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?
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.
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.
The new iPhone is set to be released next week so Dave and I discuss what the naming of the devices could be. Dave also shares what he uses ice packs for.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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?
Let’s get something out of the way up front: Ray Magliozzi hates cars. And not in a my-car-is-a-pain-in-the-ass-and-it’s-always-breaking kind of way (though there is some of that too), but in a they’re-killing-the-planet kind of way. “How could you not?” Ray told me earlier this year. “They’re ruining the fabric of our lives.”
Ray says this as if it is the most obvious thing in the world. And it mostly is, of course, but it’s still funny to hear him say it, because for 35 years he co-hosted one of NPR’s most-listened to shows of all time, Car Talk.
Car Talk had a soothingly predictable quality to it. In the beginning, there would be corny jokes, then some callers, then a weekly brainteaser called the Puzzler, and then some more callers, and, before you knew it, it was over. They did this, brilliantly and seemingly effortlessly, for decades, reaching over four million listeners at their peak. It had a surprisingly wide appeal; non-car enthusiasts, and certainly non-car people, will often gush about how much they loved the show.
I know literally next to nothing about cars – I don’t even bother lifting the hood if something is wrong because I don’t know a thing about what goes on under there – but I loved listening to the Magliozzi brothers.
Neil Leifer is an American sports photographer and filmmaker. He shot covers for magazines such as People, TIME, and Sports Illustrated, which published Leifer on 170 of its covers. Leifer followed Ali from the beginning of his career to the end, and he is now considered to be one of the greatest sports photographers of all time.
What may be surprising is that the picture was not considered that special at that time — it didn’t make the cover of the Sports Illustrated and was only on the 4th page. When they entered it in the biggest photo contest of the year held by Encyclopedia Brittanica, the University of Missouri Pictures of the Year, the picture didn’t make to the podium and wasn’t even given an honorable mention.
For many reasons, Ali was a personal hero of mine. I was honoured to have met him late in his life during an Apple Masters event at Macworld Expo. For me, there is no doubt this is the greatest sports photograph of all time made even more so when you hear the story behind it. Great, consistent photography takes skill but it also takes a measure of luck. Leifer was incredibly lucky to get this shot.
It’s a rumor, a leak from “sources”, so take it all with a grain of salt. But an updated version of the iPhone SE would be most welcome, in my opinion. People with smaller hands and/or smaller pockets are not being served.
A new iPhone SE? Yes, please. Not to mention a modern iPhone at an entry level price. That’d certainly help Apple expand into low-cost Android phone territory.
The CEO of an energy firm based in the UK thought he was following his boss’s urgent orders in March when he transferred funds to a third-party. But the request actually came from the AI-assisted voice of a fraudster.
Stories of AI fakes fooling real people continue to roll out. And, I suspect, they’ll only become more numerous as the tools for video and audio deep fakes become more prevalent and more sophisticated.
I’m less worried about someone calling, pretending to be someone asking me to transfer funds. I’m more concerned about the scam where someone imitates a family member, either in peril, or just asking for some personal information. In the heat of the moment, it’s easy to fall for something like this.
All four big camera brands — Sony, Fuji, Canon, and Nikon — are reposting rapid declines. And it is not just the point and shoot cameras whose sales are collapsing. We also see sales of higher-end DSLR cameras stall. And — wait for it — even mirrorless cameras, which were supposed to be a panacea for all that ails the camera business, are heading south.
Smartphone cameras are clearly destroying the compact camera market. Check the charts in the linked post. But sale of interchangeable lens cameras seems to have stabilized. As good as my iPhone camera is, there are still optical limits to a camera you can fit in your pocket.
The question is, do people care about the resolution, the sharpness of their photos when zooming in? After all, the photos will mostly be viewed on a small screen.
To me, this is similar to what’s happened to music. We are so used to listening to music on headphones we pull out of our pocket, the idea of building a wall of sound, or fitting a room with expensive, audiophile speakers seems a distant memory.
Personally, I am still a fan of telephoto lenses, and fast focusing gear. Think capturing a bird in flight, or a fast moving scene, like a soccer ball at the moment it crosses the goal line. I’d love to be able to shoot those sorts of scenes with my iPhone, but physics just gets in the way.
Chris Cornell was a modern innovator who left a legacy that transcends genres or expectations. His voice carried a generation into the unknown, but somehow always got us back home. We miss him dearly. When we first partnered with Chris to work on his original Gibson ES-335 Artist Model, it was immediately clear that he also had an innovative eye for guitar design. Features like the aged Lollartron humbucking pickups, clear “no number” top hat knobs, and Olive Drab satin finish, make this guitar one of our most distinct Artist Models to date. The Mother of Pearl Chris Cornell “signature” peghead inlay makes this limited run of 250 pieces an exclusive tribute to the celebrated artist.
There is no doubt that this is a beautiful instrument, but typical of Gibson, I think they overpriced it.
Every year on Aug 31, the residents of Nejapa, El Salvador throw flaming kerosene-soaked balls at each other in the streets surrounded by thousands of onlookers, with little apparent concern for the safety of the participants or onlookers. Just check out this madness.
“Hey, Siri. Remind me not to take a vacation in Nejapa, El Salvador on August 31st.”
City officials have told state lawmakers that they are wrong in thinking that “distracted pedestrians” are causing many vehicular crashes.
In fact, the opposite it true: only 0.2 percent of pedestrian fatality reports blamed “electronic distraction,” according to a new city report that was quietly issued late on Friday.
The city report showed that despite the increase in pedestrian deaths, a pedestrian’s use of an electronic device just before a crash still amount to .2 percent of incident reports.
There’s reason to believe this data is applicable to other cities. As the article states, “But the larger message is clear: Drivers are to blame, and roadways must be made safe so that their errors and speeding do not result in death.”
