Facebook says data leak hits 87 million users

Facebook Inc said on Wednesday that the personal information of up to 87 million users may have been improperly shared with political consultancy Cambridge Analytica, up from a previous news media estimate of more than 50 million.

Surely nobody is surprised.

Facebook to revise terms of service to include more privacy language

Facebook Inc said on Wednesday it planned to revise the written policies that people agree to when they use the social network, adding language about the protection of personal data as it prepares to comply with a strict new European law.

I wonder how much of this will show up in the U.S. considering Facebook already said it wouldn’t extend the new European law globally.

Apple hires Google’s chief of search and artificial intelligence

Apple has hired Google’s chief of search and artificial intelligence, John Giannandrea, a major coup in its bid to catch up to the artificial intelligence technology of its rivals.

Apple said on Tuesday that Mr. Giannandrea will run Apple’s “machine learning and A.I. strategy,” and become one of 16 executives who report directly to Apple’s chief executive, Timothy D. Cook.

Okay, that is a big hire. It’s especially interesting that Giannandrea agrees with Apple’s privacy stance.

Facebook will not extend new European privacy law globally

Zuckerberg told Reuters in a phone interview that Facebook already complies with many parts of the law ahead of its implementation in May. He said the company wanted to extend privacy guarantees worldwide in spirit, but would make exceptions, which he declined to describe.

His comments signals that U.S. Facebook users, many of them still angry over the company’s handling of personal information, may soon find themselves in a worse position than Europeans.

Extending the privacy law globally may be a great thing for the user, but it certainly won’t be for Facebook.

The history of Pro Tools

Mike Thornton takes you from 1983 to present day. It’s fascinating to see when some of the features I remember using were actually released.

Bloomberg: Apple plans to replace Intel with its own chips

Apple Inc. is planning to use its own chips in Mac computers beginning as early as 2020, replacing processors from Intel Corp., according to people familiar with the plans.

The initiative, code named Kalamata, is still in the early developmental stages, but comes as part of a larger strategy to make all of Apple’s devices — including Macs, iPhones, and iPads — work more similarly and seamlessly together, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. The project, which executives have approved, will likely result in a multi-step transition.

There is no doubt that Apple knows how to build fantastic chips for its mobile devices, and if this plan received the go-ahead from executives, they must have fast Mac chips on the horizon. When Apple switched to Intel years ago, the transition was pretty smooth—If this is going to happen, the transition will need to be just as smooth.

I’m annoyed at the reaction to Apple’s Education Event

Apple on Tuesday held an event in Chicago focused on its education customers. They offered a total solution that included an iPad and software to make learning in the classroom better for teachers and students, but somehow they are getting severely criticized for all of the announcements. […]

Facebook to stop using data from third-parties to target ads

Facebook is going to limit how much data it makes available to advertisers buying hyper-targeted ads on the social network.

More specifically, Facebook says it will stop using data from third-party data aggregators — companies like Experian and Acxiom — to help supplement its own data set for ad targeting.

I thought this part was particularly interesting:

Apparently it’s not important enough to Facebook’s revenue stream to deal with a potential headache if something goes wrong.

So even though Facebook is cutting out the use of third-party aggregators, they are still going to make enough money that making this move won’t really affect the bottom line.

Facebook to give users more control over their data

Facebook announced a series of changes on Wednesday to give users more control over their data, after a huge data scandal which has wiped more than $100 billion from its stock market value.

Facebook said the changes were in the works for some time, but I have a hard time believing that.

The Dalrymple Report Podcast: Apple’s Education event with Dave Mark

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Dave Mark joins me this week to talk about all of Apple’s announcements at its education event held this morning in Chicago.

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Apple unveils Everyone Can Create curriculum

Everyone Can Create is a range of free learning resources and teaching guides that help teachers easily weave drawing, music, filmmaking or photography into any lesson, topic or assignment. The curriculum gives students different ways to express themselves and helps them to discover and develop new skills.

Developed in collaboration with educators and creative professionals, Everyone Can Create includes teacher and student guides, lessons, ideas and examples to help teachers bring creativity and new communication skills into their existing subjects like English, math, science and history. For example, students can use the built-in camera in iPad to learn about fractals or they can use Apple Pencil and apps like Tayasui Sketches to learn about symmetry.

And

Schoolwork is a new app that helps teachers create assignments, view student progress and bring the power of apps to the classroom in exciting new ways. Schoolwork features Handouts, an easy way to create and send assignments with almost any type of content, from web links to PDFs and documents.

With Schoolwork, teachers can take advantage of the power and creativity of apps available on iPad. They can easily assign a specific activity within an app and direct their students directly to the specific point within the app. Popular education apps like Nearpod, Tynker and Kahoot are already integrating support for Schoolwork.

I love the fact that teachers can assign specific activities within the app. There is a lot of good things in here.

Apple updates Pages, Numbers and Keynote

For the first time, users will be able to draw, sketch or write with Apple Pencil directly in the Pages, Numbers and Keynote apps. With Apple Pencil, advanced yet easy-to-use tools allow all users, from students to professionals, to bring their documents to life with drawings, illustrations, diagrams and more. Apple Pencil can also be used to easily and precisely add color, texture and more to any drawing.

And my favorite feature:

Smart Annotation, launched today in beta, is an innovative new tool in Pages that allows users to easily give, receive and incorporate feedback in a document using Apple Pencil. With Smart Annotation, comments and proof marks will dynamically anchor to text. And as a user integrates feedback and the document changes, remaining annotations will stay with the text they were attached to.

I really do love that feature.

Apple intros new iPad with Apple Pencil support

Apple today updated its most popular iPad with support for Apple Pencil plus even greater performance, starting at $329. The new 9.7-inch iPad and Apple Pencil give users the ability to be even more creative and productive, from sketching ideas and jotting down handwritten notes to marking up screenshots. The new iPad is more versatile and capable than ever, features a large Retina display, the A10 Fusion chip and advanced sensors that help deliver immersive augmented reality, and provides unmatched portability, ease of use and all-day battery life.

Apple is selling the new iPad to its education customers for $299, plus $99 for the Apple Pencil. For the regular consumer, the new iPad will cost $329, plus $99 for the pencil. This seems like a really nice offering for education customers.

Zuckerberg will not appear before UK lawmakers

Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg will not answer questions from British lawmakers over how millions of users’ data got into the hands of political consultancy Cambridge Analytica as the company faces further pressure on both sides of the Atlantic.

Zuckerberg will instead send his Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer or Chief Product Officer Chris Cox to appear before parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee.

I know this is a hot topic right now, but it makes sense to send the person who is best able to answer the questions. I don’t think that’s Zuckerberg.

The Loop Bash at WWDC 2018

I’m pleased to announce The Loop Bash will take place again this year at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference. The Party will be held at The Ritz, a nightclub around the corner from the San Jose Convention Center, on June 4, 2018 from 8:00 pm to 12:00 am.

We will have live music at the event too. The Houserockers, one of the best bands in the Bay Area, will be on hand to help you rock the night away.

Beer and wine will be provided for free during the party hours and you can buy mixed drinks if you would rather have those types of drinks.

Tickets for the party are free, but you will need to RSVP in order to get into the event. I’ll make an announcement on how to RSVP for the party as we get closer to WWDC. Once you register for The Loop Bash, your ticket can be stored in your Apple Wallet—just show up and your ticket will be scanned at the door. Having a ticket does not guarantee entry into the party, but we always do our best to get everyone in.

I can’t wait to see you all there!

Apple and mobile gaming

Apple VP Greg Joswiak:

“We bring a very homogenous customer base to developers where 90% of [devices] are on the current versions of iOS,” says Joswiak. Apple’s customers embrace those changes and updates quickly, he says, and this allows developers to target new features and the full capabilities of the devices more quickly.

That is such an important point for Apple—its customers update hardware and software quickly, which allows developers to take advantage of new APIs and technologies in their apps. That, in turn, leads to more sales for developers and Apple, all while keeping the customers happy and engaged.

Jimmy Iovine transitioning to “consulting role” at Apple

While Iovine was the public face of Apple Music and held meetings with employees and artists in Los Angeles, in recent years “most of Apple Music’s operations” had been designated to Robert Kondrk and Jeff Robbin, overseeing business and engineering sides respectively. Cue is said to now be deciding on whether to continue divvying up responsibilities between Kondrk and Robbin, promoting one to a more public role, or hiring someone outside of Apple to become the new Iovine.

I’m not really surprised with the move, whether it’s Jimmy or Apple that made the decision. Jeff Robbin is a trusted and longtime Apple employee that already has a lot of responsibility in Apple’s media business, so it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see Eddy Cue lean on him a bit more.

Amazon is now second most valuable U.S.-listed company, behind Apple

Amazon.com became the second most valuable publicly listed U.S. company on Tuesday, surpassing Google parent Alphabet Inc for the first time.

These numbers change all the time and we don’t post about it every time they change, but this is significant for Amazon. They only trail Apple at this point.

WhatsApp co-founder tells everyone to delete Facebook

In 2014, Facebook bought WhatsApp for $16 billion, making its co-founders — Jan Koum and Brian Acton — very wealthy men. Koum continues to lead the company, but Acton quit earlier this year to start his own foundation. And he isn’t done merely with WhatsApp — in a post on Twitter today, Acton told his followers to delete Facebook.

“It is time,” Acton wrote, adding the hashtag #deletefacebook.

Damn.

Universal Audio releases the Neve Preamp Plug‑In

The Neve mic preamp is an undisputed audio masterpiece, adding genuine Neve sheen, richness, and thick musical detail to any signal that passes through it. The pinnacle of Neve preamp design is the classic 1073 module with EQ, but Neve also briefly produced the 1290 module — a rare, preamp-only version of the 1073.

Now, you can get the clarity, grit, and harmonically complex class‑A saturation of this amazing mic preamplifier in a simple two-knob plug-in that’s perfect for UA Audio Interface owners.

This release is huge. Being able to put the Neve Preamp into your chain using Universal Audio’s Unison technology will change the way your music sounds. There is a video and some sound clips on the UA Web site that you should listen to when you get a chance.

Landlord of Apple’s Chicago store puts building up for sale

Walton Street Capital purchased the 20,000-square-foot Apple Store, a 35-story office building, and a retail building next door for $370 million in 2017, and is now planning to sell the store and 10,000 square feet of retail space for $175 million while holding on to the office building.

The biggest surprise to me in this story was that Apple didn’t already own the property.

Save $500 on this collection of 10 top Mac apps for $19.99 feat. BusyCal 3

Thanks to StackSocial for sponsoring The Loop this week. StackSocial has curated a collection of ten top apps to help you get the most out of your Mac in 2018. Highlighted by BusyCal 3, HoudahSpot 4, and the toolbar app used at Google and Facebook, uBar 4, The 2018 Mac Essentials Bundle will give your Mac (and you) a productivity overhaul. Get it now for less than $2/app — it’s just $19.99 (Orig. $525). The 2018 Mac Essentials Bundle includes the following:

  1. BusyCal 3 ($49.99 Value) – Customize calendar views to meet your needs
  2. Cargo VPN ($79.99 Value) – Protect your Mac while surfing public WiFi, bypass geo-restricted content, and more
  3. HoudahSpot 4 ($29.00 Value) – Find just about any file (documents, photos, emails) on your Mac
  4. uBar 4 ($30.00 Value) – Customize your Mac’s dock
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  6. RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 ($19.99 Value) – Construct and manage your own very theme park
  7. Systweak Anti-Malware ($117 Value) – Detect and remove malware on your Mac
  8. Concealer ($19.99 Value) – Keep sensitive files safe
  9. Movavi Photo Editor ($39.95 Value) – Edits photos on the fly hassle-free
  10. Flip PDF for Mac ($99 Value) – Easily batch PDFs into Flash & HTML5

Grab these 10 apps for just $19.99 at 96% off.

Get an exclusive collection of 10 Mac productivity apps for less than $2/each [Sponsor]

StackSocial has curated a collection of ten top apps to help you get the most out of your Mac in 2018. Highlighted by BusyCal 3, HoudahSpot 4, and the toolbar app used at Google and Facebook, uBar 4, The 2018 Mac Essentials Bundle will give your Mac (and you) a productivity overhaul. Get it now for less than $2/app — it’s just $19.99 (Orig. $525). The 2018 Mac Essentials Bundle includes the following:

  1. BusyCal 3 ($49.99 Value) – Customize calendar views to meet your needs
  2. Cargo VPN ($79.99 Value) – Protect your Mac while surfing public WiFi, bypass geo-restricted content, and more
  3. HoudahSpot 4 ($29.00 Value) – Find just about any file (documents, photos, emails) on your Mac
  4. uBar 4 ($30.00 Value) – Customize your Mac’s dock
  5. Cisdem DuplicateFinder ($39.99 Value) – Free up space on your Mac by easily deleting any duplicate files
  6. RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 ($19.99 Value) – Construct and manage your own very theme park
  7. Systweak Anti-Malware ($117 Value) – Detect and remove malware on your Mac
  8. Concealer ($19.99 Value) – Keep sensitive files safe
  9. Movavi Photo Editor ($39.95 Value) – Edits photos on the fly hassle-free
  10. Flip PDF for Mac ($99 Value) – Easily batch PDFs into Flash & HTML5

Grab these 10 apps for just $19.99 at 96% off.

The Dalrymple Report: Apple Home Automation with Josh Centers

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Josh Centers joins me this week to talk about home automation and all the different things you can do with. We also discuss some of the limitations and the products he’s using in his home with Apple’s iOS.

Take Control of Apple Home Automation

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