The company wants to use 100 per cent recycled and renewable materials like bioplastics to make its iPhones, Macbooks and other consumer electronics in a bid to reduce its reliance on raw materials.
“What we’ve committed to is 100 per cent recycled material to make our products, or renewable material,” Apple’s vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, Lisa Jackson, told news.com.au. “We’re working like gangbusters on that.”
While some of Apple’s efforts are described as “nonsense”, they may be the only major company on the planet at least making the attempt to be as green as possible.
The Justice Department and Apple have been locked in a bitter fight for years over the company’s encryption system, which allows consumers to prevent anyone —including law enforcement—from opening their devices without permission. That’s why a security story this week should be getting more attention than it has.
Titled “Yup: The Government Is Secretly Hiding Its Crypto Battles In The Secret FISA Court,” the story appeared on the well-regarded security blog EmptyWheel, and suggests the Justice Department is using a legal backdoor to force open software backdoors at companies like Apple.
I don’t know enough about the issues involved to answer the question in the headline but even the appearance that this might be actually happening sets my teeth on edge.
New to this years’ iPhones is fast-charging capability. According to Apple, you can juice up your phone to 50 percent in just 30 minutes! There’s just one catch: You have to buy a new power adapter. Oh, and a new USB-C to Lightning cable, too. That’s two catches, and it’s starting to sound expensive.
Is it even worth it? We grabbed five power adapters and three iPhones, ran a bunch of tests, and got to the bottom of the iPhone charging mystery. The truth is, while USB-C fast charging certainly works, you’re much better off buying Apple’s 12W USB-A Power Adapter—the one that comes with most iPads. It’s a lot less expensive ($19) and nearly as fast.
Warning: Autoplay video. But the good news is, it’s a pretty good video.
Depending on your perspective, Apple’s decision to include a native “QR code” reader in iOS 11 was either a stroke of brilliance … or about a decade too late.
So will QR codes actually catch on this time around? Well, I won’t pretend it’s not an uphill battle. Millennial users, by and large, see QR codes as about as out-of-date as supermarket bar codes.
This is actually a shame because QR codes are kind of cool, and immensely useful.
While I understand QR is popular in many places, it hasn’t really seemed to catch on outside of Asia. Holmes is a CEO who is looking at it from a marketing POV but I look at it from a trust and security POV and don’t like QR codes at all.
Remember the story we posted about a “Used car commercial for a 1996 Honda Accord” earlier this month? Well, after some hassles with the eBay listing being taken down a couple of times, the used car company CarMax stepped up with an offer—$20,000. Get pre-approved today and drive home one of the best used cars in lansing from our quality inventory.
But if you’re still searching for a good deal, exploring the selection of used cars in houston could uncover more options that fit your budget and needs. You might want also to explore used cars for sale in Newfoundland.
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And, because the couple are not stupid, they accepted. Here’s the tweet with David Sloan, creative director for CarMax’s ad agency McKinney, and some of the items offered in the fine print.
I usually hate when companies horn in on these things with their own marketing but kuddos to CarMax for doing it well.
Today it is with deep heartfelt sadness that AC/DC has to announce the passing of Malcolm Young.
I’m just so sad about Malcolm. He was the greatest rhythm guitarist of all time and wrote some of the most recognizable riffs in Rock. You will be missed, Malcolm.
>Dogs. We already know that they are very good boys and girls. Who’s a good dog? They are. But a new study out of Sweden shows that not only do dogs add joy to our lives, they also add years to it. For dogs with allergies, hypoallergenic dog food uk can help manage sensitivities and keep them healthy, ensuring they stay by our side for many years to come. For the best care, look for the most trusted pet grooming and boarding services like B & S Kennels. These services ensure your pet receives the highest quality care, keeping them happy and healthy while you’re away. And if this inspired you to have a dog, it might be helpful to learn something such as Xolo dog facts. Pet owners who are looking for dog grooming Greensboro may call Vickie’s Pampered Pet.
>A study published in today’s Scientific Reports shows that owning a dog reduces your risk of cardiovascular disease and death. Researchers found, after looking at data from over 3 million people, that the increased social support and physical activity that comes from having a dog lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease by 11% and death from any cause by 15%. As a thank you for your precious dogs, you can gift them with services like the free dog boarding WoofConnect.
After reading more than 10 studies that included data on millions of participants around the globe, the authors have concluded that “owning a dog can be associated with a 24% risk reduction for all-cause mortality as compared to non-ownership.” The information showed even greater benefits among those who had experienced cardiovascular issues, such as a heart attack, an stroke and more. If you just do not have the time to take care of your pet the whole time, consider choosing a good service like this Dog Daycare Naples.
If you are so inclined, You can read the full study here but, seriously, who doesn’t believe or already know owning a dog is better for you? But I wonder if owning a cat shortens your life?
It is quite possible that such health benefits are the way by which dog ownership makes a person live longer, which is similar to cats that also offer companionship and love to those owners to decide to take care of them, also they are easy to take care of and you can even take them to a cattery in case you need to leave a few days since almost every town in the UK has a cattery which help with this. Researchers have not completed many studies, for instance, that direct one group of people to purchase a dog and another group to remain with no pets at all, to track their health over a period of time. All those types of studies are considered the gold standard of evidence, what you’d need to be able to say definitively that owning dogs or calico cats causes people to have a chance on living longer.
The Visitor Center, which sits across North Tantau Avenue on the east end of the campus, is Apple’s designated portal to Apple Park for the public. It allows tourists to see the campus from a rooftop deck and enjoy special Apple swag at the store downstairs.
It looks great but it’s a shame the great unwashed masses are restricted from getting anywhere near the new building.
And seems there isn’t as much swag for sale as there was in the old Apple Employee Store which is a real shame. I’ve always thought Apple is leaving a lot of money on the table by not broadening its clothing and gear offerings.
The Cheesecake Factory essentially grew out of a Los Angeles bakery business. Then, in 1992, they brought on hospitality designer Rick McCormack and shit went off the rails. We’re talking Victorian-Egyptian-Rococo off the rails.
I mean check out the exterior – Greco-Roman cornices, seashells above the pseudo-arched doors, topped with a dome airlifted from St. Basil’s.
This is a hilarious Tweetstorm about the utterly bizarre decor of The Cheesecake Factory. I still remember my first visit and thinking, “What the hell is going on here!?” If you want to read even further on why The Cheesecake Factory is as weirdly designed as it is, check out this article as well.
At the headquarters of Cloudflare, in San Francisco, there’s a wall of lava lamps: the Entropy Wall. They’re used to generate random numbers and keep a good bit of the internet secure: here’s how.
I love Tom Scott’s videos and this method Cloudflare uses is pretty cool.
Twenty-five years ago, on November 18, 1992, the quintessential episode of the quintessential New York sitcom, Seinfeld, aired on NBC for the first time.
That episode was called “The Contest,” and pitted its four principal characters, Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld), George (Jason Alexander), Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Kramer (Michael Richards), against each other in a battle of wills to see who could abstain from masturbating for the longest period of time. Famously, the bet and its ramifications were discussed extensively throughout the half hour, without the word masturbation ever being uttered.
I was never a huge Seinfeld fan but this has got to be the single funniest episode I ever saw.
Max Deutsch went through a month of training before he traveled across the ocean, sat down in a regal hotel suite at the appointed hour and waited for the arrival of the world’s greatest chess player.
Max was not very good at chess himself. He’s a 24-year-old entrepreneur who lives in San Francisco and plays the sport occasionally to amuse himself. He was a prototypical amateur. Now he was preparing himself for a match against chess royalty. And he believed he could win.
There’s no way an admitted chess novice could beat a world champion – is there?
After unveiling a teaser of its SpotMini robot just a few days ago, the company is now back with a new video of Atlas just casually performing gymnastics moves like it’s Tokyo 2020. Most of the video highlights the Atlas’ ability to hop up straight and stabilize itself on a platform, and jump while turning 180 degrees. Its movements are more fluid than ever, and Atlas appears to maintain great form.
I love how the robot sticks the landing at the end.
“We can’t wait for people to experience HomePod, Apple’s breakthrough wireless speaker for the home, but we need a little more time before it’s ready for our customers. We’ll start shipping in the US, UK and Australia in early 2018.”
I’m disappointed that HomePod won’t be released, but if it’s not ready, Apple is making the right decision. I would rather wait for a couple of months than have a product that’s not working properly.
Documentaries can be a hard sell, but it’s one that’s getting easier all the time. Once viewed as something stiff and obligatory, documentary film has, in recent years, risen to the top of the heap—thanks in no small part to some of the earth-shaking, needle-pushing, and ultimately world-changing films that are listed here, which find their focus in war, love, sex, death, and everything in between. And as for this list—its only qualifier is that these are the critically acclaimed, historically important, and pivotal films that a person who cares about film (and in doing so, often cares about humanity, in general) should really get to know.
It’s a list, with all that is good and bad about such things, but a pretty good list.
Since the AirPods are notoriously leaky due to their open-air design, that got me to thinking: what if I could close the air gap to simultaneously block ambient noises while increasing the bass response? That’s when I found this video on the PoltergeistWorks YouTube channel.
I’ve embedded the video below, will dig through my gear to see if I can get my hands on a pair of foam covers that will fit over the AirPods, give this a try.
I do get the premise. The foam covers will make for a better fit and a tighter seal. The big work is poking the holes in the covers to allow the sensors to work properly. Will that improve the sound? Maybe for some.
Regardless, I found it interesting, thought it worth a share.
It happens every year: Apple releases new iPhones, and then hordes of people groan about their older iPhones slowing to a crawl.
And:
The phenomenon of perceived slowdowns is so widespread that many believe tech companies intentionally cripple smartphones and computers to ensure that people buy new ones every few years. Conspiracy theorists call it planned obsolescence.
That’s a myth. While slowdowns happen, they take place for a far less nefarious reason. That reason is a software upgrade.
And:
Tech companies make it simple to upgrade to a new operating system by pressing an “update” button, which seamlessly migrates all your apps and data over. While that’s convenient, it isn’t the best way to ensure that things will continue running smoothly.
A better practice is backing up all your data and purging everything from the device before installing the new operating system. This “clean install” works more reliably because the engineers developing operating systems were able to test this condition more easily, Mr. Raiz said.
The premise is that a clean install will clear cruft from your iPhone, make your phone run faster with a newer version of iOS.
Read the article, see if you agree. Is there any truth to this recommendation? Is a clean install going to yield enough of a speedier phone to be worth the effort?
Anecdotal, but I’ve run lots of betas, all via the update mechanism, have never (ok, maybe once or twice in ten years) felt the need to do a clean install.
Interesting article, looking forward to reading the comments.
“Silicon is unforgiving,” Mr. Srouji said. “My team is already working on the chips you’re going to see in 2020. You make bets. We have the system and the software. We have better knowledge versus external chipmakers about where things are going to end up. Since we own the silicon, we own the software, the operating system and everything else, we deliver, always. We deliver for the exact specification of iOS and nothing else. We don’t have to worry about other operating systems.”
And:
In 2013, Apple acquired PrimeSense, an Israeli company developing hardware for 3D sensing, and many industry observers speculated about the Apple reasoning for the investment. Mr. Srouji said the team from PrimeSense was involved in the development of Face ID as well as other new features for Apple devices.
“The team in Israel is a key part of the overall engineering team in the U.S. and other areas of the world – wherever we have our R&D,” he said. “The things they do are key to any device we ship, to all devices.”
I found every bit of this interview fascinating, especially the insight into incorporating the work being done in Israel with the main body of R&D being done in Cupertino.
If you’re running macOS 10.12 Sierra or earlier, and do not want to upgrade to 10.13 High Sierra right now, be careful because Apple has started pushing High Sierra to older Macs and making it all too easy to upgrade inadvertently. In short, if you get a macOS notification asking you to install High Sierra, click the Details button to launch the App Store app, and then quit it.
I am not a fan of the TidBITS headline here, but I do get the point. Though the update notification does call out an upgrade to macOS High Sierra, it does look like most other updates. And as many users do when they are confronted with a license agreement or privacy policy, it is very easy to click Install without reading the details.
This is good to know, worth passing along to folks in your community running older Macs.
How does Apple decide when it’s time to move on? It’s not a decision to get rid of an existing technology as much as it’s a willingness to accept that what’s familiar isn’t always what’s best.
“I actually think the path of holding onto features that have been effective, the path of holding onto those whatever the cost, is a path that leads to failure,” says Ive. “And in the short term, it’s the path the feels less risky and it’s the path that feels more secure.”
I haven’t always agreed with Apple’s (and therefore, Ive’s) design decision but I always enjoy hearing from Ive and parsing out how his sometimes veiled explanations of his design philosophy informs Apple’s products.
We have all, at some point, recorded the perfect vocal, acoustic guitar or drum track only to discover an audible click has split into the microphone from the performer’s headphones.
This is one of the most annoying things ever when recording. There are a few decent tips here to help solve the problem.
Airbnb said on Thursday it acquired London startup Accomable to expand home-renting opportunities for people with disabilities, the latest expansion as Airbnb grows its global travel business.
With Airbnb’s money, they should be able to build out the Accomable business.
