Business

New Siri patent

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Patently Apple:

In the future, if Siri doesn’t recognize the voice of the owner of the device, accessing Siri or the computer associated with it will be impossible.

And:

Today a user will say “hey Siri” and Siri will respond. In the future, the command to call up Siri may be customized to your voice. For instance, a user sets up Siri to recognize the phrase “Hey there, Boss.” The customized phrase and the voice must match what’s in Siri’s database before the digital assistant will respond. The customized phrase is technically referred to in Apple’s patent filings as a “Lexical Trigger.”

And:

In the future, in order to access Siri, a person will have to know a passcode, use a fingerprint or be recognized by the system via face recognition. Unless your iDevice recognizes you on multiple security levels, Siri will remain unresponsive to commands or requests.

As long as I can turn this off via a setting, this seems like a natural evolution.

Tim Berners-Lee wins $1 million Turing Award

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MIT News:

MIT Professor Tim Berners-Lee, the researcher who invented the World Wide Web and is one of the world’s most influential voices for online privacy and government transparency, has won the most prestigious honor in computer science, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) A.M. Turing Award. Often referred to as “the Nobel Prize of computing,” the award comes with a $1 million prize provided by Google.

Tim Berners-Lee changed the world as much as anyone else in the computing or business world. Folks like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk etc. all changed the world, no doubt. But all of them became incredibly wealthy in the process. Nice to see this announcement.

On a related note, here’s an interview with Tim where he discusses the Turing Award and what’s become of his beloved brainchild, the web.

NFL and Amazon reach one year deal, Thursday night games exclusive to Prime members

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Wall Street Journal:

The National Football League has reached a deal to stream 10 Thursday night games with Amazon.com Inc., the online retailer that is aggressively trying to position itself as a premier source of entertainment content.

The one-year agreement is valued at around $50 million, according to people familiar with the matter. That price tag represents a fivefold increase over the NFL’s agreement with Twitter Inc. for the same number of games last season.

To me, this deal makes much more sense than last year’s Twitter deal. The Twitter deal seemed like dipping a toe in the waters, an experiment with no real end goal. With Amazon, the deal seems more practical, a move to drive traffic, to increase Amazon Prime signups. Note that the games will still be available on TV via CBS and NBC.

Not sure this kind of move would ever make sense for Apple, unless buying an Apple TV was the only way you could watch Thursday Night Football.

Funny story about the new Mac Pro announcement

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There’s a new Mac Pro coming, eventually, but there’s an interesting story that unfolds. Pop over to the main Loop post for all the details. My 2 cents? Well worth it.

The MIT Dropouts Who Created Ms. Pac-Man

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I found the whole article fascinating, but this part in particular grabbed my attention:

Macrae and Curran’s arcade route – a series of machines they owned and operated both for their own profit and for the benefit of students – quickly expanded to three dorms, but they soon had trouble with declining revenues as people began to master the games. As arcade operators themselves, they had a direct financial stake in making the games more interesting. So they did what any clever MIT student would do in that situation: confront the problem with mathematical precision.

And:

At this point in the video game world there were these kits called speed-up kits or enhancement kits that were being sold directly to arcade owners. The first really successful one was for Asteroids because people learned how to beat Asteroids, and they could play forever on a quarter. So somebody game up with a little circuit that you could clip on, and wow, it made the game much more difficult.

I had no idea that was a thing. Amazing little nugget of video arcade history.

Apple wants to sell HBO, Showtime and Starz in a single bundle

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Peter Kafka, Recode:

Apple isn’t done trying to sell you pay TV.

Here’s Apple’s latest proposal: It wants to sell consumers a premium TV bundle, which combines HBO, Showtime and Starz.

Apple already sells each of those channels individually. But it has approached the three networks about rolling them up into a single package, as conventional pay TV operators sometimes do.

No value in a bundle unless it is cheaper than the sum of its parts. And that’s been a tough thing for Apple to achieve, at least so far.

The iPad turnaround is coming

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Jean-Louis Gassée offers a state of the union on the iPad past and near future, and the potential for the iPad to take more business from the Mac and PC. Very interesting read.

Apple to roll their own graphics processors for iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and Apple Watch

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Imagination Technologies:

Imagination Technologies Group plc (LSE: IMG, “Imagination”, “the Group”) a leading multimedia, processor and communications technology company, has been notified by Apple Inc. (“Apple”), its largest customer, that Apple is of a view that it will no longer use the Group’s intellectual property in its new products in 15 months to two years time, and as such will not be eligible for royalty payments under the current license and royalty agreement.

That is a major blow to the company. Their stock dropped about 60% on the news, shaving hundreds of millions off the market value in just one day.

But Imagination will not go quietly:

Apple has used Imagination’s technology and intellectual property for many years. It has formed the basis of Graphics Processor Units (“GPUs”) in Apple’s phones, tablets, iPods, TVs and watches. Apple has asserted that it has been working on a separate, independent graphics design in order to control its products and will be reducing its future reliance on Imagination’s technology.

Apple has not presented any evidence to substantiate its assertion that it will no longer require Imagination’s technology, without violating Imagination’s patents, intellectual property and confidential information. This evidence has been requested by Imagination but Apple has declined to provide it.

Seems clear that Apple is going its own way, that this is more of a license fee negotiation to avoid a complex and costly lawsuit. Though a custom GPU is no trivial task, Apple owns enough chip design experience and can hire any additional GPU-specific expertise they need to make this work.

Note that Apple owns 8% of Imagination and was reportedly in talks to buy the entire company in March 2016 but the talks are said to have ended without an offer. This does smell a bit like a hardball negotiating tactic, with Imagination going public they way they did. Apple’s long advance notification could be the first step in the dance to lower royalties.

Legal issues aside, if Apple and Imagination do part ways, this seems a positive move for Apple, a chance to control even more of the stack, reduce their fabrication costs, and add more graphics power across the product line.

Galaxy S8 facial recognition can be bypassed with a photo

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[VIDEO] Well, that didn’t take long. As seen in the video embedded in the main Loop post, a user’s picture taken by one Galaxy S8 is used to unlock another Galaxy S8. Not good, not good.

Wait, we can spin this. That’s how good the camera on the S8 is. So realistic, it can hack itself!

Face palm.

Three new iPad Pro ads

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[VIDEO] Three new iPad Pro ads, hitting themes that should resonate with students. The titles are “Light and powerful”, “All day battery”, and “All your school stuff”. Videos embedded in the main Loop post.

Watch the latest SpaceX launch, a historic first stage relanding

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If you have even the slightest interest in space and rocketry, take a minute to watch the latest SpaceX launch. This is the first time a previously launched rocket has been reused. This will change the equation, make it much cheaper to launch a satellite. Amazing accomplishment.

You can watch the launch here.

If you just want the launch itself, jump to about 18:45 in. The landing of stage 1 back on Of Course I Still Love You (the drone ship) is a little trickier, as the video feed was cut off due to a line of sight issue, but jump to about 27:30 in to get the crew reaction. First there’s a groan of disappointment as the folks watching find out the video cut out, but then…well, watch for yourself.

I absolutely love what SpaceX has accomplished here. They have changed the future of space exploration.

Could this be the future of the Mac?

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Samsung rolled out their latest and greatest smartphone yesterday, the Galaxy S8. Interesting phone, includes a new digital assistant named Bixby, a fingerprint scanner/encrypted facial recognition, and a desktop dock (a la Microsoft’s Continuum).

What does this have to do with the Mac? Click through to the main Loop post and follow along, see if you agree.

You can’t buy Congress’s web history — stop trying

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There have been several well documented efforts to raise money to buy the browsing history of individual members of Congress. Can’t be done, at least not legally. That’s not the way it works.

Read on for the details but, bottom line, don’t give these folks your money.

Free trials Apple Music pass Pandora and Spotify on mobile usage

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Ingrid Lunden, TechCrunch:

A report published this week from mobile analytics firm Verto has found that Apple Music attracted 40.7 million monthly unique users to its service in the U.S. in February. In comparison, Pandora came in at number two with 32.6 million users, and Spotify took third place with 30.4 million unique users for the month.

Spotify is still in front when counting paid users, but this is a good sign for Apple Music.

Want the details? Here’s a link to the Verto report.

MLB and NHL take advantage of custom icons in iOS 10.3

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Sarah Perez, TechCrunch:

The MLB.com At Bat and NHL iOS applications have been updated today to take advantage of one of the new, but still under-the-radar features available in the just-launched version of Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS 10.3: personalized home screen icons. That’s right — you now can replace either of these apps’ default icon with one featuring your favorite team’s logo instead.

These are terrific examples of custom icons at work. Makes me wonder if Apple implemented these in response to requests from MLB and the NHL.

Excuse me, gotta go change my icons.

On the House vote to wipe away the FCC’s landmark Internet privacy protections

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OK, so this is bad. But as always, read up on this and on what you can do to protect yourself. Here are a few pieces to start. Readers, please do add in your own suggestions (both habit and reading) in the comments, or send to me via Twitter.

The Washington Post:

In a party-line vote, House Republicans freed Internet service providers such as Verizon, AT&T and Comcast of protections approved just last year that had sought to limit what companies could do with information such as customer browsing habits, app usage history, location data and Social Security numbers. The rules also had required providers to strengthen safeguards for customer data against hackers and thieves.

From the left:

“Today’s vote means that Americans will never be safe online from having their most personal details stealthily scrutinized and sold to the highest bidder,” said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy.

And from the right:

”[Consumer privacy] will be enhanced by removing the uncertainty and confusion these rules will create,” said Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who chairs the House subcommittee that oversees the FCC.

Privacy will be enhanced? Give me a break.

The New York Times:

The bill not only gives cable companies and wireless providers free rein to do what they like with your browsing history, shopping habits, your location and other information gleaned from your online activity, but it would also prevent the Federal Communications Commission from ever again establishing similar consumer privacy protections.

There’s so much more to this. Read up on what’s just happened, then consider what it means to you, consider changing some online habits. With that in mind, a bit more reading:

  • The Tor Project: Read about anonymity and how Tor works, consider downloading Tor or a similar browser. At the very least, this will put one level of indirection between your internet travels and your IP address.

  • How to Go Invisible Online by Kevin Mitnick: This is a very understandable detailed practical guide. Though the focus is on email, it will help you understand how tracking works, how to insert encryption into the process.

  • VPNs are for most people, including you: What is a VPN? Why use one? Good explanations here.

I’m far from an expert on this stuff, so please do weigh in if there are better explanations, better resources to consider.

A map showing electrical plug/socket used by country/region

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British Business Energy:

The map above, shows the various electrical plugs and sockets used around the world. As you can see, few countries use just one type of plug or socket.

And:

The map was created by us by combining this map from Wikipedia, along with plug and socket types from the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).

Here’s a link to the map. For more detail, check this Wikipedia page. Bookmark ’em both.

Oh Samsung

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This is a CNET headline that caught my eye:

Samsung store catches fire a day before Galaxy S8 announcement.

An omen?

iOS 10.3 will probably make your iPhone feel faster

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The Verge:

Apple released iOS 10.3 yesterday with a new modern file system, but like any software update there are many undocumented changes. One particular change has been revealed through Apple engineer Renaud Lienhart‏, who works directly on the iOS operating system. “iOS 10.3 feels ‘snappier’ because many animations were slightly tweaked & shortened, for the better,” says Lienhart on Twitter.

Here’s the tweet:

https://twitter.com/NotoriousBUGS/status/846539233305124865

Why the snappiness?

Apple’s new file system in iOS 10.3, that’s rolling out to millions of iPhones and iPads, should help make the OS feel a little faster, too. As APFS is designed to be low latency, this should also improve read and write speeds on iOS devices. You won’t notice this immediately, but apps that write a lot of data to a disk (like video processing) might seem faster

Lots of people talking about this. My favorite quote? This, from John Gruber:

I upgraded my phone today, and it did seem to me that it took an unusual amount of time. Understandable, considering it was changing the file system. This is one of those things where if it all goes according to plan, normal people will have no idea it happened. But for us nerds, what Apple pulled off today seems almost impossible — tens of millions of devices are being upgraded to an altogether brand new file system, in place, silently. My sincere congratulations to Apple’s file system team on a job well done.

That’s the key. These last few months, I’ve been upgrading all my devices each time a new beta hits and have yet to encounter a problem. Apple really deserves kudos here.

UPDATE: Tiny nit, but a cricket told me the Verge got one detail wrong, that Richard Lienhart is no longer an Apple Engineer. Just passing that along. Story core still correct.

The Mac and zooming in

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Small fonts an issue on your Mac, especially as your eyes get older? Rob Griffiths walks you through the solution, the Zoom tab in the System Preferences Accessibility pane. Good tips.

Hands-on with the updated Apple TV Remote app

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[VIDEO] Jeff Banjamin, 9to5Mac, walks you through the new Apple TV remote app (video embedded in the main Loop post). Biggest plus? It’s now available on the iPad. Biggest complaint?

Unfortunately one of my main complaints about the initial Apple TV Remote app release — the lack of software volume controls — has yet to be addressed. I understand that the hardware version of the remote utilizes its built in IR blaster to communicate with a television, but it would be nice if there was a software provision for adjusting volume via the app.

UPDATE: As noted in the comments and on Twitter, this is an HDMI issue. If the TV supports HDMI-CEC, the remote can control volume.

Gender and the final 2017 emoji list

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First things first, the draft 2017 emoji list has been finalized. Here’s the official list (follow the link and search for “2017 Emoji List”).

Part of the evolution of emoji is the portrayal of gender. To truly understand the newest emoji, read the excellent What is Gender and and Why Does it Matter to Emoji?, which does an excellent job telling the story of emoji and its history with gender.

From the post:

Filling out the middle of the spectrum, we have a set of three new people emoji with inclusive gender, characters that were conceived to represent all people regardless of gender.

These emoji are intended to depict a child, an adult, and an older person. I proposed the addition of the gender inclusive emoji characters in order to provide better representation for people who want to express themselves in emoji as exactly that: just people.

Not everyone identifies as male or female. Some of us identify as a bit of both, or neither, or something else altogether. Regardless of your gender identity, I hope we can all find adequate ways to express ourselves in emoji.

And finally, thought you might find it interesting to see an actual proposal for change

Raising the bar: Apple’s 11th annual Supplier Responsibility progress report released

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A few highlights:

In 2016, Apple audited 705 suppliers and compliance with a 60-hour maximum work week reached 98%, an all-time high. Apple also tripled the number of supplier sites in the Energy Efficiency program, resulting in the reduction of over 150,000 metric tons of carbon emissions — the equivalent of taking 31,000 cars off the road for a year.

And:

For the first time, Apple suppliers achieved 100% UL Zero Waste to Landfill validation for all final assembly sites in China. Since 2013, Apple’s Clean Water program saved over 3.8 billion gallons of fresh water, enough to provide every person on the planet with 18 glasses of water.

And:

Apple’s responsible sourcing efforts expanded beyond conflict minerals to include cobalt for the first time. For the second year in a row, 100% of Apple’s tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold (3TG) smelters and refiners are participating in independent third-party audits.

And:

In 2016, Apple trained more than 2.4 million workers on their rights as employees.

Think about all the products you use every day. How many of the companies that produce those products spend their money this way, make these sorts of efforts?

Reminds me of the time a shareholder asked Tim Cook to consider only doing things that were profitable. Tim’s reply:

“When we work on making our devices accessible by the blind,” he said, “I don’t consider the bloody ROI.” He said that the same thing about environmental issues, worker safety, and other areas where Apple is a leader.

Amen, Tim. Amen.

Using iOS Maps to avoid tolls, highways

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There’s both a useful tip and a lesson here.

The tip: If you use Apple Maps on a regular basis, take a moment to fire up the Settings App and make your way to:

Settings > Maps > Driving & Navigation

Look over the page. Among other settings, here’s where you can tell Apple Maps to avoid Tolls and Highways. You can also enable the Compass on your directions page.

The lesson: Where to hide the settings has long been a decision for app developers and their choice might not always be obvious. For example, Apple Maps has a switch to turn Traffic on an off. That switch is embedded behind the info icon (upper right corner of the Maps main view). But the switches for Tolls are in Settings.

Bottom line, if you did not know to look, the Tolls switch would be difficult to find. If you go to the Settings search box (drag down on the main Setting page) and type Tolls, nothing shows up. So you are left to search the tree of possibilities.

Or, more likely, head to Google and find your answer there.

25 cool things you can do with Apple’s Workflow app

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I normally avoid these slide show advertising buckets, but this is Jason Snell and, per usual, he does a nice job. In this case, he walks through a set of 25 examples of Workflow in action. If you’ve never used the app, make your way through the examples to get a sense of what Workflow can do.

Laptop ban on planes came after plot to put explosives in iPad

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The Guardian:

The US-UK ban on selected electronic devices from the passenger cabins of flights from some countries in north Africa and the Middle East was partly prompted by a previously undisclosed plot involving explosives hidden in a fake iPad, according to a security source.

When it was sneakers and underwear, they did not ban sneakers and underwear. This seems arbitrary at best.