Apple is very particular and thorough.

Today in Media History: In 1964, sportswriters reported that Cassius Clay was the new heavyweight boxing champion.

What a great story.

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook was in Israel on Wednesday, and had a meeting with President Reuven Rivlin, as Apple is prepared to open a new office in the country.

Bloomberg Business:

Apple Inc. was told to pay $532.9 million after a federal jury said the company’s iTunes software used a Texas company’s patented inventions without permission.

Closely held Smartflash LLC, which claimed that Apple infringed three patents, was seeking $852 million in damages, while Apple said it was worth $4.5 million at most. A federal jury in Tyler, Texas, where Smartflash is based, on Tuesday rejected Apple’s arguments that it didn’t use the inventions and that the patents were invalid.

The dispute is over digital rights management and inventions related to data storage and managing access through payment systems. Smartflash claimed that iTunes used the inventions in applications such as Game Circus LLC’s Coin Dozer and 4 Pics 1 Movie. Apple pledged to appeal.

Apple’s response:

“Smartflash makes no products, has no employees, creates no jobs, has no U.S. presence, and is exploiting our patent system to seek royalties for technology Apple invented,” said Kristin Huguet, an Apple spokeswoman. “We refused to pay off this company for the ideas our employees spent years innovating and unfortunately we have been left with no choice but to take this fight up through the court system.”

This one’s not over.

Joanna Stern:

Without much thought, I did what most Americans do every two years: I agreed to be locked in by a multibillion-dollar wireless company. With pricey contracts and confusing add-ons, they make it incredibly hard to leave, let alone take our phones with us. I deserve to walk around with “Property of Verizon” stamped on my forehead.

I know a lot of people that are going for the unlocked phone so they don’t have to be locked in any more. It’s more expensive upfront, but sometimes the flexibility is worth it.

Broadcast television may be now facing a similar, scary phase shift. Netflix has been making inroads among U.S. consumers for years, but its impact on the key 18-to-49-year-old demographic has so far been limited. Old habits die hard and many viewers have remained mostly loyal to habit of gorging on linear television on Thursday nights.

But the most recent numbers have some scary elements that point to a possibly massive disruption in the near term. Broadcast TV consumption among 18-to-34-year-old Americans plunged by 11% in the Christmas quarter. Ominously, audiences of young-skewing cable channels like Nickelodeon and MTV are now sliding by 14 to 17% year-on-year.

I’ll be honest, I’m more excited about a new Netflix series than I am about anything on one of the big networks.

Interesting article from John Cassidy in The New Yorker. If Apple is working on a car, I think they could give the traditional car companies more of a run than Cassidy does.

Tim Cook posted this tweet today. I still miss Steve. He would have been 60 today.

The car was from 1999, but Marc has designed a lot of transportation vehicles. Just another interesting point.

Medium:

(Apple is) in a lot of ways the story of a technology company hanging around, making interesting things, and waiting for the world to actually need what they wanted to build.

But also something to remember: narratives are bullshit. It’s the people who show up and build and keep going who ultimately write the stories that last.

Many don’t remember or know just how bad off Apple was in those days. It’s path has got to be considered the most remarkable story in the history of business.

In my previous post, I speculated that the high end Apple Watch Edition model would be priced between $3,400 and $6,800. This was purely an educated guess. Regardless of the price, the Edition models will certainly set you back a pretty penny.

Serenity Caldwell, writing for iMore:

> I understand the justification of replacing an iPhone or a Mac when they’ve become too slow or outdated for their task — at most, I’ve spent $2000-$3000 on such a device, and its cost-per-year averages out to something where I don’t feel wasteful in replacing the machine. > > Watches are different. They’re jewelry. They’re as much a fashion accessory as they are a device. And watches can have a long lifespan, if treated properly. Every watch enthusiast loves dive watches. Watches have people trained in the art of repair, keeping someone’s $20,000 timepiece from becoming a useless paperweight. > > Once Apple jumps into that price point and that industry, should it expect that users will pay $10,000 again 18-30 months down the line to replace their watch? Does the advent of digital mean we’re expected to replace our heirlooms now, rather than pass them down? I really don’t know. Maybe the Edition is truly just meant for those who look at $5000 cost-per-year of ownership as no big deal on their bank account. Companies like Vertu have made a living off those customers; why shouldn’t Apple? > > But I’d like to believe Apple is better than that. If they truly want to command the watch industry, they might take another page from watch-makers: repairability.

Read the whole article. Serenity lays out the premise of a replaceable core, an inner working that can be drag and drop replaced. Rather than laying out for a new Apple Watch every few years, is it possible that Apple will make the Apple Watch repairable/upgradeable? A solid idea.

Mark Gurman, writing for 9to5mac:

This Concierge program, spearheaded by Retail Senior Vice President Angela Ahrendts, moves away from the classic appointment model. Instead, a customer describes the issue to an Apple Store employee, who inputs the issue into an updated iPad application. Using a special algorithm, the application provides the customer a wait time based on issue priorities. For example, a customer seeking an iPhone screen replacement will automatically be placed higher in the queue than a customer seeking help with a minor iCloud issue.

Once you are in the queue, the new process will send you a sequence of three iMessage/SMS notifications:

• An initial text message confirming the Genius Bar request and providing the wait time
• A text message telling the customer to start heading back to the Apple Store
• A final text message telling the customer that their technician is ready to help and where they can be located in the store

Given that the vast majority of Apple Stores are in malls or adjacent to high traffic shopping areas, this would give you the chance to walk in, get on the queue, then take care of other nearby errands.

For the time being, Apple Store Genius Bar appointments that are booked online will remain mostly unchanged and will not gain the text message-based system that will replace walk-in appointments.

Question is, will a timed, online appointment place you at the front of the queue if you arrive on time?

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Jim’s Note: I had the opportunity to test djay Pro for Mac and loved it. I’m still using it.

A handy bit of info from Apple’s support site, just in case you ever need it.

I’ve been watching this robot tuner for quite some time. I decided to take the plunge this morning and give it a try.

The Money is Mine:

Settlements have been reached in the Canadian DRAM national class actions, totaling over $79 million.

You can get money from the settlements if you bought DRAM or electronic devices containing DRAM between April 1, 1999 and June 30, 2002.

Many of my fellow Candians qualify for this settlement and I’d encourage you to take advantage of it, even if it’s only at the $20 level. Thanks to my friend Greg for the heads up.

BBC News:

Android phones can be tracked without using their GPS or wi-fi data by studying their power use over time, a study has found.

A smartphone uses more power the further away it is from a cellular base and the more obstacles are in its way as it reaches for a signal.

Additional power use by other activities could be factored out with algorithms, the researchers found.

The key here is that a malicious app can track your movement without getting permission to access your GPS info. Just tracking your power usage can help malware track your location. [Hat tip, Rob Richman]

Filippo Valsorda:

Turns out Lenovo preloaded their laptops with adware that will intercept all your secure connections, and allow criminals to do it, too.

After investigating the Lenovo incident we found out that many other softwares – like some Parental Controls or security packages – do things even worse for your security. This test attempts to detect them all.

Send this to all your friends. Quick, simple test.

Jean-Louis Gassée, writing for Monday Note, presents three terrifically well reasoned analogies, all designed to bring home a single point: That Apple is not prepared to enter the automobile business.

Jean-Louis would love to see an Apple Car, just to be clear:

I would love to be wrong about the AppleCar — I join the choristers who would love to see what Apple could do with a car — but we’ve heard a bit too much about Apple’s ability to design an interesting electric vehicle and not enough about the industrial part, about the machine that makes the machines.

But the anecdotes make their own case. A very interesting read.

This is a fantastic collection, really gives you a sense of what the Apple Watch can do, what the actual apps will look like. [Via iOS Dev Weekly]

Apple got permission from Martin Scorsese to use excerpts from his NYU Tisch School of the Arts commencement speech, given last year, in a new ad they ran during the Oscars broadcast.

As they tend to do with new ad campaigns, Apple opened up a new section of their web site featuring the ad, titled Make a film with iPad. From the site:

iPad is the ultimate tool for independent filmmakers. It lets them chase their ambitions and dive deeper into the work they’re so passionate about. Learn how students at Los Angeles County High School for the Arts relied on the power and versatility of iPad to write, produce, shoot, score, and edit their films in a matter of days.

The Oscar ad is below. Head on over to the web site to see the student films.

From Apple’s press release:

Apple® today announced a €1.7 billion plan to build and operate two data centres in Europe, each powered by 100 percent renewable energy. The facilities, located in County Galway, Ireland, and Denmark’s central Jutland, will power Apple’s online services including the iTunes Store®, App Store℠, iMessage®, Maps and Siri® for customers across Europe.

“We are grateful for Apple’s continued success in Europe and proud that our investment supports communities across the continent,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “This significant new investment represents Apple’s biggest project in Europe to date. We’re thrilled to be expanding our operations, creating hundreds of local jobs and introducing some of our most advanced green building designs yet.”

And:

Like all Apple data centres, the new facilities will run entirely on clean, renewable energy sources from day one. Apple will also work with local partners to develop additional renewable energy projects from wind or other sources to provide power in the future. These facilities will have the lowest environmental impact yet for an Apple data centre.

And:

In Viborg, Denmark, Apple will eliminate the need for additional generators by locating the data centre adjacent to one of Denmark’s largest electrical substations. The facility is also designed to capture excess heat from equipment inside the facility and conduct it into the district heating system to help warm homes in the neighboring community.

Love that last bit.

Academy Awards are chosen using two different systems, one for Best Picture and one for all the rest of the awards. The non-Best Picture awards go to the nominee with the most votes. Simple. But the Best Picture voting is a whole ‘nother thing.

Unlike the winners of the other categories which are determined by popular vote — i.e, a voter picks just one of the nominees and the Oscar goes to the that nominee with the most votes — the winner of Best Picture is arrived at by a more complicated system. The academy uses preferential voting, as it does to determine nominees in most other races, to determine the winner of Best Picture.

Here’s how preferential voting works:

Voters rank the Best Picture nominees. If one nominee garners more than 50% of the first place votes, it will win Best Picture.

If, as is more likely, no nominee reaches this threshold, the film with the fewest first place votes is eliminated, with its ballots being reapportioned to the second place choice.

Should no film cross the required 50% + one ballot threshold, the film with the fewest first place votes is again elminated, with its ballots being apportioned to the next choice still in play (i.e., if the second place choice is no longer in the running, then the ballot would be reapportioned to the third place choice and so on.)

This process of elimination and reapportion continues until one film reaches at least 50% + one ballots. That is the Best Picture winner.

Put more simply, if a film has one more than 50% of the vote, that film wins. If not, the bottom film is eliminated and those eliminated votes are recounted, going to the second choice on each ballot. Rinse and repeat.

Here are your nominees. Neil Patrick Harris will be hosting tonight. Should be a good show.

UPDATE: Fixed the voting description based on feedback from readers hdort and Irv and this link explaining the Instant Runnoff Voting (IRV) mechanism, also known as alternative vote (AV), transferable vote, ranked-choice voting, or preferential voting. Now the voting makes a lot more sense to me.

M.G. Siegler, writing for Medium:

Apple brought in around $182 billion in revenue last year. Their tech peers came in with the following: Google at $66 billion. Microsoft at $87 billion. Amazon at $89 billion. IBM at $93 billion.

You know who was a lot closer to Apple in this regard? Ford at $147 billion. GM at $155 billion. Volkswagen at $225 billion. These are now Apple’s peers in business. They’ve leveled up.

M.G. makes the case that Apple building a car is inevitable, that cars are in Apple’s DNA:

This is a very different Apple. This is a company about to dive headfirst into the luxury space with the Apple Watch. One lifestyle leads to another.

And we already know Steve Jobs wanted to build a car. Phil Schiller has said Apple thought about building a car in the past — and is a car guy. Jony Ive is a car guy. Eddy Cue, car guy. At some point, it would be almost like Apple was going out of its way not to build a car.

Interesting.

Mark Gurman, writing for 9to5mac:

Apple intends to release the upcoming iOS 8.3 as a public beta via the company’s existing AppleSeed program in mid-March, according to the sources. This release will match the third iOS 8.3 beta for developers, which is planned for release the same week. Apple then expects to debut iOS 9 at its June Worldwide Developer Conference, with a public beta release during the summer, and final release in the fall.

And:

In order to maintain a higher level of exclusivity, the public beta program for iOS will apparently be limited to 100,000 people, the sources say. Apple began seeding a select group of retail employees with iOS betas for minor releases in January. In the hands of developers since last year, iOS 8.2 will not enter public beta.

Seems like a solid idea. The more eyeballs on a release before Golden Master, the better. It will be interesting to see if Apple allows you to go back to the last public release once you have a beta installed.

BBC:

On Oscar night the usually car-clogged streets of Hollywood fall silent because everyone is at a viewing party or, if they’re very lucky, sliding into a dress by Dior or slipping on a tuxedo en route to the big show.

The streets aren’t entirely empty: countless limousines are zipping all over town, then making their way to the Dolby Theatre, more than a dozen blocks surrounding Hollywood Boulevard closed to all other traffic as the purring cars patiently wait to drop off their clients.

Parking’s as difficult as a diva at the best of times in Hollywood, so where do hundreds and hundreds of limos – and their suited and booted chauffeurs – go to wait until they have to pick up again?

I never know whether that would be a cool job or not.

OS X offers different tiers of protection that have evolved over time. Chris Hoffman, writing for HowToGeek.com, walks you through these levels, explains the weaknesses at each level.

Even if your Mac is securely encrypted, anyone with access to it — for example, a thief who stole your MacBook — could enter recovery mode and use the “Reinstall OS X” option to wipe your entire hard drive. This at least protects your personal files from a thief — they’ll just have to start over from scratch. However, it means a thief can quickly wipe your Mac and start using it.

Spoiler alert, best bet is to make a reliable backup of your Mac, enable FileVault encryption, use a password everywhere you can and use a different password at every opportunity.

UPDATE: Reader Beau Baldwin suggested a link to Apple’s Find My Mac page to round out this topic. Excellent idea, Beau!

Neil Cybart, writing for Above Avalon:

As we enter the wearables era, the notification is about to undergo one of its more significant advancements in history. The Apple Watch will improve on the pager from the 1990s and position silent haptic feedback as a notification. The ability to send and receive messages via “taps” on the wrist will turn the modern notification into a communication medium. While the smartphone may have taken the notification and run a little too far with it in the wrong direction, the Apple Watch will likely put the notification on a new, more sustainable path.

Interesting list of historical notifications. I would have started the list with smoke signals, designed to send messages from one hilltop to the next. How about a knock on the door? Or the tippety-tap of Morse code? Or that famous midnight ride?

Good stuff. [Via the always excellent iOS Dev Weekly]