As the Super Bowl countdown begins, Siri is gearing up for the Big Game. For the first time, Apple TV users can now ask Siri to tune in live to the Super Bowl just by saying, “Watch the Super Bowl.” Whether you’re at home, at a local sports bar or at a friend’s party, Siri is available everywhere you are and provides even more football insights including team rosters, player comparisons, historical stats, season records and more.
Limited Edition David Bowie stamps
What a great idea by Britain’s Royal Mail.
Argentine prosecutor asks for local Uber execs to be jailed
An Argentine prosecutor asked a judge on Monday to jail local executives of ride-hailing company Uber Technologies Inc and a court ordered the company’s mobile application to be shut down following protests from taxi drivers’ unions.
Behind Apple’s new campaign: One Night on iPhone 7
On one night — November 5, 2016 — iPhone photographers canvassed the globe, from Arctic ice caves and Indonesian volcanoes, to the clubs of Johannesburg and rooftops of Shanghai. For the latest “Shot on iPhone” campaign, Apple enlisted a group of photographers to capture life from dusk to dawn using the low-light camera on iPhone 7. The people, sights and scenes they encountered over the course of the night resulted in a spectacular display of nighttime photography, which will be displayed in 25 countries beginning today.
Very impressive.
Daylite: Get organized. Get more done. [Sponsor]
Want to make 2017 the year you get organized and more productive? Get more done with Daylite, the business productivity app for Mac, iPhone & iPad.
Daylite organizes you and your team’s contacts, tasks, calendars, emails, notes, projects, and new business opportunities – in one app.
Small businesses that use Daylite feel more organized, save time, and accomplish more. Remember every detail about a client. Track projects and sales. Share tasks. Search for anything.
Daylite also supports Multitasking on iPad so you can work in Daylite and another app at the same time.
It’s official, Apple joins the partnership for AI
Apple has joined the Partnership on AI as a founding member. The company has been involved and collaborating with the Partnership since before it was first announced and is thrilled to formalize its membership alongside Amazon, Facebook, Google/DeepMind, IBM, and Microsoft.
Now Anyone Can Create Interactive Native iOS and HTML Content with Ingage
Thanks to Ingage for sponsoring The Loop this week.
A new iPad app called Ingage hit the App Store this week that lets anyone easily create and share interactive presentations, portfolios, real estate listings, product catalogs and more, without needing a designer or developer.
Simply drag and drop photos and videos into Ingage’s interactive page templates to bring your content to life. Videos become touchable product 360s, virtual walkthroughs or time lapse demonstrations. Images are layered with pop-up hotspots or scrubbable before and afters.
While you build on an iPad, the software automatically creates a responsive HTML webpage of your interactive presentation that can be viewed by anyone, on any device. Sharing is done with just a tap with an instantly formatted text message, email or social media post. Any changes to your content are instantly reflected anywhere it’s been shared.
The app is free to download from the App Store, where you can currently find it featured on the homepage under “New Apps We Love.”
Click here to download Ingage.
Volbeat: Seal The Deal
I love this song—great heavy groove and chorus.
Doyle Bramhall II on building Blues tones
Doyle is a great guitarist. I love the way he plays left-handed, but with the strings upside down.
Parking difficulty indicator in Google Maps
Factoring in time for parking can make or break a night out, let alone making it to that big meeting on time. So in 25 metro areas throughout the U.S., we’ve introduced a new parking difficulty icon in Google Maps for Android that’ll give you a heads up on what kind of parking crunch to prepare for when you’re on the go.
That’s helpful.
Apple’s Swift ranks No. 2 in Upwork’s Q4 2016 Skills Index
Upwork, the world’s largest freelancing website, today released its latest quarterly index of the hottest skills in the U.S. freelance job market. The Upwork Skills Index ranks the marketplace’s 20 fastest-growing skills being hired for among freelancers — now 35 percent of the U.S. workforce.
The 20 fastest-growing freelance skills in Q4 2016 all experienced more than 100 percent year-over-year growth with the top 10 experiencing more than 200 percent year-over-year growth.
New Ingage App Makes iPads Valuable for Business [Sponsor]
A new app for the iPad just launched that allows anyone to easily create and share interactive presentations, portfolios, real estate listings, product catalogs and more, without needing a designer or developer. It was built by digital publishing pioneer Scrollmotion to help anyone create a stronger connection with customers by using content that really stands out.
Simply drag and drop photos and videos into Ingage’s interactive page templates to bring your content to life. It’s really that easy to create a touchable video called a “scrollmotion,” or use two pictures to create an awesome before-and-after effect with a slider.
When you want to share your presentation with the world, you can do so via text message, email or social media. Ingage automatically creates a responsive HTML webpage of your interactive presentation that can be viewed by anyone, on any device. And when you need to update your presentation, it automatically pushes everywhere it’s being shared. Your content is always up-to-date.
Download the app for free to try it out.
Introducing Ingage from ScrollMotion on Vimeo.
Dropcam co-founder joins Apple
An Apple spokesperson confirmed that Duffy has been hired by Apple, but didn’t share details on his role at the company.
As I said before: people come, people go.
Apple partners with NV Energy for solar energy in Nevada
NV Energy and Apple announced today they have reached an agreement to build 200 megawatts of additional solar energy in Nevada by early 2019. The projects will support Apple’s renewable energy needs for its Reno data center.
We always talk about Apple products, but the company’s commitment to renewable resources is commendable.
Les Paul or Stratocaster?
It’s an age old question for guitarists. My answer is that it depends on what sound you’re looking for, and what feels good in your hands.
7 new Charvel Custom Shop guitars
The Charvel Custom Shop unveiled some magnificent beauties during the 2017 NAMM Show in Anaheim, Calif. Here’s a look at 7 by Master Builder “Red” Dave Nichols.
Charvel to me is one of the most classic metal guitars ever made. I would love to have the first one on the list.
Apple sues Qualcomm in Beijing
Apple Inc filed a lawsuit against Qualcomm Inc in Beijing, alleging the chip supplier abused its clout in the chip industry and seeking 1 billion yuan ($145.32 million) in damages, Beijing’s Intellectual Property Court said in a statement on Wednesday.
Apple also filed a second lawsuit against Qualcomm which accused it of failing to live up to promises made to license “standard essential patents” broadly and inexpensively.
Apple isn’t messing around with Qualcomm.
Apple explains the new App Reviews API for developers
With the release of macOS Sierra and iOS betas on Tuesday, Apple also released a new tool for developers, allowing them to respond to reviews on the Mac and iOS App Stores. But the API goes deeper than just giving developers a process to respond to reviews, it also makes it easier for customers to leave reviews, Apple told me this morning when we talked about the new feature.
macOS Sierra and iOS beta new features include “Find My AirPods”
Apple on Tuesday released macOS Sierra 10.3 developer beta 1 and a new iOS beta, giving developers a chance to test out the new features of the OSes. There are quite a few changes, so let’s jump in.
U.S. trade commission to probe Nokia complaint against Apple
The U.S. International Trade Commission said on Tuesday it will investigate a complaint by Nokia Technologies alleging that Apple Inc has imported smart phones, tablet computers and other electronics that infringe upon its patents.
It’s important to note that they haven’t even made a decision on the merits of the case yet.
73 Mac automation stories
Adam Engst asked TidBITS readers to share their automation stories, and they did. Adam published 73 of them to show how important automation is to Mac users.
Apple Senior Director of Design for Mac leaves for Tesla
Chris Lattner isn’t the only high profile Apple executive who departed for Tesla over the past month, rather than sticking around to work on Titan. 9to5mac has learned that Matt Casebolt, a high profile Senior Director of Design for Apple’s Mac lineup left the company last month for a role at Tesla as Sr. Director Engineering, Closures & Mechanisms. A job meant for a man named Casebolt …
Apple releases macOS Sierra 10.12.3
The update is available by going to the Mac App Store and clicking on the Updates tab.
Google Voice gets updated
The first thing you’ll notice about the updated Google Voice apps is a cleaner, more intuitive design that keeps everything organized. Your inbox now has separate tabs for text messages, calls and voicemails.
It’s been updated for iOS, Android and the web.
Sprint acquires 33% of Tidal music service
As part of the partnership, Sprint will acquire 33 percent of TIDAL. JAY Z and the artist-owners will continue to run TIDAL’s artist-centric service as it pioneers and grows the direct relationship between artists and fans. The formidable pairing of Sprint and TIDAL will grow customers on both platforms by offering exclusive access for customers who subscribe to TIDAL. Sprint’s chief executive officer, Marcelo Claure, will also join TIDAL’s Board of Directors.
Everyone wants in on music streaming, so this makes sense for Sprint—it’s an extra it can offer its customers. It also makes sense for Tidal because things haven’t been going well for them. Even Kanye West was begging Apple to buy Tidal.
Kemper Profiler Delays
The Kemper Profiler is quite an interesting machine. I haven’t talked to anyone that doesn’t like it and at NAMM they released some new delays, along with other software. Delays in the hands of an expert, like in this video, sound incredible.
Pro Tools 12.7
From powerful new loop-based music creation and trying ideas via Revision History, to timesaving workflows that simplify editing and post production, Pro Tools enables you to create at the speed of your imagination—without limits.
The new version of Pro Tools looks impressive. I watch a couple of demos at NAMM last weekend and was impressed with what I saw—I’ll be getting the update.
Samsung may delay launch of Galaxy S8
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd indicated on Monday that its latest flagship Galaxy S smartphone could be delayed as it pledged to enhance product safety following an investigation into the cause of fires in its premium Note 7 devices.
Good idea. Let’s not endanger the public again.
Jackson’s new guitar lineup for 2017
I love Jackson guitars—especially the Dinky models. I have six Jacksons and they all play so well and feel really good in my hands.
Satellite: Blue’s wireless noise cancelling headphones
20 years, the world’s greatest artists have used Blue in the studio. Now we’ve built a wireless headphone that delivers every detail of their music, everywhere you go. Satellite combines legendary Blue sound quality with proprietary active noise cancelling (ANC) to ensure your music is never compromised. Together with premium wireless technology and a built-in audiophile amp, Satellite is a new benchmark for the modern listening experience.
These headphones are light-weight, have noise-cancelling, and a built-in amp. I didn’t get a chance to listen to them, but I’m really interested to hear how they sound. I’ll be keeping an eye on these.