Flo Gehring made some great wallpapers available for users to download free. I really like the water droplets.

Pew Research:

Test your knowledge of science facts and applications of scientific principles by taking our short 12-question quiz. Then see how you did in comparison with a nationally representative group of 3,278 randomly selected U.S. adults surveyed online and by mail between Aug. 11 and Sept. 3, 2014 as members of the Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel.When you finish, you will be able to compare your scores with the average American and compare responses across demographic groups.

I got 11 out of 12. I should have aced it if I had only thought a little longer about one of the questions. According to Mental Floss, only 6 percent of Americans aced this basic science survey. How did you do?

CBC:

Mounties from the southern Saskatchewan detachment became a viral hit when they got wind of a weekend party involving local youth and posted about it on Facebook.

They warned the students they could face hefty fines if there were any laws broken, such as underage drinking or littering.

They also said officers from the detachment would show up with chips and salsa.

It turns out they weren’t kidding.

Another in a long line of reasons why I love my country.

Dan Moore:

> Ultimately, I decided that the most important thing you should be aware of before trying to ship my car to California and moving to San Francisco is this: the city is changing, quickly. Mechanisms of gentrification have upended neighborhoods with the abruptness of lightning strikes, dividing the citizenry. This is important, because from the day you get here, you’ll find yourself in the middle of this divide, caught in anxious, awkward suspension between two worlds: one that’s losing control of its identity and one that hasn’t really figured out what its identity is yet. I should actually amend that statement: you’ll feel like you’re strung in the middle of two worlds. This will not be so. > > See, the world that hasn’t figured out its identity yet is probably better known as the tech community. This community consists of people whose move to San Francisco was made possible by way of companies related at least peripherally to the technology industry. Yes, this means you. What this also means is that many of your neighbors won’t see you as a benevolent outsider caught unknowingly in the middle of what is, essentially, a class war. You have, by association, already chosen your side. And the association will be your shame. Some people will assume even before they meet you that you care only about your company’s app; that you don’t appreciate the more intrinsic aspects of your new home; and, moreover, that you don’t respect the impact that your being here is having on it—namely, accelerating the ultimate selling out of San Francisco’s soul.

I love San Francisco. I went to school in the area, learned to drive a stick there (those hills!), learned a lot about life there. I hate the divide that appears to be more and more a way of life for people in this great city.

I’ve been gone a long time. Is this really the way things are now?

David Chartier, writing for FinerTech, presents a TL;DR list of cool new iOS 9 features/observations. This is a quick, bulleted read.

Wish there were more of these. Very dense, not a big investment to get to the heart of the matter.

Tim Bajarin, writing for Tech.pinions:

This younger generation does use PCs. However, they actually spend the most time on their iPhones and iPads and Macs are mostly relegated to serious productivity projects. More importantly, they know iOS inside and out as they spend much more of their day in this operating system then they do on any computer they have. I believe Apple understands this better than anyone and their most recent iPad Pro is a nod to this trend. More importantly, I see Apple using this to drive millennials towards making iOS their OS of choice as they move into their careers and new jobs. In fact, within 5-7 years, I suspect Windows will not even be of interest to this younger set, as iOS will be the device operating system that dominates their work and personal lifestyles.

First off, this is a terrific read, thoughtful and insightful.

In the millennials in my life, I see the phone as the center, always with them, always active, with the iPad, computer, DS, Xbox/PlayStation as a second device, depending on the activity. The phone rules as a communication device, but where there’s content to be created/consumed or a game to be played, the secondary device tends to come out.

I’ve never thought of the iPad Pro as a device for millennials, but now that Tim puts that thought out there, it is certainly an interesting strategy. I’m not sure I agree that millennials know iOS inside and out. I think they adapt to whatever is in their hands, moving fluidly between environments. And I also think iOS is easier to use “as is”.

That last point speaks to Tim’s supposition that millennials will move away from Windows towards iOS. I think that’s a terrific insight and feels right. But I don’t see the Mac and OS X going away any time soon.

Apple:

We always recommend developers use the free, secure tools we provide them — including Xcode — to ensure they’re creating the most secure apps for App Store customers. Some developers downloaded counterfeit versions of Xcode that have been infected with malware and created apps that were just as infected.

Apple incorporates technologies like Gatekeeper expressly to prevent non-App Store and/or unsigned versions of programs, including Xcode, from being installed. Those protections had to have been deliberately disabled by the developer for something like XcodeGhost to successfully install.

And:

We have removed the apps from the App Store that we know have been created with this counterfeit software and are blocking submissions of new apps that contain this malware from entering the App Store.

We’re working closely with developers to get impacted apps back on the App Store as quickly as possible for customers to enjoy.

A list of the top 25 most popular apps impacted are listed below. After the top 25 impacted apps, the number of impacted users drops significantly.

If you are an iOS developer, anywhere in the world, be sure to verify your copy of Xcode. Here’s how.

MarketWatch:

The number of people in the U.S. expressing an intent to buy an iPhone has grown to 53.2% from 43.7% a year ago despite concerns that iPhone adoption would decelerate, according to a recent survey by Baird Equity Research. Intent to buy Androids, meanwhile, has slid to 46.8% from 56.3% a year ago.

Pendulum swing? Or is this a sign of migration?

Variety:

Netflix crunched cold, hard viewing data for more than two dozen TV shows and says it has determined which specific episode grabbed most subscribers to the point where they watched the entire first season.

However, none of the shows Netflix looked at, which included originals and licensed series, hooked viewers with the pilot. In fact, two shows — “Arrow” and “How I Met Your Mother” — didn’t hit the tipping point until episode 8. In the traditional TV biz, conventional wisdom holds that a show’s pilot is the most critical linchpin to igniting viewer interest, given the nature of how new television programs debut.

I tend to judge a show based on the pilot. If I don’t like the pilot, the show is dead to me. That said, if there’s enough buzz about a show later on in its run, I do give a later episode a watch. Rare that my opinion changes, but it definitely does happen.

Perfect example is Big Bang Theory. Hated the pilot, thought it was obvious and had all the wrong stereotypes. But my wife loved it, pushed me to try again in season 2. For whatever reason, that clicked for me and I became a fan.

This season, two new shows survived the pilot episodes for me: Limitless and Blindspot. I read the Limitless book and saw the movie. Big fans of both. The pilot did not disappoint. Blindspot reminded me of a terrific show a while back, John Doe. Intriguing. Hoping it develops well.

On a bustling street in China’s southern boomtown of Shenzhen, more than 30 stores carrying Apple Inc’s iconic white logos peddle pre-orders for the new iPhone, a gadget that has become a status symbol among many better-off Chinese.

Many of the stores look just like Apple’s signature outlets, right down to the sales staff kitted out in blue T-shirts bearing the company’s white logo and the sample iPads and iWatches displayed on sleek wooden tables.

First, what the fuck is an iWatch? Second, I wonder if there’s anything Apple can, or would, do about this. According to the story, the stores are selling “genuine Apple products.” Interesting problem.

Jim and Dan talk about Dan’s newfound Apple love, the iPhone 6s, Watch OS 2, apps as the future of TV (and the fundamentally changing way we view TV as a medium), the iPad Pro, the Pencil, and ad blocking from the standpoint of an independent content creator.

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Samantha Bielefeld talking about The Verge:

What I would like to see is the author not afraid to bite the hand that feeds, to confront the real issue here…the problem isn’t with there being advertising on the web driven by page impressions. The issue is how awful they look, how invasive they can be (auto-play audio/video, yuck!), their attempts at deceiving your website’s audience, and tracking your every mouse click or tap around the web in order to serve their own needs while sacrificing the privacy of the customers they are seeking to gain.

Great read.

Dan Moren, writing for Six Colors, with a nice tip you might want to bookmark.

Ben Bajarin, writing for Tech.pinions, on the wave of changes that came with the new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus:

We used to take pictures by snapping the photo at the desired moment. With Live Photos, since it captures 1.5 seconds before the shot and 1.5 seconds after the shot, it is a good practice to leave the camera on the target for the additional 1.5 seconds after you take the picture. This seems odd but, as I said, the results are worth it. Luckily, Apple included a small icon on the top of the screen that says “LIVE” to let you know the Live Photo is still capturing. Once it disappears, you can then move the phone. As I said, it is a slight change to how we typically take photos.

If all you care about is that one moment, the still picture you were aiming to take, nothing need change. But if you embrace and explore Live Photos, you will want to tweak your picture taking behavior just a bit, hold the phone still just a bit longer after you take the picture. Otherwise your Live Photos will all feature a drop at the end as you start to put your phone away.

On death of the lock screen:

When Apple said the second generation of Touch ID was fast I initially thought to myself, “It is super fast now. how can it get faster?” Then you try the second generation touch ID and realize it’s so fast you nearly don’t see your lock screen. From dark screen to home screen in milliseconds. There is no need to press and hold your finger on the sensor for a reading. Just press the home screen button and in the amount of time it takes to press, you are logged in and at your home screen. I had a nice picture of my family on the lock screen which I now only barely get a glimpse of. Here again is an example of shaving split seconds of time off an experience to let you do the things you want to do with your phone faster and more efficiently.

Touch ID on the iPhone 6 is already pretty fast. I frequently find myself racing to let go of the home button so I can see the clock on the lock screen. Looks like the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus will require a new strategy.

Great article, Ben.

Everything you might want to know about the new watchOS release.

This is a great tip. You can track your phone “by reference” using the phone number used to place the order.

Read on for details.

MacRumors:

Visual designer Adrienne Alpern from San Diego, California is one of the first customers to receive the brand new iPhone 6s, nearly five whole days before the latest smartphone launches in the U.S. and eleven other countries.

And:

Apple each year requests that couriers like UPS and FedEx hold new iPhone deliveries until the same day the smartphones become available in stores, but a few lucky customers often receive their devices ahead of time due to logistical error.

Good stuff. Jump to the article for pictures and a bit of 4K video shot with Adrienne’s new lucky phone.

A few days ago, we posted the story about the XcodeGhost malware that made its way onto the App Store via compromised copies of Xcode.

In response, Apple pulled affected apps from the store and, just as importantly, sent out letters to developers to test their copies of Xcode, to make sure it was indeed a valid copy from Apple.

In a nutshell, developers typed this line into the Terminal utility:

spctl --assess --verbose /Applications/Xcode.app

Here’s what I saw when I ran this on my Mac:

/Applications/Xcode.app: accepted
source=Mac App Store

You might also see:

source=Apple

or

source=Apple System

Anything else and you should redownload Xcode and recompile any current apps.

Joe Mullin, writing for Ars Technica, presents a story that has been flying around the internet:

More than two years after a documentary filmmaker challenged the copyright to the simple lyrics of the song “Happy Birthday,” a federal judge ruled Tuesday that the copyright is invalid.

The result could undo Warner/Chappell’s lucrative licensing business around the song, once estimated to be $2 million per year.

In a nutshell, a victory in the copyright challenge would mean movies, TV shows, and other public performances of the definitive birthday song could be done for free. As is, use of the song is expensive. So much so that restaurants were forced to come up with their own spin on the song to sing to guests.

But before the celebration is memorialized by embedding the song in film and other media, there’s still another step or two to go:

The company is likely to appeal the ruling to the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

And if they lose that appeal, they still can petition the Supreme Court. So this is not quite a done deal. Almost, but not quite. It could be years until we know for sure.

Podcasting is a very interesting experience. It’s fun, though a little unnerving. You really have to think on your feet. Ian and Kirk were tremendously welcoming and kind. I hope I didn’t break anything.

Here’s the link. Please excuse my nervous newbiness.

Jeffrey Zeldman:

Advertisers don’t want to be ignored, and they are drunk on our data, which is what Google and other large networks are really selling. The ads are almost a by-product; what companies really want to know is what antiperspirant a woman of 25–34 is most likely to purchase after watching House of Cards. Which gets us into issues of privacy and spying and government intrusion and don’t ask.

And in this environment of sites so cluttered with misleading ads they are almost unnavigable, Apple looks heroic, riding to the consumer’s rescue by providing all the content from newspapers without the ads, and by blocking ugly advertising on websites. But if they succeed, will media companies and independent sites survive?

This issue is far from over. We have no idea how this is going to shake out, who will adapt and survive and who will fold. I do believe it is an issue ad publishers have largely brought on themselves. But it’s a shame there is and will continue to be a lot of collateral damage in this so-called Apple vs Google War.

Evan Killham, Cult of Mac:

> A teen sought medical attention after his Apple Watch heart monitor gave him persistently high readings, and that decision saved him from an untimely death. > > Paul Houle, a 17-year-old football player, bought Apple’s wearable a few days before he started pre-season training at Tabor Academy in Marion, Mass. After two practices in one day, he noticed that his heart rate was sitting around 145 beats per minute, even hours after he’d stopped exercising. > > He wouldn’t know until later, but he was experiencing a potentially life-threatening condition.

And:

> Doctors later diagnosed Houle with rhabdomyolysis, a syndrome linked to muscle injury. It occurs when muscle tissue breaks down and releases proteins into the bloodstream that can interfere with kidney, lung, and heart functions, as it did in this case. The overexertion due to two practices on the first day of training was likely too much of a strain on the unconditioned muscles, which caused them to break down.

And:

> “At the hospital, they told me that if I had gone to practice the next day that I would have lost all control of my muscles, and there was a good chance I would have fallen down on the field and died right there,” he says. “I’m very grateful for that heart rate monitor.”

A bit of follow-up from CBS:

> What makes this story even more fascinating – he got a surprise phone call from Apple CEO Tim Cook. And his heart rate went up again. > > Cook offered Houle the new iPhone and an internship next summer at Apple.

Terrific story. [Hat tip to Brother Stu]

I love, love, love this sort of quote, though this one is made in a very thoughtful way. Bob Lutz has a lot of experience in this market, is the former Vice Chairman of GM, knows the industry inside and out. But he doesn’t know Apple, hasn’t see the disruption up close and personal.

Two highlights from the interview:

If I were a shareholder, I’d be very upset because they are currently engaged in a very high margin business [referring to consumer electronics]. The automobile business, at best, is a very low margin business. You can’t show me one company in the world that, to date, has made a nickel on electric cars. They’re generally money losers and the only reason that everybody is producing them is because they are necessary to meet European fuel economy regulations and US fuel economy regulations.

There is no reason to assume that Apple will be financial successful in the electric car business.

Spoken from the present, about the past. True, but not recognizing the massive disruption on its way.

When asked why Apple would enter this business, Lutz shook his head ruefully, and said:

Apple has no expertise in batteries. They don’t make batteries. The specialized electro-chemical companies make batteries and Apple is going to buy batteries like everybody else. When it comes to actually making cars, there is no reason to assume that Apple, with no experience, will suddenly do a better job than General Motors, Ford, Volkswagen, Toyota, or Hyundai. I think this is going to be a gigantic money pit.

It’s all been said before, most notably about the iPhone. Palm CEO Ed Collegian famously said this about the iPhone that would soon eat his lunch:

“We’ve learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in.”

Here we go again. My money’s on Apple.

Huffington Post:

it really bums me out that The Man In the Machine makes little attempt to portray someone who was, by most accounts, a complex, iconic, but all-too-flawed man who, over the course of his career, could be both inventor and thief, monk and businessman, brat and sage, tyrant and beloved leader, and managed to use those conflicting traits to both change the world and create the most valuable, influential, and admired company on the planet.

Instead, The Man In the Machine is focused largely on the thesis that Jobs was always and only a jerk, that people who enjoy Apple products and admire Jobs are idiots and cult members, and that the computer revolution that was born of Jobs’ vision must inevitably contain the same ugly darkness Gibney feels is Jobs’ defining trait, despite any evidence to the contrary.

This review of the documentary tracks with how I felt about it. Not only was it simply inaccurate in places, it seemed to have its premise in place long before the facts were in evidence. It had Joe Nocera, a journalist who famously wrote “Apple hit pieces” for the New York Times, exclaim he didn’t understand the allure of the iPhone. “It’s just a phone!” That’s like not understanding the sex appeal of a Ferrari because it’s “just” a car. Overall, even though I had high hopes for the movie because of the director’s previous work, I was very disappointed in this documaentary.

From Marco.org:

Apple notified me this afternoon that they’ll be proactively refunding all purchases of Peace. It will probably take a few days to process.

As far as I know, this effectively never happens. When I decided to pull the app, I asked some Apple friends if this was even possible, and we all thought the same thing: iTunes billing works the way it works, period, and no special cases can be made.

Today, Apple made the decision for me, in a way that I didn’t even think was possible, and I’m actually happy — or at least, as happy as someone can be who just made a lot of money on a roller coaster of surprise, guilt, and stress, then lost it all suddenly in a giant, unexpected reset that actually resolves things pretty well.

Marco ends up with zero, jumped through many hoops to do what he thought was right.

Any complaints?

Apple Inc. is accelerating efforts to build an electric car, designating it internally as a “committed project” and setting a target ship date for 2019, according to people familiar with the matter.

The go-ahead came after the company spent more than a year investigating the feasibility of an Apple-branded car, including meetings with two groups of government officials in California. Leaders of the project, code-named Titan , have been given permission to triple the 600-person team, the people familiar with the matter said.

This would be such a huge deal. Apple’s designers would undoubtedly come up with something great, and it fits with the company’s commitment to make the world a better place.