BBC News:

Investigators have warned consumers they face potentially fatal risks after 99% of fake Apple chargers failed a basic safety test.

Trading Standards, which commissioned the checks, said counterfeit electrical goods bought online were an “unknown entity”. Of 400 counterfeit chargers, only three were found to have enough insulation to protect against electric shocks.

It comes as Apple has complained of a “flood” of fakes being sold on Amazon.

The article offers more details but, more importantly, gives some tips on how to detect a counterfeit charger. I also worry about the possibility of a bogus charger being used as a malware injection device.

Dan Moren has been doing some traveling. Currently in India, he writes about his experiences living on the road with Apple tech.

For example:

I’ve found Apple Maps to be virtually useless in India. Yes, I can get a map overview or satellite imagery, but directions and transit information are nonexistent. Building databases of all that information is challenging, to be sure, and it often means working with a lot of partners. But not being able to get simple walking directions to a nearby restaurant is kind of a nonstarter, so I’ve been using Google Maps, which works much better.

Not the first time I’ve heard this complaint. Interesting post.

Nokia smartphones are poised for a comeback after former managers at the Finnish company licensed the handset brand from Microsoft and struck up partnerships with Google and phone manufacturer Foxconn.

I agree that Nokia had a strong brand at one time, but this will be a tough sell.

First, lower your volume. Then click the link and immerse yourself in the zen of the blue ball machine. Mesmerizing.

Marco della Cava, USA Today [WARNING: AutoPlay, Grrr]

Apple CEO Tim Cook rocks in his chair as he meets the question with an unyielding gaze.

“Of course corporations should have values, because people should have values,” says the soft-spoken tech leader, who has been vocal on a range of civic issues, from gay rights to privacy rules. “And corporations are just a bunch of people.”

Cook met with USA TODAY to discuss the company’s expanded corporate partnership with (RED), the 20-person organization founded by U2 singer Bono that has had an outsized impact on those suffering from HIV/AIDS by providing life-saving medicines.

This is a pretty interesting article, digging into both RED’s impact on HIV/AIDS sufferers and Apple’s position in the emerging political reality.

Mark Gurman and Alan Levin, Bloomberg:

Apple Inc. plans to use drones and new indoor navigation features to improve its Maps service and catch longtime leader Google, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Cupertino, California-based company is assembling a team of robotics and data-collection experts that will use drones to capture and update map information faster than its existing fleet of camera-and-sensor ladened minivans, one of the people said.

Apple wants to fly drones around to do things like examine street signs, track changes to roads and monitor if areas are under construction, the person said. The data collected would be sent to Apple teams that rapidly update the Maps app to provide fresh information to users, the person added.

Apple is also developing new features for Maps, including views inside buildings and improvements to car navigation, another person familiar with the efforts said. The people asked not to be identified talking about private projects. An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.

Fascinating. I’m imagining a sci-fi future where the air is filled with rival drones, constantly scanning for updates, tracking faces for marketing and intel value, hacking rival drones for their info, even disabling them, forcing them to land.

Jordan Kahn, 9to5mac:

Earlier today Apple updated its website where customers can send in an old device for recycling to include the Apple Watch. That means that customers can now send their old Apple Watch to be responsibly recycled through the company’s Apple Renew program free of charge, but it’s not offering customers a gift card or any credit in exchange like it does with iPhones, iPads, and Macs.

Not sure what the secondary market is like for earlier Apple Watches, but seems to me it’d be much better to give your old Apple Watch to a friend who’s never experienced one. Reuse is a solid alternative to recycling, and living with an Apple Watch offers a better alternative to simply reading about one.

Have a USB-C based Mac? Considering a possible purchase? If so, you’ll likely want a USB-C hub, a cheaper solution than the dongles a hub will replace.

Cody Lee, writing for iDownloadBlog takes a look at a number of USB-C hubs he recommends. Take a look.

New book from Stephen Hackett. It’s an 80 page look at a critical time for Apple, a time that saw Bondi Blue, Tangerine, and Flower Power iMacs and the birth of a brand new operating system.

Aqua and Bondi is an 80-page examination of these products. In it, I look at what went so wrong inside Apple in the 90s, talk about the software strategies that came and went over the years and, of course, the iMac.

I’ve been working on this project since the fall, and am excited to say today that the book is for sale today on the iBooks Store or as a PDF. Both versions are just $3.99.

Here’s a link to the iBook store version of the book.

Here’s a link to Stephen’s site for the PDF version of the book.

Best of luck with the book, Stephen.

Over the past week or so, a wave of spam calendar invites has been hitting many iCloud calendar users.

Rene Ritchie, iMore, posted this official Apple message:

We are sorry that some of our users are receiving spam calendar invitations. We are actively working to address this issue by identifying and blocking suspicious senders and spam in the invites being sent.

The same article also offers a workaround to the problem.

Wearable action-camera maker GoPro Inc said on Wednesday it would cut about 15 percent of its workforce and shutter its entertainment business, as the one-time Wall Street favorite cuts costs to help it return to profitability.

I hate seeing people lose their jobs.

Stat News:

The National Center for Education Statistics says science scores for eighth-graders have inched up continuously since 2007, but on the whole, are still below what it considers proficient. Think you can remember what you learned back then? Take our test, with questions compiled from standardized tests in New York, Massachusetts, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Find out: Can you out-science an eighth-grader?

Whew. 9/10.

Mobi Health News:

Since its well-publicized meeting with the FDA in 2013, Apple has continued to meet with the agency regularly as well as to correspond by phone and email, according to emails obtained by MobiHealthNews via a Freedom of Information Act request to the FDA.

These emails show that Apple and the FDA have discussed the App Store review process, the 510(k) process, ResearchKit apps, diagnostic apps, working with the FDA in an “unregulated” way and more. The FDA even invited Apple to participate in regular briefings designed to help guide an international effort to harmonize medical software regulation. Though much of the sensitive information is redacted, the emails also point to three regulated medical devices that Apple is seriously pursuing: an app for diagnosing Parkinson’s disease and two separate but related cardiac devices.

It’s common knowledge that Apple has been very interested in developing hardware and software (likely associated with the Apple Watch) for various aspects of the healthcare industry. The problem is, as Cook said a year ago, Apple isn’t crazy about having to put the Apple Watch through the FDA process.

The Verge:

The Internet Archive, a digital library nonprofit that preserves billions of webpages for the historical record, is building a backup archive in Canada after the election of Donald Trump. Today, it began collecting donations for the Internet Archive of Canada, intended to create a copy of the archive outside the United States.

To be clear, Canada isn’t a paragon of free speech virtue but, like your own backups, it’s always better to have more than one.

J.D. Power:

The report finds that overall satisfaction with wireless routers has increased by a full 24 points from 2015, and is now 847 (on a 1,000-point scale). While satisfaction has improved in all 10 factors, the largest increase is 30 points in ease of use (which includes the installation process). Another area related to ease of use with the product is restoration of service with minimal effort, in which overall satisfaction has increased 27 points from last year (to 854 from 827).

Apple ranks highest with a score of 876, followed by ASUS (860), D-Link (856) and TP-Link (854).

Yes – there are “better” (cheaper, faster) wireless routers available but, when it comes to ease of use, set up and what I recommend to non-techies, it has always been Apple wireless routers. Which makes the reports of them being discontinued even more disheartening.

Ken Segall:

Is it my imagination, or has Apple been unusually active in the ad department lately?

Taken together, the company’s latest spots offer some hope for its advertising future — and then a warning as well.

Here are the ads, with a few observations to go with them.

I always like Segall’s take on Apple’s ads. I don’t always agree with him (I think “Frankie’s Holiday” is too saccharine and “Bulbs” doesn’t pay off the way it should) but with his depth of experience with advertising in general and Apple in particular, he’s definitely someone who’s opinion I respect.

And we both agree the Drake ad is lame.

You see, traditional virtual instruments are sample-based, meaning that sound is produced by triggering recorded samples of instruments. MODO BASS isn’t a sample-based instrument, but rather a completely new technology where sound is generated by recreating the physical properties of a real instrument — everything that makes an instrument create sound is physically modeled and sound is synthesized in real time.

I’m looking forward to seeing this at NAMM in January.

MFile.io:

MFile.io was created to be a fast, efficient way to share a collection of images and gifs in a polished presentation. It was designed with this one job to do, and it is completely free.

I’ve used MFile.io several times in my photography classes. While it has some minor annoyances, it’s a quick and easy way to get a bunch of images up on a web site for others to see.

“When we catch you, and we will catch you,” the department added, “on top of a hefty fine, a criminal charge and a years driving suspension we will also provide you with a bonus gift of playing the offices copy of Nickelback in the cruiser on the way to jail.”

Macrumors:

Apple will issue refunds to customers who previously paid for an iMac display hinge replacement or repair, according to a recently updated service document internally distributed to Apple Authorized Service Providers and obtained by MacRumors.

Apple’s service document acknowledges some 27-inch iMacs shipped between December 2012 and July 2014 may be affected by an issue with the display hinge, resulting in the screen no longer adjusting and continuously tilting forward. The issue appears to be limited to late 2012 and late 2013 models in particular.

Unlike the iPhone battery replacement program, Apple isn’t publicizing this one. So, if you’ve had and paid for this issue, make sure you contact Apple to get your refund.

TechHive:

Netflix wants to make your trip back home this holiday season a little merrier. The company announced on Wednesday that select TV shows and movies were available for download on Android and iOS. In other words, Netflix now enables offline viewing.

It’s not for everything, though. Most of Netflix’s original programming will be covered by the new feature, but some titles may not be due to licensing restrictions.

This is great news and hopefully, we’ll see it expanded to include even more content.

Apple:

The busiest season on the App Store is almost here. Make sure your apps are up-to-date and ready for the winter holidays. New apps and app updates will not be accepted December 23 to 27 (Pacific Time), so any releases should be submitted, approved, and scheduled in advance. Other iTunes Connect and developer account features will remain available.

Not news per se (Apple has done this for many years) but it serves as a reminder for those of us who can’t figure out why there aren’t any app updates during the week between Christmas and New Years. The whole company functionally shuts down.

In honor of World AIDS Day, Apple is offering more ways than ever for customers to join (RED) in its mission to create an AIDS-free generation. Apple is the world’s largest corporate contributor to the Global Fund, and this year marks its 10th anniversary of supporting (RED) in the fight to end AIDS.

Apple is really turning up the support this year. Respect.

From the Imgur web site, these are extracted from the latest macOS Sierra 10.12.2 Beta 4 and they are gorgeous. I’d love to know the story behind how they were shot.

9to5Mac:

When Apple announced an iPhone 6s battery replacement program last week, identifying select models that might be eligible for a free repair due to unexpected shutdowns, it only specified manufacturing dates for potentially affected devices. It recommended customers take a trip to an Apple store or authorized reseller if they are experiencing issues to check if they are eligible for a repair. But there’s a quick and easy way to check if your device is eligible at home, using the same process that Apple repair staff will be using in stores…

If you have an iPhone 6s, it doesn’t hurt to check to see if you’re eligible for a replacement.

I love a great compressor in my mixes. Universal Audio has the best audio plug-ins on the market and the new API 2500 Bus Compressor is no exception. There is a video on the page, as well as audio examples.

The ride-hailing app, which expanded into Europe five years ago, has come under attack from established taxi companies and some EU countries because it is not bound by strict local licensing and safety rules which apply to some of its competitors.

Uber’s dispute with Barcelona’s main taxi operator, which in 2014 accused it of running an illegal taxi service via its UberPOP service, is seen as a landmark case which could lead the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) to label it a transport company rather than a digital service.

That is the crux of the argument—is Uber a transport or digital company? Arguments can be made for both sides. I haven’t used a taxi since Uber and Lyft started offering their service. All the legal arguments aside, the app-based services are much better, friendlier, and professional than any taxi service I’ve ever used.

Shoppers spent $3.45 billion on Cyber Monday on Samsung 4K TVs, PlayStation 4s and Barbie dolls among other products, marking the largest online sales day in U.S. history.

Top-selling electronics by units on the day include Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox gaming consoles as well as Samsung 4K TVs, Apple iPhones and Amazon’s Fire tablets.

Wow, that is a lot of money. I find it interesting that many of the electronic items are in the high-end category, but yet Amazon’s Fire tablet made the list. It makes me wonder how consumers view the tablet category.

9to5Mac:

Apple will add certain MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini models to its list of vintage and obsolete products starting next month, which means the products will lose official Apple repair support through the company’s retail stores and authorized resellers.

Kicking in on December 31, 2016, the MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011) and MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2011) will become vintage and obsolete in all markets where applicable, while the Mac mini (Early 2009) and MacBook (13-inch, Mid 2009) will become obsolete worldwide on the same date.

Remember, “obsolete” doesn’t mean “will stop working”.