July 13, 2014
Written by Shawn King
The Globe and Mail:
What used to be poor man’s fare, the fallback meal of people too impoverished to afford anything else, is now a billion dollar business and a universal mark of luxury – with the result that a lobster that sells for $3.50 on the wharf can cost $60 and more on a restaurant plate in New York or Toronto or Shanghai, regardless of how many lobsters are pulled from the sea. How this happens is the life story of Larry the Lobster.
As a native Nova Scotianer, lobster, both as a delicious beachside meal and an economy sustaining industry, is near and dear to me. The story of how lobster gets from the ocean floor to the dinner plate is one not many people know and the economics of it is fascinating.
Written by Shawn King
Vox:
In Brazil, “Tudo bom” roughly translates to “all good.” It’s used both as a question and an answer. Tudo bom? Sim, tudo bom. Just like the World Cup. The World Cup in Brazil has been both a blessing and a curse. The joy of sport but at what cost?
As the World Cup wraps up in Brazil today, there will be much soul searching in the country — not just with regards to the awful loss to Germany but whether or not the whole enterprise was worth it. Knowing many Brazilians, I think most of them will say yes it was.
Regardless, I think the relative success of the the 2014 World Cup bodes well for Brazil’s hosting of the Summer Olympics.
Written by Dave Mark
This past Friday, we posted a story titled China labels iPhone a security threat. Apple responded to the Chinese broadcaster’s accusations in a well crafted post on their site.
Here’s the full English-language post from Apple’s web site:
Your Location Privacy
Apple is deeply committed to protecting the privacy of all our customers. Privacy is built into our products and services from the earliest stages of design. We work tirelessly to deliver the most secure hardware and software in the world. Unlike many companies, our business does not depend on collecting large amounts of personal data about our customers. We are strongly committed to giving our customers clear and transparent notice, choice and control over their information, and we believe our products do this in a simple and elegant way.
We appreciate CCTV’s effort to help educate customers on a topic we think is very important. We want to make sure all of our customers in China are clear about what we do and we don’t do when it comes to privacy and your personal data.
Our customers want and expect their mobile devices to be able to quickly and reliably determine their current locations for specific activities such as shopping, travel, finding the nearest restaurant or calculating the amount of time it takes them to get to work. We do this at the device level. Apple does not track users’ locations – Apple has never done so and has no plans to ever do so.
Calculating a phone’s location using just GPS satellite data can take several minutes. iPhone can reduce this time to just a few seconds by using pre-stored WLAN hotspot and cell tower location data in combination with information about which hotspots and cell towers are currently being received by the iPhone. In order to accomplish this goal, Apple maintains a secure crowd-sourced database containing known locations of cell towers and WLAN hotspots that Apple collects from millions of Apple devices. It’s important to point out that during this collection process, an Apple device does not transmit any data that is uniquely associated with the device or the customer.
Apple gives customers control over collection and use of location data on all our devices. Customers have to make the choice to enable Location Services, it is not a default setting. Apple does not allow any app to receive device location information without first receiving the user’s explicit consent through a simple pop-up alert. This alert is mandatory and cannot be overridden. Customers may change their mind and opt-out of Location Services for individual apps or services at any time by using simple “On/Off” switches. When a user turns “Off” location data for an app or service, it stops collecting the data. Parents can also use Restrictions to prevent access by their children to Location Services.
When it comes to using iPhone for traffic conditions, iOS can capture Frequent Locations to provide commute information in the Today view of Notification Center and to show you automatic routing for iOS in CarPlay. Frequent Locations are only stored on a customer’s iOS device, they are not backed up on iTunes or iCloud, and are encrypted. Apple does not obtain or know a user’s Frequent Locations and this feature can always be turned “Off” via our privacy settings.
Apple does not have access to Frequent Locations or the location cache on any user’s iPhone at any time. We encrypt the cache by the user’s passcode and it is protected from access by any app. In the interest of even greater transparency for our customers, if a user enters their passcode successfully, they are able to see the data collected on their device. Once the device is locked no one is able to view that information without entering the passcode.
As we have stated before, Apple has never worked with any government agency from any country to create a backdoor in any of our products or services. We have also never allowed access to our servers. And we never will. It’s something we feel very strongly about.
Written by Dave Mark
Why does the dark side of the moon look so very different from the side that faces the Earth? There’s a new theory that has gained acceptance, and it’s not at all obvious. A terrific read for a Sunday.
Written by Dave Mark
This is a true story.
The AP announced last month that it would use Automated Insights’ software, called Wordsmith, to produce up to 4,440 robot-written corporate-earnings reports per quarter, more than ten times the number its human reporters currently produce.
Here’s a sample of a story generated automatically:
Alcoa Inc. (AA) on Tuesday reported a second-quarter profit of $138 million, reversing a year-ago loss, and the results beat analysts’ expectation. The company reported strong results in its engineered-products business, which makes parts for industrial customers, while looking to cut costs in its aluminum-smelting segment.
This is just an example of what’s coming. As intelligence modeling becomes steadily more sophisticated, the ability to automatically generate news stories will become mainstream. To me, the key to a life lived happily alongside our robotic comrades is control. As long as we purposely concede day-to-day burdensome tasks to artificial intelligences, no worries.
The problem begins when the dynamic shifts and we impoverish ourselves purely for a more efficient bottom line. The decision of which tasks to automate are never made based on human need. Those decisions are always made in an effort to reduce costs. And that’s the snake that might bite us in the ass.
Discuss.
July 12, 2014
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Many thanks to Mighty Deals for sponsoring this week’s RSS feed on The Loop. Sometimes you just need a quick and simple photo editor to clean up your photos. Whether you need some mild editing, digital borders, objects removed, colors enhanced or areas brought into focus, this Mighty Deal has it all covered. This Snap Pack Bundle includes 4 incredible Mac photo apps, for one low price: Snapheal, FX Photo Studio, Focus 2 and ColorStrokes. They’re all incredibly easy to use and feature some truly robust editing tools.
Tina S is a remarkable guitar player. We’ve posted some of her work before, most notably her cover of Van Halen’s Eruption.
Here’s her take on Yngwie Malmsteen’s Molto Arpeggiosa, colloquially known as Arpeggios From Hell.
Tina S is a phenomenally gifted guitarist and she is still just a teenager. Enjoy!
Judge for yourself. Here’s ad number one, the crying baby ad:
Is it just me or is this truly an awful ad? Annoying in that fingernails on a chalk board way. Apple feelings aside, anyone like this ad from a creative standpoint? Is it at all attractive?
Moving on, here’s ad number two:
This one is not quite as annoying, but where’s the clever? Did Samsung just switch ad agencies? I think both of these ads are amateurish and dreadful.
[Via MacRumors]
Written by Dave Mark
Back in January 2000, Ron Johnson joined Apple as Senior Vice President of Retail Operations with a mission to create and roll out Apple’s retail operations.
Back in May, Johnson appeared, one-on-one, on Stanford Business School’s View From the Top interview series. The video of that interview is embedded below.
From ifoAppleStore:
Former Sr. VP Retail Ron Johnson told a Stanford University audience in May that store high-speed Internet connections—nearly unheard of at the time—were intended to attract visitors, allowing them to check their email or surf the Web. Johnson spoke as part of Stanford’s Graduate School of Business “From the Top” series that spotlights company executives. Johnson was an undergraduate at Stanford, and also attended Harvard Business School (HBS). Johnson recalled his close relationship with Steve Jobs, and the main lesson he learned from him—‟You have to be willing to start again.” He recounted the previously-told story of how the original Apple store design was re-done at almost the last minute in 2001, because Jobs’ trusted Johnson’s evaluation that it didn’t match up with the company’s “digital hub” philosophy.
Based on Johnson’s statement, in fiscal 2013 the retail stores generated their $20.2 billion in revenues from just 3,950,000 customers, or one percent of the total visitors. Those figures indicate the average in-store purchase during 2013 was $5,114.
Fascinating insight into Johnson’s approach to retail.
July 11, 2014
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Apple launched a new blog on its developer site on Friday dedicated to the Swift programming language introduced during WWDC. The company also made Xcode 6 beta available to all registered developers.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
For a long time, Brooks has declined to put his music online, as he insisted albums be released in their entirety. It’s not clear if that’s how he’ll release his music moving forward, but all digital sales will be handled through his official website, not iTunes. There will be a window when his entire collection will be released at a “stupid” price.
Come on Garth, put it on iTunes and be done with this stupid shit.
Written by Dave Mark
I don’t know how pervasive this story is outside the US, but inside the US, the saga of LeBron James leaving Cleveland for Miami and then returning home after 4 years to re-sign with the Cavaliers is huge. The announcement happened today.
James wrote an essay detailing his rationale for coming back to Cleveland, an essay that stands with some of the best sports essays I have ever read. It’s not too long, an easy read, well worth your time.
Written by Dave Mark
WSJ:
China’s influential state broadcaster on Friday called a location-tracking function offered by Apple Inc.’s iPhone a “national security concern,” in the latest sign of a backlash in the country against U.S. technology firms.
In its national noon broadcast, state-run China Central Television criticized the “frequent locations” function in Apple’s iOS 7 mobile operating system, which records time and location for the owner’s movements. The report quoted researchers who said that those with access to that data could gain knowledge of China’s economic situation or “even state secrets.”
This sort of thing just puzzles me. For starters, Apple has been great about exposing this sort of preference, in this case via Settings > Privacy > Location Services (click here to learn the details). That fact that this feature is bottlenecked under a single setting means it’s trivial to disable.
I have no problem if the Chinese government wants to pass a law disabling this feature as a default, or even permanently. But doesn’t this sort of “security threat” bluster screams market protection and not a genuine concern for citizens’ privacy rights?
Written by Dave Mark
Businessweek:
> While teens aren’t overrunning Silicon Valley yet, talent-starved tech companies are reaching out to kids to fill spots in their internship programs. Facebook says it has just begun to recruit teens before their freshman year of college after they went through a background check with the best tools you can also find at https://theislandnow.com/blog-112/best-reverse-phone-lookup-sites/. LinkedIn (LNKD) opened its summer program to high schoolers two years ago; Airbnb has had interns as young as 16. “Talent is our No. 1 operating priority and our most important asset,” LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner said on his company’s most recent earnings call, welcoming this summer’s crop of interns.
We’ve seen it in sports. Teams try to identify prodigies at the earliest possible age. Top high school kids are pulled in to play professional sports. Arguably one of the best soccer players in the world, Lionel Messi, was contracted by FC Barcelona at the age of 11 and moved from his home town in Argentina to Spain.
This same competitiveness has come to tech. Tech companies and government agencies are visiting (and sponsoring) science fairs, looking to identify and bring on board blossoming talent before their competitors.
As long as the situation is handled responsibly, as long as each child’s welfare and educational needs come first, this has the potential to be a win-win.
Written by Dave Mark
9to5Mac:
Due to a security flaw discovered in its Flash Player software, Adobe released an update to the web plugin earlier this week. Today Apple confirmed that it had updated its plugin blacklist for OS X to stop the system from using a version of Flash Player older than 14.0.0.145 (or 13.0.0.231 on older systems).
Here’s a link to the relevant Apple support page.
Has security ever been an issue with HTML5? Can HTML5 do much of what we depend on Flash for? Is Flash still necessary?
If you haven’t already, read this post about Chrome, Flash, and battery life.
Written by Dave Mark
What happens when a long time PC and Chrome power user moves to Mac OS X? How will Safari stack up?
Coming to OS X after many years as a PC power user, Chrome was the first application on my prearranged hotlist. On Windows, it had long displaced Firefox, which before it, had long displaced Internet Explorer. The only reason I even bothered with Safari when my machine arrived last December, was my curiosity as to how a Mac works out of the box; before I overcrowd it with apps. It wasn’t supposed to be a real chance.
I don’t want to spoil the read, but it turns out that battery consumption was a pivotal part of the story. Good stuff.
July 10, 2014
Written by Shawn King
Slate:
Can you guess these ’90s hits by their first second?
Sadly, I only got seven out of sixteen but, in my defense, I didn’t like any of the songs I missed. Thanks to Dan Frakes for the link.
Apple released iTunes 11.3 on Thursday, bringing iTunes Extras to Apple TV and iOS 8 when its released this fall.
As Apple explains, “iTunes Extras can include behind-the-scenes videos, short films, high-resolution image galleries, directors commentary, scenes and more.” The iTunes Extras are included in HD movies.
Because iTunes Extras are in the cloud, movie studios can update or add extras at any time, giving users a more dynamic experience. This could include any of the content mentioned above, or other bonus material from the filmmakers.
Apple already has iTunes Extras content in quite a few movies, including 21 Jump Street; 300: Rise of an Empire; American Hustle; Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues; The Bourne Identity; The Bourne Legacy; Captain Phillips; Cinderella; The Dark Knight Rises; Despicable Me; Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax; Forrest Gump; Frozen; Ghostbusters; The Incredibles; Man of Steel; and many more.
If you already purchased HD movies from iTunes, Apple will automatically add the extras to your account as they become available, at no charge.
You can download iTunes 11.3 by launching the Mac App Store and checking for updates.
Update: Added images and the titles of movies with iTunes Extras.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Great article on The Mac Observer—If you’re going to get tips, get them from the engineer that worked on it.
I was at the keynote when Steve Jobs launched the iPhone in 2007. It was an amazing introduction—historic for Apple and the consumer electronics industry. One thing that everyone was asking for after the launch was apps. On July 10, 2008, Apple launched the App Store, forever changing the way we use smartphones, tablets and many other devices. Think about how you used devices before apps, and how you use them today—there is no comparison. The iPhone and apps have changed the world.
Thanks Apple.
Last June, Tim Cook hired Lisa Jackson, former administrator of the Environment Protection Agency, as Apple’s Vice President of Environmental Initiatives. This report is the first under her leadership.
Here’s a link to the report. And here’s a link to an FAQ that highlights some of the major environmental questions addressed by the report. Finally, here’s a link to the updated environment section of Apple’s website.
From the report itself:
We believe climate change is real. And that it’s a real problem. As a global company that makes some of the most popular products in the world, we know we use a lot of energy and material, which in turn generates greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. That’s the part of the problem we can help solve. We’ve found ways to use energy and materials more efficiently in our facilities, to get energy from cleaner sources, and to make some of the world’s most energy-efficient electronic products. We’re still the only company in our industry whose data centers are powered by 100 percent renewable energy and whose entire product line not only meets but far exceeds strict ENERGY STAR guidelines. And while we have a long way to go, our efforts are working—even though we’re manufacturing and shipping more products, our carbon emissions per product are dropping.
It takes an enormous amount of energy to design, assemble, ship, and use hundreds of millions of products all over the world. A portion of that energy comes from burning fossil fuels, which creates carbon emissions. Those emissions make up our carbon foot- print—our share of the climate change problem. We’re striving to reduce that footprint, and we’re making great progress. But there’s still a lot of work to be done.
Written by Dave Mark
Wall Street Journal:
According to investigations by the New York-based watchdog [China Labor Watch], the Shinyang factory hires children and underage students during busy periods and when in “urgent need of labor.” Shinyang makes cellphone covers and parts for Samsung.
The alleged underage workers are usually employed for three to six months, work for 11 hours a day and are only paid for 10 of those hours, the watchdog said in a statement.
The claims follow an annual sustainability report published by Samsung on June 30 in which the company said a third-party audit of 100 of its suppliers in China last year found “no instances of child labor.” It wasn’t immediately clear whether Shinyang was one of the 100 suppliers covered in the audit.
This accusation is in jarring contrast with this paragraph from Samsung’s 2014 Sustainability Report:
Already we hold our manufacturing facilities to the highest labor and environmental regulations worldwide. This year, we also strengthened supplier compliance by reinforcing our Code of Conduct and actively monitoring and managing our dynamic supply chain. Samsung has one top priority: To ensure the health and safety of our employees and the communities where we operate.
July 9, 2014
Written by Shawn King
Fortune:
In recent years, a debate has raged on among publishing and advertising industry insiders over “sponsored content”—more recently called “native advertising” and once known as “advertorial”—the sort of advertising that looks very much like editorial content but is, in fact, directly paid for by an advertiser. Industry peers watched and discussed: Is it deceptive? Is it ethical? Does it even work?
It can be deceptive – Macworld had a nasty habit of putting the “sponsored content” info at the bottom of the post instead of front and centre – as to “does it work”? Certainly not on me. If I see an article marked as “sponsored”, I don’t even bother reading it regardless of my interest in the subject matter.
Reuters posted an article this morning about how blind and deaf people want more from Apple in making apps accessible. I’m all for this, and from what I’ve seen from Apple over the years, they are in favor of improving accessibility features in OS X and iOS too.
However, one thing that stopped me in my tracks while reading the article is a quote the Reuters reporter used from Apple CEO Tim Cook’s speech at Auburn University in 2013.
Here’s what the reporter used in the story:
Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook in a 2013 speech at Auburn University described people with disabilities “in a struggle to have their human dignity acknowledged.” He said, “They’re frequently left in the shadows of technological advancements that are a source of empowerment and attainment for others.”
Here’s what Tim actually said:
“People with disabilities often find themselves in a struggle to have their human dignity acknowledged, they frequently are left in the shadows of technological advancements that are a source of empowerment and attainment for others, but Apple’s engineers push back against this unacceptable reality, they go to extraordinary lengths to make our products accessible to people with various disabilities from blindness and deafness to various muscular disorders. I receive hundreds of e-mails from customers every day, and I read them all. Last week I received one from a single mom with a three year old autistic son who was completely non-verbal, and after receiving an iPad, for the first time in his life, he had found his voice. I receive scores of these incredible stories from around the world and I never tire of reading them.” “We design our products to surprise and delight everyone who uses them, and we never, ever analyze the return on investment. We do it because it is just and right, and that is what respect for human dignity requires, and its a part of Apple I’m especially proud of.”
Dear Reuters, you fucking morons: You can’t pick and choose which parts of a quote you want to use to fill the narrative of a story you already have written. You could have written a fine story about accessibility and everyone would have agreed with you, but what you did is show your lack of integrity, essentially harming a very important message about accessibility.
Next time, stick to the facts.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Sometimes you just need a quick and simple photo editor to clean up your photos. Whether you need some mild editing, digital borders, objects removed, colors enhanced or areas brought into focus, this Mighty Deal has it all covered. This Snap Pack Bundle includes 4 incredible Mac photo apps, for one low price: Snapheal, FX Photo Studio, Focus 2 and ColorStrokes. They’re all incredibly easy to use and feature some truly robust editing tools.
Written by Dave Mark
I love it when Siri exposes her wry sense of humor. [Side note: Seems odd to refer to Siri as her, but that’s the default voice and the one I continue to use. Originally typed “its” but just didn’t work for me]
Ask Siri about iOS 8 and you’ll get a nice range of responses, including, “It’s just Swift”. Heh.
Apple continues to sweat the details. Love it.
Written by Dave Mark
BBC:
Apple has failed in its attempt to get a Chinese company’s voice-recognition patent ruled invalid.
The verdict threatens Apple’s ability to offer its voice-controlled virtual assistant, Siri, in the country.
Shanghai-based Zhizhen Network Technology has sought to block Apple from selling products with the app installed, saying it infringed its rights.
Apple will appeal the verdict and had this to say:
“Apple believes deeply in protecting innovation, and we take intellectual property rights very seriously,” said a spokesman.
Apple became aware of this problem in 2012 when they announced the addition of Mandarin and Cantonese to Siri’s list of languages.
Zhizhen noted that it had filed for the intellectual rights to the underlying technology in 2004 and had been granted the patent two years later.
Apple countered that Siri used a different process to power its voice-recognition tech – a court has yet to rule on this claim.
This is a serious problem for Apple. Hopefully, they’ll either prevail in a higher court or negotiate a licensing deal with Zhizhen.
Written by Dave Mark
Android Police:
App Encryption was added to the Play Store to encode paid apps with a device-specific key, making them more difficult to crack or transplant by would-be pirates. Despite some early issues that lead Google to temporarily take App Encryption offline, it has gone mostly unnoticed since it was re-enabled. That is, until now. It seems the Android Wear install process runs into a road block with paid apps because it doesn’t know how to extract the file of the encrypted apk. Since the installer fails to recognize the payload, it assumes there is nothing to install and silently aborts. This behavior appears to match another known issue that occurs if the Wear app is compressed more than once before it is published.
Seems to me, this is a real weak point in the Android Wear testing methodology. Google has supposedly rolled out a fix for this, proving that this was an easy problem to detect and a relatively easy problem to workaround. I wonder if this is a sign that this was rushed to market.
Written by Dave Mark
Apple Insider:
Apple on Monday was granted a U.S. patent covering a method of fusing glass structures together to encapsulate the internal circuitry of an iOS device, and that of larger electronics like monitors and televisions.
Not clear if this will ever make it into a real product, but certainly interesting.
Here’s a link to the patent itself, if you’d like to learn more.
