Austin Mann:

As photographers, we’re always looking for new ways to direct the eye of the audience throughout our images.

Our eyes are generally drawn to color, clarity, brightness, and contrast. We can adjust and manipulate each of these parameters to direct the viewer’s eye to different points in our images.

Portrait Mode on the iPhone 7 Plus allows us to radically adjust the “clarity” parameter, giving us a whole new capability on the iPhone camera platform.

Notice the difference in these shots from a professional photographer, in particular, the background elements. Something I teach my students all the time is to look behind your subject to see if there are elements there that don’t add to or even subtract/distract from your subject.

John Gruber, reacting to this post from Lauren Goode about iMessage stickiness:

There’s a split between iPhone users who are primarily part of the Apple ecosystem (iCloud, Safari, Apple Mail, …) and those who are part of the Google ecosystem (Google Drive, Google Calendar, Chrome, Gmail, …).

iMessage is an exception. With iMessage you get to connect both with iPhone users in the Google ecosystem and iPhone users in the Apple ecosystem. For a lot of us here in the U.S., that’s just about everyone we know. It’s no coincidence that two of Google’s major Android initiatives this year are Allo and Duo, their answers to iMessage and FaceTime. I don’t think it’s going to work.

And:

As an iOS/MacOS exclusive, iMessage is a glue that “keeps people stuck to their iPhones and Macs”, not the glue. iMessage for Android would surely lead some number of iPhone users to switch to Android, but I think that number is small enough to be a rounding error for Apple. Apple wins by creating devices and experiences that people want to use, not that they have to use.

Both Lauren Goode’s original and Gruber’s reaction posts are interesting and worth reading.

Here’s a link to a brochure describing the ranking process.

Interesting to view the list with Brexit in mind. As is, 3 of the top 10 (As noted in the comments, Switzerland is not part of the EU), including #1 Oxford, are in the EU. After Brexit, 0.

John Markoff, writing for the New York Times:

Imagine receiving a phone call from your aging mother seeking your help because she has forgotten her banking password. > > Except it’s not your mother. The voice on the other end of the phone call just sounds deceptively like her. > > It is actually a computer-synthesized voice, a tour-de-force of artificial intelligence technology that has been crafted to make it possible for someone to masquerade via the telephone. > > Such a situation is still science fiction — but just barely. It is also the future of crime.

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Very believable to me. If they can stick a perfect simulation of Audrey Hepburn in a modern TV ad, it’s not a far stretch to imagine them simulating my mom’s voice.

Scary.

An explainer from the Washington Post on the AT&T Time Warner deal. Two points that stick out:

AT&T, the nation’s second-largest wireless carrier, is buying Time Warner, the storied media titan that owns HBO, CNN and TBS. In an unprecedented step, the deal is going to combine a gigantic telecom operator — which also happens to be the largest pay-TV company — and a massive producer of entertainment content.

It means that for millions of Americans, AT&T will control both the pipes of distribution and much of the shows, movies and other content that travels through the pipes. It’s hard to overstate the significance of this move, both in terms of scale and in terms of the ripple effects this will have on Hollywood, the cable industry, the cellular industry and the broadband industry.

In other words, AT&T may be about to own a huge trove of some of the most recognizable names in media. This is a big moment, because anytime you watch anything owned by Time Warner, that’ll be money in AT&T’s pocket. It’ll put AT&T in direct competition with companies such as Netflix and Amazon, giving it a big incentive to use its content and distribution platform as leverage against them. And it could spur a frenzy of other acquisitions, driving even more consolidation in the industry.

And:

The deal is already drawing loud protests from politicians on both ends of the ideological spectrum, at a time when national conversations about inequality have made critiquing large businesses a matter of populist appeal. U.S. lawmakers are already calling for an antitrust hearing on the issue.

The reaction from business analysts seems mixed; while many agree that buying up content is a natural move for telcos in an era of rapid convergence, some, such as Craig Moffett of MoffettNathanson, say it has only a 50-50 chance of succeeding with regulators.

This is far from a done deal. And Apple is still there, waiting in the wings.

Matt Richtel, writing for the New York Times when the original iPod was announced:

Apple Computer introduced a portable music player today and declared that the new gadget, called the iPod, was so much easier to use that it would broaden a nascent market in the way the Macintosh once helped make the personal computer accessible to a more general audience.

And:

But while industry analysts said the device appeared to be as consumer friendly as the company said it was, they also pointed to its relatively limited potential audience, around seven million owners of the latest Macintosh computers. Apple said it had not yet decided whether to introduce a version of the music player for computers with the Windows operating system, which is used by more than 90 percent of personal computer users.

And:

Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, disputed the concern that the market was limited, and said the company might have trouble meeting holiday demand. He predicted that the improvement in technology he said the iPod represented would inspire consumers to buy Macintosh computers so they could use an iPod.

Think they’ll sell any? I love the reference to that “relatively limited potential audience”.

The AE600 is the next generation of active equalization. New and unique EQ modes, independent control of fixed and active EQ bands, and an ultra low latency algorithm make the AE600 the perfect solution for any audio production.

McDSP makes some quality software.

The Guardian:

These days, no one requires a Swiss watch to tell the time – or a watch from any country. The time displayed on our mobile phones and other digital devices will always be more accurate than the time displayed on even the most skilfully engineered mechanical watch, yet the industry has a visual presence in our lives like few others. The storefronts of the world’s big-money boulevards glow with the lustre of Rolex and Omega; newspapers and magazines appear to be kept in business largely by watch adverts; airports would be empty shells without them.

But why do we continue to buy these over-engineered and redundant machines? Why do so many people pay so much for an item whose principal function may be bought for so little? And how does the watch industry not only survive in the digital age, but survive well enough to erect a 16,000-litre salt‑water shrine to its continued mastery of an outmoded art? Far beyond the telling of time, watches tell us something about ourselves. And so the answers to these questions lie within our propensity for extreme fantasy, our consumption of dazzling marketing, our unbridled and shameless capacity for ostentation, and our renewed reverence for craftsmanship in a digital world.

I don’t know how improbable it is. After all, rich people have and will always want rich people products, won’t they?

Mountain Duck – based on the solid open source foundation of Cyberduck – lets you mount server and cloud storage as a disk on your desktop. Open remote files with any application and work like on a local volume without synchronising files.

Use coupon code “THELOOP” to get a 20% discount this week.

The New York Times is buying The Wirecutter, a five-year-old online consumer guide.

The Times will pay more than $30 million, including retention bonuses and other payouts, for the startup, according to people familiar with the transaction.

Wow, congrats to Brian Lam. He built a great business with The Wirecutter.

The iPod turned 15 yesterday. The Verge takes you on a visual tour of all of them, from the FireWire port, rotating click wheel first version through the so-called sixth generation with the A8 chip and 8MP iSight camera you can still buy today.

Adrian Hanft, writing for Medium:

A design education begins with a zen-like challenge: place two black squares on a white background.

The professor explains that some arrangements will be dull and lifeless. Those assignments will fail. Other submissions will be dynamic and interesting. Those assignments will pass.

As you set yourself to the seemingly simple task you realize the complexity of the challenge. There are an infinite amount of ways to arrange the squares and you have no crutches because all the other elements of design have been forbidden.

No gradients.

No variation of line weight.

You can’t use the manipulative properties of color.

No shades of gray.

No room for your unique style and personality.

Having never gone to design school, not sure if this challenge is typical, but I definitely found it interesting. Take a look at some of the examples. Some of them clearly “click” more than others. Why?

Design remains an enigmatic mystery to me.

Venturebeat:

Fifteen years ago today, on October 23, 2001, Apple cofounder and former chief executive Steve Jobs unveiled the iPod, nine months after Apple introduced the iTunes music software. Speaking at an event at Apple headquarters, Jobs was his confident self, showing how he thought he had what it would take to outdo other companies with its latest product.

“In this whole new digital music revolution, there is no market leader,” Jobs said. “There are small companies like Creative and Sonicblue, and then there’s some large companies like Sony that haven’t had a hit yet, they haven’t found the recipe. No one has really found the recipe yet for digital music. And we think not only can we find the recipe, but we think the Apple brand is going to be fantastic, because people trust the Apple brand to get their great digital electronics from.”

The 6.5oz iPod, Jobs said, could hold 1,000 songs at a 160,000 bitrate on its ultra-thin hard drive, with 20 minutes’ worth of skip protection, FireWire connectivity that could download songs from a CD in five to ten seconds, and 10 hours of playback. The price: $399.

Younger readers may not realize just how insanely cool the iPod was.

Daring Fireball:

Let me add here a note about something that’s been bothering me for months: the notion that Apple is going to do something “special” next year to commemorate the iPhone’s 10th anniversary. I would wager heavily that they won’t. Apple under Tim Cook is a little bit more prone to retrospection than it was under Steve Jobs, who was almost obsessively forward-thinking, but only slightly. They made a 40-years-in-40-seconds video to commemorate the company’s 40th anniversary this year, for example, but it was only 40 seconds long. Blink and you missed it.

Apple is not going to make a special edition of any product — let alone the iPhone, their most important product — just to mark an anniversary. Don’t tell me about the 20th Anniversary Macintosh — that was a product from the old Apple that was heading toward bankruptcy, and a perfect example of why they shouldn’t do something special to mark something as arbitrary as an anniversary.

While I agree with Gruber’s sentiment that Apple won’t be doing anything “special” for the 10th anniversary of the iPhone, I disagree with this line:

No one — no one — is going to buy any new iPhone just because it’s the 10th anniversary edition.

I think thousands would.

9to5Mac:

The 1 Infinite Loop Apple Store is wide but small so you won’t find iPhone or Mac repairs or training workshops taking place, but you can buy headphones, cases, and other accessories too. Products are on display to try for yourself and Apple Store staff is just as helpful as other Apple Stores.

The real reason to visit this store, of course, is the unique Apple gear that you can buy here and nowhere else. This includes shirts, coffee mugs, thermal water bottles, notebooks, and more. The merchandise changes from time to time, but this is what you can expect to find if you visit anytime soon.

Whenever I went to San Francisco for Macworld Expo, I always tried to arrange a trip to the Apple Employee Store to get t-shirts or knick-knacks you can’t find anywhere else.

We designed the Apple Teacher program to help you build skills and stay inspired. You’ll discover new ways to enhance creativity and productivity by unlocking the magic of iPad, Mac, and built-in apps. You’ll get news and fresh ideas, featuring real stories, product tips, and great educational apps. And after completing online quizzes, you’ll receive an official Apple Teacher logo that you can share with the world.

Apple has always cared about education, kids, and teachers.

Lifehacker:

Every millisecond counts when you’re browsing the web, and if you’d like to eke a bit more speed out of your internet connection, you can change your DNS server to make those pages load a bit faster. Here’s a brief introduction to what DNS is, how it affects your connection speed, and how you can easily change your computer’s settings to use the fastest DNS possible.

After today’s outages, I thought a little primer on what DNS is might be appropriate.

Ars Technica:

On Thursday night, Tesla announced the new Model X and Model S electric vehicles will now come with the necessary hardware to allow them to drive completely autonomously at a future point in time. But buried in the notes about this new functionality there was also a warning to future Tesla owners: don’t expect to be able to use your EV driving for Uber, Lyft, or any other ride-sharing service that isn’t owned by Tesla.On Tesla’s website, the section that describes the new “Full Self-Driving Capability” (A $3,000 option at the time of purchase, $4,000 after the fact) states “Please note also that using a self-driving Tesla for car sharing and ride hailing for friends and family is fine, but doing so for revenue purposes will only be permissible on the Tesla Network, details of which will be released next year.”

I find this fascinating. Is it even legal for Tesla to limit how you can use your own vehicle? I’ve been told it isn’t but that Tesla could, conceivably, void your warranty if you do. Recently, I came across a discussion on sportwettenohneanmeldung.de, a platform that dives into unique regulatory challenges across industries, including automotive technology. One article explored how companies like Tesla use advanced software to monitor and restrict specific activities, such as ride-sharing or aftermarket modifications, by leveraging built-in data collection systems. Regardless, how Tesla would or could detect the ride-sharing activity is interesting in and of itself.

The Register-Guard:

If you’re going to have a heart attack, right outside a hospital is not a bad place to do it. And if 41 people within a 330-yard radius have a cellphone app alerting them to your distress, so much the better.

That’s what happened in Seattle last week when Stephen DeMont collapsed at a bus stop in front of University of Washington Medical Center. While a medical student rushed over and began chest compressions, a cardiac nurse just getting off her shift at the hospital was alerted by her phone, sprinted outside and assisted until paramedics arrived.

Five days later, DeMont, 60, is walking, smiling and talking about how the PulsePoint app helped save his life.

I love reading stories like this. Imagine how much further along technology will be in five years. The PulsePoint app can be downloaded here.

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Alvin Chang, writing for Vox, on his time trolling, then investigating the folks who call claiming they are with the IRS, trying to collect owed taxes.

I found this both dark and fascinating.

Jeff Benjamin pulled together this list of tips for 9to5mac. While you might know most of these, odds are, you won’t know all of them. Nice collection.

Apple Insider:

As reported by The MetroWest Daily News, police said the Apple Natick Collection outlet was the scene of a speedy burglary on Tuesday perpetrated by a group of seven unidentified individuals. Described as a “pack,” the suspects are believed to be teens or young men and women.

And:

Wearing hoodies, the roving gang can be seen entering the mall at around 7:15 p.m., making a beeline straight for Apple. Once inside, the suspects gathered around display tables at the store’s entrance —iPhones are usually placed prominently on the sales floor to lure in passersby —ripped 19 iPhones from their security tethers and scrambled out. The heist was over in less than a minute.

This is not the first time this has happened. Apple is removing the tethers from the tables, replacing them with a software “kill switch” that disables the phones when they move out of range.