This video is a walk through the Apple Music interface, highlighting various features. Feels like it belongs on the official Apple Music page. It’s certainly too long for an ad.
One thing worth noticing are the not-quite-transparent circles that stand in for a finger tap or drag. Watch the video with that in mind. There are a lot of them.
The circles are used both for touches and to highlight sections of the interface. My guess is, these circles are part of some third party screen recording app and were placed there frame-by-frame.
I would love it if Apple would expose the technology that made those circles as part of the QuickTime Player’s iPhone screen recording interface. There are ways to capture touches in a video but, in my opinion, none come close to matching these.
In trying to make sense of the design patents’ value, the judges repeatedly invoked the body shape of Volkswagen’s iconic Beetle model, noting that consumers will pay extra for a cool-looking car. But they drew back at saying a company, in cases of complex products, should be able to use a patent for exterior appearance to collect for the whole thing.
And:
Justice Stephen Breyer contrasted simple products like wallpaper to cars and smartphones, which are often covered by hundreds or thousands of patents and design decisions.
“For wallpaper, you get the whole thing. A Rolls Royce with the thing on the hood? No, no, no you don’t get profits on the whole car,” said Breyer.
This likens Samsung copying the iPhone look and feel to building a car that looks like the VW Beetle. Interesting point.
Head on over to the new Giphy channel and check out the new GIFs. Roll over a GIF to see it in action, click on the GIF to get to a share page. Hey, it’s Elvis and Nixon!
Purgeable space is data on the drive that Sierra has determined is superfluous, and not necessary to be stored on the drive. Examples are files in the trash, videos that have already been watched, music downloaded from Apple Music (but not rips from CD), and other data synchronized with iCloud.
In a nutshell, if you run out of space, purgeable space is the set of files that are backed up in the cloud and can be safely deleted. This post takes you through the basics of enabling this feature and doing the initial setup. If you are running macOS Sierra, it’s worth a read.
Carolina Milanesi, writing for Tech.pinions, on buying a new vehicle with CarPlay installed:
Having CarPlay made me rediscover Maps and features like where I parked my car, the suggested travel time to home or school or the office, suggestions based on routine or calendar information — all pleasant surprises that showed me what I had been missing out. It also showed me how, by fully embracing the ecosystem, you receive greater benefits. Having the direction clearly displayed on the large car screen was better and, while there is still a little bit of uneasiness about not using Google Maps, I have now switched over. Maps on Apple Watch just completes the car experience as the device gently taps you as you need to make the turn. It is probably the best example I have seen thus far of devices working together to deliver an enhanced experience vs. one device taking over the other.
I have heard this same opinion from a number of people. I’ve long used Apple Maps combined with my Apple Watch for directions and it works well for me. But it is obvious to me that having the turn-by-turn directions on my vehicle’s built in screen would be a significant step up from my current setup.
I also find that Bluetooth is a bit finicky in certain situations. Built in CarPlay would eliminate those times when Siri can’t seem to hear me, or when turn-by-turn directions sometimes turn on my music when Siri calls out a turn.
I get the sense that CarPlay has very quietly become one of the Apple ecosystem’s shining lights. I know one thing. CarPlay has become a must-have feature in the next car I buy.
So why does Siri seem so dumb? Why are its talents so limited? Why does it stumble so often? When was the last time Siri delighted you with a satisfying and surprising answer or action?
For me, at least, and for many people I know, it’s been years. Siri’s huge promise has been shrunk to just making voice calls and sending messages to contacts, and maybe getting the weather, using voice commands. Some users find it a reliable way to set timers, alarms, notes and reminders, or to find restaurants. But many of these tasks could be done with the crude, pre-Siri voice-command features on the iPhone and other phones, albeit in a more clumsy way.
There are many times when I disagree with Walt on his tech opinions, but I’ve had my own issues with Siri not being able to give me answers to seemingly easy questions. I’ve asked Siri about sports scores or upcoming games and, in some cases, the answers are completely off the rails. I still try once in a while, but most times, I just don’t bother.
But I suspect that people don’t ask those questions because, after trying a time or two and getting no answers or wrong answers, they just give up on Siri.
This is another good point. I can use Siri accurately to set a timer and play some music. Most other things, I just type the question into Google. Recently when I press the Siri button on my iPhone, it immediately says “Sorry, I’m not sure what you said,” while I’m still speaking. Again, I just type my question into Google.
Apple’s iOS 10 is now used more than any other version of the operating system. More than half of iOS devices have already upgraded to the latest software, according to new numbers from Apple.
The update is now installed on 54% of devices, according to stats posted on Apple’s developer site. Last year’s iOS 9 accounts for 38% of devices while just 8% of devices are running iOS 8 or earlier.
These numbers are a little below estimates from third parties like analytics firm Mixpanel, which pegs iOS 10 adoption at around 67%. But Apple’s numbers, which rely on App Store visits, are likely more accurate.
When Apple destroys your old device, plenty of perfectly functional computer processing chips and cameras that could live on — whether in refurbished phones, toy pianos, hobby drones, or smart appliances — get melted down. Screens that could have replaced cracked ones, lending a few years of life to an older phone, are pulverized, and the trace amounts of the minerals that make them work are lost as so much dust.
What’s more, all the energy that went into mining, refining, manufacturing, shipping, and assembling those materials evaporates.
The article makes an interesting point that many of us, even if we do recycle, recycle too quickly.
Great interview. Jimmy speaks from the heart. One quote in particular struck me:
I met [Apple executives] Steve Jobs and Eddy Cue in 2003. I realized, okay, the future of music is going to be intertwined with distribution through technology companies. It just looked like that to me, and I realized how far behind I personally was. So I set out to really understand. So I worked with those guys for about two years, and I said to Steve, “I’d like to do headphones with Apple with [Dr.] Dre,” about two or three years later. He said, “Do it yourself, you can do it.” So I tried it myself.
Made me hungry for more detail on how this merger evolved.
Amazon’s long-rumored on-demand music streaming service is now available. The company is launching its new service as Amazon Music Unlimited, a on-demand competitor to the likes of Spotify, Apple Music, and Google Play Music. Amazon has done a number of things to differentiate Music Unlimited from its competitors, but the most notable one is its price: the service will be available to Amazon Prime members for $7.99 per month or $79 per year, which is cheaper than the premium options from Spotify or Apple Music. In addition, owners of one of Amazon’s voice-controlled Echo devices will be able to get the service for just $3.99 per month.
Key to me:
And while the Echo-only plan is limited to only one device (you cannot use it on your phone, PC, tablet, or even more than one Echo device), it still offers the same content library, recommendations, and other features that the full service provides.
This means, with the Echo-only plan, there’s no way to take this music on the road with me, either by car, plane, on my bike or for a run.
I find it interesting that folks who buy into the Echo-ecosystem can get a discount, but one with some significant omissions.
After nearly two years spent using a 5.5-inch iPhone, I’m accustomed to not having a compact phone anymore. The iPhone 6 Plus and 6s Plus have reshaped my iPhone experience for a simple reason: they give me more of the most important device in my life.
Thus, I was a little skeptical – even surprised – when Apple gave me a gold 256 GB iPhone 7 review unit (with a leather case) two weeks ago. I didn’t think I would be able to enjoy a smaller iPhone, but, despite my initial resistance, I set up a fresh install of iOS 10 and used the iPhone 7 exclusively for two weeks.
I’m glad I did. While I’m still pining for a 7 Plus, using the iPhone 7 showed me that there’s more to this year’s iPhones than the lack of a headphone jack.
In many ways, the iPhone 7 feels like a portable computer from the future – only in a tangible, practical way that is here with us today.
If you are on the fence about the iPhone 7, read Federico’s take. It’s a deep, thoughtful dive into the iPhone 7, as well as the wonderfully efficient pairing process between the iOS 10-powered iPhone and the new Beats Solo3 headphones:
Turn them on;
Bring them close to your iPhone;
Tap ‘Connect’ on a dialog that appears, and you’re paired.
That’s it.
All of Bluetooth should be this simple. Nice job, Federico!
Yeah, not sure I buy the explosion-proof part. But Samsung has gone to great lengths to try to bring their devices home without further incident. The kits include a thermally-insulated box and safety gloves (“some individuals might be sensitive to the ceramic fiber paper lining the Recovery Box”).
Interestingly, the box itself is marked as “forbidden for transport by aircraft”. Looks like a long boat ride is in store for these returnees. Also interestingly, the UK’s Royal Mail has taken their own stand and won’t ship the Galaxy Note 7.
When several Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphones spontaneously exploded in August, the South Korean company went into overdrive. It urged hundreds of employees to quickly diagnose the problem.
None were able to get a phone to explode.
Next step?
Samsung, which announced a recall of the Note 7 devices in September, decided to continue shipping new Galaxy Note 7s containing batteries from a different supplier.
As we now know, that approach did not work.
Reports soon surfaced that some of the replacement devices were blowing up too. Company engineers went back to the drawing board, according to a person briefed on the test process who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the internal workings were confidential. As of this week, Samsung’s testers were still unable to reproduce the explosions.
This is a serious blow to Samsung. Trust is everything to a brand.
An editorial in South Korea’s largest newspaper, the Chosun Ilbo, said: “You cannot really calculate the loss of consumer trust in money.”
Before the Supreme Court, the issue at stake was not whether Samsung infringed on the patents, but instead how much the Korean company should pay based on a law that allows a patent owner to receive a competitor’s “total profit.” Should that profit be for the entire value of the smartphone, as an appeals court ruled, or only for profits attributable to the copied design?
Samsung designed their phones to completely copy Apple’s iPhone, from top to bottom. They need to be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.
Mr. Ezrin gave the band members specific instructions: Learn and play 10 folk songs, then start writing, beginning with a folk song. Mr. McConnell’s effort, “Things People Do,” not only made the final cut, but the version included is his demo. Phish made multiple versions of the song before agreeing that nothing topped the original low-fi version, recorded on Mr. McConnell’s iPhone, sitting atop a Wurlitzer piano in his living room.
Cool. To paraphrase an aphorism, sometimes the best recording device is the one you have with you.
To find context ahead of Tuesday’s showdown between Apple and Samsung in the US Supreme Court, you need to go back over a century to a row over some rather attractive carpets.
It’s 1885, and John and James Dobson stand accused of nicking designs from other carpet makers and selling them off as their own.
A couple of companies, Hartford Carpet and Bigelow Carpet, were so incensed they took the Dobsons all the way to the highest court in the land.
The firms were quite right to be upset, the Supreme Court agreed, but then it got more complicated. The court hit a stumbling block over the amount of money the firms deserved in damages.
In late April 2016, the company FAIRTIQ SA has radically simplified the purchase of tickets by launching the application that bears his name in conjunction with public transport Fribourg (TPF) and Lucerne and the Rhaetian Railway. Until then, to get a ticket, users were faced with sometimes complicated tariff systems.
The FAIRTIQ innovation has transformed this event into a breeze: the passenger signals the start of his journey with a click before boarding the vehicle and terminates in the same way once arrived. Thanks to the GPS, the system calculates the distance traveled and the corresponding ticket most advantageous. If the user makes several trips in a day and a day pass would have proved a more economical option for him FAIRTIQ not charge him the amount of the daily chart in question. Also, if you forget the part of the user, the application automatically calls to end the trip.
Below is a video showing the app at work. I find this sort of 3rd party integration of Apple Watch and Apple Pay a sign of thing to come and of critical mass in the adoption of both.
Following the update, trainers will now earn a catch bonus when capturing more of a specific Pokemon type, so for example, capturing Abra multiple times will now increase your chances of encountering the rarer, evolved Kadabra.
If you are a Pokémon Go player, read the article and grab the update when it hits in your region.
Samsung Electronics Co. is ending production of its problematic Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, taking the drastic step of killing off a smartphone that became a major headache for South Korea’s largest company.
Samsung had already recalled the Note 7 once last month after early models exploded and the latest move comes after customers reported that replacement phones were also catching fire. Samsung will be without its highest-end smartphone that was supposed to compete against Apple Inc.’s iPhones and other premium devices during the holiday shopping season.
This is a remarkable turn of events. Can you think of another major product that went through testing and release and was then completely killed off before it finished its first wave of shipping?
Mixpanel’s version of iOS 10 adoption is, obviously, not measured by App Store internals. According to the latest Mixpanel trend numbers, the iOS 10 adoption rate is 67.21%.
Both sets of numbers are reasonably up to date and, also obviously, pulled from different sources. Apple pulls data from App Store visits on a specific day (in this case, October 7th), and Mixpanel pulls their data from web site visits, sort of like Google Analytics, though with a deeper embedding in applications.
Interesting to see such different measures of adoption. Regardless, iOS 10 has a significantly higher adoption rate than Android Marshmallow (about 20%). As a reminder, Android Nougat is the latest and greatest, but it is limited to a few devices at this point, so Marshmallow owns the largest slice of the Android pie.
Thanks to Marketcircle, makers of Billings Pro for sponsoring The Loop this week.
Tired of manually creating invoices and keeping track of your time slips with spreadsheets? Billings Pro is a simple time-tracking and invoicing app for the Mac, iPad, iPhone & Apple Watch. It’s used by lawyers, consultants, photographers, graphic designers & more all over the world.
Track time from any Apple device – whether you’re at the office, working at a coffee shop, or tracking time for an on-site client meeting. Whip up invoices lightening fast from your Mac, iPhone, or iPad. Choose from over 30 professional templates on the Mac or customize your own. Keep track of overdue invoices, set recurring invoices, and add client payments no matter where you are.
New in Billings Pro is the Mini Timer on the iPhone. Now you can start, pause, or resume a timer from anywhere in the app just by tapping or swiping up.
Controversy erupted last week when Apple cancelled the account of a popular developer app called Dash. Apple told the developer “they found evidence of App Store review manipulation,” an accusation the developer denied, but Apple has proof.
Apple’s anti-fraud team has apparently been working with the developer for some time to stop fraudulent positive reviews, and negative reviews on competitors accounts. According to Apple, all attempts to work with the developer have failed, resulting in the account being terminated.
“Almost 1,000 fraudulent reviews were detected across two accounts and 25 apps for this developer so we removed their apps and accounts from the App Store,” Apple spokesperson, Tom Neumayr, said in a statement provided to The Loop on Monday. “Warning was given in advance of the termination and attempts were made to resolve the issue with the developer but they were unsuccessful. We will terminate developer accounts for ratings and review fraud, including actions designed to hurt other developers. This is a responsibility that we take very seriously, on behalf of all of our customers and developers.”
It’s really important to note that this has been going on for quite some time—it’s not a quick decision that Apple made on the spur of the moment last week. In fact, a warning was first sent to the developer two years ago, but the behavior did not change.
The integrity of the App Store is as important to Apple as it is to consumers. When you read a review on the store, you want to know that it’s real. In some cases, they can be the deciding factor on which app you purchase and download.
This is part of the reason we trust Apple and the App Store. They found inconsistencies in a developers account, tried to work with them to resolve the issue, and took decisive action to protect developers and customers when their attempts failed.
It seems to me Apple has given the developer every opportunity to change the behavior that started this whole mess. I don’t think we can ask any more from Apple in these types of situations. App Store fraud cannot be tolerated.
