Tired of waiting for Office to be optimised for their mobile gadgets, a growing contingent of younger companies is turning to cheaper, simpler and touch-friendly apps that can perform word processing and other tasks in the “cloud” – on internet-based systems.

Take Artivest Holdings, a New York-based financial services startup that sells alternative investment products. The New York-based company uses an app called Quip, which combines word processing and messaging, to handle all but the most sensitive legal and financial files.

“There are no more Microsoft Word documents being circulated. If someone emails me a Word document, I’ll tell them to put it in Quip,” said Artivest’s chief investment officer David Levine.

I think this is dead on. My kids don’t use Office and they don’t own a watch (they use their phone or computer if they want the time). The world is definitely changing.

Bill Gates finally gets his smiling face in the Rolling Stone. Some of my favorite bits:

You mentioned Mark Zuckerberg. When you look at what he’s done, do you see some of yourself in him?
Oh, sure. We’re both Harvard dropouts, we both had strong, stubborn views of what software could do. I give him more credit for shaping the user interface of his product. He’s more of a product manager than I was. I’m more of a coder, down in the bowels and the architecture, than he is. But, you know, that’s not that major of a difference. I start with architecture, and Mark starts with products, and Steve Jobs started with aesthetics.

On privacy:

When people think about the cloud, it’s not only the accessibility of information and their documents that comes to mind, but also their privacy – or lack of it.
Should there be cameras everywhere in outdoor streets? My personal view is having cameras in inner cities is a very good thing. In the case of London, petty crime has gone down. They catch terrorists because of it. And if something really bad happens, most of the time you can figure out who did it. There’s a general view there that it’s not used to invade privacy in some way. Yet in an American city, in order to take advantage of that in the same way, you have to trust what this information is going to be used for.

Do you think some of these concerns people have are overblown?
There’s always been a lot of information about your activities. Every phone number you dial, every credit-card charge you make. It’s long since passed that a typical person doesn’t leave footprints. But we need explicit rules. If you were in a divorce lawsuit 20 years ago, is that a public document on the Web that a nosy neighbor should be able to pull up with a Bing or Google search? When I apply for a job, should my speeding tickets be available? Well, I’m a bus driver, how about in that case? And society does have an overriding interest in some activities, like, “Am I gathering nuclear-weapons plans, and am I going to kill millions of people?” If we think there’s an increasing chance of that, who do you trust? I actually wish we were having more intense debates about these things.

Great interview.

Consider my mind blown. I did not know you could drag and drop an image onto the Mac OS X color picker so you can sample colors from that image (this has been around forever, I just never knew).

This is incredibly useful. Read the article for all the details.

Want to try this yourself? If you happen to have an application installed that uses the standard Apple Color Picker, go for it. But here’s a roll-your-own way to bring up the color picker.

Launch the AppleScript Editor application (it’s in Applications > Utilities). When the editor appears, use File > New to bring up a new script. Enter this text in the script window:

choose color

That’s all you need. Now select File > Save… and change the File Format popup to read Application. Give it a name you like and save that sucker. Now double-click the AppleScript application you just created and you’ve got yourself a little color picker to play with.

[Via iOS Dev Weekly]

A new App Store section. Not the app store section we needed, but the app store section we deserved.

Heh.

There is a lot of food for thought in this article. Here’s just a taste:

Trends are always set by the younger generation. Especially with clothing, jewelry and other items that appeal to a demographic with a lot of expendable income. To me, this quote by Tim Cook is the most telling:

“To convince people they have to wear something, it has to be incredible. If we asked a room of 20-year olds to stand up if they’re wearing a watch, I don’t think anyone would stand up.”

This response to Kara Swisher’s question about Apple’s interests in wearable technology covers all the bases. It includes the target market (“20-year-olds”), product focus (“has to be incredible”), and most importantly, he’s seeing the same thing I am: people don’t need to wear watches because they already have that computer in their pocket.

Note also that in the response he doesn’t say “wear a watch”, it’s “wear something”. It’s implied, but not stated. Remember that he learned from the master of misdirection: Steve Jobs.

Absolutely worth a read. Thought provoking piece.

Luis Von Ahn is a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University, but is perhaps best known as the creator of the free language learning app Duolingo, Apple’s 2013 iPhone app of the year.

Interestingly, Luis Von Ahn was part of the team that created CAPTCHA:

In the early years of his Ph.D. study, von Ahn had helped his advisor, CMU computer science professor Manuel Blum, develop a handy identity verification device known as a CAPTCHA. Think of those distorted words you’re asked to translate after attempting to log into your email too many times to verify that you’re human. Those are CAPTCHAs. Initially invented to help keep spambots out of chat rooms, these tests are effective because computers have a difficult time reading distorted text, while people are rather good at it.

What Von Ahn did next was a real stroke of genius:

Von Ahn watched the work on CAPTCHA and decided it had potential beyond distinguishing humans from robots — the extra 10 seconds people were taking to access their email and other accounts could be put to use. In 2006, von Ahn launched reCAPTCHA. Unlike its predecessor, reCAPTCHA challenged users with two distorted words to decode.

You’ve certainly run into a CAPTCHA that featured two words instead of words. That’s a reCAPTCHA and here’s why:

The brilliant twist is that this test isn’t just verifying your humanity; it’s also putting you to work on decoding a word that a computer can’t. The first word in a reCAPTCHA is an automated test generated by the system, but the second usually comes from an old book or newspaper article that a computer scanner is trying (and failing) to digitize. If the person answering the reCAPTCHA gets the first word correct (which the computer knows the answer to), then the system assumes the second word has been translated accurately as well.

So the whole purpose of that second word is not to keep you out, but to have you help validate that a word scanned by the system is, indeed, what they think it is. A gigantic, free crowdsourcing effort.

In 2009, Google acquired reCAPTCHA for an undisclosed amount (von Ahn says the sum was somewhere between $10 million and $100 million) and put the program to work on a tremendous scale, digitizing material for Google Books and the New York Times archives. In 2012, it was translating about 150 million distorted words a day.

“The CAPTCHA was really my idea,” says Blum. “Getting humans involved and getting them to help do this stuff was Luis’s idea. He was the one that pointed out, ‘Look how many hours have gone into building the Panama Canal or the Pyramids — and with all the people that are on the Web now, you can get a lot more hours.'”

Genius. Great article.

A few years ago, the New York Times ran an article explaining pi. Today being pi day (and only one year before Super Pi Day), I thought it’d be worth posting this.

True, the article is full of math, but I think it’s one of the most elegantly written explanations of the math surrounding pi you’ll ever see. And, if you make it to the very end, you’ll have a handle on the origins of calculus, which is no mean feat.

After debuting a range of playful iPhone 5c ads on Tumblr in early March, Apple has expanded its campaign to the The New York Times and the front page of Yahoo.com. The Yahoo homepage currently features an ad block on the right side hand of the page that houses eight different iPhone 5c ads with the tagline “Find your colors.”

Each ad features a short animation, mirroring some of the original Tumblr ads. There’s a spot called “Catwalk,” for example, which features a series of lens flashes, “Baaaa,” which mimics a herd of sheep, and “99 Luftballoons,” which offers floating red dots with music from the popular song.

I checked both Yahoo.com and the NYTimes.com, did not see the ads in either place. I wonder if they are being tweaked.

From the annual Pwn2Own exploit festival, held in Vancouver:

Fang Jiahong and Liang Chen represented the Keen Team at Pwn2Own on Thursday, starting off the second day of the annual exploit festival with a quick takedown of Apple’s Safari browser. They then wrapped up the contest with a successful zero-day exploit of Adobe Flash, the second time the Adobe product was toppled.

For their Pwn2Own Safari bug, Chen said Keen Team exploited two vulnerabilities: a heap overflow in the Safari Webkit that gave them arbitrary code execution. That wasn’t enough to pwn the underlying Mavericks version of OS X. Chen said he had to chain together two vulnerabilities to successfully exploit the system.

“We utilized another system vulnerability to bypass the sandbox to get a process running in the user’s context,” he said. The bugs were disclosed to HP’s Zero Day Initiative, which sponsored Pwn2Own and bought all of the vulnerabilities exploited during the contest. Apple was present as well for the disclosure.

“I think the Webkit fix will be relatively easy,” Chen said. “The system-level vulnerability is related to how they designed the application; it may be more difficult for them.”

Chen said the big challenge was bypassing the Safari sandbox because the exposed attack surface is so small compared to Internet Explorer, for example.

As to the relative safety of Mac OS X vs other platforms?

“For Apple, the OS is regarded as very safe and has a very good security architecture,” Chen said. “Even if you have a vulnerability, it’s very difficult to exploit. Today we demonstrated that with some advanced technology, the system is still able to be pwned. But in general, the security in OS X is higher than other operating systems.”

Here’s what he had to say about Android:

“Google has been very good about security, but vendors write their own code or hardware vendors write their own kernel modules and drivers,” Jiahong said. “Your (research) methodology may not apply to every system.”

[Via 9to5Mac]

I really want one of these, but I don’t want to have bought one. Do they not look awesome?

I just can’t believe that the same person is singing both of these. Maybe not pitch perfect, but pretty close. Interestingly, he was in a band with Chevy Chase before Saturday Night Live started, and was in the Broadway play National Lampoon’s “Lemmings”.

Priceonomics:

Playing with Lego bricks (can) become more than a mere hobby: the best of the best have made a career out of it. But how much can you expect to earn as a Lego maestro, and what exactly does the job entail? We’ve explored three jobs — model master builders, Lego Certified Professionals, and industry “renegades” — to answer these questions.

If LEGO ever needed someone to make walls, I’m your boy. I could build some great walls with my LEGO as a kid. Sadly – nothing else.

Co.Design:

in “Design Forward”, frog design’s founder, Hartmut Esslinger, recounts the inspirations and process behind the computers that revolutionized consumer electronics.

Some of these concepts are really cool. Others make you ask, “What were they smoking?”

The presidential limo is definitely an awesome and unfortunately necessary piece of engineering.

The Secret Service is proceeding with development of a new presidential limousine to replace the Cadillac model currently used by President Barack Obama, according to a new General Services Administration contract posting. The new vehicle is expected to be ready for the inauguration of the next president—whomever she or he may be.

Classified armor development for the new rolling Oval Office has been underway since last year. The government is now seeking bidders to integrate that armor into a new design for “The Beast,” as the heavily-protected vehicle is popularly known, with options for the final construction stages. Details of the new design, like the old, are highly classified and contractors must meet strict security requirements just to get a peek at what they will be asked to build.

Just one suggestion: Make sure it comes with CarPlay, and let Apple furnish the touch screen.

Earlier today, we posted about United Airlines offering a free in-flight movie service, available to folks running iOS but not available on Android.

Now Time writer Harry McCracken uses that info to make the case that Apple has won the app wars. Not sure I quite see it the same way, but I do get his point. No matter the market share, the trend continues to be to develop for iOS first, if not only.

A new update for The Loop Magazine was released today with the following changes:

• Up to 4x faster downloads!
• Push Notifications and Background Updates – major bug fixes and improvements.
• “First launch” setup improved.
• More responsive “Manage Storage” menu.
• Other minor bug fixes.

It’s a great update and can be downloaded free on the App Store.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee:

On March 12, 1989 I submitted my proposal for the World Wide Web. 25 years later, I’m amazed to see the many great things it’s achieved – transforming the way we talk, share and create. As we celebrate the Web’s 25th birthday (see webat25.org), I want us all to think about its future and ask how we can help make it a truly open, secure and creative platform – available to everyone. The idea of an AMA is another great example of how the Web’s helping to connect and empower people around the globe and I’m really excited to be answering your questions!

Every AMA requires a photo as proof you are who you say you are. Here’s Tim’s.

THE COMPUTER used by Sir Tim Berners-Lee to write his proposal for the World Wide Web has gone on show at the Science Museum in London to mark the 25th anniversary of the web.

The Next Cube computer arrived at the Science Museum on Tuesday, having been shipped from CERN in Switzerland, where Berners-Lee used to work as a software engineer. Berners-Lee wrote his proposal for the World Wide Web that he submitted on 12 March 1989 on this computer.

I find it amazing to think that the origins of the web were created on a Next machine. If you missed it, be sure to read the story of Steve Jobs and Tim Berners-Lee’s narrowly missed connection, as masterfully told by Stephen Fry.

Could this be the future of business cards? Based on the Arduino Pro-Mini, the programming is done on a computer and downloaded into the chip. A lot of hand work and not flexible, but if the market likes this, I suspect automated manufacturing and a more flexible form factor will follow.

Sweet!

There’s lots of Python as well as discussion of his movies (like Brazil, my personal favorite).

This story has been making its way around both tech and commercial real estate circles. Google is said to be locking up a lease on 131 Greene St in SoHo for an 8,000 square foot retail space. I find it an interesting choice for Google. Here’s why.

For starters, it helps to have a sense of the layout of this part of Manhattan. SoHo stands for South of Houston and is the area just south of West Houston St at the southern end of the city. SoHo is a big shopping are with both small boutiques and major market clothing retailers. Lots of foot traffic, much of it focused on the east-west running streets like Houston and, one block south of that, Prince St.

For commercial real estate, being on Prince St is like gold. The SoHo Apple Store is right in the middle of all that action, at the intersection of Prince St and Greene St., right on the corner. A fantastic location.

If the rumors are true, Google has chosen to place themselves just half a block from the Apple Store. Smart move.

But.

Google’s potential space is on a relative side street. Greene is a cobblestone street that runs north and south between Prince and Houston. Charming, yes, but the north and south streets don’t have nearly the foot traffic as the main east-west streets. It could be that Google took what they could get, being relatively late to the game. It could be that they valued being close to the Apple Store and are gambling on the future of Greene St, thinking the Google name will bring the foot traffic.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Personally, I’m fascinated by the thought of a brick and mortar Google Store. I hope this rumor turns out to be true. And if it does turn out to be true, I think the restaurants on that stretch of Greene St better gear up for some more customers.

Apple Insider:

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday published an Apple patent application covering a smart wrist-mounted pedometer that can automatically determine its location on a user’s body and compensate for missed steps using advanced processing algorithms.

Since readings from on-board sensors reflect detected changes in magnitudes of forces, including gravity, software analysis now plays a large part in outputting accurate movement data. As far as the hardware is concerned, spikes in directional magnitude can be masked by arm swings, jolts of taking a step or a bump against a keyboard.

Further, current algorithms based on peak magnitude and step frequency data fail to sufficiently take into account possible missed steps. For example, some systems compare a moving average of magnitude measurement thresholds, a technique that can miss steps due to motion interference. This is especially problematic when a device is worn on the wrist as a user’s arm swings may offset or otherwise disrupt readings.

Bottom line, differentiating a step from, say, a bump or an arm raise is a difficult problem to solve. Arm biometrics is an important part of the future. This is just one step of many to come, I’m sure.

Ouch, it erased everything that was on it. You know LeBron, there are Apple stores everywhere—time to upgrade from the junk.