First things first, Happy Pi Day. Huzzah! Please do commence with the celebrating and the carousing.
So why is this Pi Day special? Well, here’s the first 9 digits of Pi (9 digits past the decimal):
3.141592653
In the US, this translates to March 14th, 2015 (3.141592653). At 9:26 and 53 seconds, which occurs both this morning and tonight, we’ll match all 10 digits. And that only happens once a century.
And just to embrace the math geekery further, adding more digits to the analysis only impacts the precision of the 53 seconds. Here are the first 50 digits of Pi:
Google leaked the complete hidden whois data attached to more than 282,000 domains registered through the company’s Google Apps for Work service, a breach that could bite good and bad guys alike.
Nobody should have as much information about us as Google. Who knows what’s next.
Serenity Caldwell pulls another rabbit out of her hat, listening and typing, sometimes typing and listening. All for our benefit.
A great call. Tim drawling, Cramer gushing. A love-fest, true, but extremely entertaining. My favorite bit:
Cramer: And I regard your company with the highest ideals and the greatest manufacturing. I know every day when you come to work I feel you must think that you have a stewardship you’ve got to fulfill because of Steve Jobs. I want you to know that we — that you have far exceeded what ever — anyone, I think, could have done, but you still walk in his footsteps. How do you feel about the legacy?
Cook: You know, there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about Steve, and he is still the core part of Apple, his DNA is deep in the company. His office is still next to mine with his name on the door. And the values that he placed in here, and sort of the spirit — that we are here to make the very best products in the world that enrich people’s lives — that is still the centerpiece of this company.
Thanks for the transcript, Serenity. Click here for the rest of it.
Mad Money host Jim Cramer receives a surprise phone call from Apple CEO Tim Cook, who talks about innovation, Bar San Miguel, the company’s paranoia, and what it’s like to follow Steve Jobs as CEO.
I don’t think it was a “surprise call” at all but a good video to watch nonetheless.
“This is the most personal device we have ever created.” – Apple CEO, Tim Cook.
That quote from Tim Cook speaks volumes to me, and I believe it to be true. Apple has never created a device that can be personalized like Apple Watch, but it goes much deeper than that. The intricacies of Apple Watch are more complex than switching out a Sport Band for a Milanese Loop, and it’s not about learning to use Apple Watch, but how you will use it.
One of the things that concerned me about Apple Watch is that it would only be a reactionary device. What I mean by that is you would only be responding to things that happened on your phone and getting feedback on your watch. That to me is a very expensive notification system, and perhaps not worth even the low-end price of $349. Those who would like to wear stylish watches without breaking the bank may look for luxury replica watches.
However, after attending the keynote on March 9, I realized that Apple built-in a way for Apple Watch to also initiate actions without using the iPhone. That brings things to an entirely different level of usefulness and sophistication. Now we’re talking about a completely different type of device, and that may change the answer to whether or not you should buy one.
There is no doubt Apple Watch is a beautiful piece of craftsmanship. There are very few people in this world that have even seen Apple Watch, let alone wear one, but I’ve had that opportunity twice. I can tell you, it’s stunning.
The decision on whether or not you should buy one is probably going to be one of the most personal device decisions you’ve made in some time. It’s personal, it’s fashionable and it’s functional—only you can determine the importance of those three things.
If I can offer one piece of advice—don’t listen to those people telling you that you need to buy one, and don’t listen to the naysayers who say it will be a flop. Judge for yourself and your lifestyle.
I have yet to use an Apple Watch for an extended period of time, but from what I’ve seen, it will fit into my life pretty well. The question is for how long—I won’t know the answer to that until I get to spend some time with it.
I thought this was just fantastic. Robert Downey Jr plays Tony Stark, delivering a bionic arm built by Limbitless founder Albert Manero to a kid in need.
My favorite moment is about 1:08 in, when Alex (the kid) is asked, “Do you know who this is?” My sense is that Downey was a little worried that the whole Iron Man thing would be lost on him, that it would be a flop. It was not.
I am looking forward to reading this book. From everything I’ve heard, it is supposed to be sensational. Here are two pages with excerpts, one from Cult of Mac, and one from Fast Company.
ResearchKit is an open source framework introduced by Apple that enables your iOS app to become a powerful tool for medical research. Easily create visual consent flows, real-time dynamic active tasks, and surveys using a variety of customizable modules that you can build upon and share with the community. And since ResearchKit works seamlessly with HealthKit, researchers can access even more relevant data for their studies — like daily step counts, calorie use, and heart rate.
And here’s the ResearchKit video, if you have not yet seen it.
Just a thought: Will there be some form of “Find my iPhone” for your Apple Watch?
Especially in the early going, the Apple Watch will be a coveted prize for a thief. Is there any way to personalize your Apple Watch, to lock it down once its been paired with an iPhone, render it inoperable once that bond is broken? That would certainly make it less attractive as a theft target.
If your iPhone is stolen, there’s the expense of replacing the phone itself, but there’s also all that personal info that’s stored on the phone. That latter bit is not an issue (at least not with this first release) with the Apple Watch since it acts as more of a satellite device, relaying info back and forth to the phone, where the long term storage lives. To me, the downside seems limited to replacement cost only.
This walkthrough is a detailed narration of what we see in Apple’s Watch Craftsmanship videos. Of course, we only get to see a mere fraction of the process; I’ve tried to provide plausible explanations for the likely steps taking place between the processes shown on film, but these are assumptions and are included only to provide a more satisfying and complete narration.
I decided to take a look on Amazon for Apple Watch and see what they had. I was shocked with all of the watches that were listed on the site. Although there were no Apple Watches, there are a few copies.
The Intercept’s piece was mostly a condemnation of government tactics, but failed to address what matters to Apple’s customers — whether Apple’s products remain secure and safe to use. Overall, the information is quite optimistic, but the article highlights the complexities of modern security, privacy, and intelligence gathering. We are still in the early days of what is likely to be a generational issue as society continues to adjust to the digital age.
As always, Mogull has a well thought out, well written, and well reasoned piece with none of the hysteria you see in other articles about this subject.
Stanford University researchers were stunned when they awoke Tuesday to find that 11,000 people had signed up for a cardiovascular study using Apple Inc.’s ResearchKit, less than 24 hours after the iPhone tool was introduced.
“To get 10,000 people enrolled in a medical study normally, it would take a year and 50 medical centers around the country,” said Alan Yeung, medical director of Stanford Cardiovascular Health. “That’s the power of the phone.”
As the article points out, there are some concerns regarding the people who would get involved but, overall, the research community seems very excited about the present and future possibilities.
March 9th keynote was literally “China-first.” The presentation began with a video showing the opening of the company’s new West Lake retail store in Hangzhou, China. Attendees and viewers of Apple’s stream saw the familiar sight of throngs of enthusiastic Apple retail employees and customers. But this time they were Chinese.
And:
China’s influence was felt not only in the gold color offering for the new Macbook, as well as the starting price of $10,000 for the Apple Watch Edition, but in the very concept of Apple Watch as a product originating from the fashion space and a product that expresses individuality and displays status and social signifiers, all things that the Chinese consumer class craves.
The demo of WeChat, not Facebook or any Westerner messaging app, for Apple Watch, was extremely significant. To many Chinese, Wechat is the entirety of their internet, according to my own contextual inquiry in China, not simply in Beijing and Shanghai but also in third-tier cities and the countryside. Many Chinese users literally do not know how to download or use any apps except Wechat. For many Chinese, an iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus, though it gives access to the App Store universe, is in practice solely a Wechat device.
Good insight into the obvious value Apple sees in growing their Chinese presence. Very interesting.
Yesterday, Shawn posted an article about the emergence of USB-C and the growing pains associated with a new connection form factor.
That formed the center of discussion for one segment on yesterday’s Amplified podcast. Conversation turned to the problem of a computer sporting a single port used for all connections, for power, for data transfer, for video, etc.
Turns out, Shawn’s article laid all that out as well. Apple will ship a USB-C to USB-C cable, as well as a power brick that plugs into the wall with a USB-C port. Plug in the brick, then plug the USB-C cable into the brick and your computer.
But what if you need to connect an external monitor or hard drive? The port is already used up. Well, for $79, Apple has your answer, an adapter with a USB plug on one end, and three ports on the other, one USB-C (for power), one HDMI (for video), and one standard USB port (for all your existing USB accessories). They’ve also got another version with USB-C, VGA, and USB in case that’s the way you roll, as well as an adapter for USB-C to (old) standard USB.
What about Thunderbolt?
Thunderbolt isn’t dead and USB-C doesn’t look like it’s going to kill it off soon. Indeed, it seems likely that USB-C will wind up replacing ports on consumer-leaning Macs, like future MacBooks (if 12-inch isn’t the only model), Mac minis, and iMacs, while the Mac Pro and MacBook Pro will probably retain Thunderbolt for the highest performance with external drives and other peripherals.
This makes perfect sense to me. The new MacBook is light as a feather, designed for portability. So consolidating down to a single USB-C port is logical. With judicious use of WiFi, you could spend the MacBook’s entire life without need for peripherals, just the occasional sip of power.
With these timeless thoughts in mind, we crafted The Luxury Pocket Stand for Apple Watch, The Luxury Travel Kit, Travel Pouch and The Roll Up Kit for Apple Watch. A gorgeous celebration of ageless craftsmanship and appreciation for the beauty found in natural resources.
They took inspiration for the Pocket Stand from Brian’s grandfather and the pocket watch he used. I’m a big fan of the quality of products this company makes.
Apple Watch is bringing people to their keyboards in droves, writing opinions and asking questions about Apple’s newest device. That’s a great thing—unless you represent many of the world’s larger luxury watchmakers and you write a purely negative article about Apple Watch for The Guardian.
I saw an article today on The Guardian written by Martin McNulty, who they say at the bottom of the article, “is chief executive of Forward3D and Locaria,” which are basically marketing agencies. Seems innocuous, right?
It is until you take a look at some of McNulty’s clients, which include Kering, the owner of Boucheron; Dodo; Girard-Perregaux; Gucci; Jean Richard; and Ulysse Nardin. All of these companies offer high-end luxury watches.
Let’s take a look at what McNulty has to say about Apple Watch:
All of this came before the unveiling of potentially the most outlandish Apple product in history: a $10,000-plus 18 carat gold watch. It was almost as if Apple needed to pat itself on the back for the good it does in the world, in order to justify catering to such a niche market. All delivered without a hint of irony.
Like your article was delivered without disclosure of the luxury brands you represent. I’m sure they don’t have any high-end products for sale.
Apple has not had a product failure in more than 10 years, but the Apple Watch could very realistically be the first.
That would be great for your clients.
But that isn’t necessarily new in terms of functionality; we’ve been able to use our phones while it’s in our pocket for ages – just look at bluetooth.
Clearly, you have no understanding of what Apple Watch can do.
The sleek white art direction that leads with the product is still there, but what’s missing is the gravitas of a functional item.
I’ve had an Apple Watch on my wrist twice now—I can clearly see the advantage to using the watch. Just how much I’ll use it will depend on a number of things, including apps, but I’m happy with what I see so far.
One thing’s for sure, this is not a Steve Jobs move.
What do you know about what Steve Jobs would do? You don’t, so shut the fuck up.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but when you write for a publication like The Guardian, you have to disclose. Writing a negative piece on a product when you represent the marketing efforts of its competitors is shady and underhanded.
I am fascinated by this new business Apple’s going into; the sheer number of products and prices is pretty amazing: By my count, Apple will be shipping 38 separate models of watches. There’s a gallery page at Apple’s site where you can page through all of the watches, and get the details on each specific model. You can also view the watches in the store, where you can find pricing info.
Both of these solutions, though, require lots of paging and scrolling to get all the details. I was curious as to how all the watches compared, so I pulled data from those sources and made one massive spreadsheet
Rob Griffiths has done the work so you don’t have to.
I’ve seen some comments over the past couple of days from people wondering what the “killer app” for the Apple Watch will be. I’m pleased to tell you that it’s here—it’s called iPhone.
If you don’t like the implications of calling a hardware device a killer app, then we can say it’s iOS. Either way, some of the great things that will be done on Apple Watch over the next few months will be about the iPhone and the way it interacts with the watch.
Apple Watch is an accessory for the iPhone, that’s very clear. The challenge developers will have is making their app’s UX and UI work and display properly on the watch.
I mentioned yesterday that I really like what Uber has done with its app on the watch. You are initiating something on the watch, not just responding to things happening on the iPhone. This is what we need to see more of from developers moving forward.
One of the mistakes that I made when thinking about the watch was that I’d just be responding to messages—that sounds expensive and boring. Luckily I was wrong.
The idea of watch first, iPhone second is something we’ll have to get used, but it’s also a feature that will make the Apple Watch much more useful for us all.
With the new 12-inch MacBook, Apple has gone all in for all-in-one, using USB-C to provide power, display output, and USB connections. Thunderbolt is gone. The SD card slot is gone as well.
The upside is compatibility, and thus lower costs and more options. USB-C is also a unifying and universal standard that doesn’t involve a single company acting as a licensing gatekeeper, the way Apple protects Lightning cables and adapters. USB-C would seem to have a lot to offer, but first we have to get over the hump of newness.
Typical story of “short term pain for long term gain” but it means I don’t see this particular machine as my next laptop.
