[VIDEO] If you have any interest in taking video, take a few minutes to watch Rene Ritchie play with (and explain) FiLMiC’s DoubleTake app (the one they teased at the iPhone 11 rollout event). The video is embedded in the main Loop post.
The app is free and, surprisingly, works on older iPhones, as far back as the iPhone Xs, Xr, though not quite in the same way as the iPhone 11.
Want to try DoubleTake out yourself? Here’s the App Store link.
Lots of detail. At the top of the page, tap/click Camera for the rear facing camera review from Nov ’19, tap/click Audio for the audio review from Oct ’19.
Wojtek Pietrusiewicz:
I built my last hackintosh in 2014 and it was overdue for an update. Since Apple recently updated their iMac with Core i9s and skipped the T2, this is probably the last time I’m building this sort of computer, before MacOS is locked down forever.
I wish Wojtek had expanded on that last bit, but it does feel as if the Mac is heading down the road of getting more and more locked down. And as far as I know, there’s no way to add a T2 to your own build, so if that ever becomes a requirement for a Mac, that’d be that. (Please do correct me if I’m wrong about that).
Add to that Apple’s recent moves towards all macOS software being notarized. From Apple:
Beginning in macOS 10.14.5, software signed with a new Developer ID certificate and all new or updated kernel extensions must be notarized to run. Beginning in macOS 10.15, all software built after June 1, 2019, and distributed with Developer ID must be notarized. However, you aren’t required to notarize software that you distribute through the Mac App Store because the App Store submission process already includes equivalent security checks.
Another sign of macOS lockdown. Could this be the last days of Hackintosh?
All that aside, if you are interested in building your own Hackintosh, this is a pretty build, lots of pictures.
Terrific interview from Input Magazine.
A bit about the two iPad leads, just to whet your appetite.
Imran Chaudhri, Former Director of Design on the Human Interface team:
I came to Apple in 95 as an intern in the Advanced Technologies Group. When I finished school in 97, I came to Apple and Steve was there after the NeXT acquisition and he was going through and cutting and trimming the fat at Apple — and ATG was a place that he wasn’t a huge fan of. He wasn’t a huge fan of research for research sake and I wasn’t either, which was kind of an interesting thing. I always wanted to really, really ship products and ATG really wasn’t about that. Steve laid off everybody in ATG and I was kind of left to figure out what I was going to do. I started emailing Steve some ideas and we started working closely together and the relationship formed a lot of products, the revitalization of the Mac, going on to the iPod, the development of multitouch to the iPhone and iPad and, post, to a bunch of stuff like the Watch, the AirPods and HomePod, etc. All things we finished before I left a couple of years ago.
Bethany Bongiorno, Former Software Engineering Director:
I joined in 2008, actually, right after they shipped the first phone. I joined immediately after that and started as a project manager on the iPhone. There was a very small team back then; we sat kind of in one hallway. [The phone] was definitely a startup within Apple and I was brought on board because the project manager that was working there really didn’t like working with designers and really didn’t like working at the higher levels of the stack. She preferred kind of working at a lower level; the core operating system and the kernel and things like that.
Then very quickly after that, they told me that the real reason they had to hire me was because Steve had this pet project that he was really excited about and they needed somebody to lead that effort because the team really needed to remain focused on development of iPhone.
Fantastic read.
Nikkei Asian Review:
Apple has asked its suppliers to make up to 80 million iPhones over the first half of this year, people familiar with its planning told the Nikkei Asian Review, a rise of over 10% on last year’s production schedule that could boost the company’s near-record share price.
And:
However, suppliers warned that blistering pace of production could be complicated by the outbreak of the coronavirus in China’s Hubei Province, given that their main manufacturing centers are in nearby Henan and Guangdong provinces, with more than 100 confirmed cases as of Monday afternoon, and in Shanghai, with over 50 confirmed cases.
Good news, bad news. And no way to truly gauge the coronavirus impact.
As to sales impact, I suspect that people will be willing to wait longer for their iPhones if Apple can’t make them fast enough.
[VIDEO] This is simply great. Rene Ritchie doing what he does best, tell a story with clips and voiceover.
This is fun to watch and, in my opinion, one of the best pieces Rene has ever done. Video embedded in the main Loop post.
[VIDEO] Apple:
Here’s a little story they’re about to tell…Coming April 24 to Apple TV+, Mike Diamond and Adam Horovitz share the story of their band and 40 years of friendship in a live documentary directed by friend, collaborator, and their former grandfather, Spike Jonze.
Can’t wait for this to drop. Video embedded in main Loop post.
[VIDEO] Beautifully shot and edited. If you are a winter sports fan, this video (embedded in main Loop post) is some immersive fun.
Back in the day, I used to live around the corner (literally) from Warren Miller Filmaking in Hermosa Beach, California. Warren Miller died a few years ago, but left an enormous legacy of extraordinary skiing and surfing movies. If you enjoyed the video embedded below, do a search for:
“Warren Miller” skiing movies
Here’s one to get you started. I can only imagine what Warren would have done with an iPhone.
[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.
[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.
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.
Juli Clover, MacRumors, pulled together a nice walk down memory lane for Mac’s 36th birthday.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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] 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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
[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.
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.
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.
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.