In a previous article, posted shortly after Nvidia announced its new Pascal Mac drivers, I briefly discussed my plans to build a new Hackintosh. I’ve been planning and working on the machine for over a week, and I’m finally at the point where I can share the results of my journey.
This isn’t my first Hackintosh build, but it’s the first build where I decided to go about it without the assistance of the excellent tools over at tonymacx86. I’ve been long interested in building a Hackintosh using just the Clover EFI Bootloader, and that’s exactly what I did for this build.
Going about it this way allowed me to learn more about the process, and helped me to see that the entire premise, while tedious at times, is actually fairly straightforward. In this initial post, I’ll talk about some of my reasoning behind my hardware choices, and share some initial experiences and benchmark results.
If you are interested in building your own Hackintosh, I would certainly start my journey with tonymacx86. It’s just too great a resource to ignore. But I get Jeff’s logic. Now you can follow along with Jeff, learn as he learns.
Ars Technica story about Masahiro Sakurai the creator of 1992’s Kirby’s Dream Land:
Sakurai recalled how HAL Laboratory was using a Twin Famicom as a development kit at the time. Trying to program on the hardware, which combined a cartridge-based Famicom and the disk-based Famicom Disk System, was “like using a lunchbox to make lunch,” Sakurai said.
As if the limited power wasn’t bad enough, Sakurai revealed that the Twin Famicom testbed they were using “didn’t even have keyboard support, meaning values had to be input using a trackball and an on-screen keyboard.”
Amazing story. Be sure to follow the link to the full story, complete with pictures.
> Google and Intertrust today announced the launch of PatentShield, a new program that aims to help defend startups from patent litigation — in return for a stake in those companies. > > The basic idea here is to give startups that join the program ownership of a selection of patents from Google’s and Intertrust’s portfolio that they can then use as a deterrent against potential patent litigation from established players in their fields. Google is seeding the program with a selection of its own patents and Intertrust, which itself has built up a patent portfolio around media streaming, IoT, security and other areas, will also give these startups access to some of its own patents and its intellectual property team. > > If a startup gets sued, it can then choose patents from the PatentShield portfolio to defend itself by countersuing its opponents.
This truly is ingenious, a terrific use of Google’s patent portfolio. The cost to Google is relatively small, and it gives a big club and shield a startup can use to defend itself against patent trolls. There is potential for misuse, certainly, a chance for a startup to turn bully. Time will tell if that becomes an issue. Work with a good invention company when obtaining a patent for your invention.
The benefit to Google is immense, leveraging existing patents to bring in a steady trickle of startup equity. Read about the best tech startup business ideas here. Smart business. I think Apple should do the same thing. A perfect act of benevolence that’s well in Apple’s wheelhouse.
UPDATE: For some reason, the interview appears to have been taken down. Not clear what’s going on, but will update if and when it pops up again.
UPDATE 2: Looks like Medium and/or Backchannel was hacked. Being fixed, check back in a bit for the interview.
This is a phenomenal interview, as you might expect from the excellent Steven Levy. I was surprised to learn that Twitter was not invited to any of Trump’s tech roundtables or advisory councils.
One highlight that stands out:
Q: There have been well-publicized instances where women have been exposed to horrible treatment. What was your feeling when you understood how common it was for women like Leslie Jones to be harassed? Did you feel that was something that you failed at?
Dorsey: We recognized that the very nature of the product was giving unfair advantage to people who wanted to harass. So we needed to change the product experience. We made it a priority last year, but to be very frank and honest, we only shipped one meaningful thing all year. So our progress is not something that we are proud of.
And:
Q: Why was that? Why did you fall short?
Dorsey: A variety of reasons. We recognized that at the end of the year, in December, and we just took on a completely different mindset. We had people drop what they were doing and really focus on this as an issue. And in the past three months we’ve been shipping every single day against this, and I think have made meaningful progress, [even though] it’s not felt as much. We also, in the previous year, put a lot of burden on the victim instead of taking the burden upon ourselves So we learned a bunch in that past year around how slow we were, and we just completely shifted our mindset.
There’s not going to be an endpoint where we can say we’re done. But the progress we’ve made in the past few months has just been phenomenal. It just took a mindset shift, and we had to go through that year of really learning that and the previous years before that. We didn’t prioritize it in the right way, but now we have. So I feel like we have a real strong handle on what it is and, most importantly, how to bring it into a steady state instead of it being an emergency state.
Not seeing it. Anyone else see this mindset shift?
Head back to Bloom County with us! This time, not only do we have the complete digital collection for you, we also have the volume of all-new recent strips (Bloom County Episode XI: A New Hope) AND Berkeley Breathed’s pre-Bloom-County work (Academia Waltz & Other Profound Transgressions). His entire Opus, if you will.
All together, these comic strips would cost over $114. Here at Humble Bundle, though, you name your price of $1 or more and increase your contribution to upgrade your bundle!
These comics are available in multiple formats including CBZ, PDF, and ePub, so they work on your computer, e-readers, iPads, cell phones, and a wide array of mobile devices!
This is an amazing deal on an amazing strip. Thanks to Andy Ihnatko for the link.
I wasn’t sure at first what to make of Apple’s new Clips app for iOS, which joins a crowded field of phone and tablet apps for video recording, editing, and sharing.
Is it a rival of sorts to Snapchat and Instagram Stories with its own set of emojis, visual effects and the like for zany social-media-style video sharing? Or is Clips more of an iMovie-style app for cobbling together moderately complex video productions from an array of individual clips?
It’s both. Apple has essentially retooled iMovie for the Snapchat age in an attempt to make video editing more accessible, enjoyable and, well, social. At least, that’s the intent. In its current 1.0 state, Clips is a flawed app, though not irretrievably.
I completely recognize I am not the target audience for Clips. That being said, are any of you using it on a regular basis? Do you know others who are? What are your thoughts on the app, given it is a version 1.0?
If you’ve never seen the original trailer for Alien, or if you haven’t seen it in a while, take a moment, turn up the volume, and immerse yourself in it.
Spoiler — it’s scary as hell.
The Alien trailer is a perennial entry on lists of the scariest trailers ever, and helped establish a template for how to edit an impactful horror trailer. You can see its influence in countless horror trailers today, to the point where its beats have practically become horror clichés in their own right.
Let’s break down the ingredients.
I still remember seeing the original trailer in theaters. It was wonderfully terrifying and left you with the feeling of, “I have no idea what that was but I want to see that movie!”
I recently switched to the gorgeous new iPhone 7 Plus (PRODUCT)RED, but one thing I didn’t do is setup my Apple Watch with the iPhone. It was a simple oversight, but I realized very quickly how much I’ve come to rely on the Apple Watch/iPhone combination in my daily life.
I’ve said before that using my Apple Watch has changed the way I use my iPhone. I receive notifications of emails, messages, phone calls, reminders, use Apple Pay, and a host of other things.
With my Apple Watch on my wrist, I only needed to make sure my iPhone was somewhere nearby to get all of these alerts. If it was something I needed to deal with, I could grab the iPhone and do it. Otherwise, the notification was enough to keep me up to date on what was happening.
Because I used the Apple Watch and relied on those notifications on my wrist, I turned off the sound and vibrate on my iPhone long ago. There was no need for it. Unless you don’t pair your watch to your phone.
I learned how much I relied on the combination of those two devices. I began missing calls and messages because my watch wasn’t getting the notifications from the phone. I would eventually see them when I grabbed my iPhone, but obviously that isn’t what you want.
Instead of immediately syncing my watch to fix the problem, I decided to turn on the vibrate feature of the phone just to see how that might change things. (Because pairing the watch would have fixed the problem immediately, but apparently I like to punish myself). The end result was that I began to use my phone like I did before the watch was released.
I would always have the iPhone with me and I checked it all the time—every vibrate meant checking my phone to see what was going on, and that often led to a trip down the rabbit hole. If I check one thing, I might as well check everything else. It was more disruptive to my work than what I ever realized.
I missed other things too. I sat down at my iMac and waited for it to unlock automatically, which it didn’t do because my watch was no longer authorized. I’m sure I must have looked like an idiot sitting there waiting for the Mac to unlock.
When I used Maps, my watch wouldn’t vibrate as I neared a turn. Not a big deal since Siri gives you turn-by-turn directions, but it’s surprising how much I relied on the watch to alert me to an upcoming turn.
Other simple things that I take for granted were gone too. I had a playlist synced to my watch for my walks so I didn’t have to bring my phone with me when I exercised. That doesn’t work without a connection to the iPhone.
I love my Apple Watch and my iPhone 7 Plus. I love the combination of the those two devices even more. Using the two devices is a very efficient way to keep up with everything in your life.
I paired my Apple Watch to my iPhone yesterday and I’m much happier.
It was a simpler time, back in early 2015, when Amazon’s Echo first came out as a speaker with a voice assistant inside. Now, the evolution of the Echo family and Alexa have brings us a device designed specifically to make you look good. The new $199 Echo Look is the first iteration of Echo that has a camera, and the device uses it to evaluate your outfits, take outfit-of-the-day photos for you to share, and suggest which styles look best on you.
There has never been a product less suited to me. That being said, I think Amazon will sell a lot of these to budding and wannabe fashionistas.
Among the various sports, baseball players aren’t particularly noteworthy for their athleticism, but what Toronto’s Chris Coghlan did Tuesday night was certainly noteworthy.
A Connecticut man was charged with murdering his wife after police analyzed the woman’s Fitbit and found the device recorded her movements after the time the man told investigators she was fatally shot by a home intruder.
Imagine the shock on this guy’s face when they laid this out for him. Like an episode of Elementary.
According to a new survey, individuals who did not already own Apple’s smartwatch were unenthusiastic about buying one anytime soon, while just 8 percent of those surveyed said they planned to make the purchase.
A total of 1,339 consumers were polled by consumer marketing firm Fluent for the survey.
“Customer excitement for the Apple Watch has plateaued since hitting the market in 2015. Only current owners think it’s a great product, but nearly half of them don’t plan on upgrading,” a Fluent spokeswoman said in an email.
I think it’s hard to draw these sorts of conclusions about a market that is so young and still growing, still finding its way. Add to that that the Apple Watch is a secondary device, designed to augment the iPhone, at least for most people. Apple Watch sales are gravy for Apple, enhancing iPhone sales numbers, helping add value to the ecosystem.
As to upgrading, I’d say give that time, time for the Apple Watch and watchOS to evolve, to give people a reason to upgrade to the latest and greatest. Currently, a faster processor doesn’t mean much for most Apple Watch users. But over time, as watchOS gains capabilities, that need will change.
The Fluent survey may be factually correct, but I don’t agree with the tone of the analysis. Personally, I see a lot of headroom for Apple Watch growth and I do plan on upgrading in the next cycle.
Watch the video below and notice that the person on the left is not moving, is relatively expressionless. The person on the right is moving their face.
Now switch your gaze to the two screens in the video. Note that the video of the person on the left has the expressions of the person on the right.
Check out the images in the press release. I love the animated GIF toward the bottom of the release that shows the “solar wings” opening and closing. Apple Stores sometimes seem, to me, like sculptures.
This week TechCrunch’s Editor-In-Chief, Matthew Panzarino, joins me to talk about his many sneakers and the incredible aftermarket for them. We also delve into what it’s like writing, planning articles, and covering Apple in today’s world.
The last thing a fighter pilot wants to do is eject, and it’s not just because they’re abandoning the ship to a fiery demise. The turbulent process of ejecting puts pilots at serious risk of injury. Once those rockets fire under the seat, they blow a person up and out of the cockpit with enough force to seriously bruise both shoulders on the harness straps and possibly break collarbones. And you better tuck in your knees and elbows, because if anything hits the side of the cockpit on the way out, it’s coming off.
Not that any of us would ever be in this situation but it’s still fascinating. The post includes some incredible video of pilots ejecting, including one from a plane already on the ground.
It’s like a real life Where’s Waldo or I Spy, except this one can kill you.
While most people walking through the woods are on the lookout for wildlife, this photo from a snake expert proves that you should be super cautious if you’re walking in an area with venomous snakes.
Somewhere, lurking in this photo, is a snake ready to strike.
I can’t see it and this perfectly encapsulates why I don’t go into the woods.
The company expects to deploy its flying taxis in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, and Dubai by 2020, Chief Product Officer Jeff Holden said at the Uber Elevate Summit in Dallas on Tuesday.
I was just out for a drive and this song came on Pandora. I absolutely love this song, but I also remembered one of the funniest movies ever made—Cheech and Chong “Up in Smoke”. This is the opening scene of the movie.
Traffic engineers believe that the 85th percentile speed is the ideal speed limit because it leads to the least variability between driving speeds and therefore safer roads. When the speed limit is correctly set at the 85th percentile speed, the minority of drivers that do conscientiously follow speed limits are no longer driving much slower than the speed of traffic. The choice of the 85th percentile speed is a data-driven conclusion — as noted Lt. Megge and speed limit resources like the Michigan State Police’s guide — that has been established by the consistent findings of years of traffic studies.
Yet most speed limits are set below the 85th percentile speed.
Last Sunday, I decided to see what kind of gas mileage I could get on my motorcycle. I drove 90 minutes into downtown Vancouver, keeping to the speed limit the entire time (except for the 30 seconds I didn’t and this happened). I got passed by everybody. Semis, minvans, old men in Buicks. Even thought the speed limit was 100kph (about 60mph), literally no one was doing the speed limit.
“So we call the software of the store that we are launching the end of May – we call that Today at Apple.”
That “software” will roll out across Apple’s nearly 500 stores, many of which will be changed literally overnight. Ahrendts calls it all an effort to create “town squares” where customers engage with their devices and their communities.
“A lot of the big online guys have said they’re opening stores. Amazon’s investing in stores. Google’s investing in stores. … Starbucks figured it out, you know? Being a gathering place for – right? ‘Meet me at Starbucks,”’ Ahrendts said. “And you know, I’ve told the teams, ‘I’ll know we’ve done a really, really great job if the next generation, if Gen Z says, “Meet me at Apple. Did you see what’s going on at Apple today?”’”
It’s interesting that Apple is going back to what they used to focus on – in-store demonstrations and training.
Apple today announced plans to launch dozens of new educational sessions next month in all 495 Apple stores ranging in topics from photo and video to music, coding, art and design and more. The hands-on sessions, collectively called “Today at Apple,” will be led by highly-trained team members, and in select cities world-class artists, photographers and musicians, teaching sessions from basics and how-to lessons to professional-level programs.
Sounds like an expanded version of what they used to do at the stores. I like it.
Into the craft that is songwriting? Check out Song Exploder, a podcast that invites artists to explain their process.
My 2 cents, the best place to start is with the latest episode, where Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo talks through his approach to writing the song Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori.
The whole thing was fascinating, from the backstory of the song’s inspiration, to the mechanics Rivers uses to bring together chord structures. Lots to learn here.
Good things can happen when a crowd goes to work on trying to figure out a problem in journalism. At the same time, completely crowdsourced news investigations can go bad without oversight — as when, for example, a group of Redditors falsely accused someone of being the Boston Marathon bomber. An entirely crowdsourced investigation with nobody to oversee it or pay for it will probably go nowhere. At the same time, trust in the media is at low and fact checking efforts have become entwined with partisan politics.
So what would happen if you combined professional journalism with fact checking by the people? On Monday evening, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales launched Wikitribune, an independent site (not affiliated with Wikipedia or the Wikimedia Foundation) “that brings journalists and a community of volunteers together” in a combination that Wales hopes will combat fake news online — initially in English, then in other languages.
Here’s a link to Wikitribune. The site has been deluged with traffic, so don’t be surprised if you have trouble getting in. Early reviews have been nitpicky, focusing on typos and broken links. Me, I say give it time to find its feet. I love Wikipedia and have high hopes that Jimmy Wales can make this work.
From the Wikitribune front page:
Facts can be presented with bias, taken out of context and most recently a lot of facts are just plain…made-up. Supporting Wikitribune means ensuring that that journalists only write articles based on facts that they can verify. Oh, and that you can see their sources. That way you can make up your own mind.
In a permit issued April 14 by the state of California, obtained Friday through a public-records request, Apple identifies six employees, including roboticists who worked at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, who will be in the front seat of three Lexus sport-utility vehicles outfitted with technology to make them autonomous.
More specifically:
The permit also names three engineers who worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Paul Hebert, who has designed a robot that could unlock a door; Jeremy Ma, who focused on algorithms for detecting three-dimensional objects; and Victor Hwang, who has worked on motion-planning algorithms for robots, according to their LinkedIn pages, which list them as working at Apple.
Apple Inc. has gone to space to find additional talent for its augmented reality efforts. The iPhone maker has hired Jeff Norris, a specialist in the new technology from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, to help build future products, according to people familiar with the matter.
And, more specifically:
Norris founded the Mission Operations Innovation Office of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, where he led efforts to create new ways to control spacecraft and robots in space with virtual and augmented reality, according to his website.
One article focused on autonomous vehicles, the other on augmented reality. Is this simply a coincidence of mining a rich vein for employees, or are the two efforts more deeply connected? Opinions welcome.
A premiere party for “Carpool Karaoke” scheduled for March in Los Angeles was postponed without explanation days before it was to take place. This week, the company again postponed its launch party, which had been rescheduled for Monday.
To me, this is not original content that will make or break Apple’s approach to a cable cutting alternative. Perhaps they are pushing this back to somehow intersect with WWDC.
