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.
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.
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.
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.
Dave and I looked at the recently announced DOJ investigation into tech companies, as well as the return of Walkie-Talkie on the Apple Watch, and the first ever iPhone call.
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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.
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.
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.
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 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!”
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Whatever your interest, there’s of course the question of if it’s worth adding to your credit history.
I looked up some credit cards to compare Apple Card to since it launches any day now. I didn’t include cards that required some other type of banking or financial account to apply like local credit unions that have some crazy good cards, and I limited the annual fee to ~$100 in my search.
This credit card comparison chart seems pretty useful. For a free credit card, seems like Apple Card is a no-brainer, and especially useful if you need help controlling your expenses.
This popped up on Reddit this morning. It’s a music video from 2013, a fun tune with the Mac interface front and center.
This reminds me of the Emmy winning “Connection Lost” episode of Modern Family, where the entire episode is shown through the lens of a Mac screen via FaceTime, Messages, etc.
Nick Heer, commenting on the Bloomberg Jeff Williams article and reports that the 18-karat Apple Watch Edition sold only low 10,000s:
Even with the lowest possible numbers within this framing — 10,000 units sold of a minimum $10,000 product — that still means Apple made a hundred million dollars on the first-generation Edition.
Alex Kantrowitz, Buzzfeed, writing about developer Chris Wetherell, who built Twitter’s retweet button:
Before Wetherell joined Twitter, people had to manually retweet each other — copying text, pasting it into a new compose window, typing “RT” and the original tweeter’s handle, and hitting send.
And:
After the retweet button debuted, Wetherell was struck by how effectively it spread information. “It did a lot of what it was designed to do,” he said. “It had a force multiplier that other things didn’t have.”
This is a fascinating read, a look at what Twitter used to be and how significant a change was brought about by the retweet. Don’t miss the section towards the end with thoughts on ways to address the ills of Twitter and other social media platforms.
The Justice Department is opening a broad antitrust review into whether dominant technology firms are unlawfully stifling competition, adding a new Washington threat for companies such as Facebook Inc., Google, Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc.
The review is geared toward examining the practices of online platforms that dominate internet search, social media and retail services, the department said, confirming the review shortly after The Wall Street Journal reported it.
Not seeing anything specific to Apple here, though they did just testify to Congress last week as part of the big tech gang of 4 (Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple).
Interestingly, the Department of Justice Antitrust Division did put out a press release announcing the review:
The Department of Justice announced today that the Department’s Antitrust Division is reviewing whether and how market-leading online platforms have achieved market power and are engaging in practices that have reduced competition, stifled innovation, or otherwise harmed consumers.
The German automaker currently charges a one-time $300 to add Apple CarPlay capability to navigation-equipped BMW models. Going forward, though, navigation-equipped BMWs will come with CarPlay at no charge for one year. Following that first year, customers will need to pay an annual fee of $80 to maintain the relationship between their Apple device and their BMW’s infotainment system.
I’m searching for the right words to describe what I want to say to BMW… Fuck you sums it up.
When Apple announced the pending departure of Chief Design Officer Jony Ive last month, it threw the spotlight on an executive few outsiders know: Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams, who has now also taken over the company’s legendary design studio. This added fiefdom makes Williams unambiguously the second-most important person at Apple and Tim Cook’s heir apparent as CEO. And he’s very much in the mold of the current chief executive: a paragon of operational efficiency and even temper not prone to quite the same highs and lows of Cook’s more visionary predecessor, Steve Jobs.
This is a thoughtful read. Two points that spring to mind for me. First, Apple investors should take heart in the fact that Jeff Williams is there, in place and very involved in the day-to-day product path and operations, well versed in the mechanics that make the Apple machine run, ready to step in if needed.
Second, there’s this:
Williams took over leadership of the Apple Watch development team in 2013 after pitching the smartwatch’s use as a health tool, and spoke for the first time at a product launch in 2015, announcing the company’s health research efforts.
The marriage of Apple Watch and health is a huge win for Apple, a visionary move, not a bean-counter move. Put that one in Jeff Williams’ column.
