Scorching.

Facebook is going to limit how much data it makes available to advertisers buying hyper-targeted ads on the social network.

More specifically, Facebook says it will stop using data from third-party data aggregators — companies like Experian and Acxiom — to help supplement its own data set for ad targeting.

I thought this part was particularly interesting:

Apparently it’s not important enough to Facebook’s revenue stream to deal with a potential headache if something goes wrong.

So even though Facebook is cutting out the use of third-party aggregators, they are still going to make enough money that making this move won’t really affect the bottom line.

Macworld:

On Wednesday morning, following Apple’s education event in Chicago the day before, CEO Tim Cook sat down with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes and Recode’s Kara Swisher to talk about a variety of Apple-related topics. The interview has not been released in its entirety; it is scheduled to air on April 6 at 8 p.m. EDT as part of MSNBC and Recode’s “Revolution” series. However, it was filmed in front of a live audience, and portions of Cook’s responses have been released.

The latest Facebook and Cambridge Analytica fiasco gave Cook the opportunity to rightly point out how much more strict Apple is about privacy and security than most other big tech companies. Swisher asked him what he would do if he was in Mark Zuckerberg’s shoes, to which he replied, “I wouldn’t be in this situation.”

Cook’s comments in general are interesting but the Facebook burn is getting all the attention. I’m looking forward to watching the full interview.

Facebook announced a series of changes on Wednesday to give users more control over their data, after a huge data scandal which has wiped more than $100 billion from its stock market value.

Facebook said the changes were in the works for some time, but I have a hard time believing that.

Lots and lots of thoughtful comments. Worth scrolling through.

Jeff Benjamin does an excellent job showing off the new Pages. Even though it was announced at yesterday’s Education event, the new Pages is for all of us and is available now. Smart annotation is an excellent add. No crayon required.

From Logitech’s official Crayon specs page:

Using the same technology found in Apple Pencil®, Logitech Crayon delivers sub-pixel precision, lightning fast responsiveness, and dynamic tilt to bring new dimensions to learning.

Not quite the same as Apple Pencil. No pressure sensitivity. But it also sells for $49 versus the Apple Pencil’s $89 (since Crayon is only sold through Education market, makes sense to compare to Apple Pencil education price). For students, I suspect the Logitech Crayon will be just fine.

iPad has palm rejection technology that ignores any touch that doesn’t come from Logitech Crayon, so students can stop worrying about their hands and just focus on the task at hand.

And:

A flat shape prevents Logitech Crayon from rolling off desks or getting lost.

Hmm. I wonder why Apple doesn’t consider this.

Logitech Crayon has almost 8 hours of writing time between charges — enough for a full school day. Additionally, a fast charging option provides 30 minutes of battery in 90 seconds.

Lots of good stuff here. One important thing to note: The Crayon does not use Bluetooth. Its wireless frequency is specific to the iPad announced yesterday. Just as Apple Pencil will not work with an iPhone, Crayon will not work with other iPads.

All told, this seems a great solution for the education space. And the way I read this, looks like Crayon is only available through the Apple Education channel.

Bob O’Donnell, Tech.pinions:

> Even though it wasn’t the first time that Apple and IBM have announced partnerships in the enterprise space, as a long-time tech industry observer, there’s still part of me that finds it surprising to see an Apple executive speak at an IBM event. > > Such was the case at last week’s IBM Think conference in Las Vegas, where the two announced that IBM’s Watson Services was going to be offered as an extension to Apple’s CoreML machine learning software. Essentially, for companies who are creating custom mobile applications for iPhones (and iPads), the new development means that enterprises can get access to IBM’s Watson AI tools in their iOS business applications.

And:

> At a basic level, you could argue that there may be future battles between Siri and Watson. Given all the difficulties Apple has had with Siri, versus the generally much more positive reaction to Watson, that could prove to be a significant challenge for Apple.

Lots more to process in the article, definitely an interesting read, but at the heart of this IBM/Apple collaboration is the collision course between Watson and Siri.

Will the partnership cede the business space to Watson’s brand? Will Siri have a role there? Will they share the space, with Siri handling the admin work and Watson the analysis? For financial relief, hire insolvency experts who can provide tailored solutions to navigate challenges and ensure the sustainability of your business.

All interesting (to me at least) questions. And it points to a future problem, as the world gets filled, more and more, with devices that interact with the likes of Siri, Alexa, GooglePerson, Cortana, and yes, even Watson. I’d like to see a standard evolve for this sort of interaction, something that allows me to ask Siri to interact with a hotel’s services, even if they are provided by IBM or Amazon. Food for thought.

Foxconn press release:

Foxconn Interconnect Technology Limited (FIT) (HKG: 6088), a subsidiary of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., and Belkin International, Inc. (Belkin®, Linksys®, Wemo®, Phyn® brands) jointly announced today the signing of a definitive agreement under which FIT agreed to acquire Belkin International for approximately US$866 million in cash, creating a global consumer electronics leader.

Fine. But why?

Foxconn is the largest private employer in China (not important to the discussion, but interesting). They manufacture things for other companies, most notably Apple, Microsoft (Xbox One), Sony (Playstation), Nintendo (WiiU), and Intel (motherboards). How does Belkin help them?

Leveraging Belkin’s strength in research and development capabilities and the consumer products channel, FIT is expected to further tap into premium accessories and the smart home market. The transaction would also fuel the growth of Belkin’s portfolio of brands and products and supports further investment in research and development and engineering to expand FIT and Belkin’s presence in the U.S. and key markets globally.

Belkin owns Linksys. A mature, well known brand. Is Foxconn building its own end game, leveraging its move into the US and cheap manufacturing costs to compete in the consumer electronics space under its own auspices, a bit of a trojan horse, giving it instant legitimacy in the product space?

From The Financial Times:

FIT Hon Teng said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Tuesday that the merger with Belkin, which manufactures products including wireless charging devices and networking products, will give it access to sales networks, technology and production capabilities.

Keep your eye on Belkin. I suspect they are in for a bit of a rocket ride.

You’ve probably heard the news from today’s event, but if you want to see it, you can. The video is available on Apple’s Web site.

> Everyone Can Create is a range of free learning resources and teaching guides that help teachers easily weave drawing, music, filmmaking or photography into any lesson, topic or assignment. The curriculum gives students different ways to express themselves and helps them to discover and develop new skills.

> Developed in collaboration with educators and creative professionals, Everyone Can Create includes teacher and student guides, lessons, ideas and examples to help teachers bring creativity and new communication skills into their existing subjects like English, math, science and history. For example, students can use the built-in camera in iPad to learn about fractals or they can use Apple Pencil and apps like Tayasui Sketches to learn about symmetry. Meanwhile for primary school kids, getting them to grow an interest in the primary English language is crucial, so letting them learned from an online class like PSLE English Tuition is an advantage!

And

> Schoolwork is a new app that helps teachers create assignments, view student progress and bring the power of apps to the classroom in exciting new ways. Schoolwork features Handouts, an easy way to create and send assignments with almost any type of content, from web links to PDFs and documents.

> With Schoolwork, teachers can take advantage of the power and creativity of apps available on iPad. They can easily assign a specific activity within an app and direct their students directly to the specific point within the app. Popular education apps like Nearpod, Tynker and Kahoot are already integrating support for Schoolwork.

I love the fact that teachers can assign specific activities within the app. There is a lot of good things in here.

For the first time, users will be able to draw, sketch or write with Apple Pencil directly in the Pages, Numbers and Keynote apps. With Apple Pencil, advanced yet easy-to-use tools allow all users, from students to professionals, to bring their documents to life with drawings, illustrations, diagrams and more. Apple Pencil can also be used to easily and precisely add color, texture and more to any drawing.

And my favorite feature:

Smart Annotation, launched today in beta, is an innovative new tool in Pages that allows users to easily give, receive and incorporate feedback in a document using Apple Pencil. With Smart Annotation, comments and proof marks will dynamically anchor to text. And as a user integrates feedback and the document changes, remaining annotations will stay with the text they were attached to.

I really do love that feature.

Apple today updated its most popular iPad with support for Apple Pencil plus even greater performance, starting at $329. The new 9.7-inch iPad and Apple Pencil give users the ability to be even more creative and productive, from sketching ideas and jotting down handwritten notes to marking up screenshots. The new iPad is more versatile and capable than ever, features a large Retina display, the A10 Fusion chip and advanced sensors that help deliver immersive augmented reality, and provides unmatched portability, ease of use and all-day battery life.

Apple is selling the new iPad to its education customers for $299, plus $99 for the Apple Pencil. For the regular consumer, the new iPad will cost $329, plus $99 for the pencil. This seems like a really nice offering for education customers.

Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg will not answer questions from British lawmakers over how millions of users’ data got into the hands of political consultancy Cambridge Analytica as the company faces further pressure on both sides of the Atlantic.

Zuckerberg will instead send his Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer or Chief Product Officer Chris Cox to appear before parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee.

I know this is a hot topic right now, but it makes sense to send the person who is best able to answer the questions. I don’t think that’s Zuckerberg.

CTV News:

Canada’s wireless providers are preparing for a looming update to the National Public Alerting System that will force smartphones to sound an ominous alarm when an emergency alert is triggered.

In case of emergencies including Amber Alerts, forest fires, natural disasters, terrorist attacks or severe weather, officials will be able to send a localized alert that will compel compatible phones on an LTE network to emit an alarm — the same shrill beeping that accompanies TV and radio emergency alerts — and display a bilingual text warning.

I really hate the idea of there not being any ability to opt out of at least some of these alerts. I certainly won’t need an alert that an earthquake is happening – I’m pretty sure I’ll already know.

This time, we’re talking Google, not Facebook. These links come from this Twitter thread posted by Dylan Curran. Good stuff.

Jump into your browser and click:

• This link shows you the location data Google keeps on you. At some point, I purposely set Location History to off, so my Google Timeline is empty.

• This link shows your Google and YouTube search and other activity. There’s a ton of info here.

• This link shows the third party apps that have access to your Google account. Definitely check this one for all your Google accounts.

• Your YouTube history. This says a lot about you. Very valuable to advertisers.

There’s a lot more. Step through the thread. Or download your Google data using this link.

Facebook:

You may have seen some recent reports that Facebook has been logging people’s call and SMS (text) history without their permission.

This is not the case.

And:

Call and text history logging is part of an opt-in feature for people using Messenger or Facebook Lite on Android. This helps you find and stay connected with the people you care about, and provides you with a better experience across Facebook. People have to expressly agree to use this feature. If, at any time, they no longer wish to use this feature they can turn it off in settings, or here for Facebook Lite users, and all previously shared call and text history shared via that app is deleted. While we receive certain permissions from Android, uploading this information has always been opt-in only.

There is a lot to process here. I can tell you that I never intended for Facebook to keep all this data on me. Clearly, at some point, I must have opted in, I can accept that, but seeing the level of detail Facebook has kept feels disingenuous at best.

When I opt-in to allow an app to access my contacts for example, I’m thinking “use as needed”, not “scrape as much data as possible and squirrel it away”. Worlds of difference between those two.

And what the hell is Facial Recognition Data and why is Facebook saving it? If you haven’t seen this yet, check this post.

Wonder what Google has on you? We’ll get to that next.

Bloomberg:

Apple Inc. Chief Executive Tim Cook has called for stronger privacy regulations that prevent the misuse of data in the light of the controversial leak of Facebook user information.

Cook called for “well-crafted” regulations that prevent the information of users being put together and applied in new ways without their knowledge during a session on global inequality at the annual China Development Forum in Beijing on Saturday.

Two quotes from Tim:

“I think that this certain situation is so dire and has become so large that probably some well-crafted regulation is necessary,” Cook said after being asked if the use of data should be restricted in light of the Facebook incident. “The ability of anyone to know what you’ve been browsing about for years, who your contacts are, who their contacts are, things you like and dislike and every intimate detail of your life — from my own point of view it shouldn’t exist.”

And:

“We’ve worried for a number of years that people in many countries were giving up data probably without knowing fully what they were doing and that these detailed profiles that were being built of them, that one day something would occur and people would be incredibly offended by what had been done without them being aware of it,” he said. “Unfortunately that prediction has come true more than once.”

John Koblin, New York Times:

Known for its bold designs and its big marketing campaigns, Apple relishes its status as a dominant force in the corporate world. So it was noteworthy when one of its executives, Eddy Cue, struck a note of humility during a discussion this month at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Tex.

“We don’t know anything about making television,” said Mr. Cue, a senior vice president who oversees the team in charge of the company’s original programming initiative. “So what skills does Apple bring to that? And the viewpoint is: very little. There’s other things we bring. We know how to create apps, we know how to do distribution, we know how to market. But we don’t really know how to create shows.”

And:

Since October, Apple has made deals for 12 projects, nine of them “straight-to-series” orders — an aggressive method of creating new programming that skips the pilot-episode stage.

When Apple began courting producers last year, it said it had a budget of about $1 billion to work with. Now it is becoming clear that the company will blow well past that figure.

And some numbers:

With the rise of streaming, the old Hollywood system is cracking. With plans to spend up to $8 billion on content in 2018, Netflix has committed to a strategy of offering something for everyone, and other companies have been tempted to try their luck in an increasingly crowded field. There were 487 scripted shows released last year, a number that will rise to more than 500 in 2018.

Apple recognizes the importance of playing in this space, recognizes the opportunity that comes from a major business model in transition. They’ve got the cash to aggressively move in, creating content on the fly. There will certainly be mistakes along the way, but this is a new frontier and Apple will learn by doing. I think this is smart, long term thinking.

I think this headline will defy Betteridge’s law and the answer will be yes.

Film festival head Theirry Fremaux, on allowing two Netflix films in the Palme d’Or competition last year:

“Last year, when we selected these two films, I thought I could convince Netflix to release them in cinemas. I was presumptuous, they refused.”

And:

At the time, Netflix tried to secure temporary permits to screen the films for less than a week in France, day-and-date to their online releases. That move wasn’t permitted because of France’s strict chronology laws and the two sides couldn’t reach an agreement.

As a result, the festival has changed the rules to require theatrical release in France.

And:

“We have to take into account the existence of these powerful new players: Amazon, Netflix and maybe soon Apple.”

The film industry is changing rapidly. The movie Unsane is in theaters right now. It was filmed exclusively using iPhones, no film cameras involved.

Netflix is being barred from Cannes competition because they do not show their films in theaters. Why not prohibit Unsane because it was not truly “filmed”? To me, this move shows Cannes as a purist, for sure, but also shows Cannes as a festival rooted in the past.

Open Culture:

Ray Ellis had a six-decade career as a producer, arranger, and jazz composer. And while he’s best known for arranging music for Billie Holiday’s Lady in Satin (1958), he also enjoyed a long career orchestrating music for television. Working under a pseudonym “Yvette Blais” (his wife’s name), Ellis composed background music for the cartoon studio Filmation between 1968 and 1982. And, during the late 60s, he notably created the background and incidental music for the original Spider-Man cartoons.

If you watch/listen to this, I guarantee you’ll be singing the theme song for the rest of the day.

Emojipedia:

In a submission to the Unicode Consortium today, Apple has proposed a suite of new “accessibility emojis”.

New emojis proposed include a guide dog, hearing aid, prosthetic limbs, as well as people using canes and different types of wheelchairs.

Here’s a link to Apple’s actual Unicode proposal with all the details.

Love that Apple thinks this way, that accessibility support is so ingrained in the culture.

RadioTimes:

“Right now, music streaming is a utility,” Iovine says. “All the services are exactly the same, they do the same trick. If one of them lowered their price the rest are toast, because there’s no unique offering.”

He suggests that Apple Music will have to look at the frontrunner in the film and TV streaming game, Netflix, and try to replicate its model in order to scale in any meaningful way.

And:

“Netflix has tons of original catalogue, six billion dollars worth of original content every year. That’s a value. All of the [music] streaming services have exactly the same catalogue and exactly the same music. And that’s partially due to the labels; they want it that way. But it’s not smart, and it will show in the end. Unless the streaming services become platforms and have something unique about them, they will not scale. Period.”

And:

“When Shawn Fanning started [music sharing site] Napster, he said, ‘I want to trade songs’,” Iovine says. “He didn’t say, ‘I want to destroy the record business’. So, right now, what engineers are saying – because I work with a lot of them – they’re saying, ‘This bit of communication between artist and audience is still flawed.”

Reading this article, I felt a great sense of deja vu. The reference to The Defiant Ones as new had me searching for a date, sure that this was an old interview. But this was posted yesterday, and Jimmy does point out moving to a consulting gig at Apple, which is certainly current news.

No matter, I thought Iovine’s comments are insightful. Apple clearly sees the value in a music business social network, having tried any number of kicks at the can with no big wins. But I’d like to see them try this again, both because I would love a more powerful way to share music, and because I know if Apple finally gets social right, that solution will respect my privacy.