Business

Why Apple should replace the Navbar in modern iOS design

Written by

Brad Ellis, Medium:

The UINavigationBar, navbar for short, has been around since the original iPhone. Historically, navbars have been convenient and clear, easy to understand and easy to build.

The navbar is the strip at the top of your phone that lets you move in and back out of views. As an example, in the Messages app,the nav bar has an Edit button on the left side, the title Messages in the middle, and a create new message icon on the right. If you tap on a message thread, the nav bar will change to a “<” on the left. Tap that “<” and you’ll navigate back to the main view.

Back to Brad’s post:

Then phones ballooned, enough that the iPhone 7 Plus supplanted sales of the iPad mini. Now, if you own a modern iPhone, navbars can feel unwieldy — literally out of touch.

Burgeoning screens mean the distance between the navbar and our thumbs has grown. The screen on a 7 Plus is so tall it would take a thumb-length increase of 150 percent to reach those pesky buttons with one hand. Just another knuckle or two. Nothing weird.

He does have a point. I use a Plus, and when I need to work the navbar, I either have to use my other hand to reach the top of the screen, or do a weird slidey move to work the phone down so I can reach the navbar with my thumb.

iOS does feature that double-touch the home button gesture to bring the top of the phone halfway down, but I find that takes too long, given that I have to also do the double-touch to restore to full screen. The double-touch is my least favorite solution. [UPDATE: Yup, you can tap to dismiss this. Still don’t like it.]

Read the post for thoughts on how Apple is already addressing this issue and steering away from the venerable navbar. Terrific.

The new Microsoft Surface Pro: What that $799 price really means

Written by

Microsoft just rolled out the latest and greatest version of its Surface tablet/laptop hybrid, branded as the Surface Pro. Here’s a link to the official Surface Pro product page.

Much has been made about the Surface Pro’s price of $799. But what do you get for your money?

The $799 Surface Pro ships with:

  • Intel® Core™ m3 processor
  • 128GB SSD
  • 4GB RAM
  • Intel® HD Graphics 615

That’s a pretty bare-bones machine. Apple’s cheapest machine (the $999 MacBook Air) comes with 8GB of RAM. I can’t imagine using a modern version of Windows or macOS with less than 8GB. Let’s tweak that so we can compare apples with Apples.

Bumping the Surface Pro to a minimally livable (in my opinion) 8GB brings the price to $1299. There’s just no cheaper way to get to 8GB without bumping the processor up to the Intel® Core™ i5, which is the same processor in the $999 MacBook Air. To be fair, these are different processor and screen generations, but the price bump from $799 to $1299 to get to 8GB is an important factor.

If you are considering buying a Surface Pro, take a few minutes to step through the configurations and compare the specs with the MacBook Air and 13″ MacBook Pro. And keep in mind the inherent differences between Windows and macOS.

Apple launches app development curriculum for high school and community college students

Written by

Apple press release:

Apple today launched a new app development curriculum designed for students who want to pursue careers in the fast-growing app economy. The curriculum is available as a free download today from Apple’s iBooks Store.

App Development with Swift is a full-year course designed by Apple engineers and educators to teach students elements of app design using Swift, one of the world’s most popular programming languages. Students will learn to code and design fully functional apps, gaining critical job skills in software development and information technology.

Here’s a link to Apple’s Everyone Can Code page.

And here’s a link to the ECC curriculum in iTunes.

Apple’s HR head Denise Young Smith moving to newly created Inclusion and Diversity VP role

Written by

Jordan Kahn, 9to5Mac:

Apple’s head of Worldwide Human Resources Denise Young Smith will now run diversity programs for the company under a newly created VP position, according to sources familiar with the move. The executive shuffle will see the creation of a new VP role for Apple’s Inclusion and Diversity team with Smith reporting directly to CEO Tim Cook. Sources say Smith has long had a passion for diversity initiatives at the company and the newly created position reflects an increased focus on the company’s efforts.

And:

Smith has been at Apple for over 20 years and was first promoted to VP of worldwide HR back in 2014 from her previous role as head of HR for just Apple’s retail stores, a role that Steve Jobs handpicked her for during the early days of Apple’s retail efforts.

Apple Watch versus GPS reference clock

Written by

[VIDEO] Watch the video (embedded in the main Loop post) on a big screen if you can, so you can really see the movement of the Apple Watch second hand. Not sure I’d expect anything different, but there is something quite satisfying watching the digital and analog line up so precisely.

Ikea entering the HomeKit smart lighting business

Written by

Ben Lovejoy, 9to5Mac:

Smart bulbs from the market leader Philips start at $25 per bulb for white and $50 for color, a price that soon adds up if you’re looking to fit out your entire home.

But all that is set to change in the summer as Ikea has announced that its smart lighting system will be HomeKit-compatible as of the summer. Ikea’s smart bulbs start at just $11.99.

And:

The existing product line is limited to white bulbs, but once you’ve bought the gateway for $79.99 (which includes two bulbs), you can add smart bulbs at prices ranging from $11.99 for a 1000-lumen E28 bulb, through $14.99 for a 400-lumen E12, $17.99 for a 980-lumen E27 to a $19.99 G10 spotlight. Dimmers and motion sensors are also available at similarly affordable pricing.

Ikea getting in the game brings down prices, legitimizes the sector, and will help popularize the concept of adding smart bulbs to your home.

‘Big and loud’ not the intention with flagship D.C. Apple store in the Carnegie Library

Written by

Washington Business Journal:

Apple representatives say their plans for the historic Carnegie Library will respect and improve the building’s historic architecture.

“Some of you may say ‘Apple! I don’t want to see another glass box. We had enough of that with the Spy Museum,'” Apple development lead Michael Brown said of the International Spy Museum’s failed 2014 plan for the Carnegie Library.

And:

Brown, along with reps from architect Beyer Blinder Belle, gave a closer glimpse at Apple’s plans during a National Capital Planning Commission historic preservation meeting last week. Apple has a letter of intent with Events D.C., the District’s sports and convention arm that runs the building, to operate a global flagship store in the 63,000-square-foot building. Apple would take up most of the circa-1903 building, sharing space with the Historical Society of Washington and Events D.C.

I do find it interesting that Apple will be sharing this space. Will the other groups have separate entrances? Will there be any actual shared space?

No matter, Apple’s plans will have to pass muster with the Washington D.C.’s strict Historic Preservation Review Board. When complete, this is going to be a destination Apple Store.

Apple’s self-driving car spotted on freeway

Written by

Juli Clover, MacRumors:

For the last few weeks, Apple has been testing its autonomous driving software in three Lexus RX450h SUVs, which have been photographed around the San Francisco Bay Area. This morning, MacRumors reader Andrew was able to capture some video of one of the SUVs, giving us our closest look yet at the vehicles Apple is using to test its system.

Not sure how much we can draw from this. I think it’d be more interesting to get a closeup look at the camera rigging and the computers inside the car. I suspect we’ll eventually have WWDC sessions that focus on self-driving car APIs.

Apple and glucose level monitoring – “Stick it in your ear”

Written by

Jean-Louis Gassée, Monday Note:

Apple appears to be working on blood glucose monitoring as a way to address Type 2 Diabetes.“Stick it in your ear”. Literally.

This is a detailed, thoughtful piece on Apple’s pursuit of the holy grail of glucose level monitoring, continuous monitoring without drawing blood. Terrific read.

Tipping point for Apple Pay as majority of UK tills accept limitless payments

Written by

The Telegraph:

Jennifer Bailey, the head of Apple’s payments business, said over half of contactless payment terminals in the UK are now able to take Apple Pay transactions of any value. Most card readers had previously been restricted to £30, the default upper limit for contactless card transactions.

And:

Contactless card payments are limited to £30 to prevent fraud, since they do not require shoppers to enter a PIN.

Apple Pay transactions, which are made by holding an iPhone or Apple Watch against a card reader, are approved using the iPhone fingerprint scanner or watch’s biometric sensors. The extra security allows Apple Pay to make payments of any value, but retailers have had to embark on a programme of terminal upgrades to support them.

“We think the majority of the contactless terminals [in the UK] are now limitless,” Ms Bailey said.

Slow, but steady, steady growth.

iOS 11: Federico’s iPad wishes and concept video

Written by

[VIDEO] Federico Viticci, writing for MacStories:

The iPad needs another bold, daring step towards the future. With iOS 11, Apple has an opportunity to pick up where they left off with iOS 9, forging a new direction for the iPad platform.

Every year ahead of WWDC, I collect some of my thoughts about the current state of iOS and consider where Apple could take their software next.

Federico’s vision, his collaboration with Sam Beckett, is detailed in his MacStories post, with the video embedded in the main Loop post. Frankly, I find the scope astonishing. Watch it full screen at the highest possible resolution. As Federico says, this isn’t a WWDC prediction, it’s a vision of what Federico thinks the iPad could and should be.

Building a Hackintosh for $70

Written by

[VIDEO] This is insane. Faster than the 13″ MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. For $70. Video embedded in the main Loop post.

Painting purchased in 1984 for $19,000, just sold for $110 million

Written by

Bloomberg:

An untitled portrait by Jean Michel-Basquiat sold for $110.5 million at Sotheby’s in New York, setting a record for any American artist. The buyer was Japanese online retail magnate Yusaku Maezawa.

And:

The painting, which had a presale estimate of more than $60 million, was bought at auction in 1984 for $19,000 by the late collectors Jerry and Emily Spiegel.

We were chatting about this purchase yesterday and someone asked how much that 1984 $19,000 was worth in today’s dollars. An interesting question. Take a guess, purely based on inflation. Then go to this inflation calculator and see how close you came.

What do 50 million drawings look like?

Written by

Google:

Over 15 million players have contributed millions of drawings playing Quick, Draw! These doodles are a unique data set that can help developers train new neural networks, help researchers see patterns in how people around the world draw, and help artists create things we haven’t begun to think of. That’s why we’re open-sourcing them, for anyone to play with.

Load the Quick, Draw! data page and click on a drawing to see a ton of sketches of that same subject. The data underlying Google’s Quick, Draw! game is fascinating and it is now open sourced.

Apple CEO Tim Cook test-drove a device that tracks his blood sugar

Written by

Christina Farr, CNBC:

Tim Cook has been spotted at the Apple campus test-driving a device that tracks blood sugar, which was connected to his Apple Watch.

A source said that Cook was wearing a prototype glucose-tracker on the Apple Watch, which points to future applications that would make the device a “must have” for millions of people with diabetes — or at risk for the disease.

If Apple can crack this problem, a bloodless, continuous, glucose tracking Apple Watch, they’d help a lot of people, sell a ton of Apple Watches at the same time.

Siri’s potential to devalue iOS

Written by

Bob O’Donnell, in this Recode article:

Another fascinating aspect of these digital assistants is that they have the potential to completely devalue the underlying platforms on which they run. If I can use, say, Alexa across an iPhone, a Windows PC, my smart home components and a future connected car, where does the unique value of iOS or Windows 10 go? Out the door.

Head over to the main Loop post for my take on this.

Twitter changes privacy policy, adds new tools. Go check “Your Twitter data”

Written by

Twitter updated their privacy policy. Some highlights from the official Twitter blog post:

Today, we’re announcing a suite of industry-leading tools to give you more access to your information and greater, more granular control over how it’s used. We’ve also updated our Privacy Policy to reflect the improvements that we’ve made to Twitter.

And:

We’re expanding Your Twitter Data to give you the most transparent access to your Twitter information to date, including demographic and interest data, and advertisers that have included you in their tailored audiences on Twitter. Each category of data will be clearly marked, and you will be able to view or modify this data directly.

There’s lots more to read in the blog post, but the changes to Your Twitter Data are worth exploring.

Take a few minutes to look around at all the data Twitter has collected on you. There’s a lot of odd data in my set. For example, here’s the list of languages Twitter has for me:

French, German, Slovenian, Indonesian, Basque, Dutch, Turkish, Spanish, Estonian, Portuguese, Tagalog

That’s certainly not representative. Not sure where these come from. Languages of people who I’ve interacted with?

Also interesting is the list of Interests further down the page. This was somewhat representative of my interests, but not exact. I wonder how this list was built.

Another interesting collection is the “tailored audiences” section. From mine:

You are currently part of 6624 audiences from 1573 advertisers.

Not sure what that means, but if I cared to tailor my advertising experience, there’s a button to “Request advertiser list”. I might dig into that at some point.

Take some time to look over Your Twitter Data. Good to know what choices you have.

Apple is shoring up Siri for its next generation of intelligent devices

Written by

John Mannes, TechCrunch:

Siri is a critical component of Apple’s vision for the future, so integral that it was willing to spend $200 million to acquire Lattice Data over the weekend. The startup was working to transform the way businesses deal with paragraphs of text and other information that lives outside neatly structured databases.

And:

Apple paid roughly $10 million for each of Lattice’s 20 engineers. This is generally considered to be fair market value. Google paid about $500 million for DeepMind back in 2014. At that time, the startup had roughly 75 employees, of which a portion were machine learning developers.

That math is fascinating. Machine learning seems a fantastic path for developers to explore.

Apple relies on a number of partnerships, including a major one with Yahoo, to provide Siri with the facts it needs to answer questions. It competes with Google, a company that possesses what is largely considered to be the crème de la crème of knowledge graphs. Apple surely has an interest in improving the size and quality of its knowledge graph while unshackling itself from partners.

And:

When you use Siri to search iTunes, the results have to come from somewhere. A knowledge graph makes it possible to draw complex relationships between entries. Today, Siri on Apple TV allows for complex natural language search like “Find TV shows for kids” followed up by “Only comedies.” A surprising amount of information is required to return that request and some of it might be buried in the summaries of the shows or scattered on the internet.

Terrific read. I’ve done some work with neural nets, AI, and machine learning. If I was just starting out, this is definitely where I’d focus, dive deep.

Tim Cook interviewed for Global Accessibility Awareness Day

Written by

John Voorhees, MacStories:

Early last year, James Rath, a young filmmaker who was born legally blind, created a video about the impact Apple products have had on his life. That video caught the attention of Apple.

In the ensuing months, Rath’s YouTube career has taken off and he’s become a strong advocate for the blind.

To mark Global Accessibility Awareness Day, Tim Cook spoke with Rath and two other YouTubers, Rikki Poynter and Tatiana Lee about accessibility. Cook and Poynter, who is deaf, discussed closed captioning and how accessibility is a core value at Apple. Lee talked to Cook about the Apple Watch and its ability to track wheelchair use. Rath and Cook explored the history of Apple’s commitment to accessibility and the democratization of technology.

Follow the link to watch the series of videos.

RIP Blobs: Google redesigns emojis

Written by

Emojipedia:

Having appeared in various shapes and sizes since Android 4.4; the amorphous blob that defined Google’s emoji appearance since 2013 is being retired.

In its place: a redesign of every emoji in Android, coming as part of Android “O” which was announced today at Google I/O.

Follow the link, take a look at the new artwork. It’s certainly an improvement. Given the fragmentation of Android updates, not sure how big an impact this will have.

Also mentioned by Google is functionality which would allow users to download newer emoji fonts to support the latest emojis even on older Android versions.

So that’s something. But it requires specific action on the part of the user. If they’ve not moved to update to a newer phone or newer version of Android, not sure how effective this will be.

Apple plans laptop upgrades to take on Microsoft

Written by

Mark Gurman and Alex Webb, Bloomberg:

Apple Inc. plans to announce an update to its laptop lineup at an annual conference for app developers in early June, a move that could help offset new competition from Microsoft Corp. as well as declining iPad sales.

Apple is planning three new laptops, according to people familiar with the matter. The MacBook Pro will get a faster Kaby Lake processor from Intel Corp., said the people, who requested anonymity to discuss internal planning. Apple is also working on a new version of the 12-inch MacBook with a faster Intel chip. The company has also considered updating the aging 13-inch MacBook Air with a new processor as sales of the laptop, Apple’s cheapest, remain surprisingly strong, one of the people said.

Not sure why Microsoft is so heavily featured in this article. This makes it sound like Apple is reacting to a threat, as opposed to simply taking advantage of new processors to update the Mac line, spur sales.

Apple assembles first iPhones in India

Written by

MarketWatch:

An Apple Inc. manufacturer has completed a trial run of the first-ever iPhones assembled in India, in an important step in the U.S. tech giant’s push into the fast-growing South Asian market.

The manufacturing of Apple’s cheapest iPhone model, the SE, was handled earlier this month by Taiwanese contract manufacturer Wistron Corp., which has an assembling unit in the southern state of Karnataka, a state official with direct knowledge of the matter told The Wall Street Journal.

Apple said in a statement that it has begun initial production of a small number of iPhone SE handsets in Bangalore and will begin shipping the Indian-made devices to domestic customers this month. The first devices could hit stores as early as this week or next, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The first step in an important journey for Apple in its quest to grow India market share.

How Google took over the classroom

Written by

From this The New York Times article:

In the space of just five years, Google has helped upend the sales methods companies use to place their products in classrooms. It has enlisted teachers and administrators to promote Google’s products to other schools. It has directly reached out to educators to test its products — effectively bypassing senior district officials. And it has outmaneuvered Apple and Microsoft with a powerful combination of low-cost laptops, called Chromebooks, and free classroom apps.

And, most importantly:

Today, more than half the nation’s primary- and secondary-school students — more than 30 million children — use Google education apps like Gmail and Docs, the company said. And Chromebooks, Google-powered laptops that initially struggled to find a purpose, are now a powerhouse in America’s schools. Today they account for more than half the mobile devices shipped to schools.

Those are some impressive numbers. Kids are growing up with an intimate understanding of how to use Google apps. Apple certainly is a player in this space, both with iPads and low-end MacBooks, but no matter the hardware, a major chunk of our kids are using Google Docs and Gmail.

Apple has iWork apps, has ported them to all the major platforms, true, and there are iCloud versions of the apps. But Google’s approach requires no app downloads, is driven by a link. There are no app installs to manage, just links to share back and forth. I’d argue the overall approach is simpler. For education, that is a vital difference. If a school district switches over from Chromebooks to iPads, there is no compelling reason for them to switch from Google Docs.

Today at your local Apple Store

Written by

Take a few minutes to check out the offerings at your local Apple Store via Apple’s new Today at Apple page. Pick your favorite location, tap confirm, then start scrolling.

Some stores (such as New York’s SoHo Apple Store and San Francisco’s Union Square location) feature concerts and other performances. Most stores have a constant running string of classes, focusing on things like iPhone photography, making music with GarageBand, learning the ins and outs of Apple Music, video editing on your Mac, and lots more.

Good use of space, great for customers. Questions for me: Will the gatherings be compelling enough to draw people in and will Apple find a way to spread the word to draw crowds and keep them coming back.

Apple’s new campus: An exclusive look inside the mothership

Written by

This is a long read, but it’ll fly by. Beautifully crafted with lots of photos (by Dan Winters) and anecdotes (expertly related by long-time Apple historian Steven Levy).

One bit from the very end:

Last December, Cook, Ive, and Apple PR head Steve Dowling met with Laurene Powell Jobs, Steve’s widow. At the time, the campus didn’t have a name. One option was to brand the entire site after the company’s late CEO, but that didn’t feel right. A more intimate honor would come from lending his name to the 1,000-seat theater in the southeast corner of the campus. Not only had Jobs thought hard about what the theater should look like, but it will also be the stage for product launches like those he had so famously made his own. “It’s on a hill, at one of the highest points on this land,” Cook says. “It felt like him.”

And so his name will be on the theater. But anyone searching for Steve Jobs’ finger­prints on Apple Park will find them elsewhere—in the glint off the Ring’s curves, in the sway of the trees, and in the thousands of other details we can and cannot see.

Can’t wait for my first visit.

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

Written by

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

Written by

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

Written by

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.

Your MP3s are going to be just fine

Written by

Three thoughtful responses to yesterdays river of “MP3s are dead” articles.

  1. No, the MP3 Is Not Dead, by Kirk McElhearn.

  2. Your MP3s are going to be just fine, by Hayley Tsukayama for the Washington Post.

  3. “MP3 is dead” missed the real, much better story by Marco Arment.

In a nutshell, your MP3s will not spontaneously combust, the last known MP3 patents have lapsed, AAC is a better format, but the MP3 format is ubiquitous.