Adobe:

Today is Photoshop’s 30th birthday! For 10,950 days, artists, designers, photographers and many others have inspired the world with their imaginations using the practical magic of Photoshop.

We honor our long-standing collaboration of artists and engineers, where working together and with your feedback and inspiration we have built a tool that enables you to make the world a more beautiful place.

In celebration of this birthday, today we also release many great new features in both versions of Photoshop – on the desktop and on the iPad. Happy birthday, Photoshop! We will keep the magic rolling.

Love it or hate it (there are arguments for both), there’s no denying Photoshop is one of the most powerful pieces of software many of us will ever use. But it’s also one of the most complicated and dense. I’ve been using Photoshop since v1 (Adobe used to give it away for free when you bought a scanner) and, while I’ve never been an expert at it, I’m always amazed by its possibilities.

Malcolm Owen, AppleInsider:

Apple is taking legal action against former german App Store manager Tom Sadowski and publisher Murmann Verlag to stop circulation of a book about his work, under allegations it reveals confidential “business secrets” that the author wasn’t allowed to disclose.

And:

Released on Tuesday in Germany, the book “App Store Confidential” by Sadowski is said to be a behind-the-scenes view of how the App Store works from the former manager’s viewpoint. The book details Sadowski’s journey into Apple, his personal experiences in working inside the App Store, and his meetings with Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Is it possible the author did their work for Apple without signing an NDA? If there was an NDA, was the publisher aware of it? Can’t speak to German publishing contracts but, in the US, every publishing agreement I’ve ever signed included a clause that made me responsible for ensuring that I had the right to publicize the contents of the published work.

I’ve got a feeling this is not going to end well for the author or the publisher.

But the book has shipped, the toothpaste is out of the tube, no putting it back. Best Apple can do is limit the spread.

They never figured out how the ring got to Finland. Wish it had some sort of GPS to track its journey. Curious story.

Can’t speak to the correctness of this data, but the site is definitely a fascinating rabbit hole.

Follow the headline link, which should center you at Apple Park (if not, you can easily pinch in, slide over, or just reload the page).

Make your way around the world (pinch in and out, slide around) and you’ll see a bunch of locations marked on the map. Tap/click on a location, you’ll see a location number. Tap the number, you’ll go to a page for that location, which gives you a name and company details.

Not saying this is useful. Just interesting, at least to me.

Ryan Christoffel, MacStories:

Apple Music has debuted a small, but valuable new feature that makes it easier to find the exact album version you’re looking for. As discovered by our Federico Viticci, when alternate album versions are available, they’re now listed in a dedicated Other Versions section underneath an album’s track list.

Follow the headline link for the details. Nice add, Apple Music.

Keoni Everington, Taiwan News:

Apple has begun to move the production of a number of its top gadgets set to launch in the first half of 2020, according to a report by am730, which cited DigiTimes. The products listed in the report to be shifted to Taiwan include AirPods Pro Lite, iPads, and Apple Watches.

Taking this with a grain of salt. First, the Taiwan News headline did not have the word “some”. Subtle point but, to me, that original implied that all production was moving.

Add to that that the source of this is several sites removed, not direct reporting. Did a little digging, found this article on DigiTimes from a week ago, with this quote:

Apple is mulling shifting more assembly orders for its new models slated for launch in the first half of 2020 to factories in Taiwan mainly to diversify production risks associated with the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, according to industry sources.

Not clear if there’s a newer article (please ping me if you know of a newer, more definitive article). The DigiTimes article uses the word “reportedly”.

Interesting that the list specifically includes the unannounced “Airpods Pro Lite”.

New York Times:

Employees at the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter voted on Tuesday to unionize, the first well-known technology company to take the step toward being represented by organized labor.

And:

Kickstarter’s employees will be affiliated with the Office and Professional Employees International Union and begin negotiating a contract with management over equal pay and inclusive hiring practices.

And:

Its employees’ unionization drive began in earnest last year, after Kickstarter found itself embroiled in a debate over whether to cancel a fund-raising effort on its site for a comic book that included images of people punching Nazis. Workers pushed the company to allow the project to continue, which it did. The episode sparked discussions among employees about formalizing their voice in the workplace.

Is this a one-off? Or a crack in the foundation, a movement that will see unionization spread to other tech companies?

Kickstarter is relatively small, 145 employees, but has a big, recognizable brand. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out, both for Kickstarter’s financial stability, and for the impact it has on other unionization efforts.

TidBITS:

We think of “the cloud” as an amorphous space without limits. That may be true in the aggregate, but each of our personal cloud storage accounts has limits, and in comparison to the terabyte-sized drives in our Macs, our cloud accounts are often quite small. Nevertheless, you can usually go for years without bumping into their limits. I certainly did.

But when you do run out of space, it can be a major problem, since files may stop syncing, email could get rejected, and all sorts of other havoc could ensue. I recently hit this problem with iCloud, Dropbox, and Google.

As the tech guy for our family of 12 macOS and iOS connected devices, I’m the one charged with managing all the storage, backup, and maintenance details. What a PITA.

New York Times:

…his siblings and their mother gathered around him, and a brother-in-law took a family photo using his smartphone.

“We couldn’t think of a time when all of us had been together with Mom,” Ms. Musser, 34, said. “So we had the conversation. Did Mom want a photo with all seven of her children and was it morbid that one of them was dead?”

There ended up being several photographs. They are startling and beautiful. Mr. Alexander looks peaceful and regal.

In a collision of technology and culture, of new habits and very old ones, we are beginning to photograph our dead again.

Many of us have complicated feelings about death and dead bodies. Personally, I wouldn’t want to do this but I understand why some would.

Bare Bones Software, makers of BBEdit, is one of my favorite software companies — in fact, I’ve been using BBEdit for more than 20 years. BBEdit has been updated to version 13, and is available in the Mac App Store as a subscription! Same great features. Same user experience. You can subscribe in the Mac App Store or purchase perpetual licenses directly from Bare Bones Software. Also, you can still get great merch, including Classic and Rebus T-shirts, enamel pins, and more in their merch store!

This reminds me of the rollout of Samsung’s Galaxy Fold.

Early days still, but I’ll go out on a limb and say Samsung has learned some hard lessons from that release and, I suspect, the Galaxy Z Flip will fare better than the Fold. Making a foldable phone is no easy thing, and Samsung is mastering (presumably) a technology that will give them an edge on newcomers to the market.

Two things:

• Are foldable phones necessary? Is this an important evolution in smartphone technology?
• Does this mean Apple is falling behind?

If the answer to the first question is yes, then I’d wager that Apple knows this and is quietly developing foldable expertise in a lab somewhere, choosing not to reveal their mistakes and strategy in public.

Steve Streza:

Over the years, Apple has built up a portfolio of services and add-ons that you pay for. Starting with AppleCare extended warranties and iCloud data subscriptions, they expanded to Apple Music a few years ago, only to dramatically ramp up their offerings last year with TV+, News+, Arcade, and Card. Their services business, taken as a whole, is quickly becoming massive; Apple reported $12.7 billion in Q1 2020 alone, nearly a sixth of its already gigantic quarterly revenue.

All that money comes from the wallets of 480 million subscribers, and their goal is to grow that number to 600 million this year. But to do that, Apple has resorted to insidious tactics to get those people: ads. Lots and lots of ads, on devices that you pay for.

We’ve all seen the wave of ads, seemingly everywhere you turn. Especially if you have not subscribed to a particular service.

Follow the headline link to Steve’s post, scan through the images. You’ve no doubt encountered ads like these, especially if you’re using social media.

I get it. Apple’s market is maturing, and shareholders demand growth. Apple has turned to services for that growth and these ads are a necessary evil. To me, the fault lies in the mechanisms of capitalism, in the self-defeating motivations placed on any publicly traded company.

Bradley Chambers, 9to5Mac:

Over the years, I’ve dabbled with using Spotify instead of Apple Music. Both platforms offer users access to millions of songs and offer a wealth of personalization options. The one thing that has always kept me coming back and sticking with Apple Music is iCloud Music Library. iCloud Music Library is a feature that allows you to upload your own music and have it live right alongside your Apple Music content. It’s a feature that I use frequently, and it’s something Spotify can’t match.

And:

A perfect example of the usefulness of iCloud Music Library is when artists hold new albums off streaming platforms for a few weeks/months after the release. Recent examples were Taylor Swift’s Reputation album and Adele’s 25 album. Both of these albums were massively popular, but neither were available on Spotify or Apple Music for months. Apple Music users could buy it from iTunes or Amazon MP3, add it to iCloud Music Library, and it would appear with their existing albums. Spotify users were out of luck getting it imported into their Spotify library on mobile.

With so much music available on both sides, features are what distinguish one service from the other. This one is a clear win for Apple Music.

Now if only I could get Apple to stop replacing the version of a song I added to my library with a version they have in theirs.

Leo Kelion, BBC News:

I submitted a subject data access request, asking Amazon to disclose everything it knows about me

Scanning through the hundreds of files I received in response, the level of detail is, in some cases, mind-bending.

One database contains transcriptions of all 31,082 interactions my family has had with the virtual assistant Alexa. Audio clips of the recordings are also provided.

And:

Clicking on another file reveals 2,670 product searches I had carried out within its store since 2017. There are more than 60 supplementary columns for each one, containing information such as what device I’d been using, how many items I subsequently clicked on, and a string of numbers that hint at my location.

One spreadsheet actually triggers a warning message saying it is too big for my software to handle. It contains details of the 83,657 Kindle interactions I’ve had since 2018, including the exact time of day for each tap.

This great read is the story of how this all evolved. Chock full of detail, chock full of links. Well done Leo.

Ron McElfresh, Mac360 founder:

A few years ago I came down with an odd neuromuscular disorder that has slowly become debilitating. After 18 months of tests with a dozen different doctors I was referred to Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. More doctors and extensive tests confirmed a preliminary diagnosis of ALS. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Think of it as a slow-motion death sentence where muscles begin to waste away and tasks as simple as tying shoelaces or buttoning a shirt or standing become major accomplishments.

And:

My spirits are high (most of the time). I’ve led a good life, worked hard, and appreciate the loving support from family and friends, but I know– and feel– the end is near.

That means I can no longer continue to run Mac360 and the Apple Villagers websites as they are today.

Damn.

Here’s a link to a GoFundMe to help defray Ron’s medical expenses.

Apple:

Our quarterly guidance issued on January 28, 2020 reflected the best information available at the time as well as our best estimates about the pace of return to work following the end of the extended Chinese New Year holiday on February 10. Work is starting to resume around the country, but we are experiencing a slower return to normal conditions than we had anticipated. As a result, we do not expect to meet the revenue guidance we provided for the March quarter due to two main factors.

The first is that worldwide iPhone supply will be temporarily constrained. While our iPhone manufacturing partner sites are located outside the Hubei province — and while all of these facilities have reopened — they are ramping up more slowly than we had anticipated. The health and well-being of every person who helps make these products possible is our paramount priority, and we are working in close consultation with our suppliers and public health experts as this ramp continues. These iPhone supply shortages will temporarily affect revenues worldwide.

The second is that demand for our products within China has been affected. All of our stores in China and many of our partner stores have been closed. Additionally, stores that are open have been operating at reduced hours and with very low customer traffic. We are gradually reopening our retail stores and will continue to do so as steadily and safely as we can. Our corporate offices and contact centers in China are open, and our online stores have remained open throughout.

Bad news for Apple but not completely unexpected. The company will undoubtedly bounce back.

MProve:

Kai Krause was born 1957 in Dortmund. He came to California in 1976 with two friends. He worked as a musician for Disney Sound Effects; the soundtrack for “Star Trek: The Movie” was created on his synthesizers. In fact Kai won a Clio Award for his sound effects in a Star Wars radio spot. Emerson, Lake & Powell bought sound systems from him and he is still working with Peter Gabriel today in order to fulfill his vision of visualized music as 3D sculptures.

He was running a forum for several years on AOL: Kai’s Power Tips & Tricks. He gave people tips and little pieces of code on line, simply because they shared his passion for computer graphics. This became an extensive and valuable collection of practical information how to get special effects with Adobe Photoshop.

Many of the filters in KPT3 like KPT Texture Explorer, KPT Spheroid Designer and KPT Convolver use a rectangular area that fits on a 14″ monitor. All other elements get blacked out – no menu bar, no Photoshop image window and no desktop. The user experience is really like coming into a room with a special suited environment for one specific task.

Krause’s software was simultaneously the most interesting and the most frustrating user interface I’ve ever experienced. Thanks to @Navesink for the link.

Inside Hook:

By now you’ve seen the video of the agitated man in the last row of a plane berating a woman in front of him for reclining her seat. While not shown in the viral video, the woman on the plane (Wendi Williams) later noted on Twitter that she did put her seat up while the man ate, and that the physical assault of her seatback started when she put the chair back down post-meal.

While violence is never the answer, a follow-up discussion in the InsideHook office on airline reclining seats got rather heated. Some editors were on team punchy’s side; others adamently defended the right to recline as much as they want whenever they wanted, because they paid for the seat and reclining is allowed under the airline’s rules.

As aircraft cabin designer James Lee once noted, “The question of the recline is like a zero-sum game. The gain of one person is the pain of the person behind.”

This whole “to recline or not to recline” issue has popped up again. For the record, as a guy who is 6’3″ tall with bad knees, you not only can’t recline your seat in front of me (the seat ends up slamming into my knees), I won’t let you, going so far as to physically prevent your seat from moving back. But, keep in mind, instead of blaming each other, we should get angry at the airlines who jam us into coach with seats so tiny even the average-sized person can’t fit in some of them.

VOX:

For the first time in four years, February has 29 days. That’s right folks, it’s a leap year, and it’s an exciting time.

Leap years always coincide with the summer Olympic Games and the US presidential election. There’s so much going on this year, we could really use the extra day.

The simple (and only) explanation for why we have leap days is that it takes 365.2422 days for our planet to complete one revolution around the sun. That means each 365-day year ends a quarter day’s worth short of the complete orbit.

This is why we have Leap Years pic.twitter.com/bCX31kymMW

— Dr James O'Donoghue (@physicsJ) February 6, 2020

Good explainer of leap years.

AppleInsider:

Crew and holiday-makers quarantined on the Diamond Princess cruise ship because of the coronavirus are being given iPhones for easy access to information, and online medical consultations.

Passengers on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, quarantined on board because of the coronavirus, are to be given iPhones for communication and information about the situation. Some 2,000 iPhones with a new medical consultation app are being provided by Softbank, and will be shared with one phone per cabin or crew quarters.

The ship is currently stationary off the coast of Yokohama, Japan. According to Japanese site Macotakara, passengers are using the medical app’s chat feature to communicate with doctors.

Trying to make a bad situation a little bit better.

Bloomberg Law:

Apple Inc. violated California law when it failed to pay employees for time they spend waiting for mandatory bag and iPhone searches at the end of their shifts, the California Supreme Court ruled.

The Feb. 13 decision is the latest in the battle over pay for off-the-clock work and marks the California high court’s third wage and hour opinion in two years interpreting the state’s employee-protective wage requirements. Apple won at the trial level in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, which said employees of the Cupertino, Calif., tech company chose to bring bags to work and thus subject themselves to the company’s search policy. On appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit turned to the state court to interpret California law.

Compensation turns on the issue of whether the employee is controlled by the employer. Apple workers “are clearly under Apple’s control while awaiting, and during, the exit searches,” Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye said.

This case is an excellent example of the fact that, while Apple appears customer friendly, they have some very employee unfriendly policies.

The Ringer:

What makes a song a “breakup song”? Does it have to be empowering, à la “I Will Survive” or most of the songs on Lemonade? Should it be for the lonely, like Carole King’s “It’s Too Late” or Bob Dylan’s “If You See Her, Say Hello”? Does it have to address the breakup in the lyrics? (Taylor Swift has many entrants in this category, and Marvin Gaye penned an entire album about his divorce.) What about songs with a famous backstory, like “Cry Me a River” or any track off of Rumours?

We here at The Ringer believe that since heartache comes in many forms, so should the breakup song. And in honor of Valentine’s Day, we decided to dig deep into the genre. Below, you’ll find our ranking of the 50 greatest breakup songs of all time, as voted on by our staff. The list spans several decades and many different moods, but all are rooted in some type of pain.

There are some great songs on this list. Glad my favourite artist made number one.

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Bryan Lehrer:

The reasons why Costco made sense for us are probably not dissimilar from the reasons of its ~100 million other members. Since its founding in 1983, the store has consistently delivered on providing value by selling almost any kind of product at competitive prices (among other things). In a ‘late-stage-capitalist’ landscape riddled with examples of, at worst, blatant greed, scams, and ripoffs, and at best, inadvertent marginalization from platforms, shopping at Costco is one of the few places that, according to its loyal customers, “feels like winning.”

Costco has been able to cement itself simultaneously as an inculpable crowd favorite and mothership of bottomless consumerism. I will ponder whether or not consumer happiness or value is the best proxy for individual (and environmental) well being, whether or not you can truly have your free sample and eat it too.

My wife and I are big fans of Costco. Even though it’s a two hour one way trip (including a ferry ride) away, we look forward to shopping there. As a matter of fact, we’ve got a big “Costco shop” planned for tomorrow. We’ll make a day of it in the Big City. While she gets her hair done, I’ll shop for new stuff for our recently adopted puppy and then we’ll go to Costco and have sushi afterward. Sounds like a perfect Valentine’s Day.

Many reasons to watch this. First, check out how much work goes into editing a podcast. I’d wager few podcasts get this much attention, this much love. This is amazing work.

Next, check out the design of Ferrite Recording Studio. The details are wonderful. And watching Jason work with Ferrite is like watching a master craft with beautifully well-designed tools.

To me, this is an app that raises the value of iPad, just as page-layout tools and LaserWriter raised the value of Mac, back in the day.