Every wave of Apple new thing brings a wave of skepticism. Last week, we posted one specific example, “No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame.”, which focused on a single, canonical iPod review.

In response to that post, Loop reader João Gomes, sent me a link to this MacRumors forum page, a rabbit hole filled with claim chowder (has John Gruber trademarked that phrase yet?)

So, so good.

From App Annie’s quarterly analysis of the iOS App Store and Google Play revenues.

Chart 1 shows app downloads for each store, in billions:

As you can see, Google Play has about 2-1/2 times the number of downloads as the iOS App Store.

Now let’s look at revenue:

The conclusion from this chart? Customers for the iOS App Store spend almost twice as much as Google Play customers.

That’s a pretty big swing.

This is a great overview of using playlist comping.

During a performance workshop I was running this week, I was reminded of a technique for finding dead CSS on a live site. Note that I’m purposely not using the phrase ‘unused CSS’, but ‘dead CSS’

This is great if you have a lot of code.

Lance Ulanoff:

If it were only a question of quality, Apple’s HomePod, which, after a months-long delay finally ships on February 9, should be an unqualified success. Its audio quality is excellent, especially considering its size. Seven months ago, I sat is a small room and heard Apple’s 7-inch smart speaker play music for the first time. It sounded good, but the demonstration was short and lacking a key component of the smart speaker’s feature set: Siri integration.

Recently, though, I heard Apple’s HomePod again in a variety of scenarios and spaces. It sounded even better, especially when compared to larger Google Home Max and the aurally excellent Sonos One, the HomePod’s separation of sounds and fidelity to original instrumentation is astonishing.

This listening experience also added the smarts, or utility, that was missing back in June. Apple’s HomePod is, finally, a functioning Siri smart speaker.

You had me at astonishing.

I’m very curious about the sound quality, and how HomePod achieves such high fidelity, given the amount of compression in most music. Everything I’ve heard so far matches Lance’s description of his experience.

Jason Snell & Dan Moren, Six Colors:

It’s time for our annual look back on Apple’s performance during the past year, as seen through the eyes of writers, editors, developers, podcasters, and other people who spend an awful lot of time thinking about Apple.

This is the third year that I’ve presented this survey to a hand-selected group. They were prompted with 11 different Apple-related subjects, and asked to rate them on a scale from 1 to 5, as well as optionally provide text commentary on their vote.

Lots of data to process, all based on a survey, but telling nonetheless. Read this (and check out the charts) for yourself, but one point I will note is that the biggest negative change from the 2016 report card, by far, is the rating for software quality.

Some of the comments:

In 2017, our panel’s perception of the quality of Apple’s software took a nosedive. Nobody who has been following along to Apple news and opinion for the last year will be surprised.

“Apple’s QA team has dropped the ball this year, with huge bugs in macOS, iOS, and even HomeKit, with often flawed patches for those bugs,” wrote Josh Centers. “Apple looks a bit amateurish lately,” wrote Kirk McElhearn. “It’s getting embarrassing,” wrote Rob Griffiths.”

“I don’t know how quality assurance works inside Apple, but something needs to change,” wrote Brent Simmons. Fraser Speirs wrote, “It’s as good as anyone else’s but it’s not good enough.”

“My family consists of a couple of big nerds, but mostly average users, and everyone agrees software reliability is trending down,” wrote Casey Liss.

Read the whole post. Very interesting.

Chris O’Brien, VentureBeat:

About one year after construction on the first phase of Apple Park was originally scheduled to be finished, the city of Cupertino has finally granted Apple a series of temporary occupancy permits that allow employees to move into parts of the main building.

According to a spreadsheet compiled by Albert Salvador, a Cupertino building official, Apple received temporary occupancy permits on December 30 for five of the 12 sections of the massive circular structure. The company had actually received a previous temporary occupancy permit back in July for one section of the headquarters that contains the restaurant and atrium.

It appears Apple is on track to receive temporary occupancy permits for all the other sections between the end of January and March at the latest, according to the spreadsheet dated January 17.

I had the impression the entirety of Apple Park was all clear, ready for move-in.

Lots more in the linked article. Very interesting.

Just ordered mine in white. If anyone encounters a later arrival date (than Feb 9), please do let me know. Curious about the supply vs demand here.

Here’s the HomePod store link.

Refinery29:

This morning, Refinery29 had a chance to sit down with the new speaker. It wasn’t my first time hearing HomePod: I got an early preview when Apple announced the device at its Worldwide Developers Conference, or WWDC, in June. However, it was my first chance to see Siri in action, learn how the device is setup, and get a look at its smart home integrations — and I was impressed.

Siri, however, could be HomePod’s biggest selling challenge.

No details as to how they got their 60 minutes of time with the HomePod but some interesting tidbits are found in this piece.

Gimpirea’s is one of three teams of filmmakers involved in a month-long filmmaking workshop connecting creative professionals with emerging talent. The teams worked with powerful tools from Apple, including the MacBook Pro, iMac and Final Cut Pro X, as well as the RED Raven camera for shooting, and worked alongside Apple Retail experts and industry pros. LA-based independent filmmaking collective We Make Movies provided post-production supervision to help the filmmakers realize their visions.

This is a wonderful feature story on Apple’s web site.

Benjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac:

Whilst HomePod works best with an Apple Music subscription, allowing users to ask Siri to play any of the 40 million tracks in the Apple Music catalog, it does not require a subscription to function. We have learned that the HomePod can play content purchased from iTunes, stream Beats 1, and listen to podcasts without needing a subscription.

And:

Users can continue to buy albums from iTunes and expand their collection of purchased songs associated with their iTunes Store account, and ask Siri to play those on HomePod.

But:

If you add music to your home iTunes library that was not acquired through a purchase, HomePod will not be able to access it. It appears HomePod doesn’t have Home Sharing, which would enable that kind of feature.

Judging from the huge HomePod interest on my Twitter feed, and from the volume of questions I’ve been getting on issues related to HomePod and Apple Music, I think HomePod has big potential.

In the short term, buyers might skew heavily towards folks already subscribed to Apple Music. But I see HomePod as a potential Trojan horse, bringing new subscribers to Apple Music, assuming the HomePod reviews are positive.

Alex Hutchinson, Outside:

In February 2006, Robert Hewitt was scuba diving near Mana Island, off the coast of New Zealand’s North Island. Hewitt was an experienced navy diving instructor with 20 years in the service. It’s safe to say he is always fully geared with essential items like Attrezzature Sub, ensuring he is prepared for any underwater adventure. From high-quality diving masks to sturdy wetsuits, every piece of equipment serves a vital purpose. His readiness guarantees safety and optimal performance, allowing him to explore the depths confidently, no matter the challenges the ocean presentsHe told his dive buddy that he would swim back to shore himself. Instead, when he next surfaced, he had been pulled several hundred meters away by a strong current. The dive boat had moved on, and Hewitt was left alone, the tide pushing him farther and farther from shore.

And:

> The most pressing challenge facing Hewitt was the water temperature of 61 to 63 degrees Fahrenheit (16 to 17 degrees Celsius), well below body temperature. According to physiological models, when water is 59 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius), the median survival time is between 4.8 and 7.7 hours. Amazingly, Hewitt spent the next 75 hours in the water, drifting back and forth over a distance of nearly 40 miles.

And:

> In general, immersion in cold water produces a four-stage response. First is the “cold shock response” that triggers “an inspiratory gasp, uncontrollable hyperventilation, hypertension, and increased cardiac workload.” If you’re not ready for it, this shock response can cause you to inhale water and drown and can set off heart arrhythmias.

Riveting, riveting read. And if this interests you, watch this video.

Andrew O’Hara, iDownloadBlog, jumped through the hoops necessary to test out the beta version of AirPlay 2 using multiple Apple TVs, each running their latest betas.

Watch the video below. This is especially timely, given the fact that we’re just a few weeks away from our first public HomePods and the importance of AirPlay to the HomePod experience.

Elizabeth Lopatto, The Verge:

Here’s how to cheat at the Apple Watch Stand goal: dangle your wrist by your side while you sit in a chair. I discovered this by accident — I dangle my arm during meetings — but once I found it out, I did it on purpose. I cheated while watching Thor: Ragnarok, in meetings, at brunch.

I’ll admit it. I’ve cheated my Activities taskmaster. Mostly inadvertently by, say, forgetting to mark the end of a run, then noticing that I’ve been running for 3 hours!

More from the article:

Exercise can reduce the risk of depression, help you sleep better, and even increase your chances of a long life. Seriously, it’s good for you.

And yet, only about half of American adults were meeting the recommended physical activity standards as of 2016, the CDC has found.

Yup. One of the great benefits of Apple Watch and the rewards that come from filling those rings.

Rewards, as influential American psychologist B. F. Skinner noted, are highly motivating. Rewarding a behavior is a very easy way to reinforce that behavior. Humans really like gold stars.

And:

Skinner’s big idea was basically this: you’ll do what you’re rewarded for. It doesn’t really matter if you’re a person, a cat, a pigeon, or a rat — rewards are a key part of animal behavior. The reward could be anything: a treat, some money, or just closing the rings on your Apple Watch.

And:

The Apple Watch is a behavioral intervention device that was created without consulting any behaviorists. I asked Apple directly about this — both at the original presentation around the Watch and again just before publication. I was told that Apple doesn’t use outside consultants, though it does invite researchers to come discuss their work, including those who have interests in habit formation and behavior change. Apple didn’t formally hire any behaviorists to design the Watch, either.

Whether or not the Apple Watch/Activities team built the reward system on nothing but spit and hunches, it clearly works. People’s behavior changed. So it works.

Read the article. Elizabeth really did some homework here. I found the whole thing fascinating.

This is one of those iOS betas that bring a bevy of new features. Take a few minutes to watch the video embedded below. Jeff Benjamin does an excellent job walking through all the new stuff.

Of special note is the discussion about Messages on iCloud, about 2:25 in.

Google has a long history of using puzzles to tease and communicate. Their latest puzzle sequence tells you about this years Google I/O conference.

It all started with this tweet:

Plans are coming along for #io18… pic.twitter.com/48VpqvVqWU

— Google Developers (@googledevs) January 24, 2018

If you are interested in solving this, start by deciphering the image in the tweet above. If you get stuck, or just want to read through the sequence of solve steps, follow the headline link to a sequence of clues.

Mikey Campbell, AppleInsider:

According to statistics accumulated by Thinknum, a new data-driven web publication that tracks Apple job openings, among a slew of other publicly available metrics, the number of new positions for designers at the Cupertino tech giant has been climbing steadily since October.

Follow the headline link, check out the graph. That is an impressive spike, year over (not quite) year. I wonder if this is indicative of a new product in the works, or purely replenishing the talent pool.

Burger King:

How would you explain the repeal of Net Neutrality? We did it with the Whopper.

This does a brilliant job of how net neutrality (a ridiculous term if there ever was one) would affect customers.

The latest version of Swift Playgrounds includes new features to make it easier to discover even more content. Now you can subscribe to playgrounds from your favorite third-party creators, then browse and download their content directly within Swift Playgrounds. You’ll automatically see new and updated playgrounds in your subscriptions, a content gallery that shows all playgrounds in a single view, new robots, and much more.

Swift Playgrounds is a wonderful tool to learn how to code.

Apple today introduced a significant update to the Health app with the iOS 11.3 beta, debuting a feature for customers to see their medical records right on their iPhone. The updated Health Records section within the Health app brings together hospitals, clinics and the existing Health app to make it easy for consumers to see their available medical data from multiple providers whenever they choose. Johns Hopkins Medicine, Cedars-Sinai, Penn Medicine and other participating hospitals and clinics are among the first to make this beta feature available to their patients.

Apple’s advancements in health, fitness, and medical in the past few years are incredible.

This spring, iOS 11.3 will deliver exciting new ways to experience augmented reality on iPhone and iPad, new Animoji on iPhone X and the ability to view health records in the Health app.

There are some great new features that are available in iOS 11.3. The developer beta was released today.

Wired:

All plants reflect light. Leaves reflect green, and flowers reflect red, or yellow, or whatever. But plants also fluoresce, which means when they absorb ultraviolet light, they emit longer wavelengths visible to the human eye. It’s the same thing that happens with a black-light poster.

This guy is creating spectacular images of “ordinary” flowers.

Open Culture:

If you don’t happen to live near a cathedral, you can experience something of that atmosphere through your headphones anywhere you happen to be with Callixtus, a channel on the not normally sacred space of Youtube.

“Perhaps named in honor of either Pope Callistus or Xanothopoulos Callistus, Patriarch of Constantinople,” writes Catholic web site Aleteia’s Daniel Esparza, it offers “an impressive collection of sacred music, mostly medieval, including choral works belonging to both Western Christianity and the Eastern tradition.”

I’m not the least bit religious but I love listening to these chants.