Great piece on Microsoft’s new pilot program that combines surround audio and iBeacons to help people with sight loss navigate their world.

Chris Yates, an amiable mobility instructor for the charity Guide Dogs, handed me a long, white folding cane with a rubber stopper at the bottom and quickly showed me how to sweep it from side to side, tapping the pavement in front of me as if dipping a toe into bathwater of unknown temperature. As I tried the cane, Parker placed a pair of bone-conducting headphones around the back of my skull and handed me a heavy-duty black blindfold.

I was about to try a prototype of Microsoft’s 3D soundscape technology — an audio-rich experience in which the headset, smartphone and indoor and outdoor beacons all work together to enhance the mobility, confidence and independence of people with vision loss.

Make sure your audio is on. The 3D audio is central to the experience and brings the words to life.

Apple added this enterprise support page, titled AppleCare for Enterprise, to their web site.

Because Apple makes the hardware, operating system, and many applications for every Apple product, AppleCare for Enterprise delivers integrated support and service you can’t get anywhere else. You’ll get IT department–level support by phone or email for all Apple hardware and software. We’ll provide support for complex deployment and integration scenarios, including MDM and Active Directory. And if you need help with IBM MobileFirst for iOS apps, we’ll help troubleshoot your solution and work with IBM to get your issue resolved.

AppleCare for Enterprise provides IT department–level support for six technical contacts you designate. Support is available 24/7 with one-hour response times for top-priority issues, such as when a production service is down. You can also increase the number of technical contacts for an additional fee.

At first blush, this malware, known as WireLurker, seems reasonably innocuous, since it is initially delivered solely via an app store for jailbroken iOS devices in China. It’s a little more complicated than that, which makes it potentially a lot more of an issue.

The key is how it is spread. Once you’ve downloaded a WireLurker infected app, it waits for you to connect your iOS device to your Mac. That’s where the trouble really begins. According to Palo Alto Networks, the company that discovered and named WireLurker:

Users’ iOS devices could also become infected if they connected their mobile device to their Macs through a USB wire. “WireLurker monitors any iOS device connected via USB with an infected OS X computer and installs downloaded third-party applications or automatically generated malicious applications onto the device, regardless of whether it is jailbroken,” Palo Alto Networks security researchers said. “This is the reason we call it ‘wire lurker.’”

Obviously, if you don’t jailbreak your phone, and if you stay away from unverified USB chargers, you should be safe, right?

That’s where the potential trouble spot lies. The key here is staying within the trusted bubble of the iOS and Mac App Stores. Short of installing a test app, there really is no easy way to get a non-verified app onto your iOS device. But what about the Mac App Store? There are many apps that are freely downloaded from the net, not verified by Apple. What’s to prevent WireLurker from embedding itself in one of those apps and spreading to non-jailbroken iOS devices?

WireLurker points out a weakness in the Apple ecosystem. Is it preventable? Certainly, if you stay within Apple’s bubble of safety, only downloading apps via the App Store. But given that people will not abide by that limitation, is there something Apple can do to prevent this sort of attack? I don’t know the answer to this, but I would wager a large beverage that this exact question is the subject of much discussion in the hallowed halls in Cupertino.

Open Culture:

I still remember the thrill I felt when I happened upon a set of the complete Sherlock Holmes stories at an antique store. For a mere ten dollars, I acquired handsomely bound, suitably patina-of-age-bearing editions of each and every one of the sleuth of 221B Baker Street’s adventures that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ever wrote.

These days, especially given the recent ruling (just re-affirmed by the Supreme Court) that Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories “are no longer covered by United States copyright law and can be freely used by creators without paying any licensing fee to the Conan Doyle estate,” you can download the complete Sherlock Holmes canon in a variety of ebook formats, from PDF to ePub to ASCII to MOBI for Kindle.

At age 11, I received the complete works as a Christmas present from my grandmother. I devoured the stories before New Years and read them over and over again for years. I’m downloading this as we speak.

I guess in the U.S. this would be akin to trying to hire a hitman.

I don’t see the problem.

A wonderful pictorial by Doug Menuez with pictures of Jobs that I hadn’t seen before.

A friend of mine is selling this guitar and it’s a beauty. I wish I had the money to pick it up.

Pixelmator for iPad is a powerful image editor that gives you everything you need to create, edit, and enhance your images. It lets you work seamlessly between Mac and iPad and even work effortlessly with Photoshop images. Packed with powerful creative tools and engineered to harness the full iOS and 64-bit architecture power, Pixelmator for iPad is a real image editor right at your fingertips.

Chris Hadfield:

When David Bowie wrote and recorded Space Oddity in 1969, I wonder if he ever imagined it being played in orbit? Even more so, would he have imagined (or worried about) the legal concerns of extra-planetary music?

When the original video was pulled, there was a lot of complaining and misunderstanding of the reasons. Hadfield does a great job of explaining the story.

Dan Frakes:

Here are some of my favorite iOS 8 features, in no particular order, with an emphasis on things that haven’t been exhaustively covered elsewhere. I hope you discover something new and useful.

Dan has some great tidbits here. My favourite is the SMS relay feature.

Macworld:

The latest release of AgileBits’ password manager is as good as ever—and a perfect companion for OS X Yosemite.

I can’t recommend 1Password enough. Indispensable to my computer use.

Quartz:

It didn’t take long for me to get used to Apple’s large new iPhone 6 Plus. After more than a month of everyday use, it has become even more of the pocket computer I’ve always wanted. A few thoughts.

The article hits a lot of the points I was curious about. Anyone else have similar or dissimilar stories about using their iPhone 6/6 Plus for the past month?

The Robservatory:

Dearly beloved…

On this, the occasion of its 14th birthday, we’re gathered here to mark the passing of Mac OS X Hints.

While it can be hard to tell exactly when a web site has died, the signs are fairly obvious. It’s been over 45 days since the last new hint appeared on the site. There is no way for new users to sign up for an account. There’s been one new comment posted in the last two days. A sidebar box proudly proclaims Latest Mountain Lion Hints. The site design, logo, and icons were last updated when I worked for Macworld, over four years ago. To paraphrase a Star Trek character, “it’s dead, Jim.”

While Rob, the originator of Mac OS X Hints, makes a clear case as to why the site is no longer as needed as it has been in the past, it’s dormancy is still a shame. It was a site many of us relied on in the early days of Mac OS X to try and figure out the ins and outs of the new operating system.

Outside:

As airlines pack more passengers than ever onto each plane, a single storm can reverberate through the system—leaving flyers stranded as agents scramble to find ever-rarer empty seats on later flights. But you aren’t entirely at the mercy of the airlines. Should your itinerary be delayed, cancelled, or overbooked, knowing your rights can be the difference between a $300 voucher and a long night at the airport, for more information o this subject find all air passenger rights here . As air travel gets more and more onerous, it’s important to know what you are supposed to receive when the airline makes a mistake. As always, be firm but polite with any airline agents you speak to. First, get in line to speak with an agent. You might also want to call the airline while you wait. Typically, if your flight is canceled, the majority of airlines will rebook you on the next flight available to your destination at no additional cost. However, depending on why your flight was canceled, finding seats on a new flight may prove difficult and may alter your travel plans considerably. But when you fly with sky aviation, you will never experience any hassle or delays.

“In the event of a flight delay or cancellation, travel advisors have a number of tools to assist,” says Peter Vlitas, senior vice president of airline relations at Travel Leaders Group, one of the largest travel agency companies. “If we anticipate flight delays due to weather, for example, travel advisors receive advance waivers so they can select alternative flights before they sell out.”

If you didn’t purchase flights through a travel adviser, you can pay for Cranky Concierge’s Urgent Assistance plan, which charges a fee per one-way flight to help travelers find a solution to flight changes (either delays, cancellations or missed connections) and proactively monitor future trips. You can also try booking flights at Jettly if you want to schedule your flight at the time of day that is most convenient for you.

Writing for ReCode, Walt Mossberg lays out his thoughts on MCX and their anti-Apple Pay tactics. You no doubt know all the details (if not, click here).

CVS had no comment for this article, but MCX did grant me an interview.

When I asked the CEO of the MCX consortium, Dekkers Davidson, what he and the consortium were afraid of, he said, “nothing.” In fact, he said that eventually there ought to be multiple “compelling” mobile payments systems.

However, Davidson explained, MCX insisted on exclusivity for now, to provide “breathing room” for the development of CurrentC. When I asked whether that meant the merchants didn’t want another system to catch on, he said no, and repeatedly explained what a massive undertaking CurrentC is. He added that the exclusivity rule would expire in “months, not years.”

And this nugget:

Davidson flatly denied that MCX had ordered CVS to turn off Apple Pay, and he speculated that CVS might have simply done so because it had signed the exclusivity policy. He noted that one MCX member, the family-owned Midwest supermarket chain Meijer, hasn’t shut off Apple Pay.

Is there a difference? If the agreement with CVS specifically calls for exclusivity, that’s equivalent to an order for exclusivity. And if they acknowledge exclusivity, why make the case that Meijer did not adhere to that policy? I can only imagine what’s going on in the MCX boardroom right now. Fear, confusion, and a lot of finger pointing.

CNET:

Samsung was replaced by the iPhone maker as No. 1 in China’s mobile sector this year, according to the China Brand Research Center’s 2014 China Brand Power Index ranking report released Tuesday.

The Suwon, Korea-based company had previously held the top spot since 2012.

The China Brand Research Center calculated this year’s rankings by polling 13,500 Chinese across 30 cities, aged 15 to 60, from August 2013 to January 2014, about brand awareness and loyalty.

The report said Samsung failed to secure its first-place mobile ranking due to a focus on market share leading to falling consumer loyalty.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

New York Times:

Japan may be one of the world’s perennial early adopters of new technologies, but its continuing attachment to the CD puts it sharply at odds with the rest of the global music industry. While CD sales are falling worldwide, including in Japan, they still account for about 85 percent of sales here, compared with as little as 20 percent in some countries, like Sweden, where online streaming is dominant.

“Japan is utterly, totally unique,” said Lucian Grainge, the chairman of the Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music conglomerate.

That uniqueness has the rest of the music business worried. Despite its robust CD market, sales in Japan — the world’s second-largest music market, after the United States — have been sliding for a decade, and last year they dropped 17 percent, dragging worldwide results down 3.9 percent.

Digital sales — rising in every other top market — are quickly eroding in Japan, going from almost $1 billion in 2009 to just $400 million last year, according to the Recording Industry Association of Japan.

Amazing that Tower Records closed all 89 of its American outlets, but they still have 85 outlets in Japan. A large part of it is the marketing approach, finely tuned to the Japanese collectible culture.

Peculiarities of Japan’s business climate have shaped its attachment to the CD, but cultural factors may also be at play, like Japanese consumers’ love for collectible goods. Greatest hits albums, for example, do particularly well in Japan, perhaps because of the elaborate, artist-focused packaging. The hugely popular girl group AKB48 pioneered the sale of CDs containing tickets that can be redeemed for access to live events — a strategy credited with propping up CD sales, because it can lead the biggest fans to buy multiple copies of an album.

Washington Post:

For a large chunk of consumers, buying a wearable before the Apple Watch just isn’t an option. As part of a six-month study of the wearable market, PriceWaterhouseCoopers asked 1,000 consumers to share how they feel about the wearable market, and found that 59 percent of them were most excited by Apple’s entry into the market. (Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Nike rounded out the top five.)

The report also notes how important the Apple Watch is to the wider market, calling it a “sleek device that rivals project will help mainstream the entire wearable category.”

In other words, until Apple joins the fray, everyone else is just holding their breath.

The role of a setter of trends, of a market-maker.

Back in February, Disney launched its Disney Movies Anywhere (DMA) service on iOS. In effect, Disney movies you buy via iTunes are available in your DMA locker for you to stream on your iOS devices. Now, Android has joined the fray, meaning you can watch all those iOS-purchased Disney movies on your Android device and, if you buy movies on an Android device, you can watch them on your iOS device.

All well and good, but the thing I find the most fascinating about this is the thread of cross-compatibility it brings. Movies are data and this allows you to share and consume the same data on either side of the iOS/Android divide, just as you might an email, PDF, or even a Word document.

This kind of cross platform sharing is a big win for consumers, and it is a small step in the direction of eroding the platform specific ecosystem barricade. Imagine if you could cross platform share all your media, your movies, TV shows, documents, and music. Now that would be a disruption.

Music that touches you at a deep level is a rare delight. Same with a book, a movie, a piece of art or anything that is the result of the creative process. Today I had the good fortune to stumble upon something that did this on several levels.

Sonic Highways is a documentary series on HBO, put together by Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters. The series is an incredible journey, taking you on a deep musical exploration of eight cities, building a song in each city based on the musical foundation found in that city.

For example, the series opens in Chicago and revolves around artists like Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, and Rick Nielson (the baseball hat-wearing, scorching guitar player from Cheap Trick). You get the chance to meet Steve Albini, controversial producer of Nirvana’s In Utero album. All the while, you watch the elements that would ultimately form the first of the album’s 8 songs unfold. The song is a tribute to Buddy Guy and you get to meet Buddy and hear him talk about his deep friendship with Muddy Waters. The Buddy Guy interview snippets actually turn up in the song lyrics. Rick Nielson stops by the studio and lays down a track on the album.

The finished song, like the documentary itself, is deep, complex, and polished. Sonic Highways is a gift to anyone with an interest in music. The series is available on HBO, on HBO Go, and on demand.

Here’s the trailer, which gives a pretty good sense of the show format and tone.

NPR:

Tom Magliozzi, one of public radio’s most popular personalities, died on Monday of complications from Alzheimer’s disease. He was 77 years old.

Tom and his brother, Ray, became famous as “Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers” on the weekly NPR show Car Talk. They bantered, told jokes, laughed and sometimes even gave pretty good advice to listeners who called in with their car troubles.

I don’t know a thing about cars but listened to the show simply because Tom and Ray were so entertaining.

When you plug an iOS device into your Mac, you no doubt end up launching iPhoto, whether you intended to or not. Yosemite handles the setting that controls this in a way different than its predecessors.

Kirk McElhearn:

By default, when you sync an iPhone or iPad, OS X opens iPhoto, asking you if you want to import photos. I had this setting turned off in Mavericks, but it seems to have been turned on again in Yosemite. Yet when you look in iPhoto, there is no such setting. Tricky of Apple to have hidden it in another app…

Read the post for the details. Good stuff.

In a direct response to Tim Cook’s public essay laying out his sexual orientation and his reasons for speaking out, Russian media is reporting that a St. Petersburg monument to Steve Jobs has been taken down.

The monument, with an interactive screen displaying information about Jobs, was reportedly put up on the grounds of an IT university in January 2013 on the initiative of a Russian company called Western European Financial Union.

Russian Radio station Biznes-FM cited the company’s chief, Maksim Dolgopolov, as saying he had it removed in part to comply with a law banning the spread of “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” among minors.

And:

After Cook came out as gay in an essay published on October 30, prominent St. Petersburg antigay activist Vitaly Milonov was quoted as saying Cook should be banned from Russia because he could bring AIDS, Ebola, or gonorrhea into the country.

The mind boggles.

On the rational side of the spectrum, there’s this op-ed piece from the New York Times:

As Lloyd Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, put it, “He’s chief executive of the Fortune One. Something has consequences because of who does it, and this is Tim Cook and Apple. This will resonate powerfully.”

Trevor Burgess, the openly gay chief executive of C1 Financial in Florida, and one of the first publicly gay chief executives of a public company, said Tim Cook used “the metaphor of laying a brick on the ‘path towards justice.’ ” But, “This is more like 600 million bricks,” Mr. Burgess said. “He has the most influential voice in global business.”

Indeed he does.

According to NetMarketshare, Windows XP adoption currently sits at 17.18%, Windows 8 at 5.88%, and Windows 8.1 at 10.92%, giving Windows 8.x a total of 16.8%. Windows 7 remains the big dog, with a 53.05% adoption rate.

The Windows 8 adoption rate straggling may be old news, but the coming crossover in adoption rates is interesting nonetheless. Part of the issue is Windows fragmentation and Microsoft’s struggle to convince its customers to fork over the $100+ to buy into a newer OS. Will a free OS change that?

Another issue is all those left behind machines and the security risk they pose. How many unpatched Windows XP and Vista machines are out there, either waiting to be malwared into a zombie state or already serving in a malware army?

If you want to explore OS, browser, or search engine market share, head over to NetMarketshare, then make a selection from the drop down menus at the top of the main pane.

This article appeared back in January 2013, long before CVS and Rite Aid pulled the plug on Apple Pay, and long before Apple Pay was even announced. There’s a lot to process here.

On the pitch to become a member of the Merchant Customer Exchange:

One example of the pitch approach some have cited: MCX demanding $30,000 from retailers just to see the official PowerPoint. (That slide deck must have some amazing images.) Although charter members were asked to kick in $1 million to join, retailers are being asked to give $500,000 or $250,000.Chains are also being asked to commit to three-year mobile payment app exclusivity, meaning they won’t support any non-MCX mobile payment other than any mobile payment app they have already deployed. (There’s a one-year grace period from the start of membership—where retailers can get out of the deal—and that period is about to expire for most of the initial backers.)

And:

One CIO of a major chain, who sat through the MCX salespitch (he declined to pay for the PowerPoint but the consortium showed it to him anyway—or at least a version of the slides), said he declined to join because of what he perceived as the sketchiness of the plan.

And this, on the difference in liability between the MCX-backed ACH approach and the credit-card approach (used by Apple Pay):

The question of whether there will be a credit card option is crucial. Although debit card transactions—especially at Walmart—are soaring percentage-wise, the risks to the consumer are light years less with credit cards and the associated zero-liability programs. In theory, a zero-liability program could be created for debit cards, but it would mean banks agreeing to not bounce any transactions until they had established that no fraud is involved.That’s because even if banks ultimately reimburse a shopper all monies stolen by thieves, the damage perpetrated by inappropriately bounced checks can be permanent and extensive. A credit card zero-liability incident grants a temporary credit, and the shopper is not hurt.

Also interesting is the idea that many merchants are involved specifically because of Walmart’s huge gravity well:

One retail concern that has haunted the group since its launch is the perception—with more than a little justification—that Walmart is playing an ultra-dominant role. Granted, other retailers are certainly involved, but Walmart began the effort and one of its executives—Walmart VP and Assistant Treasurer Mike Cook—is seen as the group’s de facto CEO. Some have come to jokingly suggest that MCX stands for the Mike Cook Exchange. The suggestion that many of the chains involved are there to closely watch Walmart (“keep your friends close and your enemies closer”) is still alive and well.

A fantastic read. [hat tip to Jim Neal]