No specific conclusions leap to mind, but I did find this infographic fun to pore over. Obviously, the biggest circle on there is Facebook’s acquisition of WhatsApp. The second biggest? Take a guess, then follow the link and take a look.
Also thought it was interesting that Microsoft was left off the chart completely.
All obstacles have been cleared, and the long-planned Union Square flagship Apple Store has finally received final clearance from the San Francisco City Council to demolish the current standing building and begin renovations and construction on the new store. The new building will be a two-story structure with an all-glass frontage facing Union Square, utilizing a cantilevered design that features a patio and waterfall behind the store.
Yet another reason for me to make the trip out to San Francisco. Can’t wait to see this store.
ProtectCELL’s customer data shows that iPhone users are roughly 46 percent less likely to need a replacement device, for any reason, as compared to other smartphone users. This recent research measures the cause and frequency of mobile replacements for both smartphones and tablets across ProtectCELL’s two-million-plus plans sold.
When comparing the causes for device replacement, research suggests that iPhone users are less likely to break their device, but far more prone to misplacing their phone. According to ProtectCELL, iPhone owners are 11 percent less likely to report a broken or damaged device as compared to other smartphone users, but 65 percent more likely to request a replacement due to their device going missing.
My take on this: The iPhone is built well and is less prone to breaking. And the iPhone is more desired by thieves.
As to that last, enable Find My iPhone, people.
UPDATE: According to 9to5mac, the number should have read 46% instead of 54%. Thanks to reader Zac Hall for the tip.
One of the latest signs that there’s an escalating “patent arms race” between Apple and Samsung is that Samsung in record filing more than 10 times as many European patents as rival Apple in 2013. They were the number one patent filer in Europe with 2,800 patent applications. Google wasn’t far behind with 2,200 applications whereas Apple dropped down to being number 50 on the top 100 patent filers in 2013.
According to the Financial Times, the big increase in the number of Samsung’s patent applications came in the same year that it lost a high-profile court case in the US where the judge initially awarded $1.05bn in damages to Apple. In Europe, applications typically take three to five years to be approved.
A partner specializing in intellectual property at a London-based law firm noted that “Samsung is obviously trying hard to bolster their portfolio to put themselves in a better position with regards to licensing discussions.”
This is just unfortunate, a bad trend.
Fantastic find from Kirk McElhearn. I’ve been playing with this feature and it works incredibly well. In a nutshell, click this link and try the various settings. Note that, as far as I can tell, the link works on your Mac, but not your iOS device. Thanks, Kirk.
The Apple Store app now offers a set of three free tunes via the iTunes Store app. The offer expires March 31st.
To get the songs, launch the Apple Store app, scroll down and tap on New Artists 2014. When the new page appears, tap the Download songs for free button at the bottom of the page. You’ll be taken over to the iTunes Store app and your songs will start downloading automatically.
EventBase has been supporting SXSW with a native mobile app since 2011, allowing attendees to filter events by track or topic, then build and share their event schedules with their friends. This year, they’ve added iBeacons to the mix.
Eventbase, the company that has been building the official SXSW festival app for a few years now reached out to let us know it will be deploying some iBeacons around the event this year to improve the experience. Specifically, it will be using the technology to “help attendees in Austin pick up their badge faster and get more involved in the sessions they attend.” One feature in the app will allow for real-time audience interaction during sessions:
In an industry first, Eventbase is placing beacons within select session venues. When attendees enter the venue they will receive a prompt to “Join the Conversation” within the official SXSW GO iPhone app, where they can network with other attendees in that session and participate in a discussion forum and live audience polls. In some cases, the beacons will enable quick access to an attendee’s Registration QuickCode.
In partnership with partner Urban Airship, Eventbase also provides the ability to deliver iBeacon™ triggered push notifications to app users containing highly relevant messages about the sessions they attend and the places they visit.
iBeacon was born for this.
Mercedes told us its “goal is to offer an after market solution by the end of the year.”
Great news.
You have to watch it now.
Apple:
There iTunes Festival has made a tradition of hosting some of the biggest names in music. The app has been updated to feature the iTunes Festival at SXSW.
If you aren’t lucky enough to attend the iTunes Festival at SXSW, the app is the next best thing.
It’s no surprise that some organizations are raising safety concerns about Apple’s forthcoming CarPlay technology, but the ship has already sailed on their main concern: distracted drivers. The fact is, CarPlay will help alleviate many of the biggest distractions in cars today.
Drivers are distracted. This isn’t new, drivers have been distracted since the first automobile rolled off the assembly line—people are talking, music playing on the radio, even other cars are distracting. What is new is that, if anything, drivers are becoming more distracted. Text messages, phone calls, Facebook, Twitter and many other beeps and vibrations take a driver’s eyes off the road to focus on their devices.
What we need is a technology that will allow drivers to keep their eyes on the road—that’s what CarPlay delivers. With a touch of the voice button, Siri will handle most tasks that you want to do with CarPlay. If you don’t use Siri, you’re missing out on a great technology.
Siri will be CarPlay’s secret weapon. It will allow you to manipulate CarPlay without being physically distracted by looking down at your device. Technology and safety all rolled into one unit.
CarPlay is, from my experience with in-car navigation systems, safer than anything else I’ve used. It will feature the same intuitive interface that we’ve become accustomed to using with Apple products. This isn’t just iOS 7 thrown into a car, it’s integration built specifically for the car. There’s a big difference. Yes, you can use the touchscreen on the dashboard, but you have to use some common sense too.
In stead of worrying about a technology that is working to make driving a vehicle safer, organizations should target technologies like Google Glass, or people that text on their devices while they drive. These are distracting and offer no safety measures at all.
I understand the arguments, but technology in automobiles isn’t going away. What we can do is demand that companies that offer these technologies do everything that they can to make them safe. CarPlay does that.
Distractions come in many different forms and there is no way we will stop all of them. I would love to stop the person looking down at their phone while driving head-on towards me on the highway.
The iPhone is a popular device and CarPlay will be immensely popular as well. I want access to all of my media in the car and the ability to make and accept phone calls while I’m driving. I also want the safest way possible to do this. I currently use a Bluetooth headset for phone calls and in-car Bluetooth for my music, but CarPlay will offer me even more flexibility, features and options. It will also offer more safety.
We are never going to get rid of distractions in the car. What we can do is give drivers the technology they need to help themselves be as safe as possible. That’s CarPlay.
Ars Technica:
I’m not shocked that the middle-aged me didn’t learn anything new in the first episode, at least not in terms of science. But the people involved in the show include some of the best in the business of communicating science, and I expect I will learn enough about the craft to make tuning in for more worthwhile.
I never saw the original Carl Sagan version (it wasn’t available to us in Canada when I was a kid) and the relentless promotion of it makes me squirm a little but I’ll certainly tune in to at least the first episode. How about you? Did you see the original? Will you watch this version?
CNNMoney:
“We’re very, very concerned about it,” said David Teater, senior director at the nonprofit National Safety Council. “The auto industry and the consumer electronics industry are really in an arms race to see how we can enable drivers to do stuff other than driving.”
This is the flip side of putting more and more technology within arm’s reach of the driver. I know I’m an outlier on this but, as a motorcyclist, these kinds of technologies scare the crap out of us.
MacStories:
The problem with iCloud Tabs is that they’re limited to Safari, so if you’re using Chrome or Firefox on OS X, you can’t access the tabs that you have open on your iPhone or iPad. For this reason, Josh Parnham has devised a simple and clever solution: CloudyTabs is a menu bar app that lists iCloud Tabs open on all your devices.
I’m surprised at how often I access them and how useful iCloud tabs are.
The Sweet Setup:
Between losing an iPhone, never-ending security issues, and the NSA, having an account accessed by an outsider is more likely than ever. While having a good password is critical, enabling 2-Step Verification is a great way to ensure data you’ve stashed in an online service like Gmail or Dropbox is limited to your eyes only.
Yes, 2-Step verification can be a PITA but trust me, “getting hacked” is a bigger one.
The Week:
According to a recent study by Ookla Speedtest, the U.S. ranks a shocking 31st in the world in terms of average download speeds. It falls behind countries like Estonia, Hungary, Slovakia, and Uruguay.How did the country that literally invented the internet fall behind so many others in download speeds?
It’s the same situation here in Canada – little competition means no incentive to get better/faster.
Observatory:
Historically, Apple has been very smart about strategy, while Microsoft has been very … shall we say … un-smart.Now that Microsoft’s new CEO Satya Nadella has appointed Mark Penn to the position of Chief Strategy Officer, it’s a whole new ballgame, right?
Not so fast.
From what we know of Mark Penn, the gap between the quality of strategy at Apple and Microsoft isn’t about to shrink.
Ouch. Ken Segall is very unimpressed with Mark Penn.
Unmark was just released today and I signed up. The interface is very nice and it’s really easy to use. If I had one complaint, it would be the window that pops up when you save something to read later—I don’t need that, but I don’t see a way to turn it off. An FAQ on the service has been posted too.
The wonders of CSS3.
As the web gets more commercial, more companies want to track and know the real you. The backlash against this — and the desire to have “ephemeral” interactions in the digital world — is why Andrew Busey, the creator of iChat 19 years ago, has built Banter, a chat app with no names and little storage. The app lets people sign up with any user name and discuss … well, anything they want.
Update: It’s important to note that the iChat name was purchased by Apple from Andrew Busey, but he did not build Apple’s iChat app. Jens Alfke built iChat at Apple.
LG’s newest commercial is… odd.
I don’t disagree, but Google seems a little bitter.
Benjamin Mayo:
This means that in the future Getty could replace your image blocks with other images, advertisements … or well anything. It also means that your site now has a dependency on Getty’s CDN uptime. If their servers are down, your site has no images.
Good points.
Fascinating.
Kayla Montgomery, 18, was found to have multiple sclerosis three years ago. Defying most logic, she has gone on to become one of the fastest young distance runners in the country — one who cannot stay on her feet after crossing the finish line.
Her M.S. is blocking signals that cause pain in other runners, allows her to push through, extend her tolerances.
But intense exercise can also trigger weakness and instability; as Montgomery goes numb in races, she can continue moving forward as if on autopilot, but any disruption, like stopping, makes her lose control.
“When I finish, it feels like there’s nothing underneath me,” Montgomery said. “I start out feeling normal and then my legs gradually go numb. I’ve trained myself to think about other things while I race, to get through. But when I break the motion, I can’t control them and I fall.”
Fascinating and poignant story.
There are conditions, of course, but this is huge.
If you’ve got a one word or, even more to the point, a one letter Twitter name, there’s a good chance there’s someone who wants it even more and will do anything they can to get it.
There was a lot of press recently about Twitter user @N, the hijacking of his name and, ultimately, his Twitter account being returned to him.
The linked article digs into the motivations for theft of Twitter handles, talks about the people who take them.
We usually think of name and reputation being tightly coupled. To steal your good name is to steal your reputation. But on Twitter, name and reputation are separable – and both, for different reason, are targets for thieves.
An account is valuable for its following – the people its reputation has gathered. By hijacking an account, you can get a message out to a particular audience. The Syrian Electronic Army, for example, has been known to take control of high-profile accounts like those run by CNN, The Onion, and FC Barcelona among others. Once in charge, the group sends out messages relating to its agenda, such as: “DON’T FORGET: Al Qaeda is Al CIA da. Funded, armed and controlled.” That way, it can reach audiences of millions, many of whom will not have heard of the SEA before and certainly don’t follow its Twitter account.
Hackers who steal Twitter usernames have very different motivations. They don’t want the account – they have their own account, with their own friends following them. Their interest is in having a cool new username to show off.
Interesting read.
Yesterday, we posted a story about a student’s tweet that cost him $105,000. Reader Christopher Lloyd sent along a story about a girl whose “SUCK IT” Facebook post cost her family $80,000. Wow.
That’s it, no more internet for my kids.
> Today at Dx3, Canada’s largest digital marketing, advertising and retail event here in Toronto, I got a look at the iPhone and iBeacon-powered future of shopping courtesy of a few companies about to launch a number of innovative mobile solutions for retailers. The show floor consisted of a full-size concept store powered by iBeacon technology and mobile retail app platform ThirdShelf as well as some interesting new products that could soon completely revolutionize the way we shop using our mobile devices. On top of that, a friend recommended web20ranker service to me, which could help me stay on top of the latest digital marketing trends and improve my online presence.
To really get a sense of how iBeacon technology works, take a look at the video below. Lots of good ideas, though your experience may be totally different, as different as the app built by a particular venue. Obviously, a stadium will offer an experience completely different from that of a luxury goods store.
I love the iPad display that recognized the shopper and brought up a custom welcome message (about 2:20 in the video). Clearly, the store has to think about security concerns (revealing a shopper’s identity just from their strolling by) and data locking (what to do if two shoppers are at the same kiosk). I’m confident these things will work themselves out over time.
Great to see this tech in the wild.
According to a series of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings on Wednesday, Apple awarded top executive leadership nearly 36,000 restricted stock units each, which at current prices would net over $19 million.
Receiving the RSUs were Apple SVP of Operations Jeffrey E. Williams, general counsel and SVP of Legal and Government Affairs Bruce Sewell, SVP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller, SVP of Hardware Engineering Dan Riccio, SVP of Software Engineering Craig Federighi and SVP of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue.
Well earned.