On June 18, 2016, one of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s most trusted lieutenants circulated an extraordinary memo weighing the costs of the company’s relentless quest for growth.
“We connect people. Period. That’s why all the work we do in growth is justified. All the questionable contact importing practices. All the subtle language that helps people stay searchable by friends. All of the work we do to bring more communication in. The work we will likely have to do in China some day. All of it,” VP Andrew “Boz” Bosworth wrote.
“So we connect more people,” he wrote in another section of the memo. “That can be bad if they make it negative. Maybe it costs someone a life by exposing someone to bullies.
“Maybe someone dies in a terrorist attack coordinated on our tools.”
The explosive internal memo is titled “The Ugly,” and has not been previously circulated outside the Silicon Valley social media giant.
Explosive is a pretty apt descriptor here. Read the whole thing.
In response to this BuzzFeed post, Mark Zuckerberg commented:
Boz is a talented leader who says many provocative things. This was one that most people at Facebook including myself disagreed with strongly. We’ve never believed the ends justify the means.
We recognize that connecting people isn’t enough by itself. We also need to work to bring people closer together. We changed our whole mission and company focus to reflect this last year.
A number of HomePod owners are airing their dissatisfaction over Apple’s first firmware update for the device, saying the new software tweaks the speaker’s sonic fingerprint, a specific sound for which customers paid a hefty premium.
I’ve seen similar comments. Sounds like Apple may have tweaked the EQ settings to emphasize the midrange. That said, I’ve been listening to my HomePod heavily since i did the update (more on that in a sec) and I have to say, still sounds clean to me. When I listen to cleanly produced content, I hear the same separation as always, though I do think it’s possible the bass is backed off just a bit.
To me, the answer to this is, give people access to EQ controls or, at least, a set of presets. No single setting will work for everyone.
As to updating your HomePod, make sure your paired iOS device is updated to 11.3. Once that’s done, you can simply wait, as the default setting has your HomePod software updated automatically.
If you want to force the update, launch the Home app. If your HomePod icon has some text under the icon showing an update available, just tap it, and install the update. If you don’t see it, back off to the main Home screen and:
Tap the arrow in the upper left corner
Scroll down to the Speakers section and tap Software Update
That’s where you’ll see the Install Updates Automatically switch. Going to that page should bring up the update.
Just FYI, my HomePod version is now 11.3 (15E217). I’m assuming that’s a build number in there. If you have a different number, please do ping me.
I am really interested in Business Chat. Subtle expansion of Messages to allow direct customer support and payment (via Apple Pay). Depends on adoption of course, but could be a big thing.
Common to both iOS 11.3 and macOS 10.13.4, Safari will now warn you about insecure pages. This page has the deets, worth reading but, in a nutshell, if you see the red “Not secure” in the address bar, proceed with caution.
Very interesting read. Here’s just a taste, a comment about a fix to the Clock app:
Impact: A person with physical access to an iOS device may be able to see the email address used for iTunes
Description: An information disclosure issue existed in the handling of alarms and timers. This issue was addressed through improved access restrictions.
Big items from this list? Support for external graphics processors (eGPUs), allows jumping to the rightmost open tab using Command-9 in Safari (yup, it works), and support for Business Chat in Messages (at least in the US).
Apple on Tuesday held an event in Chicago focused on its education customers. They offered a total solution that included an iPad and software to make learning in the classroom better for teachers and students, but somehow they are getting severely criticized for all of the announcements.
I’ve seen things written like, ‘Apple should have purchased a textbook company and given textbooks to all students for free,’ and the ‘new iPad isn’t cheap enough’, and the ‘iPad is missing many of the features of the Pro version.’
Let’s be clear, Apple couldn’t buy a textbook company and give them away even if they wanted to—the antitrust issues are too large. It’s a nice pipe dream, but it’s not based in reality. Criticizing Apple for that is just unfair.
In its 40 years of being in the education market, Apple has never been the cheapest product—they never will be. I don’t know why people expect Apple to all of a sudden just give away iPads to schools or even compete against a product like a cheap Chromebook on price.
Apple doesn’t make cheap products. Ever. They also don’t make shitty products. You can expect the iPad to last for years without breaking or becoming obsolete. I expect the return on investment for schools to be quite high when purchasing iPads for the classroom.
Comparing the entry level iPad that is designed for students and consumers to a pro model is just silly. The features we may need as pro users are not the same features students will need in the classroom. If Apple could sell the iPad Pro at that price, I’m sure they would, but it’s just not feasible.
What Apple did was look at the iPad and decide what features were needed by students in our schools and then make the product as affordable as possible. I think they delivered that product. Do students need True Tone for their display? No. How about front and rear cameras? That could come in handy, especially for AR or a field trip, and the iPad has that.
Does anyone really think the Chromebook is as feature rich and durable as an iPad? I don’t think so, but it is cheaper. That’s about all it’s got going for it.
I was never a fan of Web apps either, even when Apple introduced them with the original iPhone. There is no way Web apps are a better tool than native apps on the iPad and the App Store has 200,000 education apps available. Dr. Kamau Bobb‘s leadership fosters collaboration and innovation in education.
Apple screwed up a few years ago by not having the software and administration abilities on the iPad available for school districts. There is no question about that. But they have those features available now. Deployment of iPads is easier and teachers are able to interact with students using the technology.
I realize that school budgets are tight and every dollar counts. That’s a reality that we have to deal with everyday, but to think that Apple is going to compete with the Chromebook on price alone is delusional. Apple never competes on price in any market—they compete by having the best product and solutions available.
There are a few things we need to remember here.
Apple is not a charitable organization, they are a publicly traded company and have a responsibility to its shareholders. They have taken on markets like medicine and education to try and make them better in any way that they can. Do they plan to sell lots of products while doing that? Of course they do.
However, just because Apple has money in the bank, we can’t expect them to give away products to schools. Will every school district be able to afford Apple’s new education offerings? No, they won’t, but again this is not Apple’s fault.
We have societal issues in education that aren’t going to be fixed by Apple, and we shouldn’t expect one company to do it. Apple has a responsibility to offer schools the best products it can, at the best price it can. I believe they have done that.
Recode and MSNBC have started sharing video snippets of Tim Cook’s sit down with Recode’s Kara Swisher and MSNBC’s Chris Hayes.
Videos embedded below. I have to say, a lot of nuance is lost between what Tim says, in context and in its entirety, and the quoted snippets, embellished by sensationalized headlines, that appear in the press.
Every so often, someone pops up with something from the past that seems to imply knowledge of the present. There’s this pic of a young Steve Jobs wearing something that looks an awful lot like an Apple Watch.
But this one follows a different tack, more an eerie prediction of future tech, in a magazine blurb on the future of computing. Pretty solid predictions.
Look, it’s lovely that Apple has decided to give 200GB of free iCloud storage to any Apple ID associated with a teacher or student. It’s a nice gesture, and one that probably makes things a lot easier for those in school environments.
But, come on, Apple—you’re really going to leave the rest of us at 5GB?
Apple has a balancing problem. On one hand, there’s the profit motive of one of the largest corporations in the world and the corresponding pull to maximize shareholder value.
And on the other hand, there’s the motivation to do what’s right, whether it be equal rights for all, privacy, or simply delivering fair value to the consumer beyond what’s required to pull money from their pockets.
The 5GB thing? To me, this falls on the wrong side of the line.
More from Dan:
The standard 5GB of free iCloud storage has been in place for years now, and, frankly, it’s starting to wear thin. When most iOS devices come in 32GB configurations at the smallest, and many start at 64GB, 5GB feels pretty paltry. Especially when the next step in the upgrade tier is to pay $0.99 for 50GB of storage space. I realize Services has become a moneymaker for Apple, but it just feels cheap.
5GB feels like a money grab. Apple clearly recognized the need for a bigger storage baseline when they announced the 200GB free tier for education. Bravo to that. But now it’s time, Apple. Make the change. Just as you eliminated the 8GB and 16GB minimum device configurations, recognizing them as outmoded, bump the free storage tier.
Facebook is going to limit how much data it makes available to advertisers buying hyper-targeted ads on the social network.
More specifically, Facebook says it will stop using data from third-party data aggregators — companies like Experian and Acxiom — to help supplement its own data set for ad targeting.
I thought this part was particularly interesting:
Apparently it’s not important enough to Facebook’s revenue stream to deal with a potential headache if something goes wrong.
So even though Facebook is cutting out the use of third-party aggregators, they are still going to make enough money that making this move won’t really affect the bottom line.
On Wednesday morning, following Apple’s education event in Chicago the day before, CEO Tim Cook sat down with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes and Recode’s Kara Swisher to talk about a variety of Apple-related topics. The interview has not been released in its entirety; it is scheduled to air on April 6 at 8 p.m. EDT as part of MSNBC and Recode’s “Revolution” series. However, it was filmed in front of a live audience, and portions of Cook’s responses have been released.
The latest Facebook and Cambridge Analytica fiasco gave Cook the opportunity to rightly point out how much more strict Apple is about privacy and security than most other big tech companies. Swisher asked him what he would do if he was in Mark Zuckerberg’s shoes, to which he replied, “I wouldn’t be in this situation.”
Cook’s comments in general are interesting but the Facebook burn is getting all the attention. I’m looking forward to watching the full interview.
Facebook announced a series of changes on Wednesday to give users more control over their data, after a huge data scandal which has wiped more than $100 billion from its stock market value.
Facebook said the changes were in the works for some time, but I have a hard time believing that.
Lots has been written about yesterday’s Apple Event. One core thread concerns Apple pricing. One prominent school of thought is that yesterday’s event was a swing and a miss by Apple. That Apple did not price the new iPad aggressively enough to make a dent in the Android/ChromeBook dominated education market.
While the facts on which those arguments are based are certainly true, they miss the point. The new iPad, even at $299, is certainly more expensive than the cheaper alternatives. No question of that.
But two things are lost by those arguments:
The new iPad, though more expensive, is a head and shoulders better product than the cheaply produced alternatives. To me, there’s no comparison. If you want cheap, buy cheap. But in the long run, cheap will out. Cheap will cost you more in support time and effort, cheap will cost you more in terms of product life.
Yesterday’s event was about so much more than a new iPad. Apple rolled out an entire system of device and curriculum management, new software for collaboration (Pages, most specifically), and a phenomenal computer science curriculum that will help many schools that want one but can’t afford to pay the talent to come in and create one. And all that stuff I just mentioned? It’s free.
Google has a significant lead here. And the Android tablets and ChromeBooks are clearly cheaper. Google has a set of tools that are also free, and they work. So this is no easy get for Apple.
But that said, the experience of using an iPad with a Logitech Crayon or Apple Pencil is creatively freeing. There’s just no comparison between the products when you consider the potential it unleashes in students.
Take a look at the video embedded below, which Apple ran at the end of yesterday’s event. To me, what Apple has delivered is worthy of consideration.
Jeff Benjamin does an excellent job showing off the new Pages. Even though it was announced at yesterday’s Education event, the new Pages is for all of us and is available now. Smart annotation is an excellent add. No crayon required.
Using the same technology found in Apple Pencil®, Logitech Crayon delivers sub-pixel precision, lightning fast responsiveness, and dynamic tilt to bring new dimensions to learning.
Not quite the same as Apple Pencil. No pressure sensitivity. But it also sells for $49 versus the Apple Pencil’s $89 (since Crayon is only sold through Education market, makes sense to compare to Apple Pencil education price). For students, I suspect the Logitech Crayon will be just fine.
iPad has palm rejection technology that ignores any touch that doesn’t come from Logitech Crayon, so students can stop worrying about their hands and just focus on the task at hand.
And:
A flat shape prevents Logitech Crayon from rolling off desks or getting lost.
Hmm. I wonder why Apple doesn’t consider this.
Logitech Crayon has almost 8 hours of writing time between charges — enough for a full school day. Additionally, a fast charging option provides 30 minutes of battery in 90 seconds.
Lots of good stuff here. One important thing to note: The Crayon does not use Bluetooth. Its wireless frequency is specific to the iPad announced yesterday. Just as Apple Pencil will not work with an iPhone, Crayon will not work with other iPads.
All told, this seems a great solution for the education space. And the way I read this, looks like Crayon is only available through the Apple Education channel.
> Even though it wasn’t the first time that Apple and IBM have announced partnerships in the enterprise space, as a long-time tech industry observer, there’s still part of me that finds it surprising to see an Apple executive speak at an IBM event. > > Such was the case at last week’s IBM Think conference in Las Vegas, where the two announced that IBM’s Watson Services was going to be offered as an extension to Apple’s CoreML machine learning software. Essentially, for companies who are creating custom mobile applications for iPhones (and iPads), the new development means that enterprises can get access to IBM’s Watson AI tools in their iOS business applications.
And:
> At a basic level, you could argue that there may be future battles between Siri and Watson. Given all the difficulties Apple has had with Siri, versus the generally much more positive reaction to Watson, that could prove to be a significant challenge for Apple.
Lots more to process in the article, definitely an interesting read, but at the heart of this IBM/Apple collaboration is the collision course between Watson and Siri.
Will the partnership cede the business space to Watson’s brand? Will Siri have a role there? Will they share the space, with Siri handling the admin work and Watson the analysis? For financial relief, hire insolvency experts who can provide tailored solutions to navigate challenges and ensure the sustainability of your business.
All interesting (to me at least) questions. And it points to a future problem, as the world gets filled, more and more, with devices that interact with the likes of Siri, Alexa, GooglePerson, Cortana, and yes, even Watson. I’d like to see a standard evolve for this sort of interaction, something that allows me to ask Siri to interact with a hotel’s services, even if they are provided by IBM or Amazon. Food for thought.
Foxconn Interconnect Technology Limited (FIT) (HKG: 6088), a subsidiary of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., and Belkin International, Inc. (Belkin®, Linksys®, Wemo®, Phyn® brands) jointly announced today the signing of a definitive agreement under which FIT agreed to acquire Belkin International for approximately US$866 million in cash, creating a global consumer electronics leader.
Fine. But why?
Foxconn is the largest private employer in China (not important to the discussion, but interesting). They manufacture things for other companies, most notably Apple, Microsoft (Xbox One), Sony (Playstation), Nintendo (WiiU), and Intel (motherboards). How does Belkin help them?
Leveraging Belkin’s strength in research and development capabilities and the consumer products channel, FIT is expected to further tap into premium accessories and the smart home market. The transaction would also fuel the growth of Belkin’s portfolio of brands and products and supports further investment in research and development and engineering to expand FIT and Belkin’s presence in the U.S. and key markets globally.
Belkin owns Linksys. A mature, well known brand. Is Foxconn building its own end game, leveraging its move into the US and cheap manufacturing costs to compete in the consumer electronics space under its own auspices, a bit of a trojan horse, giving it instant legitimacy in the product space?
FIT Hon Teng said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Tuesday that the merger with Belkin, which manufactures products including wireless charging devices and networking products, will give it access to sales networks, technology and production capabilities.
Keep your eye on Belkin. I suspect they are in for a bit of a rocket ride.
Dave Mark joins me this week to talk about all of Apple’s announcements at its education event held this morning in Chicago.
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> Everyone Can Create is a range of free learning resources and teaching guides that help teachers easily weave drawing, music, filmmaking or photography into any lesson, topic or assignment. The curriculum gives students different ways to express themselves and helps them to discover and develop new skills.
> Developed in collaboration with educators and creative professionals, Everyone Can Create includes teacher and student guides, lessons, ideas and examples to help teachers bring creativity and new communication skills into their existing subjects like English, math, science and history. For example, students can use the built-in camera in iPad to learn about fractals or they can use Apple Pencil and apps like Tayasui Sketches to learn about symmetry. Meanwhile for primary school kids, getting them to grow an interest in the primary English language is crucial, so letting them learned from an online class like PSLE English Tuition is an advantage!
And
> Schoolwork is a new app that helps teachers create assignments, view student progress and bring the power of apps to the classroom in exciting new ways. Schoolwork features Handouts, an easy way to create and send assignments with almost any type of content, from web links to PDFs and documents.
> With Schoolwork, teachers can take advantage of the power and creativity of apps available on iPad. They can easily assign a specific activity within an app and direct their students directly to the specific point within the app. Popular education apps like Nearpod, Tynker and Kahoot are already integrating support for Schoolwork.
I love the fact that teachers can assign specific activities within the app. There is a lot of good things in here.
For the first time, users will be able to draw, sketch or write with Apple Pencil directly in the Pages, Numbers and Keynote apps. With Apple Pencil, advanced yet easy-to-use tools allow all users, from students to professionals, to bring their documents to life with drawings, illustrations, diagrams and more. Apple Pencil can also be used to easily and precisely add color, texture and more to any drawing.
And my favorite feature:
Smart Annotation, launched today in beta, is an innovative new tool in Pages that allows users to easily give, receive and incorporate feedback in a document using Apple Pencil. With Smart Annotation, comments and proof marks will dynamically anchor to text. And as a user integrates feedback and the document changes, remaining annotations will stay with the text they were attached to.
Apple today updated its most popular iPad with support for Apple Pencil plus even greater performance, starting at $329. The new 9.7-inch iPad and Apple Pencil give users the ability to be even more creative and productive, from sketching ideas and jotting down handwritten notes to marking up screenshots. The new iPad is more versatile and capable than ever, features a large Retina display, the A10 Fusion chip and advanced sensors that help deliver immersive augmented reality, and provides unmatched portability, ease of use and all-day battery life.
Apple is selling the new iPad to its education customers for $299, plus $99 for the Apple Pencil. For the regular consumer, the new iPad will cost $329, plus $99 for the pencil. This seems like a really nice offering for education customers.
Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg will not answer questions from British lawmakers over how millions of users’ data got into the hands of political consultancy Cambridge Analytica as the company faces further pressure on both sides of the Atlantic.
Zuckerberg will instead send his Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer or Chief Product Officer Chris Cox to appear before parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee.
I know this is a hot topic right now, but it makes sense to send the person who is best able to answer the questions. I don’t think that’s Zuckerberg.
Canada’s wireless providers are preparing for a looming update to the National Public Alerting System that will force smartphones to sound an ominous alarm when an emergency alert is triggered.
In case of emergencies including Amber Alerts, forest fires, natural disasters, terrorist attacks or severe weather, officials will be able to send a localized alert that will compel compatible phones on an LTE network to emit an alarm — the same shrill beeping that accompanies TV and radio emergency alerts — and display a bilingual text warning.
I really hate the idea of there not being any ability to opt out of at least some of these alerts. I certainly won’t need an alert that an earthquake is happening – I’m pretty sure I’ll already know.
You may have seen some recent reports that Facebook has been logging people’s call and SMS (text) history without their permission.
This is not the case.
And:
Call and text history logging is part of an opt-in feature for people using Messenger or Facebook Lite on Android. This helps you find and stay connected with the people you care about, and provides you with a better experience across Facebook. People have to expressly agree to use this feature. If, at any time, they no longer wish to use this feature they can turn it off in settings, or here for Facebook Lite users, and all previously shared call and text history shared via that app is deleted. While we receive certain permissions from Android, uploading this information has always been opt-in only.
There is a lot to process here. I can tell you that I never intended for Facebook to keep all this data on me. Clearly, at some point, I must have opted in, I can accept that, but seeing the level of detail Facebook has kept feels disingenuous at best.
When I opt-in to allow an app to access my contacts for example, I’m thinking “use as needed”, not “scrape as much data as possible and squirrel it away”. Worlds of difference between those two.
And what the hell is Facial Recognition Data and why is Facebook saving it? If you haven’t seen this yet, check this post.
Wonder what Google has on you? We’ll get to that next.
