This is just incredible video, shot this week, a perfect example of one of the two main types of lava. This is A’a (ah-ah), which resembles smashed up Oreo cookie embedded in glowing molten rock. The other main type, pahoehoe, is smooth and billowy.
I am fascinated with volcanos, and have made several (stupidly dangerous) trips to walk the Kilauea lava flows in Hawaii. I’m just drawn to it.
Ben Lovejoy, 9to5Mac:
To see the data Google stores on your web searches, browsing and YouTube viewing, visit the My Activity page.
You can delete individual items from this timeline by clicking on the three-dot menu top-right. You can also click the Details link in this menu to see additional information, such as other YouTube videos you watched in the same session.
Here’s a link to the My Activity page. Take a look at your options.
This is another wave of impact from the EU’s GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).
Apple:
Aluminum giants Alcoa Corporation and Rio Tinto Aluminum today announced a joint venture to commercialize patented technology that eliminates direct greenhouse gas emissions from the traditional smelting process, a key step in aluminum production. This is a revolutionary advancement in the manufacturing of one of the world’s most widely used metals.
As part of Apple’s commitment to reducing the environmental impact of its products through innovation, the company helped accelerate the development of this technology. And Apple has partnered with both aluminum companies, and the Governments of Canada and Quebec, to collectively invest a combined $144 million to future research and development.
And:
[Apple Engineers] Lynch, Yurko and Sassaman learned that Alcoa had designed a completely new process that replaces that carbon with an advanced conductive material, and instead of carbon dioxide, it releases oxygen. The potential environmental impact was huge, and to help realize it quickly, Alcoa needed a partner.
Apple once again demonstrates its commitment to do what it can to minimize the environmental impact of its products.
This is the full video of the Google I/O keynote. Lots to watch here, but in particular, jump to 1:25:02 to watch Aparna Chennapragada show off Google’s latest rev of Google Maps Street View.
I love the idea of being able to use my phone inside a building (or a subway station, in this case), to get a sense of the landmarks outside the building, to help give me a sense of the direction I want to go, to help plan my route, to work out which exit to take.
Add to that the concept of VPS, which uses visual cues to help orient Google Maps when GPS is not available or not working well enough at the current location.
[H/T Scott Knaster]
CBS News:
Nearly every digital copier built since 2002 contains a hard drive – like the one on your personal computer – storing an image of every document copied, scanned, or emailed by the machine.
“The type of information we see on these machines with the social security numbers, birth certificates, bank records, income tax forms,” John Juntunen said, “that information would be very valuable.”
This past February, CBS News went with Juntunen to a warehouse in New Jersey, one of 25 across the country, to see how hard it would be to buy a used copier loaded with documents. It turns out … it’s pretty easy.
This is wild and a little scary.
TechCrunch:
While the home crowd cheered enthusiastically at how capable Google had seemingly made its prototype robot caller — with Pichai going on to sketch a grand vision of the AI saving people and businesses time — the episode is worryingly suggestive of a company that views ethics as an after-the-fact consideration.
“Google’s experiments do appear to have been designed to deceive,” agreed Dr Thomas King, a researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute’s Digital Ethics Lab, discussing the Duplex demo. “Because their main hypothesis was ‘can you distinguish this from a real person?’. In this case it’s unclear why their hypothesis was about deception and not the user experience… You don’t necessarily need to deceive someone to give them a better user experience by sounding naturally.”
Many will dismiss these concerns as irrelevant but I personally believe they are crucially important. Thanks to Aaron Miller for the link.
The Verge:
Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) and 32 other Democrats have submitted a new discharge petition under the Congressional Review Act, setting the stage for a full congressional vote to restore net neutrality. Because of the unique CRA process, the petition has the power to force a Senate vote on the resolution, which leaders say is expected next week.
Razor thin margin. 50 committed votes. Needs one more. Surprising to see this as even a possibility.
Of course, even if this vote does come to pass, it still has to make it through the House, then face a potential Presidential veto.
This is no replacement for a yearly eye exam but, in a pinch, this seems a fantastic resource.
Ryan Gray:
Our current Contacts apps are full data we’ve collected about other people. It’s out of date and inaccurate. It has things people wish we didn’t have. Anyone can share the data they’ve collected with anyone else. App developers can easily ask for this information (and most people will give it to them).
This is a backwards system. You should be the owner of your contact information. You should grant access to others deciding who can see what specific pieces of information. Ironically the one company that seems to best share this view is the one people trust the least to handle this kind of data: Facebook.
Ryan brings up an excellent point. As is, my Contacts database is full of outdated information. And I have no way of telling whether that information is still valid. Everything is static, a screenshot of the moment in time when I first received the contact card.
From Ryan’s proposed replacement, which he calls “People”:
Of course, you can easily share one of your cards with anyone nearby (and get theirs). But a shared card is not just sent once. It’s a subscription. If you change your phone number or if you move you’ll be able to push the updates out to anyone who is subscribed. You’ll also be able to block anyone, revoke access, or prevent someone from sharing your card.
The more I think about this the more I love the idea. I’m not sure how easy an implementation this would be, but I do think it’d be doable, at least at a very basic level. But the privacy implications would be tricky to handle properly.
That said, this is an idea I hope gets some traction and, hopefully, a look from within Apple.
[H/T Dan Murrell]
Bloomberg:
For the first time, Apple plans to begin selling subscriptions to certain video services directly via its TV app, rather than asking users to subscribe to them through apps individually downloaded from the App Store, according to people familiar with the matter.
And:
Right now, the TV app aggregates content from other providers, allowing people to locate shows from a wide array of apps and channels like ABC, NBA League Pass and HBO, rather than having to hop between different apps. But then Apple sends customers outside its app to buy access to those channels or watch shows. With the pending change, subscription purchasing would move to the TV app. Apple could eventually move the streaming to its own app, instead of sending users to third parties.
Is this an indicator of Apple’s plans for packaging their own custom content? Will everything sit under the TV app? If so, will Apple build a TV app equivalent for macOS? Will subscriptions be manageable from the web?
Joe Rossignol, MacRumors:
Apple has confirmed that “service inventory of all iPhone replacement batteries is now available without delay,” in an internal memo distributed to Apple Stores and its network of Apple Authorized Service Providers on April 27. The document was obtained by MacRumors from a reliable source.
What this means is that Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers can now order iPhone replacement batteries from Apple and receive them without facing extended shipping delays, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that every Apple Store or authorized repair shop will have supply available right away.
This whole thing was a mess. Glad to see availability moving along.
Check out the video in this tweet, a small piece of a larger project covering HyperCard:
Just digitized: Multimedia 101, an hour-long special about HyperCard produced by Apple TV in 1990 pic.twitter.com/lVXvKrlqQL
— Phil Salvador (@ItsTheShadsy) May 8, 2018
At the time, back in 1990, this was absolutely groundbreaking. Since the internet was still in its infancy, images and data for a project were always stored locally. And images were massive, compared to the relatively tiny hard drives of the time.
The solution? Video discs and computer controlled video disc players. Back then, paper maps were filmed on incredibly precise animation stands (like those used for special effects camera fly-throughs), then cut into frames and stored on video disc. The computer moved along the maps by stepping through frames, each one a picture of a portion of a map at a slight offset from the previous frame.
In this example, the HyperCard stack presents a picture of the heart, and clicking on various buttons or hot points tells the video disc player to jump to an appropriate image or video.
How far we’ve come. Now, all those image can be stored locally, or brought up as needed from the cloud. And using cloud-shared resources means content can be updated as needed.
Fascinating look back. HyperCard was a truly groundbreaking piece of work by Bill Atkinson, one of the members of the original Macintosh team. If you are not familiar with Bill, take a look at his Wikipedia page. We owe him a lot.
Chance Miller, 9to5Mac:
A report in 2016 indicated that Apple was planning to use [drones] to collect data for Apple Maps, and now the company has confirmed that initiative. The company says, however, that its stance on privacy will remain the same throughout its use of drones.
I believe the report in question was this piece from Mark Gurman for Bloomberg.
Apple, to Reuters:
“Apple is committed to protecting people’s privacy, including processing this data to blur faces and license plates prior to publication,” the company said.
Think about the statement, XXX announces plan to use drones. Now plug in Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook. To me, different take for each company. Google’s drones would likely perform the best. Apple’s would look the best. But which would go to the greatest length to protect my privacy?
Hodinkee:
Sir Jonathan Ive, Chief Design Officer of Apple, Inc., is sitting across from me at a seamless white oak table. We’ve met a few times before, and I know he cares about watches. He must, right? But I’ve never actually asked him. So I do. And thank God, he does – he recounts a tale of buying an Omega Speedmaster Professional in the early ’90s.
I exhale, because the hypothesis of this interview, at least in my mind (likely not in Apple’s), is that the watch industry and its all-too-vocal supporters have got it all wrong. Jony, the creator of what is, by at least one definition, the number one watch on Earth, is a friend, not a foe. But, like any great question of power and influence, it’s not so simple.
Ive can be obtuse in interviews sometimes but it’s still interesting to read his thoughts about design.
Ars Technica:
Apple and Bandai soon entered into an agreement. Sirkin returned to Cupertino and put a team of engineers onto the project to help him design the device internals. They codenamed the project Pippin, after the type of apple, because the name was already registered by Apple and it hadn’t been used yet.
The core technology would come from the Macintosh—specifically the new PowerPC line. To keep costs down, they opted for the low-end PowerPC 603 rather than the more powerful but much more expensive 604 processor. The Pippin, then, would be a low-cost Macintosh designed for the living room. A clone by a different name, for a different purpose.
Immediately, things got complicated.
I remember when this was announced thinking, “Well, that’s never going to work…” We’ve posted about this before and both pieces give a good overview of what happened and why the Pippin failed. The Pippin went along with the proposed “Apple Internet Cafes” around the same time as projects that showed the dysfunction of the company just before Jobs came back.
John Bull:
“Do you have a better idea?” replied Hendrickson, apologetically.
Poindexter didn’t, and when the California Clipper took to the sky that afternoon he was sitting at its radio desk next to Hendrickson. With the late afternoon sun glinting off her metallic grey hull, the flying boat turned and headed towards Pearl Harbour.
Somewhere out there in the Pacific, a Japanese battle fleet was doing exactly the same thing.
What an incredible story. Thanks to my friend John Welch for the link.
Google AI blog:
Today we announce Google Duplex, a new technology for conducting natural conversations to carry out “real world” tasks over the phone. The technology is directed towards completing specific tasks, such as scheduling certain types of appointments. For such tasks, the system makes the conversational experience as natural as possible, allowing people to speak normally, like they would to another person, without having to adapt to a machine.
You can jump to that page and click on examples of Google Assistant using Google Duplex to make phone calls, interact with real-world people.
But the best thing to do is jump to this Verge page and watch the video of Google CEO Sundar Pichai actually running those demos. It’s incredible.
I’ve encountered two waves of thinking about this. On one hand, there’s the thinking that robots are coming for our jobs, that this technology will displace human assistants, human call centers, and that we’ll have an even larger wave of junk calls to deal with.
But on the positive side, consider this tweet:
People who have difficulty speaking, people who have difficulty hearing, people who get anxiety when speaking on the phone, people who are not native language speakers. All are going to have their lives significantly improved by AI-driven calling. https://t.co/QvYLkPBfpZ
— Steve Streza ? (he/they) (@SteveStreza) May 8, 2018
Well worth considering the good that can come from this technology.
Also worth noting that it is 26 days until WWDC.
Watch the video below (courtesy of The Verge) to get a sense of Google’s state-of-the-union in terms of augmented reality and object identification. The big move Google made is promoting this technology to the Camera app, giving up precious screen real estate to a Google Lens button.
Augmented reality is one area where Apple has held its own, perhaps even moved ahead of Google in some ways. But this exposure of the Google Lens platform at the highest level is a strategic move by Google.
26 days until WWDC.
If you love games, follow the link and search for your favorite. If nothing else, click through to your favorite old-timey platform (the Mac OS Classic page, say), and check out the huge wave of titles. Fun.
ElcomSoft blog:
In the iOS 11.4 Beta, Apple introduced a new called USB Restricted Mode. In fact, the feature made its first appearance in the iOS 11.3 Beta, but was later removed from the final release. This is how it works:
“To improve security, for a locked iOS device to communicate with USB accessories you must connect an accessory via lightning connector to the device while unlocked – or enter your device passcode while connected – at least once a week.”
And:
In other words, law enforcement will have at most 7 days from the time the device was last unlocked to perform the extraction using any known forensic techniques, be it logical acquisition or passcode recovery via GreyKey or other services.
It will be interesting to see if this mode survives through to the actual public release of 11.4. A chess move. Will the GreyKey folks have a follow-up? Or will all those $30K GreyKey devices become useless against updated phones?
Microsoft developer blog:
Starting later this year, consumer applications (not including games) sold in Microsoft Store will deliver to developers 95% of the revenue earned from the purchase of your application or any in-app products in your application, when a customer uses a deep link to get to and purchase your application.
That’s a huge drop from the 70/30 split they had up to this point.
When Microsoft delivers you a customer through any other method, such as in a collection on Microsoft Store or any other owned Microsoft properties, and purchases your application, you will receive 85% of the revenue earned from the purchase of your application or any in-app products in your application
Note that this structure does not include games, which stick to the 70/30 split.
Does this apply any pressure to Apple to make a similar move? Windows is not quite a direct competitor to iOS, but the Windows market is massive.
Regardless, I like this move. Anything that helps improve the lot of the indie developer.
One thing Apple can do to one-up this move that would be even better for indie devs? Create a free tier, where up to, say the first $1,000 in sales goes 100% to the developer. Just a thought.
Juli Clover, MacRumors:
At the 97th annual ADC Awards, which honors the best work in design, advertising, motion, and other commercial creative arts, Apple’s “Barbers” ad for the iPhone 7 Plus won a Best of Show award.
And:
“Barbers” was awarded a 2018 Motion and Film Craft Gold Cube, a Black Cube for Best of Show, and a 2018 Advertising Merit Award. Furlined, the agency that produced the spot, also won Production Company of the Year.
From the first wave of Portrait Mode ads, back in May 2017. Terrific ad.
Dave and I take a look at the the iMac’s introduction and what it meant for Apple, even today. We also talk about this year’s Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame inductees and guitar players.
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The Boston Public Library:
Boston Public Library’s collection shows the broad range of Escher’s talent as a printmaker. Escher worked in a number of printmaking techniques, including lithography, drypoint, and mezzotint. However his preferred print techniques were woodcut, wood engraving, and linoleum cut.
Escher is my favorite artist. The level of detail of these scans is remarkable. Thanks to Jason Kottke for the link.
If you’ve never played the guitar, this is a fun way to learn a bit about tuning. And if you play the guitar, make your way down the page and try your hand at tuning by ear.
Nice implementation.
Peter Cohen:
The iMac debuted 20 years ago this week. It’s not hyperbole to say that it’s the computer that saved Apple and set the stage for Apple’s ascendance to becoming the biggest tech company in the world. All that said, Apple’s lost something in the translation – while the iMac is still a fixture in Apple’s product line, it lacks some essential qualities of that first model. Its personality has changed. The iMac has gotten harder. It’s lost the sense of whimsy, fun, and wonder that made the first iMac such a joy to use.
This is an interesting point. In my mind, it’s very difficult for a company to grow to massive size and maintain the joie de vivre of their smaller self.
I hope that Apple finds an opportunity to go full circle with the Mac yet again. It probably won’t be the iMac, but I hope that some future Apple device, whether it’s a phone, tablet, laptop or desktop machine, or some hitherto unimagined gadget, regains that sense of whimsy and wonder we’ve seen before. Something to help us emotionally connect with it and that essential Apple user experience in a way that’s different, and less invisible, than how we do today.
Part of the issue is growth but, as Peter points out, part is the focus on minimalism, ascetic design. Will that pendulum ever swing back to bright colors, skeuomorphism? I kind of miss that.
I’m a big fan of Austin Mann’s photography blog. He loves Apple gear and puts it to great use.
This post is about a trip he took to South America and Antarctica. The pics were taken with a range of cameras, one of which was his iPhone X. His workflow included the iPad and MacBook Pro, but all the heavy lifting was done back in the studio on the iMac Pro.
Lots of interesting comments, including some insight on traveling with an iMac Pro, buying a travel case, and checking it as luggage. And, of course, some great pictures.
Enjoy.
Fascinating to look back at these specs, representing Apple’s state-of-the-art 20 years ago. Fun.
Interesting that the note’s publication date is July 26, 2017. Wonder if this was part of a mass update, or was created as part of the planned publicity push for the iMac 20th anniversary.
A terrific find by Stephen Hackett and 512 Pixels.
Warren Buffett and Bill Gates (two of the three wealthiest people on the planet), along with Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, talking about Apple.
Short, to the point. Don’t miss that very last line.
Silicon Valley self-driving startup Drive.ai said on Monday it will launch a pilot program for an autonomous ride-hailing service in July in Frisco, Texas, with safety drivers present.
I honestly don’t know how I feel about this. I know that autonomous vehicles are here to stay and will become more prevalent in the coming years, but sometimes I think it may be too soon. That said, riding in an autonomous vehicle is probably safer than a human driver in a lot of ways. I think it would be fascinating to get in a car and just have it drive away.