Dozens of fires erupted in New South Wales, Australia in November and rapidly spread across the entire continent to become some of the most devastating on record. An area about twice the size of Belgium, roughly 15 million acres, has burned. At least 18 people are dead, including at least three volunteer firefighters, and more are missing. More than 1,000 houses have been destroyed, hundreds more damaged. As blazes intensified in the days leading up to New Year’s Eve, thousands of people who were forced to evacuate sought shelter on beaches across New South Wales and Victoria. Over 100 fires are still burning.
Although there have been fires across all of Australia’s six states, New South Wales has suffered the worst. Nearly half a billion animals, including mammals, birds, and reptiles, likely lost their lives in the blazes in New South Wales alone — a staggering loss which is probably an underestimate, according to the University of Sydney. Eight thousand koalas, a third of all the koalas in New South Wales, perished. About 30 percent of the koalas’ habitat has also been wiped out.
I have friends and family in Australia, specifically in New South Wales who are affected by these devastating fires.
HomeKit, the company’s smart home framework, has been around since 2014, and though it was slow to take off, a few key changes have helped it become more popular as the years have gone on.
That said, there’s a lot of competition in the smart home arena, which can mean extra complications when the field is growing so fast: fragmentation, problems with interoperability, and so on. But, in a rare move for Apple, it seems as though the company is moving to combat those problems head on…by working with others.
Apple still has an opportunity to be a player in the home automation market but “slow and steady” (or “dragging their feet,” depending on your POV) is going to make that a lot more difficult. Luckily, Amazon and Google have the usual privacy and data security issues that slow adoption but Apple needs to move a lot quicker. I had many people asking me about various home automation solutions over the holidays and it was hard to wholeheartedly recommend anything HomeKit-based.
Apple Inc. shares surpassed $300 amid predictions for a robust holiday quarter, demand for wearables such as AirPods and planned services including streaming TV.
Shares of the iPhone maker rose 2.3% to close at a record $300.35, topping the $300 mark for the first time on a split-adjusted basis. Thursday’s gain was in stark contrast to the dismal start Apple had in 2019 when it cut its sales forecast for the first time in almost two decades exactly a year ago.
Investors are increasingly optimistic about Apple’s user base of nearly 1.5 billion consumers and its ability to leverage auxiliary products like the Apple Watch, AirPods and Apple TV and major hardware upgrade cycles for the iPhone and iPad every few years. The company has also promoted its user base as a key to generating recurring revenue from services like iCloud storage subscriptions, streaming service Apple TV+, Apple Music and AppleCare.
I don’t usually post about the vagaries of Apple’s ups and downs in the stock market but the $300/share threshold is a big deal, especially for those of us who remember when the stock was at $7/share.
As of iOS 13, apps are no longer able to present an “always allow” option when requesting access to a user’s location. The only way to immediately grant an app continuous access to location is to navigate to Settings > Privacy > Location Services, tap on an app, and select the “always” option if available.
iOS 13 also periodically reminds users about apps that are continuously tracking their location, complete with a map of those locations. An on-screen alert provides users with options to continue to “always allow” ongoing access to their location or to limit access to while the app is being used.
In light of those changes, The Wall Street Journal today reported that some developers are concerned that the location tracking reminders will hurt adoption of their apps, while some iPhone users are said to have expressed frustration that the reminders appear every few days despite repeatedly selecting “always allow.”
Little to no sympathy for developers, many of whom are likely abusing Location Services. As for consumer complaints, security and privacy is a PITA but better to have too much than not enough.
2019 was a historic year for the S&P 500, and the benchmark has two stocks to thank.
Apple and Microsoft, which surged 85% and 54% this year, respectively, together accounted for nearly 15% of the S&P 500′s advance in 2019, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. Their influence to the cap-weighted index this year is greater than the next eight biggest contributors combined. The S&P 500 rallied more than 28% this year, its best annual performance since 2013.
Shares of Apple posted their best year since 2009 as investors shook off trade-induced worries and turned bullish on its services and wearable device businesses. With the launch of Apple TV, Apple Watch and Airpods, Apple managed to offset some of the loss from waning demand for iPhones. Enthusiasm for the upcoming 5G cycle has also lifted the stock.
Apple had its ups and downs but, from a stock market and share price POV, it was a spectacular year.
He and his partner, Dr. Dre, sold their company, Beats Electronics, to Apple for $3 billion in 2014 and helped launch Apple Music, the tech giant’s late entry to the streaming market, which now has more than 60 million subscribers.
Iovine, 66, retired from Apple in 2018, and says he has devoted himself to passion projects like the XQ Institute, an educational initiative led by Laurene Powell Jobs, who was married to the Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
In a series of conversations in December, Iovine spoke about his career transition from the studio to the halls of Cupertino, and the tangled relationship between music and tech in the 2010s.
I don’t know anything about drumming so I have no idea if this is a difficult piece to play or not but I do love this song and seeing a “grandmother” rip it up is fun to watch.
If you are interested in the iPhone camera, this is worth watching. Not so much for the “I was wrong” part, but for the explanations and examples. Well done.
Bradley Chambers pulled together some Apple Music tips for folks new to the service. But there’s one in particular that I think everyone should know about:
If you are traveling for the holidays, you might want to keep your entire library downloaded to your iOS devices. Of all the Apple Music tips I am sharing today, I’ve used this one the most often. I wish Apple had a simple option here, but you have to trick it with a playlist.
Read the article for the details, but the trick is to create a smart playlist that matches every song in your library, forces it to download on your device.
I definitely appreciate the trick, but can’t help but wish for a simpler way to accomplish this. Maybe a shortcut that force downloads everything in your library? Or a setting that does the same? Does such a thing exist? If you know of a better way, ping me.
In an interview, Cook told Nikkei that Seiko Advance is the “reason” Apple was able to release its top-of-the-line iPhone 11 Pro in a new color called Midnight Green.
And:
Midnight Green is not the only color Seiko Advance provides for the iPhone 11 Pro — it is also behind the Gold, Space Gray and Silver models. “We are the sole supplier of colors for the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max,” said Kabe.
But, in my mind, Midnight Green is notable, noticeable, an evolution in metal iPhone colors.
Interesting article. Turns out, Seiko Advance has been an Apple partner since 2011. A relatively tiny company, doing an important job for Apple.
Twenty years ago, we were all pretty sure the world was going to end on January 1, 2000—or, if not the world, then at least civilization.
We were legitimately freaked out. And why wouldn’t we be? TIME published an ominous cover story with extra exclamation points. President Bill Clinton said not-at-all-reassuring things about Y2K like, “This is not one of the summer movies where you can close your eyes during the scary parts.” CNN suggested that readers prepare for Y2K by stockpiling powdered milk, canned juices, and “comfort food.”
But then New Year’s came and went. We all woke up with electricity. ATMs didn’t refuse to dispense cash. Planes remained in the air. The great catastrophic threat of our time turned out to be a colossal dud.
So what really happened with Y2K? Was humanity ever actually in danger?
As we end this decade, here’s an interesting look back at the scariness and hype that was Y2K.
Christmas has come and gone, but in some countries, the celebration is far from over. Yes, gentle readers, December 26 is Boxing Day, which for Americans is the day we recover from our eggnog and gift-exchange hangovers but for other parts of the world is a holiday in its own right.
Boxing Day, which always falls on December 26, is observed as an official public holiday in the UK and many European countries, as well as in former British colonies such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, among others. America has decided that, much like the metric system and extra U’s in certain words, we will not embrace this particular tradition. When Boxing Day falls on a weekend, countries that observe it designate the subsequent Monday as a holiday.
This story is a year old but I still get questions from my American friends about Boxing Day so I thought I’d pass this along. Happy Holidays!
The holidays can be a trying time for everyone, so English comedian Sarah Millican came up with an initiative to help people make it through. In 2010 she started the #joinin hashtag on Twitter, aimed at bringing tidings of comfort and joy to anyone struggling through this time of year.
Now the hashtag is back for its ninth year, continuing the heartwarming tradition.
This is a lovely thing. So #joinin is for anyone feeling lonely or alone on Christmas Day. I’ll post up how it works closer to the time. It’s a wonderful place to chat to folk. We’re all there for each other. This will be our 9th year. Please RT to spread the word.
Here’s hoping you all have a very merry Christmas and a happy holiday season. If you’re not feeling it this year, that’s OK. Lots of others are in the same boat. Check out this Twitter thread for some holiday cheer and #JoinIn yourself.
For my latest photo essay “Forty Days Of Darkness,” I bought the new iPhone 11 Pro and went to Russia’s Murmansk, the biggest city in the Arctic circle. From December until January the sun never rises over Murmansk. With the iPhone camera (most of the time) set to “night mode,” I shot life in the darkness there.
The iPhone’s Night Mode is the witchiest camera technology I’ve ever used. I still don’t understand it. I was shooting three second exposures made handheld, yet I never saw any movement blur. All of the shots I made were tack sharp.
Some amazing images here. And I echo the writer’s two main frustrations – not being able to turn on Night Mode when I want to and the incredibly annoying “little green ghost spots” when shooting points of light at an angle.
Since we started the animation studio back in 2014, our entire pipeline has been based around the Mac. However, in recent years it’s been more challenging than we would have liked. With fewer and fewer hardware updates and the release of the trash can Mac Pro that seemed limited, things were certainly looking grim. We had many conversations about how we might eventually have to move over to use PCs. Fortunately in 2017, Apple announced the iMac Pro, which has been our main studio production machine for all artists. Now the new Mac Pro is here and we’ve been really excited to see how it’s going to evolve our studio.
The timing of receiving the machine couldn’t have been better as the studio was just about to begin work on the new Jumanji movie, Jumanji The Next Level. We were tasked to create the ‘Main on Ends’ (MOE) which is essentially the end animated credits for the movie.
I find these kinds of stories much more interesting than what some YouTuber thinks of the Mac Pro.
A lot of what keeps me partial to the iPad is the same stuff I liked back in 2011. iPad apps tend to have fresher interfaces and less cruft than ones written for older operating systems, letting me focus more of my attention on the work at hand. I spend less time on the drudgery of maintaining a computer, such as rummaging around for files and performing software updates. Even the fact that I can buy an iPad with built-in LTE wireless internet—an option that’s rare among Windows PCs and nonexistent for Macs—makes me more productive.
It’s also helped that Apple’s vision of where the iPad should go has largely synced up with mine. With its big screen, potent processor, and Pencil stylus, the current iPad Pro is pretty much the powerful, versatile iPad I was dreaming about nearly a decade ago.
Various versions of the iPhone is my choice for “personal gadget of the decade.” What’s yours?
While Apollo placed the first steps on the Moon, Artemis opens the door for humanity to sustainably work and live on another world for the first time. Using the lunar surface as a proving ground for living on Mars, this next chapter in exploration will forever establish our presence in the stars.
We are returning to the Moon – to stay – and this is how we are going!
Apple’s standard AirPods don’t claim to be waterproof (though the more recently released — and more expensive — AirPods Pro are sweat and water-resistant), and neither do the Powerbeats Pro or Samsung’s latest Galaxy Buds. But if you’re looking for an affordable set of earbuds with some degree of protection against splashes, the Powerbeats Pro and Galaxy Buds do offer an official water-resistance rating. That’s just the rating though — to find out exactly how much water exposure each one of these buds can handle, we put them through the wringer (so to speak) with a series of splash, dunk and laundry tests.
None of this tech is “waterproof” but a lot of it is surprisingly very water-resistant (yes – there is a difference). How important is water-resistance to you?
After San Francisco in May placed new controls, including a ban on facial recognition, on municipal surveillance, city employees began taking stock of what technology agencies already owned. They quickly learned that the city owned a lot of facial recognition technology—much of it in workers’ pockets.
City-issued iPhones equipped with Apple’s signature unlock feature, Face ID, were now illegal—even if the feature was turned off, says Lee Hepner, an aide to supervisor Aaron Peskin, the member of the local Board of Supervisors who spearheaded the ban.
This is what happens when those who don’t understand technology make laws about technology.
Dave and I talk about some of the best gadgets over the last decade, Samsung’s inflated numbers, and the scourge the earth—porch pirates.
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This is the decade we learned that crowdfunded gadgets can be utter disasters, even if they don’t outright steal your hard-earned cash. It’s the decade of wearables, tablets, drones and burning batteries, and of ridiculous valuations for companies that were really good at hiding how little they actually had to offer. It’s the decade of Google filling up its product graveyard, Apple stubbornly denying obvious missteps, and Microsoft writing off billions of dollars.
Here are 84 things that died hard, often hilariously, to bring us where we are today.
This is a truly spectacular list. How many of these products did you buy or buy into?
The global profits from cell phone sales fell by 11% in the third quarter of 2019, earning companies an estimated total of $12 billion. Apple has again dominated those profits, though, earning a reported 66% or almost $8 billion. When compared to revenue instead of profits, Apple remains in the lead with 32%.
According to Counterpoint Research, the remaining 34% of profits was chiefly divided between Samsung, Huawei, Oppo, Vivo and Xiami. Of all of these, Samsung was the closest to Apple, but it only earned 17% of the profits.
Keep this in mind when “those people” start banging on about marketshare.
Last year, Finland launched a free online crash course in artificial intelligence with the aim of educating its citizens about the new technology. Now, as a Christmas present to the world, the European nation is making the six week program available for anyone to take.
There are already quite a few sites for people looking to learn the basics of AI, but Finland’s offering seems worth your time if you’re interested in such a thing. It’s nicely designed, offers short tests at the end of each section, and covers a range of topics from the philosophical implications of AI to technical subjects like Bayesian probability. It’s supposed to take about six weeks to finish, with each section taking between five and 10 hours.
Not for everyone but if you’re interested in such things, this course is well presented and very interesting.
Apple Inc. has a secret team working on satellite technology that the iPhone maker could use to beam internet services directly to devices, bypassing wireless networks, according to people familiar with the work.
The Cupertino, California-based iPhone maker has about a dozen engineers from the aerospace, satellite and antenna design industries working on the project with the goal of deploying their results within five years, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing internal company efforts. Work on the project is still early and could be abandoned, the people said, and a clear direction and use for satellites hasn’t been finalized. Still, Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has shown interest in the project, indicating it’s a company priority.
I don’t believe a word of this but I post it if only to get the opinion of The Loop’s readers. Is this even slightly plausible or is it yet another example of the Apple rumour mill playing a game of “Telephone” and getting it all wrong?
The first images you saw of movies as diverse as Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, and Do The Right Thing were all created by the same man — and you probably don’t know his name. That man is Tom Martin, a veteran art director who designed thousands of iconic movie posters, billboards, DVD covers, and other pieces of graphic art for movies in the course of his 30-year career.
Now, the inspiration for much of that work will be maintained forever as Martin recently donated his collection of sketches, posters, and drawings to The Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library where they will be preserved and made available to researchers.
Following are some of the stories behind his iconic work.
Flickr is in trouble… again… or maybe still. In an open letter to Flickr users and fans published on the company’s blog, SmugMug CEO and Co-Founder Don MacAskill admitted that his company has not yet managed to make Flickr profitable, and implored photographers to consider upgrading to Flickr Pro in order to “keep the Flickr dream alive.”
The letter, titled “The world’s most-beloved, money-losing business needs your help,” starts by explaining why SmugMug acquired Flickr in the first place, and all of the progress that has been made.
“We didn’t buy Flickr because we thought it was a cash cow. Unlike platforms like Facebook, we also didn’t buy it to invade your privacy and sell your data,” says CEO MacAskill. “We bought it because we love photographers, we love photography, and we believe Flickr deserves not only to live on but thrive. We think the world agrees; and we think the Flickr community does, too. But we cannot continue to operate it at a loss as we’ve been doing.”
This is not good. Given the desperation of this, I wouldn’t expect Flickr to be around in its present state in two years.
