M.G. Siegler:

For the 11th straight year that Apple has been making iPads, there will be no native Weather app for the device. This despite the fact that such an app launched on day one with the iPhone, fourteen years ago. And despite the fact that a Weather widget, made by Apple, has existed for a few years now. With iPad OS 15, that widget is getting the same upgrade that it got in iOS 14. That is, it’s moving to the home screens of millions of devices.

OK, sounds good, a weather widget on the Home Screen, what’s not to like?

And when they click on it, they’ll see… this bullshit.

Pausing so you can follow the link.

Honestly, it’s embarrassing. Apple has outsourced its soul to an absolutely awful weather.com webpage. On load, you’ll see crappy ad after crappy ad. Keep scrolling and you’ll quickly be subsumed by shitty click-bait-y ads. “Kill the Goblin!” And go further still and it’s full-on porn-y spam. Apple is sending millions upon millions of their users to this experience. Apple!

And:

That default Weather widget is about to land on tens of millions of iPad screens with the launch of iPad OS 15 this fall. And with that, Apple will be sending tens of millions of dollars (maybe more?) indirectly to weather.com — which, incidentially is now owned by IBM. Insert the Steve Jobs giving the finger image here.

Just for you, M.G., here’s that famous photo.

Side note: The photo was taken by Jean Pigozzi, and shared with Andy Hertzfeld, who shared it with the world.

Is weather.com paying for this placement on iPad? Why is the iPhone weather experience so different from iPad? Have long wondered this. Anyone know the real scoop?

Bradley Chambers, 9to5Mac:

While Apple does allow you to create shared albums in iCloud Photos, it doesn’t allow a way for families to create a single library for all of their family photos or even easily give another person access to copy photos to their own library. For many people, the iPhone is their primary camera, and therefore Apple needs a way to help families unify their photo library.

Shared albums do exist, but the photos are not original quality and videos are length limited. Not the same thing as a family member seeing what I see.

Google solves this problem with something they call Partner Sharing:

You can share photos of specific people or share photos from a specific date onward. Photos will be shared automatically as they are backed up to your account.

If you read the Google tech note, you’ll see it’s not perfect, but it does allow more automated sharing of original content than Apple. And I stress the word automated.

I’d love a set it and forget it approach that let my wife’s iPhone photos make their way into my stream, giving us a single family album to search and look back on.

Nice writeup, Bradley.

CNBC:

South Korea’s parliament has approved a bill that will make it the first country to impose curbs on Google and Apple’s payment policies that force developers to only use the tech giants’ proprietary billing systems.

And:

The bill, approved Tuesday, means that developers will be able to avoid paying commission to major app store operators — like Google and Apple — by directing users to pay via alternate platforms.

And Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives:

“It’s a potential watershed moment,” Ives said on CNBC’ “Street Signs Asia” on Monday ahead of the decision in Seoul. “Not necessarily for what this means in itself, but for the ripple effect as it shows that they’re not just words, but actually actions.”

This bill may likely have a relatively small direct impact on Apple’s App Store revenues, but the indirect impact may be huge, if other countries follow suit.

Joanna Stern, Wall Street Journal, on her water damaged MacBook Pro:

See, with no AppleCare+ to cover accidental damage, Apple said it would repair the machine in five to seven days…for $999. Nearly its original price! The Apple Genius said buying a new laptop would probably make more sense. Then I brought it to an independent repair shop. It was fixed within a day…for $325.

It’s exactly what Apple and various tech companies don’t want you to do. It’s exactly what proponents of the “Right to Repair” want to make it easier to do.

Watch the video, embedded below.

From Benjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac, yesterday:

In an investor note, Ming-Chi Kuo today said that he expects the upcoming iPhone 13 models to feature a low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellite communication mode. This would allow an iPhone 13 user to send messages and make phone calls, even when they are not within standard 4G/5G cell tower coverage.

And today, from Juli Clover, reporting on this paywalled Bloomberg article:

There are at least two emergency features that will rely on satellite networks, and while satellite technology has been in the works for years, these capabilities are not likely to launch in 2021.

The first feature, Emergency Message via Satellite, is designed to let users text emergency services and contacts using a satellite network when there is no signal available, and it will be integrated into the Messages app as a third communications protocol alongside SMS and iMessage. It will feature gray message bubbles rather than green or blue, and message length will be restricted.

And:

The second feature will let users report major emergencies like plane crashes and fires using satellite networks. It will be similar to a “911” call in the U.S. and can provide information like a user’s location and medical ID, in addition to alerting emergency contacts.

Sounds like this will be built into the iPhone 13 hardware, not intended as an alternative to traditional carriers, and those grey bubbles won’t roll out until next year.

José Adorno, 9to5Mac, quoting this Billboard Pro post:

Those numbers make Donda Apple Music’s third-most streamed album ever in the first 24 hours of release, and it set another record by topping Apple Music’s top albums charts in 152 countries in that time span.

And:

According to the magazine, West also became Apple Music’s most-streamed artist and took 19 of the top 20 spots on the streaming service’s Daily Top 100 Global songs chart.

Here’s a link to Donda on Apple Music.

From Apple’s press release, which Jim posted last night:

Apple today announced it has acquired Primephonic, the renowned classical music streaming service that offers an outstanding listening experience with search and browse functionality optimized for classical, premium-quality audio, handpicked expert recommendations, and extensive contextual details on repertoire and recordings.

And:

With the addition of Primephonic, Apple Music subscribers will get a significantly improved classical music experience beginning with Primephonic playlists and exclusive audio content. In the coming months, Apple Music Classical fans will get a dedicated experience with the best features of Primephonic, including better browsing and search capabilities by composer and by repertoire, detailed displays of classical music metadata, plus new features and benefits.

I wanted to add my 2 cents. A big part of this is the metadata. With popular music, you can mostly get what you want by asking Siri for an artist and a song or album. Classical music adds layers to this request. At the very least, you’ll want the composer, performer, soloist, movement, etc. Generally, I want to listen to classical music in the same order in which it was performed/recorded, not shuffled or selected at random.

As is, Apple Music and Siri are set up for popular music. Getting down to a specific classical piece is tricky at best.

Ask Siri to play Mozart. Chances are good, you got Mozart. Now ask Siri to play Beethoven (I got some explicit lyrics, so careful if you are at work). Likely not what you expected. Now try being more specific: Ask Siri to play Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. Also not likely what you expected.

Not a fair test, really. Apple Music is not set up for the classical music experience. Seems like that is about to change for the better.

As to the Primephonic service:

Primephonic is no longer available for new subscribers and will be taken offline beginning September 7. Apple Music plans to launch a dedicated classical music app next year combining Primephonic’s classical user interface that fans have grown to love with more added features. In the meantime, current Primephonic subscribers will receive six months of Apple Music for free, providing access to hundreds of thousands of classical albums, all in Lossless and high-resolution audio, as well as hundreds of classical albums in Apple Music’s Spatial Audio, with new albums added regularly.

Looking forward to seeing this new, classical side of Apple Music.

Apple today announced it has acquired Primephonic, the renowned classical music streaming service that offers an outstanding listening experience with search and browse functionality optimized for classical, premium-quality audio, handpicked expert recommendations, and extensive contextual details on repertoire and recordings.

Users of Apple Music classical will absolutely love this acquisition.What’s really interesting is that Apple plans to release separate classical music app based on Primephonic, but with added features, sometime next year. Apple Music will also get some upgrades from the purchase like better browsing and search capabilities by composer and by repertoire, detailed displays of classical music metadata, plus new features and benefits. There is no word where Thomas Steffens, Primephonic’s co-founder and CEO, fits into Apple Music.

Definitely a great move for Apple Music.

Deadline:

Apple Studios has set a high profile project that will reteam Marvel stalwarts Scarlett Johansson and Chris Evans in Ghosted, a romantic action adventure that will be directed by Dexter Fletcher. He helmed Rocketman and finished Bohemian Rhapsody. The stars are in advanced negotiations.

Script by the writers of Deadpool and Zombieland. Could be great.

Mark Gurman, from the weekly PowerOn newsletter:

Cook, who turns 61 in November, is all but assured to be Apple’s CEO into 2025, when 1 million shares designed to keep him at the helm finish paying out.

And:

The belief inside Apple is that Cook just wants to stick around for one more major new product category, which is likely to be augmented reality glasses rather than a car.

And:

There’s no downplaying how critical the role of Apple’s CEO is, and it’s never too early to speculate on who will take on the position. With that in mind, I’ve come up with some strong possibilities. Let’s start by looking at each member of Apple’s executive team.

This is a great read. Assuming Tim does step down when his million shares fully vest, whoever takes the helm will likely have to deal with some worldwide political/legislative turmoil, from antitrust investigations to privacy turmoil to country-by-country rulings on how Apple can run their ship. Not to mention the rising activism within the company. The Apple CEO job is getting tougher by the minute.

Sami Fathi, MacRumors:

While the feature was previewed at WWDC in June, it’s yet to make an official appearance in any developer beta of ‌macOS Monterey‌ or ‌iPadOS 15‌, leading to speculation that the feature may be delayed to a future update to the operating systems. However, in the latest ‌macOS Monterey‌ beta released on August 11, Universal Control can be enabled and used between two Macs.

And this, in bold:

Universal Control is not yet officially enabled in the latest macOS beta, and the steps needed to enable it are complex. We don’t advise users to attempt to enable it because it may damage crucial system files and their machines.

If that doesn’t put you off, here’s the magic. Looks like it’s macOS only, for the moment. Backup your Mac before you dig in.

Apple:

Heralded by a teaser video, Apple today announced that acclaimed host, writer, producer, director and advocate Jon Stewart’s hotly anticipated new current affairs series “The Problem With Jon Stewart” is set to debut globally on Apple TV+ on Thursday, September 30, followed by new episodes every other week.

Every other week. That’s certainly unusual. Guessing that’s what was required to close the deal.

And:

The series’ official podcast will also premiere on Thursday, September 30 on Apple Podcasts and via RSS, with new episodes every week (where available).

Watch the teaser, embedded below. Don’t miss that throwaway line about 34 seconds in. Definitely looking forward to having Jon Stewart’s wry wit back in the universe.

Benjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac:

In an investor note, Ming-Chi Kuo today said that he expects the upcoming iPhone 13 models to feature a low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellite communication mode. This would allow an iPhone 13 user to send messages and make phone calls, even when they are not within standard 4G/5G cell tower coverage.

And:

Kuo says that the iPhone 13 will use a customized version of the Qualcomm X60 baseband modem chip. This chip will support communications over satellite.

And:

In the future, Kuo speculates that LEO satellite communication may also be used by the upcoming Apple AR headset, the Apple Car and other Internet-of-Things accessories.

The big question for me is, if true, how will this perform under load? Well enough to move people off traditional carriers?

In other words, if I have WiFi at home and at the office, would a LEO phone/text capability be good enough that I’d have no need for a cellular connection?

Also, what would the physical constraints be? Outdoor use only? Would it work in a moving vehicle?

More to look forward to in the upcoming (rumored) Apple event.

Side note: Most of the artificial objects in space are in low Earth orbit, including all crewed space stations and the Hubble Space Telescope.

Variety:

After being delayed a week and switched from an in-person event to a virtual ceremony, the Hollywood Critics Association revealed the winners for its first-ever HCA TV Awards — and Apple TV Plus’ “Ted Lasso” led the pack with four victories.

“Ted Lasso” was named best streaming comedy, best comedy actor in a streaming series (Jason Sudeikis), best comedy supporting actor in a streaming series (Brett Goldstein) and best comedy supporting actress in a streaming series (Hannah Waddingham, tied with “Hacks” star Hannah Einbinder).

Rupert Grint (best knows as Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter universe) was another Apple TV+ winner, picking up the Best Supporting Actor award for Servant.

Thanks to BBEdit for sponsoring The Loop this week. New! BBEdit 14 is still the power tool for text and also offers a new Notes capability plus greatly expanded language support!

Apple:

Apple today announced a number of changes coming to the App Store that, pending court approval, will resolve a class-action suit from US developers.

Key there is “pending court approval”, so this could still change.

Key changes:

The agreement clarifies that developers can share purchase options with users outside of their iOS app; expands the price points developers can offer for subscriptions, in-app purchases, and paid apps; and establishes a new fund to assist qualifying US developers.

Homing in on that first change:

Apple is also clarifying that developers can use communications, such as email, to share information about payment methods outside of their iOS app. As always, developers will not pay Apple a commission on any purchases taking place outside of their app or the App Store. Users must consent to the communication and have the right to opt out.

And this, from the plaintiff’s motion for approval:

Apple has agreed to revise its App Store Guidelines to permit developers of all app categories to communicate with consenting customers outside their app, including via email and other communication services, about purchasing methods other than in-app purchase. See Berman Decl., Ex. A at § 5.1.3. Under the App’s Store existing Guidelines, developers may not use contact information (emails, phone numbers, etc.) obtained within an app to contact their user base outside the app. As a practical matter, this prevents developers from alerting their customers to alternative payment options. The proposed Settlement lifts this restriction, and it does so for all app categories.

So theoretically, I could put an app in the App Store that was purely a demo (limited features), with a notification that pointed to a web site (outside Apple’s control) to sign up for the full version. Again, theoretically, I could put in language that said, you’ll save me Apple’s 15%/30% commission if you sign up on my web site.

My question is, would Apple approve an app with language like that?

There are other changes as part of the settlement. One interesting one:

Apple will also establish a fund to assist small US developers, particularly as the world continues to suffer from the effects of COVID-19. Eligible developers must have earned $1 million or less through the US storefront for all of their apps in every calendar year in which the developers had an account between June 4, 2015, and April 26, 2021 — encompassing 99 percent of developers in the US. Details will be available at a later date.

This strikes me as a pool, split among all eligible participants, something common for class suit settlements. You get a notification from the settlement fund, certify that you meet the conditions, become part of the settlement, get a check or credit (usually tiny, depending on the number of participants). Not certain that’s what’s going on here, we’ll learn more once the settlement is approved.

There’s definitely a lot of spin in the press release. Maybe Apple trying to prove a point to anti-trust folks? Follow the headline link for all the details.

Apple today introduced the News Partner Program, a new slate of initiatives to expand Apple’s work with and support for journalism. The News Partner Program aims to ensure Apple News customers maintain access to trusted news and information from many of the world’s top publishers, while supporting publishers’ financial stability and advancing efforts to further media literacy and diversity in news coverage and newsrooms.

Apple says the program is designed for publications that provide their content in Apple News Format and are subscription services. There are several criteria that must be met to be in the program—you can apply starting today.

Jason Snell, on the news that iOS 15 will launch with iCloud Private Relay as an option, defaulting to off:

It seems like Apple’s slowing this roll-out down, at least in part, because there are lingering compatibility issues with some websites—most notably sites that are displaying the wrong region-specific content, or getting confused when signing in. There are some fairly easy remedies web developers can do to make these issues go away, but getting the web to adjust to any new feature takes time, and Apple appears to have erred on the side of caution.

John Gruber, from this Daring Fireball post:

This is what happens in mid-to-late August each year: some features announced at WWDC get postponed for subsequent dot releases throughout the year (15.1, 15.2, etc.), and occasionally something will ship with the .0 public release, but with the “beta” label.

And:

Here’s my concern about iCloud Private Relay compatibility, though: if web publishers want to make sure their sites are compatible with iCloud Private Relay, they can make it work. They might just need more time. But everyone knows there are sites that aren’t interested in your privacy. That’s the whole reason Apple even made this feature. For a lot of websites, if the answer to an iCloud Private Relay compatibility issue is “Disable iCloud Private Relay”, that’s fine by them. For a lot of privacy-invasive web publishers, their goal, I suspect, is to break iCloud Private Relay, not fix their shit-ass websites to work with it.

There’s also the possibility that iCloud Private Relay has some bugs that make it not ready for prime time, in addition to the issues Jason raised above. Is the return of iCloud Private Relay as an on-by-default feature inevitable? Is it a battle against privacy foes who benefit from knowing your IP address, etc.?

José Adorno, 9to5Mac:

One of the features Apple announced during the WWDC21 keynote with iCloud+ was the ability to customize email domains. After two months, you can now do that on iCloud’s beta site.

Here’s how to get started:

• Open beta.icloud.com.
• Click on the Account Settings link just below the Good Morning text.
• Scroll down to the “Custom Email Domain” section and tap the Manage button

The rest depends on your existing setup. Reminder: This is a beta. I’d start off with an unused domain, one that won’t be impacted if Apple decides to make a major change or pull the feature altogether.

Adam Engst, TidBITS:

In many parts of the US, it has long been possible to make local calls with just the seven-digit phone number; the three-digit area code was implicit for calls between numbers using the same area code. Last year, however, the Federal Communications Commission decided to establish 988 as an easy-to-remember three-digit phone number for Americans to use to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in times of crisis.

And:

Since some areas that use seven-digit dialing also use 988 as the first three digits of the number, the FCC is requiring all carriers to implement ten-digit dialing in those areas, with 24 October 2021 as a cutoff date.

10-digit dialing started becoming common in the US in the 1990s, with the ability to only dial 7 digits within an area code slowly getting chipped away. This is the final nail.

Here’s a link to the 10-digit-dialing Wikipedia page.

And here’s a link to the current list of area codes that still support, at least in part, 7-digit dialing.

Nikkei Asia:

Contract chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. told clients Wednesday that it plans to raise prices on products by as much as 20%, in what would be the company’s steepest single increase.

And:

The price increases and the time frames for the hikes differ depending on the client, according to reports by Taiwan’s Liberty Times newspaper and other media outlets. For some companies that received TSMC’s notice, the hikes took effect immediately.

Not clear how much of an impact this will have on Apple, and how much impact this will have on Apple product pricing.

Worth noting, from this post:

“Sources have told Wave7 Research that Apple was able to lock down chipset supply well ahead of time. This was not the case for other OEMs,” says Jeff Moore, principal at Wave7.

Will this put Apple far enough ahead of the curve to carry it past this shortage in the long haul? Will its sheer size allow it to stay in the front of the line, minimize pricing impact?

Philip Elmer-DeWitt, quoting an analyst note:

We now estimate that Google’s payments to AAPL to be the default search engine on iOS were ~$10B in FY 20.

And:

We now forecast that Google’s payments to Apple might be nearly $15B in FY 21.

And this, full of juicy tidbits:

We see two potential risks to GOOG’s payments to AAPL: (1) regulatory risk, which we believe is real, but likely years away; we see a potential 4-5% impact to Apple’s gross profits from an adverse ruling; & (2) that Google chooses to stop paying Apple to be the default search engine altogether, or looks to renegotiate terms and pay less. We have noted in prior research that GOOG is likely paying to ensure Microsoft doesn’t outbid it. That said, with payments likely to approach $18 – $20B in FY 22, it not implausible that Google could revisit its strategy.

Imagine Microsoft becoming the default Apple search engine. That would be an odd experience. And might antitrust regulators have some say in this? I’d imagine there’d be a lot of lobbying on all sides if that issue heated up.

Follow the headline link for video of a pair of AirPods dangling securely to the front of someone’s MacBook screen.

I tried this myself, with AirPods Pro on my M1 MacBook Air, though I think my magnet placement was different.

Wondering if there will come a day when your screen is used like MagSafe to charge your AirPods sans case. Seems like Apple had a patent a while back that let the closed Mac act as a wireless charger.

If you’ve not seen one of these little cuties, take a jump over to the Playdate front page and take a look.

Some gorgeous design (thanks to the folks at Teenage Engineering), in a fun yellow package.

If this whet your appetite, follow the headline link to the teardown. This looks pretty easy to take apart, which makes me think it’ll be easy to fix myself, and possible for folks to modify.

Check out the warranty sticker inside the unit. Props for not using scare tactics. Breaking voids the warranty. Opening does not.

Mark Savage, BBC:

Spencer Elden, the man who was photographed as a baby on the album cover for Nirvana’s Nevermind, is suing the band alleging sexual exploitation.

The cover depicts Elden as a four-month-old in a swimming pool, grasping for a dollar bill that’s being dangled in front of him on a fishing line.

Now 30, Elden says his parents never signed a release authorising the use of his image on the album. He also alleges the nude image constitutes child pornography.

A lot to unpack here but, at its core, lies the issue of parents never signing a release for the photo. I find that incredibly hard to believe.

From this backgrounder on the photo shoot:

Unable to find a stock shot of a submarine tyke, Fisher hired underwater-photo specialist Weddle, who donned a wet suit and set up a studio (complete with lights and waterproof cameras) in an Olympic-size swimming pool in Los Angeles last May. Spencer wasn’t the lone stunt baby: Weddle cast four other infants as well. “You need that many kids,” he says, “because you can’t count on a baby to do anything you want.”

And:

Later, the fishhook was stripped into the photo at Cobain’s direction.

And:

For his skinny-dipping adventure, Spencer was paid $250 (standard hourly rate for a no-name model) and was later presented with a triple-platinum album by Ed Rosenblatt, president of Geffen Records.

Sounds like his parents cashed the check.

Seattle Times [H/T Rob Devlin]:

A passenger’s cellphone caught on fire inside the cabin of an Alaska Airlines flight from New Orleans to Seattle that had landed at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Monday evening.

It was a Samsung Galaxy A21, according to Perry Cooper, a spokesman for the Port of Seattle.

And:

“After much digging, I can tell you that the phone was burned beyond recognition”

How does this sort of thing happen?

From this How-To Geek explainer:

Lithium-ion batteries contain a ton of Li-ion cells. Each of these cells has a critical temperature—think of it as a boiling point. When the critical temperature of a cell is reached (due to external heat, overcharging, damage, or poor manufacturing), it enters an exothermic breakdown. Basically, the cell itself starts to release a ton of heat.

One sign of a potential problem is a swollen battery. If you spot signs of a swollen battery, follow up. If it’s an old, Mac, for example, back it up, then take it to the Apple Store.

Thinus Ferreira, TeeVeeTee (via the excellent Overspill blog):

Samsung South Africa has announced that it has activated a TV Block Function on all Samsung TV sets stolen during the looting, violence and unrest in parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng during July that saw TV sets stolen from Samsung warehouses.

And:

Samsung’s television block technology is already pre-loaded on all Samsung TV products and the company says that all sets taken unlawfully and stolen from Samsung warehouses are being blocked, rendering them useless.

And:

A TV blocking system has been activated on Samsung television sets stolen from its warehouse and the blocking comes into effect when the user of a stolen television connects to the internet, in order to operate the television.

Once connected, the serial number of the television is identified on the Samsung server and the blocking system is implemented, disabling all the television functions.

Similar to what Apple does with gear stolen from Apple Stores, though users of Apple gear have the ability to shut down their iPhones themselves.

Interesting that there appears to be a shift to require internet connection to verify the TVs, as opposed to purely if you want to access the app infrastructure (think the Apple TV or Roku apps). I have not given my TV my household WiFi password. Wondering if my next TV will require it.