Apple:

New technologies at the heart of the system make your Mac more reliable, capable, and responsive — and lay the foundation for future innovations. macOS High Sierra also refines the features and apps you use every day. It’s macOS at its highest level yet.

Along with all the other important announcements, Apple quietly posted the release date for High Sierra.

It was the first-ever event at the Steve Jobs Theater, a spectacular looking venue.

Apple has just wrapped today’s event and the link will take you to all of their PR for the products announced today. We’ll have other links to commentary as the day goes on.

Adam Lashinsky, Fortune:

We’re here to put a dent in the universe,” Steve Jobs once famously said. “Otherwise why else even be here?”

And:

For Jobs the dent that he intended for Apple to make in the universe revolved almost totally around creating new products that would change people’s lives. Those products would be gorgeous and useful and fun and surprising, but rarely “good” in and of themselves. Despite a hippie-dippie veneer and earnest marketing, Apple under Jobs was a ruthlessly efficient moneymaker that largely left social programs to others.

I just love that intro. That said, this is an interview with Tim Cook.

Terrific read, lots to process. Way too much to quote out here, but take the time to dig in. Be on the look out for Tim’s comments on how he sees Apple changing the world (products, education, environment, human rights), a discussion of high margins, the Apple economy, health and research, and a lot more.

Cyrus Farivar, Ars Technica:

According to security experts who have reviewed early developer versions of the forthcoming iOS 11, law enforcement will soon have a harder time conducting digital forensic searches of iPhones and iPads.

And:

Prior to this latest version of the firmware, in order for an iOS device to be “trusted” by a computer that it was physically connected to, that device had to be unlocked first via Touch ID or passcode. Next, the device would prompt the user: “Trust This Computer?” Only then could the entire device’s data could be extracted and imaged. Under iOS 11, this sequence has changed to also specifically require the passcode on the device after the “Trust This Computer?” prompt.

While the change may seem minor, the fact that the passcode will be specifically required as the final step before any data can be pulled off the phone means that law enforcement and border agents won’t have as much routine access to fully image a seized device.

Subtle change, interesting.

[H/T, The surreptitiously supercilious Not Jony Ive]

Jean-Louis Gassée, Monday Note:

Imagine the 1 pm Sunday scene with crowded sidewalks and sticky car traffic. In today’s world, pedestrians and drivers manage a peaceful if hiccuping coexistence. Through eye contact, nods, hand signals, and, yes, courteous restraint, pedestrians decide to sometimes forfeit their right-of-way and let a few cars come through. On the whole, drivers are equally patient and polite.

That’s the current picture. But with self-driving cars, what then?

Can we “algorithmicize” eye contact and stuttering restraint? Can an SD car acknowledge a pedestrian’s nod, or negotiate “turning rights” with a conventional vehicle?

No, we can’t. And we don’t appear to have a path to overcome such “mundane” challenges.

Great post by Jean-Louis, per usual. Read the whole thing.

Great observation from Benjamin Mayo:

If AirPods get refreshed tomorrow as expected, the first-generation will have never been in stock at https://t.co/2hpwHPHyeW.

— Benjamin Mayo (@bzamayo) September 11, 2017

A simple, but profound observation. To a business like Apple’s, inventory is the enemy. Inventory is sunk cost with the possibility of zero revenue in return. Yes, the AirPods did spend brief moments in stock, but this is as close to zero moments on the shelf as Apple products get.

Do the AirPods represent the future of Apple’s inventory management? Interesting.

Serenity Caldwell, iMore:

When I first heard about Android Wear last year, I thought the folks behind the OS were doing a lot of things right. And I still do: the approach to notifications is smart, custom watch faces are neat, and Google Now — while creepy — works exceptionally well at providing smart information for your day.

There’s only one problem: There’s not a single Android Wear device designed to fit a small-wristed person.

Read the post, check out the pictures. If there are new Apple Watch models, I hope they continue to each ship in both 38mm and 42mm sizes. Great design sense on Apple’s part.

Thanks to Hullo for sponsoring the Loop this week. Your pitiful old squishy pillow needs constant readjustment. It’s invariably too thick, too thin, sometimes just too warm. Flipping, folding and fluffing are getting in the way of your rest. You spend around one-third of your life on that pillow of yours. Try something different: a Hullo buckwheat pillow will conform perfectly to the shape of your body and provide comfortable cool support all night long without fuss. Hullo’s features include:

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Check out Hullo. Try it for 60 nights. If it’s not your favorite pillow, send it back for a refund.

The theory is that Siri can’t provide as much of a personal experience for its users because privacy is so important to Apple. Not so, says Apple:

“I think it is a false narrative,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s VP of product marketing. “It’s true that we like to keep the data as optimized as possible, that’s certainly something that I think a lot of users have come to expect, and they know that we’re treating their privacy maybe different than some others are.”

Joswiak argues that Siri can be every bit as helpful as other assistants without accumulating a lot of personal user data in the cloud, as companies like Facebook and Google are accustomed to doing. “We’re able to deliver a very personalized experience . . . without treating you as a product that keeps your information and sells it to the highest bidder. That’s just not the way we operate.”

BOOM!

More than two dozen lawsuits have been filed in the United States against Equifax Inc (EFX.N) after the credit reporting company said thieves may have stolen personal information for 143 million Americans in one of the largest hackings ever.

Equifax is in for a world of hurt.

Both Gruber and the BBC confirmed the iOS 11 GM came from an Apple employee. I don’t know how a person can accept a paycheck from a company and then turn around and screw them like this. They betrayed Apple and every single other person in the company.

Apple:

Join us here September 12 at 10 a.m. PDT to watch the keynote, the first-ever event at the Steve Jobs Theater.

Leaks or not, I’m really excited for this announcement.

Thanks to Jamf Now for sponsoring The Loop this week. Jamf Now is an on-demand mobile device management solution for the iPads, iPhones and Macs in your workplace. We make device management simple and affordable for everyone, so businesses can support their users; no IT required. Manage your first three devices for free and add more for just $2 per device per month. Get started for free today!

Amazing that you can see this from the street.

Michael Steeber, 9to5Mac:

When I went to sleep last Monday night, I had no idea that I’d open my eyes to dozens of confusing notifications and my Twitter account taken over by a security hacker group. It caught me completely off guard, but it didn’t have to be that way.

Hopefully by relaying my story and some hard lessons I learned along the way, I can help you avoid the same situation as you manage the safety and security of your online accounts and data.

Great read. Some important lessons learned.

Jan Dawson, Tech.pinions:

There’s been a lot of talk about Apple releasing a $1,000 iPhone next week, and a lot of pushback from financial analysts in particular on the idea that people would actually buy such a thing.

And:

In the US, the vast majority of premium smartphones are sold through the major wireless carriers, with the largest four being AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless. Each of those companies has been through a transition over the past few years away from the traditional subsidy model, under which customers paid a portion of the price of a phone up front, to a combination of installment and leasing models, where the cost of the phone is broken up into monthly payments.

And:

Compare that to current monthly prices for the base model iPhone 7 Plus, a phone that costs roughly $200 less to buy outright, which run from $25 to $36, and you’ll see that the real difference in price between a $770 phone and a $1000 phone isn’t $230 for most customers but a monthly price difference of anything from zero to $15.

Most interesting to me:

On top of that, bear in mind that the new iPhones are likely to be the biggest carrier switching event the US market has seen since 2014, so we’re going to see a lot of discounts, offers, and other promotions which lower the effective price even further.

A massive carrier switching event. Subtle point, big business. Keep that in mind as you explore your iPhone options next week.

CNBC:

Marvel and Star Wars titles will be streamed exclusively on the new Disney streaming platform when it launches in late 2019, according to Disney CEO Bob Iger.

“I have described a very rich, treasure trove of content for this app,” Iger said at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2017 Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference in Los Angeles on Thursday. “We’re going to launch big, and we’re going to launch hot.”

This is a chess move. More than anything else, it will impact Netflix, who have made waves with Marvel series such as Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Jessica Jones. Presumably, Netflix will lose the rights to carry these series once the Disney platform goes live in 2019.

It’d be interesting to see if Apple can make a deal with Disney to carry the Disney stream on Apple TV. After all, Apple has long had a historically close relationship with Disney, with Steve Jobs as the funder of Pixar and, before his death, as one of Disney’s largest shareholders.

[Side note: Even with the recent sale of half her Disney stock, Laurene Powell Jobs still owns a hefty chunk of the company.]

1. Here’s the official Equifax post about the massive hack.

2. Here’s the official site Equifax set up to see if your information was exposed. Beware of other sites masquerading as the real deal. I do not understand why they didn’t go with a subdomain, such as haveIbeenHacked.equifax.com or some such. More to the point, I don’t understand why you have to enroll in their service to see if you are affected, even if it is free.

3. Three Equifax execs sold almost $2 million of stock after the breach, but before the announcement. Even assuming they were not aware of the breach when they sold their stock, they will still benefit from a situation of their own making.

Not crazy about the way this is playing out.

UPDATE: According to this tweet, if you sign up with Equifax to check to see if your information was compromised, you waive your rights to sue Equifax or to be part of a class action suit. Can this be correct? [H/T @varunorcv]

Authorities said Brett Kennedy gave fellow University of Washington alumnus Maziar Rezakhani nonpublic information from Amazon’s database, showing that the retailer would lose less money and report higher revenue for the first quarter of 2015 than Wall Street expected, in exchange for $10,000 cash.

Oh my.

And

Rezakhani, also 28, pleaded guilty in July 2016 to mail fraud, bank fraud and filing a false tax return after being accused of defrauding Apple Inc AAPL.O, a small bank and various shippers in connection with his iPhone resale business.

This guy is crooked in everything he does.

The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) launched a search on Wednesday for asset managers to take care of the money as it is held in escrow while the Government and Apple appeal a 2016 European Commission decision that Apple received €13 billion in illegal state aid in the decade to 2014.

This is going to be an incredibly long process, so the money needs to be managed wisely.

Time:

Many of the women Luisa photographed—Oprah Winfrey, Hillary Clinton, Aretha Franklin, Serena Williams, among others—have been photographed throughout their careers by some of the greatest photographers in the world. And most photo shoots involve a photographer with multiple lighting assistants, production assistants and crews of helpers.

As Luisa told me in our interview, which you can read here, many of them were disarmed by her stripped-down, bare-bones process. The iPhone has become so ubiquitous in our culture, so essential to the way we are communicating, that our subjects, I think, were at first surprised that something so basic was being used for something as singular as a portrait for TIME.

These are wonderful photos of amazing women. That they were shot so quickly on something as “simple” as an iPhone (and three different models at that) shows the power of the device in the hands of an accomplished photographer.

Wired:

This fall, when iOS 11 hits millions of iPhones and iPads around the world, the new software will give Siri a new voice. It doesn’t include many new features or tell better jokes, but you’ll notice the difference. Siri now takes more pauses in sentences, elongates syllables right before a pause, and the speech lilts up and down as it speaks. The words sound more fluid and Siri speaks more languages, too. It’s nicer to listen to, and to talk to.

Anything Apple can do to make Siri better is welcome. I’ve heard comments from iOS 11 beta testers that Siri sounds different. I just want “her” to work better.

Health:

So, you say you’re not flexible? Join the club. Many factors can contribute to a less-than-bendy body, from genetics to the weather outside. Age and gender also play a role, as men and older people tend to be less flexible than the young and females. But that doesn’t mean you should rule out yoga, says Chrissy Carter, creator of Beginning Yoga by Gaiam ($10; amazon.com) and a NYC-based yoga instructor. Carter says these moves will help you feel calmer, sleep better, and yes, get more flexible.

I’ve always been about as flexible as a plank but, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve really noticed a significant additional stiffening. My SO is an accomplished yoga practitioner and has encouraged me to start off slow doing these kinds of poses.

FastCoDesign:

Chinese researchers have discovered a terrifying vulnerability in voice assistants from Apple, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Samsung, and Huawei. It affects every iPhone and Macbook running Siri, any Galaxy phone, any PC running Windows 10, and even Amazon’s Alexa assistant.

Using a technique called the DolphinAttack, a team from Zhejiang University translated typical vocal commands into ultrasonic frequencies that are too high for the human ear to hear, but perfectly decipherable by the microphones and software powering our always-on voice assistants. This relatively simple translation process lets them take control of gadgets with just a few words uttered in frequencies none of us can hear.

First things first, this is not terrifying. But it is interesting.

You can watch a demo in the video embedded below. Not sure there’s a software fix to prevent this. Seems to me the audio in processor would have to have access to the frequency of the audio coming in, then filter it if it was outside some specified audible range.

Not sure this threat, which seems relatively minor, is worth the effort.

Also, DolphinAttack, cool name.

Use Photos on the Mac? Spend a few minutes going through this writeup by Lory Gil. Terrific walkthrough of the People naming process/options.

Scotty Allen:

I’ve spent the past four months in Shenzhen, China, modifying an iPhone 7 to add a fully functional headphone jack. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time anyone has done anything like this.

In April, I decided to finally upgrade my iPhone 6s to an iPhone7 to get better camera quality for the videos I was shooting when I was out on adventures in the industrial markets and manufacturing world. But I was super annoyed that it doesn’t have a headphone jack! I already have headphones I really liked, and I didn’t like the idea of having to keep track of an adapter just to use them.

So I figured I’d add my own – after all, how hard could it be?

It turns out, really really hard. But possible.

Great self-interview. This is the guy who made his own iPhone 6s from scrounged parts. He’s open-sourced his design, if you are of a mind to do this yourself.

My favorite question:

Q: How much did it cost?

A: I haven’t kept perfect track, but I’ve spent easily thousands of dollars on this project. I’ve bought 3 iPhone 7s to take apart, a handful of new screens, several handfuls of backs I mutilated, and countless other parts I broke. I paid a factory to do 7 manufacturing runs of circuit boards. And oh god the headphone adapters. I bought lots and lots of official Apple headphone adapters to take apart.

Love it. Watch Scotty doing his magic in the video below.