The Hollywood Reporter:

Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman acknowledged Tuesday that the conglomerate is seeking a minority investor in Paramount.

While Viacom paid $9.8 billion for the film and TV studio in 1994, analysts suggest it’s worth just $5.5 billion today, and only that much to a foreign investor willing to pay top dollar for a stake in a major U.S. studio.

Dauman’s desire for a “strategic” minority partner seems to suggest he isn’t interested in a private equity investor that would simply bring in cash and not much else.

And:

The giant new-media company behind iTunes, iPads and iPhones is also rapidly expanding its Apple TV initiative, and the company run by CEO Tim Cook has already been floated as a potential bidder for Time Warner, should that company be for sale, as is rumored. But if Apple is simply seeking more content for a future version of Apple TV, why pay more than $80 billion for all of Time Warner (the price it already turned down when offered by 21st Century Fox) when it could get a stake in Paramount for less than a 20th of that?

This is conjecture, but interesting nonetheless. Does it make sense for Apple to acquire content in this way? Even if Apple bought a stake in Paramount, they’d be a minority investor, at best. Not sure they’d get enough decision making power to make it worth their time.

But that said, this does touch on a deeper issue, that of buying content as a discriminator for Apple TV. Would it make sense for Apple to own a movie studio? A TV Network? How about Netflix? Does Apple need to compete with Netflix and Amazon to make the Apple TV compelling, to strengthen that part of the ecosystem?

I’m struggling to see the win here for Apple. Especially with an investment that would further sap their attention from their core business. Interesting, though.

If you haven’t yet seen it, worth taking the time to watch the entire thing. The extended version (all 30 minutes) is embedded below.

You can also see the interview on the new Apple TV. Go to the App Store and tap on the interview. You’ll be prompted to download the ABC World News app. It’s free and the interview is featured prominently in the app.

One response that is becoming a big talking point:

David Muir: In your quiet moments, do you have any concern that you might be able to prevent a terrorist attack by breaking into that phone?

Tim Cook: David, some things are hard, and some things are right. And some things are both. This is one of those things.

David Muir: And in this case, you believe there are some things that should never be created?

Tim Cook: Correct. Think about this: It is, in our view, the software equivalent of cancer. Is this something that should be created?

And, later in the interview:

Tim Cook: We believe that is a very dangerous operating system.

Then, referring to an OS that let you use a computer to automate the process of trying passwords to get into your phone:

Tim Cook: If one of the bad guys knew that that existed, think about the target that is. Everybody would want that operating system. It has the potential to get into any iPhone. This is not something that should be created.

And, finally:

David Muir: Are you prepared to take this all the way to the Supreme Court?

Tim Cook: We would be prepared to take this issue all the way, yes. Because I think it’s that important for America.

This interview is a great insight into Tim and Apple’s thinking here, a chance to truly understand the stakes.

The New York Times:

Apple engineers have begun developing new security measures that would make it impossible for the government to break into a locked iPhone using methods similar to those now at the center of a court fight in California, according to people close to the company and security experts.

If Apple succeeds in upgrading its security — and experts say it almost surely will — the company will create a significant technical challenge for law enforcement agencies, even if the Obama administration wins its fight over access to data stored on an iPhone used by one of the killers in last year’s San Bernardino, Calif., rampage. If the Federal Bureau of Investigation wanted to get into a phone in the future, it would need a new way to do so. That would most likely prompt a new cycle of court fights and, yet again, more technical fixes by Apple.

This is the logical next step for Apple even if this fight with the FBI hadn’t come up. But, given the climate Apple finds itself in, these new measures will come under even greater scrutiny from the government and the public.

ABCNews:

In an exclusive interview with ABC News today, Apple CEO Tim Cook told “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir that what the U.S. government was asking of the tech giant — to essentially create software enabling the FBI to unlock an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino, California, shooters — amounted to the “software equivalent of cancer.”

I love how fired up Tim Cook was in this interview, even if the interviewer asked some idiotic questions.

Re/code:

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook’s battle with the FBI will be televised.

Cook sat down with ABC’s “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir to discuss Apple’s objections to unlocking the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters.

The interview will be available online at ABCNews.com immediately following the east coast broadcast at 6:30pm.

The PR battle is heating up.

Stratechery:

The dispute between Apple and the FBI is a much closer question than it is being framed as in most of the tech press. In large part this is because the dispute itself is being serially mischaracterized by both Apple supporters and detractors.

Apple supporters are, in my estimation, too easily conflating the security issues at hand with the more fundamental debate about encryption; detractors are trivializing the significance of the FBI’s request by suggesting they simply want Apple to unlock the phone.

My goal with this piece is to, in as plain of language as possible, lay out the issues at hand, give a framework to think about them, and explain why I am ultimately supporting Apple’s decision.

Typically clear, well-written piece by Thompson, laying out both sides of the issue. Pass this around to people who may ask you what this story is all about.

Wired:

Your news feed is about to get a lot more expressive. After months of user testing in a handful of countries, Facebook today is releasing “Reactions” to the rest of the world. The feature isn’t so much a new tool as it is an extension of an existing one; by long-pressing—or, on a computer, hovering—over the “like” button, users can now access five additional animated emoji with which to express themselves. Each emotive icon is named for the reaction it’s meant to convey. “Like” you already know—say hello to “love,” “haha,” “wow,” “sad,” and “angry”.

I like this new feature. I’m not an avid Facebooker but, when friends and family posted something of interest, I like to acknowledge it. But sometimes those posts don’t feel as if the “Like” is appropriate. These new emojis will help extend the range of expressible emotions on Facebook.

The New York Times:

Movies rarely influence public policy, but Washington’s policies on cyberattacks, computer surveillance and the possibility of cyberwarfare were directly influenced by the 1983 box-office hit “WarGames.”

The film — starring Matthew Broderick as a tech-whiz teenager who unwittingly hacks into the computer of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and nearly sets off World War III — opened nationwide that June 3. The next night, President Ronald Reagan watched it at Camp David. And that is where this strange story — culled from interviews with participants and Reagan Library documents — begins.

Hard to believe the movie came out more than 30 years ago. I watched it a couple of years ago with a 12 year old and it still stands up really well for both adults and kids.

Today’s “world music” isn’t Peruvian pan flutes or African talking drums. It’s loud guitars, growling vocals and ultrafast “blast” beats. Heavy metal has become the unlikely soundtrack of globalization.

YEAH!

From idownloadBlog:

Apple has quietly issued a backend update to the tvOS App Store, adding a new ‘Not on This Apple TV’ option to the Purchased section, making it easier to spot apps that users previously purchased on their iPhone and iPad which have since been updated to support the fourth-generation Apple TV.

In other words, use “Not on This Apple TV” to spot apps you own that have added Apple TV support that you have not yet downloaded on your Apple TV. Very smart.

If you are a fan of magic, and/or a fan of Penn and Teller, follow the link for a series of links to YouTube videos, showing magicians whose tricks have fooled Penn and Teller. No easy task.

Allyson Kazmucha, writing for the App Factor, reviews Unroll.me:

When I first scanned my iCloud inbox, Unroll.me found over 70 subscriptions and items it considered junk. In less than 10 minutes, I was able to condense those into daily digests, or get rid of them altogether.

Unroll.me works by scanning your email accounts for items it considers to be subscription based or junk. Once it’s done scanning, you can quickly decide whether you want to leave something as it is, get rid of it, or condense it into a daily digest. You do this by swiping left, right, or up. (If you’re a frequent Tinder user, you’ll feel right at home.> Unroll.me works by scanning your email accounts for items it considers to be subscription based or junk. Once it’s done scanning, you can quickly decide whether you want to leave something as it is, get rid of it, or condense it into a daily digest. You do this by swiping left, right, or up. (If you’re a frequent Tinder user, you’ll feel right at home.

This is a really interesting idea. An app that manages all your subscription and junk email, keeping it out of your main email stream.

This tutorial on the use of color in graphic design is basic, but easy to get through and well designed. At the end, you’ll invest just a few minutes but gain an understanding of the five basic color combination categories.

Yesterday we posted a link to Serenity Caldwell’s piece on iOS 9.3 eliminating Apple Pencil’s navigation capabilities (Apple, don’t cripple the Pencil’s navigation in iOS 9.3).

Soon after Serenity’s article (and a number of others) ran, Apple responded thusly:

Apple Pencil has been a huge hit with iPad Pro users, who love it for drawing, annotating and taking notes,” an Apple spokesperson told iMore. “We believe a finger will always be the primary way users navigate on an iPad, but we understand that some customers like to use Apple Pencil for this as well and we’ve been working on ways to better implement this while maintaining compatibility during this latest beta cycle. We will add this functionality back in the next beta of iOS 9.3.”

The will of the people!

The well-respected Pew Research Center put a poll in the field from Feb 18-21 asking this question:

In response to court order tied to ongoing FBI investigation of San Bernardino attack, Apple…

The then followed up with these choices:

• Should unlock iPhone
• Should not unlock iPhone
• Don’t know

I’ve got a real issue with this poll. There is no context here. The question is simplistic and makes no mention of precedence, privacy, or encryption. On the surface, the question gives the impression that the FBI has simply asked Apple to enter the code to unlock the phone. Which, of course, is an incredible oversimplification.

The poll questioned 1,002 adults. The results? 51% felt Apple should unlock the iPhone.

Take a look at this MarketWatch poll. Certainly not as scientific as a Pew Research poll, but the choices are more informative:

Should Apple comply with a U.S. court order that it unlock the San Bernardino terrorist’s iPhone?

• Yes, it’s a justified request under the circumstances.
• No, Tim Cook should fight to protect our privacy.
• Hmm, I’m not sure this is the big deal it’s made out to be.

More importantly, the poll is embedded in a short discussion of the matter with links to more detailed discussion. And even more importantly, the numbers showed 63% favorable to Apple with more than 6,000 responses. Clearly not as scientific, but a much larger sample size.

Moving on, here’s another poll, this one released this morning, from Reuters/Ipsos. The sample size of this poll was 1,500 adults. Results were 46% agree with Apple’s decision, 35% disagree. The results were split largely along party lines, emphasizing the relevance and importance of the upcoming Supreme Court appointment and that currently vacant seat.

Bottom line, don’t believe headlines like this one: Apple losing to feds in court of public opinion.

Do what Tim Cook does and make up your own mind.

IDC put out wearables numbers for the entire year (2015) and for the latest quarter (4Q2015). Apple Watch moved past Samsung, Garmin, and Xiaomi in 4th quarter shipments, grabbing a 15% marketshare. FitBit is in first place with 29.5% of units shipped.

Not too shabby for a product that just started shipping 9 months ago.

The Economist put together this chart of housing prices in different countries, from 1980-2015. Boring, right? But click through anyway and play with the chart.

• Click on a country to add it to the chart.
• Hover over a line (or touch/drag if you are on iOS) to get precise values at any given moment in time.
• Drag the double-headed slider at the bottom of the chart to change the range of years covered.
• Be sure to look at the other tabs at the top of the chart (there are five, total).

To me, this is a fantastic way to present information. Not sure what tool they used to construct the chart. If you do, ping me on Twitter.

UPDATE: Thanks for all the responses. Looks like the post used Highcharts.

Federico Viticci updates us on how he is making out with his iPad. I truly don’t know anyone that uses one as much as he does.

The Daily Mail:

Construction continues at Apple’s new California campus in Cupertino with one of the most difficult aspect of the project underway – the installing of the world’s largest piece of curved glass.

More than 3,000 curved panes will be used in the end around both sides of the circular four-story building, which is over a mile around.

Peter Arbour, an architect who works with Apple on their store designs, previously said that in the end more than six kilometers of curved glass will be used in the project.

I find it remarkable Apple is going to this incredible effort. They don’t really have to. They want to. The company is not going to be better because their new headquarters has the “world’s largest piece of curved glass”. But I do know from speaking to Apple employees who will be in the new campus that they are very excited about the building and that it gives them a sense the company really cares about their work environment. They also know they are going to be spending a lot of time behind that glass.

Above Avalon:

There have been a handful of events since 2011 that have served as key milestones in Cook’s tenure as CEO. The Apple Maps debacle, Apple Retail turmoil, Apple supply chain working conditions, environmental activism, and data privacy and security, have each played a role in laying the groundwork for Tim Cook’s legacy.

With Jony Ive focused on Apple’s product vision, Tim Cook has been playing to his strengths dedicating much of his attention to nurturing the Apple experience by focusing on six values: security and privacy, trust, equality and ethics, and environmentally responsibility.

It would actually be a shame if this issue was the “defining moment” of Cook’s legacy as Apple’s CEO. It means that our governments had failed us.

Hollywood 360 Radio:

The Twilight Zone Radio Dramas are fully-dramatized radio plays based on Rod Serling’s classic TV series. In 2002, Producer Carl Amari licensed the rights from CBS and The Rod Serling estate to turn The Twilight Zone TV series into a brand new radio drama series. Each 40-minute radio drama includes Stacy Keach as host, a full cast, music, sound effects and a Hollywood celebrity in the title role.

These Twilight Zone Radio Dramas will keep you glued to the edge of your seat whether listening in your home or while driving in your car.

You can get three “Twilight Zone Radio Dramas” for free by signing up and more than 150 Twilight Zone Radio Dramas (each approximately 40 minutes) are available for digital download for only $1.99 each. When I was a kid, I would lie under my covers, trying to tune in to a particular New York City radio station that, late at night, replayed old radio dramas. I saw this tweet from Darby Lines and knew I had to sign up to get these.

Petapixel:

The Canon PowerShot SX50 HS features a 50x optical zoom lens, the equivalent of a 24-1200mm in 35mm terms. Combined with its 4x digital zoom, the camera has a reach of 200x. The video above is a mind-bending demonstration of how powerful a 200x zoom is. It was filmed by YouTuber TheSleeb during a trip through Bilbao, Spain.

I started watching this video and thought the picture quality was awful. And then I kept watching. Wow. That’s insane zoom.

The credit card company noted 92 percent of the their test subjects liked the new system over passwords, as Selfie ID authenticates customers with biometrics when selfies are taken with a front facing camera, or via fingerprint authentication via Apple’s Touch ID, for example.

I always wondered about the reliability of using photos or pictures. Touch ID seems better to me.

Tina Roth Eisenberg:

The Smart Rope counts your jumps and shows them in real-time with a futuristic LED display that appears right before your eyes. Pretty cool idea!

This is indeed a cool idea.

Court records released on Tuesday show the U.S. Justice Department has in the last four months sought court orders to force Apple Inc to help investigators extract data from 15 iPhones in cases across the country.

I thought these were great. They even have the poop emoji.

Serenity Caldwell, writing for iMore:

Unfortunately, whether by bug or intentional design, the Pencil’s navigational prowess appears to have vanished in the iOS 9.3 public betas. With 9.3, you can no longer scroll or manipulate text; the only places the Pencil works are on canvas or when pressing digital buttons.

It’s a beta. Surely this is just an oversight, right?

Normally, I don’t write about beta bugs and features, because it’s a beta: There are always bugs, and features change. But this functionality is important enough that I wanted to talk about it before Apple submits its final 9.3 release. It could be a bug, yes: But several betas in, we’ve seen fixes for Smart Connector keyboards and new features, and the Pencil remains crippled. Which makes me think, more and more, that this is a conscious decision on the part of Apple’s engineering team.

Read the whole post. Serenity is not alone in her thinking here. Here’s hoping she’s wrong or, if Serenity is correct, that the Apple Pencil team changes their minds on this.

The Washington Post:

In a typical call, the robot keeps the telemarketer on the phone for a few minutes, but in some cases they go on for much longer. The robot does this by cleverly exploiting a flaw in the telemarketer playbook: staying on the line if the person is agreeable. So the system leans on “yeah,” “sure,” “okay” and “yes.” In one instance the robot kept a cable company on the line for 22 minutes.

Yes, please.

Market Watch:

Andrew Crocker, staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which plans to file an amicus brief in support of Apple’s stance, believes that Apple has a strong case to keep fighting.

“(The feds are) doubling down on the idea that forcing Apple to write code is not burdensome, and relying on the Fricosu case (compelled decryption) as the best precedent, which is a weak precedent indeed,” Crocker said in an email.

In the 2011 case Crocker cites, the government seized a laptop from Ramona Fricosu, who was accused of fraudulent real estate transactions, and asked the court to compel Fricosu to enter her password or turn over a decrypted version of the data on her laptop. The attempt used the same so-called All Writs Act that the government is citing against Apple.

The EFF argued in its amicus brief for that case that the demand was contrary to the fifth amendment of the U.S. Constitution because it would force Fricosu to become a witness against herself. A federal court ruled in January 2012 that she could be forced to turn over an unencrypted version of the laptop’s hard drive. Fricosu later entered a plea agreement.

You’ll no doubt hear more about the Fricosu case as this current case goes to court.

Here’s yesterday’s tweet from the official Apple Music Twitter account:

.@the1975 live in LA. Feb. 25 on @Beats1 @zanelowe
http://apple.co/snapchat

The official announcement is here. You can hear the show on Beats 1, 9a PT on Thursday.