[VIDEO] A little bit of accidental behind the scenes, shown in this iQT app an Apple tech left on this customer’s iPhone. Fascinating video, embedded in main Loop post.
Apple shares new Carpool Karaoke trailer
[VIDEO] Solid trailer for Season 3 (video embedded in main Loop post).
Funny thing, though I never really thought it through, I succumbed to the illusion that James Corden was driving during those episodes. Silly, of course, no way he could safely do all that, but for me, the illusion was strong.
Illusion is now burst. To see what broke it for me, click this tweet.
Apple TV+ numbers: Bigger than Disney+ and Hulu, behind Amazon and Netflix
John Gruber, digging into this Wall Street Journal article:
But what caught my eye was this graphic halfway down the page, showing “Q4 2019 U.S. customer base by service”, sourced to Ampere Analysis. Their numbers, in millions:
- Netflix: 61.3
- Amazon Prime: 42.2
- Apple TV+: 33.6
- Hulu: 31.8
- Disney+: 23.2
At first blush, Disney+ being behind Hulu is shocking. But then:
It’s worth noting that Disney+ didn’t launch until November 12, halfway through the quarter; I expect Disney+ to eventually take the number one spot on this list.
Absolutely agree. I do expect Disney+ to roar into the top spot in the next quarterly report.
That said, I think this is about customer onboarding strategy for the new players. Apple’s approach is a logical masterstroke. Buy a new device, even an Apple TV will qualify, and you get added to the list. Even if you forget to sign up, we’ll remind you. And it’s free.
Amazon used the same approach to build up their customer base, albeit with a slight twist. If you subscribe to Amazon Prime, you’re on the list, even if you never watch a single movie. To me, that makes Amazon’s numbers a bit softer.
Hulu will likely benefit, at least somewhat, from the amazing success of Disney+. So we might see their numbers bump past Apple next quarter. But long run, I think Apple TV+ will grow past Amazon, so we’ll see Disney+, Apple TV+, then Amazon Prime in the third spot in the next report.
36 years ago today, Steve Jobs unveiled the first Macintosh
Juli Clover, MacRumors, pulled together a nice walk down memory lane for Mac’s 36th birthday.
Apple’s revamped jobs site, with a highly watchable intro animation
Juli Clover, MacRumors:
Apple today overhauled its Apple jobs website, introducing a new look and a new video in an effort to better recruit employees. The updated video on the site features the different Apple logo designs that Apple first created for its Mac-centric event in October 2018.
Take a minute to visit the newly refurbished Jobs site. Watch the video, with those animated logos, a nod to those logo designs from the October ’18 event.
The prose narrating the video:
To the constant beginners who sing off-key against the beat. To those unfamiliar with convention, unmoved by rules, and reborn with every new discovery. Those open to daydreams and night dreams and visions and mirages. Who can see the millions of shades of green in a field of grass. Whose days are filled with mysteries that cannot be solved with facts. You are more powerful than you think… and you are welcome here.
Reminds me of that video embedded at the bottom of the main Loop post.
Baby performs Thunderstruck
[VIDEO] This is truly a labor of love, done by a dad with way too much time on his hands. But his labor is our gain. Baby Ryan, doing Thunderstruck. Video embedded in main Loop post.
[H/T, Paul Sanson]
Upgrading from an Apple Watch Series 2 to a Series 5
If you have an older model Apple Watch, and you’ve wondered about the benefits of switching to a Series 5, Adam Engst, TidBITS, has your back.
Great post, pointing out the features that are more marketing fluff, and those that really made a difference to him.
Stackable Qi charging system
Joe Rossignol, MacRumors:
OtterBox’s stackable wireless charging system OtterSpot includes a base that can charge up to three disc-shaped 5,000 mAh batteries and an iPhone, AirPods case, or other device on the top simultaneously. The idea is that you can quickly pick up one of the batteries from the stack and charge any Qi-enabled device on the go.
This is clever. Wasteful, in the same way as any inductive charging system, but definitely clever.
Stack up the batteries, grab one when you are on the go, and you’ve got a battery-based Qi charging system with you on the road, and it’ll be freshly topped off.
Apple’s newest Safari preview officially drops support for Adobe Flash
Flash still a thing? This does deserve a “finally” I think.
Back in April, 2010, Steve Jobs famously released an essay called, Thoughts on Flash. Take a minute to read it, to reconnect with Steve and with an era gone by. Note that it’s still up on Apple’s site.
Seattle-area voters to vote by smartphone in 1st for U.S. elections
NPR:
A district encompassing Greater Seattle is set to become the first in which every voter can cast a ballot using a smartphone — a historic moment for American democracy.
And:
The new technology will be used for a board of supervisors election, and ballots will be accepted from Wednesday through election day on Feb. 11.
This is an important experiment, touches on two hot-button issues that have received a lot of press in the last few days, privacy and security. Without a smart-phone OS that guarantees both, this form of voting is doomed from the start.
Your thumb, an iPhone ad
[VIDEO] The ad embedded in the main Loop post shows off the 4″ iPhone form-factor as being perfect for the human hand, and thumb.
I bring this ad up because it is one of the ads unearthed by the Unofficial Apple Archive, which I truly love, but also because of the rumored iPhone SE 2, which I posted about earlier.
Enjoy.
My AirPods fell through a subway grate. Here’s how i got them back.
Sandra E. Garcia, New York Times:
Recently, after having dinner in Midtown Manhattan, I put on my AirPods Pro as I walked to the subway station. I began getting hot, so I gently pulled off my red beanie while at 58th Street and Broadway. Then it happened.
The AirPod in my right ear fell out. By the time I realized it, the headphone was about to hit the concrete. I tried to catch it, but it fell past my reach.
It bounced off a metal chair, then disappeared through a subway grate and into the abyss.
An entertaining anecdote, especially interesting if you’ve ever spent any time in New York City.
Gruber: Regarding Reuters’s report that Apple dropped plan for encrypting iCloud backups
John Gruber:
I want to go deep on this, because, if true, it’s staggering, heartbreaking news. Go read Menn’s entire report. I’ll wait.
Here’s the link to the Reuter’s article John references.
Gruber’s post is relatively easy to follow, and worth your time.
Part of the problem for me with this whole encryption debate is the jargon. You have to work hard to make sure you are following along properly, to understand the implications of end-to-end encryption, and encrypting iCloud backups.
End-to-end encryption means your messages are encrypted when you type them, then decrypted on the receiving end. Encrypting iCloud backups means what it says, that the backup of your iPhone stored in the cloud is encrypted.
I say this, not with any air of authority (believe me, I struggle to keep all the concepts straight in my head), but because it brings a Steve Jobs quote to mind:
Privacy means people know what they’re signing up for, in plain English and repeatedly.
Things have gotten pretty abstract, no?
Side note: Can’t I still make an encrypted backup if I want one? At the very least, using a cable between my iPhone and my Mac?
New low-cost iPhone to enter mass production in February
Follow the headline link to follow the rumor, as you like. But, to me, this is key:
It will look similar to the iPhone 8 from 2017 and include a 4.7-inch screen.
If the inches doesn’t give you a sense of phone size, the iPhone 8 is 4.7 inches. The iPhone SE is 4 inches. So the idea of this new phone being an SE 2 doesn’t click for me.
I know a lot of people (small hands, small or no pockets) who would love a 4″ phone. If the rumor is true (and it sure seems like it is), there’s no future for the 4″ form-factor.
Why Tim Cook invested in the Nebia shower head
Interesting anecdote. One key takeaway:
Cook also told Winter to look for other investors who believe in the product, rather than venture capitalists simply looking to make a quick return.
To me, belief in your product, whether as a builder, salesperson, or investor, is vital to success.
[VIDEO] A Cellebrite kiosk, unlocking smartphones for Police Scotland
[VIDEO] The video embedded in the main Loop post is purported to show a Cellebrite police kiosk, used to unlock cell phones. Here’s a link to the Cellebrite Kiosk product page. Indeed, does appear to be one and the same, even though the Scotland Police page does not specifically mention the name Cellebrite.
Though the phone in the video appears to have a USB-C connector, Cellebrite does claim to be able to unlock both Android and iOS devices (iOS 7 to iOS 12.3).
Apple dropped plan for encrypting backups after FBI complained – sources
Reuters:
Apple Inc dropped plans to let iPhone users fully encrypt backups of their devices in the company’s iCloud service after the FBI complained that the move would harm investigations, six sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
And:
The tech giant’s reversal, about two years ago, has not previously been reported. It shows how much Apple has been willing to help U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies, despite taking a harder line in high-profile legal disputes with the government and casting itself as a defender of its customers’ information.
And:
When Apple spoke privately to the FBI about its work on phone security the following year, the end-to-end encryption plan had been dropped, according to the six sources. Reuters could not determine why exactly Apple dropped the plan.
“Legal killed it, for reasons you can imagine,” another former Apple employee said he was told, without any specific mention of why the plan was dropped or if the FBI was a factor in the decision.
Because this story is about a decision made several years ago, it’s not clear that Apple will ever comment on it. But it’s another piece of the big picture of how Apple handles your privacy, how they respond to requests from the FBI, et al, to hand over information about seized phones.
How Apple’s Xnor.ai acquisition could bring the Siri boost we’ve been waiting for
Michael Simon, Macworld:
The company, Xnor.ai, might not be one you’ve ever heard of, but they’re hardly unknown. Since last summer, the Seattle-based startup’s tech has been the brains behind the popular Wyze cam’s marquee feature: people detection. Simply put, it allowed the $20 camera to distinguish between faces, pets, and dust, and vastly improved its abilities, putting it a somewhat level playing field with the far-more-expensive Ring and Nest cams of the world.
Michael makes the case that Xnor.ai’s “Edge AI” approach can greatly enhance what Siri might be able to do on-chip, without iCloud.
For example:
Xnor.ai estimates that Edge AI runs 10 times as fast with 15X memory than cloud-based systems, and a responsive assistant dedicated to each specific phone could finally let Apple build a voice recognition system with near-perfect accuracy.
And:
That same engine could be applied to speech patterns. Siri dictation isn’t bad at all, but saying “period” and “comma” gets tedious. Edge AI could recognize our vocal patterns, so when we pause a certain way it adds a period, or if we change out inflection it adds a question mark.
Really interesting read.
Apple begins selling refurbished iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max
Joe Rossignol, MacRumors:
Apple today began selling certified refurbished iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max models for the first time since the devices were released in September 2018.
At the time of writing, the refurbished models are available in Space Gray, Silver, or Gold with 64GB, 256GB, or 512GB of storage through Apple’s online store in the United States. All of the models are unlocked, aka SIM-free.
Follow the headline link for all the pricing info.
One example: A 64GB iPhone XS Max, $799. Compare that to a 64GB iPhone 11 Pro Max at $1099.
NBC’s Peacock streaming service will launch on July 15th with three different price tiers
The Verge:
Comcast and NBCUniversal announced today that Peacock will be available in three tiers: a free option (Peacock Free) that comes with limited programming; an ad-supported complete version that is free to existing Comcast customers and $5-a-month for everyone else; and a $10-a-month ad-free subscription option that is open to anyone. That one is known as Peacock Premium.
And:
This brings us to Comcast and NBCUniversal’s final ace in the hole: licensing. NBCUniversal and Comcast own some of the most important licenses in Hollywood. The entire Harry Potter collection, for example, belongs to NBCUniversal right now. WarnerMedia licensed the rights to the franchise a while back, and it will have to wait until those expire (or a new deal is struck) before the movies can migrate over to HBO Max. Since NBCUniversal owns a few important licenses and can license its own series to other streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, which rely on third-party content, Peacock becomes less of a risky bet on streaming. There’s always something for the customer, with NBCUniversal being able to rotate new and older series in and out on a constant basis.
If the streaming biz is of interest, read the whole article. From the marketing shots I’ve seen, NBC has an Apple TV app in the works. I suspect it’ll be available at rollout.
Here’s a link to the Peacock home page. Be sure to click play/sound on to play the weird egg-hatching video at the top of the page.
Apple made this
[VIDEO] Apologies in advance. This is truly bad, a flawed, monstrous gem unearthed from the bowels of The Unofficial Apple Archive. Embedded, with regret, in main Loop post.
You can now use iPhones as Google security keys for 2FA
9to5Google:
Last year, Google announced that all Android 7+ devices can be used as two-factor authentication when signing into Gmail, Drive, and other first-party services. Most modern iPhones can now be used as a built-in phone security key for Google apps.
And:
A built-in phone security key differs from the Google Prompt, though both essentially share the same UI. The latter push-based approach is found in the Google Search app and Gmail, while today’s announcement is more akin to a physical USB-C/Lightning key in terms of being resistant to phishing attempts and verifying who you are. Your phone security key needs to be physically near (within Bluetooth range) the device that wants to log-in. The login prompt is not just being sent over an internet connection.
Feels like a step in the right direction, a tool to help stop SIM-swapping. Ultimately, I’d love all my log-in services to offer a setting that limited logins to Face ID only, with Face ID required to change that setting as well.
Wall Street Journal Editorial Board op-ed backs Apple in encryption battle
The op-ed is a long, logical walkthrough of the claims by Attorney General Barr and the counterclaim on the values of both privacy and encryption.
But at its heart:
Apple is no doubt looking out for its commercial interests, and privacy is one of its selling points. But its encryption and security protections also have significant social and public benefits. Encryption has become more important as individuals store and transmit more personal information on their phones — including bank accounts and health records — amid increasing cyber-espionage.
Criminals communicate over encrypted platforms, but encryption protects all users including business executives, journalists, politicians, and dissenters in non-democratic societies. Any special key that Apple created for the U.S. government to unlock iPhones would also be exploitable by bad actors.
If American tech companies offer backdoors for U.S. law enforcement, criminals would surely switch to foreign providers. This would make it harder to obtain data stored on cloud servers. Apple says it has responded to more than 127,000 requests from U.S. law enforcement agencies over the past seven years. We doubt Huawei would be as cooperative.
A worthy read.
The making of Mojo, AR contact lenses that give your eyes superpowers
FastCompany:
When I looked into the user interface of Mojo Vision’s augmented reality contact lenses, I didn’t see anything at first except the real world in front of me. Only when I peeked over toward the periphery did a small yellow weather icon appear. When I examined it more closely, I could see the local temperature, the current weather, and some forecast information. I looked over to the 9 o’clock position and saw a traffic icon that gave way to a frontal graphic showing potential driving routes on a simple map. At 12 o’clock, I found my calendar and to-do information. At the bottom of my view was a simple music controller.
This is a mock-up, not a shipping product, but still, an audacious concept.
In the coming decade, it’s likely that our computing devices will become more personal and reside closer to—or even inside—our bodies. Our eyes are the logical next stop on the journey. Tech giants such as Apple and Facebook are just now trying to build AR glasses that are svelte enough to wear for extended periods. But Mojo is skipping over the glasses idea entirely, opting for the much more daunting goal of fitting the necessary microcomponents into contact lenses.
I do believe the future will see more and more augmentation, tech that brings the human body across the chasm, towards robots that are themselves trying to become more human. Will we meet in the middle? Become one giant AI, discarding flesh and bone entirely?
Fascinating read. And worth noting that one of the principals in this project is Steve Sinclair, formerly of Apple.
Apple taps drone specialist to lobby Washington on aviation
Bloomberg:
Apple Inc. has engaged a specialist in drone and aviation law as a Washington lobbyist, suggesting the company is pushing further into the growing field.
The Cupertino, California-based tech giant retained Lisa Ellman, a parter at Hogan Lovells, to conduct the lobbying. Ellman leads the law firm’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems practice. She also co-founded the Commercial Drone Alliance and is working to expand the commercial drone industry, according to her biography online.
And:
The company used drones a few years ago to help it collect mapping data. In December, it met with regulators about a proposed law that would require drones to sport virtual license plates. The company also sells several drones from DJI through the Apple website and Apple retail stores.
And:
Apple has a team exploring satellites, a type of unmanned aircraft, and Ellman could assist in regulatory efforts that would need to be conducted to launch such an effort. Apple rivals, including Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc., have developed drones in recent years.
Drones are certainly a massive business, especially on the military side. Does this connect to Apple’s reported autonomous vehicle efforts? Does this simply fall under miscellaneous?
Why everyone is copying AirPods
[VIDEO] MKBHD is answering an obvious question here. It’s all about the money.
But watch it anyway (video embedded in the main Loop post). I found this a fascinating dive into the AirPods business, starting with Phil Schiller’s “courage” announcement, then branching into Apple’s success and everyone else revving up their copiers.
An avenue by which it might be technically possible to give an iPhone ‘the software equivalent of cancer’
Nick Heer, on the FBI asking Apple for a backdoor version of iOS:
At no point — then or now — has Cook or anyone at Apple publicly confirmed how such a backdoor may be installed, or if it’s even possible. Presumably, it would use the iOS update mechanism, but how could permission be granted if the passcode to the iPhone isn’t known?
Nick then takes a Mac with a clean Catalina install, and an iPhone that has never been connected to that Mac, creating a simulation of a stolen, locked iPhone. He then installs an iOS update on that iPhone, all done without entering a passcode.
That said:
To be clear, my iPhone still prompted for its passcode when the update had finished its installation process. This did not magically unlock my iPhone. It also doesn’t prove that passcode preferences could be changed without first entering the existing valid passcode.
But it did prove the existence of one channel where an iPhone could be forced to update to a compromised version of iOS. One that would be catastrophic in its implications for iPhones today, into the future, and for encrypted data in its entirety. It is possible; it is terrible.
Does Nick’s experiment show a weakness in the process? Could a compromised iOS update be added which disables the passcode?
Certainly interesting. Taking this with a grain of salt, at least until someone follows this all the way through and unlocks an iPhone using this approach. Which I hope never happens.
Report: Apple sold nearly 60 million AirPods in 2019, grabbing 71% of totally wireless headphone revenue
Headline says it all. Gonna post an MKBHD video in a bit that asks the question, why all the clones and AirPods wannabes?
Follow the money. Amazing business.
Spike Jonze’s ‘Beastie Boys Story’ lands at Apple TV+
Hollywood Reporter:
The Apple streamer has picked up the documentary about the legendary hip-hop group directed by Spike Jonze and featuring Grammy Award-winning bandmembers Mike Diamond and Adam Horovitz talking about their music career and 40-year friendship.
And:
A special cut of the feature documentary will open exclusively in select Imax theaters for a limited run from April 3, before the film debuts globally on Apple TV+ on April 24.
Looking forward to this one. Hoping there’s a good amount of focus on Def Jam and Rick Rubin. From the Beastie Boys Wikipedia page:
Following the success of “Cooky Puss”, the Beastie Boys began to incorporate rap into their sets. They hired a DJ for their live shows, New York University student Rick Rubin, who began producing records soon thereafter. He formed Def Jam Recordings with fellow NYU student Russell Simmons, and approached the band about producing them for his new label.
As important a subject as the Beasties are, I think Rick Rubin is an even more important figure in the tree of musical history. Would love to see Apple produce a Rick Rubin doc as a follow-on.
Using an iPad Pro to create posters for Apple TV+ shows
[VIDEO] These two videos, released yesterday by Apple, act as ads for both Apple TV+ and the iPad Pro (videos embedded in main Loop post). They also serve to highlight artists and their specific techniques.
Some great artwork. Watching these two, it struck me how incredibly complex these posters are, how many layers they each had.
I’m told that that “layers rendering slowly” effect is a feature of Procreate, gives the artist a chance to see all the elements fall into place, something the iPad Pro renders too quickly to see without help.