Apple

Forget the iPhone X, Apple’s best product is something you can’t buy

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John Patrick Pullen, Time:

There’s this photo of my kids in the bath that, well, I’d rather not tell you about. I mean, it’s incredibly cute and I’d love to show it to you, but I’m also a private person, so it wouldn’t be right to go into details. But I will say this: though it’s one of my favorite possessions, this picture doesn’t physically exist.

And:

As precious as this image is, I don’t have it stored on a flash drive attached to my keychain, or in some other ultra-safe place. Instead, it’s housed on a server in some unknown probably dank and sunless location. That’s no casual decision. I’ve put considerable time and thought into how I store my photos in general, as well as how I back up my information overall. Despite all the bottomless storage features offered by tech giants like Google and Amazon, I default to keeping my most valuable data with Apple. Why I chose this matters, so let’s talk about it.

Spot on. Apple’s commitment to privacy is a critical discriminator. Not only for the reasons spelled out in this Time article, but as a foundation for protecting things like information flow between doctors and patients. Good read.

Doctor diagnosed his own cancer with iPhone and ultrasound device

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Technology Review:

Earlier this year, vascular surgeon John Martin was testing a pocket-sized ultrasound device developed by Butterfly Network, a startup based in Guilford, Connecticut, that he’d just joined as chief medical officer.

He’d been having an uncomfortable feeling of thickness on his throat. So he oozed out some gel and ran the probe, which is the size and shape of an electric razor, along his neck.

On his smartphone, to which the device is connected, black-and gray images quickly appeared. Martin is not a cancer specialist. But he knew that the dark, three-centimeter mass he saw did not belong there. “I was enough of a doctor to know I was in trouble,” he says. It was squamous-cell cancer.

How many stories have we seen where an Apple Watch notifies someone of an abnormal heart rhythm? That’s just the start.

The iPhone, add-on devices like this ultrasound unit, Apple Watch and, of course, HealthKit, are changing the health care landscape.

Apple grows by 40% after six consecutive quarters of decline in China

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Canalys:

Apple’s declining streak in China has come to an end, as shipments grew 40% from 8 million in Q3 2016 to about 11 million this quarter. This makes it Apple’s best performance in China in the last eight quarters, where its growth has slowed considerably since the launch of the iPhone 6S. The mix of the iPhone 8 series at launch is also higher than the corresponding mix of the iPhone 7 series at launch last year.

But:

“Apple’s growth this quarter is only temporary. The high sell-in caters to the pent-up demand of iPhone upgraders in the absence of the iPhone X. Price cuts on earlier models after announcing the iPhone 8 have also helped. However, Apple is unlikely to sustain this growth in Q4,” said Canalys Research Analyst Mo Jia.

And:

Despite being touted as widely expensive, excitement for the launch of the iPhone X is building in China.

Good info.

Apple iPhone X screen repairs: $279, other non-warranty repairs: $549

Written by

Joe Rossignol, MacRumors:

In the United States, Apple will charge flat rates of $279 for iPhone X screen repairs and $549 for any other damage to the device, unless it is a manufacturing defect covered by Apple’s standard one-year limited warranty. The fees vary in other countries, including Australia, Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

These prices do not apply to customers who purchase AppleCare+ for the iPhone X, which costs $199 upfront in the United States.

Is it just me, or is it getting pricy in here?

The iPhone X is sold out, currently offering delivery 5-6 weeks out

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The iPhone X opened for pre-orders early this morning (just after midnight PT).

In the first few minutes, folks were getting November 3rd ship dates. I’ve gotten feedback from folks who used the online Apple Store, as well as AT&T and Verizon. Some international reports as well, obviously via other carriers. No reports of T-Mobile orders delivering on Nov 3, though that could simply be the small sample size.

About 15 minutes in, the ship dates slipped first to 1-2 weeks, then 2-3 weeks. By this morning, delivery was 5-6 weeks out.

From this Bloomberg article, from yesterday afternoon:

Given reported production bottlenecks, iPhone X delivery times will be four to six weeks by 8 a.m. New York time and should remain largely unchanged in the following days, said Gene Munster, a veteran Apple analyst and co-founder of VC firm Loup Ventures.

IPhone X demand and supply should sync about three to four months after launch, while it typically takes two to three months for a new iPhone to reach global supply-demand equilibrium, Munster added in a note to clients on Thursday.

Take that with a grain of salt, but an interesting projection.

And, if you have plenty of cash and don’t mind soiling your soul a bit, there’s always eBay, Craigs List, etc., with no shortage of locked in price gouging iPhone X pre-orders for sale.

The iPad Pro as main computer for programming

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Jannis Hermanns explores the idea of using an iPad Pro as his main computer for backend development. He’s not doing iOS development, nothing that requires Xcode. But there are a lot of developers for whom this model would work perfectly.

I love the portability, but even with the larger size of the iPad Pro screen, would feel cramped without my large screen second display. Nonetheless, well worth the read.

The absolute fastest way to preorder iPhone X

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If you are planning on ordering an iPhone X at just past witching hour tonight, this is worth a read. Lory Gil walks through the process, highlights things you can do to squeeze every second out of the purchase process, make sure you maximize your chances of success.

The iOS privacy loophole

Written by

Felix Krause:

Once you grant an app access to your camera, it can:

  • access both the front and the back camera
  • record you at any time the app is in the foreground
  • take pictures and videos without telling you
  • upload the pictures/videos it takes immediately
  • run real-time face recognition to detect facial features or expressions

Have you ever used a social media app while using the bathroom? ?

All without indicating that your phone is recording you and your surrounding, no LEDs, no light or any other kind of indication.

The point is that when you grant an app access to your camera, you grant complete access. There is no granularity, no access limitation for a single task.

Is this paranoia? Perhaps. But seems like this is worth some thought.

Face ID FUD

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John Gruber deconstructs yesterday’s Bloomberg article that accuses Apple of downgrading its Face ID technology to make it easier to meet production goals.

Read Gruber’s detailed post, then consider the damage done by Bloomberg’s article. Will people accept Apple’s official response? Will the accusation of a weaker Face ID shift the thinking of potential buyers? It’d be interesting to see a poll of buyer thinking.

Gruber brings up some really interesting food for thought. In these days of fake news, is it possible Apple is the victim of a disinformation campaign here? Or is there a nugget of truth at the core of it all?

Angela Ascendent: The Buzzfeed interview with Angela Ahrendts

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If you haven’t already, take a few minutes and watch this quick interview with Angela and Tim Cook. As the title suggests, Angela Ahrendts is ascendent.

The Buzzfeed interview covers a lot of ground. A few highlights:

In 2013, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff tweeted, “I just saw Future Apple CEO @AngelaAhrendts on her farewell Burberry tour! The most important hire Tim Cook has ever made!” (Both Cook and Ahrendts batted down “future CEO” rumors in an interview with BuzzFeed News at the recent opening of Apple’s Chicago flagship store: “Fake news … silly,” the retail chief said immediately, shaking her head. Cook, smiling, responded: “I see my role as CEO to prepare as many people as I can to be CEO, and that’s what I’m doing.”)

And:

This year, Toys ‘R’ Us, RadioShack, and a dozen others filed for bankruptcy and closed a number of locations, as more and more consumers turn to online storefronts to shop.

That previous statement is a key challenge for Apple retail. An Apple Store is often a flagship store in a mall. If the Apple Store fails (an extremely rare occurrence), the mall will pay the price. If the mall is failing, that Apple Store can prop it up. The Apple Store is more than a shop, more than simple brick and mortar. There’s value beyond the sum of its parts.

By adding communal features (including free Wi-Fi and outdoor tables) and offering classes (that extol the features of Macs and iOS devices), Ahrendts is hoping to persuade customers to spend more time in Apple Stores. Maybe they’ll even want to buy something. You can now go to the Apple Store to learn how to code in a schmancy new theater, or watch a performance by an Apple Music–featured singer-songwriter, or sit under a tree with a Genius to figure out why your iPhone doesn’t charge anymore, or watch as an illustrator doodles live (on, of course, an iPad). Ahrendts-era Apple Stores are commerce engines, expertly designed to sell you a $1,000 iPhone (made more affordable with a $50-per-month interest-free leasing plan!) in a beautiful glass dome anyone can walk into.

The new Michigan Avenue Apple Store in Chicago, placed just so on the riverfront, is its own destination. It brings its own foot traffic. And foot traffic is one of the holy grails of retail.

With all that in mind, read the interview. Angela Ahrendts is one of the keys to Apple’s future success.

All the face-tracking tech behind the iPhone X’s Animoji

Written by

Elizabeth Stinson, Wired:

A COUPLE YEARS ago, Apple went on a shopping spree. It snatched up PrimeSense, maker of some of the best 3-D sensors on the market, as well Perceptio, Metaio, and Faceshift, companies that developed image recognition, augmented reality, and motion capture technology, respectively.

And:

Perhaps the most important feature in the new flagship phone is its face-tracking technology, which allows you to unlock the phone with your face or to lend your expressions to a dozen or so emoji with Animoji. Apple thinks the iPhone X represents the future of mobile tech, and for many, that’s true. But if you trace most of consumer technology’s most impressive accomplishments back to their origins, more often than not, it’ll lead you to a drab research lab full of graduate students. In the case of Animoji, that research happened to have taken place nearly a decade ago at a pair of Europe’s most prestigious technical schools.

And:

Algorithmic facial tracking is notoriously difficult pull off. Li calls the human face “one of the holy grails in computer graphics” because it’s so difficult to work on. Unlike a static object, the face is constantly deforming; there are no simple rules for a computer to follow.

This is a fascinating article. Animoji is not the goal, but rather a playful implementation that shows what is possible, how far Apple has come down this road.

Safari uses much less memory under macOS High Sierra

Written by

Kirk McElhearn:

It’s time to tip a hat to Apple for a major change they’ve made in their latest desktop operating system, macOS High Sierra. Last year, I wrote about how Safari was a memory hog. At times, it would be using 5,6, even 8 or 9 GB of memory. I would have to quit it every few days to get it to stop being sluggish.

Since the release of High Sierra, I have noticed that Safari’s memory usage has dropped a great deal. Right now, with my iMac running for more than four days, Safari is only using about 3 GB of RAM. And this with more than a dozen tabs open.

  1. I’ve noticed the same thing on my setup.
  2. Notice Kirk is using iStat Menus, a nice little utility, wraps a lot of information in a tiny interface, all under a single menu bar icon. Check it out.

Collection of Google Maps tips

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If you are religious about Apple Maps, avert your eyes. Me, I use Apple Maps and Google Maps pretty equally.

With the exception of the “OK, Google” tip at the beginning, this is a useful list. Ignore the upper-left, lower-right sorts of references, as this seems written primarily for Android. But the tips work in the iOS Google Maps app.

Worthwhile read.

Bloomberg: Apple told suppliers they could reduce face recognition accuracy to ease manufacturing

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UPDATE: As you’d expect, Apple responded:

Customer excitement for iPhone X and Face ID has been incredible, and we can’t wait for customers to get their hands on it starting Friday, November 3. Face ID is a powerful and secure authentication system that’s incredibly easy and intuitive to use. The quality and accuracy of Face ID haven’t changed. It continues to be 1 in a million probability of a random person unlocking your iPhone with Face ID.

Bloomberg’s claim that Apple has reduced the accuracy spec for Face ID is completely false and we expect Face ID to be the new gold standard for facial authentication.

There’s no room for interpretation here. The Face ID accuracy remains the same. Nothing has changed. Calling out Bloomberg’s report as completely false is a strong, necessary statement. A black eye for Bloomberg.

Alex Webb and Sam Kim, Bloomberg:

As of early fall, it was clearer than ever that production problems meant Apple Inc. wouldn’t have enough iPhone Xs in time for the holidays. The challenge was how to make the sophisticated phone—with advanced features such as facial recognition—in large enough numbers.

As Wall Street analysts and fan blogs watched for signs that the company would stumble, Apple came up with a solution: It quietly told suppliers they could reduce the accuracy of the face-recognition technology to make it easier to manufacture, according to people familiar with the situation.

And:

The company’s decision to downgrade the accuracy of its Face ID system—if only a little—shows how hard it’s becoming to create cutting-edge features that consumers are hungry to try.

If the facial recognition tech still works, this is not an issue. If facial recognition works well enough to not be fooled by all but the most unique situations (twins, for example), this is not an issue.

If reducing accuracy allows Apple to ship, this (if true) is a logical decision. It’s what businesses do. The key is to compromise without reducing quality to the point where it breaks. I think Apple would eat the delay before they shipped an iPhone X that didn’t meet their security standards.

We’ve seen plenty of examples of iPhone (and other Apple product) shortages that lasted months, with demand outstripping supply. I don’t believe Apple would risk the iPhone X reputation by shipping an iPhone X with less-than-effective facial recognition.

Apple acquires New Zealand wireless charging company

Written by

Reuters:

Apple, which recently said it was including wireless charging in its latest iPhone X and iPhone 8 smartphones, has acquired New Zealand firm PowerbyProxi that designs wireless power products for consumers and industry.

And:

Apple’s interest in PowerbyProxi may be driven by the latter’s other products, some of which can support transferring up to 150 watts through any non-metallic material, for wirelessly charging industrial machinery and medical equipment, said Jake Saunders, Asia Pacific vice president of ABI Research.

This could allow Apple to offer much larger pads that could quickly charge multiple consumer devices, including laptops and even electric scooters, he added.

Not to mention the wireless charging expertise that comes along with those products.

Try quickly typing 1 + 2 + 3 into the iOS Calculator. I bet you won’t get 6.

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I came upon this Reddit thread and thought, “Impossible. This can’t be true.”

But yes, it is. Try this yourself. When you hit the plus sign for the second time, the calculator app goes into some odd state. Not sure if this is intentional, or a bug, but either way, this is not what you’d expect.

The good news? PCalc gets it right.

UPDATE: Looks like this is an animation lag issue and goes back at least through iOS 9, possibly earlier. Also, Apple employee #8 weighed in about filing a radar.

What if the iPhone 8 Plus is better than the iPhone X?

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Provocative title, easy article to dismiss, but take the time to make your way through.

Sam Byford, The Verge:

Yes, the iPhone X has a 5.8-inch screen compared to the iPhone 8 Plus’ 5.5-inch display. It’s also true that the X’s is higher resolution. But the 8 Plus’ screen is actually bigger. The X uses a narrower aspect ratio, so while it’s longer on the diagonal, you still get more surface area on the Plus overall — and that’s before you account for the notch and the rounded corners.

And:

Apps, websites, and so on have 414 horizontal “points” — the unit of measurement that the screen is divided into for design purposes — to fill on the Plus, while the X has 375, the same as the regular iPhone 8. The X has more vertical points, of course, because of the taller screen, but a lot of that will be occupied by the notch and home button bar.

This would not be an issue if Apple had release an iPhone X Plus at the same time as the iPhone X. This is a bit like comparing Apples and bananas, but since there is no iPhone X Plus, this is a worthwhile point.

The X’s screen may well be better quality — we’ll have to see how Apple’s first attempt at an OLED phone turns out, but I have high hopes for the panel itself. Obviously, there’s also no denying that the X makes far better use of available space; the iPhone 8 Plus’ chunky bezels are pretty anachronistic for a phone at this price in 2017. But I’m too used to the Plus layouts, and the accompanying information density, to go back to what’s often going to feel like a smaller phone in actual use.

All fair points.

The other point that Sam makes that struck home for me concerned availability:

Even if you’ve read all of the above and still want an iPhone X, good luck actually getting one. Supply chain reports suggest that Apple is only able to produce the device in alarmingly low quantities, meaning that you could be waiting for several months before you’re able to pick one up.

The use of the word “alarmingly” aside, the availability question is something to consider. Of course, we won’t know for sure until at least Friday.

VIDEO: Tim Cook and Angela Ahrendts, chatting at the new Chicago Apple Store

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[VIDEO] The video, embedded in the main Loop post, is only about 6 minutes long, worth the time. The questions are interesting, there’s some terrific footage of the new Chicago riverfront Apple Store, and there’s the chance to see Time Cook and Angela Ahrendts together, get a sense of their comfortableness with each other. Not something you can see in print.

One interesting bit about 5:27 in: Tim was asked about rumors of Angela being slated as the next CEO. Perfect deflection, and good response on Tim’s part.

Deleting and reinstalling default apps in iOS 11, and the infinite loop of sadness

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This article talks you through a pretty obvious and straight-forward process. But 3 things:

  1. Important to note that you can now delete built-in apps like Weather, Stocks, etc. Delete them just as you would any other app.
  2. Finding the originals if you decide to go back is the trick. You can search the app store, but the article has a list of links to the originals. Bookmark the article. A nice resource.
  3. If you click on the App Store links on your Mac (DO NOT DO THIS), you’ll plunge down the infinite loop of sadness, as Safari tries to get iTunes to do what it is no longer programmed to do.

Apple publishes list of cars that support iPhone wireless charging

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If you are in the market for a new car, this support page is definitely worth your time. One particular thing to look out for:

Some automotive wireless chargers have physical size constraints and might not fit every phone. If you’re planning on buying a car with a wireless charger, make sure that your iPhone will fit in the charger first.

To me, this is an obvious place where car manufacturers should offer a user-replaceable shell, so when you move from one form factor to another, you don’t end up with a sad face and a phone that no longer fits snugly in place.

As is, I suspect that manufacturers will force you to bring your car in to replace the Qi-charging shell if you switch phone types, if they even have a shell that fits.

Anyone have a car that offers Qi wireless charging? Ping me, if you know how the shell swapping works.

New York subway to embrace NFC, enable Apple Pay system-wide

Written by

James Barron, New York Times:

On Monday, the city’s transit system took a significant step toward a more modern way for passengers to pay their fares. Starting late next year, they can do it the way Londoners already do, by waving cellphones or certain kinds of credit or debit cards at the turnstiles in the subway or the fareboxes on buses.

A committee of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority approved a $573 million contract for a new fare payment system adapted from the one in use for several years on the London Underground and London’s commuter railroads. New electronic readers will be installed in 500 subway turnstiles and on 600 buses in New York beginning late next year, and will reach the rest of the city’s subway stations and buses by late 2020.

And:

The system will work through apps like Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay as well as “contactless cards” — credit or debit cards with embedded chips that rely on a wireless technology known as near field communication, or N.F.C.

The resistance was strong in this one, but the force beckons. In other words, it’s about time.

Apple, Spielberg, and Bond

Written by

Steven Mallas, Seeking Alpha (free regwall) on Apple and Steve Spielberg inking a deal to bring the series of Amazing Stories to Apple TV:

The plan is for there to be 10 episodes at a cost of $5 million each. That’s nothing to Apple, a drop in the bucket.

And:

Spielberg could shift some of his slate over to streaming services that are aching to differentiate themselves from the pack, primarily the alpha Netflix. Again, here’s where Apple and its cash hoard and its enormous market cap and its platforms that need to be programmed come in – they could help Spielberg distribute concepts that might not find a place elsewhere. Netflix arguably already does this. Think the recent Stephen King adaptation Gerald’s Game. On Netflix, it stands out. In theaters, maybe it wouldn’t have. There’s no way that Cook and Spielberg don’t understand that.

The whole article is interesting, especially when Mallas chews on the possibility of Apple buying the rights to James Bond, both existing movies and the rights to new content:

Comparison was made to Disney and its purchases of Marvel/Lucasfilm; Lucasfilm was all about Star Wars, and that cost billions of dollars to consummate. If either Amazon or Apple won the rights to Bond, then those companies could release new films and episodic series on their respective platforms, as well as release movies to theaters on a worldwide basis.

And:

Bond, though, doesn’t necessarily, in my mind, lend itself to capital investment in the same way that Star Wars or Marvel do. I’m not sure about how valuable a merchandising program for Bond would be, as an example.

Interesting comparison. Not sure Netflix thinks about merchandising at all.

Apple allowing iPhone Upgrade Program customers to get a ‘Head Start’ on iPhone X upgrade

Written by

Juli Clover, MacRumors:

Starting on Monday, October 23, iPhone Upgrade Program customers will be able to get a “head start” on the iPhone X pre-order process by getting pre-approved for an iPhone Upgrade Program loan.

If you are part of the iPhone Upgrade Program, this is worth a look, will get you through checkout that much quicker this Friday.

Apple’s gorgeous Chicago riverfront store opens today

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Follow the link, take a look at those images, especially that last one. This is an incredibly beautiful storefront, perfectly incorporated into the surroundings.

Props to whoever did the site planning. Just wow.

iOS developer sues Apple over Animoji trademark

Written by

Mikey Campbell, Apple Insider:

In a complaint lodged with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, plaintiffs emonster k.k. and Enrique Bonansea, a U.S. citizen living in Japan, registered for the “Animoji” mark in 2014, reports The Recorder. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office subsequently granted rights to the property in 2015.

And:

According to the complaint, Apple not only had knowledge of the Animoji app prior to September’s iPhone X launch, but attempted to purchase rights for the mark from emonster. Bonansea claims he was approached by Apple “fronts,” like The Emoji Law Group LLC., to sell the property this past summer. These entities allegedly threatened to file a cancellation proceeding if the developer failed to acquiesce to their requests.

This reads like a John Grisham novel.

Facebook and Apple can’t agree on terms, so Facebook’s subscription tool will only launch on Android phones

Written by

Peter Kafka, Recode:

Facebook’s effort to help media companies sell subscriptions has hit a snag: Apple.

The two companies are butting heads over Facebook’s plan for a new subscription tool in its mobile app. The tool will put paywalls around some articles in Facebook’s news feed, and then send users to publishers’ sites to buy subscriptions.

The issue: Apple wants to take as much as 30 percent of any subscription revenue Facebook helps generate. Facebook wants all of the money to go to publishers.

This is nothing new. The 30 percent model has been in place since inception. But:

People familiar with Facebook’s plans say Google won’t take a cut of subscriptions users sign up for using its Android operating system.

And there’s the rub. I don’t think there are many people who will switch platforms because of this issue. This is about the publishers.

Note that not every publisher likes Facebook’s subscription plan. Notable holdouts from the test plan the company is announcing today include the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

And you can see why. Both the NYT and WSJ have existing paywalls that work for them. This is a complex problem, one I hope gets resolved quickly.

An iPad with a smooth finish to the finger, rough finish to the Apple Pencil

Written by

Patently Apple:

Today the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that relates to displays having a substrate with a visually imperceptible texture that provides tactile sensations varying with an object contacting the surface. Apple is considering applying a new finish on displays for Macs and iDevices that acts as an added protection layer with a different texture to the glass. The glass may feel smooth to the touch but slightly rougher with a little drag when using it with an Apple Pencil.

Not clear if this difference in feel is what they were going for in the first place, or a side product of the finish. What would really be cool is if there was a way to control that texture electronically, adjust it based on context.

Fascinating.