The elementary, high school and college educators who attended this summer’s academies came from different states, schools and backgrounds — but they all shared one new and very important responsibility: shepherding their students into a world where coding is a common language. The teachers are determined not only to teach their students about coding, but to show them how they can channel that knowledge to make the world a better place, starting with their communities. On that front, they’re leading by example.
Apple has always taken its responsibility to education seriously, but these types of things are even better than anything else they’ve done. This is helping teachers instruct the kids that are our future.
Clarus the Dogcow goes all the way back to the beginning of the Mac, a seminal bit of Apple lore. This is a great, fun read, filled with images and videos, digging into stuff deep at the heart of a lot of us old-timers. Nice job by Stephen Hackett.
Headlines have been flying around the internet similar to this one:
“Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries to Discourage Repair”
As I read through the various articles on this issue, I remained pretty convinced that Apple was not specifically trying to discourage repair. There had to be more to the logic.
Turns out, there was more to it. And Rene Ritchie did a great job laying out the issues, making this understandable. Still not thrilled with the answer, but I get Apple’s goals here. Watch for yourself.
Researchers on Wednesday during Black Hat USA 2019 demonstrated an attack that allowed them to bypass a victim’s FaceID and log into their phone simply by putting a pair of modified glasses on their face. By merely placing tape carefully over the lenses of a pair glasses and placing them on the victim’s face the researchers demonstrated how they could bypass Apple’s FaceID in a specific scenario. The attack itself is difficult, given the bad actor would need to figure out how to put the glasses on an unconscious victim without waking them up.
Obviously, this is a very slim scenario, requiring an unconscious victim. But it does raise the specter of law enforcement rendering someone unconscious in order to break into their phone.
Apple is introducing an expanded bug bounty program that covers macOS, tvOS, watchOS, and iCloud as well as iOS devices, Apple’s head of security engineering Ivan Krstić announced this afternoon at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas.
Someone is going to pay for those vulnerability details. Way better for everyone if it’s Apple.
Publishers including Vice Media and The Stylist Group say they’ve gotten traffic and, more importantly, revenue lifts from Apple News in the last three months. While this is from a small base, for some publishers it signifies that patience with publishing to the platform, which has been widely accepted as good for brand awareness but lagging revenue, is starting to pay off.
Details in the linked article, but certainly good news for Apple News+. Personally, I’d take another look at the service if Apple made some UX tweaks to improve the search mechanism, make it easier for me to find and get to the original articles, and add tools to more easily manage my reading list.
The big change here is the move from HDMI 1.4b to HDMI 2.0.
HDMI 1.4b:
4096 × 2160 at 24 Hz
3840 × 2160 at 24, 25, and 30 Hz
1920 × 1080 at 120 Hz
That last is also known as 1080p, or Full HD.
HDMI 2.0:
Requires special higher bandwidth certified cable
4K video at 60 Hz with 24 bit/px color depth
Note that there’s also an HDMI 2.1, requires still another specialized cable, for 4K at 120 Hz, and beyond. Apple’s updated dongle is rated for HDMI 2.0.
Samsung has a long and illustrious history of trolling Apple in its smartphone commercials. But now the South Korean firm is cloning one of the iPhone features it once mocked, and has quietly deleted records of the ads.
Even if you know nothing about Bitcoin, this is pretty easy to follow. But if you have a sense of that universe, this is step-by-step, slow motion sweet revenge, social engineering in reverse.
On Wednesday (August 7) Apple Music announced the launch of Apple Digital Masters, a new initiative by the streaming giant that combines all of its “Mastered for iTunes” offerings into one global catalog. This is the company’s first public acknowledgement of the initiative, which it has been quietly unveiling for some time.
You’ll see the new “Apple Digital Master” on associated songs in the Music app in macOS Catalina. I’m hoping for a checkbox that lets me limit my music browsing to only those songs.
Coined in 2010, ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) is a relaxing, often sedative sensation that begins on the scalp and moves down the body. Also known as “brain massage,” it’s triggered by placid sights and sounds such as whispers, accents, and crackles.
With that in mind, fire up some headphones (important!) and watch each of the videos embedded below. Hard to pick a favorite, I’ve enjoyed all four, but don’t miss the Ghost Forest, last but not least.
Apple posted their latest iOS adoption numbers. Google posted the Android pie chart a few months ago. Here are the pie charts in question.
First iOS:
And now Android:
Both iOS 12 and Android Pie shipped late last summer, Android Pie in August 2018, iOS 12 in September. As is always the case, due to Apple controlling all the iOS hardware and the full update process, adoption of the latest version of iOS is sky high, while Android adoption is splintered, with only a small percentage of Android devices gaining the latest and greatest updates.
Does it matter?
I can’t help but think it does. Though Android has evolved ways of flowing later tech to the vast majority of its users, I can’t help but notice that the vast majority of Android devices are running Oreo or earlier. Oreo shipped two years ago.
To me, unpatched devices are a breeding ground for malware. Am I wrong? Is this no longer an issue? My Android friends, please do correct me if this is a non-issue. It is single-handedly the largest thing that keeps me from recommending an Android phone to my friends and fam.
Do a Google search for “Android and Malware”. There are hot takes, of course, but there are reasoned takes as well. Not saying Apple’s App Store is perfect, but I like my chances of keeping malware off my iPhone way better than off my Android device.
I do wonder if I’d like to know if dementia, or Alzheimer’s is coming my way. For me, it’s similar to the question of knowing the exact day I’m going to die. I do think there’s value for those around me, no question. And if there’s a treatment, of course, it’d be critical to know so I can maximize my chances and my quality of life.
But there’s a psychic toll to knowing something is coming for me, something relentless, dark, and inevitable.
The final shots would feature live-action photography, and significant digital environments and effects simulations from Sony Pictures Imageworks. To help make Imageworks’ shot ‘sit’ in the plates and to deliver the most dynamic scenes possible, the film’s visual effects team embarked on an enormous effort to replicate the surroundings digitally.
This involved the use of Lidar scans, extensive reference photography and a huge model and texture build.
It’s always a little mindboggling to see the effort that goes into these kinds of shots.
Mastercard’s website offers a list of benefits available to Apple Card users, including fraud protection, identity theft protection, and a free ShopRunner membership that offers free two-day shipping from some websites.
Other benefits include Mastercard’s travel discounts and upgrades, Mastercard’s exclusive “special events,” Mastercard golf offerings, and home rental discounts via Onefinestay, all of which are available to all Mastercard users.
I’ve been critical of the lack of additional benefits to users of the Apple Card vs other cards so it’s good to see a few more details from MasterCard that show benefits not mentioned in the past. But they still don’t match up to the Visa cards I use now. For example, the Apple Card does not offer purchase protection and extended warranties for cardholders which, in my opinion, are table stakes for most cards.
Join me in giving a round of applause to the product that killed the Apple fan in me: the Apple Card!
First off, yeah, I know how businesses work. They exist to make money. Apple hasn’t been making its hardware for the sheer joy of it, it’s done solely for profit. And that’s fine. It’s more that the Apple Card is counter to the business‘ trajectory.
Its products put people at the centre, so they can control of their own world. Hell, even Apple Pay was built with this approach, as it allowed users access to their pre-existing bank accounts in a way they wanted.
Apple releasing its own credit card is not in that spirit one bit. It’s not a supportive mentality, it’s an exploitative one.
While I disagree completely with the reasoning, it’s still interesting to see what anti-Apple Card people might say and think. And, to be clear, I wouldn’t get an Apple Card even if it was offered here in Canada. But that doesn’t mean I don’t think it has value for others.
As if there wasn’t already enough doom and gloom in the camera industry, Nikon has released its first quarter FY2020 financial results. Hit by a shrinking market and the initial costs of developing Z-mount lenses, Nikon has reported a huge 71% decrease in earnings and an almost 15% drop in revenue.
Nikon’s results presentation says that although it is enjoying steady sales of full-frame mirrorless cameras and interchangeable lenses, its revenue has been affected by the reduced sales of entry and mid-range DSLR cameras in Asia including China.
It’s not the end of Nikon — yet. But they have significant work ahead of them to weather this particular storm.
The Yelp app lists a restaurant’s direct phone number on the actual listing. That’s (212) 262-8300 in the case of Judge Roy Bean Public House. But when you click on the phone number, this dialogue shows up: Delivery or Takeout and General Questions.
And:
When a user clicks on the “Call” button labeled “Delivery or Takeout,” they are taken to a different number, (646) 394-9837, which is owned by Grubhub.
And:
Even though restaurants are capable of taking orders directly—after all, both numbers are routed to the same place—Yelp is pushing customers to Grubhub-owned phone numbers in order to facilitate what Grubhub calls a “referral fee” of between 15 percent and 20 percent of the order total
Read this article. Astonishing. It gets way worse.
My first thought, after processing all this, was, “This is the crowdsourcing behind Apple Maps”.
I hope Apple has a backup plan. Perhaps one of the many partnerships Apple Maps has outside the US? This is not a good look for Apple Maps.
Disney will offer a bundle package of its three streaming services — Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ — for $12.99 a month starting on November 12th, the company announced today.
Bob Igor, Disney CEO, during yesterday’s investor call:
The streaming services is likely to be available through “Amazon, Apple, and other distributors,” according to Iger. Disney has not finalized any deals with the aforementioned companies, but told investors “we feel it’s important for us to achieve scale quickly, and we think it’s going to be an important part of that. They’re all interested in distributing the product.”
Presumably, if you sign up for the bundle outside Apple TV, you’ll still have access to all three inside Apple TV, though you might have to jump through a few verification hoops to enable that access.
If you are an existing subscriber to, say, Hulu, via Apple TV, seems to make sense to dump that subscription and sign up for the bundle instead. Will the bundle signup be available within Apple TV?
Hulu with no ads is $11.99 a month. Assuming that no-ads Hulu is the one included with this bundle, the $12.99 bundle allows you access to Disney+ and ESPN+ for just a buck more a month. A no-brainer.
UPDATE: I’m told that the version of Hulu included with this bundle is the ad version, which runs $5.99 a month. Wonder if there’s a path to the ad-free version from the bundle. As is, that means you are paying $7 a month for Disney+ and ESPN+. Still a no-brainer, at least to me.
The granted patent could use the Mac’s camera to do two things. First, it would avoid timing-out into sleep mode when there’s someone in front of the machine.
My reading of that and the accompanying illustrations is that the Mac can automatically wake and log you in, even if it is in sleep mode when you approach it.
Sounds good to me. And, I’d add, it sounds like that “second sensor” mentioned in the patent is your Apple Watch, though could be the iPhone in your pocket, too.
By adding Amazon Music Unlimited, Prime Student members can now get over 50 million songs, thousands of curated playlists and stations, and discover new music through voice with Alexa
Amazon Music: 50 million songs
Apple Music: 50 million songs
Spotify: 35 million songs
This is no small thing. Amazon is quickly gaining on both Apple Music and Spotify. In part, this is due to the wild success of Echo and Alexa. Imagine how this would be if Amazon had a successful phone and watch to add to the mix.
Hacker News put out a call to its readers for their favorite Mac keyboard shortcuts. Worth a scan. I’d be shocked if even the most seasoned Mac power user didn’t find a few surprises there.
This Bill Gates interview came out about a month ago, but I just watched it this morning, thought it was worth sharing.
The whole thing is relatively short, all interesting, but the Steve Jobs bit kicks in at about 2:40 in. I definitely get a sense that Bill held a real reverence for Steve.
This was a really interesting read. If you have an iPad Pro with USB-C, spend a few minutes scanning the options here. Dongle city, but necessary for many.
Apple Card is getting its first group of public test users today. A limited amount of customers that signed up to be notified about the release of Apple Card are getting the ability to apply for the card in their Wallet app today — as well as the option to order their physical Apple Card.
I’ve been using the card for a few days on my own device, making purchases and payments and playing around with features like Apple Cash rewards and transaction categorization.
And:
The application process was simple for me. Portions of the information you need are pre-filled from your existing AppleID account, making for less manual entry. I had an answer in under a minute and was ready to make my first purchase instantly. I used it both online and in person with contactless terminals.
It…works.
Read the article for more of Matthew’s personal experience. Expect to see a wave of articles as the invites continue to go out. Here’s a link to the Apple Wallet Apple Card application page.
I’ll definitely be getting a card, though I’ll also share my card use with my existing credit cards. One thought I have is to use Apple Card when I travel, especially overseas, to minimize the hassle of fraudulent card use.
A few highlights, confirmed by my friend, who blogs for Siti per Scommettere, are:
On the credit card APR:
> 13.24% to 24.24% when you open your account, based on your creditworthiness. After that, this APR will vary with the market based on the Prime Rate.
You may not use or permit your Account to be used for:
Any illegal purpose, including in connection with unlawful domestic or international gambling websites or to purchase illegal goods or services;
Cash Advances and Cash Equivalents;
Any purpose in any country or territory that is subject to economic sanctions administered and enforced by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), or with any person or entity subject to these sanctions; or
Paying any debts to us. Visit the best online casino malaysia to know what modes of payment you can use instead.
That second one is subtle. Back in definitions, Cash Advances are defined as:
Any cash advance and other cash-like transaction, including purchases of cash equivalents such as travelers checks, foreign currency, or cryptocurrency; money orders; peer to peer transfers, wire transfers or similar cash-like transactions; lottery tickets, casino gaming chips (whether physical or digital), or race track wagers or similar betting transactions.
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