Buzzfeed News:

At their peak in the mid-20th century, drive-in theaters were the perfect place to catch a flick from the comfort and privacy of your car.

Many of you may have missed the “good old days” of the drive-in theaters (and today’s movie-going experience is in many ways vastly better) but there was a time when this was the best way to see a movie. We went often when I was a kid in high school, sneaking in friends, beer, and candy in the trunk.

Jim and Dan talk about 5G, secret Siri recordings, Apple’s acquisition of Intel’s smartphone modem business, laptops new and old, Audio Hijack, UA Apollo and Arrow, and more.

It’s been a long time since Dan and I did an Amplified podcast, but when he called I jumped at the chance to record it again. I hope you enjoy it!

First things first, the book is written in Swedish (Spotify was founded in Sweden in 2006), so most of us will have to wait for a translation to read this ourselves.

The linked Variety interview with the authors makes it clear this is an unauthorized book, built on lots of off-the-record interviews. So if you do get a copy, take all the anecdotes with a grain of salt. Still want to read it, though.

The Verge:

As first revealed by ZDNet and Android Police, Google employees have been roving the streets of American cities, offering $5 gift certificates in exchange for a facial scan. Reached by The Verge, Google confirmed that it has been conducting what it calls “field research” to collect face-scanning data in order to improve its algorithms and thereby improve the Pixel 4’s accuracy.

Google, in an email to The Verge:

Our goal is to build the feature with robust security and performance. We’re also building it with inclusiveness in mind, so as many people as possible can benefit.

And:

Google is collecting infrared, color, and depth data from each face along with time, ambient light level, and some related “task” information like picking up the phone from the table. The company initially collected location information as well, but it tells me it doesn’t need that info, so it will cease collecting it and will delete it.

I get the goal here, to improve the accuracy of facial recognition, help tune out any bias. But can’t help but feel we are helping build the master facial recognition database of the future.

That line between being getting better at recognizing faces and offering public facial scanning and recognition is privacy. Two opposing forces, one wanting to pick you out of a crowd for use in security and advertising, and one wanting to preserve true anonymity.

Google blog:

Pixel 4 will be the first device with Soli, powering our new Motion Sense features to allow you to skip songs, snooze alarms, and silence phone calls, just by waving your hand. These capabilities are just the start, and just as Pixels get better over time, Motion Sense will evolve as well. Motion Sense will be available in select Pixel countries.

And:

Unlocking your phone should be easy, fast, and secure. Your device should be able to recognize you—and only you—without any fuss. Face unlock may be a familiar feature for smartphones, but we’re engineering it differently.

Differently? How?

Other phones require you to lift the device all the way up, pose in a certain way, wait for it to unlock, and then swipe to get to the homescreen. Pixel 4 does all of that in a much more streamlined way. As you reach for Pixel 4, Soli proactively turns on the face unlock sensors, recognizing that you may want to unlock your phone.

If the face unlock sensors and algorithms recognize you, the phone will open as you pick it up, all in one motion. Better yet, face unlock works in almost any orientation—even if you’re holding it upside down—and you can use it for secure payments and app authentication too.

Assuming this tech works as advertised, Google just raised the bar for Face ID. As is, I often have to shift my iPhone, tweaking the angle to my face, in order to get Face ID to kick in. This is no big deal, but it does throw a delay in there. I almost never have to enter my passcode, but I often have to play a bit for Face ID to kick in.

And though I can get Face ID to kick in with my iPhone a bit off to the side, it never works when sitting flat on my desk or when upside down.

The advantage to Google’s announced approach is that it supports wider angles and orientations, and also starts the recognition process when you reach for your phone, not waiting for a tap on the screen. A subtle point, but a natural next evolution.

Is Apple working on this? I suspect they already have such experiments in the lab, but only release what works really well on all Face ID phones, including the iPhone X. Being able to detect gestures, such as a hand reaching for your phone, no doubt requires some specialized software and powerful machine learning processors. Seems like this should be doable for Apple, given the power of the onboard machine learning hardware already in your iPhone and iPad.

Read the linked Google blog. Interesting stuff.

New York Times:

The police officers wrestled with Colin Cheung in an unmarked car. They needed his face.

They grabbed his jaw to force his head in front of his iPhone. They slapped his face. They shouted, “Wake up!” They pried open his eyes. It all failed: Mr. Cheung had disabled his phone’s facial-recognition login with a quick button mash as soon as they grabbed him.

The iPhone’s so-called “cop mode”, introduced with iOS 11, kicks in when you press and hold either volume button and the side button simultaneously for 2 seconds. It brings up the SOS screen, but also requires you to enter your passcode to unlock your phone, disabling Face/Touch ID.

The authorities are tracking protest leaders online and seeking their phones. Many protesters now cover their faces, and they fear that the police are using cameras and possibly other tools to single out targets for arrest.

Facial recognition on one side, cop mode on the other. This is the road we are on.

CNET:

The gray uniforms were a little goofy, but 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture kicked off a new era for Trek and revitalized the dormant franchise. That’s an achievement worth celebrating 40 years later with a return to the big screen.

Paramount and Fathom Events are teaming up for US showings of the film on Sept. 15 and 18. This is the original theatrical cut starring the cast of the 1960s Star Trek television series. Tickets go on sale online on Aug. 2.

I saw this in the theater during its initial release. You couldn’t pay me to sit through it again.

500ish:

With video (meaning, again, movies and television shows), we already have great streaming options. And relative to the amount of content they serve up, they seem fairly priced.

The issue is three-fold, or four-fold, or five-fold, soon maybe six-fold, or seven-fold. Netflix. Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, HBO, Apple TV+, Disney+, HBO Max, NBC Plus Max Super Ultra or whatever, and so on.

We were all so focused for so long on the great unbundling of cable, that we didn’t think through the ramifications.

Some of us certainly did. I’ve been saying for years that all of these services are creating a giant PITA when it comes to finding the things you want to watch.

Companies that embed Facebook’s “Like” button on their websites allowing users’ personal data to be transferred to the U.S. social network can be held liable for collecting the data, Europe’s top court said on Monday.

This puts a new twist on the Facebook “Like” button. Sure, it helps companies get exposure, but if you can be held liable for the information collected, I don’t see many companies taking the risk in the future.

The Next Web:

You’ve probably heard about it: Twitter redesigned its platform to make it snappier and give you more color themes. But there’s a problem: a lot of people absolutely hate its new look. Don’t despair, though, there’s still a way to bring the old design back – and it’s actually pretty simple.

A developer going by the alias Zusor has built GoodTwitter, a simple add-on for Chrome and Firefox that resumes the Twitter‘s old design.

All you need to do is download the app, refresh the page, and boom – you’re done.

I posted a different hack on Twitter earlier this week but this one works as well.

Ride Apart:

Meet Wendy Crockett, the first female winner of the 2019 Iron Butt Rally. This was at least her fifth time participating. If you don’t know anything about that particular event, the long and short of it is, you need to ride 11,000 miles (yes, eleven thousand) in eleven days and stop along the way to get proof of your accomplishment. It is not just a ride in a straight line, however. Checkpoints are set up along the way and different daily destinations have different point values, so it’s not just an ultra-long-distance ride, but a puzzle, as well: cover at least a thousand miles in a day, along a route that also gains the most points.

As a fellow motorcyclist, doing a single “Iron Butt Day” (1,000 miles in 24 hours) is inconceivable to me. The most I’ve ever done is 800 miles in a day and I was utterly exhausted for two days afterward. Crockett did 1,000 miles a day for 11 consecutive days. 12,998.9 miles. Of course, all of us FJR guys are crowing about the fact she did it on a 2005 Yamaha FJR 1300 with more than 200,000 miles on it before the rally even started. It was her 5th IBR on that same bike.

The Guardian:

Apple contractors regularly hear confidential medical information, drug deals, and recordings of couples having sex, as part of their job providing quality control, or “grading”, the company’s Siri voice assistant, the Guardian has learned.

Although Apple does not explicitly disclose it in its consumer-facing privacy documentation, a small proportion of Siri recordings are passed on to contractors working for the company around the world. They are tasked with grading the responses on a variety of factors, including whether the activation of the voice assistant was deliberate or accidental, whether the query was something Siri could be expected to help with and whether Siri’s response was appropriate.

Apple told the Guardian: “A small portion of Siri requests are analysed to improve Siri and dictation. User requests are not associated with the user’s Apple ID. Siri responses are analysed in secure facilities and all reviewers are under the obligation to adhere to Apple’s strict confidentiality requirements.”

With Apple putting so much marketing and company effort into differentiating itself on privacy, the company must not only do better than “the other guys,” they must be seen to be doing better than the other guys. This incident is not a good look for the company.

BoingBoing:

Mont Saint Michel is a 257-acre tidal island on the French coast, hosting a monastery (later used as a prison) and a medieval town. Wanaii films posted this beautiful drone footage of it.

Definitely a bucket list item for me.

The Verge:

Trump seems to have jumped ahead of a decision from the Office of the US Trade Representative, writing in a tweet that Apple will not receive any exemptions.

“Apple will not be given Tariff wavers, or relief, for Mac Pro parts that are made in China,” Trump wrote. “Make them in the USA, no Tariffs!”

Earlier this month, Apple filed requests with the Office of the US Trade Representative, asking for some parts to be excluded from the planned tariffs.

Foreign policy via tweets. Hell of a way to run a country.

Inc.:

This actually isn’t a particularly new scam, but it appears to be increasing in frequency enough that Apple has actually warned iPhone users not to answer Apple support calls unless they specifically requested one from the company’s support page.

If you do answer, the person on the other end will let you know that they are from Apple and are calling to let you know your account has been compromised. They’ll then let you know they want to help you secure your account by verifying your information.

The whole thing is a phishing scam.

The majority of us are smart and savvy enough to not fall for this but please remind family and friends Apple will NEVER call you out of the blue and they should NEVER answer or respond to any calls, texts or emails purporting to be from Apple if they haven’t specifically requested.

Billboard:

Oliver Schusser, the new leader of Apple Music is relaxing in his sun-drenched corner office at the company’s Culver City, Calif., headquarters on a June morning, explaining — in his typically measured way — why the service he oversees hasn’t gone all-in on algorithms. “That’s just not the way we look at the world,” continues Schusser. “We really do believe that we have a responsibility to our subscribers and our customers to have people recommend what a playlist should look like and who the future superstars are.”

Executives both inside and outside Apple often describe Schusser as “very German.” Like a Teutonic Barack Obama, he balances an unflappable calm — and an apparent inability to say anything controversial — with an impressive mastery of detail, in this case the inner workings of Apple Music.

I love the competition between Apple and Spotify. It makes both services better and brings out the best in both companies.

Apple:

Apple and Intel have signed an agreement for Apple to acquire the majority of Intel’s smartphone modem business. Approximately 2,200 Intel employees will join Apple, along with intellectual property, equipment and leases. The transaction, valued at $1 billion, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2019, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary conditions, including works council and other relevant consultations in certain jurisdictions.

Tech’s worst held secret is officially out. That sound you hear is Qualcomm yelling, “DAMMIT!”

iPhone Photography Awards:

The iPhone Photography Awards is proud to announce the winners of the 12th Annual Awards. This year’s winners were selected from thousands of entries submitted by iPhone photographers from over 140 countries around the world.

The Grand Prize Winner and Photographer of the Year Award goes to Gabriella Cigliano of Italy for her entry Big Sister. First, Second and Third Place Photographers of the Year Awards go to Diogo Lage of Portugal for his image Sea Stripes, Yuliya Ibraeva of Russia for her entry of Sorry, no movie today and Peng Hao of China for his image Come Across.

The camera is a hugely important part of the iPhone and Apple has done a lot of work in making it an amazing device to capture images. But it will always come down to the skill, and sometimes luck, of the photographer. But with a camera that is so easy to use and can capture stunning pictures, it’s even easier to “get the shot.”

Federal Trade Commission:

In September of 2017, Equifax announced a data breach that exposed the personal information of 147 million people. The company has agreed to a global settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and 50 U.S. states and territories. The settlement includes up to $425 million to help people affected by the data breach.

If your information was exposed in the data breach, you can file a claim at EquifaxBreachSettlement.com for the benefits described.

There’s a link to check if your personal data was exposed. If it was, you’ll file a claim and will get $125 or 4 years of free credit monitoring.

Newsweek, in an article from 1983:

Like a magician readying his best trick, Steve Jobs waited for the houselights to dim and the crowd to quiet down. A spotlight focused on a table where a bulky shape lay hidden beneath a buff-colored cloth. “The personal computer was created by a hardware revolution of the 1970s,” Jobs, the 27-year-old multimillionaire chairman and cofounder of Apple Computer, told 1,200 Apple stockholders gathered last week in Cupertino, Calif. “The next dramatic change will come from a software revolution . . . which Apple is introducing here today.” On cue, the cloth was lifted — revealing Lisa, a new $10,000 computer and a $50 million gamble for Apple.

Great read. Another inflection point for Apple, on the road to Macintosh.

Great writeup by 9to5Mac’s Michael Steeber, lessons learned from his approximately 76 hours without power and continued internet outage.

Samsung:

At Samsung, we’ve always focused on pioneering the next generation of mobile innovation: new products and technologies that push the entire industry forward and help users do what they can’t. Earlier this year, we announced Galaxy Fold—Samsung’s first foldable device, and the beginning of an entirely new mobile category. Since then, we’ve made improvements to Galaxy Fold to ensure consumers have the best possible experience.

And:

All of us at Samsung appreciate the support and patience we’ve received from Galaxy fans all over the world. Galaxy Fold is a device long in the making, and we’re proud to share it with the world and look forward to bringing it to consumers.

I wasn’t convinced that the Galaxy Fold had a huge market in the first go round, purely based on the price tag (I believe it started at about $2K). I can only imagine if the pricing model stays the same, the pool of buyers will be smaller, based simply on the debacle of the original release.

First, read the linked Reddit post (it’s very short). The user sees this behavior as shady black magic, something you’d expect from Facebook, perhaps.

But read the comments to learn what’s really happening, a clue to some of the behind-the-scenes on all the disparate Apple software elements working together on your behalf.

Apple:

Starting November 3, 2019, some iPhone and iPad models introduced in 2012 and earlier will require an iOS update to maintain accurate GPS location and keep the correct date and time. This is due to the GPS time rollover issue that began affecting GPS-enabled products from other manufacturers on April 6, 2019. Affected Apple devices are not impacted until November 3, 2019.

By my math, that’d be iPhone 5 or earlier, iPad (4th gen), iPad mini or earlier.

To promote their new home delivery service, 7-Eleven is giving away AirPods. The one thing that struck me was this line:

Deal lasts while supplies last.

Caveat emptor.

BBC:

In my own personal retelling of computer history, even though the Macintosh was released in 1984, its potential was not truly achieved until 1987. What really confirmed the earth-shattering nature of the Mac for me was that year’s release of a piece of software called HyperCard. This one-two punch of Macintosh and HyperCard changed how I thought about computers.

If you know about HyperCard, the mere mention of it will elicit a sense of delight at its crackling wonder. But if you’ve never heard of it, then allow me to enlighten you.

For young me, HyperCard really was magical.

Vulture:

Whether you’ve realized it or not, you’ve likely watched a movie in motion smoothing. It’s nearly impossible not to, as it’s now the default setting on most TVs sold in the United States. And however well-intentioned it was, most people hate it. Motion smoothing transforms an absorbing movie or narrative TV show into something uncanny. The very texture of what you’re watching changes. The drama onscreen reads as manufactured, and everyone moves like they’re on a daytime soap — which is why it’s sometimes called the “soap-opera effect.” In other words, motion smoothing is fundamentally ruining the way we experience film.

If you’ve got a “fancy” TV, turn off motion smoothing now.

CNET:

When I first started testing out the ECG feature on the Apple Watch Series 4 — which launched in December with the update to Watch OS 5.1.2 — the last thing I expected was to find something abnormal about my heart rhythm. But that’s exactly what happened when I was cross-referencing the Watch’s readings with medical-grade EKG equipment at the doctor’s office.

“We see on your Apple Watch the same early heartbeat that we see on the EKG,” said Dr. Gregory Marcus, professor of medicine and a cardiac electrophysiologist at UCSF Medical Center, as I sat on the hospital bed with cables attached to my body and an Apple Watch Series 4 on my wrist.

As I said in my newsletter this AM, these are exactly the results I would expect. The Apple Watch ECG feature isn’t a toy or a gimmick.