The U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating whether Apple Inc. violated securities laws concerning its disclosures about a software update that slowed older iPhone models, according to people familiar with the matter.
The government has requested information from the company, according to the people, who asked not to be named because the probe is private. The inquiry is in early stages, they cautioned, and it’s too soon to conclude any enforcement will follow.
With the hubbub over this, I’m not surprised that the government is asking questions. I don’t think this will go any farther considering the reason Apple did this was to actually help phones last longer without unexpectedly quitting.
Once in a blue moon is only once every few years, but once in a super, blue, blood moon is just once every few decades. This rare alignment of three different lunar phenomena—a total lunar eclipse, a full moon at perigee, and a blue moon—will be visible in the night and early morning skies for much of the world on Wednesday, January 31.
Featured Speakers include internationally renowned chef José Andrés; Apple’s Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue; award-winning actress, writer, and director Lena Dunham; actor and writer Ethan Hawke; Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson; entrepreneur and model Karlie Kloss; Waymo CEO John Krafcik; Oscar-winning director, writer, and producer Spike Lee; activist and technologist Chelsea Manning; executive editor of Recode Kara Swisher; Westworld cast members Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, and Jeffrey Wright; YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki; and many more.
It will be interesting to see what Eddy has to say.
If you are a songwriter or musician, take the time to watch this video. It’s the second entry in Rick Beato’s excellent series, “What makes this song great?”
Even if you are a music theory beginner, you’ll find this easy to follow and full of insight.
This particular song? Everything She Does is Magic, by The Police. I’ve heard this song hundreds of times and never once saw any of the special that Rick Beato reveals. Great, great video.
Why sit through the whole show, when you know the best bits are going to be online soon, to be viewed later. Bruno Mars and Cardi B performance from Grammys has 5.2 million views on YouTube. The performances of Logic, Keesha, Lady Gaga and Sam Smith garnered a whopping 4 million views; the numbers are staggering compared to the “linear television” viewership.
Viewership for the Grammy’s was way down this year and I think Om is right on the reason why.
Some terrific food for thought. Just to whet your appetite, here’s the list:
Apple TV magic
SiriKit for media… and more
Unified mesh Siri
Voice ID and deep, personal context
HomePod mini
There are some great ideas here, some obvious, some not so obvious. The thing I love about most of these is the fact that Apple can implement them with an update (sorry HomePod mini).
Pushed into 2019 are a number of features including a refresh of the home screen and in-car user interfaces, improvements to core apps like mail and updates to the picture-taking, photo editing and sharing experiences.
This isn’t a new strategy for Apple—they have used this strategy in macOS for a number of years and it’s worked great. With all of the new features in iOS over the past several years, the time had to come when Apple took a step back and focused on reliability and performance.
Steve Jobs long believed Apple should own the technologies inside its products rather than rely on mashups of components from other chip makers, including Samsung, Intel and Imagination Technologies. In 2008, the company made a small but significant step in that direction by acquiring boutique chip maker P.A. Semi. Two years later, Jobs unveiled the iPad. The world focused on the tablet’s giant touchscreen, book-reading prowess and creativity apps. But the most ground-breaking technology was hidden away inside: the A4, Apple’s first processor designed in-house.
And:
Apple’s push into the complicated and pricey chips business makes sense so long as the company is selling 300 million devices a year.
An interesting read. Lots of solid reasons for Apple to roll their own chips. Cost savings, for sure, but there’s also self-reliance. They can control chip production and act quickly if and when a flaw/vulnerability is discovered.
But most importantly:
So far, only two Mac lines include custom Apple processors: the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and the iMac Pro. Apple is working on at least three updated Mac models with custom co-processors for release as soon as this year, including updated laptops and a new desktop, according to a person familiar with the plan.
Well, that’s pretty big news. And a logical next step, if true.
Will we see a Mac Pro this year based on Apple silicon? How about a MacBook Pro? Can’t wait.
Songwriters will get a larger cut of revenue from streaming services after a court handed technology companies a big defeat.
The Copyright Royalty Board ruled that songwriters will get at least a 15.1 percent share of streaming revenues over the next five years, from a previous 10.5 percent. That’s the largest rate increase in CRB history, according to a statement from the National Music Publishers’ Association.
The decision is a major victory for songwriters, who have long complained they are insufficiently [compensated] by on-demand music services like Spotify and YouTube. Streaming services account for the largest share of music industry sales in the U.S., while global streaming sales jumped 60 percent in 2016, according to the IFPI.
Obviously, a big deal for artists. Question is, will this force a change to the pricing of Apple Music and other services?
IndieWire, on Soderbergh’s upcoming movie, Unsane:
Taking a page from Sean Baker’s “Tangerine,” Soderbergh shot the whole movie on an iPhone. While Baker has said he used a phone instead of traditional cameras due to budgetary constraints, Soderbergh said he was so impressed with the quality of iPhone cinematography that he would likely continue to use phones to shoot his movies going forward.
And:
“I think this is the future,” he said. “Anybody going to see this movie who has no idea of the backstory to the production will have no idea this was shot on the phone. That’s not part of the conceit.”
The filmmaker has experimented with digital cinematography for years, going back to 2002’s “Full Frontal,” but found that the iPhone offered unparalleled quality. “People forget, this is a 4k capture,” said Soderbergh, who was long a passionate advocate for the high-end RED cameras. “I’ve seen it 40 feet tall. It looks like velvet. This is a gamechanger to me.”
Soderbergh doesn’t need to scrimp and save on his movies. He’s had enough big box office success (Erin Brockovich, Oceans 11/12/13) that he can do pretty much as he pleases. The fact that he can get what he wants from iPhone says a lot.
It kind of blows my mind to think that a director of some renowned would choose to film using his phone. How far we’ve come.
Since my hands on with the HomePod, I’ve gotten a number of questions about how the HomePod deals with streaming from Apple Music, iCloud Music Library, AirPlay sources like your Mac, and if iTunes Match works at all in this crazy new world.
Here’s how everything is supposed to work.
This may or may not clear things up for you. The biggest thing I notice is that the HomePod cannot be used as a TV audio out speaker.
If you have any interest in the history of music, watch this video about a guitar player you’ve undoubtedly never heard of but had a major influence on early rock and roll. Read this article for more info about her.
That seed of inspiration 10 years ago eventually spawned Ressence, a watch company that has accomplished the rare feat of earning adoration from design nerds and horology snobs alike despite being a start-up. But Ressence’s previous watches may only be a prelude to its newest, the Type 2, which manages to solve some core problems that have bedeviled wristwatches ever since they were invented. The creation of that timepiece was abetted by none other than Tony Fadell, the so-called godfather of the iPod.
Fadell’s involvement was catnip to tech blogs that rushed to publish news about the Type 2, which is slated to go into production sometime this year and is expected to cost around $40,000. They all missed how strange an object the Type 2 actually is. After all, what other watch has the same photocells that power orbital satellites and an origin story intertwined with Fadell’s own forgotten experiments in creating a pocketable MP3 player?
What a fascinating story about the technology behind a $40,000 butt ugly watch.
Reddit user WinterCharm, an audio engineer who got an hour to play with a HomePod:
Fucking hell this thing is TINY. It’s really surprising to see it in person. Hefting it is odd, too. The fabric is soft but firm. It was also lighter than I was expecting. It’s also very pretty. Aside from the single cord coming out the back, there is no idication that it has a particular side/front. It’s built to blend into whatever space it’s in, rather than stand out.
And:
Having heard it side by side with The Sonos Play One and Google Home Max, A single HomePod is already much better than both in terms of sound quality.
And:
The first impression was the neutrality of the speaker. The HomePods are tuned for an as-true-to-recording sound. When the song calls for it, there is bass. When the song turns to crystal clear highs, they are reproduced faithfully. What really was interesting is the instrument separation in the room. At about 45% volume, the HomePod FILLED the room I was in with some great sound. When you walked away from it, the sound gets quieter, but not as quickly as you’d expect. All the details were still there, just softer. there was no feeling of walking out of the sweet spot that you get with a normal speaker. And that’s when it hit me… Apple really has done it.
Looking forward to technical reviews once people get their own HomePods and can spend some real quality time, along with access to their home environments.
Read the rest of the Reddit thread. If you can avoid the comparison trap, consider HomePod on its own, strictly as an Apple Music audio machine. Apple has really achieved something special here.
This is a great thread on the birth of iPad from Bethany Bongiorno, a former software engineering director at Apple. A real moment in time.
i joined the iphone team in the fall of 2008, as an iphone software EPM, but was soon asked to lead the software project management efforts for a new device. which i later learned was a tablet…
Saw these spots over the weekend, timely marketing push coinciding with Apple Music’s big presence during last night’s Grammys.
I loved both of these ads, though that second one hit me twice. First, I love the Animoji, animation, and music combination. But I also love that this is Childish Gambino, who is really actor Donald Glover.
Every wave of Apple new thing brings a wave of skepticism. Last week, we posted one specific example, “No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame.”, which focused on a single, canonical iPod review.
In response to that post, Loop reader João Gomes, sent me a link to this MacRumors forum page, a rabbit hole filled with claim chowder (has John Gruber trademarked that phrase yet?)
Apple’s official YouTube channel has posted these four new HomePod videos that are likely coming to a TV screen near you. What do you think of them? As expected by everyone who is paying attention, Apple’s focus, at least inititally, is on the music.
During a performance workshop I was running this week, I was reminded of a technique for finding dead CSS on a live site. Note that I’m purposely not using the phrase ‘unused CSS’, but ‘dead CSS’
If it were only a question of quality, Apple’s HomePod, which, after a months-long delay finally ships on February 9, should be an unqualified success. Its audio quality is excellent, especially considering its size. Seven months ago, I sat is a small room and heard Apple’s 7-inch smart speaker play music for the first time. It sounded good, but the demonstration was short and lacking a key component of the smart speaker’s feature set: Siri integration.
Recently, though, I heard Apple’s HomePod again in a variety of scenarios and spaces. It sounded even better, especially when compared to larger Google Home Max and the aurally excellent Sonos One, the HomePod’s separation of sounds and fidelity to original instrumentation is astonishing.
This listening experience also added the smarts, or utility, that was missing back in June. Apple’s HomePod is, finally, a functioning Siri smart speaker.
You had me at astonishing.
I’m very curious about the sound quality, and how HomePod achieves such high fidelity, given the amount of compression in most music. Everything I’ve heard so far matches Lance’s description of his experience.
It’s time for our annual look back on Apple’s performance during the past year, as seen through the eyes of writers, editors, developers, podcasters, and other people who spend an awful lot of time thinking about Apple.
This is the third year that I’ve presented this survey to a hand-selected group. They were prompted with 11 different Apple-related subjects, and asked to rate them on a scale from 1 to 5, as well as optionally provide text commentary on their vote.
Lots of data to process, all based on a survey, but telling nonetheless. Read this (and check out the charts) for yourself, but one point I will note is that the biggest negative change from the 2016 report card, by far, is the rating for software quality.
Some of the comments:
In 2017, our panel’s perception of the quality of Apple’s software took a nosedive. Nobody who has been following along to Apple news and opinion for the last year will be surprised.
“Apple’s QA team has dropped the ball this year, with huge bugs in macOS, iOS, and even HomeKit, with often flawed patches for those bugs,” wrote Josh Centers. “Apple looks a bit amateurish lately,” wrote Kirk McElhearn. “It’s getting embarrassing,” wrote Rob Griffiths.”
“I don’t know how quality assurance works inside Apple, but something needs to change,” wrote Brent Simmons. Fraser Speirs wrote, “It’s as good as anyone else’s but it’s not good enough.”
“My family consists of a couple of big nerds, but mostly average users, and everyone agrees software reliability is trending down,” wrote Casey Liss.
About one year after construction on the first phase of Apple Park was originally scheduled to be finished, the city of Cupertino has finally granted Apple a series of temporary occupancy permits that allow employees to move into parts of the main building.
According to a spreadsheet compiled by Albert Salvador, a Cupertino building official, Apple received temporary occupancy permits on December 30 for five of the 12 sections of the massive circular structure. The company had actually received a previous temporary occupancy permit back in July for one section of the headquarters that contains the restaurant and atrium.
It appears Apple is on track to receive temporary occupancy permits for all the other sections between the end of January and March at the latest, according to the spreadsheet dated January 17.
I had the impression the entirety of Apple Park was all clear, ready for move-in.
Lots more in the linked article. Very interesting.
Universal Audio (UA) on Thursday announced it is shipping the OX Amp Top Box, an advanced reactive load box and guitar recording system.
OX allows guitarist to plug their existing tube amp to the hardware unit, bypassing the traditional cabinet altogether. Instead, you can choose a cabinet, mic and room from the OX to play your amp through.
The hardware unit can be configured using an iPad app or the Mac app, so you can use it almost anywhere, from gigging to your home studio.
UA said OX uses its Dynamic Room Modeling and Dynamic Speaker Modeling and is “the first amp recording system to accurately emulate speaker breakup and cone cry.”
In addition to allowing guitarists to play and record using a variety of cabinet, mic, and room models, OX also acts as a power soak or attenuator. This means that you can turn your tube amp all the up, but still control the output volume through the OX. You can listen at full volume, or you can turn it all the way down to a whisper.
Even at lower volumes, OX allows you to hear the amp characteristics as if you were playing at full volume.
I have played around with a lot of attenuators and IR amps, but I haven’t heard anything sound like this before. This is a very significant release for guitar players, from one of the companies I respect the most in the music industry.
This morning, Refinery29 had a chance to sit down with the new speaker. It wasn’t my first time hearing HomePod: I got an early preview when Apple announced the device at its Worldwide Developers Conference, or WWDC, in June. However, it was my first chance to see Siri in action, learn how the device is setup, and get a look at its smart home integrations — and I was impressed.
Siri, however, could be HomePod’s biggest selling challenge.
No details as to how they got their 60 minutes of time with the HomePod but some interesting tidbits are found in this piece.
Gimpirea’s is one of three teams of filmmakers involved in a month-long filmmaking workshop connecting creative professionals with emerging talent. The teams worked with powerful tools from Apple, including the MacBook Pro, iMac and Final Cut Pro X, as well as the RED Raven camera for shooting, and worked alongside Apple Retail experts and industry pros. LA-based independent filmmaking collective We Make Movies provided post-production supervision to help the filmmakers realize their visions.
This is a wonderful feature story on Apple’s web site.
Apple on Thursday updated its professional music software, Logic Pro X, adding new features and plug-ins. Apple told me that this is the 20th free update Apple has released since the launch of Logic Pro X.
As a guitar player, I often like to record without a click or drum track—it feels more natural because I am controlling the pace of the recording with my playing. When playing to a click track, it controls the pace, which can take some of the groove away from the song I’m trying to record.
The problem is that when when you add tempo-based content to your recording, nothing stays in sync. Apple fixed that with a new feature called Smart Tempo.
Smart Tempo allows you to record your track naturally without a click track because it uses an advanced tempo detection technology that automatically manages tempo across all the content in a project. According to Apple, all bars and beats conform to your recording. All loops, delays and even the drummer track will follow along with your recording.
You can even use recordings from sources with varying tempos and Smart Tempo will make it all work together. This is going to be a huge feature for all types of musicians from guitar players and drummers, to electronic musicians.
Apple also added a number of new plug-ins to Logic Pro X—my favorite is a bundle called Vintage EQ, which includes Vintage Graphic EQ, Vintage Tube EQ and Vintage Console EQ. These new plug-ins were modeled from the API 560, Pultec, and Neve 1073N—all classic EQs.
ChromaVerb is a new algorithmic reverb plug-in with a colorful interactive interface. It includes a number of acoustic spaces like Rooms, Chambers, Theaters, Halls, and more.
Phat FX is a multi-effects plug-in designed to add warmth and heft to guitars, bass, and drums. Step FX adds rhythmic movement to any track by arranging filters, effects and independent step sequencers to control treatments over time.
Logic Pro X 10.4 also includes a variety of new content, including two Drummers that play roots and jazz-influenced brush styles, two vintage brush kits for the Drum Kit Designer feature, more than 800 additional loops, and a new library for Alchemy synths with 150 cinematic presets.
This is a fantastic update for Logic Pro X users. In all, there are over 2,000 enhancements and bug fixes in this version. The update is free for existing users.
