Every Olympiad, it seems, sees a new crop of athletes become celebrities, their names and faces recognized by millions. Reaching that point requires staggering amounts of time, focus, and discipline with money. “You have to throw everything into it, and it becomes a kind of obsession,” says Craig Leon of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon. Yet it brings little wealth. “For a lot of Olympic athletes, there isn’t a lot of money to be made,” he says. In fact, the Olympics can hurt an athlete’s earning power.
The lack of funding and the time, energy and effort it takes to reach the Olympic level in most sports makes these 16 days of competitions even more remarkable.
Starting Wednesday, you’ll have a new way to get all of your most important and urgent messages to President Barack Obama — Facebook Messenger, the company’s standalone messaging app.
The White House published a blog post Wednesday saying that POTUS, who famously reads ten letters from U.S. citizens every day, will add Facebook messages to the pile of physical and digital mail his aides sift through. All you have to do is send your message to the new White House messaging bot.
This seems like using technology just for technology’s sake and not because it’s a better or more efficient way to do something. Plus, in the political climate we find ourselves in right now, I wouldn’t want to be the intern who has to read those messages.
The Egyptian Pyramids have been drawing crowds for millennia. Unfazed by earthquakes, erosion or vandalism, they’ve endured the collapse of the civilisation that built them and the transformation of the Sahara from lush grassland into today’s vast desert.
Of these, the Great Pyramid of Giza – completed in 2540 BC – is unrivalled, with superior materials, engineering and design to any built before or since. Ancient Greek tourists would travel thousands of miles to gawk at its towering limestone steps, which were so highly polished they were said to glow; their names can be found carved into its walls to this day.
Remarkably, Cleopatra lived closer in history to today’s tallest building – the Burj Khalifa – than she did to this monumental tomb. When the last mammoths died out, it was already 1,000 years old….do today’s skyscrapers stand a chance of outlasting them?
It’s a question I’ve thought about often – what are we creating today that will last a thousand years?
Nearly half of all iPads are bought by corporations and governments, according to a Forrester estimate included in a feature about Apple’s enterprise strength.
Since teaming up with IBM in 2014 to sell iPhones and iPads to big Fortune 500 companies, Apple’s products have become the “preferred mobile computing devices for corporations,” reports the Times.
When Apple and IBM announced their partnership, many pundits expressed surprise. But they forget that Apple does things for the long term. That partnership is now bearing significant fruit for both companies.
Black Hat is a gathering of security researchers, hackers, and industry that meets in Las Vegas to do three things: outline the latest threats, show how the good guys and the bad guys can be defeated, and launch attacks on the attendees. This year saw plenty of scary attacks, including one against show attendees, along with car hacks, new ways to steal cash from ATMs, and why smart lightbulbs might not be as safe as we thought. But we also saw lots of reason to hope, like teaching machines to spot dangerous servers, using Dungeons and Dragons to train employees on handling security threats, and how Apple handles the security of your iPhone. It was, all told, a pretty mind-bending year.
The Black Hat conference is a fascinating glimpse into an area of computing that should terrify many of us.
Apple has launched a blistering attack on three of Australia’s big banks, saying their request to collectively negotiate over digital wallet access to the iPhone will compromise the handset’s security, reduce innovation and blunt Apple’s entry into the payments market in Australia.
In a pithy, three-page submission to the ACCC, Apple says providing access to the phone’s transmitter to allow bank applications to facilitate contactless payments would compromise the security of Apple’s hardware.
With its focus on customer security, there’s no chance Apple backs down on this stance and allows the Australian banks the control they are looking for.
On August 11, Apple will pay shareholders of record a quarterly dividend of $0.57 per share, but investors must have had settled ownership of the company’s stock on Monday August 8 in order to qualify. Apple will pay out $3.2 billion in dividends on its outstanding shares for the quarter.
Apple has been paying its shareholders a dividend about a month and a half after the end of each fiscal quarter ever since it declared its modern dividend plan in the summer of 2012. The August dividend will be the ninth to occur since the company issued a 7-for-1 stock split.
I hope all you Apple shareholders spend your 57 cents wisely.
Sheriff’s deputies are looking for two suspects in San Jose who they say tried to burglarize Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino.
A command post has been set up on Camden Avenue. Officers and deputies are spread out all over this neighborhood in the Cambrian area of San Jose.
Officers and deputies are going door to door, checking to see if they can find the two burglary suspects.
Anyone know where the guys at Gizmodo were this morning? If I read the news report correctly, the burglary didn’t happen at “Apple’s headquarters” at 1 Infinite Loop but at an ancillary building. Hopefully, the bad guys weren’t dumb enough to think they could steal the iPhone 7 prototypes.
Facebook is going to start forcing ads to appear for all users of its desktop website, even if they use ad-blocking software.
The social network said on Tuesday that it will change the way advertising is loaded into its desktop website to make its ad units considerably more difficult for ad blockers to detect.
And:
With the move, Facebook risks turning off some of its 1.7 billion monthly users who prefer not to see ads while browsing the internet. But users are more likely to access Facebook’s app on smartphones and tablets, which are less susceptible to ad blocking than personal computers. Facebook will not circumvent ad blockers on mobile devices.
Interesting. This is a desktop thing, not a mobile thing. I wonder if the desktop only approach is a technical limitation or, perhaps, an Apple app review limitation, or something else entirely.
There’s also this:
“This isn’t motivated by inventory; it’s not an opportunity for Facebook from that perspective,” Mr. Bosworth said. “We’re doing it more for the principle of the thing. We want to help lead the discussion on this.”
When you are selling ads, and forcing people to watch them, tough to stand behind principle.
The updated notebooks will be thinner, include a touch screen strip for function keys, and will be offered with more powerful and efficient graphics processors for expert users such as video gamers, said the people, who asked not to be named.
The new computers have been in advanced testing within Apple since earlier this year, said one of the people, who didn’t want to be identified discussing products before their release. The MacBook Pros aren’t likely to debut at an event currently scheduled for Sept. 7 to introduce next-generation versions of the iPhone, according to one of the people.
And:
The most significant addition to the new MacBook Pro is a secondary display above the keyboard that replaces the standard function key row. Instead of physical keys, a strip-like screen will present functions on an as-needed basis that fit the current task or application. The smaller display will use Organic Light-Emitting Diodes, a thinner, lighter and sharper screen technology, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said earlier this year.
Apple’s goal with the dedicated function display is to simplify keyboard shortcuts traditionally used by experienced users. The panel will theoretically display media playback controls when iTunes is open, while it could display editing commands like cut and paste during word processing tasks, the people said. The display also allows Apple to add new buttons via software updates rather than through more expensive, slower hardware refreshes.
Here’s a priceless film from 1937 that shows Duke Ellington in the studio recording, and the process of making a vinyl record release afterwards. There’s a lot to notice in the video that will make you appreciate the recording process from back then.
This is absolutely fascinating. Certainly a truer sound than what we get today.
Nearly a dozen executives at companies from Sony Corp (6758.T) to Angry Birds-creator Rovio said Pokemon Go would be a tough act to follow, and some even said a challenge would not be worth it. Gamers should not expect the quick release of a rival app anytime soon, some said.
I think this is a good thing. We’re not looking for clones, we’re looking for innovation in markets, including gaming. Instead of trying to figure out a way to clone a successful product, figure out how to make one yourself.
TV networks are, in my opinion and analysis, not well positioned for this shift given their business model. Due to their advertising focus, they are incentivized to release content over long periods of time due to how they structure ad deals. Netflix, HBO, and Amazon are not subsidizing these shows by ads but by my consumer dollars, so I’m paying for these stories as a service.
I don’t mind paying for services like Netflix because I can watch as much as I want, whenever I want. The ad focused model has to change at some point, whether the networks want it or not. I would have thought the DVR would have done more to change it already—I don’t watch anything live anymore, just so I can skip commercials.
In addition to release a new beta update for iOS 10 this morning, Apple issued updates for tvOS, watchOS, and macOS as well. All of the updates are for developers, and should be used with caution on a secondary device. The updates can all be downloaded from the device, if you have a previous beta installed, or from your developer account.
Twitter’s curated tweet slideshow Moments has failed to move the user growth needle. But the sagging public company hopes to make itself accessible and indispensable by allowing more than just its in-house curators and partnered news publishers make Moments.
Another example of Twitter trying anything to get more users and more user engagement. Twitter Moments can be interesting especially when focused on a narrow target but, for the most part, users don’t seem to care very much about them.
Apple released iOS Beta 5 to developers this morning. If you have iOS Beta installed, you can download the update by going to Settings > General > Software Update.
It should go without saying, but you should only install betas on a secondary device. Although Apple betas are really good, like most betas, things may not work as expected.
Apple engineer Ivan Krstić spoke on far more than Apple’s new bug bounty program at the Black Hat security conference, and delved into the inner workings of iOS hardware and software security features both in iOS 9 and the forthcoming iOS 10.
Security is such an important issue these days. It’s a great move for Apple to speak publicly about what they are doing to make its products secure.
Jean-Louis Gassée takes on the topic of the iPad as a computer replacement in this excellent writeup for Monday Note. It’s a thoughtful read, touching on a number of different aspects of the iPad as a replacement for the Mac.
One particular point that resonates for me:
The iPad Pro’s Smart Keyboard is ingenious but lacks a trackpad. To Be Sure™, there is the iPad’s touch screen, but ergonomists know how a real trackpad is preferable to constantly raising one’s hand to the screen.
If the iPad Pro is used one-handed, typing is slowed. If it is placed on its stand to make typing easier, the touchscreen becomes harder to use, nowhere near as rock steady as the MacBook or MacBook Pro.
Is that divide intentional, to prevent cannibalization of Mac sales?
Apple’s iPad stylus, the Pencil, is an improvement on Microsoft’s in one regard: It doesn’t need an AAAA battery; it can be recharged directly from the iPad or with a gender-changing adapter to a standard Lightning/USB cable. But the tiny adapter is soon lost, and the Pencil rolls away far too easily. Microsoft’s stylus contains a magnet and conveniently sticks to the side of the Surface tablet.
These design misses seem obvious.
iOS is “growing windows”, a more visible file system and, in a soon to be available version, will provide easier access to documents on a Mac Desktop or Documents folder. We’ve yet to see if these improvements help Mac users actually create more on their iPads, or if they merely make life more pleasant for those fortunate enough to commute between the two devices.
Will the next generation of iPads cross the chasm and offer the interface power and usability of the Mac? Will the next generation of MacBook Pros grow closer to the iPad? What if the iPad added a keyboard case with the ability to attach a trackpad and mouse? What if the next MacBook Pro had a touchscreen and could split like the Surface? Will the Mac ever run iOS apps? Or, perhaps, iOS itself?
As is, my iPad and Mac live different lives, with the common thread of email and web browsing. My created documents almost always live on my Mac. Clearly, that is changing for other folks, as they do professional design work on their iPad Pros and create and edit music there as well.
The root of the tree is still the Mac, though. That shows no sign of changing. Why? You can create a Mac app on a Mac. To create an iOS app, you have to turn to the Mac as well.
In the primordial days of computing, IBM machines were so common inside corporations that there was a running joke in the industry: Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM.
These days, the same could be said about Apple. Even IBM is promoting Apple gear.
And:
For Apple, which is struggling to reverse declining sales of its iPhones and Macs and has seen overall revenues drop for two quarters in a row, the corporate market is a surprising bright spot. Sales of high-end iPads to business customers in particular have been strong. Nearly half of all iPads are now bought by corporations and governments, according to the research firm Forrester.
“Apple is stronger in the enterprise market with its devices than it is with consumers,” said Frank Gillett, an industry analyst at Forrester.
Partnerships with more traditional enterprise entities like IBM, Cisco, and SAP are starting to bear fruit. Tim Cook is definitely playing the long game.
Check Point today disclosed details about a set of four vulnerabilities affecting 900 million Android smartphones and tablets that use Qualcomm chipsets. The Check Point mobile threat research team, which calls the set of vulnerabilities QuadRooter, presented its findings in a session at DEF CON 24 in Las Vegas.
I just opened up sponsorships for September on the site, at a lower price for a limited time. If you want to get your product in front of The Loop readers, get in touch.
Around the world, more than half of people – estimates vary from 60 to 75 per cent – speak at least two languages. Many countries have more than one official national language – South Africa has 11. People are increasingly expected to speak, read and write at least one of a handful of “super” languages, such as English, Chinese, Hindi, Spanish or Arabic, as well. So to be monolingual, as many native English speakers are, is to be in the minority, and perhaps to be missing out.
Multilingualism has been shown to have many social, psychological and lifestyle advantages. Moreover, researchers are finding a swathe of health benefits from speaking more than one language, including faster stroke recovery and delayed onset of dementia.
Could it be that the human brain evolved to be multilingual – that those who speak only one language are not exploiting their full potential?
One of my biggest schooling regrets is not sticking with French in junior and high school. So many of us in Canada and the United States don’t speak a second language. To this day, I wish I could speak French or Italian. I’m working on the rudiments of Portuguese in preparation for a trip I hope to take next April.
A number of Olympians – including the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time, Michael Phelps – have been photographed with large red circles on their skin. What are they, and why is everyone suddenly going dotty over them?
When I was in high school, we just called these hickeys.
The short story – For the past year and a half I’ve collected wi-fi names that caught my attention all around Berlin. Click on the green markers on the map to read the wi-fi names exactly where I found them, along with my unrequested comments/interpretation/research on their meanings.
Some of these are funny—the comments certainly make a big difference in understanding the names.
AT&T has settled with the FCC over a “cramming” investigation that found the carrier allowed scammers to place unauthorized charges onto customer bills, and collected a fee from the sham companies involved in the scheme.
After a few weeks of exploration, the studio and I settled on a composition and I was tasked with painting the finished poster. I used the Procreate app on my iPad Pro to do the preliminary sketches and for blocking the basic colors of the poster. I then exported these layers into Adobe Photoshop and began detailing the artwork at a much higher resolution.
This is really impressive. The iPad Pro can be used for many things from creative endeavors to daily work—as technology continues to move forward, the possibilities are almost endless.
