Apple’s iPhone XR has been outselling the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max every day since the cheaper, colorful phone hit the market last month.
Greg Joswiak, Apple vice president of product marketing, told CNET in an interview Wednesday that the device has “been our most popular iPhone each and every day since the day it became available.”
Wait. That can’t be true. All the pundits are telling us it’s a flop and that Apple will be out of business by next spring. I don’t know who to believe anymore.
If your iPhone 6 or other covered model is running slowly, time is running out to do something about it —at least the time is running out to pay less than full price for the service. Apple has been running a reduced cost battery replacement program in response to customer complaints but this ends on December 31, 2018. Thereafter, replacing any iPhone battery will cost you $79 for models older than the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR instead of the current $29.
The reduced price covers the iPhone 6 and also newer models up to and including the iPhone X and iPhone 8 family. All you have to do is either take your phone to a Genius Bar appointment in an Apple Store or send it in to Apple for repair.
We’ll be taking my wife’s iPhone 6 Plus in before the end of the year. But the “All you have to do…” isn’t very easy for those of us who don’t live near an Apple Store.
This is just terrifying to watch. He’s hanging on by the strength of his grip, hundreds of feet in the air, knowing that he has to hang on, or he’ll plummet to his death.
There are two primary issues with the port on the new iPad Pro — one that can be at least partially overlooked, and the other is going to be a show-stopper.
And:
The biggest criticism of the case was the requirement of having a full back cover that added unnecessary bulk and weight on an otherwise slim device. I’d have preferred a two-piece design that allows for a removable keyboard with an optional back cover.
As it stands, you are stuck with both a keyboard and a back cover, or neither. If you wanted to remove the keyboard but keep the back, sorry, that’s too bad.
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Second is the poor adoption we’ve seen from outside companies, which the shift will not help. Apple touted at launch that third-parties could make use of the port, and they even reiterated strong support with products in the pipeline just last year. Now that the port has completely moved, anything in the works based on the previous port location is dead-on-arrival.
Tough investment for a peripheral company to deal with a complete redesign of a hardware interface. Not just moving a port/connector, but completely changing the way it works.
And I’d add to this issue the problem of putting any sort of case over the Apple Pencil magnet/charger. You have to find a way to convey that functionality with your case, no easy task. And, given the likelihood that Apple is not done innovating here, it may be some time before the functionality of these ports stabilize.
Wholesale change is tough business for a peripheral maker.
Yesterday, we posted a video interview of top music producer Henny Tha Bizness and top audio engineer Ken Lewis talking about the value of using an iPad to produce music.
This video (embedded below) goes a bit deeper, actually showing the iPad screen as Henny teaches Ken the basics.
Lots to love here, but my favorite is watching their heads bob in unison as soon as the music kicks in.
When I was a kid, my dad would take me to a product photography studio in Manhattan to watch them do their trickery. Fascinated me then, fascinates me now.
When you go through the normal trade-in process on the trade-in site, Apple offers $150, but if you use the trade-in option during the checkout process of purchasing a new iPhone XR or XS, the bonus trade-in credit is displayed.
See the chart in the article for specifics. Nothing you need to do to get this bonus trade-in money, but if you are considering whether to sell your old phone or trade it in, this will help with the math.
At its peak, 3ve involved about 1.7 million PCs infected with malware, an array of servers that could generate mountains of fake traffic with bots, roughly 5,000 counterfeit websites created to impersonate legitimate web publishers, and over 60,000 accounts with digital advertising companies to help fraudsters receive ad placements and get paid. The indictment also alleges the fraudsters created their own advertising networks to help facilitate the fraud.
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It’s rare for perpetrators of ad fraud schemes to face criminal charges or serious consequences. That’s one reason why ad fraud is on pace to be eclipsed only by the illicit drug trade in terms of annual revenue.
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After just a few months, the once-small botnet began to grow quickly. Google and White Ops investigators said they realized this was more than a simple botnet when it began to evade efforts to filter and contain its traffic. Each time they tried to implement measures to filter the traffic out of advertising systems, the ad fraudsters would adapt.
This is probably the craziest and most unlikely table tennis shot you will ever see. Just watch. The guy who pulls it off is Christopher Chen from the Trondheim Table Tennis Club in Norway. I haven’t watched ESPN in years so I don’t know if “getting on SportsCenter” is as big a deal as it used to be, but if so, this should get on SportsCenter.
I’m not sure how many times I’ve personally heard the words “J.D. Power and Associates,” but it’s definitely often enough that I’ve accepted it as a part of my reality that needs no further explanation. The phrase is a permanent fixture of late-night TV, when car commercials boom through your speakers at inexplicably loud volumes. You’ve heard it in ads for Chevys, Lexuses, and Fords.
J.D. Power is a marketing firm best known for its automotive research; it collects consumer responses for a variety of surveys (asking drivers about the reliability of their car’s transmission or the comfort of the passenger seat or performance of the navigation system) and then awards car models rankings based on those surveys. But how helpful those surveys are to car designers and car consumers is up for debate.
J.D. Power is ubiquitous in car advertising and marketing but do you know the history of the firm?
DriveSavers, the worldwide leader in data recovery, eDiscovery and digital forensic solutions, today announced it is utilizing new proprietary technology to recover data from password-locked smart devices with any length passcode. The first-of-its-kind service is being offered exclusively to consumers who have forgotten device passwords, been locked out after too many incorrect attempts, and for those who need access to data stored on the device of a deceased family member.
Other companies offer a similar service only to law enforcement. DriveSavers is the first to offer a Passcode Lockout Data Recovery service to consumers. The DriveSavers service is not available for law enforcement and requires proof of ownership prior to unlocking a device.
According to its web site, they have a 100 percent success rate. DriveSavers is one of the most reputable companies I’ve ever dealt with, so this very interesting news.
Is there a way to tell iOS to let go of my home’s WiFi connection as I’m leaving the house? I always have to turn it off manually or the phone will grasp onto a horrible signal until I turn onto the main road, then it pauses music/podcasts after it loses signal. So stupid.
This happens to me all the time. I’m in an app that’s attached to my home WiFi and I walk (or drive, as a passenger) away from my house. As I move further from my house, the signal gets progressively weaker and whatever app I’m in just hangs, stuck waiting for a reply from my home WiFi that’s never coming.
If you follow down the Twitter thread, you’ll see this response:
I’ve been using Shortcuts for that. Shortcut that drops wifi, calculates time to destination (Home), texts wife the ETA and then re-enables wifi (after x amount of seconds).
While I do applaud this effort, this feels like a kluge to me, a hack that should just not be necessary.
My preference? Set a threshold that automatically drops WiFi when my signal drops and I am getting further away from my WiFi router. The key is the word “automatically”.
This could be a setting, since this might not be an issue for everyone. But given the enthusiastic response to the Shortcut, it’s certainly an issue worth addressing.
UPDATE: Some time ago, Apple added the setting Cellular > Wi-Fi Assist (scroll down below that long list under CELLULAR DATA) that someone suggested might help with this, though I believe the intent was to help with poor WiFi, not specific to this problem. As it turns out, this is on for me. Does not make a difference.
At a press conference, Kinam Kim, president and CEO of the company’s Device Solutions Division, gave a low bow as part of the apology.
“Beloved colleagues and families have suffered for a long time, but Samsung Electronics failed to take care of the matter earlier,” Kim said, according to Yonhap News Agency. “Samsung Electronics also did not fully and completely manage potential health risks at our chip and liquid-crystal display production lines.”
And:
One of the instigators of the push was Hwang Sang-gi, whose daughter Yu-mi contracted leukemia and died after working at a Samsung factory.
“No apology would be enough when considering the deception and humiliation we experienced (from Samsung) over the past 11 years, the pain of suffering from occupational diseases, the pain of losing loved ones,” Hwang said at the news conference, according to The Associated Press. But he added that he views the apology as a vow to improve safety conditions.
Nice find from Cult of Mac’s Charlie Sorrel. The video below is an interview with Grammy award-winning music producer Henny Tha Bizness and is his take on the iPad’s place in professional music production.
The whole video is interesting but, at the very least, jump to 6:28 into the video when Henny asks producer Ken Lewis about his take on using an iPad rather than a Mac.
Insightful take on the switch from analog (knobs and sliders) to a mouse interface, and back to analog (knobs and sliders that you touch directly). It’s all about feel.
This case is about the ability of an App Store customer to sue Apple for antitrust violations. This case is not deciding whether or not Apple has violated any antitrust laws but, rather, whether a previously dismissed case against Apple can go forward in a lower court.
Here’s a link to a transcript of yesterday’s hearing. It’s actually pretty interesting to follow along as the Supreme Court justices apply their legal minds to the mechanics of the App Store.
If you are interested in following the case, bookmark this Oyez page. It has a nice summary of the case, some useful links and, if you check in periodically, displays the status of the case.
Research shows that women face unique challenges in technology, especially when starting and leading companies. That’s why we created Apple Entrepreneur Camp, for organizations founded and led by women.
Our goal is to help these entrepreneurs as they create the next generation of cutting-edge apps and to form a global network that encourages the pipeline and longevity of women in technology.
What a great idea. Surprised this hasn’t happened sooner.
In late October, the city of Montreal declared what some considered a war on the bagel. When I heard the news, I blew a gasket. Wouldn’t this mean the death of the Montreal bagel?
There are a few immediate reasons to defend the traditional way of making bagels. I don’t want to start a war with the Italians, but no one comes to Montreal for the pizza. Our bagels, however, are famous around the world. There’s no such thing as a “Montreal-style” bagel. There are Montreal bagels, and then there are bread-like items with a hole in the middle. This isn’t controversial – it’s just bagel science.
This story is much bigger than being about “just” a bagel. It’s about tradition vs “progress” and how Montreal sees itself as a city.
There’s a reason why the biggest jazz festival in the world doesn’t happen in Vancouver.
That hurts but he’s not wrong. If the weather were better, I’d much prefer to live in gritty Montreal than beautiful but boring Vancouver.
Even New York Jews (if they’re honest) will admit that our bagels are better than theirs.
The Hands-Free Umbrella is sort of like a raincoat, at least from the chin up. There’s a plastic hood with an opening for your face that you slip over your head, but once you’re under the jawline, things start to get unique. There’s actually no material covering your body. Instead, a wide brim, 76.5 centimeters (30.1 inches) in diameter, sits on your shoulders, blocking the falling rain and causing it to slide off away from you. This gives you a circle of dryness that not only keeps your clothes from getting wet, but also gives you enough space to use your phone or get things out of your bag.
I live in a very rainy part of the world and there’s still zero chance I’d ever wear this contraption. But I love the utter ridiculousness of it.
My son Greg, now age 41, has Down syndrome. He now lives in a group home in Warren, preceded by 10 years in DuBois. I live outside Brookville. Greg’s brothers and sisters are scattered throughout Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia.
Usually, I call him once a week. Siblings also call, perhaps weekly, perhaps less often, as we all tend to our own busy lives. If Greg wanted to call any of us via phone, he needed the aid of a group home staff member.
Dr. Drang wrote about a Federico Viticci shortcut he modified (link to that post) and included a screenshot that showed all the shortcut steps.
The thing is (jump to the post to see this yourself), the screen shot was elongated to show all the shortcut steps. The article was interesting, showed how to edit a shortcut you got from someone else, but the screenshot itself did a beautiful job framing all the steps that make up the shortcut.
So the good doctor wrote a second post explaining how that pic came to be. Nice work.
Google released an exciting update for its Assistant iOS app today, bringing support for Siri shortcuts and, for the first time, opening lines of communication between the two competing assistants.
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With the latest update, you can set up a shortcut in iOS to immediately, via Siri, trigger any command you’d like to give Google’s Assistant.
To me, this is yet another sign of the game-changing nature, of the great value Shortcuts brings to the table.
When iPhone users want to edit blemishes out of their selfies, identify stars and constellations or simply join the latest video game craze, they turn to Apple Inc’s App Store, where any software application they buy also includes a 30 percent cut for Apple.
That commission is a key issue in a closely watched antitrust case that will reach the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday. The nine justices will hear arguments in Apple’s bid to escape damages in a lawsuit accusing it of breaking federal antitrust laws by monopolizing the market for iPhone apps and causing consumers to pay more than they should.
Major implications here for Apple and the App Store.
Electronic marketplaces such as Apple’s App Store present a new wrinkle on this doctrine, because the marketplace sponsor (e.g., Apple) interacts with and delivers goods “directly” to consumers, but as an agent on behalf of third party sellers.
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Whether consumers may sue for antitrust damages anyone who delivers goods to them, even where they seek damages based on prices set by third parties who would be the immediate victims of the alleged offense.
NASA’s InSight lander is scheduled to touch down on Mars at approximately 3 p.m. EST, Monday, Nov. 26. NASA TV live coverage of the InSight Mars landing will begin at 2 p.m. Eastern (7 p.m. UTC). Follow @NASA and @NASAInSight for #MarsLanding news. See a list or an interactive timeline of landing milestones. News briefings and launch commentary will be streamed on NASA TV, YouTube.com/NASAJPL/live and Ustream.tv/NASAJPL.
My thanks to Bare Bones Software for sponsoring The Loop this week. Do you sling code or compose with words? Whether you’re an app developer, web developer, systems admin or just want a powerful writing tool that stays out of your way, BBEdit is worth checking out.
I’ve been using BBEdit since 1995, so I know first hand that it can handle any job I throw at it.
BBEdit is crafted in response to the needs of writers, web authors, and software developers, providing an abundance of high-performance features for editing, searching, and the manipulation of text.
The Steve Jobs Theater Pavilion represents a culmination of the advances in structural glass technology born from the close relationship between Apple and EOC. The 47m carbon fibre roof is the largest of its kind, comprised of 44 radial panels, which were assembled on site before being raised into position in one lift. This 80 tonne roof is supported by a 7m high glass cylinder, made up of glass panels, each consisting of four layers of 12mm thick plies, which hold up the roof without any additional support. It is the largest structure in the world solely supported by glass.
Even from afar, it is a remarkable building. If you get the chance, check out the rest of the 2018 award winners in several other categories.
With the newest Mac mini, gone is the two-core, four-thread 28W Haswell processor with up to 16GB soldered RAM. This machine boasts Coffee Lake processors, either a four-core, four-thread Core i3 base model or the six-core, 12-thread Core i7 chip as found in my review system. This processor is paired with up to 64GB socketed, user-serviceable RAM. Storage has also been shaken up. Instead of a range of hybrid and SSD options, the new Mac mini is all SSD, from 128GB to 2TB. There are four Thunderbolt 3 ports, one wired Ethernet port (usually gigabit, but optionally upgraded to 10 gigabit), an HDMI 2 port, two USB 3.1 generation 1 ports, and a 3.5mm headset jack.
It turns out that hardware can get a lot better when you wait four years between upgrades.
