Last week, we posted a piece called Siri, the HomePod and story time. In it, we quoted this Apple press release announcing the release of the HomePod in China:

HomePod is a convenient way to check the weather or the latest sports scores, set multiple timers and reminders, make and receive phone calls and more. Siri on HomePod also offers storytelling for children, just say “Hey Siri, tell me a story.”

Try as I might, I could not get Siri to respond to the “tell me a story” request. There’s a good reason for this.

Apple has now updated their press release (H/T Sébastien Page):

In China, Siri on HomePod also offers storytelling for children, just say “Hey Siri, tell me a story.”

Clearly, this is a feature that only works in China. I still wonder about the mechanics. Does this only work in conjunction with books you purchase? Does Siri read to you, or are these canned audio books that Siri fires off? Is there a fixed set of stories?

I also wonder why this only works in China. Is it a rights issue? Will this feature eventually make its way to the US?

Just me being curious.

Apple, via CNBC:

“We have an incredibly talented team working on autonomous systems and associated technologies at Apple. As the team focuses their work on several key areas for 2019, some groups are being moved to projects in other parts of the company, where they will support machine learning and other initiatives, across all of Apple,” the spokesperson said.

“We continue to believe there is a huge opportunity with autonomous systems, that Apple has unique capabilities to contribute, and that this is the most ambitious machine learning project ever.”

ABC Radio:

The popular, colorful, heart-shaped conversation candies featuring sayings on them like “Kiss Me,” “Cutie Pie” and “Be Mine,” will not be produced this year, according to the Spangler Candy Company, which purchased Sweethearts and NECCO Wafers in 2018.

NECCO went out of business last year. Never liked the taste of those Valentine’s Day classics, but they’ve been part of Valentine’s Day since I was a kid. Looks like they’ll be back next year.

Odd seeing brands shift manufacturers. Like Twinkies, which disappeared from US shelves when Hostess went through bankruptcy.

Shocking.

Lucas Matney, TechCrunch:

Twitter is testing a new tag that will make it easier to parse who started a thread. The new feature, which is starting to pop up for some users, makes it easier to find posts from the original tweeter within a thread, but may also help curb (some types of) abuse on the platform, making it easier to distinguish accounts that are masquerading as other tweeters, for instance.

Follow the link, scroll through the pictures to get a sense of how this will work.

I do like the concept, but wonder if this wouldn’t be kinder on screen real-estate if they used an icon, or a special character, or even formatting (bold, for example) to make the original poster stand out.

Narratively:

The Principality of Sealand, standing on two massive pillars in the roiling waters of the North Sea, was declared a sovereign nation by Michael’s father, Roy Bates, in 1967. Located in international waters and technically outside of the control of Britain, or any other nation, the country straddles a line between eccentric experiment and legal entity of uncertain definition.

As they built up the reputation of the concrete-and-metal statelet, the family issued coins, stamps and other trappings of statehood, including passports. The Sealanders had issued around 300 of them over the years, but only to trusted compatriots, and certainly not, Michael Bates was sure, to anyone who would commit cold-blooded murder.

I’ve known about the “nation” of Sealand for years and it always seems like an eccentric, odd little thing some rich guy did. The real story is much weirder and deeper.

Quartz:

In the roughly four years since Apple launched its mobile payments service, Apple Pay, the company has managed to convince just about every major bank and retailer to let customers use their bank accounts to pay for things quickly through iPhones and Apple Watches.

While there’s no way of knowing exactly how popular Apple Pay is with consumers—the company doesn’t break out user numbers or revenue it receives from those transactions—the ever-increasing number of retailers using the service suggests it’s growing in popularity.

The gadget guy in me loves Apple Pay and wishes I could use it more. My wife thinks it’s black magic and is deeply suspicious of it.

Evening Standard:

Gatwick airport is introducing a fleet of valet-parking robots to ease the stress of getting away — and squeeze one third more vehicles into the same size car park.

The autonomous droids — codenamed Stan and likened to a robot in Pixar’s 2008 movie Wall-E — scan each vehicle’s size and shape to safely steer them to their destination. And because there is no need for the driver’s door to open, they can be parked more tightly together. Each booking is linked to the passenger’s flight number to ensure their car is ready to collect from the same location upon their return.

I rarely need to leave my car at the airport but if I did, I’d use this in a heartbeat.

iFixit:

The issue is fairly simple: the current generation of MacBook Pro laptops (2016–present) uses flexible ribbon cables to connect the display to a display controller board beneath the Touch Bar. These cables wrap over the board, where they’re secured by a pair of spring-loaded covers—and they’re subjected to the stress of bending with every opening and closure of the laptop. Within a seemingly short time, those cables are starting to fatigue and tear. The backlight cable is generally the first to go, producing the infamous “stage light” symptoms, and eventually giving out entirely when the laptop is opened more than about 40°.

And:

Apple opted for thin, fragile flex cables as opposed to the beefier wire cables used in previous designs that could be routed through the hinge instead of wrapped around it, helping mitigate the stress of repeated openings and closings. But the bigger problem is that, in an apparent effort to make the display as thin as possible, Apple designed the cables as part of the display, so they cannot be replaced. This means that when (not if) those cables start to fail, the entire display unit needs to be replaced, as opposed to one or two little cables—effectively turning a $6 problem into a $600 disaster.

Take the article with a grain of salt. This isn’t necessarily doom for the MacBook Pro, or even that big a deal.

But, if you do experience “stage light” symptoms, this design issue is important to be aware of. If you do run into this problem, I would definitely go into your Apple Store discussion armed with a bookmark of this article.

Ben Lovejoy, 9to5Mac:

Apple’s announcement yesterday of a contest to find the ten best shot on iPhone photos has provoked debate about the company’s policy of not paying for any of the photos, even when they are used in global advertising campaigns.

The argument that Apple should pay seems obvious enough, but not everyone agrees.

Very interesting back and forth here. Never even occurred to me that Apple should pay for these photos.

On one hand, these photos are used in a professional marketing campaign. On the other, if they offered lucrative prizes, more pros would step in and the average kelley would have less of a chance.

Think you can tell if you’re being phished? Take Google’s quiz, see if you get a perfect score.

Note that when they ask you to enter a name and email at the beginning, it’s fine to just make one up. They want to use the info in the quiz, not harvest the data.

Steven Sinofsky tweeted screen shots from a 1984 Infoworld article, digging into this new-fangled Macintosh and Steve Jobs comparison of the Mac to the telephone, in terms of potential ubiquity and importance.

Follow the thread, check all the images. Terrific.

The Guardian:

A Dutch surgeon formally disciplined for her medical negligence has won a legal action to remove Google search results about her case in a landmark “right to be forgotten” ruling.

The doctor’s registration on the register of healthcare professionals was initially suspended by a disciplinary panel because of her postoperative care of a patient. After an appeal, this was changed to a conditional suspension under which she was allowed to continue to practise.

But the first results after entering the doctor’s name in Google continued to be links to a website containing an unofficial blacklist, which it was claimed amounted to “digital pillory”. It was heard that potential patients had found the blacklist on Google and discussed the case on a web forum.

In a nutshell, the medical community decided that the doctor was allowed to practice, but Google’s search results led to an unofficial blacklist which circumvented that ruling.

Very interesting case. Looks like that blacklist will have to come down.

[Via The Overspill]

There are a lot of improvements to Pixelmator Pro in the latest update like Clipping masks, Layer tagging, Layer filtering and search, and quick opacity and blending controls in the Layers sidebar. That doesn’t even scratch the surface of everything that was added or improved in version 1.3. Check out Pixelmator’s Web site for all the changes.

Bare Bones, makers of BBEdit, is one of my favorite software companies—in fact, I’ve been using their software for more than 20 years. Now, with the opening of their new online store, you can also own some Bare Bones clothing. T-shirts, hoodies, pins, fleece jackets, sweat pants and combinations of all of the products in a bundle are available from the store.

Visit the store to get your Bare Bones Official Merchandise!

The Sunshine Coast Ale Trail:

This is the West Coast beyond compare: deep sea inlets and coastal bays to explore by kayak or sailboat; interconnected lakes and rivers ideal for canoeing; rugged cliffs to climb and trails to bike; beaches and swimming holes for family relaxation. Wash all that down with beer from some of British Columbia’s most distinctive breweries.

Gibsons, on The Sunshine Coast, is where I live. The first three breweries in this video – Persephone (where my wife and I had our first date), The 101 and Gibsons Tapworks – are all within walking distance of our home. It really is a spectacular and naturally beautiful place. If you’re ever in the area for a visit, let me know – the first round is on me.

And check out some of the other “BC Ale Trail” videos. If you love beer and nature, there’s lots to choose from here in beautiful British Columbia. You should make plans to join me in Vancouver in September of this year for my “Starting Point Photography Photo Tourism Workshop” where I’ll take you around this beautiful area and teach you how to take better photographs with the camera you already have. And we’ll have a beer or three.

Digg:

Observers who closely watched the Super Blood Wolf Moon eclipse over the weekend spotted an extra bonus: a meteoroid flying into the surface of the moon, mid-eclipse. And just like that, the Moon has a new crater.

I happily watched the eclipse on a chilly Sunday evening over a fire with my wife and sons. It was a lot of fun but we didn’t see the meteoroid strike. We were too busy trying to stay warm.

UPDATE: Apple has changed the rules of the contest and now includes this line:

Photographers who shoot the final 10 winning photos will receive a licensing fee for use of such photos on billboards and other Apple marketing channels.

Apple:

Apple is kicking off the year by celebrating the most stunning photographs captured on iPhone, the world’s most popular camera, by inviting iPhone users to submit their best shots. From January 22 to February 7, Apple is looking for outstanding photographs for a Shot on iPhone Challenge. A panel of judges will review worldwide submissions and select 10 winning photos, to be announced in February. The winning photos will be featured on billboards in select cities, Apple retail stores and online.

Post your best photo taken on iPhone to Instagram or Twitter with the #ShotOniPhone hashtag to participate in the Shot on iPhone Challenge.

Keep in mind that, like many contests like this, Apple won’t necessarily pay you if your submission is accepted as a contest winner. That being said, it can’t hurt to tag your photos to enter the contest.

The Sweet Setup:

Over the past several months, I’ve been gathering and testing the top contenders for best wireless active noise cancelling headphones. This is a popular category in an age of disappearing headphone jacks, and the competition for the best noise cancelling headphones is fierce.

The journey was prompted by my own desire to replace an aging pair of wired Bose QuietComfort 25s with something new. That pair has travelled with me around the world without missing a beat, so its replacement had big shoes to fill.

I used a very early model of the Bose QuietComfort headphones and found them useful but bulky. If I get another set, I’ll make sure to give this list a good read.

AppleInsider:

At the tail end of 2018, Google changed the name of their MVNO carrier service from Project Fi, to Google Fi and opened up support to the iPhone. AppleInsider has been using it for a while even before the announcement, so let’s take a look at the service now that you don’t have to jump through hoops to use it on an Apple device.

Google Fi is affordable. Service for unlimited text and calls starts at $20, and data is $10 per GB, up to 6GB, after which data is free. Google doesn’t charge in $10 increments, but instead charges for the data used.

How messed up is our cellular service here in Canada and the US when someone can describe a plan that offers pricing like $10 per GB as “affordable”?

You know me. I’m a long time movie buff, love the Oscars. Follow the headline link for the complete list of this year’s Academy Award nominations.

One thing I particularly appreciate about acting is when someone completely disappears into a role, becomes unrecognizable. Two of the best actor nods really capture this sentiment.

Christian Bale completely disappeared and became Dick Cheney in his role in the movie Vice.

And the same can be said for Rami Malek, who became Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody.

Acting!

The linked Reddit post was called, provocatively, “I fought Apple and won!”

From the post:

I purchased an iPhone XS in September of last year. The first week of December I accidentally dropped it in my sisters swimming pool at the shallow end – a depth of approximately 1.10m. Immediately, I jumped in an pulled the phone out, switched it off and let it dry for a few hours (as indicated in the steps of what to do when your phone gets wet on the Apple website). A few hours later I turned the phone back on and all was good. Fantastic!

As you might guess, all was not good. Over time, the poster’s phone died a slow death, and they eventually took it into the Apple Store for a look see.

As you also might guess, the Apple Store opened up the phone, and:

Two hours later I come back and they say the Liquid Contact Indicators have been activated, which means there is internal liquid damage and they won’t cover liquid damage under warranty.

And this is where the story gets really interesting. The poster pointed Apple to the original rollout video for the iPhone XS, where Phil Schiller, talking about water protection, says these words:

So if you happen to be hanging by the pool, drop your phone in the water, don’t worry. Let it dry, you’ll be fine.

To see this for yourself, follow this link and jump to about 40:40.

Follow the headline link for all the legal details but, bottom line, the poster did eventually get their phone replaced.

Should the words in a marketing pitch establish repair policy? Interesting.

Last week, we highlighted a tweet from Jeremy Burge showing pairs of low light images, taken with an iPhone and a Google Pixel using Night Sight.

Jeremy pulled together his findings in a blog post that makes the case for Google’s Night Sight as the new benchmark for low light image capture on a smartphone.

From the post:

Despite being a long-time iPhone user, I often find myself with other phones for testing purposes. Sometimes they have nice features my iPhone doesn’t have, but rarely does any single feature make me even consider changing devices.

The release of Google’s Night Sight feature for the Pixel line in 2018 is a game changing feature.

Having used it for the past month, I now carry both my iPhone and Pixel of an evening. That’s how good it is.

And:

Since posting about this on Twitter, time and time again people said “just edit the iPhone pictures!”. This misses two points:

1. Most people don’t have the time or ability to fix their dark and/or blurry iPhone photos taken at night
2. Some of this cannot be done by editing. That 2-5 second time used to capture more light in the Google camera app isn’t an option provided on iOS.

I couldn’t agree with Jeremy more. Like it or not, this is the new benchmark for low-light photos.

I would gladly tap a button in the camera app to turn on/off low light mode before I take a picture. And if Apple can just do this automatically, even better. I frequently find myself unsatisfied with my iPhone camera in low light situations. I would love an iPhone version of Night Sight.

And to be fair, the iPhone XS clearly has made great low-light strides. But Night Sight runs on older hardware. It’s a software fix. Feels like this sort of technique should be possible on previous generations of iPhone.

Apple:

Target, Taco Bell, Hy-Vee supermarkets in the Midwest, Speedway convenience stores and Jack in the Box are the latest merchants to support Apple Pay, the most popular mobile contactless payment system in the world that lets customers easily and securely pay in stores using their iPhone and Apple Watch. With the addition of these national retailers, 74 of the top 100 merchants in the US and 65 percent of all retail locations across the country will support Apple Pay.

Apple Pay, coming in the next few weeks to all 1,850 Target locations, joining CVS, Costco, and 7-Eleven.

CNBC:

Apple’s AirPods may be one of the hottest iPhone accessories you can buy right now, but they aren’t just made for listening to music. You can activate a feature called “Live Listen,” which lets you use AirPods to amplify sound, allowing them to double as basic hearing aids.

The AirPods Live Listen feature uses the microphone on your iPhone and then pipes the audio right into your AirPods. So, if you’re hard of hearing, instead of asking someone to speak up or sitting out of a conversation entirely, you can put your iPhone on a table — or even hold it close to someone’s mouth — and the AirPods will amplify what’s being said.

I don’t have AirPods and didn’t know about this feature. Sounds interesting.

MEL Magazine:

We’re often told that you should never eat anything (or put anything on your body) if you don’t recognize everything on the ingredients list. But since most of us have no idea what xanthan gum or potassium benzoate are — or more importantly, what they’re doing to our bodies — we’re decoding the ingredients in the many things Americans put in (and on) themselves.

This edition: Emergen-C Super Orange, which is made from 30 separate ingredients that we’ve broken down in the exact order they appear on their website.

I love these analyses of the foods and products we ingest. This one is even more instructive, showing how useless this “cold medicine” actually is.