September 29, 2016
Written by Jim Dalrymple
The South Korean firm has said the Note 7 phones that were sold starting on the official Sept. 1 launch date use a different battery than the recalled devices. But a string of reports by users in China, the world’s top smartphone market, that their Note 7s caught fire have dogged Samsung in a country where they have already fallen out of the top five in terms of market share.
It’s like Samsung is doing everything it can to screw up this recall. What they should do is recall all of the devices and replace them—that’s the only way to restore consumer confidence.
Apple Music tweeted a teaser video, with Mary J Blige introducing her new show, exclusively via Apple Music and iTunes. The show, called The 411, will be released tomorrow, September 30th.
I find it interesting to watch Apple experiment with new content models. As they build critical mass, I’d expect Apple to coalesce their offerings into a series of Apple TV channels.
When I fired up my Mac this morning, my Safari home page had changed to Apple’s start page. I asked around and this appears to be happening to other folks as well.
This is certainly good marketing for Apple, as every new Safari page opens as an ad for iPhone 7, Apple Watch, etc. But I set my home page up the way I wanted it. Not sure if this is an intentional move on Apple’s part or, perhaps, just a bug, a reset of the home page. But it happened without my installing anything new on my computer. And it is happening to others, though not to everyone.
If this happened to you, please ping me on Twitter.
Interesting.
Written by Dave Mark
Daniela Galarza, writing for Eater:
NYC restaurateur, Shake Shack founder, and millionaire Danny Meyer is having a good week. He’s invested in a home-cooked food delivery start-up, introduced paid parental leave for all of his employees, and today almost single-handedly made the Apple Watch — a very expensive trophy gadget at best — relevant.
Trophy gadget? Um. No. But to continue:
When Meyer’s 30-year-old Union Square Cafe reopens in Manhattan next month, every floor manager and sommelier will be wearing an Apple Watch. And when a VIP walks through the front door, someone orders a bottle of wine, a new table is seated, a guest waits too long to order her or his drink, or a menu item runs out, every manager will get an alert via the tiny computer attached to their wrist.
This is a new use case for Apple Watch, an interesting idea. If it lives up to its potential, no reason this won’t spread to other restaurants and make the Apple Watch a standard element in restaurant systems.
As we mentioned yesterday, Apple is moving their UK headquarters to leased space in London’s iconic Battersea Power Station.
If the name Battersea Station doesn’t immediately summon an image, take a look at this Wikipedia page.
With that image in mind, jump over to this album cover from Pink Floyd’s 1977 release Animals.
Note the flying pig on the album cover. That’s not just a drawing, but a real inflatable pig:
Photographs for the cover of Pink Floyd’s Animals album were taken in early December 1976. For the photo shoot, an inflatable pink pig, made by the Zeppelin company, was tethered to one of the southern chimneys.
The pig broke free of its moorings and rose into the flight path of London Heathrow Airport to the astonishment of pilots in approaching planes. The runaway pig was tracked by police helicopters before coming to ground in Kent. Whether the pig escaped, or was released on purpose to increase publicity, is not known.
The flying pig has long been part of Pink Floyd culture, making its appearance at many concerts, and even flying again over Battersea Station in 2011 to celebrate the album’s 35th anniversary.
Personally, I love this link between Apple and such an iconic rock album.
UPDATE: Here’s video of the original flying pig being raised above Battersea Station. Fantastic. Thanks to Pavan Rajam.
September 28, 2016
Written by Jim Dalrymple
A Delta flight from Detroit to Amsterdam diverted on Sunday when a Samsung tablet onboard overheated and started smoking.
The flight diverted to Manchester, where authorities investigated the smoke and found a Samsung tablet lodged in between two seats.
All passengers should be checked for these hazardous devices before boarding a plane.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
There’s a story going around about Apple storing metadata associated with the iMessage service and, when obligated by a court order, turning that data over to law enforcement. The details of the story are accurate, as far as I know, but it conflates two very different things in order to create a sensational headline, which is unfortunate for people who want and need to be informed about important issues involving privacy.
Very good explanation from Rene.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Samsung, maker of the troubled Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, has another problem on its hands.
U.S. regulators on Wednesday warned owners of certain top-loading Samsung washing machines of “safety issues” following reports that some have exploded.
If you own a Samsung product, you should keep it in a bomb shelter.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Apple® and Deloitte today announced a partnership to help companies quickly and easily transform the way they work by maximizing the power, ease-of-use and security the iOS platform brings to the workplace through iPhone® and iPad®. As part of the joint effort, Deloitte is creating a first-of-its-kind Apple practice with over 5,000 strategic advisors who are solely focused on helping businesses change the way they work across their entire enterprise, from customer-facing functions such as retail, field services and recruiting, to R&D and inventory management like is commonly don with DEAR Inventory Melbourne services.
The importance of inventory control is to minimize the blockage of financial resources. It reduces the unnecessary tying up of capital in excess inventories and also improves the liquidity position of the firm. To avoid the risk of shortage of essential components during a big production process, the firm should maintain inventory management. This will prevent the shortage of vital raw materials and components needed to produce goods.
> Apple and Deloitte will also collaborate on the development of a new service offering from Deloitte Consulting called EnterpriseNext, designed to help clients fully take advantage of the iOS ecosystem of hardware, software and services in the workplace. The new offering will help customers discover the highest impact possibilities within their industries and quickly develop custom solutions through rapid prototyping.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
My main music production Mac is always at least one full OS version behind. I know some engineers in the industry that lock down there Macs for years without updating.
A couple of weeks ago, Apple Music added a new feature call My Favorites Mix to the For You section of the music service. This uses an algorithm to add songs to a weekly updated playlist, which is based on the music you play and love and other music Apple believes you will like. My list has been great, but you can help yourself and fine-tune it to be even better.
The easiest way to tell Apple the music you enjoy is to “Love” a song. In iOS you can do that in a number of ways, including tapping the “…” on the Now Playing page and then tap Love. This is a clear indication to the service that you want to hear more songs like the currently playing track.
I use the Love feature every chance I get so Apple Music and the For You section will always be in tune with my specific musical tastes. Apple outlined the advantages to doing this in an article on BuzzFeed earlier this week:
deep historical knowledge of individual users’ tastes and habits, based on years of data carried over from iTunes.
If you gave high ratings to a song or album in your old iTunes library, or just played it a lot more than others, you’ll find that behavior reflected in your My Favorites Mix.
This is good information to know, but it also brings up a slight problem for many users, including for me.
You used to be able to Love a song directly from the lock screen on the iPhone. With iOS 10, Apple took away that feature, which means that instead of tapping on the lock screen and then tapping Love, you know have to unlock your phone; open Apple Music; go to the Now Playing screen; tap “…” and then tap Love.
While Apple says that ratings are also important, they have completely removed ratings from the iOS version of Apple Music. You can still go to your Mac and rate songs, but not everyone is going to do that. I do.
Clearly you can’t Love songs while you’re driving or doing some other tasks, so I always looked back in the history of music that had been played and catch up on the songs I wanted to Love. Sadly, Apple removed the history feature from Apple Music on iOS as well, so you can’t do that.
Removing features like that seems counter-productive to what Apple wants you to do to improve the service, and how the service gets better for individual listeners.
Still, if you want to improve the My Favorites Mix, Love the songs you love. You will notice an improvement.
Written by Shawn King
The Intercept:
Apple promises that your iMessage conversations are safe and out of reach from anyone other than you and your friends. But according to a document obtained by The Intercept, your blue-bubbled texts do leave behind a log of which phone numbers you are poised to contact and shares this (and other potentially sensitive metadata) with law enforcement when compelled by court order.
An Apple spokesperson confirmed only that the logging information in the iMessage FAQ is “generally accurate,” but declined to elaborate on the record.
This might be minor or it might be significant, depending on how the information is being used. Regardless, it’s a peek behind the security curtain that tells us we may not be as secure or “hidden” from prying eyes as we would think or hope.
Written by Shawn King
9to5mac:
J.D. Power is releasing its first study of customer satisfaction among streaming music services today and in it ranks Apple Music above the competition.
Apple comes out on top because 35% of Apple Music subscribers in the study say they are strongly committed to the streaming service. That’s versus 30% for Google Play Music and Spotify, and 28% for the industry average.
J.D. Power also notes that iPhone, iPad, and Mac users have the highest levels of commitment, noting that 62% say they selected Apple Music because they use Apple devices. That’s versus 52% of Spotify users and 53% of Google Play Music users saying they selected their service based on their device.
Apple may have come out on top but its position isn’t as rock solid as it is with their other products and services. They still have a lot of work to do.
Written by Shawn King
Tedium:
Power outlets are frustrating, but the devices we use on a daily basis? They don’t necessarily make things easier. In fact, the bricks that come with many modern devices, from your router to your Bluetooth speakers to your game console, tend to be giant, and at first, they were designed without any consideration for the fact that there was ample competition for your limited outlet space. Why have AC adapters traditionally been so frustrating? Today’s Tedium explains.
More than you ever wanted to know about power adapters.
Written by Shawn King
Bloomberg:
Apple Inc. is leasing about 500,000 square feet (46,451 square meters) of office space at Battersea Power Station on the south bank of London’s River Thames.
The consumer electronics and software giant will move 1,400 employees to the development in 2021, according to a statement Wednesday from the project’s developer.
From the looks of the location, Apple will have a lot of work to do in renovations but it looks like a great building to work with and in.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
“The company plans to end all internal hardware development and will outsource that function to partners,” CEO John Chen said in a statement. “This allows us to reduce capital requirements and enhance return on invested capital.”
It’s been a rough decade for BlackBerry.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
That’s according to the results of a new study published today that aimed to assess public opinion on the subject. The survey commissioned by Kelley Blue Book showed that out of 2,264 U.S. residents polled, 64 percent said they need to be in control of their own vehicle and 62 percent said they enjoy driving.
Count me in the group that loves to drive. I’ve always loved to get out on the highway, play some music and feel the freedom. Not everyone is like me. In fact, the roads would be a lot safer if some drivers were never allowed to touch the wheel of a car. It’s going to take a while before the public comes around to fully autonomous vehicles.
September 27, 2016
Written by Shawn King
Mashable:
DarkSky, the popular iPhone and Android weather app with dazzling graphics and hyper-specific forecasts, has made a transition onto your desktop.
The company launched DarkSky.net earlier this month in an effort to bring its design philosophy and forecasting prowess to a broader audience. Like the app, the website features local forecasts presented in a deterministic way, meaning it will tell you when it will rain, rather than a probability of precipitation. Also, services like webbdesign företag would be essential in ensuring that DarkSky.net’s website delivers a seamless and engaging user experience, aligned with the company’s design philosophy. With a focus on clean, modern aesthetics and easy navigation, webbdesign företag could help create a visually appealing layout that highlights the key features of the site, such as its precise local forecasts and deterministic approach to weather predictions. By employing user-centered design principles, webbdesign företag would structure the site to ensure that visitors can quickly find and understand the forecast for their specific location, with clear, concise visuals. Responsive design would also play a crucial role in ensuring that the site functions smoothly on both desktop and mobile devices, allowing users to access forecasts while on the go. Additionally, webbdesign företag could enhance the site’s interactive elements, such as real-time weather updates, dynamic graphics, and customizable features, to make the weather experience more engaging. Optimizing the site for speed and performance would also be key, particularly for users relying on accurate, real-time weather information. Overall, webbdesign företag’s expertise would allow DarkSky.net to reach a wider audience and present weather data in a way that’s not only functional but visually captivating and user-friendly.
As a motorcyclist, especially this time of year, the weather dictates where and when I ride so having tools like the excellent DarkSky is really important.
Written by Shawn King
Aetna:
Aetna today announced a new initiative to revolutionize members’ consumer health experience by combining the power of iOS apps and the unmatched user experience of Apple products including Apple Watch, iPhone and iPad with Aetna’s analytics-based wellness and care management programs. Beginning this fall, Aetna will make Apple Watch available to select large employers and individual customers during open enrollment season, and Aetna will be the first major health care company to subsidize a significant portion of the Apple Watch cost, offering monthly payroll deductions to make covering the remaining cost easier.
In addition to the customer program, Aetna will provide Apple Watch at no cost to its own nearly 50,000 employees, who will participate in the company’s wellness reimbursement program, to encourage them to live more productive, healthy lives.
This is a huge deal for Aetna, Apple, and Aetna’s customers. It also means we’ll see more health related apps and other company’s offering similar services to their customers and employees.
Written by Shawn King
MIC:
“Overall, parents, schools and universities believe that travel really is the answer to exposing students worldwide to other cultures, building tolerance and awareness and a greater understanding of the world outside their own homes,” Carylann Assante, executive director of the Student & Youth Travel Association (SYTA), said in an interview. “Our studies show the very positive social impact of travel.”
According a SYTA survey of U.S. teachers, student group leaders and tour operators, 74% of students who studied internationally reported an increased tolerance of other cultures and ethnicities after traveling.
I’ve always been a fan of travel, especially for students. If you are a student in college, see if your school has programs that can help you pay for study abroad. I promise, you won’t regret it.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
The company put up a little doodle.
Written by Shawn King
Apple:
Join us here on October 27, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. PT / 5:00 p.m. ET to listen to the conference call live.
One month from today, Apple will again announce it has made an incredible amount of money.
Written by Shawn King
Buzzfeed:
“I don’t know how to do this any other way, except to help make really good music, get it exposed, and get it handled and treated the way it deserves to be treated,” Jimmy Iovine, who runs Apple Music after a long tenure as the founder and chief executive of Interscope Records, told BuzzFeed News in a recent interview. “That’s the only thing that we know how to do coming from where we’re coming from. You use all the tools you have to do that.“
“We were too ambitious in the beginning — we probably put too much into it,” said Iovine. “But we’re getting there now, one foot in front of the other, and the stuff we’re creating I don’t think anyone is gonna see coming.”
Good interviews with some of the principals responsible for Apple Music.
September 26, 2016
Written by Shawn King
Vox:
Since 2009, MrBreakfast.com has maintained a database called the Cereal Project. The site has catalogued 1,568 cereals released over 150 years and has allowed visitors to vote on which one is the best cereal in history.
As of this writing, 570,572 total votes have been cast. The people have spoken.
What a BS list. How can Apple Jacks be rated 40th!?
Written by Shawn King
Tech Hive:
Roku is replacing its entire lineup of streaming-video boxes, keeping the Roku Stick while introducing five all-new products, two of which support 4K and HDR (high dynamic range) video decoding.
Although Roku isn’t making any major software changes to complement the new hardware, the company says it now has more than 100 channels supporting its universal search function. All of those channels—with the notable exception of Netflix—should also support Roku Feed, a feature that notifies you when your favorite shows, movies, and actors have new content available for streaming.
I don’t use the Roku products but I like when they update and improve. It helps to put pressure on Apple to continue to do the same with the Apple TV.
Written by Shawn King
Petapixel:
As a full time professional photographer, I try to remind people that the best camera you have is the one you have with you. Since I have yet to permanently graft a DSLR onto my body, my best camera is often my iPhone. So, is the new iPhone 7 Plus good enough to help alleviate the anxiety I get every time I leave my camera at home? Let’s find out!
This is a comparison from a professional photographer. His conclusions are exactly what I would have expected.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
So what is Plex Cloud? For the first time, you get a full-featured1 Plex Media Server in the… er… cloud.
Oh my, this looks really good.
September 25, 2016
Written by Shawn King
Mashable:
Vin Scully is finally retiring after 67 years.
He called his first Dodgers game back in 1950 — when the team was still in Brooklyn. On Sunday, his warm, toasty voice will greet fans one last time from Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
Scully has a remarkable voice and presence. I’m not even a Dodgers fan but I listen to the games just to hear his voice, his style and his sometimes wonderfully odd story asides.
