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Apple partners with SAP

SAP, whose business software runs inside 87 percent of the world’s 2,000 biggest companies, said it would work with Apple to develop mobile business apps for iPhones and iPads that run on its HANA database software.

Another good move for Apple and its customers in the corporate world.

SketchParty TV 4 released

I can’t draw a straight line with a ruler but this latest version of the very popular SketchParty now supports both the Apple Pencil and the new Apple TV. I still won’t be able to draw but it does look like a fun game for families.

The trials of packaging a product for the Apple store

I know developers, big and small, who have products in the Apple Retail Stores. The common refrain is, “It’s the best and worst thing to happen to your company”. Apple’s attention to detail extends outwards to vendors who want to sell in their stores.

J.D. Power: Apple ranks highest in customer satisfaction with tablets

The study, now in its fifth year, measures customer satisfaction with tablets across five factors (in order of importance): performance (28%); ease of operation (22%); features (22%); styling and design (17%); and cost (11%). Satisfaction is calculated on a 1,000-point scale.

I love my iPad. I don’t care what Wall Street says, my 9.7-inch iPad Pro is a brilliant device and I recommend it to everyone.

John Gruber on Apple Music

John brings up some great points about Apple Music’s product design and marketing. Definitely worth a read.

The Dalrymple Report: Airplane Mode

Jim talks to Dave Wiskus and Joe Cieplinski of the indie rock band Airplane Mode about their stage setup, the perils of performing live, and their appearance at the upcoming WWDC 2016 Beard Bash.

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All 13 colors of iMac

About a month ago, I set out to find every color of iMac G3. At the time, I only owned one model — a Sage. Today, the family is complete.

This is impressive.

Siri’s creators ready to roll out next generation

Elizabeth Dwoskin, writing for the Washington Post:

The stealthy, four-year-old Viv is among the furthest along in an endeavor that many in Silicon Valley believe heralds that next big shift in computing — and digital commerce itself. Over the next five years, that transition will turn smartphones — and perhaps smart homes and cars and other devices — into virtual assistants with supercharged conversational capabilities, said Julie Ask, an expert in mobile commerce at Forrester.

Looking forward to seeing this in action this Monday with the first public demo.

iOS Apps must support IPv6-only networking as of June 1

At WWDC 2015 we announced the transition to IPv6-only network services in iOS 9. Starting June 1, 2016 all apps submitted to the App Store must support IPv6-only networking. Most apps will not require any changes because IPv6 is already supported by NSURLSession and CFNetwork APIs.

If your app uses IPv4-specific APIs or hard-coded IP addresses, you will need to make some changes.

Apple announced this last year, so most of any work that needs to be done by developers is probably taken care of already. If not, this is a good reminder from Apple.

I’ve had a big secret. Now I’m sharing it.

Tom is the “Grand Old Man” of the Mac Community. He and his lovely wife Dori have been involved on many levels – users, authors, speakers – for decades. Both of them are wonderful, kind, funny, smart and fierce people. I’m proud to know them and even prouder to call them friends. This is terrible news but, Tom being Tom, he will handle it with the dignity and intelligence for which he has always been admired. My thoughts are with both of them as they go through this awful ordeal.

tvOS at 6 months: where are the apps?

One of the complaints from developers is that there’s just no there there. In other words, there’s just not enough to the Apple TV to make developing for it worth the effort, particularly for smaller developers working on iOS.

An Apple Music plea

News came today that Apple is planning a major revamp of Apple Music at its Worldwide Developer Conference in June. This is welcome news for sure. While the service has improved considerably since its introduction, there are still some things that need to addressed—hopefully, this is it.

However, there are some lessons I hope Apple learned from last year’s introduction.

So Apple:

Things every designer needs to know about Accessibility

Accessibility enables people with disabilities to perceive, understand, navigate, interact with, and contribute to the web. Imagine a world where developers know everything there is to know about accessibility. You design it and they build it… perfectly. In this world, only the design itself can cause people with disabilities to have trouble using a product.

Apple hires former Nest, Google executive

Apple has hired famed robotics expert Yoky Matsuoka, one of the co-founders of Google’s X lab and former head of technology at Nest, to work on the iPhone maker’s health projects.

Her credentials are outstanding.

Macworld’s MacScan 3 review

But malware attacks are on the rise and OS X is no longer immune to such threats. According to a study from Bit9 and Carbon Black, 2015 was a banner year for malware on the Mac, with more than 1,400 unique samples collected and analyzed, a whopping five-fold increase over the previous five years combined.

I have MacScan on my system and it works great.

Universal Audio releases the Fender ’55 Tweed Deluxe Plug-In

One of Leo Fender’s first and finest amp designs, the Fender Deluxe was introduced in 1946. After various circuit tweaks, Fender eventually landed on the now historic “wide-panel” 5E3 Deluxe in 1955. This amplifier’s touch-sensitivity has a dynamic range from clean and sweet, to overdriven raunch that’s made it a go-to recording amp for the likes of Larry Carlton, Neil Young, Mike Campbell, Daniel Lanois, and Billy Gibbons.

I have never been so excited to try out a plug-in. It took Universal Audio two years to complete this single plug-in.

What Jony Ive said at the Met Fashion Gala

Sir Jony Ive, chief design officer of Apple was one of the four co-hosts of Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala alongside Anna Wintour of Vogue, singer Taylor Swift and actor Idris Elba. Apple, was an underwriter of an event widely known as “Oscars of the East Coast.” Here is a text of his speech at the event.

The 50 most influential gadgets of all time

These lists are always fun/interesting and congratulations to Apple for having the iPhone named as #1 but, is it just me or does anyone think of the iPhone as most certainly not a “gadget”?

iPhone warning signs

There is a lot of justifiable doom and gloom surrounding Apple in general and the iPhone in particular so far this year. A lot of it is incomprehensible to those of us who use and enjoy the products the company makes. Personally, I don’t think there’s any need to push a panic button but the company does have some serious challenges ahead for the rest of the year and into 2017.

6 reasons you should be printing your photos

I’m a big fan of printing off some of your photos. Along with the reasons included in this post, there’s just a certain “something” about holding your photos in your hand in a tangible, physical form and a sense of pride to be able to take your own work and hang it on your wall or to give to a friend.