I hope everyone had a great holiday. The new year is here and it’s time to get back to work. If you would like to get your product or service in front of the good looking, intelligent readers of The Loop, now is your chance to book. I’ve opened up the first two months of 2015 on the sponsorship page. If there’s a week that you would like to book later in the year, just get in touch.
Have a question for the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX? Here’s your chance to ask Elon Musk directly.
There’s been a lot of discussion about the lawsuit alleging that Apple is somehow defrauding its customers by selling a 16 Gig phone, which yields about 12 Gigs of usable space.
First off, take a look at the image in this post from last January.
Notice that of all the devices tested (the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were not born yet), Apple provides the most consumer-usable storage.
Apple’s more affordable (relatively) iPhone, the 5c, is the most generous of the 16GB phones we’re recently tested, giving you 12.6GB of memory (79%) to play with. Meanwhile Google’s new Nexus 5, which runs on the Android operating system like the S4,, is relatively bloatware free with 12.28GB (77%) of usable space. The iPhone 5s is in bronze position, providing 12.2GB (76%) of usable storage.
Macworld, along with a number of others, called the lawsuit frivolous, dumb.
iOS 8 has had its share of problems, and now we can throw one more on the pile: a lawsuit. Two plaintiffs have filed a suit claiming their 16GB iPhones and iPads don’t actually come with 16GB of storage, and iOS 8 takes up too much space—and Apple should make that clearer, in case we are all idiots who don’t get that operating systems do use storage.
Kirk McElhearn takes a counter position:
The lawsuit also highlights the fact that iOS 8 takes up substantially more space than iOS 7, saying, “Plaintiff upgraded to iOS 8 with the belief that the upgrade would not substantially inhibit his available storage capacity. Defendant did not disclose in conjunction with upgrades to iOS 8 the additional storage capacity that would be consumed by the upgrade.” And, later, “Apple fails to disclose that upgrading from iOS 7 to iOS 8 will cost a Device user between 600 MB and 1.3 GB of storage space – a result that no consumer could reasonably anticipate.”
I agree that Apple should warn users about how much space the new OS will take up, perhaps stating that it will use X GB more than the previous version, or explain that if the current amount of free space is X GB, after the upgrade it will only by Y GB.
The space problem is compounded as there are more and larger displays for iOS devices. Since apps you install contain all the graphics for all available devices, they are getting bigger and bigger. It would make sense for iTunes – or iOS devices – to only install the graphics that specific devices need. This said, I understand why Apple does not do this. If you download an app to an older iPhone, then transfer the purchase to iTunes to later use on a larger device, the transferred app won’t have all the elements the larger device needs. Nevertheless, Apple could fix this, with a system that downloads all the app’s assets after you transfer the purchase.
Should Apple offer some options to allow you to eliminate wasted space? That would certainly help.
Should they be legally required to? Of course not.
Should all phone vendors do a better job of letting potential buyers know about the hazards of buying a device with a smaller memory footprint? Again, that would certainly help.
Should they be legally required to? There’s the rub.
In April of 2013, less than two years ago, Google Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins announced the Glass Collective, “an investment syndicate among our three firms, to provide seed funding to entrepreneurs in the Glass ecosystem to help jumpstart their ideas.”
Follow this link and take a look at the picture. Does this look like the future? Two years ago, it did, at least to some pretty smart people.
The main reason I’m running the photo is to make an actual serious point, which is that nobody in this industry ever has any idea what is going to work. Nobody. Not even these big-brained masters of the universe who are entrusted with billions of dollars. These are smart guys. The one on the left founded Netscape. The one on the right was an early investor in Google. The one in the middle was in a boy band, I think. Anyway, they’re experts. They spend their whole lives trying to spot trends and pick winners, and they are paid ungodly amounts of money because they are considered the best in the world.
And yet, back in 2013, less than two years ago, these three experts really believed Glass was going to be huge. They were very passionate about it. They got into huge arguments over it.
Point is, it’s hard to predict the future, to know what will grab hold and develop traction.
Two years ago, many people thought that the future would be viewed through Glass, that any fashion or privacy concerns would be worked through and that Glass would see widespread adoption.
Predicting the future is hard, but innovation is critical. Efforts like Glass, or Google’s self-driving car, like the SpaceX effort to launch a rocket and land it back on Earth (that attempt will take place tomorrow), like the iPod, the iPhone or any of Apple’s ventures into the unknown, are critical to moving the ball forward.
One step better than recycling is reuse. Joe Caiati, a long time IT pro, shares some tips for breathing new life into your old Mac. Note that this is not a tutorial, but more a nice collection of links worth exploring if you are considering upgrading and old machine.
Xiaomi has long been accused of copying the look and feel of the iPhone. Here are a few examples.
As Xiaomi contemplates entering western markets, it will no doubt have a strategy in hand for dealing with more stringent intellectual property protections. The question is, will it change its stripes? Here’s the latest and greatest:
Xiaomi, like Alibaba, has a pretty mixed reputation in the market. Some joked Xiaomi should be renamed xiao tou, thief in Chinese, due to its long record of copying foreign innovation and design ideas – for example, Apple’s iPhone – and then selling such clones for incredibly low prices.
The most recent controversy followed Xiaomi’s decision to move beyond its cheap smartphone business, which established its reputation, and make and sell an air purifier, priced at a few hundred yuan.
Just weeks after Xiaomi launched its cheap air purifier, a Japanese electric fan maker claimed the design closely resembled its own product, according to Japanese media. Xiaomi denied the allegations, just as it did when challenged by fans of Apple about why its smartphone looked so similar to an iPhone.
The lifespan of electronics is shrinking and their number is increasing. Most electronics end up in the trash, doing terrible, toxic damage to the environment.
Fortunately, there are a number of efforts to make responsible recycling of your electronics much more possible, if not easier.
> Stores like Best Buy and Staples now offer programs to take back old gadgets and recycle them. Churches and schools commonly hold e-waste collection drives, and you can even occasionally find bins for dropping off old tech on the street, this is one of the many reasons why services like the Commercial waste for UK business disposal are becoming so demanded. > > The solution is not just recycling. It’s to be sure that you’re recycling with a responsible processor. Some programs do little more than pass the load to unverified operators that then toss loads of e-waste into increasingly toxic dumps around the world.
There are two standards bodies, eStewards and Sustainable Electronics Recycling International, monitoring recyclers for responsible practices. Their goal is to not just to recycle, but to reuse old electronics, either in whole or as parts.
> While recycling electronics is crucial, protecting your confidential information through proper data destruction is equally important. Many recycling programs focus on the environmental aspect but may overlook the security of your data. > > To ensure your personal or business data is safely destroyed, consider utilizing specialized services like data destruction atlanta. These experts offer secure methods for wiping or shredding hard drives and other storage media, preventing any potential data breaches. By prioritizing responsible recycling and thorough data destruction, you can safeguard both the environment and your privacy effectively.
> So it is worth doing a little work to look up a trustworthy source. Patty Osterberg, director of education and outreach at S.E.R.I., said she estimated that only about 25 percent of recyclers in the United States were certified by one of the two standards organizations. > > Ms. Osterberg said the process of getting certified from S.E.R.I. was “arduous,” and Mr. Kao said eStewards certification was even tougher. So a Best Buy drop-off might be more convenient than finding a certified recycler in some parts of the country.
Certainly, any effort at recycling is better than throwing old electronics in the trash.
Marco Arment:
Apple has completely lost the functional high ground. “It just works” was never completely true, but I don’t think the list of qualifiers and asterisks has ever been longer. We now need to treat Apple’s OS and application releases with the same extreme skepticism and trepidation that conservative Windows IT departments employ.
I hate agreeing with Arment but sometimes, he’s bang on. I believe in this case he is. From embarrassing software updates to apps that simply don’t work properly or well – Apple’s poor quality and functionality of the Mail.app being just one of many examples – the assessment that “We don’t need major OS releases every year” is something many of us hope Apple listens and pays attention to.
Bloomberg:
CES, the world’s largest trade show, is far from a hit-making machine. While the technology show is a leading indicator of trends and attracted 160,000 attendees last year, many products debuting at the event take years to get into consumers’ living rooms — if at all. The last time the event had a true stand-alone sensation was when Microsoft debuted the Xbox game console at CES in 2001.
I’ve been to several CES shows and they are a huge, hectic mess. Everyone in the tech media knows “the real show” is the behind the scenes deals made largely in private and in secret. But that isn’t sexy so the media hypes ridiculous products and their own presence at the show as if it actually means something to average consumers. It’s a shame to the show and a disservice to their readers when the media won’t be honest and objective in their assessment of what CES offers.
Thanks to my friend Greg for the link.
Dan Frommer:
From Apple’s financial followers to the culture pages, expect few technology topics to garner as much attention in 2015 as the Apple Watch, which is set to launch “early” in the year.Why? Because it’s not just a new gadget. Several people, companies, and entire industries are counting on it to be a hit. Without hyperbole, the Apple Watch has the potential to create new billionaires and to change the way people live.
Here are a few reasons—from micro to macro—the Apple Watch is shaping up to be the launch of 2015.
I don’t know about “Year of the Apple Watch” but I do believe it will eventually be a hugely successful category for Apple, much like the “slow burn” of the iPod.
Businessweek:
Would you “scam” an airline’s ticketing policy if it saved $25? $70? $400?A federal lawsuit is bringing public attention to “hidden city” ticketing, the technique of buying an airline ticket between two cities with a connection but ditching the rest of the trip. Say, for example, you want to fly from Boston to San Francisco but notice that a ticket from Boston to Seattle—with a connection in San Francisco—is cheaper. Once your flight lands in San Francisco, you prance out of the airport at your intended destination, pocketing the savings.
Airlines hate this maneuver—which has been around for decades—and argue that it violates the terms of the sale.
I’m normally not a fan of “scams” but the airlines have screwed us so often and in so many different ways, I’d have no problem using this method to save money.
Tunity:
Tunity allows you to hear a muted TV’s audio directly to your mobile device. It acts just like a wireless headset – no need to purchase an expensive set.Scan the TV and let Tunity locate and match the audio and stream it straight to your iPhone or iPad.
I used this app on New Year’s Day during ESPN’s broadcast of the Rose Bowl game (GO DUCKS!) and it worked great. I can see it being very useful in a sports bar with dozens of TVs set to different game broadcasts but no audio to listen to.
Boing Boing:
Marriott is fighting for its right to block personal or mobile Wi-Fi hotspots—and claims that it’s for our own good.The hotel chain and some others have a petition before the FCC to amend or clarify the rules that cover interference for unlicensed spectrum bands. They hope to gain the right to use network-management tools to quash Wi-Fi networks on their premises that they don’t approve of. In its view, this is necessary to ensure customer security and to protect children.
If Marriott’s petition were to succeed, we’d likely see hotels that charge guests and convention centers that charge exhibitors flipping switches to shut down any Wi-Fi not operated by the venue. The American hotel industry’s trade group is a co-filer of the petition, and Hilton submitted a comment in support: this isn’t just Marriott talking.
I don’t travel often but when I do, I won’t be staying in a Marriott any more.
I love finding a diamond in the rough. This list is from Rotten Tomatoes.
[Hat tip to Stu Mark]
Few of us give a thought to the inside of a watch, whether you wear one or not. This video of the inner workings of a $10,000 Rolex Submariner shows how intricate and complicated the mechanisms are.
The Old Fashioned is my drink of choice. With a single, large ice cube if you please. Via DF.
Happy New Year.
Mental Floss:
If you can’t check out these places in person, you can at least visit them virtually—no flights or long road trips required.
Do not go to this site unless you’ve got an hour or more to kill. Spectacular imagery. I’ve been to eight of the fifteen but this is an entirely different perspective of the places.
Johnson & Johnson:
Donate a Photo, the free donation app from Johnson & Johnson takes your photos and turns them into a way to do good. For every photo you share through Donate a Photo, Johnson & Johnson will donate $1 to the charity of your choice.Your photos can do things like help a newborn breathe with Save the Children, get school supplies for a girl in Guatemala with Girl Up, or help a deployed service member call home with the USO.
The web site says your photos won’t be used “to sell any products or for any other commercial purposes.” This looks like a great way to donate to some of the associated charities.
The Atlantic:
Mission Control in Houston literally never sleeps now, and in one corner of a huge video screen there, a counter ticks the days and hours the Space Station has been continuously staffed. The number is rounding past 5,200 days.It’s a little strange when you think about it: Just about every American ninth-grader has never lived a moment without astronauts soaring overhead, living in space. But chances are, most ninth-graders don’t know the name of a single active astronaut—many don’t even know that Americans are up there.
A long but fascinating article about the ISS. It’s a shame it has become so “ordinary” that most of us never think of or hear about what is going on and why it is so important to mankind’s future.
What are Samsung Experience Stores? Why, they’re a dying species, if the latest development in Samsung’s efforts to establish its own retail empire are any indication. The flagship Samsung store in London, occupying a large and prominent spot at the Westfield Stratford City shopping center, has now been “permanently closed,” ostensibly in response to the company’s slumping smartphone sales.
As much as Samsung tries to copy Apple, they prove time and again that they really don’t understand the market.
Everyone needs a Zamboni!
iMore:
Apple has introduced a new cancellation feature for digital content in several European countries, including the UK, Germany, and France. The new policy allows customers in applicable countries to essentially “return” digital purchases from iTunes, including apps, music, and books, for a refund within 14 days of purchase.
For those of you who want to ask, “When is this coming to the US/Canada?”, keep in mind this is mandated by Europe wide consumer protection policies and directives. It may never be available to those of us in the US and Canada.
Great to see Avid add Yosemite support to the latest release.
To be clear, I don’t think that people who work for Facebook are evil. Instead they are part of a corporate machine whose job is to control all of our attention, for as long as possible. On the other hand, Facebook having empathy would mean a wholesale cultural graft towards a different way of thinking, developing and interacting with people.
Great read here from Om Malik.
This is a funny story from Brad Reed at BGR. For what it’s worth, it does look like a crappy gadget.
It’s clear that Santa is no longer into cookies – he prefers Apples. It was a banner Christmas for the Apple, the company that started the mobile revolution with the introduction of the first iPhone in 2007. Seven years later, Apple accounted for 51% of the new device activations worldwide Flurry recognized in the week leading up to and including Christmas Day (December 19th – 25th). Samsung held the #2 position with 18% of new device activations, and Microsoft (Nokia) rounded out the top three with 5.8% share for mostly Lumia devices.
That’s a pretty substantial gap between first and second.
Microsoft Corp’s Xbox Live and Sony Corp’s PlayStation Network, Internet services that video gamers use to play online, were hit by connection failures on Christmas Day, with the hackers Lizard Squad claiming responsibility.
That would really piss me off.
Bored Panda:
We all know that movie and TV producers use VFX (short for visual effects), but you’ll be surprised to learn just how extensively they’re used to create movie magic! These photos reveal just how much your favorite shows and movies rely on the magic of VFX.
These effects shots always fascinate me. I’m a sucker for any DVD that includes “here’s how we do it” extras.
Macworld:
I have 10 solid suggestions that will make your life better by shaving off the little irritations that remain in Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite and in Apple’s bundled software. A new Mac user will be happier than otherwise, and a veteran user looking to refresh a system will find the time and effort savings quite rewarding as well.
I use about half of these every single day. 1Password and TextExpander? I probably use once every few minutes.
Storehouse:
Sonja Hinrichsen is an artist who welcomes working outdoors–her tools are not pencil and paper, instead, they are her own feet and a layer of fresh snow. Her collaborators are the sun, shadows, and teams of hardy volunteers in snowshoes.
Imagine the effort that goes into the planning and execution of such large scale art. Beautiful, ephemeral stuff.