Apple Entrepreneur Camp, designed for organizations founded and led by women, completes its first year

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Apple:

The camp offers a hands-on technology lab, one-on-one code-level guidance from Apple experts and engineers as well as mentorship, inspiration and insights from top Apple leaders. After the lab concludes, participants get ongoing support and become part of a growing community of exceptional alumni who can help create and build businesses.

This is a great program, planting seeds for the future. Interested in participating? The next camp runs from January 28 to February 5. Here’s a link to the application.

18 year old Jim Henson, the birth of The Muppets, and an iconic Kermit the Frog

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[VIDEO] Laughing Squid highlights this Defunctland six-part series on young Jim Henson and the birth of The Muppets. The first of these is embedded in the main Loop post.

If nothing else, make your way to about 55 seconds in and pause. Remarkable to me how iconic that simple head shape is, how obvious it is, even without eyes, that that’s Kermit. And that shape, created from scraps, still lives.

John Gruber: On the upcoming Photoshop for iPad

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First things first, take a minute to read this Bloomberg article, titled Photoshop for iPad Nearing Launch With Some Key Features Missing.

In a nutshell, Mark Gurman and Nico Grant interview Adobe’s Chief Product Officer Scott Belsky, raising the issue that this coming Photoshop is not feature-complete when compared to desktop Photoshop.

Enter Gruber:

From what I gather, the mistake Adobe made was not precisely setting expectations for the initial release of Photoshop for iPad. When Adobe described it as “real” Photoshop, what a lot of people heard was “full” Photoshop, and that was never the plan. Some of this expectation-setting is attributable to Bloomberg, which described the project as “the full version of its Photoshop app” as far back as July last year.

Gruber points out that the iPad Photoshop is based on “the same code base that’s been running on the desktop for decades.” Glass half full, rather than glass half empty. After reading the DF article, I walked away thinking Adobe is all-in on bringing their tools to iPad, taking the time to rework the interface elements for touch screen, while maintaining a high degree of interoperability with the desktop.

That sense is only strengthened by this Bloomberg follow-up, Adobe Plans to Launch Illustrator App for iPad After Photoshop.

Tiny side note: Check the footnote at the top of the Daring Fireball article. It’s a callback to the lack of closure on Bloomberg’s “The Big Hack” piece from 2018. But check that footnote’s URL. Gruber has gotten me in the habit of being careful about changes to my own URLs, and the whimsy of sometimes hiding messages in them as well.

Thoughts on Apple TV+, free trials, and the family plan

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Had a bit of back and forth on Twitter this morning, with questions about Apple TV+. Here are a few findings…

  • If you sign up for Apple TV+, you are getting the family plan. There’s no separate pricing tier, as their is for Apple Music. $4.99 a month, up to 6 family members.

  • Though I’ve not read any specific guidance on this, I would make sure the person designated as the primary contact for your family is the person who signs up for Apple TV+. If someone else in the family buys a device and signs up for the free year of Apple TV+, it’s not clear if the free year applies to the primary account.

  • From Apple’s Apple TV+ free year promo terms and conditions:

Offer cannot be combined with other free trials or offers for Apple TV+.

I get that this is designed to prevent you from buying two Apple devices and getting two free years of Apple TV+. But what if you sign up for the free 7 day trial, then buy an Apple device? Does the free trial prevent you from getting the free year?

My guess on that latter is no, that the 7 day trial won’t void the free year, but it’d be good to get some clarification here.

  • Another bit from the terms and conditions:

Offer must be claimed in the Apple TV app within 3 months after first setting up your new device. To see the offer appear, you will need to sign in with your Apple ID on your new device. If you’ve purchased your new device before the launch of Apple TV+ on November 1, you will have 3 months starting November 1 to redeem.

Good to know. If you know the answer to the two questions raised above (if non-primary family member signs up for free year, does it apply to main account?, and does free trial prevent free year?) please touch base.

Apple CEO Tim Cook becomes chairman of China university board

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Taiwan News:

Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook is the new chairman of the Advisory Board of the School of Economics and Management (SEM) of Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.

And:

Cook’s role will be to promote development of the college and make it a world-class economic management school. His mandate will last from 2019 to 2022.

And:

The advisory board … comprises entrepreneurs, business school deans, scholars, leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and financial departments.

The CCP is a key to this story. Why?

Apple was recently forced by the CCP to remove a crowdsourced map service from its App Store that allowed Hong Kong protesters to track police activity. Cook defended the removal in an email to employees and emphasized the app was removed for illegal use.

Apple TV+, Ronald D. Moore, and the backstory of For All Mankind

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Peter Rubin, Wired:

After what felt like years of anticipation, Apple was about to take us behind the scenes of a show it was making for its still ­mysterious, still unnamed subscription streaming service. We were going to find out if Apple, maker of so many devices that have redefined the way we consume content, could finally make content—good content—of its own.

This is a great story. If you have any interest in Apple TV+ and how it came to be, follow the headline link and dig in. This story goes all the way back to Planet of the Apps, pulls no punches. How did Apple get from that inauspicious start to a series that has the potential to be one of the best shows in streaming?

Can you draw a perfect circle?

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This is way harder on a Mac than on an iOS device. But no matter where you view it, drawing a perfect circle is tough, if not impossible.

Dark mode vs Light mode battery test

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[VIDEO] This (video embedded in main Loop post) is interesting, both because it runs dark mode alongside light mode on an iPhone XS Max with an OLED Display, but also because robotic arm (via MacRumors).

Alexa and Google Home devices leveraged to phish and eavesdrop on users, again

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Catalin Cimpanu, ZDNet:

Hackers can abuse Amazon Alexa and Google Home smart assistants to eavesdrop on user conversations without users’ knowledge, or trick users into handing over sensitive information.

And regarding the word “again” in the headline:

The attacks aren’t technically new. Security researchers have previously found similar phishing and eavesdropping vectors impacting Amazon Alexa in April 2018; Alexa and Google Home devices in May 2018; and again Alexa devices in August 2018.

Whack-a-mole. Amazon and Google respond to attacks with countermeasures, new attacks pop up.

As to the specifics, watch the videos embedded in the linked article. The phishing attack asks you for your password. Though there are some people who might actually respond to this, I’d guess most users would instantly get the evil intent here. But still, the fact that such an action exists, that it passes muster enough to be demo-able, does give me pause.

More troubling is the eavesdropping issue shown in the second set of videos. The fact that an action continues, even after you ask Alexa/Google to stop, does seem like it should not be allowed to happen.

Is this lack of security the price you pay for customizable actions?

Apple TV+ drops new Dickinson trailer

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[VIDEO] This dropped last week, but I somehow missed it in all my posting windows, thought it was worth sharing. The video is embedded in the main Loop post.

Of all the new Apple TV+ shows, this one is the most puzzling to me, yet intriguing nonetheless. It’s easy to imagine the pitch meetings for all the other Apple TV+ shows I’ve encountered. This one is different.

It’s a show about a poet. A period piece. And it’s a comedy.

Here’s the premise from the Wikipedia page:

Dickinson takes place “during Emily Dickinson’s era with a modern sensibility and tone. It takes viewers into the world of Emily, audaciously exploring the constraints of society, gender, and family from the perspective of a budding writer who doesn’t fit in to her own time through her imaginative point of view. Dickinson is Emily’s coming-of-age story – one woman’s fight to get her voice heard.”

I am very much looking forward to watching this.

Burning a CD with your Apple Watch

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[VIDEO] You are not misreading that headline. The video (embedded in the main Loop post) is another in Niles Mitchell’s excellent “Will it Work” series, where he attaches random gear to his iPhone.

In this one, Niles uses his Apple Watch to try to burn a CD. Will it work?

Oregon judge ordered woman to type in her iPhone passcode so police could search it for evidence against her

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Aimee Green, Oregon Live:

Police wanted to search the contents of an iPhone they found in Catrice Pittman’s purse, but she never confirmed whether it was hers and wasn’t offering up a passcode. Her defense attorney argued forcing her to do so would violate her rights against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Article 1 Section 12 of the Oregon Constitution.

But a Marion County judge sided with police and prosecutors by ordering Pittman to enter her passcode. On Wednesday, the Oregon Court of Appeals agreed with that ruling — in a first-of-its-kind opinion for an appeals court in this state.

This is a precedent that will resonate, make it more likely that courts will order defendants to unlock their phones.

Side note, I found this sequence very interesting:

Scott said the ruling won’t affect many Oregon defendants whose phones are seized by police because police already have technology that allows them to crack into most of those phones.

But:

The latest iPhones, more often than other phones, have proven difficult, Scott said.

“For people who want their information private, I would recommend getting an iPhone,” Scott said. “And Apple is not paying me to say that.”

Yet another reason to buy an iPhone.

Apple TV+ will rack up over 100 million subscribers in its first year, Barclays predicts

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Kif Leswing, CNBC:

Apple’s forthcoming streaming service could rack up over 100 million subscribers in a year, Barclays analysts estimated in a note on Thursday.

And from the Barclays note:

  • We model 222M hardware devices sold by Apple over the next 12 months.

  • We assume that about 50% of those buying a device in the first year will accept the service, yielding well over 100M subscribers a year from now. We exclude sales to China and our estimate of second and third devices at families.

  • We assume that the trial period will last for one year, at which point we expect subscribers to decline as users opt out, and are partially offset by new additions. Of course the rate of churn will depend meaningfully on how quickly Apple can ramp up its content library.

Compare that to Netflix’s estimated 60 million paying subscribers. Apple has a pretty effective way to ramp up a new service. And the free year of Apple TV+ when you buy a new device gives Apple a year to fill the pipeline, make the service more attractive.

That extra year also gives Apple time to learn from early mistakes, become better at creating original content, better at negotiating with talent/studios, raise the bar for Apple TV+.

It’ll be interesting to see paid subscriber numbers for both Netflix and Apple TV+ one year after launch and again a year after that. I’m bullish on Apple TV+.

Luna Display, sherlocked, shifts neatly to Mac-to-Mac screen sharing

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[VIDEO] Luna Display. A little red device that turned your iPad into a second display for your Mac. Until this happened.

Rather than gripe about their bad fortune, the company behind Luna Display pivoted neatly to some clever new functionality. As you can see in the video embedded in the main Loop post, you can now use Luna Display to turn a second Mac into an external display for your primary Mac.

Nicely done.

Spirited Away, Studio Ghibli find first-ever streaming home

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Aja Romano, Vox:

In an unprecedented move, Studio Ghibli, the home of such beloved animated classics as award-winning director Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, and My Neighbor Totoro has announced a deal with HBO Max to stream its film collection on the platform beginning in the spring of 2020.

The partnership marks the first time Ghibli films have ever been available to legally stream. The catalog includes over 20 films, ranging from the Oscar-winning Spirited Away to Miyazaki’s most recent film for the studio prior to his brief retirement, The Wind Rises, which will arrive in fall 2020.

If you’ve never seen a Studio Ghibli film, it might be because they are very rarely shown outside of theaters. To me, they are some of the best films ever made. Even the English language dubs are excellent.

Interesting that they landed at HBO Max. Not to be confused with HBO, HBO Go, or HBO Now. HBO Max is the new home of Friends and Big Bang Theory. Jarring to see these films packaged along with those two shows. One of these things is not like the others. But I digress.

One point that this does raise is the complete lack of 3rd party content coming to Apple TV+. Apple could easily have big on big tentpole shows like Friends, Seinfeld, Big Bang Theory, to instantly add heft to Apple TV+. But they’ve chosen not to take on those costs and go with a pure slate of self-created shows. Which means they’ll be able to cut any license deals they like, show their complete catalog in any country they choose.

If you’re not familiar, and you get the chance to see a Studio Ghibli movie, especially Spirited Away, do it.

MIT Media Lab’s Guitar Machine, mixing AI and robots with an electric guitar

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[VIDEO] From MIT, a fascinating device that puts artificial intelligence in the hands of any guitarist.

To get a sense of what this is about, watch the two videos embedded in the main Loop post. The first gives you a sense of the mechanics of MIT’s Guitar Machine, and the second puts Guitar Machine in the hands of some traditional guitarists.

Read the linked article for more detail on how all this works. I would absolutely love to play with one of these.

Google devices Senior VP: I’d disclose smart speakers before guests enter my home

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BBC News:

After being challenged as to whether homeowners should tell guests smart devices – such as a Google Nest speaker or Amazon Echo display – are in use before they enter the building, he concludes that the answer is indeed yes.

And:

“Does the owner of a home need to disclose to a guest? I would and do when someone enters into my home, and it’s probably something that the products themselves should try to indicate.”

Fascinating ethical question. If you have a device that records, do you need to disclose this to a visitor? Or should all people assume they are being recorded at all times?

Solid interview with Google Senior Vice President, Devices & Services Rick Osterloh.

Oh Samsung

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In today’s edition of “Oh Samsung”:

A flaw that means any fingerprint can unlock a Galaxy S10 phone has been acknowledged by Samsung.

And:

After buying a £2.70 gel screen protector on eBay, Lisa Neilson found her left thumbprint, which was not registered, could unlock the phone.

She then asked her husband to try and both his thumbs also unlocked it.

And when the screen protector was added to another relative’s phone, the same thing happened.

Yikes.

AnandTech iPhones 11 detailed review

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If you do nothing else, check out the side-by-side spec chart on the first page of the review. Tons of detail, visually easy to process. Tip of a very large iceberg (don’t miss the popup menu at the top of the article, a table of contents, the article is 13 pages long).

If I had to pick a second page, it’d be the “Camera – Low light evaluation” page. Unsparingly critical where it needs to be, pointing out flaws, but not sparing the praise, either.

Apple drops “Rayman Mini” Apple Arcade trailer

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[VIDEO] Apple Arcade continues to kill it. The free trials are starting to end. Wondering how many of those early Apple Arcade adopters are going to stick with it. Not sure how we’ll know. The trailer is embedded in the main Loop post.

Apple TV+ inception

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One of the biggest shows coming to Apple TV+ is The Morning Show, with Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Steve Carell headlining a stellar cast.

But, turns out, the name The Morning Show was already a real life show in Australia, so Apple renamed the down under version of the show to Morning Wars (here’s the official Morning Wars trailer, with the new name spliced into place, but with The Morning Show plainly visible throughout).

Things get a little more complex when the real life Morning Show (check the logo as you watch) interviews the cast of the Apple TV+ Morning Show, but as Morning Wars.

Here’s the video (via Benjamin Mayo):

https://twitter.com/morningshowon7/status/1183877823297015809

Morning Show, as Morning Wars, inside Morning Show. Inception.

All good fun, looking forward to Apple TV+ going live.

Install Catalina? Here’s what that “Relocated Items” folder that just appeared is all about

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Tim Hardwick, MacRumors:

After upgrading to macOS Catalina, you may be surprised to discover a shortcut on your Mac’s desktop to a Relocated Items folder that wasn’t there previously. The generation of this folder is actually normal behavior when upgrading an older version of macOS to Catalina, but we’re highlighting it in this article because a lot of users are confused about why the folder exists and what to do with its contents.

Happened to me. Made my way through a bumpy Catalina install, then encountered this brand new folder shortcut on my desktop.

One key takeaway:

The Relocated Items folder you see on the Desktop is just a shortcut that can be safely deleted. Doing so will not remove the folder or its contents from your hard disk. You can find the actual folder in /Users/Shared/Relocated Items.

But if you’ve done the Catalina install, worth spending a minute reading Tim’s explainer.

Inside Apple’s long, bumpy road to Hollywood

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This Hollywood Reporter take on Apple TV+ is entertaining, messy, and an excellent read. Though I take every word with a grain of salt, the overall writeup rings true for me.

A few tidbits:

The tech giant outbid Netflix for a soapy morning-show drama that would mark Jennifer Aniston’s return to television. Based loosely on the Brian Stelter book Top of the Morning, the series was to be the flagship for an ambitious new streaming service.

But by that fall, producers were starting to panic. They had only just received the first script from writer and first-time showrunner Jay Carson. Meanwhile, the morning TV landscape was being upended by NBC’s ouster of Matt Lauer over sexual misconduct allegations, and it was becoming clear that the #MeToo movement would need to factor into the plot. Apple, producer Media Res, Aniston and co-star/producer Reese Witherspoon began to ponder making a showrunner change as the early script, sources say, didn’t match the standards of those involved. The group then began to look for a more experienced showrunner — and, in success, a writer who could pen a woman’s experience.

And:

Drive down Washington Boulevard through Culver City and it becomes clear Apple is taking its entertainment pursuit seriously. Construction is underway on a sleek, glass-enclosed office building that will house Erlicht and Van Amburg’s Worldwide Video team, which will make up a significant portion of the 1,000 or so workers Apple expects to employ in the neighborhood by 2021.

And:

While showrunner departures are common — especially with straight-to-series orders increasingly frequent at streamers and upstart outlets — some within the creative community attribute Apple’s early hurdles to its lack of Hollywood savvy. “It’s an interesting place because there’s no history or precedent,” notes one lit agent. “They have no systems in place. Two guys who ran a studio are now effectively running a network. They’ve built a collection of executives who individually are great but are working together for the first time.” Adds one top producer who has worked with the company: “The biggest problem is Apple’s insistence that the industry adapt to them and not the other way around.”

Kitsis doesn’t agree. “While they’re a new network, they’re really not,” he says. “Meaning, from top to bottom, everyone we dealt with was a pro with tons of studio and/or network experience. Some of whom we had actually worked with back in our ABC days, so there was an immediate comfort level for us.”

Lots, lots more. If you’re interested in the “how the sausage is made” side of Apple TV+, this is a great read.

Apple TV app comes to Roku platform

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Roku press release:

For the first time ever, Roku users can add the Apple TV app via the Roku Channel Store to discover and watch movies, TV shows and more, including accessing their iTunes video library and subscribing to Apple TV channels directly on Roku devices. Starting November 1, Apple TV+, Apple’s home for all-original shows and movies from the world’s greatest storytellers, will be available on the Apple TV app on the Roku platform.

Even with the absence of a back catalog, Apple TV+ is playing the long game. Lots of press and chess moves, all backed by a long term war chest to take on Disney+, Netflix, HBO, and others.

Apple holds premiere “For All Mankind,” renews it for second season

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We are just about two weeks away from the official rollout of Apple TV+. From the linked Apple press release:

Beginning November 1, the first three episodes of “For All Mankind” will be available to watch on Apple TV+. New episodes will continue to roll out weekly, every Friday.

And from this Deadline article:

Ahead of For All Mankind’s series debut on Nov. 1 and premiere event tonight, the space race alt-history drama from Ron Moore has been renewed for a second season, which quietly started production within the past week or so.

And:

It is part of a strategy by Apple to get second seasons of most of its scripted series going ahead of lunch, which helps amortize costs and keep the Apple TV+ pipeline of original content going, avoiding lengthy hiatuses. Beyond The Morning Show, which had been picked up with a two-season order, Apple had not confirmed any renewals. Along with For All Mankind, also reportedly renewed or in the process of being renewed for a second season are such upcoming Apple series as the Jason Momoa starrer See; Emily Dickinson comedy Dickinson, starring Hailee Steinfeld, which Apple brass have been very high on; anthology immigrant comedy Little America; and the Hilde Lysiak young detective drama Home Before Dark.

Apple has a pipeline to fill, a back catalog to create.

Everything coming to Disney+, from Snow White to The Mandalorian

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[VIDEO] Got some time? Cause this official video (embedded in main Loop post) from Disney weighs in at about 3 hours, 17 minutes.

Not sure they ever expected anyone to watch it, as much as they wanted to make a point about their back catalog. They’ve also been tweeting every single title in a seemingly never ending stream of tweets from their official Disney+ Twitter account.

Of all the up-and-coming streaming services, Disney+ seems the biggest no-brainer, the most bang for the buck, especially if you grew up with the Disney Channel.

Jim Halpert…er…John Krasinski in an unreleased iPhone commercial

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Sam Henri Gold finds the neatest Apple nuggets. This one is an unreleased commercial for the iPhone 4s, and for Siri, Apple Maps, and iOS along the way.

https://twitter.com/samhenrigold/status/1183827595491790849

I love this spot. Wonder why it never aired.

The wealth/poverty scale

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Follow the link, scroll down the the chart. How many adults have a net worth between $1,000 and $10,000? Turns out, that’s the biggest bar on the graph, with 1.7 billion adults.

And the smallest bar on the graph, with a net worth of $100 billion? They list them by name.

Poll: On your iOS device do you use Apple Maps or Google Maps?

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Follow the headline link and vote.

I tend to use both. If have a long drive ahead of me, I’ll visit both for route recommendations. If they disagree, it’s usually because one is aware of an accident or traffic problem that the other isn’t.

And if I am looking for a local food recommendation, I’ll look at both, but tend to trust the Google Maps crowd source data, rather than Apple’s Yelp data. Not a fan of Yelp, wish Apple built their own crowd-source food recommendation mechanism, rather than depend on Yelp. I’ve always felt like Apple and Yelp are an odd partnership.

Steve Jobs, internal Apple meeting, introducing Think Different campaign

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[VIDEO] This was posted back in 2017, was filmed just a few weeks into Steve’s return to Apple back in 1997.

It reentered the conversation again because of comments about Apple’s core values Steve made at about 6:17 in.

The reemergence came, at least in part, due to Steve’s statement about core values and a perceived disconnect with Apple’s decisions on banning the HKLive app.

I found the whole video riveting. It’s 15 minutes long. If you’ve got a taste for Apple’s history, worth watching the whole thing. The video is embedded in the main Loop post.