[VIDEO] This ad screams spite, taking on the iPhone 6 and “battery throttling”. Nothing in the ad makes a case for the Galaxy S9 being better than anything remotely recent from Apple. They also brought back the guy with the notch haircut, this time with a kid.
I just found the ad (video embedded in the main Loop post) puzzling and dark, not at all clever or entertaining. Just me?
[VIDEO] This is a brilliant performance (embedded on the main Loop post). Sounds like there’s some extra acoustic drumming going on in the background but, as far as I can tell, it’s all Alexandr Misko’s fingerwork.
That bassline has been stuck in my brain for days now. Also worth a read, the production notes on the song’s Wikipedia page. Fascinating.
From the Mount St Helens Wikipedia page:
Mount St. Helens is most notorious for its major 1980 eruption, the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in the history of the United States. Fifty-seven people were killed; 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles (24 km) of railways, and 185 miles (298 km) of highway were destroyed. A massive debris avalanche triggered by an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale caused an eruption that reduced the elevation of the mountain’s summit from 9,677 ft (2,950 m) to 8,363 ft (2,549 m), leaving a 1 mile (1.6 km) wide horseshoe-shaped crater. The debris avalanche was up to 0.7 cubic miles (2.9 km3) in volume.
Someone just found a set of 34 slides, from photos taken on a plane circling the volcano as it erupted. These never-before-published photos are worth a look.
To me, the most amazing thing about this event is how, in the space of a few days, an almost perfectly conical mountain was practically leveled.
[VIDEO] The song is “La Fête Noire” by Flavien Berger. Video embedded in main Loop post.
[VIDEO] This is a snippet from a longer interview Tim did on Bloomberg’s The David Rubenstein Show. The full interview will be released in June. The video is embedded in the main Loop post.
[VIDEO] At first blush, this ad looks like it was filmed in a super stretch limo. But of course, that’d be logistically impossible. To me, this blending of scenes from each episode of Carpool Karaoke’s first season is seamless and impressive.
Worth watching the ad (embedded in the main Loop post), just to see if you can spot any clues on how this was all pulled together.
[VIDEO] Rene Ritchie absolutely nails it with this take (embedded in the main Loop post) on Google Duplex and ethics. If you’ve not yet encountered Rene’s Vector podcast, this is an excellent first taste.
Interesting how on the exact same page we are. Rene’s concerns mirror my own.
[VIDEO] This is just incredible video, shot this week (embedded in the main Loop post), a perfect example of one of the two main types of lava. This is A’a (ah-ah), which resembles smashed up Oreo cookie embedded in glowing molten rock. The other main type, pahoehoe, is smooth and billowy.
I am fascinated with volcanos, and have made several (stupidly dangerous) trips to walk the Kilauea lava flows in Hawaii. I’m just drawn to it.
Bloomberg:
For the first time, Apple plans to begin selling subscriptions to certain video services directly via its TV app, rather than asking users to subscribe to them through apps individually downloaded from the App Store, according to people familiar with the matter.
And:
Right now, the TV app aggregates content from other providers, allowing people to locate shows from a wide array of apps and channels like ABC, NBA League Pass and HBO, rather than having to hop between different apps. But then Apple sends customers outside its app to buy access to those channels or watch shows. With the pending change, subscription purchasing would move to the TV app. Apple could eventually move the streaming to its own app, instead of sending users to third parties.
Is this an indicator of Apple’s plans for packaging their own custom content? Will everything sit under the TV app? If so, will Apple build a TV app equivalent for macOS? Will subscriptions be manageable from the web?
[VIDEO] Juli Clover, MacRumors:
At the 97th annual ADC Awards, which honors the best work in design, advertising, motion, and other commercial creative arts, Apple’s “Barbers” ad for the iPhone 7 Plus won a Best of Show award.
And:
“Barbers” was awarded a 2018 Motion and Film Craft Gold Cube, a Black Cube for Best of Show, and a 2018 Advertising Merit Award. Furlined, the agency that produced the spot, also won Production Company of the Year.
From the first wave of Portrait Mode ads, back in May 2017. Terrific ad. Embedded in main Loop post.
I’m a big fan of Austin Mann’s photography blog. He loves Apple gear and puts it to great use.
This post is about a trip he took to South America and Antarctica. The pics were taken with a range of cameras, one of which was his iPhone X. His workflow included the iPad and MacBook Pro, but all the heavy lifting was done back in the studio on the iMac Pro.
Lots of interesting comments, including some insight on traveling with an iMac Pro, buying a travel case, and checking it as luggage. And, of course, some great pictures.
Enjoy.
[VIDEO] This is just amazing. It’s from 2009, so the video quality isn’t perfect, but no matter, it good enough and the audio is what matters.
McFerrin is talented and the audience interaction is remarkable. Well worth the watch (video embedded in main Loop post).
[VIDEO] Jeff Benjamin has really got this video thing down. If you have an iPad, spend the time going through this (embedded in the main Loop post). Good stuff.
[VIDEO] There’s something very Zen about watching Alexa work through this number, occasionally changing pronunciation and strategy to get through it. (Video embedded in the main Loop post)
And, as a palette cleanser, be sure to ask Siri the same question.
If you haven’t already, first read A tale of two QuickTimes, which we linked to a few weeks ago.
With that unhappiness with losing the old, but still incredibly useful version of QuickTime in mind, check out this post from Dan Moren, which is based on this gem of a find by David Chartier.
Do read both posts for the big picture. This is pretty cool.
[VIDEO] Last week, I tweeted about the process of grabbing multiple app icons, all in one stack, dragging them from one page to another.
Jeff Benjamin, 9to5Mac, did me one better, building an excellent how-to video (embedded in the main Loop post) that shows this technique, along with a bunch of related techniques. You might know most of these, but there’s this one bit you might not know. Check the recurring theme in Jeff’s video where he holds a stack with one hand, then uses the other hand to slide pages, rather than dragging the stack to the edge of the screen to force the page change. Jeff’s way is so much faster.
If nothing else, pass the link along to your iOS newbie friends.
[VIDEO] The first ad pushes the speed and elegance of the iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X Portrait Lighting. Android is not mentioned by name, but pretty sure that’s what’s meant by “your phone” (all lower case).
The second ad is about security against malware, this time comparing “your store” (all lower case) with the App Store. The exploding malware nose icon was a pretty good bit.
Both ads are embedded in the main Loop post.
Deadline:
Apple just won an auction for world screen rights to Songwriter, the Murray Cummings-directed documentary that shows singer Ed Sheeran as he finds the handle on writing and performing his distinctive songs. Deal is low to mid-seven figures for world rights, and Apple will make it an event release that includes a theatrical component along with release on Apple’s multiple platforms. The film made its world premiere in Berlin, and tonight the docu is making its North American premiere in the Tribeca Film Festival.
I read that as $1-$5 million. Another brick on the content pile. It will be interesting to see the platform Apple is planning to turn this investment into revenue. Will this content be a draw to extend Apple Music? Will they build a separate Apple Video platform? When will the curtain be pulled back on all this investment?
[VIDEO] Ouch. Pretty, pretty good. Video embedded in main Loop post.
If you have a Mac or PC, open your browser and head over to a Wikipedia page, like this one on the Mona Lisa.
Hover over a link and you should see a brand new behavior. Instead of a tool tip (a tiny snippet of text), you should see a fairly substantial preview of the linked page. This is a huge improvement.
From Wikimedia:
This seemingly cosmetic change may seem far from revolutionary, but has been built through careful and vigorous A/B testing; scaling APIs to Wikipedia levels of traffic and a change to how we build our code (blog post to follow). Our testing shows that the feature makes it easier and more efficient for Wikipedia readers to interact with our content and get more context about a topic on Wikipedia.
And:
The goal of page previews was to decrease the cost of exploration for each blue link you come across, allowing readers to satisfy their curiosity or clarify a confusing or unknown topic without the burden of opening a new page and navigating back to the original.
More reading on this change: How we designed page previews for Wikipedia — and what could be done with them in the future.
A few stats from that last article:
I love Wikipedia, I think this is a wonderful move. Note that if you don’t see the previews, check to see if you are logged in. If so, head over to Preferences > Appearance and click Enable in the Page Previews section.
[VIDEO] I found this interesting. A short film (embedded in the main Loop post), with animoji used to deliver the dialog. Wondering if this approach will find its way into a feature film or TV show. Seems to me a logical path for some show on Apple’s content schedule.
[H/T The Film Student Podcast]
[VIDEO] There are no words to adequately describe this. Just watch (video embedded in main Loop post).
[VIDEO] Video embedded in main Loop post.
Crazy. Just crazy. So many intricate little details, all for a slice of cake.
If nothing else, jump to about a minute in, just to see the toddler and the phone. The whole thing is pretty incredible.
[VIDEO] Fantastic backgrounder (embedded in main Loop post) on SNL and live music from producers Lindsay Shookus, Brian Siedlecki and Melanie Malone.
[VIDEO] A few weeks ago, we posted about a remarkably lifelike real-time digital character, shown off by Epic Games, one of the first of these that crosses (mostly) the uncanny valley.
In the video embedded in the main Loop post, Andy Serkis shows off the same technology, reciting some Shakespeare while, side-by-side, an alien does the same. Excellent work.
[VIDEO] I’m not sure how to react to this sequence of commercials (embedded in the main Loop post). But I do know I watched, transfixed, all the way to the end.
[VIDEO] Yesterday, Apple added to its long list of iPad how-to videos with the two embedded in the main Loop post.
This form has been around for a while now, and it is both simple and informative. Like the snappy Apple Pay ads we wrote about yesterday, these iPad videos are short, very focused, easy to follow, and charming.
I’d love to see Apple adopt these formats to show people real-life examples that demonstrate how easy Apple Pay is to use, how secure it is, then build a campaign to get that message in front of people, both as videos, and with still frame moments that can translate to print, web ads, and posters/billboards.
Just an idea. No matter, love the new iPad videos. Enjoy.
PS, here’s an old one from the same campaign that I also love. Shows the consistency, too.
[VIDEO] Have to say, Apple has crafted an excellent ad language here, telling a tiny story in a 10 second ad. Each one focuses on the iPhone X, Face ID verification, and Apple Pay, delivering the goods in a series of sound effect laden quick cuts.
Excellent work. See for yourself. All four ads embedded in the main Loop post.
Dark Patterns are sneaky interface design patterns that trick users into doing something they otherwise might never do. Like share their contacts, or register for a service, or give an app permission/access unintentionally.
The video embedded in the main Loop post does a great job explaining this, and shares some terrific (terrible?) examples. If nothing else, just watch the incredibly great lengths Amazon goes to to hide the “delete my Amazon account” option.
If this interests you, take a few minutes to scroll through the Dark Patterns Hall of Shame.
[VIDEO] Impossible. Yet, step-by-step, you can see this artisan turn an ordinary roll of aluminum foil into a chef’s knife. Remarkable. Video embedded in the main Loop post.