This is a great playlist, all on its own, but this is also a perfect place to search for that tune you just heard in an Apple ad.

This playlist runs in your browser, no need to jump to iTunes (or the Music app, if you are running the new shiny) to login.

The headline seemed sensationalistic, started reading filled with skepticism. That said, I did find the article well written and full of interesting detail.

A few examples:

Apple requires that all iOS web browsers—Chrome, Firefox, Brave, or any other—be built on the same WebKit engine that Safari uses. “Basically it’s just like running Safari with a different user interface,” Henze says. Apple demands browsers use WebKit, Henze says, because the complexity of running websites’ JavaScript requires browsers to use a technique called just-in-time (or JIT) compilation as a time-saving trick. While programs that run on an iOS device generally need to be cryptographically signed by Apple or an approved developer, a browser’s JIT speed optimization doesn’t include that safeguard.

As a result, Apple has insisted that only its own WebKit engine be allowed to handle that unsigned code. “They trust their own stuff more,” Henze says. “And if they make an exception for Chrome, they have to make an exception for everyone.”

The point being made here is that Apple bottlenecks all browser activity through WebKit. To me, this seems a solid approach, as long as WebKit is bulletproof.

The problem with making WebKit mandatory, according to security researchers, is that Apple’s browser engine is in some respects less secure than Chrome’s.

There’s the rub. If that’s truly the case. Seems to me, no matter the choice Apple makes here, there will be security holes. The key is how quickly Apple responds to identified flaws. My (possibly uninformed) sense is that Apple closes loopholes before they become widely known, or quickly issues a patch if exploits do become public.

As to Messages:

Hackable flaws in iMessage are far rarer than those WebKit. But they’re also far more powerful, given that they can be used as the first step in a hacking technique that takes over a target phone with no user interaction. So it was all the more surprising last month to see Natalie Silvanovich, a researcher with Google’s Project Zero team, expose an entire collection of previously unknown flaws in iMessage that could be used to enable remote, zero-click takeovers of iPhones.

Read Apple’s reply to the Project Zero accusations.

More disturbing than the existence of those individual bugs was that they all stemmed from the same security issue: iMessage exposes to attackers its “unserializer,” a component that essentially unpacks different types of data sent to the device via iMessage.

All very interesting. I’m betting that Apple is working hard to identify and fix attack vectors in WebKit and better sandbox Messages. I think it’s a safe bet that none of this information is new to Apple.

Follow the headline link, scroll. It’s hard to capture the cool look of this colorful treatment in just a single image. Too bad it’s only temporary.

Maps Mania:

There are many place-names around the world which sound rude to English speakers. The vast majority of these place-names are benign in their mother tongue but sound profane to English speakers.

The theft of road signs is a common experience for many towns with strange sounding names. In 2010, the inhabitants of Shitterton in Dorset, purchased a 1.5-ton block of Purbeck Stone to place at the entrance to Shitterton, carved with the hamlet’s name to prevent theft.

I’m just childish enough to happily show this to my son, to the chagrin of his mother.

Bloomberg:

For its latest report, CLW said undercover investigators worked in Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant in China, including one who was employed there for four years. One of the main findings: Temporary staff, known as dispatch workers, made up about 50% the workforce in August. Chinese labor law stipulates a maximum of 10%, CLW noted.

And:

Apple said that, after conducting an investigation, it found the “percentage of dispatch workers exceeded our standards” and that it is “working closely with Foxconn to resolve this issue.” It added that when it finds issues, it works with suppliers to “take immediate corrective action.” Foxconn Technology Group also confirmed the dispatch worker violation following an operational review.

Given the two callouts above, is the headline fair? Did Apple break the Chinese labor law? If the problem is brought to their attention, and they address it, is it right to hold them to the same account as Foxconn?

China Labor Watch:

“Apple has the responsibility and capacity to make fundamental improvements to the working conditions along its supply chain, however, Apple is now transferring costs from the trade war through their suppliers to workers and profiting from the exploitation of Chinese workers.”

And Apple’s response:

“We believe everyone in our supply chain should be treated with dignity and respect,” Apple also said in a statement. “To make sure our high standards are being adhered to, we have robust management systems in place beginning with training on workplace rights, on-site worker interviews, anonymous grievance channels and ongoing audits.”

Chaim Gartenberg, The Verge:

Apple’s also coming off a major redesign for the Apple Watch last year, the first it’s ever done since introducing the product back in 2015, which means that the Series 5 models will almost certainly continue using the Series 4 design instead of something new. It’s particularly telling that the biggest updates rumored for the Apple Watch this year are either cosmetic — like the leaked titanium and ceramic cases — or software based, like the standalone App Store and rumored sleep tracking.

I have no big expectations for Apple Watch for tomorrow’s event, which means any big news will be that rare beast, a surprise.

One thing I would like to see from Apple Watch is a better interface for stand detection. If you ask me to stand, and I stand, flip the bit right away. If I’m supposed to stand for a minute, how about some kind of countdown timer? And if standing is not what you are going for (if you need me to move, not just stand), say so.

The headline is a bit leading, Betteridge’s Law and all.

But the article is still worth reading. Jason Snell does an excellent job in laying out the state-of-the-union on Apple and leaks.

The leaks are almost impossible to miss, but somehow, every Apple event still delivers in terms of surprise. As Jason says, it’s all in the details.

So much looking forward to tomorrow.

When I saw the New York Times headline, I immediately went straight to skeptical. But.

Follow the headline link, then start scrolling, slowly. You’ll start with:

If you opened the App Store on an iPhone in May 2018 and typed “podcast” in the search box, you would have seen something like this.

No surprise, it’s Apple’s podcast app. Fair enough. But keep scrolling.

On some days, you would have had to scroll through as many as 14 Apple apps before finding one made by a different publisher.

It does seem logical for Apple’s podcast app to come first in search results. It’s free and it’s from Apple. But the follow on results make the Times’ case here.

Presented with the results of the analysis, two senior Apple executives acknowledged in a recent interview that, for more than a year, the top results of many common searches in the iPhone App Store were packed with the company’s own apps. That was the case even when the Apple apps were less relevant and less popular than ones from its competitors. The executives said the company had since adjusted the algorithm so that fewer of its own apps appeared at the top of search results.

The two senior execs are Phil Schiller and Eddy Cue.

The executives said the company did not manually alter search results to benefit itself. Instead, they said, Apple apps generally rank higher than competitors because of their popularity and because their generic names are often a close match to broad search terms.

Next, the article posts an interactive search for the term “music” over the years:

• Before Apple Music arrived in the App Store, Spotify was for years the first result in searches for “music.”
• Shortly after Apple Music was released in June 2016, it took the top spot. By then, Spotify had fallen to fourth place.
• In Feb. 2018, Apple apps suddenly appeared in the top six results for “music”
• By the end of 2018, there were eight, some of which were unrelated to music. At this point, Spotify was the 23rd result.

There’s a lot more detail in the article, all very interesting. A final bit:

Over the past several months, Apple engineers said, they began noticing how the algorithm was packing results with Apple apps. First, they stopped the algorithm from doing that for certain searches. In July, they turned it off for all Apple apps.

And:

Mr. Schiller and Mr. Cue said the algorithm had been working properly. They simply decided to handicap themselves to help other developers.

I’ve long wished for Apple to take the side of developers, given them precedence over Apple, help make it easier for indie developers to make a living on the App Store.

But there’s a flip side. Should Apple not include a built-in flashlight to avoid stepping on developer toes? I can absolutely see the logic in Apple wanting to build in a certain level of functionality to compete with Android. And Spotify. It’s a bit of a balancing act, one that’s getting trickier all the time.

The new RIAA sales report is out, and it shows vinyl on a pretty good upswing, and CD sales continuing to shrink.

What’s particularly interesting about the two curves is that they will likely cross later this year, with vinyl set to outsell CDs for the first time since 1986.

Personally, I continue to be surprised by vinyl’s rise. What is it about vinyl that continues to appeal, to spread? Is it the gear? The sound?

Is it the romance of the culture, something about sliding the vinyl out of its cover, then gently out of its protective sleeve, cautiously placing it onto a turntable, and oh so carefully lowering that tone-arm in place, no Siri in the loop, just you and the music?

The Washington Post:

Before 9/11, Gander was primarily known for its airport and strategic location on the east coast of Canada. During World War II, more than 20,000 Allied fighter planes and bombers took off from Gander’s airport, destined for battles across the Atlantic.

On 9/11, Canada accepted more than 200 planes forced to reroute when the U.S. government closed its airspace. Halifax, Nova Scotia, accepted the most aircraft, with 47, followed by Gander and Vancouver. More than 20 planes landed in St. John’s.

Gander, whose main economies are aviation, government and health care, was just doing its small-town thing when terrorists attacked its southern neighbor.

I will take every opportunity to remind people, especially our American friends, of the kindness and generosity of the people of Newfoundland.

Apple:

Cupertino calling. Join us for an Apple special event live from the Steve Jobs Theater on September 10 at 10 a.m. PDT. Set a reminder and we’ll send an update before the show.

This is the first time I can recall Apple doing their live stream direct to YouTube.

9to5mac:

For Manhattan locals and sightseers, the wait is almost over. After nearly three years of significant expansion and remodeling work, Apple’s landmark Fifth Avenue glass cube retail store is set to reopen soon. Apple is promoting the new 24/7 space with the tagline “Always Open to Open Minds.” No date is published on the face of the building.

Cantilevered steps replace the former glass staircase, winding upward to the iconic cube entryway. Outside, the plaza surrounding the store has been resurfaced and is now dotted by a grid of circular skylights allowing natural light to flow into the store below.

Apple’s Fifth Avenue store wasn’t the first Apple store I visited but it was the first store I spent 24 hours in front of waiting to buy the first iPhone.

A statement from Apple about last week’s Google vulnerability blog post:

Last week, Google published a blog about vulnerabilities that Apple fixed for iOS users in February. We’ve heard from customers who were concerned by some of the claims, and we want to make sure all of our customers have the facts.

First, the sophisticated attack was narrowly focused, not a broad-based exploit of iPhones “en masse” as described. The attack affected fewer than a dozen websites that focus on content related to the Uighur community. Regardless of the scale of the attack, we take the safety and security of all users extremely seriously.

Google’s post, issued six months after iOS patches were released, creates the false impression of “mass exploitation” to “monitor the private activities of entire populations in real time,” stoking fear among all iPhone users that their devices had been compromised. This was never the case. Second, all evidence indicates that these website attacks were only operational for a brief period, roughly two months, not “two years” as Google implies. We fixed the vulnerabilities in question in February — working extremely quickly to resolve the issue just 10 days after we learned about it. When Google approached us, we were already in the process of fixing the exploited bugs.

Security is a never-ending journey and our customers can be confident we are working for them. iOS security is unmatched because we take end-to-end responsibility for the security of our hardware and software. Our product security teams around the world are constantly iterating to introduce new protections and patch vulnerabilities as soon as they’re found. We will never stop our tireless work to keep our users safe.

Appreciate the clarification here.

Colorful and fun. Glad to see this.

Logged in on my MacBook Pro. A single fingerprint, and I was in. Easy-peasy.

As to the look and feel, I liked this layout better than iTunes (I’m on Mojave). And the performance feels rock solid. Great work.

Interesting that the bit in the lower-left corner says “Open in Music”. On my Mac, it launches iTunes. Obviously, this is a reference to the split-up of iTunes in Catalina.

Wondering if there will ever be a direct bridge between the web interface and my HomePod.

Interesting experience. Give it a try.

Start off with this Bloomberg article, titled: Apple Plans Return of Touch ID and New Cheap iPhone.

Some fascinating rumors there, including:

Apple is also working on its first low-cost iPhone since the iPhone SE. That could come out as early as the first half of 2020, the people said. The device would look similar to the iPhone 8 and include a 4.7-inch screen. The iPhone 8 currently sells for $599, while Apple sold the iPhone SE for $399 when that device launched in 2016. The new low-cost phone is expected to have Touch ID built into the home button, not the screen.

Now switch gears to this Daring Fireball take:

The SE debuted about 6 months after the iPhone 6S, with the same A9 chipset. If Apple follows the same playbook, this new iPhone would have the A13 chip we expect to see in next week’s new iPhones — the iPhone 8 has an A11 that will soon be two years old. Makes a lot of sense — none of the X-class phones are going to drop to $400 in 2020, but it would be good for Apple and for users if there were a $400 iPhone with A13 specs.

Totally agree, and good analysis. But:

The only downside of this report is for people holding onto hope that Apple will make a new SE-sized phone with a 4-inch display. I would expect this rumored phone to look as much like an iPhone 8 as the SE looks like an iPhone 5S.

Based on many conversations with SE lovers, I believe the small SE footprint is an important driver here. People with smaller hands and small (or no) pockets love the SE, find it a perfect fit. I’d hate to see Apple abandoning that smaller form-factor, though it does feel like that’s the way that particular wind is blowing.

Side note, this thread on a name for such a device. Pipe in with your own thoughts.

Old news to anyone who’s followed Apple for any length of time. So old, that the concept has its own Wikipedia page (scroll down to the section “Sherlocked as a term”).

What’s new though:

Developers have come to accept that, without warning, Apple can make their work obsolete by announcing a new app or feature that uses or incorporates their ideas. Some apps have simply buckled under the pressure, in some cases shutting down. They generally don’t sue Apple because of the difficulty and expense in fighting the tech giant—and the consequences they might face from being dependent on the platform.

The imbalance of power between Apple and the apps on its platform could turn into a rare chink in the company’s armor as regulators and lawmakers put the dominance of big technology companies under an antitrust microscope.

Not sure I see a solution though. Do we add a rule that Apple can’t build something similar to something already in the App Store? Should Apple be forced to compensate a developer whose business they’ve just made irrelevant?

I struggle with the idea of some government oversight making things better. More likely, it’ll just make an already complicated universe even more complex.

Craig Hockenberry:

The months since WWDC in June have been a terrible experience for both customers and developers alike and the literal center of the chaos was Apple’s iCloud syncing service.

Lest you respond, instantly, with, “But it’s a beta”, read on.

It all started with customers reporting lost Linea sketches in their iCloud Drive. Initial investigations led to a common factor: all of the people affected had installed the iOS 13 beta release.

And when I say lost, I mean really lost. Entire folders were either gone or corrupted. Apple’s mechanism to recover deleted files was of no help. The customers with weird folder duplicates were the “lucky” ones.

The key is Apple’s traditional beta culture: Use the beta on a device you can afford to be without if things go south.

But this year there’s a new, critical lesson. Make sure that test device is not connected to your main iCloud account. Which limits the testing value of a beta, since it will not be able to test in as many real world scenarios, with real world data stressing all the systems.

Read Craig’s writeup. No need to be a developer to follow along. But if you are a beta tester, public or dev, take the time to read it. It’s an excellent cautionary tale.

Variety:

Variety has learned from sources that Gordon-Levitt is set to star in, write, and executive produce a drama series currently in the works at the nascent streamer titled “Mr. Corman.” It is said to follow an elementary school teacher grappling with adulthood in Los Angeles. Gordon-Levitt would produce under his HitRECord banner with A24 also producing.

Another top show, added value for Apple TV+. Though it might take some time for Apple TV+ to develop a catalog with enough heft to even begin to compete with Disney+ and Netflix, I have no doubt they’ll get there over time. Like opening a restaurant, the key is having enough money to make it through the early days, and Apple has that in spades.

To be clear, they canceled the pre-orders in preparation for taking new pre-orders.

From Samsung:

Ensuring that you have the best possible experience with this revolutionary new technology is our top priority. We are taking the time to rethink the entire customer experience – from purchase to unboxing, to post-purchase service – so in the meantime, we have, regrettably, decided to cancel your existing pre-order. While not an easy decision to make, we believe this is the right thing to do.

Gotta say, this was not the smoothest of new product introductions.

Neil Cybart, Above Avalon:

Over the years, iPhone naming has had its ups and downs. There were the awkward names like iPhone 3GS and iPhone XS Max, and then there were strong industry-defining names like iPhone X. Based on the latest rumors, Apple appears to be in the early stages of moving away from an annual iPhone naming cadence altogether.

Interesting read, digs into a pretty complete history of iPhone naming, and follows with possible paths for the coming iPhones. Pairs well with the John Gruber take posted earlier.

I’d like to see Neil take on the entire Apple product line, with thoughts on a global branding strategy.

John Gruber:

Here’s why I think an “11 / 11 Pro / 11 Pro Max” naming scheme makes perfect sense. First, I hate Roman numerals with an irrational passion, so I’m not even going to get into the idea that Apple might have even considered “iPhone XI”. Just no.

And, on the suggested dropping of the 11, leaving iPhone, iPhone Pro, and iPhone Pro Max:

In the abstract, such a naming strategy would be better. It would match Apple’s other product lineups — MacBooks and iPads — where higher priced models are Pro and lower priced ones are not. MacBook Pros and iPad Pros don’t get numbered sequentially by product generation. When new ones come out, they’re just called “MacBook Pro” and “iPad Pro” and Apple uses model years (e.g. “late 2019”) to specify exact models in support documentation — but never in advertising or product packaging.

Read the whole thing. To me, this is one of the most compelling storylines of next week’s event. Where is Apple heading on branding? Will the Mac, iPad, and iPhone branding schemes converge?

And this does raise one more question for me:

What if Apple does ship an iPhone SE update in the Spring? How does that fit into the overall scheme?

iPhone mini?

Andrew Kroger, Reddit:

It’s done! Following up on a recent post that I made on this sub, my iPad/Macbook hybrid is complete. The method involved defusing the broken LCD screen and backlight from the upper portion of the MacBook’s clamshell, modifying the retina display driver, attaching a magnetic iPad case in-place of the retina display and putting everything back together. In regards to software, I’m using Catalina’s ’Sidecar’ to wirelessly (bluetooth) mirror the once-existent Retina display and ‘keyboard maestro’ to establish the initial connection to the iPad upon booting up.

And here’s the results. Just great!

Annie Lowrey, The Atlantic:

Here is the Public Service Announcement part of the story: If you take a vehicle loaned out by Zipcar—a rental service where drivers use RFID cards or a mobile app to open up the car—to an area without cell reception, there’s a chance the car will not work. The doors won’t open, and even if they do, the engine will not start. And because you will be in an area with no cell reception, it might be impossible for you to call for help.

This is a cost of “connected everywhere”. Good story, a bit of a cautionary tale.

Solid explainer from Ben Lovejoy, 9to5Mac.

In a nutshell, Apple is fighting any mechanism that allows an advertiser to recreate your browsing history and/or track your browsing across platforms.

The ad industry is proposing an anonymous (they promise) token that is your key to all sites. What could go wrong?

Facebook took the public trust, crushed it under their heel.

Feh.