Thanks to its health monitoring features, the new Apple Watch Series 4 will save lives, probably within weeks of launch. I’ve been on real calls that may have had happier endings had the person been wearing one. I don’t know if wearing one would have saved that first victim—probably not—but Apple should get full credit for building a mainstream device that will save some lives.
That doesn’t mean it’s perfect.
Rich Mogull is not only my go-to Mac Security guy, but he’s also been a licensed paramedic for many years. His perspective on this particular feature is very interesting.
The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) is pleased to announce that Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, will deliver the keynote speech at Debating Ethics, the public session of the International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners, on Wednesday 24 October 2018.
Giovanni Buttarelli, EDPS, said: “We are delighted that Tim has agreed to speak at the International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners. Tim has been a strong voice in the debate around privacy, as the leader of a company which has taken a clear privacy position, we look forward to hearing his perspective. He joins an already superb line up of keynote speakers and panellists who want to be part of a discussion about technology serving humankind.”
This is not (just) marketing fluff. This is a concerted effort by Apple to signal their intentions regarding customer data protection and security.
If you have hearing difficulties, the idea of spending hours watching a play may not be that attractive given the risk of key dialogue slipping from your grasp. The National Theater in London is hoping to change that.
On Wednesday, the theater introduced “smart caption glasses” that display dialogue on the lenses as actors speak. The glasses can be used without charge for the play “War Horse” and for the musical “Hadestown,” and they will be available for all of the theater’s 2019 season.
I went to an opera once and they had subtitles above the stage. While I really appreciated it, it was a bit distracting. The audience would “get the joke” before the singers had actually sung the lyric. While these glasses may be targeted at those with hearing difficulties, I can see it being a boon to a lot of different people attending productions.
Read the review. There’s a lot to process, lots of images to look through.
One tiny detail (out of many):
It is also worth mentioning that, thanks to the beefed-up processor, the iPhone XS Max is capable of displaying HDR images in real-time in the preview image, so what you see is what you get. As far as we are aware, this feature is not currently available from any of the device’s close competitors.
Computational photography is becoming a more and more important part of the smartphone camera space. This is certainly a strong point for Apple.
Watch the video embedded in this tweet. As the wheel turns, keep your eye on the little balls:
Ok we may not have an Apple Watch benchmark, but holy shit I can do 60fps physically-based Metal rendering and realtime physics on the Series 4 ? pic.twitter.com/GXza08pgIP
That’s not a simulator. That’s an app running on an Apple Watch Series 4. I wish the video was a bit longer, just to make it easier to appreciate the physics of the turning wheel and the gravity-obeying balls. There’s a lot of math going on and it’s all being rendered in real time.
This mini version of Apple’s Cupertino campus is made entirely of Lego, and was modelled on drone footage taken during construction.
The Lego Apple Park depicts the 175-acre (71-hectare) expanse of California’s Santa Clara Valley at 1/650th of its real size. The model includes Apple’s Foster + Partners-designed ring-shaped headquarters, ancillary buildings, and large areas of surrounding foliage.
Follow the link to read about the project and check out some closeups. [H/T Roman Meliška]
Nested on the servers’ motherboards, the testers found a tiny microchip, not much bigger than a grain of rice, that wasn’t part of the boards’ original design. Amazon reported the discovery to U.S. authorities, sending a shudder through the intelligence community. Elemental’s servers could be found in Department of Defense data centers, the CIA’s drone operations, and the onboard networks of Navy warships. And Elemental was just one of hundreds of Supermicro customers.
And:
One official says investigators found that it eventually affected almost 30 companies, including a major bank, government contractors, and the world’s most valuable company, Apple Inc. Apple was an important Supermicro customer and had planned to order more than 30,000 of its servers in two years for a new global network of data centers. Three senior insiders at Apple say that in the summer of 2015, it, too, found malicious chips on Supermicro motherboards. Apple severed ties with Supermicro the following year, for what it described as unrelated reasons.
Apple’s response to Bloomberg:
“On this we can be very clear: Apple has never found malicious chips, ‘hardware manipulations’ or vulnerabilities purposely planted in any server,” Apple wrote. “We remain unaware of any such investigation,” wrote a spokesman for Supermicro, Perry Hayes. The Chinese government didn’t directly address questions about manipulation of Supermicro servers, issuing a statement that read, in part, “Supply chain safety in cyberspace is an issue of common concern, and China is also a victim.” The FBI and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, representing the CIA and NSA, declined to comment.
Apple has issued strong denials of the report, stating: “We are deeply disappointed that in their dealings with us, Bloomberg’s reporters have not been open to the possibility that they or their sources might be wrong or misinformed. Our best guess is that they are confusing their story with a previously reported 2016 incident in which we discovered an infected driver on a single Super Micro server in one of our labs. That one-time event was determined to be accidental and not a targeted attack against Apple.”
The Bloomberg article is a fascinating read. Scary possibilities, and amazing that someone figured this out.
The Series 4 Apple Watch now in stores pitches itself as a Food and Drug Administration-cleared “proactive health monitor” and a “guardian” that will call help if you take a hard fall. Its screen is 30 percent larger. You won’t see Apple say “senior citizen” in ads — yet suddenly, grandmothers and abuelas, not to mention opas and yeyes, are thinking about getting one. Adult children looking to keep parents safe are curious, too.
What I learned from my elders is that the Apple Watch has lots to offer seniors not deterred by a $400 starting price. It’s pretty good at encouraging you to exercise. It can gather data about your heart. And you’re less likely to miss calls when your phone is on your wrist (yes, like Dick Tracy).
Just don’t let the hype about the new Watch’s capabilities get ahead of its reality. It’s heavier than some traditional watches and one more thing you’ll have to charge daily. Some of those new health functions have yet to prove how much they’ll help. And as a substitute for your phone, it still has a pretty small screen — and even tinier buttons.
I don’t know how representative the review group was but it was definitely interesting to read about the Watch from the point of view of seniors – a demographic many say they will be buying a Series 4 Watch for.
The biggest risk when setting a password is when you re-use a password across sites and services. If you do this, you’re multiplying the risk of a breach at one of those services, allowing a cracker to try your account name and password from the breached service at other sites. If any match, they’ve now hijacked your account there, too.
A unique password at every site is the goal. And Apple added an alert in iOS 12 and macOS 10.14 Mojave that will help you towards that.
While this isn’t an issue for me – I use 1Password to create unique passwords for every login – I really appreciate it for my wife. It drives the point home to her how often she uses the same password on multiple sites.
I’m a little surprised by how many people tell me they have no hobbies. It may seem a small thing, but — at the risk of sounding grandiose — I see it as a sign of a civilization in decline. Yes, I know: We are all so very busy. Between work and family and social obligations, where are we supposed to find the time?
But there’s a deeper reason, I’ve come to think, that so many people don’t have hobbies: We’re afraid of being bad at them. Or rather, we are intimidated by the expectation — itself a hallmark of our intensely public, performative age — that we must actually be skilled at what we do in our free time.
Interesting theory but I don’t agree with it. I think people don’t have hobbies because they don’t have the time or the money to pursue them. My favourite “hobby” is riding my motorcycle but I can’t do it as much as I’d like for many reasons, money being one of them.
More info and examples of the differences in photo quality of the two cameras. What I found interesting was his conclusion. He said, “…as someone who does not take a lot of photos or videos on their smartphones, I’m not sure the difference is worth the upgrade.”
First of all, if you “don’t take a lot of photos”, why the hell are you reviewing a camera? Secondly, as someone who does take a lot of photos, I would come to a completely different conclusion – the new sensor, wider angle lens and “computational photography” make the iPhone XS/XS Max a potential upgrade for me even over my iPhone X.
More than 70 new emoji will be coming soon to iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac, including new characters with red hair, gray hair and curly hair, a new emoji for bald people, more emotive smiley faces and additional emoji representing animals, sports and food. The new emoji are available in today’s developer and public beta previews of iOS 12.1, and will be available in upcoming software updates for iOS, macOS and watchOS.
But what if you prefer using 1Password as your default password manager? Or if not 1Password, something like LastPass or Dashlane? Don’t worry, with iOS 12 Password Autofill, it is entirely possible to change the autofill provider to your preferred password manager of choice, as long as it supports Apple’s new Password Manager API framework.
This is a great tip that I’m sure many people will use.
iPhone XS has a completely new camera. It’s not just a different sensor, but an entirely new approach to photography that is new to iOS. Since it leans so heavily on merging exposures and computational photography, images may look quite different from those you’ve taken in similar conditions on older iPhones.
I suspected something like this was happening when I first heard of this issue last week. I couldn’t test it myself (I don’t have a new iPhone) and don’t have the technical chops Sebastiaan de With of Halide does to explain it but he does a great job of helping us to understand what is going on and why.
Follow the link, and just start scrolling. These are some gorgeous photos. If you’ve not felt the pull to upgrade to the iPhone XS, this will definitely tug that particular string.
We’ve been working on Project Stream, a technical test to solve some of the biggest challenges of streaming. For this test, we’re going to push the limits with one of the most demanding applications for streaming—a blockbuster video game. For more on professional gaming, check out this new blog post explaining why Dennis Fong or “Thresh” was the first professional gamer.
We’ve partnered with one of the most innovative and successful video game publishers, Ubisoft, to stream their soon-to-be released Assassin’s Creed Odyssey® to your Chrome browser on a laptop or desktop. Starting on October 5, a limited number of participants will get to play the latest in this best-selling franchise at no charge for the duration of the Project Stream test.
And:
The idea of streaming such graphically-rich content that requires near-instant interaction between the game controller and the graphics on the screen poses a number of challenges. When streaming TV or movies, consumers are comfortable with a few seconds of buffering at the start, but streaming high-quality games requires latency measured in milliseconds, with no graphic degradation.
This is a big deal. This is less about streaming a video game and more about making a major improvement to streaming latency. This has implications in the gaming console market, for sure, reducing the need for a high end console that is separate from a desktop computer.
But this also might impact the delivery of video itself, impacting services like Netflix and YouTube. Very interesting.
“Big picture, a warrant is required for the search of a device except in certain circumstances at the border,” says Greg Nojeim, director of the Freedom, Security and Technology Project at the Center for Democracy & Technology. In the newly reported Face ID case, police did have a warrant to compel 28-year-old Grant Michalski of Ohio to unlock his smartphone, and Michalski has gone on to face child pornography charges.
And:
“There might be less intrusion and physical coercion with forcing a faceprint versus a fingerprint.”
This is an important test case and precedent and this Wired article is an interesting read.
? PSA: You can manually disable Face ID by holding the Side Button (Sleep/Wake) and Volume Up Button together to bring up the “Slide to Power Off, Emergency Medical ID, and Emergency SOS” screen. Simply tap “Cancel”. Your iPhone is now locked and Face ID is disabled. https://t.co/iU4IdrJTrn
Starting today, students at three universities are among the first to enjoy the convenience of using just their iPhone and Apple Watch to get around on and off campus. At Duke University and the Universities of Alabama and Oklahoma, students can now add their ID card to Apple Wallet and use it to pay quickly and easily for laundry, coffee or lunch, and even get into their dorms, the gym or the school library.
This is a brilliant move, making iOS desirable for every new generation of students.
Amazon today announced it is increasing its minimum wage to $15 for all full-time, part-time, temporary (including those hired by agencies), and seasonal employees across the U.S.—effective November 1. The new Amazon $15 minimum wage will benefit more than 250,000 Amazon employees, as well as over 100,000 seasonal employees who will be hired at Amazon sites across the country this holiday.
This more than doubles the current hourly rate of $7.25.
Definitely a step in the right direction for Amazon, addressing one of its biggest criticisms. It’d be nice if they enhanced this move by making it easier for part time employees to work enough hours to get health benefits.
Hard to wrap my head around this one. Watch the commercial below, then come back.
Watched it? OK. To me, the ad had nice special effects, was humorous, but seemed to be about the zoom lens, as if when you take a picture, things will appear larger. The focus was on the camera.
But check the text at the bottom of the ad page:
Everything you love just got bigger. Introducing iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. Super Retina in two sizes, including the largest display on an iPhone ever.
So it’s about the display being bigger, not about the camera. Confusing message.
You cannot be forced to reveal your passcode. But Face ID is a whole different issue.
Could you defeat Face ID simply by refusing to focus on the device? And does the law allow for you to be forced to unlock your phone using your face?
“The law is not well formed to provide the intuitive protections people think about when they’re using a Face ID unlock,” Jennings said. “People aren’t typically thinking [when they use Face ID] that it’s a physical act so I don’t have this right against self-incrimination.”
Current law, obviously, was written before Face ID was a thing. So I’d expect challenges to make their way up the appeals court ladder, possibly being decided by the Supreme Court. And I’d expect new laws to be crafted specifically to address Face ID.
Hundreds of Russians braved the cold and rain to queue for days outside a Moscow phone store ahead of the release of the new Apple iPhones on Friday, but when the doors opened none stepped in to buy.
And:
Banking on strong enthusiasm for the phones, which have drawn days-long queues outside stores in Singapore, Sydney and elsewhere, the queue sellers set the price of the first place at 450,000 roubles ($7,000).
Basically, the queue sellers were banking on very limited stock. But:
The store manager called out ticket numbers to invite in the first buyers, but his calls went unanswered.
Eventually, ticket holder number 247 came to the door and Russian photographer Anatoly Doroshchenko, who had arrived that morning and didn’t pay for the right to queue-jump, became the first purchaser in Russia of one of the new phones.
Over the course of the last week, the front-facing camera in the iPhone XS and XS Max has been receiving a lot of attention because the selfies captured on the new devices are drastically different from those captured with the iPhone X or earlier iPhone models.
In a MacRumors forum thread and on Reddit, Apple has been accused of using a skin-smoothing feature or a “beauty filter” for prettier selfies from the front-facing camera.
And:
When taking a selfie in a situation where lighting is less than ideal, such as indoors or outdoors in areas with lower lighting, the iPhone XS Max appears to be applying a drastic smoothing effect that can hide freckles, blemishes, and other issues.
More to the point:
In full outdoor lighting the problem is less apparent, which has led to speculation that the skin smoothing is actually a result of some heavy-handed noise reduction techniques.
The iPhone intentionally applying a “beauty filter” without specifically calling out a setting just doesn’t click for me. Heavy handed noise reduction or, perhaps, over zealous Smart HDR sounds more likely.
Turning off HDR does not remove the smoothing effect, nor does tweaking any other camera setting, so if the ultra skin smoothing is a result of something like unintentional excessive noise reduction, it needs to be tweaked on Apple’s end through a software update.
Intensify “helps you create sharp, crisp and dramatic photos in 1 click.”
ColorStrokes lets you “pick a part of the image to leave in color and the rest of the photo will turn monochrome”.
My personal favourite of the three is Snapheal which often does a surprisingly good job of removing “unwanted objects & people from photos in 1 click”.
I never used “Moments” from the iOS Photos app but, under iOS 12, “For You” pops up with these little videos now and again. I’m fairly impressed. Without me having named any of the pics or videos, the phone has identified my lovely wife and created this little video of her.
Watch the video all the way through. I included both the portrait and landscape orientations that Apple created. What I find really interesting is that it looks different and has a different “tone” and feel in landscape vs portrait mode. Landscape includes people and things to either side of Melissa that take the focus off of her.
The differences are especially notable in the last shot – in landscape mode, you can’t see the lower half of Melissa and can’t see she has a beer in her hand.
It’s also interesting that the software was “smart” enough to know to group all of our wedding shots together – the last 15 seconds of each segment are from our wedding in Australia last December.
PS: I had to edit some of the photos out because Melissa has “final cut” and she didn’t approve of some of my shots and YouTube “compressed” the second segment of the video. You can see a better version here.
