A number of websites recently created a stir with reports of a potential shortcoming of the iPhone 6s smartphones. According to those “chipgate” reports, the battery life on iPhone 6s models with an A9 central processing unit made by Samsung is worse than the battery life on models with a CPU made by TSMC. The phones with the Samsung chip also run hotter, the reports claim, than the phones with the chip made by TSMC.
While Consumer Reports’ tests had confirmed that the battery life on the 6s and 6s Plus is slightly shorter than that on the iPhone 6, they had not addressed the chipgate rumors. So, much like they did for last year’s “bendgate,” our engineers developed a special protocol to test this apparent issue. Those tests simulate real-world usage as opposed to relying on the benchmarks used by other organizations in their off-the-shelf tests.
As much as I dislike Consumer Reports for any number of reasons, I’m always fascinated by their testing and experiment methodologies.
“Pirates” focuses on the heated personal rivalry between Steve Jobs of Apple and Bill Gates of Microsoft, recounting the parallel and often intertwined stories of the two companies and their tempestuous founders. Written and directed by photojournalist and documentary-maker Martyn Burke, the TV movie was based on the book “Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer” by Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine. It was first shown on TNT in June 1999.
“Pirates” is focused on recounting events rather than getting into the heads of its characters, so there’s not a great deal of insight into their motivations.
I watched this when it came out and remember thinking, while it was a “fun” movie, it really wasn’t very good. I’ll have to watch it again in light of the past 15 years. I was in the third row of the Macworld Expo Keynote audience when Noah Wylie came out in character as Steve Jobs and the place went bananas.
It’s truly hard to express how wonderful these masks are. And if you have kids, working with them to produce a mask they can wear proudly is just awesome.
Here’s a link to the home page. Buy the PDF, use your own scrap cardboard, make an awesome mask. Watch the video below to get a sense of the process.
Hot air balloon festivals are a visual treat for many. Not only do they provide a stunning perspective for their passengers, but their playful shapes, colors, and themes make these floating vessels excellent subject matter for photographers, both on the ground and in the sky. Here is a look at some of the 2015 balloonist gatherings around the globe.
I’ve always told my students, if you ever want guaranteed great photos, find a hot air balloon festival.
I have 4k video turned on all the time. I figure that video, and the tools we use, are only going to improve over time, so I might as well start capturing it now.
Thanks to Carbon Copy Cloner for sponsoring The Loop this week. What’s your plan when your Mac’s hard drive dies? Plan ahead and get back to work in minutes with a Carbon Copy Cloner bootable backup. CCC—the app that saves your bacon.
Jim’s Note: I’ve used this app for many years. I trust and love it.
You may have heard that Apple’s on the hook for $862 million in potential penalties after a jury ruled that it infringed on a patent owned by the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
The university appears to be asking for roughly half that amount, about $400 million, but that is still a huge amount of money, particularly in relation to a) the size of the university’s budget and b) how much Apple’s spent on Washington lobbyists to head off just these types of lawsuits. And the stakes aren’t limited to the fines: If Apple is forced to pay future royalties, it’ll add to the production costs of future iPhones and iPads. While that won’t necessarily lead to increased prices for consumers, it could drag down the company’s profits over the long run even as it grapples with the reputational fallout of having copied someone else’s work.
Apple is almost sure to appeal, and it could very well get the fines reduced further or eliminated, as it did with another recent patent case this year. Still, the ruling represents a stinging rebuke for a company that has spent years accusing its rival, Samsung, of essentially stealing its hardware designs.
Many have and will call the University of Wisconsin–Madison a “patent troll” but that’s not necessarily the case in this particular situation. This does bring into question once again patents and lawsuits. The jury award could also open Apple up to further damages if they also loses a second lawsuit UW-Madison filed against the iPhone 6S, 6S Plus and the iPad Pro.
Finding great stock photos is a pain. You’re left with either low-res amateur photos, people wearing cheesy headsets, or photos that are out of budget for the project you’re working on. Below is an ongoing list (so bookmark it) of the best stock photo sites I’ve come across.
I love using my own photos to illustrate things but sometimes, you just need one particular kind of shot. There are lots of sites that will charge you for lots of different kinds of images but, if you’re on a budget or just cheap, check out some of the sites listed at this page. Many of them have newsletters you can sign up for that will send you a daily list of new images.
Sandwich Video has been making wonderful short films for clients for a few years. Now, they’ve made something for themselves. The first episode premiered at XOXO last month, and it brought the house down. I think you’re best off going in cold — just grab a beverage and watch.
Indeed.
And if you liked this one, go back in time and watch this old favorite from Adult Swim.
More from Scott Knaster, who was in the room at the original rollout and then on the set providing background for the Steve Jobs movie. Great read, great fun and, most importantly, great pictures.
Hayley Tsukayama, writing for The Washington Post:
One of the most promising uses for the Apple Watch is its potential for improving health and fitness. And now, thanks to a new study from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the Watch is being used for the first time as a tool to help those diagnosed with epilepsy.
EpiWatch, an app the school launched on Thursday, will be the first to take advantage of the sensors in Apple’s wearable device for a medical study, said Gregory Krauss, a Johns Hopkins University professor of neurology and physician who specializes in the treatment of epilepsy.
Reports are circulating that some users are being presented with dialog boxes that only give them the option to start the upgrade process or reschedule it for a later date. Others are finding that the Windows Update screen is only offering them the option to begin the upgrade process, with other system updates being hidden from view.
Is there anything you can do to reverse this situation? Right now there isn’t.
The sense this gives is that Microsoft is throwing all its efforts into a forced migration to Windows 10. There were reports that Microsoft was downloading unrequested upgrade files to users and now this?
Some Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users this week started reporting they were being forced to upgrade to Windows 10, even though they had not reserved a copy nor indicated in any way they wanted to upgrade. We reached out to Microsoft asking why users were being forced to install Windows 10, and the company replied that the issue came down to an optional update in Windows Update being checked by default. The company has now reverted the checkbox, calling the whole snafu “a mistake.”
And:
“As part of our effort to bring Windows 10 to existing genuine Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 customers, the Windows 10 upgrade may appear as an optional update in the Windows Update (WU) control panel,” a Microsoft spokesperson told VentureBeat. “This is an intuitive and trusted place people go to find Recommended and Optional updates to Windows. In the recent Windows update, this option was checked as default; this was a mistake and we are removing Windows 10 from Windows Update for users that have not reserved a copy of Windows 10.”
Apple posted a new ad yesterday, a worthy sequel to their first iPhone 6s ad. Instead of Bill Hader and his tortellini troubles, this ad gives us Jamie Foxx with a nicely written gag of his own. The video of the latest ad is embedded below.
You’ll find both ads on Apple’s official iPhone 6s Films page along with Introducing 3D Touch and Peek and Pop. Those last two are the films from the September rollout and do a great job laying out the mechanics of 3D Touch and the peek and pop gestures.
Apple on Thursday released substantial updates for its iWork suite of applications on all its platforms: iOS, Mac, and the Web. There are a lot of changes in these updates—here are the major ones.
Pages, Numbers and Keynote now take advantage of new features recently introduced in iOS 9, including Split View, Slide View, and Picture in Picture and 3D Touch on the new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus.
The apps are now more accessible than ever with greater support for VoiceOver, the remarkable screen reader that comes standard on iOS devices and Macs, and provides users an audio description of what’s happening on screen, as well as guidance for initiating actions when creating, editing or formatting a document.
And iWork for iCloud is now out of beta. We’ve added a host of new features like commenting, version history and support for 10 additional languages that make the collaboration experience on the web much more powerful.
Other new features include:
El Capitan users can now multitask in Split View and get haptic feedback as they edit a document using a Force Touch trackpad
Shared iWork documents can now be previewed on iOS and Android browsers
iWork for iOS and iWork for iCloud now include version history
Longtime iWork customers can now open and edit documents from iWork ’08 and ’06 across all three platforms
Keynote for iOS allows customers to edit and present in portrait orientation
Keynote for Mac and iOS now include full bidirectional support for Arabic and Hebrew
You can download the updates by opening the App Store on your Mac or iOS device and checking for updates. These are free updates for all existing users.
Researchers from ANSSI, France’s National Information System Security Agency, have demonstrated a “hack” where, using transmitters from a short distance away, they can trigger Apple’s Siri and Google Now under certain specific circumstances.
Like usual, it’s something to be aware of but not overly concerned about. Once again, we should all be more concerned about the state of security reporting at mainstream publications.
Siri and Google Now are enabling and empowering technologies that help people live better lives. We should all be informed and educated about any potential security issues, but not sensationalized or made to feel scared in any way.
When I saw the Wired story, I (predictably) thought there was more to it than what was reported. As usual, whenever you read about “security threats” to Apple’s products, it’s always good to wait a few days until calmer heads investigate and give you a better, fuller version of the story.
Through our pursuit of further automation and maximization of margins during the industrial age of media technology, we built advertising technology to optimize publishers’ yield of marketing budgets that had eroded after the last recession. Looking back now, our scraping of dimes may have cost us dollars in consumer loyalty. The fast, scalable systems of targeting users with ever-heftier advertisements have slowed down the public internet and drained more than a few batteries. We were so clever and so good at it that we over-engineered the capabilities of the plumbing laid down by, well, ourselves. This steamrolled the users, depleted their devices, and tried their patience.
Well, it’s certainly a start.
Today, the IAB Tech Lab is launching the L.E.A.N. Ads program. Supported by the Executive Committee of the IAB Tech Lab Board, IABs around the world, and hundreds of member companies, L.E.A.N. stands for Light, Encrypted, Ad choice supported, Non-invasive ads. These are principles that will help guide the next phases of advertising technical standards for the global digital advertising supply chain.
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Pixelmator 3.4 Twist adds support for the new OS X El Capitan, multitasking via Split View, the new Pixelmator Photos Extension with powerful Distort tools, and more.
This is such a great app. The guys at Pixelmator continue to improve the application, adding value for its customers.
Michael S. Rosenwald , writing for the Washington Post:
There are plenty of goofballs — like me — who stand outside Apple stores all night waiting for the company’s latest, thinnest, must-have offering.
There was nobody like Gary Allen, who died Sunday from brain cancer at 67.
Allen didn’t care so much about Apple’s new products (though he bought many of them.) He cared about the stores, the sleek and often innovative ways Apple presented itself to the world — the winding staircases, the floor-to-ceiling glass, the exposed brick.
Allen, a retired EMS dispatcher, traveled around the world — obsessively and expensively — to be among the first in line at the company’s new stores. He attended more than 140 openings, collecting all sorts of trivia. He could even tell you where Apple store tables are made (Utah; he stopped by the factory once to say thanks).
You can argue about the “biggest fan” title, but he definitely fit that mold. Sad.
Samsung is adding two new Galaxy Note 5 options to its lineup in South Korea. They’re exactly the same internally, but they come in two cool new colors — Silver Titanium and Pink Gold.
Apple today announced a significant new initiative internally for employees that “effectively [makes] everyone who works for Apple eligible for an RSU grant.” RSU grants, or Restricted Stock Units, have typically been reserved for top Apple management and product engineering roles as a way to retain employee talent for long periods of time. For example, Apple CEO Tim Cook was granted 1 million shares in 2011, following the succession of Steve Jobs, that will vest over time through 2021. According to an email from Cook to all employees today, a similar plan, with obviously much smaller amounts of shares, is now starting.
Follow the link to read Tim’s email. This is an astute business move, and an incredibly generous gesture.
Make no mistake: this is user-hostile. Facebook is actively creating channels to continue refreshing their app in the background when the user has explicitly stated that they do not want it to. Ironically, the best way to reduce the battery and data consumption of the Facebook app in the background is to switch Background App Refresh back on.
Carlos Oliveira pulled together a pretty thorough study, comparing a variety of Safari content blockers, 16 in all. If your content blocker was not included in the study, ping Carlos on Twitter or send him an email.
