Business

The iPad keeps frowning

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One down point in Apple’s numbers was reported iPad sales. Jason Snell:

Apple sold half as many iPads for the 2016 holiday quarter as it did in 2013.

And:

Meanwhile, average selling price sagged, after a brief buoying caused by the release of the 9.7-inch iPad Pro—a sign that during this sluggish holiday period, iPad sales were largely comprised of older, cheaper models.

I chalk this up to iPad maturity. My iPad is more than a year old, and I don’t have any sense that it is slow, outdated. I use it regularly, and have no performance complaints. Sluggish performance is a major factor that would drive me to replace my iPad.

Jason again:

The iPad has 85 percent of the market of tablets priced over $200. The important facts here: Apple’s not interested in selling a sub-$200 iPad, and so that means it’s doing spectacularly well in the market.

If there’s a problem, it’s that Apple built a product that does what it is supposed to do and does it so well that it does not bear replacement. And that’s not a problem for me.

It’s time to admit Apple Watch is a success

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Rene Ritchie pulls together quotes from Apple’s earnings call, tweets from Apple watchers, and sales estimates, to make the case that Apple Watch is not only a success, but a critical part of Apple’s ecosystem.

My 2 cents: I agree wholeheartedly. At the very least, the Apple Watch is a reliable, elegant, affordable timepiece.

Add in the most basic of its capabilities, the ability to receive a steady stream of notifications, and the Apple Watch is a no-brainer. If you then layer in fitness tracking, calendar management, and the ability to run third party apps, the Apple Watch climbs onto its own worthy perch in the ecosystem.

Apple considers legal options against Trump’s immigration order

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Trip Mickle, Wall Street Journal:

Apple Inc. is weighing legal action and continuing to press the Trump administration to reverse its executive order on immigration, Chief Executive Tim Cook said in an interview.

Mr. Cook said hundreds of Apple employees have been affected by the order, which suspended entry to the U.S. for refugees and travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations. He added that he continues to contact “very, very senior people in the White House” and impress on them why repealing the executive order is important not only for Apple but for the country.

“More than any country in the world, this country is strong because of our immigrant background and our capacity and ability as people to welcome people from all kinds of backgrounds. That’s what makes us special,” said Mr. Cook. “We ought to pause and really think deeply through that.”

And:

Mr. Cook declined to elaborate on Apple’s possible legal options, except to say that “we want to be constructive and productive.” He said that since the order was signed, he’s received numerous emails from Apple employees with “heart-wrenching stories” about how the order will affect friends and family. One employee who’s expecting a child said the future grandparents have Canadian and Iranian citizenship and won’t be able to visit to meet their new grandchild.

“These are people that have friends and family. They’re co-workers. They’re taxpayers. They’re key parts of the community,” Mr. Cook said.

And:

In recent days, Apple employees have been increasing their contributions to refugee relief funds, which Mr. Cook said the company will match on a 2-to-1 basis. The contributions come a year after Apple gave $2.5 million to refugee relief.

iOS beta alert spells the end of the line for 32-bit apps

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Andrew Cunningham, Ars Technica:

Beta builds of iOS 10.3, the first of which was issued last week, generate warning messages when you try to run older 32-bit apps. The message, originally discovered by PSPDFKit CEO and app developer Peter Steinberger, warns that the apps “will not work with future versions of iOS” and that the app must be updated by its developer in order to continue running. The apps still run in iOS 10.3, but it seems likely that iOS 11 will drop support for them entirely.

Apple planted the seeds for this a few years ago when they mandated that all new apps be 64-bit compatible. Then, last summer, warning alerts appeared when 32-bit apps were run, reminding the user that using the app “may affect overall system performance”. So this is simply the next step in the progression.

How to fasten your Apple Watch band, and a pair of warnings

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This Apple knowledge base page (via 512 Pixels) has beautifully detailed pictures of each Apple Watch band style, along with instructions on properly fastening each band type, as well as tips on getting the best fit.

What I found fascinating about the page was the pair of warnings at the bottom:

Apple Watch, the space gray and rose gold aluminum Apple Watch Sport, the stainless steel portions of some Apple Watch bands, and the magnets in the watch and bands contain some nickel. However, they all fall below the strict nickel restrictions set by European REACh regulation. Therefore, while nickel exposure is unlikely to be a problem, you should be aware of the possibility in case you’re susceptible to nickel-related reactions.

And:

The Apple Watch case, the Milanese Loop, Modern Buckle, and Leather Loop bands contain trace amounts of methacrylates from adhesives. Methacrylates are commonly found in many consumer products that come in contact with the skin, including adhesive bandages, but some people may be sensitive to them, or develop sensitivities over time. Methacrylate exposure from Apple Watch and the bands listed above is unlikely, but customers with known methacrylate allergies should be attentive when wearing the bands until they can determine they are not experiencing an allergic reaction.

The page was published last September, so this is likely old news, but this is the first time I’ve encountered these warnings.

Theater mode for Apple Watch

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Christian Zibreg, iDownloadBlog, on Apple Watch theater mode:

Activated via a brand new toggle in Control Center, Theater Mode puts your wearable device into silent mode while keeping the screen dark until you tap it or press the Digital Crown or the Side button.

Read the post for all the details, including some nice screen shots and a video that shows theater mode in action.

In a nutshell, you drag up on your Apple Watch screen to bring up control center. Tap the theater mode icon (orange, with two theater masks) to bring up a splash screen with a theater mode button. Tap the button and theater mode is enabled.

In theater mode, your watch screen will not light up in response to notifications or a wrist flick. You’ll need to tap the screen or press the Digital Crown or side button to turn it on.

Two things:

  1. Not sure we need the splash screen button press to enable theater mode. Hopefully, this is a temporary extra step. I turn airplane mode on and off without the confirming splash screen. Works just fine.

  2. Does the UK interface say “Theatre Mode”? Just curious.

UPDATE: And the answer is, Theater Mode in the US and Cinema Mode in the UK. [H/T Vincent Ritter]

Twitter VP Ed Ho promises ‘long overdue’ harassment fixes this week

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Rich McCormick, The Verge:

Twitter’s vice president of engineering, Ed Ho, has promised to make changes to the service to combat harassment as soon as this week. Speaking on Twitter, Ho said that the company would be rolling out a number of product changes “in the days ahead,” including “long overdue fixes to mute/block” features, and new measures designed stop serial abusers from creating new accounts.

Ho said that making Twitter safer was the company’s primary focus at the moment, and acknowledged its failures in the past to protect users from threats, insults, and other harassment. “We heard you, we didn’t move fast enough last year,” Ho wrote in a threaded series of tweets. “Now we’re thinking about progress in days and hours not weeks and months.”

Here’s a link to the start of Ed Ho’s twitter thread.

And here’s Jack Dorsey’s clarifying retweet:

We’re taking a completely new approach to abuse on Twitter. Including having a more open & real-time dialogue about it every step of the way

We shall see.

Breaking the American dream

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Jean-Louis Gassée, writing for Monday Note:

Here in the Valley tech CEOs are taken to task for their timid protests against the latest bout of xenophobia. ‘It’s not a policy we support’, or ‘this is not the best way’, or ‘we’re concerned’.

I don’t think this is the right perspective. We’ve seen how a Trump tweet can hurt a company and its shareholders. A responsible CEO shouldn’t expose his constituents to irrational wrath. We’ve seen, during the transition, how Trump berated and threatened media executives in off-the record exchanges. Imagine the scenario I saw on Twitter (but can’t find for proper attribution — update: it was @counternotions). Someone calls Brian Roberts, CEO of Comcast, and in a heavy mafia voice tells him ‘Nice little bidness you have here, be a shame if anything happened to it’. This because Comcast owns NBC and NBC runs Saturday Night Live and its sharp Trump parodies. They hurt their target’s needy ego — because they do what caricatures do, give relief to a truth.

Jean-Louis is not suggesting tech CEOs should lay down. Far from it. Read the post. A thoughtful perspective.

Sharing bigger, faster, more nimbly with AirDrop

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Steffen Reich pulled together a nice post on the advantages of sharing from device to device using the oft-neglected AirDrop. A nice set of use cases here. Well done, Steffen.

Apple Campus 2 drone footage update

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[VIDEO] So much of the basic construction is complete. The finish work is starting to emerge. This is a gorgeous campus. Terrific drone work by Matthew Roberts. Video in the main Loop post.

Apple removes tool to check if an iOS device is activation locked [UPDATED]

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Benjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac:

Apple has inexplicably removed the iCloud Activation Lock status page, which used to exist at iCloud.com/activationlock, but that URL now leads to a 404 error instead. The utility let anyone type in the IMEI or serial number of an iOS device to find out if Activation Lock had been turned off, handy to verify the authenticity of a seller when buying a used iPhone online.

Not clear why this has happened. Wondering if the tool was being misused in some way. I suspect the story will emerge over the next few days. Keep an eye out.

UPDATE: And here’s the proof, a video that shows how to unlock an iPad by cloning the iPad drive and changing the serial number to a valid unlocked serial number, one checked/validated using the Apple activation lock tool (about 5:28 into the video).

How to check which applications have access to your Twitter account

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If you are a Twitter user, take a minute to visit this page and verify the list of apps that have access to your account, have the right to read and write tweets, send direct messages on your behalf.

See an app you don’t recognize? Press the revoke access button. You can always add it back in later.

Tim Cook on immigration executive order

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Tim Cook, in an email to employees:

Team,

In my conversations with officials here in Washington this week, I’ve made it clear that Apple believes deeply in the importance of immigration — both to our company and to our nation’s future. Apple would not exist without immigration, let alone thrive and innovate the way we do.

I’ve heard from many of you who are deeply concerned about the executive order issued yesterday restricting immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries. I share your concerns. It is not a policy we support.

There are employees at Apple who are directly affected by yesterday’s immigration order. Our HR, Legal and Security teams are in contact with them, and Apple will do everything we can to support them. We’re providing resources on AppleWeb for anyone with questions or concerns about immigration policies. And we have reached out to the White House to explain the negative effect on our coworkers and our company.

As I’ve said many times, diversity makes our team stronger. And if there’s one thing I know about the people at Apple, it’s the depth of our empathy and support for one another. It’s as important now as it’s ever been, and it will not weaken one bit. I know I can count on all of you to make sure everyone at Apple feels welcome, respected and valued.

Apple is open. Open to everyone, no matter where they come from, which language they speak, who they love or how they worship. Our employees represent the finest talent in the world, and our team hails from every corner of the globe.

In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, “We may have all come on different ships, but we are in the same boat now.”

Tim

These are extraordinary times. As much disinformation as information. Pressures from every side. I do not envy Tim Cook his position in all this.

I happily moved away from the Apple ecosystem, and I’m happy to be (mostly) back

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Tony Heupel committed and moved away from the Apple ecosystem, embracing a platform agnostic lifestyle wherever possible. Long story short, Tony and his family are back (mostly).

This is a very interesting read. Lots of detail on where the non-Apple universe fell short, and where Apple’s approach really does make a difference.

My first 3 months on the iMessage App Store

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iOS developer Genady Okrain writes about his experience making money (or not) developing an iMessage app. Cutting to the chase:

As you can see the iMessage App Store was very promising at the beginning but nowadays it is somehow abandoned. This led me to release the app as an iOS app with an iMessage extension, and it is much more successful than just the iMessage app.

Interesting read. Not easy to make a living as an indie app developer.

My 2 cents: Articles like this are good input for folks just getting started, trying to sort out the best direction to take.

Twitter is replacing the Moments tab with a new Explore tab

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I do think the explore tab is a step in the right direction, though what’s missing is the ability to customize it or, tipping the cap to AI, for Twitter to learn the areas that interest you.

As is, there’s a top 20 “Trending Now” list and a seemingly structureless “Today’s Moments” list. To me, these could easily be blended together into a single interface, perhaps with the ability to favorite things you like, and reorder the list by hottest trending topics, chronologically, or by preference.

I love Twitter, both for communicating with the folks I follow and who follow me, and for keeping up to date on the larger Twitterverse. So much potential. And such a valuable resource, if we can get it right.

How to download a Windows disk image for free

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OS X Daily:

Did you know you can download a Windows 10 disc image free from Microsoft? This is seemingly little known, but yes you can download a complete legitimate Windows 10 ISO without registering or even having a product key, and you can install and run the entirety of Windows 10 using the image too.

I have not done this, but good to know, especially if you want to do a Boot Camp install to run a single application or test. Bookmark and pass along.

Apple said to join Amazon, IBM, Microsoft, Google, Facebook in AI best practices group

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From the partnership page:

In support of the mission to benefit people and society, the Partnership on AI intends to conduct research, organize discussions, share insights, provide thought leadership, consult with relevant third parties, respond to questions from the public and media, and create educational material that advance the understanding of AI technologies including machine perception, learning, and automated reasoning.

As much as we’ve learned about artificial intelligence, we’re still on the steepest part of the learning curve. We’re still working out the mechanics, just barely touching on the important philosophical issues.

Glad to hear news that Apple looks to be joining this group. Keep an eye on the partner page. You’ll know this is a done deal when Apple’s name joins the list.

On the likelihood of losing your AirPods

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John Gruber’s take on the care of something easily losable. Some great anecdotes.

I absolutely agree with this take. I am much more careful about my iPhone, much more aware that I take it with me, treat it more gingerly and safely, than I do just about anything else I carry.

All about Apple File System – Make a backup before you install iOS 10.3 beta

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Apple has announced that iOS 10.3, just released as a first beta, will automatically migrate your data to Apple File System (APFS). APFS is already part of macOS Sierra, but in a limited form.

Make a backup before you install the iOS 10.3 beta. And hop over to the main Loop post for some resources to learn more about APFS.

How much has that Mac been used?

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Mac King Fu:

Knowing how much a Mac has actually been used by its owner can be very useful if you’re buying pre-owned. A Mac three years old that’s been used very infrequently could be a better purchase than a two-year old Mac that’s been left running 24/7, for example.

While physical condition of the Mac gives a clue, you can garner some further clues by a little software probing. It’s not entirely accurate, and comes with substantial caveats, but could be worth a try.

Very interesting read. I definitely learned a few things about the myriad of data in the System Profile app. Useful if you are buying, also useful if you are selling.

Note that option-clicking on Apple > System Information… is a shortcut, bypassing the more traditional Apple > About This Mac menu item.

Ford plucks new brand chief from Apple

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Automotive News:

Ford Motor Co. has hired a former Apple marketing official to be vice president and chief brand officer, a new position created as the company focuses on new mobility services.

Musa Tariq, 34, will begin his role Jan. 30. As Ford’s brand officer, he’ll work with marketing, communications and company leaders across the globe to build the brand.

Some high profile poaching, first from Tesla, now from Ford. Sign of corporate stress, or normal pendulum swing?

AI and the path to creating jingles and pop hits

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Alex Marshall, writing for the New York Times, pulled together a fascinating piece, a bit of a survey of the current state of artificial intelligence and songwriting.

My 2 cents: All of this music is on the wrong side of the uncanny valley, but it is definitely getting closer. And I do think it will get there. Which is a scary proposition, given how difficult it already is for humans to make a living as musicians.

Apple patent details modular Apple Watch accessories disguised as bracelet links

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Mikey Campbell, Apple Insider:

Apple on Tuesday was granted a patent detailing a modular accessories system for Apple Watch that disguises electrical components like batteries, biometric sensors, solar cells and more as links in the wearable’s metal band.

Great concept, though this concept is inherently limited to link-style Apple Watch bands. No way to add accessories to sports, nylon bands, for example.

Qualcomm, Apple, and iPhone margin grab

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Some fascinating stuff from Bloomberg and Recode on the rift between the government, Apple, and Qualcomm. Tap through to the main Loop post for the details.