi enabled (pronounced “chee”) wireless charging coil.

Love this stuff.

Liam Gallagher, forced to make his own tea

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If you know who Liam Gallagher is, you’ll no doubt find this both in character and, perhaps, an insightful comment on changing times. If you don’t know him, think controversial rock star (lead singer of the band Oasis).

From his Wikipedia page:

His erratic behaviour, distinctive singing style, and abrasive attitude have been the subject of commentary in the press; he remains one of the most recognisable figures in modern British music.

With that background, check out the video embedded in the main Loop post.

Hodinkee review of the Apple Watch Series 3 Edition

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Benjamin Klymer, Executive Editor of Hodinkee: One of the most amusing things about doing what I do for a living – writing about and working with mechanical watches – is the reaction that other watch guys expect me, or really … Continued

iOS 11 official release notes

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This is a great read, a great way to quickly get a sense of all that’s new with iOS 11. Worth a scan, pass it along.

iOS Control Center: Understanding how the WiFi and Bluetooth toggles work

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John Gruber, commenting on the fact that the WiFi and Bluetooth buttons in Control Center no longer act as on/off switches:

This is an interesting feature, but I think it’s going to confuse and anger a lot of people. Until iOS 11, the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth toggles in Control Center worked the way it looked like they worked: they were on/off switches. Now, in iOS 11, they still look like on/off switches, but they act as disconnect switches.

Off the top of my head, I would suggest making them three-way switches: on and connected, on but disconnected, and off.

Completely agree. This setup is confusing. As John points out, when you tap the WiFi button, WiFi is left on, but you are disconnected from your current session. Tap it again, you are reconnected. The icon goes from a blue background to a grey background, and back to blue when you reconnect.

To complete the picture, there is a third icon state. Take a look at what happens when you turn on airplane mode:

The grey background with the line through it shows that Bluetooth and WiFi are now disconnected. In Airplane mode, a tap on the WiFi icon goes from disabled to connected (assuming there’s WiFi to be had), from grey with a line through it to the blue background.

Confusing. But once you get the sense of it, it’s pretty clear what’s happening.

How to scan documents in iOS 11 Notes app

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Good walkthrough by Christian Zibreg, iDownloadBlog, on using Notes to scan and save documents.

I love this feature. And I find it interesting to think about edge detection at work here. Watch how the scanner detects the edges of a piece of paper laying on a table, automatically adjusts the scanning frame so you end up with a relatively rectangular result.

This object and edge detection is a hallmark of ARKit. Not certain that’s how this was done, but would not surprise me if it was.

Hackers use Find My iPhone to remotely lock Macs, demand ransom

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Juli Clover, MacRumors:

Over the last day or two, several Mac users appear to have been locked out of their machines after hackers signed into their iCloud accounts and initiated a remote lock using Find My iPhone.

With access to an iCloud user’s username and password, Find My iPhone on iCloud.com can be used to “lock” a Mac with a passcode even with two-factor authentication turned on, and that’s what’s going on here.

This does appear to be a genuine hole in Apple’s security scheme, though iCloud itself was not hacked.

Seems like this is fixable. From the comments:

When you go to remote lock a device you enter a lock passcode and the device’s password or passcode. When that is sent to the Mac, iPhone, whatever, if the device password doesn’t match, it won’t lock the device. That way, even if a hacker guesses your Apple ID and password using hacked credentials, they still can’t lock the device without the Mac’s login.

Not sure if this is doable, since your Mac’s password is not stored in the cloud, but maybe the entered password could be encrypted, sent to the Mac, and the Mac could decrypt and compare.

Austin Mann: iPhone 8 camera review

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Austin Mann:

I’m writing to you from a small hotel room in India having just experienced a magical adventure in western India orchestrated by friends at Ker & Downey. I’ve shot thousands of images and countless portraits with the iPhone 8 Plus and I’m excited to share what I’ve learned.

While the iPhone 8 Plus looks essentially the same as the phone we’ve had since the 6 Plus, there are some new features in the 8 Plus which really impact creative pros across the board — most notably Portrait Lighting, along with a few other hidden gems.

I’m a big fan of Austin’s photography and his reviews. He knows his craft and does a great job showing off iPhone 8 Plus camera.

New York Times on iPhone 8: A worthy refinement before the next generation

Written by

Farhad Manjoo:

What does one say about a new iPhone? At this point, a decade after the first one sent the earth spinning in directions both magical and ghastly, it can be difficult to summon any fresh wonder when appraising the familiar little slab of digital horror and delight.

I’ma stop you right there. Why does the New York Times do this? Why ghastly? Why digital horror?

But I digress:

The 8s look almost identical to the iPhones 7, 6S and 6, a model first introduced back when Donald Trump was still hosting a reality TV show. To make matters worse, both are overshadowed by the $1,000 all-screen iPhone X, which Apple considers the foundation for the next iteration of the iPhone. That model ships in November, and reviewers have not yet had a chance to use it.

To make matters worse? This prose is jarring, especially when compared to the “worthy refinement” in the headline. But onward, people:

Most of Apple’s improvements over the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are minor, but if you have an older model, either of the 8s will feel like a solid upgrade. And if you are considering upgrading from an Android phone, there’s one area where the new iPhones still rank head and shoulders above their competition — the processor, the engine that runs the entire device, where Apple is so far ahead that it almost feels unfair.

OK, I feel the tone shifting. What follows is a highly positive review, especially when compared to Android phones. For example:

The fastest Android phones, though, are almost painfully behind. With a Geekbench score of around 1,900, Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S8 is not just half the speed of the iPhone 8, but it’s actually slower than last year’s iPhone 7, and even slower than the iPhone 6S, released in 2015.

Helps when you custom design your own processors.

And my favorite part of the iPhone, the camera:

Most images were astounding, and given the iPhone 8’s advantages in size, convenience and usability, I predict that my camera will be spending a lot more time in the drawer. In particular, I fell hard for the 8 Plus’s “Portrait Lighting” feature, which uses data from a depth sensor to mimic the blurred-background “bokeh” effect you get when taking portrait photos with expensive cameras. That feature made its debut last year on the iPhone 7 Plus, but in the 8 Plus, it’s been further refined to let you adjust the lighting of each shot, making for breathtaking portraits that you’ll be surprised came from a mere phone.

Pretty, pretty good.

iOS 11: How Control Center works

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Jason Snell, Macworld:

Control Center in iOS 11 is different. Really different. And when you upgrade from iOS 10, it will take some getting used to. But as someone who has been using it for a few months now, let me declare: It’s better. The new Control Center is simultaneously simpler and more powerful. And best of all, you can customize it to do what you want —— and hide most of what you don’t care about.

I agree with Jason. I think the new Control Center does take getting used to. But Jason solves that problem. His walkthrough makes things pretty clear.

Clever app that generates QR codes, makes it easy to store and retrieve them

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Visual Codes is a bit hard to describe. It basically makes it easy to turn a chunk of data (like a URL) into a QR code, and makes it easy to store and retrieve those codes. You can even use Siri to display your codes on your iPhone screen.

Here’s an example that might explain the value here:

You can use Visual Codes to create a QR code that connects to your home WiFi. You could print that QR code (Visual Codes knows how to print, too) and put it on the wall in your house. When someone comes to visit, they point their camera to the QR code poster (iOS knows how to interpret QR codes, knows this particular one is to connect to WiFi) and they are connected.

If you prefer a more private, controlled setting, you could ask Siri to bring up your home WiFi QR code, then have your guest point their camera to the QR code on your iPhone screen. Same result. No password changing hands, and they are in.

This is just one use case. Of many. And the app is FREE. Printing requires an in-app purchase of $1.99 that unlocks all additional features, but the free version is usable. No reason not to grab it. I think you’ll be glad you did.

Details on the Visual Codes web site.

Backstory: How DuckDuckGo was born and grew to take on Google

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This is a fascinating read. There’s the story of how Gabriel Weinberg got started. And the story of how he figured out his core mission, that of privacy.

One particular highlight that struck me:

It was 2011 when Gabriel Weinberg started to experiment off-line advertising with a billboard, which said “Google tracks you. We don’t.”

According to Wired, that campaign cost was $7,000 for four weeks, and it started “in tech-heavy SOMA district, along the highway dumping cars off the Bay Bridge into San Francisco.”

This is not literature, but there’s lots of detail, and a terrific underdog story.

Droid Life: Google to roll out $49 Google Home Mini

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Droid Life:

When Google takes the stage on October 4 at a phone-related event in San Francisco, most of us expect there to be non-phone related product announcements too. We’ve heard rumors about a Google Home “mini” possibly being on the way and today we can confirm that it exists, how much it costs, and the colors it’ll be available in.

The home assistant market is evolving, and all before Apple’s HomePod has an official release date. Amazon’s Echo Dot is priced at $49.99 and now it looks like Google is playing in the same space at the same price.

Begs the question: Will Apple roll out a HomePod Mini to compete with the Dot and Home Mini?

The Dot has a speaker, but is not designed to play music. A HomePod Mini could offer remote, always on Siri queries, and fire up music on the HomePod.

That said, is there a need for a HomePod Mini in a home that likely already has iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches? Gonna be interesting to watch this market unfold.

Adding tiny, in-line charts to your text

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This is a little hard to explain, so take a moment to jump to the AtF Spark web site. Their examples make the concept quite clear.

In a nutshell, you download a font that lets you use a simple markup to embed cool little charts in your text. Terrific idea.

KGI Analyst: Apple Watch Series 3 demand higher than expected, iPhone X anticipation cannibalizes iPhone 8 pre-orders

Written by

Juli Clover, MacRumors:

Demand for Apple’s high-end flagship iPhone X is “very likely” to cannibalize iPhone 8 pre-orders, predicts KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo in a note sent out to investors this morning.

iPhone pre-orders traditionally sell out in September due to high demand, but this year, many models of the iPhone 8 and the iPhone 8 Plus were available for launch day delivery through the weekend, and continue to remain readily available for launch day pickup in Apple retail stores.

And:

As for the Apple Watch Series 3, Kuo says demand for the LTE version of the device was “significantly stronger” than expected, perhaps due to the “low premium of $70” over the non-LTE version of the watch.

Both are believable. The iPhone X is compelling, no matter how you feel about the notch.

And the low premium over non-LTE Apple Watch models is a small price to pay for the future-proofing it offers. Pay an extra $70, you’ll be able to turn LTE on if you decide you have the need. If I had the chance to pay $70 and get a WiFi+cellular iPad instead of WiFi-only, I’d make that choice every time.

Sprint follows AT&T with free iPhone 8 trade-in offer

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Reuters:

Sprint Corp said on Monday it will offer Apple Inc’s new iPhone 8 for free with a qualifying phone trade-in, following AT&T Inc’s buy one, get one free promotion on Friday for DirecTV and U-verse TV customers.

And:

Both new and existing customers who enroll in the Sprint Flex leasing program will get a free 64GB iPhone 8 if they trade in newer iPhone and Samsung models, Sprint said on Monday.

AT&T’s video customers could buy a new iPhone 8 or 8 Plus, add a line and receive a $699 credit for a second device beginning with pre-orders on Friday.

Carrier wars. Competition that is good for consumers.

How Apple’s pricey new iPhone X tests economic theory

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Wall Street Journal:

Thorstein Veblen was a cranky economist of Norwegian descent who coined the phrase “conspicuous consumption” and theorized that certain products could defy the economic laws of gravity by stoking more demand with superhigh prices.

And:

Typically, raising the price of a good lowers demand for it. If beef becomes too expensive, people will buy more chicken.

Mr. Veblen’s theory posits that some consumers want a product even more when the price rises because the expense broadcasts status, taste and wealth.

And:

By unveiling the new iPhone X last week with a price of $1,000, Apple Inc. is pushing the envelope even further than Samsung Electronics Co., which unveiled the $950 Note 8 phone this year. Rather than trying to attract consumers with cheaper prices, the companies are fighting for customers with expensive price tags.

And:

The biggest spikes came for iPhones that were the most visibly distinct, such as 2014’s iPhone 6, the model in which Apple changed the shape, enlarged the device and raised prices by $100.

Big lesson learned for Apple with the iPhone 6. I hear a ton of discussion of the pros and cons of the iPhone X, with many opinions on the notch and its distinctive look. Can’t help but think of this as a bit of a badge for Apple, another play towards uniqueness that will mark the iPhone X as the new must-have shiny.

Major update to the Mac’s excellent Keyboard Maestro

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I have a very short list of absolutely essential 3rd party Mac software. Tops on that list? Keyboard Maestro.

If you use a Mac and are not familiar with Keyboard Maestro, go here and watch the video, read through the list of things it can do. I use it every single day. My highest recommend.

Apple Music documentary on Clive Davis, dropping October 3

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[VIDEO] Hot on the heels of HBO’s The Defiant Ones, Apple Music is about to release a documentary on Clive Davis, a key figure in the evolution of the music industry since the 1970’s.

His impact is about as big as any other music executive, finding and nurturing artists such as Janis Joplin, Bruce Springsteen, Chicago, Billy Joel, Aerosmith, Aretha Franklin, The Grateful Dead, TLC, Usher, Outkast, P!nk, Toni Braxton, Notorious B.I.G., Puffy Combs, Kelley Clarkson, Whitney Houston, the list goes on and on.

Clive was the man with the golden ear. He envisioned hits. I am looking forward to this. The trailer is embedded in the main Loop post. Seems to me, this is a perfect fit for Apple, a core representative of the sort of original content they should be producing.

John Gruber talks with Craig Federighi on The Talk Show

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A nice supplement to Matthew Panzarino’s interview with Craig Federighi. This particular edition of John’s podcast is relatively short (about 20 minutes), but worth every second.

Craig Federighi has really come into his own as an on-stage Apple presenter. He’s both genuine and knowledgable, a terrific combination.

Apple’s Craig Federighi answers some burning questions about Face ID

Written by

Matthew Panzarino, TechCrunch:

Face ID is easily the most hot-button topic to come out of Apple’s iPhone event this week, notch be damned. As people have parsed just how serious Apple is about it, questions have rightly begun to be raised about its effectiveness, security and creation.

To get some answers, I hopped on the phone with Apple’s SVP of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi. We went through a bunch of the common concerns in rapid-fire fashion, and I’ve also been asking around and listening to Apple folks who have been using the feature over long periods. Hopefully we can clear up some of the FUD about it.

And:

“Phil mentioned that we’d gathered a billion images and that we’d done data gathering around the globe to make sure that we had broad geographic and ethnic data sets. Both for testing and validation for great recognition rates,” says Federighi. “That wasn’t just something you could go pull off the internet.”

Especially given that the data needed to include a high-fidelity depth map of facial data. So, says Federighi, Apple went out and got consent from subjects to provide scans that were “quite exhaustive.” Those scans were taken from many angles and contain a lot of detail that was then used to train the Face ID system.

Imagine the process of deciding on a representative group of faces. A daunting problem.

“We do not gather customer data when you enroll in Face ID, it stays on your device, we do not send it to the cloud for training data,” he notes.

And, these tidbits on when Face ID yields to demand a passcode:

  • If you haven’t used Face ID in 48 hours, or if you’ve just rebooted, it will ask for a passcode.
  • If there are 5 failed attempts to Face ID, it will default back to passcode. (Federighi has confirmed that this is what happened in the demo onstage when he was asked for a passcode — it tried to read the people setting the phones up on the podium.)
  • Developers do not have access to raw sensor data from the Face ID array. Instead, they’re given a depth map they can use for applications like the Snap face filters shown onstage. This can also be used in ARKit applications.
  • You’ll also get a passcode request if you haven’t unlocked the phone using a passcode or at all in 6.5 days and if Face ID hasn’t unlocked it in 4 hours.

Great questions. Nice job, Matthew.

Apple Watch Series 3 cellular only works in country of purchase

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Juli Clover, MacRumors:

With the LTE-enabled Apple Watch Series 3 only available in a handful of countries at the current time, it might be tempting to purchase one in another country, but it won’t work. Series 3 models appear to be limited to connectivity in their original country of purchase.

An Apple support representative who spoke to MacRumors reader Thomas said that an Apple Watch purchased in the U.S. online store will only work with the four carriers in the United States, perhaps due to hardware limitations.

So no buying an Apple Watch in another country, and no using your Apple Watch cell when you travel internationally. Caveat emptor.

UPDATE: Did some reading on the Apple Watch carriers page. Seems to me it’s more country groupings, rather than individual countries. One model would work in US, Canada, Puerto Rico, another model in Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, UK. Still worth knowing it, still suggests caveat emptor.

UPDATE 2: From this Telegraph article [H/T Sam Gross]:

The feature is likely to be a boost for runners who leave their phone at home, or when a battery dies. However, it has emerged it will only connect to networks in the country it was bought from.

This means owners in the UK and Europe, who ostensibly enjoy free mobile roaming, will not be able to connect when crossing borders.

And on the carrier page referenced above:

Roaming is not available outside your provider network coverage area. So that clarifies that.