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TidBITS:

With Macworld/iWorld seemingly stuck in mothballs for good, Apple professionals will have to go elsewhere to gather with their peers. Luckily, there’s no lack of independent conferences both before and after Apple’s own Worldwide Developer Conference, which usually takes place in June and has far fewer slots than developers who would like to attend.

As usual, Engst is being far too kind. Macworld is well and truly dead and no other conference has arisen from its ashes to replace it. But, this is a good list of events occurring in 2016 that might be of interest to some of you.

Jim and Merlin talk New Years and what they hope to see in the year ahead. Also, Motorhead and preparing for presentations.

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Links:

• The Young Ones – “Bambi” (1984)
• Motörhead – Motörizer
• English Rose – Motorhead – YouTube
• Bambi (The Young Ones) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• WayTools TextBlade – Magnetic Keyboard for iPhone, iPad, Android
• Accidental Tech Podcast: 150: A Mac Pro in Every Pot
• How I Made My Presentations a Little Better | 43 Folders
• The Talk Show ✪: Ep. 140, With Special Guest Rene Ritchie
• Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery (2nd Edition) (Voices That Matter): Garr Reynolds: 9780321811981: Amazon.com: Books
• Path Finder 7 by Cocoatech
• Motörizer – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• No Sleep ’til Hammersmith – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• RescueTime : Time management software for staying productive and happy in the modern workplace
• Screens – Control Your Computer Remotely – Edovia

Netflix:

Netflix launched its service globally, simultaneously bringing its Internet TV network to more than 130 new countries around the world. The company made the announcement — and the service went live — during a keynote by Co-founder and Chief Executive Reed Hastings at CES 2016.

“Today you are witnessing the birth of a new global Internet TV network,” said Hastings. “With this launch, consumers around the world — from Singapore to St. Petersburg, from San Francisco to Sao Paulo — will be able to enjoy TV shows and movies simultaneously — no more waiting. With the help of the Internet, we are putting power in consumers’ hands to watch whenever, wherever and on whatever device.”

Good news for The Loop readers around the world (except China). You can now watch old TV shows and movies along with the rest of us.

iMore:

If you were at CES, you could see water bottles with screens, alarm clocks with smell, robots with video projectors, underwear that’s smart, and a tablet/refrigerator. That would have been all on one day. Yesterday.

CES started as a trade show for retail. In the ’80s and ’90s, it was a venue for great technology intros such as the CD (1981), the DVD, (1986) and HDTV (1998). By 2000, CES was the place to launch major products such as Xbox (2001). When I look at this year’s show, I see a lot of things no one needs, and few people will want. It’s a Sharper Image catalog brought to life, the ultimate “Why? Because I can!” So why is it still an important event? It’s the place to try and spot the new, new thing that might get consumers to replace the old, old thing. So far, I don’t see it but here’s what I do see.

CES is a gigantic waste of time, energy, and money – but you won’t hear the Tech Media say that. The vast majority of what they “report” on will never see the light of day as a consumer-purchasable product. But they’ll get excited as puppies over it regardless.

Great idea.

Re/code reports on an upcoming sea change to Twitter, plus a tweet from Twitter founder Jack Dorsey that adds legitimacy to the rumor. This will be an interesting change, assuming it happens.

Pete Souza:

One of the best and most challenging aspects of my job is whittling down a year’s worth of photographs to the final selections for my annual Year in Photographs. Every year, I attempt to keep it less than 100 photos — and every year I fail in that goal. But I am excited once again to present this gallery for the seventh consecutive year.

We saw Chief Official White House Photographer Souza’s favorite iPhone shots late last year. Here is his gallery of shots by him and his staff. There are some great images here but I particularly like the one of President Obama and basketball player Shaquille O’Neal. Souza “cheated” by using a wide angle lens to great result.

General Motors Inc (GM.N) said on Monday it will invest $500 million in Lyft Inc and laid out plans to develop an on-demand network of self-driving cars with the ride-sharing service.

The biggest single Detroit-Silicon Valley crossover deal to date comes as automakers work out how to respond to the rush of technology companies such as Apple, Alphabet and Uber – Lyft’s biggest rival – to control cars of the future and likely reshape the global auto industry.

I see why GM invested in Lyft, but I’ll be honest, I don’t trust the quality of GM cars or technology. I’d feel much better if it were Mercedes.

Asymco:

Apple has made a “significant” market entry in phones and others have made entries in cars. If we contrast the rate of growth of Tesla, EVs, and Hybrids to the rate of growth of iPhones in their respective US markets, we obtain a test of significance.

A typically thoughtful post from Dediu. It assumes Apple’s “Cook Doctrine” won’t change in the future and, if so, points to the unlikelihood of Apple making their own car – which I agree with. Given the information in this post, there’s no chance Apple will come out with its own line of cars, any more than they will come out with their own line of HD TV sets.

Yahoo Inc was ordered by a Chicago federal judge on Monday to face a class action lawsuit accusing the Internet company of sending unsolicited text messages to Sprint Corp cellphone users in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

I hate unsolicited texts.

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said it expects a difficult business environment in 2016 due to weak global economic conditions and heightened competition in key businesses including memory chips and smartphones.

In a statement on Monday, Samsung said Chief Executive Kwon Oh-hyun told employees in a New Year’s address that low global growth will persist this year, with greater uncertainty stemming from issues such as financial risks for emerging countries.

No need to really say anything about this.

Future Toyota models will offer in-dash infotainment systems compatible with Ford’s SmartDeviceLink system rather than Apple’s CarPlay, the Japanese automaker announced on Monday.

Seems a bit odd considering Ford just starting adopting Apple’s CarPlay.

Center for the Study of the Public Domain:

Current US law extends copyright for 70 years after the date of the author’s death, and corporate “works-for-hire” are copyrighted for 95 years after publication. But prior to the 1976 Copyright Act (which became effective in 1978), the maximum copyright term was 56 years—an initial term of 28 years, renewable for another 28 years.

Under those laws, works published in 1959 would enter the public domain on January 1, 2016, where they would be “free as the air to common use.” Under current copyright law, we’ll have to wait until 2055. No published works will enter our public domain until 2019. The laws in other countries are different—thousands of works are entering the public domain in Canada and the EU on January 1.

What books and plays would be entering the public domain if we had the pre-1978 copyright laws? You might recognize some of the titles.

Copyright’s original intent has been completely bastardized to the detriment of the public and in favor of corporate interests.

What if you could get 5% of your day back? What would you do?

You already have enough work to do today and shouldn’t have to waste time looking for the things you need to do your job.

Igloo makes it easy to find what you need, when you need it. And it’s not just for locating your traditional intranet stuff like HR policies and expense forms. It also helps you find experts, talk about problems and share content with your team. So stop digging through your inbox for that file from 3 months back and give yourself the tools you need to do your best work.

Try it yourself or send your IT guy to investigate Igloo, an intranet you’ll actually like.

Petapixel:

Guess who’s getting into the world of photography workshops? Apple.

That’s right: the company wants people to be more adept at shooting photos with their iPhones and editing photos on their Macs, so it’s now launching free 1-hour workshops on those subjects (and more) in its sleek Apple Stores.

The workshops will be available at every single Apple Store around the world, so starting in January 2016, check your local store’s website for its workshop schedule if you’re interested in attending one.

As a teacher of workshops and classes myself, I love the idea of Apple getting into this. Anything that encourages people to learn more about how to take better pictures is a good thing.

Ken Segall:

Recently, Apple hired Tor Myhren as VP of Marketing Communications. He comes from Grey, where he was the global chief creative officer and president of the NY office.

To borrow some new Star Wars terminology, he’s a big deal in advertising.

On the surface, Tor’s hiring is what it is. But if you look a bit deeper, there are all sorts of juicy implications.

To better appreciate, one must first understand how Apple’s marketing has worked in the past, Steve Jobs-style.

I’ve been following this behind the scenes story for a few years now. The most interesting aspect of this, besides the fact that a world-class ad agency guy would go “behind the wall” to work internally is Segall’s statement that Myhren will be reporting directly to Cook and not Schiller. We’ll see the fruits of this hire inside six months.

Thanks to Carbon Copy Cloner for sponsoring The Loop this week. What’s your plan when your Mac’s hard drive dies? Plan ahead and get back to work in minutes with a Carbon Copy Cloner bootable backup. CCC—the app that saves your bacon.

Jim’s Note: I’ve used this app for many years. I trust and love it.

I want to take a minute to thank you all for your support over the last year. The sponsors, the members of the site, The Deck Network and every reader of what we write—we appreciate you all so much.

I’d like to thank Dave Mark and Shawn King for the work they do on the site. They bring another level of expertise and fun to The Loop that has helped the site continue to grow.

I hope you all have a great New Year’s Eve. Please be safe if you’re going out tonight. I want to see you all back here tomorrow, safe and sound.

Jim

CNN:

Oscar winner Alex Gibney’s feature-length Jobs documentary, Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine, debuts this Sunday on CNN at 9pm ET.

Because of his previous work, I was looking forward to this documentary from Gibney. Sadly, in my opinion, this wasn’t nearly as good as his earlier films.

Apple may offer higher-than-16/44 and/or lossless music downloads at some point, but it would be neither a scam nor an indicator that they believe in audiophile pseudoscience — it would simply be a response to strong demand from a very profitable market. And as long as Apple’s not serving their demands, they risk losing them to competing ecosystems.

Agreed. Also, If people care about the quality of their music, they should also invest in quality headphones. I use Ear Monitors from Future Sonics.

One thing I’ve learned over the years is preparing a session for your mix is very important. It lays out a clear foundation for what you want to do and puts everything in its proper place. You don’t have to follow these tips exactly, but rather use them, and others, to come up with your own plan.

This spring, with the iPhone 6 selling like hotcakes and the stock trading above $124, Ahmad raised his target (to $85) but not his rating. “We sense,” he wrote, “that the company is over-earning, over-loved and, in our view, the stock should be ‘over-and-out’ soon.”

I truly hate seeing people lose their job, but I am glad to see that there are consequences for analysts that don’t seem to know what they’re talking about.

In court papers filed on Wednesday, Apple Inc (AAPL.O) said Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) owes nearly $180 million in supplemental damages and interest.

These further damages relate to five Samsung devices that infringed Apple’s patents and were sold after a 2012 jury verdict finding Samsung liable in the dispute.

Good. Those thieves should pay every penny.

What’s your plan when your Mac’s hard drive dies? Plan ahead and get back to work in minutes with a Carbon Copy Cloner bootable backup. CCC—the app that saves your bacon.

Jim’s Note: I’ve used this app for many years. I trust and love it.

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Mental Floss:

In 1917, Bostonians reacted to an unprecedented tragedy in Halifax with an outpouring of support and resources. Nearly a century later, Nova Scotians haven’t forgotten.

On December 6, 1917, a French ship named the Mont-Blanc was passing through Halifax Harbor, making its way from New York to France. The ship was carrying a staggering load of munitions: 2300 tons of pyric acid, 35 tons of benzene, and 200 tons of dynamite. If you think this sounds like an accident waiting to happen, you’re absolutely right. At 8:45 a.m., the Mont-Blanc collided with a Norwegian cargo ship called the Imo. At first, the French ship simply caught fire, inspiring thousands of people to gather into the harbor to watch.

Then, at 9:04 a.m., it exploded—and the impact was devastating.

As a native Haligonian, We all know the story of this tragedy but few outside the region know of the amazing kindness of the people of Boston. I’ve always wanted to go to the Boston Commons Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony to pay my respects the people of that great city.

Digg:

In America, not many people know much about Boxing Day, besides that it’s the day after Christmas1. In the United Kingdom — and many former colonies of England — Boxing Day, December 26, is a national holiday, yet its origins are still highly debated. Here’s what we know.

For me as a kid in Nova Scotia, Christmas Day was for family and visiting them. Boxing Day was the day you went to friends’ homes.

The story behind a tradition.

This has been around a while, but seems appropriate for this time of year.

Pete Souza:

Throughout the year, I post photographs of my White House work on a regular basis to my Instagram, @PeteSouza. Many followers have inquired about whether a certain photograph is taken with an iPhone or DSLR (digital single lens reflex camera). In choosing the photographs for my year on Instagram, I decided to select only iPhone photographs that were captured in the square format on an iPhone. For many purists, the square format was the original inspiration for Instagram. And I certainly admire those that continue to post only square photos taken with a smart phone.

I love these iPhone shots because it shows that, in the right lighting conditions, the iPhone can take shots every bit as good as a professional’s DSLR. It’s not the camera that is important. It’s the photographer and their view of the world.