The Atlantic:

Turn on the Food Network any night of the week, and this is what you’ll probably see: “a larger-than-life host, a specifically defined challenge, bombastic music, a set time limit, a panel of judges, and a cast of contestants whose back-story and biographical detail serves to heighten the stakes and fan the [program’s] already heated dramatic flame.”

That’s according to a 2013 study of Food Network’s evolution from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee associate professor Tasha Oren. The Food Network may have started as a channel focusing on the dishes themselves—think Emeril Lagasse and “Bam!” But in order to grow, the network has abandoned its food focus in favor of formulaic competition.

I don’t watch any of these shows but I see the commercials for them all the time. I don’t watch because I don’t get why cooking has to be a contest but the article might have a point. Maybe these shows are for those who don’t like sports but still like competition?

The Wirecutter:

After measuring the charging speed of 44 cables, then sending the top 11 to our electrical engineer for teardown analysis, the $14 Monoprice 3ft MFi Certified Lightning to USB Charge/Sync Cable is the one we’d buy. It may be a third-party cable, but the Monoprice stood out among competitors by being the only third-party cable that had as good, if not better, internal build-quality compared to Apple’s own cable. Plus, it’s cheaper than Apple’s by $5.

Always good to have an extra cable or two lying around and the price is right for this one.

Apple:

Over a million people from all over the world have shared their memories, thoughts, and feelings about Steve. One thing they all have in common — from personal friends to colleagues to owners of Apple products — is how they’ve been touched by his passion and creativity. You can view some of these messages below and share your own at [email protected].

Classy move, Apple.

Re/code:

Bose secured a league sponsorship deal that effectively allows it to elbow Beats — and any other rival headphone manufacturer — off the playing field.

Under terms of its agreement with the league, the NFL confirmed, Bose received a broad set of rights that entitle it to prevent players (or coaches) from wearing any other manufacturer’s headphones during televised interviews.

This ban extends to TV interviews conducted during pre-season training camps or practice sessions and on game day — starting before the opening kickoff through the final whistle to post-game interviews conducted in the locker room or on the podium. The restriction remains in place until 90 minutes after the play has ended.

Does Bose really think this will make any difference in their sales or market share? Do they think that potential buyers, seeing the headsets on a bunch of “old guys” on the sidelines will make their target audience think, “Oh! I like that look! Gotta get me some of those!”?

Very entertaining story.

Here’s what I knew about Megadeth: the lead singer, Dave Mustaine, was kicked out of Metallica, and then Megadeth went on to become the most respected heavy metal band of their time, second to Metallica.

During the meeting, the executives stressed the importance of this album release, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to do something big and bold on the World Wide Web. Having never heard of the Internet, the record executives were like “yeah, whatever kid” and defaulted to the usual checklist: “Who will shoot the album cover? How many radio stations will play the single? How many posters should we print for the record stores?”

So even though no one had a clue what I was talking about, I wrote a proposal to create a “virtual cybertown in cyberspace.” It would be called Megadeth, Arizona—based on where the band lived and recorded their album.

My boss, Lou Mann, the Senior Vice President of the label, actually signed off on the proposal and gave me a whopping $30 grand.

He had no idea what it was for, and I can guarantee you… neither did I.

Back in 1994, the internet was still a wide open frontier. WebCrawler was the state of the art in search engines. It was able to index the complete text of every site on the web. Excite, the first real portal site, was just getting started. And the music industry had no concept of what was coming.

This is unconscionable.

Marriott International Inc. (MAR) was fined $600,000 by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission for blocking hotel customers from connecting to the Internet on personal Wi-Fi networks in order to force them to pay for the hotel’s network.

Marriott employees blocked mobile “hotspots” at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee, while at the same time charging consumers, small businesses and exhibitors as much as $1,000 per device to access Marriott’s Wi-Fi network, the FCC said in a statement today.

Can you imagine staying in a hotel that blocked your cell phone or iPad from accessing the internet so you’d be forced to pay through the nose for the hotel’s exorbitantly priced WiFi package?

There’s a new strain of malware that specifically targets OS X.

Virus hunters have discovered a sophisticated botnet targeting Mac OS X computers and using a novel technique to operate. The malware has infected about 18,500 Macs, according to recent statistical analysis.

The Mac malware, called iWorm, uses a complex multi-purpose backdoor, through which criminals can issue commands that get the malicious program to carry out a wide range of instructions on the infected Macs.

According to researchers, the backdoor makes extensive use of encryption in its routes. It is capable of discovering what other software is installed on the infected machine and sending out information about it (operating system), opening a port on it, downloading additional files, relaying traffic, and sending a query to a web server to acquire the addresses of the C&C servers, essentially turning your Mac into a zombie.

To see if you are infected, go into the Finder and Select Go > Go to Folder…. When the Go to folder sheet appears, enter this folder name:

/Library/Application Support/JavaW

Now click the Go button. If the Finder tells you the folder can’t be found, you should be OK. If the folder is found, you are likely infected and should consider some anti-virus software or a trip to the Apple Store.

The linked article is definitely worth a read. [Hat Tip Stu Mark]

The GRAMMY Museum, based in Los Angeles, will be honoring Stevie Ray Vaughan’s birthday with FREE admission to its exhibits on October 3, 2014 from 11:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. PDT. In June, the museum unveiled Pride & Joy: The Texas Blues of Stevie Ray Vaughan, on display through July 2015. Jimmie Vaughan, Stevie’s brother, served as a guest curator.

Happy Birthday SRV. You were always one of my favorites.

I think Schmidt underestimates the intelligence of the general public. If you don’t buy a product, you are the product being sold.

The Guardian:

The Greater Tokyo Metropolitan Area, composed of four prefectures, became the world’s pre-eminent megalopolis – some 35 million people by 2010, or 27% of Japan’s total population. It isn’t unusual for commuters to spend two hours getting to work every day on trains that exceed 150% of capacity.

When I was in Tokyo, one of the things I wanted to see and take pictures of was the Shinkansen bullet train. It’s a shame we don’t have the population densities to make these trains possible here in North America.

Want China Times:

China’s “big three” telecom carriers — China Telecom, China Unicom, and China Mobile — recorded over 1 million preorders for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus only six hours after they began accepting them for the new phone’s Oct. 10 debut.

Buyers have been able to place their preorders at operators’ online and brick-and-mortar stores as well as their subsidiaries. The total number of preorders could exceed 2 million if they included those sold through distributors such as Suning Appliance and D.Phone.

UPDATE: Benjamin Mayo at 9to5mac reports the number is now 4 million preorders.

Emergent is a real-time rumor tracker. The idea is to track rumors, like this one:

Claim: White House fence-jumper made it inside the main floor

Each claim is tagged as confirmed true, confirmed false, or unverified. An interesting experiment.

It’s part of a research project with the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University that focuses on how unverified information and rumor are reported in the media. It aims to develop and best practices for debunking misinformation.

You can read more about this research project here.

Yoni Heisler does an excellent job of demystifying Apple Pay. I wrote up a shorthand version of the post, made a bit of a hash of it, actually, but got some great feedback. This is an edited version of the original which, I hope is now correct. Thanks very much for the comments.

Here’s my [updated] take on how all this works.

In a nutshell, when you sign up for Apple Pay, your credit card info is encrypted and sent to the appropriate credit card network. The network verifies the card, then sends you back a token. The token is the key to the process. It is not generated mathematically, so there’s no way to reverse engineer it or decrypt it to get from the token back to the card number.

Imagine if you went into a restaurant and queued for a table. The attendant writes your name down, shuffles a deck of cards, and picks one at random. They write the card down next to your name and hand you the card. If you want to check on your table, you show the card to the attendant, they scan the list to find your card number, then tell you your place in line.

The Apple Pay token is sort of like that randomly generated playing card. It is unique and, though it is the same length as a card number and may share the last four digits, it is not derived from your card number. Once you have it, the token is stored in your device’s secure element. The secure element is part of the NFC system and has a level of hacking protection, becoming disabled after a predetermined number of invalid access attempts.

When you use Apple Pay, you must prove your identity to retrieve the token from the secure device. As far as I can tell, a PIN won’t cut it. You have to use Touch ID to verify a transaction. That’s key. If someone steals your phone, they won’t be able to use your credit card.

Once Apple Pay verifies your identity, NFC is used to send the token to the merchant, the merchant sends the token to merchant processor, on to the card processors (Visa, MC, Amex, etc.). They in turn match up the pseudo credit card token with your real credit card number and then send that off to your issuing bank for approval. The issuing bank looks you up in their list, processes the transaction with the credit card company and sends an OK back to the merchant. Take advantage of your credit card with the tips provided by https://creditrewardperks.com/las-vegas/.

If someone intercepts your token, they won’t be able to use it without cracking Touch ID. I suspect people will immediately get to work trying to do this. But even if they do, once the token is breached, Apple can send you a new one, invalidate the old one, and you don’t have to replace your credit card. Huge.

One more piece of the puzzle is the CVV and cryptogram that your Apple Pay device sends along with the token.

> But there’s a whole lot more to Apple Pay than Touch ID and the simple handing off of tokens. Providing an additional layer of security, an Apple Pay-equipped iPhone at the time of each transaction also sends a dynamically generated CVV up the chain along with a cryptogram. The CVV is the three-digit string located on the back of your credit card and, in the case of Apple Pay, is a algorithmically-generated dynamic string that’s tied directly to the token. The cryptogram itself “uniquely identifies the device” that created the token and, according to the EMV Payment Spec, is likely comprised of encrypted data sourced from the token, the device itself, and transaction data. Note, though, that the precise components of the Apple Pay cryptogram aren’t publicly known. > > The important thing to remember, though, is that the cryptogram is effectively a one-time use digital signature that verifies that the token in transit originated from the device being used. Additionally, the cryptogram includes pertinent transaction data such as the identity of the merchant and how much is being charged.

Thanks again to JEhrler for steering me right (or, at least, a little righter).

Washington Post:

When eight cans of nitrate film arrived at the Library of Congress in August, a staffer began a routine inspection to see what sort of physical condition the film was in. Without even watching the footage, she quickly noticed a headline screaming out from one of the newsreels: “SENATORS WIN WORLD SERIES,” it said. “40,000 frantic fans see American Leaguers take 12-inning deciding game, 4 to 3.”

And when archivists from the Library’s Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation watched the reel, they found nearly four minutes of footage from that 1924 World Series, footage that somehow had remained in nearly perfect condition for 90 years. Bucky Harris hitting a home run, Walter Johnson pitching four innings of scoreless relief, Muddy Ruel scoring the winning run, fans storming Griffith Stadium’s field: It was all there, and it was all glorious.

Fascinating to see how much, and how little, the game has changed since this was shot.

Macstories:

From a visual perspective, Tweetbot 3.5 looks and works the same, keeping the foundation that Tapbots introduced with Tweetbot 3 last year. The app hasn’t changed considerably – it has evolved in expected ways and within the limitations imposed by Twitter’s API for third-party apps.

Glad to see this update to my favourite iPhone Twitter client. Can’t wait for the updated iPad version, too.

The publication claims former PayPal president David Marcus was against the Samsung partnership as it would hinder future operations with Apple, but eBay CEO John Donahoe forced PayPal to accept. The dynamic just got more interesting with news today that PayPal will be spun off from eBay in 2015, possibly opening the door to policy changes and realigned alliances.

M O R O N S

Tom’s version doesn’t do much to change my mind.

In his first interview since joining Apple, industrial designer Marc Newson discusses his latest product – a domestic draft beer machine he says is the equivalent to a Nespresso coffee maker for beer lovers.

Sweet mother of God, I must have this!

After nearly six months of searching and deliberation, Apple appears to have settled on a successor to Katie Cotton, its former VP of worldwide corporate communications — and it’s not former White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. It’s Apple comms veteran Steve Dowling. Sources close to Apple tell Code/red that Dowling was tapped as interim head of public relations last week by CEO Tim Cook, who has been looking to put a friendlier, more approachable face on Apple’s public relations efforts.

Personally, I think this is the first step to Dowling getting the position full time.

TidBITS:

One of the most intriguing features of iOS 8 is how Apple opened it up to third-party keyboards. Google’s Android mobile operating system has allowed developers to create custom system keyboards for years, which has led to interesting experiments, like Swype, which lets you draw on the keyboard to spell out words.

Now, keyboards like Swype are available for iOS 8, but how you enable and use them isn’t always obvious. Also of concern is how these third-party keyboards, some of which connect to the Internet, impact your privacy.

I have little to no interest in third party keyboards but I know a lot of you do. TidBITS does their usual good job of how to set up and use them and what to watch out for.

My name is Rick Smolan and I’m a former Time, Life, and National Geographic photojournalist. When I was twenty-eight, National Geographic Magazine sent me on the assignment of a lifetime: to document the 1,700 mile journey of a mysterious twenty-seven-year-old woman named Robyn Davidson, who was trekking across the Australian outback alone with four camels and her dog, Diggity. During Robyn’s nine-month journey I tracked her down five times, spending about three months traveling with her and shooting tens of thousands of photographs.

What an amazing book this will be.

Yosemite is a conference for Apple developers, designers, and enthusiasts. It will be held next Spring, in the heart of Yosemite National Park.

Dave Klein and the folks at CocoaConf are putting on a great conference in 2015 in Yosemite. I will be speaking at the conference, along with many very talented people in the Mac and iOS communities.

Getting ready to buy a used iPhone or iPad? Ask the seller for the device’s IMEI or serial number, then go to this page. It’ll tell you the activation lock status.

If the seller needs help finding the IMEI, send them to Apple’s IMEI support page.

Worth a read, even if you already know most of these.

One quibble, though.

Sometimes you don’t want the stripped-down mobile version of a website. Google’s Chrome has long had a “request desktop version” option, and now Safari does also.

To access this, give a gentle pull down on the menubar to see two new choices: Add to Favorites and Request Desktop Site. Tap the latter and the page will reformat, usually presenting itself in desktop glory.

I believe you need to tap in the menubar so you are editing the URL, which will bring up the favorites popup. Tap in the favorites popup and drag down to reveal the Add to Favorites and Request Desktop Site choices.

Other than that minor point, this is good to know.

ZDNet (via 9to5mac):

Kim Ki-nam, president of the Korean electronic giant’s semiconductor business and head of System LSI business, told reporters at Samsung’s headquarters in Seoul that once the company begins to supply Apple with chips using its latest technology, profits “will improve positively”.

Samsung produces about 30% of Apple’s A8 chips (the majority are made by Taiwan’s TSMC).

Sources told ZDNet Korea that Samsung already has a contract in place with Apple to produce the A8’s successor, tentatively named the A9, which will be made using the 14-nanometre process.

Samsung says their 14nm FinFET process will be ramping up by the end of the year. The A8 is a 20nm chip, so 14nm is a big leap in miniaturization. Samsung’s 28nm process was used to produce the A7, and the A6 was produced using a 32nm process.

Samsung’s chip business was clearly hurt by Apple’s shift toward TSMC. Why shift back to Samsung?

Meanwhile, TSMC, the world’s largest contract chip maker, is expected to produce its next-generation chip using a 16-nanometre process.

14 < 16. Size matters.

The Atlantic:

Free samples help consumers learn more about products, and they make retail environments more appealing. But samples are operating on a more subconscious level as well.

“Reciprocity is a very, very strong instinct,” says Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist at Duke University. “If somebody does something for you”—such as giving you a quarter of a ravioli on a piece of wax paper—“you really feel a rather surprisingly strong obligation to do something back for them.”

Am I weird because I’ve never taken a free food sample in a grocery store? I just find the whole idea strange. For those of you outside the USA or Canada, is this “free samples in grocery stores” a thing in other countries, too?

Vogue:

The secret weapon of the most sought-after personal-electronics company in the world is a very nice guy from Northeast London who has a soft spot for woodworking and the sense that designers ought to keep their design talents backstage where they can do the most good. “There’s an odd irony here,” he observes. “I think our goal is that you would have a sense that it wasn’t design.”

Always interesting to read about Ive.

The Guardian:

The US government and police officials are in the midst of a misleading PR offensive to try to scare Americans into believing encrypted cellphones are somehow a bad thing, rather than a huge victory for everyone’s privacy and security in a post-Snowden era.

I understand the government’s position but, with all the evidence of the authorities spying on us in any number of ways, they have no one to blame but themselves for average citizens looking for ways to protect themselves from their government.

Nice essay from Ken Segall (long time creative director who worked on the Think Different campaign, came up with the iMac name) about the fallout from Bendgate.

To me, the story isn’t that Apple created a sub-standard product. Because it didn’t.

The real story is that all these people were so quick to believe that Apple had screwed up in such a monumental way — and then joyfully helped blast this “news” into the public consciousness.

You know the story, watched it play out over the last few days. Will it impact iPhone 6 sales?

If you’re familiar with this blog, you’ve probably heard me talk about the importance Steve Jobs placed on getting customers to love Apple. He wanted every part of the customer experience to strengthen that love — from the advertising and in-store experience to unboxing, enjoying the product and getting support when needed.

By doing so, he would ensure that customers would (a) buy more stuff, (b) evangelize to others and (c) stick with Apple when unforeseen problems arise. He understood that such things were inevitable, even for a company like Apple.

History proves that Steve was 100% correct. Despite the intense media blasting, Apple customers did not defect because of Antennagate or Mapsgate. It’s pretty obvious that there will be even less damage from Bendgate.

This rings true. If Bendgate accomplished anything, it was to raise awareness of the iPhone 6 Plus. Apple’s brand has tremendous critical mass. Like a massive mountain range, it would take great force, sustained over a long period of time, to cause any lasting damage.