Among many other things, David Morgenstern was a long time Mac journalist. He was also a friend. Rest in Peace, David.

Tony made the iPod and worked on several versions of the iPhone before leaving Apple. This is when he founded Nest. I have a ton of respect for Tony and his thoughts on products. Note that this interview was done before the Apple Watch came out.

The New York Times:

Once an indulgence reserved for special occasions, manicures have become a grooming staple for women across the economic spectrum. There are now more than 17,000 nail salons in the United States, according to census data. The number of salons in New York City alone has more than tripled over a decade and a half to nearly 2,000 in 2012. Professional nail technicians will use various BIAB infill techniques to ensure that manicures will last longer.But largely overlooked is the rampant exploitation of those who toil in the industry. The New York Times interviewed more than 150 nail salon workers and owners, in four languages, and found that a vast majority of workers are paid below minimum wage; sometimes they are not even paid. Workers endure all manner of humiliation, including having their tips docked as punishment for minor transgressions, constant video monitoring by owners, even physical abuse. Employers are rarely punished for labor and other violations.

Awful story of the treatment of these women. Pass this along to anyone you know who is “going to get my nails done”.

This is nothing new, but given my earlier post about the dearth of Mac App Store sales, I thought this might be interesting.

The site AppReviewTimes offers a running average of app review times (in days) for both the iOS and Mac App Store.

For example, today, the average review time for an iOS app is 9 days and for a Mac app is 6 days. More interestingly, look at the number of reviews that go into each calculation. The iOS number was based on 756 reviews and the Mac number was based on only 54 reviews.

Here’s where these numbers come from:

This is not official Apple data. It is based only on anecdotal data gathered from people posting their latest review times on Twitter and App.net using the #macreviewtime or #iosreviewtime hash tags. For people that would prefer to remain anonymous when submitting their review we also allow direct submissions of review times.

And:

The averages on this site are based only on the data gathered from the community which are a very small subset of the total number of apps which go through review each day. However in our experience it does give a reasonable indication of how review times are changing over time.

My take: Even though this is anecdotal data, it is a non-trivial sample size and does give some sense of the relative activity in the iOS and Mac App Stores.

This is not news, more a sign of the times.

Sam Soffes released his new product, Redacted for Mac. He never expected his product to quickly become the #8 top paid app in the US and #1 top paid app in Graphics. Break out the champagne, right?

Follow the link, read the blog post. The Mac App Store has become a bit of a ghost town. Is this purely a lack of compelling apps? Is this a sign that more and more apps are pulling up stakes and selling outside the Mac App Store? Do Mac users have all they need right out of the box?

Apple released their new iPad campaign and commercial, under the slogan Everything Changes with iPad.

Here’s the spot:

9to5mac:

Apple is now preparing for the rollout of the in-store pickup option on new Apple Watch orders, which will allow users to select a retail location to pick up their wearable devices after order. This is the first time Apple has made any indication of watch stock appearing at its stores since Angela Ahrendts revealed that the company was unsure of when that might happen.

The radio button to select the option is currently disabled, but is expected to be turned on once local stores start to see shipments arrive.

I tried adding a number of different watches (one at a time) to my cart and could not get this option to appear, so this might be a regional rollout.

I wonder if they will give buyers who have been waiting a month or more for their Apple Watch to ship the first crack at in store pickup.

Macworld:

Released in 2010, MacKeeper has been dogged by accusations that it exaggerates security threats in order to convince customers to buy. Its aggressive marketing has splashed MacKeeper pop-up ads all over the web.

These days, MacKeeper has gone to a subscription-based pricing model rather than a $39.95 one-off payment. It costs $7.95 a month in the U.S. for the premium, year-long plan. Its latest feature is offering phone support from Apple-certified technicians, which it calls Human Inside.

But many of the tools in the software bundle, which includes an antivirus (AV) scanner and 15 other utilities, are already in OS X or available for free.

Macworld takes a light touch on the tsunami of criticism about the software and the various companies that have and do own it but it’s fairly common knowledge that, at the very least, you really don’t need to waste money on MacKeeper. MacKeeper has been known to be, at minimum, almost useless and, at its worse, to cause actual problems with your Mac.

Developed by Softube — and available exclusively for UAD-2 hardware and Apollo audio interfaces — the Marshall Plexi Super Lead 1959 plug-in is an expert emulation of the 100-watt British classic that defined the sound of rock.

And

The Neve 88 Series is a paragon of large-format analog console design. Introduced in 2001, the 88 Series is renowned for its startling depth, airiness, and clarity — deftly encompassing the best of all Neve designs that came before it.

I love the Marshall amp plug-in. Truly great work from UA, again.

Besides the fact they are malicious, copying, stinking bastards, their customer service sucks balls.

One of the things that makes Reddit so great is the idea that you can easily build a community dedicated to a specific issue or cause. In this case, the new community is called Lonely Heartbeats, and it offers solo Apple Watch owners an easy way to share heartbeats with other likeminded people.

Whether you are single and looking for a simple connection, or an early adopter with the only Apple Watch in your circle of friends, Lonely Heartbeats has you covered.

Antonio Regalado, writing for MIT Technology Review:

Apple is collaborating with U.S. researchers to launch apps that would offer some iPhone owners the chance to get their DNA tested, many of them for the first time, according to people familiar with the plans.

The apps are based on ResearchKit, a software platform Apple introduced in March that helps hospitals or scientists run medical studies on iPhones by collecting data from the devices’ sensors or through surveys.

And:

Nudging iPhone owners to submit DNA samples to researchers would thrust Apple’s devices into the center of a widening battle for genetic information. Universities, large technology companies like Google (see Google Wants to Store Your Genome), direct-to-consumer labs, and even the U.S. government (see U.S. to Develop DNA Study of One Million People) are all trying to amass mega-databases of gene information to uncover clues about the causes of disease (see Internet of DNA).

And:

In two initial studies planned, Apple isn’t going to directly collect or test DNA itself. That will be done by academic partners. The data would be maintained by scientists in a computing cloud, but certain findings could appear directly on consumers’ iPhones as well. Eventually, it’s even possible consumers might swipe to share “my genes” as easily as they do their location.

An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment. But one person with knowledge of the plans said the company’s eventual aim is to “enable the individual to show and share” DNA information with different recipients, including organizers of scientific studies. This person, like others with knowledge of the research, spoke on condition of anonymity because of the company’s insistence on secrecy.

Lots at stake here. Tricky waters to navigate. One key is the phrase “enable the individual to show and share DNA information”. As long as I get to limit who has access to my DNA. Unlike survey results that share habits or personal preferences, as far as I know, there is no way to anonymize DNA data.

On a side note, this article answers the question, “Are identical twins 100% genetically identical?”

Longreads:

“I must admit that it was intended consciously as a social document. … [but] the storyteller’s first duty is to the story.”

Not a “long read” but a 90 minute documentary on the making of what many, myself included, consider the greatest film of all time. If you get a chance to grab a DVD of it, make sure you get the one with the commentary tracks – one by Roger Ebert and the other with Peter Bogdanovich. It will give you a new and greater appreciation of this magnificent film.

Neil Cybart, writing for Above Avalon, takes you through Apple’s R&D numbers. In a nutshell, he starts by looking at Apple’s annual R&D spending, year after year. Next comes those same numbers as a percentage of annual revenue (a more meaningful number, since a simple increase in R&D expenditures is obvious given Apple’s incredible growth).

Finally, he digs into Apple’s year over year R&D spending:

A more relevant and informative way to analyze Apple’s R&D spend is to look at the actual dollar increase from year to year. This method is more sensible because Apple has a functional organizational structure with a culture based on placing few, but extremely large, product bets. There is little evidence to suggest that Apple has altered the way it approaches new product development and R&D expenditures. In the past, the bulk of Apple’s R&D program has been focused on specific projects and goals. This stands at contrast with a strategy of setting up a number of R&D labs with no clear directive other than to find future products. If Apple is spending R&D, it is a good bet they have a specific goal in mind for those dollars.

If this is all gobbledygook to you, just follow the link and check out Exhibit 3. You’ll see 3 modest curve bumps over the years, which represent the development of the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. These are followed by a more recent bulge in the year over year spending increase, much bigger than those earlier gentle bumps.

Something big is coming. Read the article for details, but love the analysis.

Federico Viticci came up some a list of things he would like to see in the next version of iOS. As you might expect, some of the things on the list are fixes for the current operating system, but it’s an interesting read.

2,000 stores. Bam.

Interestingly, one of Home Depot’s biggest competitors, Lowes, is on the list of MCX merchants. I can’t imagine this is not a topic that will come up at the next Lowes Board of Directors meeting. Especially if some of those board members walk in with a brand new Apple Watch.

Update: Some people are questioning Home Depot being considered a large retailer (and questioning is always good!) To clarify this, large in the retailer universe is generally a revenue issue, not a number of locations issue. Here’s a link to a Forbes list of largest retailers in the world, which ranks Walmart as number one, CVS as number two, and Home Depot number three. Notice that Walmart and CVS are both on the MCX merchants.

Swedish music streamer Spotify has more to lose from Apple’s anticipated Beats Music revamp than its competition, according to new usage data, as iOS accounts for a majority of Spotify’s active users.

Apple really has to do this right. We’ve seen music services do big, splashy relaunches and users really don’t care—I really don’t care. There are some key points that Apple needs to take care of to beat out Spotify—if they don’t, it’s going to be a tough road ahead for them. Music is very important to Apple, there is no doubt about that, but they have to keep the focus and intensity on this that they’ve shown for their other products.

Vinepair:

In America Cinco de Mayo has evolved to become one of the country’s largest drinking holidays. In 2013, over $600 million dollars worth of beer was sold, according to Nielsen data, which is more beer than is sold for St. Patrick’s Day or the Super Bowl, two holidays where beer consumption is the primary focal point. And most of that beer is Mexican in origin, which has also meant that the Mexican beer sector, thanks to Cinco de Mayo, has continued to grow and thrive north of the border, experiencing the best sector growth in the American market according to EuroMonitor data, second only to the rapid growth of American craft beer.

Suffice it to say, Cinco de Mayo is a behemoth when it comes to selling booze, but how did a holiday that isn’t really even celebrated in Mexico – Mother’s Day, which occurs around the same time, is a much bigger deal – become not only the most powerful U.S. holiday when it comes to selling alcohol, but also the only connection most Americans have to our largest immigrant group? You can thank Texas distributors of Corona in the 1980s.

Yet another completely made up “holiday” created in the service of marketing.

Craig Hockenberry:

I started reporting these issues early in the Yosemite beta release and provided tons of documentation to Apple engineering. It was frustrating to have a Mac that lost its network connection every few days because the network interfaces were disabled while waking from sleep (and there was no way to disable this new “feature”.)

Marco Arment and many others are having similar issues.

They pay for shipping and promise a three-day turnaround. I feel like doing it just to see how it works.

CBC News:

It was a busy weekend in Torbay, as the first iceberg of the season arrived in eastern Newfoundland just off the coastline near Tapper’s Cove.People flocked to the area over the weekend to take advantage of the site.

The Canadian Coast Guard says there’s currently more than 100 icebergs off the province’s coastlines, so it’s just the beginning of iceberg season in Newfoundland and Labrador.

This is how cool Canada is – we have icebergs, baby! By the way, if you ever want a fun vacation, visit Newfoundland. Starkly beautiful province and wonderful people.

Brian X. Chen, writing for the New York Times:

When Apple introduces its new TV box this summer, the remote control will gain a touch pad and also be slightly thicker than the current version, according to an employee briefed on the product, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the device was confidential. The touch pad can be used for scrolling around and there will also be two physical buttons, the person said. The remote’s thicker size is comparable to the remote control for Amazon’s wireless speaker, the Echo, the person added.

And:

Adding a touch pad to the Apple TV remote would bring it in line with Apple’s other accessories. Apple’s wireless mouse, the Magic Mouse, and Apple’s Magic Trackpad both have touch controls.

So says Brian.

Touch Pianist is simple, addictive, and strangely satisfying.

Start at the Touch Pianist web site. To get started, just start hitting your space bar in a regular rhythm. Easy peasy. Beautiful, no?

That first song (Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata) is straight quarter notes in 3/4 time. Tap-tap-tap tap-tap-tap. Every so often, you’ll encounter a dot that is just a little out of phase with the others. It’s telling you to add an extra tap to accommodate an extra note in the sequence. If you know the piece, you’ll hear it when it comes around.

There’s a Touch Pianist app that brings this touch piano playing to your phone or iPad. The web site and the app are free. They make money with in-app purchases of various music packs.

Give it a try. SO much fun.

Nice tip from Jeff Benjamin at iDownLoadBlog:

How to send a text hands-free with Siri on Apple Watch:

Step 1: Invoke Siri using Hey Siri
Step 2: Say something like “Send a message to Sebastien Page, hey man, how’s it going?”
Step 3: When the New Message interface pops up with the Cancel and Send buttons, say “Hey Siri, send.”
Step 4: The message will be sent without having to lift a finger

Jump to the article for more examples and a video showing this in action. Nice tip.

Zachary M. Seward, writing for Quartz:

The latest update to Windows 10, the forthcoming operating system for its phones and personal computers, includes support for the middle finger emoji, according to Emojipedia. That makes Microsoft the first big tech company to allow the profane emoji onto its platform.

The Unicode Consortium, which dictates the official language of emoji, added “reversed hand with middle finger extended” in the middle of last year. But it’s up to companies like Apple, Google, Twitter, and others to actually allow their users to type and view each emoji.

I like it. Still not enough to make me switch, though.

Mark Gurman, writing for 9to5mac, put together this gem-filled article, all about Apple’s new Creating Bands for Apple Watch web page. The page is filled with links to specs and guidelines for 3rd party watch band creators. The drawings are beautiful, especially the blueprints in this doc.

By far my favorite part of Mark’s article is the video below, which shows you how to disassemble the special loops that come with Apple’s leather Apple Watch strap. These loops are perfectly suited for many 3rd part watch straps.

The only tool you will need is a pentalobe screwdriver, which comes in a variety of computer toolkits. Here’s a pretty inexpensive model that should do the trick.