July 19, 2016
90 iPads setup and deployed in 90 minutes ∞
Fraser Speirs documented his experience of rolling out 90 iPads. Impressive.
How old school floppy drives worked
Really interesting and wonderfully nerdy video about how floppy disks works. Kids, ask your parents what a “floppy disk” is.
Camera+ for iPad ∞
Version 2 sports the world class, professional photo editing that you users of Camera+ for iPhone have been enjoying via The Lab. But the iPad version takes photo editing to a new level by supporting selective brushing of the various edits and filters. And those of you who own an Apple Pencil will appreciate it even more because we’ve also added Pencil support, enabling you to get very fine, precise control over brushing with it.
Camera+ has a lot of tools and is certainly worth a look if you are into photography on your iPad.
Pixelmator 2.3 for iOS ∞
There are some great new features in the latest version for iOS including:
- Quick Selection Tool – this is an awesome and super accurate new selection tool that lets you swipe over areas to select them.
- Magnetic Selection Tool – this tool snaps precise selections around objects and is really fun to use.
- Selection improvements – there’s also a ton of improvements to the overall selection experience (including an Invert Selection feature).
I use Pixelmator as my only image editor and love it.
Why did Jimmy Carter save the space shuttle? ∞
Interesting story.
Twitter signs deal with NBA ∞
Twitter Inc said on Tuesday it had signed a deal with the NBA to stream exclusive non-game programing, pushing deeper into sports streaming as it seeks new ways to attract users.
Twitter also signed a deal with the NFL this year. I’ll have to wait and see what kind of content comes out of this deal, but on the surface, I’m not sure this appeals to me.
Salesforce deals with Android fragmentation ∞
“Due to the wide array of available Android devices, we are targeting our support to a select number of Android devices to continue improving our overall Salesforce1 for Android user experience,” the company said in the support document.
Translation: Android is so fucked up, we were forced to take steps to make it work for us.
Software rot ∞
512 Pixels:
There will be a day where some of my old machines will stop working. There will be a day where none of them work anymore.
As sad as that will be from a hardware perspective, it’s devastating in terms of preserving software. Old operating systems are sealed inside these machines. A dead Mac is really just a beige — or Bondi Blue — sarcophagus for the software stranded on its internal disk.
Preserving the textual contents of a document is one thing, but how do we preserve the experience? How do we save the applications and the non-textual data?
Great piece by Stephen Hackett. Absolutely worth reading.
Tehran threatens to ban iPhones unless Apple officially registers in Iran ∞
The Japan Times:
In an ultimatum, Iranian officials asked iPhone manufacturer Apple Inc. to either officially register in Iran or have its products banned, a local news agency reported Monday.
“If Apple will not register an official representative in Iran within the next few days, all iPhones will be collected from the market,” Tasnim News Agency quoted the director of Iran’s anti-smuggling office as having said on Sunday.
More than 40 million Iranians are using smart phones, including millions of iPhone users, whose devices are often imported into the country by smugglers.
And:
For anti-smuggling purposes Iran has started a project, running under the president’s office, to ban smuggled mobile phones. The scheme, which will start later this week, will require all mobile phones to be registered with Iran’s telecommunications user database. Any that are not will not be able to be used.
Hard to know what to make of this. Given past events, is it wrong to be skeptical here?
Google’s futuristic new campus ∞
The Verge:
Google’s grand plans for a futuristic new campus in the North Bayshore district of Mountain View, CA may finally become a reality thanks to a new real estate deal struck with LinkedIn. According to the Silicon Valley Business Journal, the two tech companies came to an agreement on a property swap that puts to rest a longstanding feud over lucrative current and unused square footage in Silicon Valley. Google paid $215 million for the swap, while LinkedIn paid $331 million, the report states.
In a nutshell, Google’s plans for their campus were put on hold last year when the Mountain View city council voted to award a huge tract of land to LinkedIn instead of Google. With the swap, Google now has the property it needs to push forward.
Politics aside, follow the various links to see pictures and video of this planned campus. To me, it’s like a science fiction fantasy. It will be interesting to watch this unfold. Looks like Apple, Facebook and Google will all have their grand palaces.
Apple Pay launches in France ∞
Graham Spencer, writing for MacStories:
Starting today, Apple Pay is now available in France for credit and debit cards issued by Banque Populaire, Ticket Restaurant, Carrefour Banque, and Caisse d’Epargne. Apple’s website also notes that support will soon be added for cards issued by Boon and Orange.
Out of the 4 big banks in France, just BPCE is supported (Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Epargne merged to become BPCE in 2009). There is no word on when cards issued by the other three big banks (BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole or Société Générale) will be supported by Apple Pay.
Here’s a link to the official Apple announcement page (in French).
Nintendo now worth more than Sony ∞
BBC News:
On Tuesday, Nintendo shares finished trading another 14% higher, meaning they have doubled in value since the launch of Pokemon Go on 6 July.
This puts Nintendo’s overall market value at 4.36tn yen ($38bn; £28.8bn), topping Sony by 300bn yen.
All thanks to Pokémon Go.
July 18, 2016
U.S. Army Special Operations Command dumps Android for iPhone ∞
The iPhone is “faster; smoother. Android freezes up” and has to be restarted too often, the source said. The problem with the Android is particularly noticeable when viewing live feed from an unmanned aerial system such as Instant Eye, the source said.
Makes sense that the Army would want the best equipment they can get.
Ransomware: The journey to getting your files back
I am absolutely astounded by what this report from F-Secure says. It makes the “gangs” seem like companies being graded on their customer service after hacking your computer:
Ransomware criminals actually care about your convenience. That’s according to a recent experiment detailed in a new F-Secure report, Evaluating the Customer Journey of Crypto-Ransomware and the Paradox Behind It. The experiment involved evaluating the “customer experience” of five current crypto-ransomware variants, beginning with the initial ransom screen all the way to interacting with the ransomware criminals behind each of those variants.
The report’s findings include:
- Those families with the most professional user interfaces are not necessarily also those with the best customer service.
- Crypto-ransomware gangs are usually willing to negotiate the price. Three out of four variants were willing to negotiate, averaging a 29 percent discount from the original ransom fee.
- Ransomware deadlines are not necessarily “set in stone.” 100 percent of the groups contacted granted extensions on the deadlines.
- One of the groups claimed to be hired by a corporation to hack another corporation — a kid playing a prank, or a sinister new threat actor?
About the Security Content of Apple updates released today
If you installed any of the updates Apple released today, you may be interested in the security content of what you installed. These are for the official releases, not the betas.
Apple’s new “Shot on iPhone” videos
These are great videos.
Apple releases Mac iTunes update
It’s a big day for Apple updates. In addition to a number of beta updates released today, Apple also updated iTunes to version 12.4.2. According to the update, it “resolves a playback issue with short Apple Music songs in your Up Next queue.”
You can download iTunes by checking for new updates in the Mac App Store.
Rocket Slides and Monkey Bars: chasing the vanishing playgrounds of our youth ∞
Collectors Weekly:
For children, playgrounds are where magic happens. And if you count yourself among Baby Boomers or Gen Xers, you probably have fond memories of high steel jungle gyms and even higher metal slides that squeaked and groaned as you slid down them.
When you dismounted from a teeter-totter, you had to be careful not to send your partner crashing to the ground or get hit in the head by your own seat. The tougher, faster kids always pushed the brightly colored merry-go-round, trying to make riders as dizzy as possible. In the same way, you’d dare your sibling or best friend to push you even higher on the swing so your toes could touch the sky.
Today, these objects of happy summers past have nearly disappeared, replaced by newer equipment that’s lower to the ground and made of plastic, painted metal, and sometimes rot-resistant woods like cedar or redwood.
This is a fascinating article about the history of the playgrounds many of us horsed around on as kids. We think of them with nostalgia but, if we’re honest with ourselves, some of that equipment was incredibly dangerous. We had metal slides that, in the heat of the summer, could cause significant burns. And who doesn’t remember being spun off (or doing the spinning off) the Merry Go Round? And how many kids fell from the top of the Monkey Bars, hitting every steel bar on the way down, knocking out multiple teeth?
Apple’s new beta OS downloads ∞
Developers have access to iOS 10 beta 3, watchOS 3 beta 3, tvOS 10 beta 3, macOS Sierra, and Xcode 8 beta 3. Big day for Apple.
Here’s how people who block ads justify it: Convenience, control, and avoiding slow load times ∞
Nieman Lab:
Here’s some good news and bad news for publishers losing sleep over the rise of adblocking: The good news is that most people don’t hate all ads. The bad news is that, no, they won’t turn off their adblockers, even if you beg them.
This is according to a new survey from AdBlock Plus and marketing company HubSpot, which quizzed both users and non-users of adblocking plugins on why they use (or don’t use) the tech.
I’ve said it many times, this is an issue the ad publishers have brought on themselves and, for the most part, we have little sympathy for them. But it’s going to cause a significant shift in the way all web sites monetize their offerings.
MacKeeper threatens teenager YouTube video maker with harassment suit ∞
Infamous software developer MacKeeper has demanded that four videos critical of its maligned tune-up utility suite be removed from the internet, threatening the teenager behind the videos with $60,000 in court costs and legal fees.
Oh boy.
VW Bus bed ∞
Like Tina Roth Eisenberg, I’d take it.
A look at Mastercard’s new logo ∞
I suppose you could argue that it’s not exactly new as much as changed, but still.
Apple begins rolling out iTunes Match with audio fingerprint to Apple Music subscribers
One of the biggest complaints about Apple Music over the past year was that it wouldn’t properly match songs subscribers had in their existing iTunes libraries. That problem is being fixed by Apple.
Apple has been quietly rolling out iTunes Match audio fingerprint to all Apple Music subscribers. Previously Apple was using a less accurate metadata version of iTunes Match on Apple Music, which wouldn’t always match the correct version of a particular song. We’ve all seen the stories of a live version of a song being replaced by a studio version, etc.
Using iTunes Match with audio fingerprint, those problems should be a thing of the past.
If you had songs that were matched incorrectly using the metadata version of iTunes Match, the new version will rematch to the correct song. However, it will not delete any downloaded copies of songs you have in your library. This is a very good thing—we don’t want songs auto-deleting from our libraries.
This is, in fact, the same version of iTunes Match that iTunes users could pay for as a separate subscription since Apple began offering it years ago. I am one of those users. However, all subscribers to Apple Music will get the new version of iTunes Match at no extra cost. This update also means that all Matched songs will download DRM-free.
If you are a current iTunes Match subscriber and subscribe to Apple Music, you can let your Match subscription lapse when it comes up for renewal and still receive the same benefits. If you don’t subscribe to Apple Music and still want the benefits of iTunes Match, hold on to your subscription.
Personally, I’ll be holding on to my subscription for the near future, just to be sure.
If you subscribe to Apple Music, you don’t need to do anything to receive the new version of iTunes Match. Apple is switching over 1% to 2% of its users every day, automatically.
Apple is watching the rollout very closely as new users are brought on and are cognizant of the user experience during the changeover. Switching millions of customers over is going to take some time, so be patient, but know it’s coming.
If you are currently an iTunes Match and Apple Music subscriber, you probably won’t see much of a difference. We were already getting the benefits of iTunes Match, so there won’t be much change for us.
If you’re an Apple Music subscriber but don’t have iTunes Match, you will start to see “Matched” in the iCloud Status column of iTunes on your Mac as the service rolls out.
Apple has made a lot of improvements to Apple Music over the past year, but this is by far one of the most significant updates to come to the service since it was introduced.
Uber reaches 2 billion rides
Uber hit 2 billion rides on June 18, CEO Travis Kalanick said in a Facebook post, six months after marking its first billion rides. The company, then, completed the same number of rides in six months as it did in the prior six years – due in part to its heavy spending to recruit drivers and passengers, which is made possible by more than $13 billion in funding from investors.
That’s pretty incredible. I use Uber, and Lyft, all the time.
Aboot time: Artist creates Canadian Pokémon characters ∞
Daily Hive:
While catching the Clefairy, Squirtle, and Pidgey on Canadian streets, ever wondered what a Canadian Pokémon character would look like?
Wonder no more.
Now that Pokemon Go is available in Canda, maybe we can hunt these unique Canadian characters.
Igloo is a modern intranet. Get it for free [Sponsor] ∞
Igloo is an intranet you’ll actually like. It’s 100% cloud-based, so you’ll always have the latest version and it can be accessed from any device, anywhere. It’s time to simplify work and keep people more connected than ever before.
The Pokémon Go stampede in New York’s Central Park
This video gives a good sense of just how big the Pokémon Go influence has gotten. Amazing to me.
[H/T Andrew Leavitt]
How Apple executives recruit new hires ∞
Business Insider, recounting an interview from this MacObserver podcast:
“‘You’re asking me if I’m interested in a job, if I’m willing to move out to the West Coast, but you’re not willing to tell me what the job is,'” Gartenberg joked. “He goes, ‘Yeah, that’s pretty much it. Phil will give you a call in the next couple of days.'”
Read the whole thing. Fascinating anecdote.
Netflix to carry new CBS “Star Trek” series in 188 countries around the world ∞
From the Netflix press release:
Netflix and CBS Studios International today announced a landmark international licensing agreement for the new “Star Trek” television series. Netflix will be the exclusive premiere home of “Star Trek” in 188 countries (excluding the US and Canada). Each episode of the new series will be available globally within 24 hours of its U.S. premiere.
Additionally, all 727 existing episodes of the iconic “Star Trek” television library – including “Star Trek: The Original Series,” “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” “Star Trek: Voyager” and “Star Trek: Enterprise” will be available on Netflix around the world by the end of 2016.
The all-new “Star Trek” will begin production in Toronto in September for its January 2017 premiere.
Interesting move by Netflix to lock up this show for streaming at such an early stage. Also notable that they will stream the show globally within 24 hours of its US premiere. Will this become the new norm?