Lory Gil has a great post on what you get with Hulu’s new Live TV option. I’ll be honest, I’ve looked at all of these services, but I’m not convinced yet.

Amazon.com Inc told Whole Foods Market Inc (WFM.O) it would not engage in a sale process for the U.S. grocer that involved other bidders, a regulatory filing showed on Friday, shedding new light on the $13.7 billion acquisition.

The previously undisclosed details on the negotiations show how Amazon used its deep pockets and brand as leverage to convince Whole Foods to accept a sale process that would not result in a bidding war.

Very smart move on Amazon’s part—look for other bids and we’re out. It doesn’t sound like the other people would have offered more than Amazon anyway.

Open Culture:

The singer’s near four-octave range “made his live performances an incredible sight to watch” and his recordings a stirring experience to listen to, whether they showcased his own material or his unique talent for covering songs across a spectrum of styles and genres. “The imposing architecture” of Cornell’s voice, writes Pitchfork in a retrospective of some of his finest recorded moments, “was part and parcel to his legacy, but it would be nothing if he didn’t also know how to brilliantly arrange it.”

Keep that in mind as you listen to the isolated vocal track embedded below. The vocals don’t kick in until about 20 seconds in. Listen to the subtle changes, both in tone and in mode (key changes, major to minor, etc.) Chris died a few months ago, but I just stumbled on this video. We’ve lost quite a voice.

Stack Exchange:

I currently work on a legacy system for a company. The system is really old – and although I was hired as a programmer, my job is pretty much glorified data entry. To summarise, I get a bunch of requirements, which is literally just lots of data for each month on spreadsheets and I have to configure the system to make it work, which is basically just writing a whole bunch of SQL scripts.

And:

So I’ve been doing it for about 18 months and in that time, I’ve basically figured out all the traps to the point where I’ve actually written a program which for the past 6 months has been just doing the whole thing for me. So what used to take the last guy like a month, now takes maybe 10 minutes to clean the spreadsheet and run it through the program.

Where’s the author’s obligation? To their employer, or to themselves? Is the company paying for the problem to be solved, or for the employee’s time?

To me, the “I’m doing something wrong” alarm went off pretty early on in the conversation. But not everyone feels this way. If the company has no obligation to keep the employee employed once the shortcuts are revealed, does the employee have the “self harming” obligation to reveal those shortcuts?

Motherboard:

In August 2016, Apple’s head of security Ivan Krstic stole the show at one of the biggest security conferences in the world with an unexpected announcement.

“I wanna share some news with you,” Krstic said at the Black Hat conference, before announcing that Apple was finally launching a bug bounty program to reward friendly hackers who report bugs to the company.

The crowd erupted in enthusiastic applause. But almost a year later, the long-awaited program appears to be struggling to take off, with no public evidence that hackers have claimed any bug bounties.

And at the core of it all:

The iPhone’s security is so tight that it’s hard to find any flaws at all, which leads to sky-high prices for bugs on the grey market.

The question is, are the bugs valuable enough for Apple to raise their bounties to compete with the grey market?

AppleWorld Today:

Future Macs may “wake up” when they detect your presence and take action based on exactly where you are. Apple has filed for a patent (number 20170193282) for “presence sensing.”

The “presence-based functionality” method may include operating the Mac in a reduced power state and collecting a first set of data from a first sensor. Based on the first set of data, the computer determines if an object is within a threshold distance of the Mac.

Some interesting possibilities here. Your Mac could rise to a low-power awareness mode when you are nearby, then power up more fully as more criteria are met. I’d like to see my Mac wake up, bring Safari to the front, then update the specific set of tabs I invariably read through every morning, with one set on weekdays (my Loop prep) and a different set on weekends (my feet up, coffee on the porch reading).

Part of the focus of this patent is more efficient power management. Which would react one way to me watching a video, another to my creating content (by typing/clicking), and another to my turning on some music, then running silent.

CNBC:

Microsoft announced a major reorganization on Wednesday that will include thousands of layoffs, largely in sales.

The job cuts amount to less than 10 percent of the company’s total sales force, and about 75 percent of them will be outside the U.S., the company said.

This is not nearly the same thing as the SoundCloud office-closing report.

Microsoft has more than 120,000 employees, and the layoffs are focused on the sales team. Microsoft knows how to make money. This is more of a refocus.

Cyrus Farivar, Ars Technica:

SoundCloud announced Thursday that it would be closing its San Francisco and London offices—firing 173 employees, or around 40 percent of its staff.

The Berlin-based company has been struggling for years: it reported losses of over €51 million ($58.1 million) in 2015—losses that have steadily grown since 2010.

What to do about this? SoundCloud offers real value to the community, but can’t find a way to make it pay. Somehow GitHub made it work. Is GitHub worth more to developers than SoundCloud is to the audio community?

Ken Segall:

I get that Intel Inside is one of the most successful marketing campaigns in business history. It’s just that after 36 years, that logo starts to feel more like a pollutant than an advertising device.

Thankfully, Macs have remained 100% free of Intel branding since Apple adopted its processors way back in 2006.

We have Steve Jobs’s sensibilities to thank for this. But how it all happened is a fun little story.

No spoilers, a fun read, another great little Steve Jobs anecdote.

UPDATE: The internet remembers everything. Here’s video of the “stickers” quote, about 40s in.

[H/T John Kordyback]

Check the pictures. These look pretty well done. You can send in your AirPods, they’ll paint them for $99, or buy them direct from the site for $279/$299 depending on the finish.

Pricey, but interesting.

Space Jam website, still up and running. Wow!

I’ve always been a Strat fan, love these playlists. Here’s a link to the Fender playlist page. Enjoy.

Korea Herald:

The English version of Samsung Electronics’ voice-assistant service Bixby has been delayed because the firm lacks the accumulation of big data, which is key to deep learning technology, according to the company Tuesday.

And:

Bixby is now available only in Korean, although Samsung’s mobile chief, Koh Dong-jin, said in April, “Bixby’s English version and Chinese version will be unveiled in May and in June, respectively.”

Didn’t happen.

“Many engineers in the US are making full efforts to develop the English version. But, (due to geographical and language barriers) their frequent reports to and communication with the management located in Korea makes the progress much slower than developing the Korean version here,” said a source on the condition of anonymity.

I was wondering what had become of Bixby.

Macworld:

Studio Neat’s latest tripod adapter, Glif, fits all phones (even non-Apple ones) in an attractive and well-made new design that uses a padded locking clamp and three mounting screw holes instead of one.

This compact adapter is the perfect companion for a serious iPhone photographer looking for maximum flexibility, as well as a casual snapshotter who wants a better way to hold their camera, even without a tripod.

I’ve been a Glif user and supporter since their first Kickstarter campaign and this is the best Glif yet.

iPhone maker Apple took its case to the Luxembourg-based General Court, Europe’s second-highest, in December after the European Commission issued the record tax demand saying the U.S. company won sweetheart tax deals from the Irish government which amounted to illegal subsidies.

I think the EU overstepped and chose the case against Apple because they saw deep pockets. Even Ireland said Apple owes nothing in back taxes.

Austin Mann, photographer:

Earlier this month, I realized June 29 would mark the 10 year anniversary of the iPhone and began diving into the images I’ve shot with iPhone over the years. As I glanced through the archive, I realized what an amazing journey the last 10 years has been and thought I’d share some of the highlights with you.

Lots of history here. My favorite bit from this dive into the iPhone history rabbit-hole is Austin’s take on the original rollout:

I can still remember the morning of June 29, 2007. I was living in NYC, working at an ad agency, McCann-Erickson. Though I had been following the release of the iPhone and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on one, I knew I couldn’t spend the day in line waiting as I had responsibilities at work.

I arrived at my office, however, and my very cool boss looked at me and said, “Austin, what are you doing here?” I was a little confused as it was a standard work day and I was on time. “What do you mean?” I said. She responded, “It’s iPhone day. You’ve been talking about this for months! Get outta here and go get in line!” I got a big smile on my face, said thanks, and bolted straight to the Fifth Avenue store at about 10AM.

I carried a Leica D-LUX 3 at the time (still love that thing) and shot a few very shaky clips throughout the day and cut them into this quick piece.

Follow the link, watch the video. If you could go back in time, knowing what you know now, that’d be one place to visit (just after you placed your order to buy a ton of Apple stock).

Follow the link and marvel at this impressive piece of macro photography. When I came across this, my first instinct was that this was a photorealistic drawing, a cartoon. But no, it’s the real deal.

Cool.

Kathy Chin Leong, New York Times:

City officials and residents say this project is like nothing they’ve seen before. It is even bringing tourists.

Onlookers snap pictures of the spaceship from the streets. TV helicopters circle above. Amateur photographers ask residents if they can stand on driveways to operate their drones, hoping to get a closer look at Apple Park.

And:

The entire project shows off Apple’s obsession with details. The custom windows were made in Germany and are considered the world’s largest panels of curved glass. One pair of glass doors is 92 feet high. The finish on the underground concrete garage, said David Brandt, Cupertino’s city manager, is so shiny it is almost like glass.

“Mind-blowing, mind-blowing, mind-blowing,” the mayor, Savita Vaidhyanathan, said about her visit to the site. “I saw the underground 1,000-seat theater and the carbon-fiber roof. The roof was made in Dubai, and it was transported and assembled here. I love that it’s here and that I can brag about it.”

And:

The price of property in the neighborhood has also become a source of some worry. Sunnyvale and Cupertino, like many other Silicon Valley towns, have had an extended real estate boom, as the tech industry has expanded. Prices in the area really started to rise, real estate agents and residents said, after Apple released its plans.

A three-bedroom, two-bathroom, 1,400-square-foot ranch-style house that cost $750,000 in 2011 has doubled in price. Since Apple said it was moving into the former Hewlett-Packard site, prices have moved up 15 to 20 percent year after year, said Art Maryon, a local real estate agent. Today, bidders usually offer 20 to 25 percent over the asking price.

Fascinating piece.

M.G. Siegler on being asked which iPad is the one to buy:

When pressed, my answer was that for most people, the 9.7″ iPad was probably the one to get. With the latest iterations of the iPad Pro, I think the answer is now much more clear: the new 10.5″ variety is the one to get.

The screen size gap has been closed a bit. The speed gap has been completely erased. The 10.5″ iPad Pro is absolutely amazing.

And:

When you start to use the 10.5″ and then try to go back, you cannot. The 9.7″ iPad feels short and stubby in a way similar to how the 3.5″ iPhone felt after using the 4″ variety. The smaller one now feels like a clown iPad.

And:

Size aside, the screen with its much touted 120Hz refresh rate is incredible. Again, it’s one of those things you have to either be a hardcore iPad user or use a newer iPad Pro versus an older iPad side-by-side to truly appreciate. Everything is just so much smoother.

At first, it’s a little weird. It almost makes some iOS animations like swiping through your app screens feel like how pan-and-scan used to feel on old non-lettered-boxed VHS movies. But this feeling goes away quickly and now it just seems normal. And old, non-120Hz animations now just feel janky.

The recommendation for the 10.5″ iPad Pro seems almost universal. There may be a review that didn’t love it and appreciate the leap forward in terms of product capability, but I have not run across it.

Jason Snell, Six Colors:

This week Apple is unleashing the first public betas of the next versions of its two major operating systems, iOS and macOS, on the world. One of the major areas of improvement in macOS High Sierra is to the Photos app, which is only a couple of years old and has plenty of room to grow. I literally wrote the book on Photos, so it’s been interesting to watch Apple’s replacement for iPhoto as it has grown and changed.

Here’s a look at the changes and new features coming to Photos for Mac as a part of macOS High Sierra.

A brand new editing pane, support for third party editors has been enhanced, and much more. If you use Photos on your Mac, take the time to read through this.

CNET:

The “CPSC Fireworks Safety Demonstration 2017” kicks off in mild fashion with a message from acting chairman Ann Marie Buerkle warning consumers to leave professional-level fireworks to the professionals. It then quickly devolves (or elevates) into a series of vignettes featuring mannequins suffering grave injuries from sparklers and flying fireworks.

What starts off as a perfectly normal safety video turns kinda weird quickly.

Crowds of customers started gathering overnight at Taipei 101 for the grand opening of Apple’s first store in Taiwan on Saturday. The curved, sliding glass doors opened at 11 a.m. as employees welcomed customers to come together, explore the store and get hands-on with Apple’s latest products.

It’s amazing that after all these years, the opening of an Apple store still draws so many people.

Nike’s pilot program to sell certain products on Amazon and Instagram is a precursor to it forging a deeper relationship with online retailers, and could hit sales at sporting goods retailers such as Foot Locker Inc.

There is no doubt this will hurt retailers in the long term. Shares of Nike went up on the news, but shares of retailers went down. Once this goes beyond the pilot program, retailers will really get hit hard.

Uber started in 2010 to solve a simple problem: how do you get a ride at the push of a button? In late 2015, we hit a big milestone: one billion trips. Six months later, we crossed two billion.

And just a few weeks ago, on Saturday, May 20, 156 trips started simultaneously at 7:29:06am GMT, putting us over the five billion mark.

There is no doubt the service is successful. I would be interested to know how many trips Lyft is at—that’s the service I use the most.

The selling price of an original iPhone is rising. The hype around the 10th anniversary might mark a high water mark, but it might also be just a roadmark on the way to a much higher price. The original iPhone is ripe for speculation.

If it was me, I’d only invest in an unopened original iPhone with a box/shrinkwrap in perfect condition. And as you make your way through the linked article, keep two things in mind:

• The quoted prices are what sellers are asking, not necessarily what someone has paid.
• The price can just as easily go down as up. This sort of investment is speculative.

Sam Byford, The Verge:

Often, using an iPhone in a Japan just straight-up sucked. The missing features hurt, of course, but the bigger problem was that having experienced what life was like in the tightly integrated Japanese mobile ecosystem, moving to the iPhone felt like using a product that simply wasn’t designed for the world I lived in. Because, well, it wasn’t.

How, then, did Apple get to its current position where Japan is one of its strongest and most lucrative markets?

Fascinating inside view of the iPhone’s early days in Japan.