Filipe Espósito, 9to5Mac:

Apple today released a new advertisement specifically for Canadians. The “Made in Canada” video, which is part of the “Behind the Mac” campaign, highlights multiple artists from Canada, including Justin Bieber, Daniel Caesar, and Shawn Mendes.

The new ad is embedded below.

Interestingly, Apple has a new, Canadian, Behind the Mac page as well.

Apple:

Save on select Apple products in stores or online during your state’s sales tax holiday. Combine your tax break with our additional offers to save even more.

Follow the headline link for Apple’s state tax holiday details. So far, there are listings for Alabama, Missouri, South Carolina, and Virginia.

If you live in one of those states and are thinking of buying an Apple product, follow your state’s link to see what products are eligible for the tax exemption.

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This is Money:

Apple’s lawyers warned it could quit the UK market if a court forces the company to pay a “commercially unacceptable” fee for the technology used in its iPhones. Amid these discussions, the tech community has been drawing parallels to how industries like the best crypto casinos UK have navigated similar regulatory challenges, managing to thrive by offering innovative solutions while operating in a rapidly changing legal landscape.

And:

Apple issued the warning as part of a court battle with UK patent holder Optis Cellular Technology.

And:

Optis is suing Apple for patent infringement after the iPhone maker refused to pay licence fees worth a possible $7billion for using ‘standardised’ smartphone technology in its products.A High Court judge ruled last month that Apple had infringed two Optis patents, which help iPhones connect to the 3G and 4G networks.

The article is a hot take, but interesting nonetheless. If the follow-on court proceedings levy more in fines than Apple can make in profits in the UK, what choice would they have?

Follow the headline link to read the well-deserved lavish praise, but here’s the quote:

“When we saw that first system and then you sat there and played with it for a few hours and the battery didn’t move, we thought ‘Oh man, that’s a bug, the battery indicator is broken,’” said Bob Borchers, VP of worldwide product marketing for Apple. “And then Tim’s laughing in the background, ‘Nope, that’s the way it’s supposed to be’ and it was pretty phenomenal.”

Yup. That battery life continues to amaze me.

Apple:

Apple TV+ today released the trailer for “Mr. Corman,” a new Apple Original comedy series created by, directed by and starring Emmy and SAG Award winner Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The first two episodes of the 10-episode first season will debut globally on Friday, August 6, 2021 on Apple TV+, followed by one new episode weekly every Friday.

Maybe it’s just me, but I continue to feel that Apple TV+ trailers rarely do justice to the source material. This started with Ted Lasso, whose original trailer mystified me, did not give a sense of the greatness of the show.

Here’s the trailer for Mr. Corman. I’m a fan of Joseph Gordon-Levitt and a follower of Apple TV+, so I will definitely tune in. But the trailer is not selling me.

Mark Gurman:

The debut of the new American Express Platinum Card had me thinking a lot about the Apple Card, the Goldman Sachs Group Inc. collaboration that came out nearly two years ago. So far, it doesn’t appear that the card has made much headway: It’s still U.S.-only, the rewards are mediocre, and the revenue impact for Apple Inc. doesn’t seem significant.

And:

I think what the product needs is an Apple Card+: a product to target the high-end market dominated by the Platinum and Chase Sapphire Reserve. Those cards charge $550 to $695 a year, prices that aren’t out of reach for the sorts of Apple consumers who regularly spring for the Pro models or Hermès watch bands.

Two thoughtful points here: Apple Card has not reached its potential. In the discussion of credit cards, it’s not on the shortlist, other than for Apple related purchases, where the 3% cash back is worth considering (to me, it’s a no-brainer), especially given the lack of an annual fee.

And second, take a look through Mark’s list of imagined perks for an Apple Card+. I do think Apple could compete against the American Express Platinum Card, the gold…er…platinum standard for business folk. Apple can use its ecosystem to sweeten the pot, draw users, in ways American Express cannot.

Tim Hardwick, MacRumors:

Apple Maps received several notable improvements in iOS 15, including new details in cities, an interactive globe, and enhanced driving directions. It also gained a feature that has long been available in rival map apps – the ability to set leaving and arrival times for driving directions.

The goal is to have a realistic driving time for future trips, based on predicted driving time for the time of day you specify.

In the past, to get this, had to use Google Maps. Glad to finally have this feature come to Apple Maps.

Filipe Espósito, 9to5Mac:

The Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo reported last month how criminals had been stealing iPhones in Brazil to access people’s bank accounts instead of reselling the devices. Now, the police seem to have finally figured out how they gain access to bank accounts, and to our surprise, the process seems easier than you might think.

And:

Basically, thieves take the SIM card out of the stolen iPhone and then put it into another iPhone. Using social networks like Facebook and Instagram, they can easily find out the email address used by the person who had the phone stolen. In most cases, this email address is the same as the one used for the Apple ID. All they need to do is reset the Apple ID password using the victim’s phone number.

The portability of the SIM card comes back to bite us. Is there anything Apple can do to prevent this?

Apple has promised the Brazilian newspaper that it will make it easier for users to delete all data from a stolen iPhone. However, the company did not give details of what exactly it will implement. With iOS 15, users will finally be able to track a powered-off iPhone using the Find My app.

And, of course, the best thing you can do to protect your accounts is not to store your passwords in the Notes app or other non-secure apps. Another good option is to only use an eSIM instead of a regular SIM, as the eSIM cannot easily be transferred to another device.

Why we cannot have nice things.

Derek Wise, 9to5Mac:

Louis Rossmann is well known for his continued fight to pass right to repair legislation. He sent a Cameo request to Wozniak, asking about right to repair.

Here’s Woz’s response:

And here’s Louis talking about the cameo request and his approach to lobbying for right to repair:

Apple:

Apple today announced “9/11: Inside the President’s War Room,” a new documentary special that tells the story of 9/11 through the eyes of the presidency by gaining unprecedented access to the key decision makers who responded for the nation. Brought to audiences by Apple and the BBC, the documentary will make its global debut on Apple TV+ and BBC One this September, marking the 20th anniversary of the attack.

And:

“9/11: Inside the President’s War Room” recounts the 12 hours after the strike on that momentous day, offering rare and unique insight into the dilemmas of decision-making against the clock, as those involved provide intimate, revealing and heartfelt details for the first time.

Astonishing to me that 20 years have passed since 9/11. Wow.

This looks like a great project, lots of never before seen images, never heard before testimony from folks who were in the room. Just writing this is churning up some pretty raw memories, even after all these years.

Saeki Kentaro, NHK World:

When it came to Kyoto, Oshima Hiroshi was Steve Jobs’ man. Oshima worked as a chauffeur and a tour guide for Jobs on four trips, the last in 2010, just one year before the Apple founder’s death. Jobs would arrive with a vague idea of what he wanted to see but left the specifics to Oshima.

Follow the link, read the story. Some fascinating insight into Steve and his love of Japan.

Don Clark, New York Times:

> The machine is made by ASML Holding, based in Veldhoven. Its system uses a different kind of light to define ultrasmall circuitry on chips, packing more performance into the small slices of silicon and then sealed using the best CNC burntables according to this  burntable reviews. The tool, which took decades to develop and was introduced for high-volume manufacturing in 2017, costs more than $150 million.

And:

> The complex machine is widely acknowledged as necessary for making the most advanced chips, an ability with geopolitical implications. The Trump administration successfully lobbied the Dutch government to block shipments of such a machine to China in 2019, and the Biden administration has shown no signs of reversing that stance.

And:

> Manufacturers can’t produce leading-edge chips without the system, and “it is only made by the Dutch firm ASML,” said Will Hunt, a research analyst at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, which has concluded that it would take China at least a decade to build its own similar equipment. “From China’s perspective, that is a frustrating thing.”

Most importantly:

> TSMC uses the tool to make the processors designed by Apple for its latest iPhones.

It’s the most complicated machine in the world, and vital to Apple’s plans. It’s one bit of the stack too expensive and complex for Apple to replicate.

Bloomburg:

It’s unclear exactly when Kvashuk stumbled on the gift card glitch in Microsoft’s security system (which the company says has since been closed). But at some point in 2017, around the time Microsoft recruited him for a full-time, $116,000-a-year engineering position, he gleaned that his team’s experimental accounts were programmed only to prevent the e-commerce site from shipping fake purchases of physical goods: PCs, tablets, keyboards, and so on. Microsoft simply didn’t intend for its digital-retail testers to order Xbox gift cards on the job. Kvashuk could have reported the vulnerability to his bosses, but he took the red pill instead.

This is a fascinating read, a real insider con story.

Benjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac:

The Apple original limited series ‘Defending Jacob’ starring Chris Evans, has been released on Blu-ray and DVD this week. This makes it the first Apple TV+ original title to get a physical media disc release.

And:

Given that Apple TV+ has been out for almost two years at this point, it seemed fair to assume that Apple had maintained release exclusivity over its original TV shows and movies, requiring everyone wanting to watch to get an Apple TV+ subscription.

However, the physical media release of Defending Jacob by Paramount shows that this is not a strict hard-and-fast rule. Travel series Long Way Up is also promoting a disc release coming later in the year.

Reading this, it appears that at least for some of its show deals, the rights to physical media time out and stay with the originating studio.

Will we ever see Ted Lasso on Blu-ray or DVD? Might Apple make such a deal with a third party distributor for streaming content it originated and owns completely?

Justin Sink, Bloomberg:

President Joe Biden will direct the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to draft new rules aimed at stopping manufacturers from limiting consumers’ ability to repair products at independent shops or on their own, a person familiar with the plan said.

The executive order leaves the specifics to the FTC, so it’s not clear how big an impact this will have. One particular aim here:

The order is also expected to benefit farmers, who face expensive repair costs from tractor manufacturers who use proprietary repair tools, software, and diagnostics to prevent third-parties from working on the equipment.

As to Apple and control over repair of Macs, iPhones, iPads, and the like, there are a wide range of possibilities here. Might Apple be forced to allow non-Apple approved parts into their warranty programs? In other words, might I be able to get a non-Apple replacement display for my iPhone without voiding my warranty?

Or, deeper still, might the new rules force a design change to Apple’s manufacturing, making it simpler for me to, say, swap out RAM or an SSD on my Apple device to give me more storage, without paying the Apple RAM/SSD premium price?

This is a long-running thread (see the date of each question) on early days at Apple and Woz. Here’s how it opens:

My obsession with computers began in 1973 at the age of 13. Since there were no “personal computers” for sale, I wanted to make my own. To learn how, I started attending Homebrew Computer Club meetings. Since I was unable to drive, I asked if anyone lived near me that could give me a lift to the meetings. A really nice guy came up and said he lived close and could give me a ride. I answered, “Great! What’s your name?” His answer: “Steve. But my friends call me Woz”.

A fascinating bit of Apple history.

Taylor Hall, 9to5Mac:

tvOS 15 includes a new look for the built-in video player interface on Apple TV. The new design features more readable titles and discoverable controls.

Follow the headline link, scan through the images. I really love the changes, terrific improvement.

Tim Hardwick, MacRumors:

Popular open-source audio editing software Audacity is facing “spyware” allegations from users for recent privacy policy changes that suggest the desktop app is collecting user data and sharing it with third parties, including state regulators where applicable.

Audacity is a very popular audio processing app. It allows you to do things like compression, normalization and other effects, and features a rich plug-in library that serves a wide set of needs.

From the updated privacy policy page:

All your personal data is stored on our servers in the European Economic Area (EEA). However, we are occasionally required to share your personal data with our main office in Russia and our external counsel in the USA.

That’s just a sample. The open source community is not taking these changes kindly, to put it mildly.

If you wish to access, correct, update or request deletion of your Personal Data, you can do so at any time by contacting via [email protected].

Apple has set the privacy bar here by requiring apps to put up an opt-in request at first launch. Audacity goes the opposite way, hiding the opt-out in the privacy notice and requiring users to reach out, non-specifically, via email. Hmmph.

Patience Haggin, Wall Street Journal:

After the tracking change took effect in April, many users of Apple’s iOS operating system have received a high volume of prompts from apps asking permission to track them—requests that most have declined. Less than 33% of iOS users opt in to tracking, according to ad-measurement firm Branch Metrics Inc.

Many users have received a high volume of prompts? What does this mean? Do the Branch Metrics numbers measure all iOS users and, thus, that 33% number includes folks running older versions? “Less than 33%” of iOS users opt in to tracking seems a ridiculously high number if it’s purely measuring folks who’ve responded to the “track me” prompt.

As of June 22, more than 70% of iOS devices had been upgraded to a version that requires the tracking prompt, according to Branch Metrics, allowing advertisers to begin assessing the impact.

And:

Tinuiti advertisers were allocating about 50% of their Audience Network spending to iOS users at the start of April. By the end of June, they were spending about 20% on iOS users, Mr. Taylor said. Advertisers have typically spent more per iOS user, seeing them as bigger spenders than Android users.

The trend is clear. Advertisers are switching away from iOS, presumably because they can’t get that precious personal ad response data.

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in March that “it’s possible that we may even be in a stronger position” after Apple’s change, particularly if it encourages “more businesses to conduct commerce on our platforms, by making it harder for them to basically use their data in order to find the customers that would want to use their products outside of our platforms.”

Early days still. The value of Apple users (and their deep pockets) hasn’t changed. Long term, I’d expect still another shift, as advertisers adjust to new models of reaching those users. What I don’t see is them abandoning iOS users in favor of Android. At least not in the long term.

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