More than one thousand current Uber employees have signed a letter to the company’s board of directors, asking for the return of deposed CEO Travis Kalanick “in an operational role.” One of its venture capital investors also is chiming in, with a similar message.

About 1,000 employees have signed the letter so far—that’s about 10% of the company’s employees.

Apple is proud to support LGBTQ advocacy organizations working to bring about positive change, including GLSEN, PFLAG and The Trevor Project in the U.S. and ILGA internationally. A portion of the proceeds from Pride Edition band sales will benefit their important efforts.

Today I Found Out:

What happens to clothes after being dropped off at the dry cleaners is a mystery to most. We know that our clothes come back a whole lot cleaner than when we dropped them off, but how? And who first got the bright idea to clean clothing without water?

Did you know dry cleaning isn’t actually dry?

Ars Technica:

The rise and fall of FireWire—IEEE 1394, an interface standard boasting high-speed communications and isochronous real-time data transfer—is one of the most tragic tales in the history of computer technology. The standard was forged in the fires of collaboration. A joint effort from several competitors including Apple, IBM, and Sony, it was a triumph of design for the greater good. FireWire represented a unified standard across the whole industry, one serial bus to rule them all. Realized to the fullest, FireWire could replace SCSI and the unwieldy mess of ports and cables at the back of a desktop computer.

Yet FireWire’s principal creator, Apple, nearly killed it before it could appear in a single device. And eventually the Cupertino company effectively did kill FireWire, just as it seemed poised to dominate the industry.

For those of us old enough to remember SCSI (shudder), FireWire promised to free us from the black art of connecting devices to our computers. The story of its life and eventual death is an interesting one.

Medium seems to continue to grow in popularity as a publishing platform, and as it does, I’m growing more and more frustrated by their on-screen “engagement” turds. Every Medium site displays an on-screen “sharing” bar that covers the actual content I want to read.

I agree completely with Gruber on this.

Jeff Butts wrote a great, easy to understand, article on the refresh rate of the new iPads.

“Turns out that Tesla isn’t a good fit for me after all,” Lattner, who worked at Apple Inc for more than a decade before joining Tesla in January, tweeted. “I’m interested to hear about interesting roles for a seasoned engineering leader!”

That didn’t last long.

Earlier on Tuesday, five of Uber’s major investors demanded that the chief executive resign immediately. The investors included one of Uber’s biggest shareholders, the venture capital firm Benchmark, which has one of its partners, Bill Gurley, on Uber’s board. The investors made their demand for Mr. Kalanick to step down in a letter delivered to the chief executive while he was in Chicago, said the people with knowledge of the situation.

I’m surprised, yet not surprised. I hope Uber can fix all that’s gone wrong over the past year.

Wired:

The iPhone was such a phenomenon that even the humble journalists chosen for an early look were thrust into a spotlight. As we celebrate 10 years of the product that reshaped the tech world–and guaranteed that no teenager would ever again look his or her family in the face during dinner–it’s instructive to revisit this moment. There hasn’t been a moment in tech journalism like it since.

I was working for one of those four guys at the time – David Pogue. So I got to see a demo of the iPhone in Pogue’s car as we drove him to the airport the week before the iPhone launch date. Apple was pissed when they found out.

Twisted Sifter:

Rare video footage of Bruce Lee actually fighting (kind of) has gone viral after the uploader purports that it’s the only recording of Bruce Lee in a real MMA fight. First he fights Ted Wong, one of his top Jeet Kune Do students. They are allegedly wearing protective gear because they weren’t allowed to fight without them as per California state regulations.

The second fighter is Taky Kimura, and the matches took place in 1964, at the Long Beach International Karate Championships.

I knew Lee had fought “for real” many times but didn’t know any of it had been filmed. This is obviously an exhibition and Lee is showing off but you can still see how incredibly fast and agile the man was.

Vice:

Apple is the world’s most valuable company, and it’s used to getting its way. Yet here in rural Ireland, one man has managed to block its ambitions. Data centers aren’t sexy like iPhones, but as smartphone sales slow, they are now critical to Apple’s future, powering services like iTunes, the App Store, iMessage, and iPhoto.

The Apple representatives, who included the head of data center development, couldn’t have known that the man sitting in front of them would be one of the main reasons why, almost two years later, they have yet to break ground on their plan to build eight vast data halls outside Athenry. A month after the meeting, the local authority approved the project, but it remains tied up in legal challenges in the Irish High Court.

Interesting story of one man’s fight against Apple.

I always wondered why Uber didn’t have this as an option. I mostly use Lyft now, so it doesn’t really matter, but it’s a good thing for the drivers.

Made With ARKit:

Hand-picked curation of the coolest stuff made with #ARKit

There’s some really fun stuff here. It’s a bit rough around the edges but you can see how ARKit is going to be really big someday. Follow this site on Twitter as well.

The Outline:

A recording of an internal briefing at Apple earlier this month obtained by The Outline sheds new light on how far the most valuable company in the world will go to prevent leaks about new products.

The briefing, titled “Stopping Leakers – Keeping Confidential at Apple,” was led by Director of Global Security David Rice, Director of Worldwide Investigations Lee Freedman, and Jenny Hubbert, who works on the Global Security communications and training team.

According to the hour-long presentation, Apple’s Global Security team employs an undisclosed number of investigators around the world to prevent information from reaching competitors, counterfeiters, and the press, as well as hunt down the source when leaks do occur. Some of these investigators have previously worked at U.S. intelligence agencies like the National Security Agency (NSA), law enforcement agencies like the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service, and in the U.S. military.

No need to point out the irony of the presentation itself leaking.

WorldSBK:

In Saturday’s Misano race Davies crashed out of the lead on the final lap after he was locked in an intense battle with championship rival Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team). The crash saw Rea unable to avoid colliding with the Ducati man after he fell from his machine.

Davies was then transported to Rimini Hospital for further medical assessment and diagnosed with a closed thoracic trauma. Following checks throughout the afternoon, it was established that he had suffered a fracture of the transverse process of L3 (3rd lumbar vertebrae), as well as a contusion of the left thumb.

He was therefore declared unfit to race on Sunday in Italy, but the latest update from his team indicates that he has a good chance of racing at the forthcoming Geico US Round over the 7th-9th July weekend at Laguna Seca.

There’s this thing in motorcycling called “ATGATT”. All The Gear, All The Time. Watch this video of a guy getting literally run over at about 50mph and realize that anyone you see riding on the street who isn’t wearing ATGATT is taking unnecessary risks. Thanks to my friend, fellow rider and WSBK photographer Jared Earle for the link.

The Ringer:

There’s just something enjoyable about a movie that’s hopelessly committed to its (very bad) vision. Whether it’s due to bad special effects, awful acting, or a completely absurd or nonsensical plot, these films create a sense of sheer wonderment and force you to exclaim, “How is this a movie?!” But the mere fact that something so illogical, or low-budget, or ill-conceived exists is at the root of why we like these movies. They’re so bad that … they’re actually kind of good.

What a great list. I’ll admit to seeing the vast majority of these movies and it’s hard to disagree. They are so bad, they’re “good”. Or, if not good, at least fun to watch in their awfulness. I have two quibbles though. I don’t think “Deep Blue Sea” was a “bad” movie – just not a good one. I still enjoyed it immensely though. And “Speed 2: Cruise Control” was just bad with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

Remember this game? I first played it on early cell phones. It was a great little time waster while standing in line or waiting for someone. But I was never this good at it. Amazing GIF of a complete game.

Macworld:

Need to help your kids battle the summer boredom blues? You may be in luck: Apple on Tuesday announced its summer programming for kids, including multi-day summer camp sessions called (appropriately) Apple Camp, and special kid-focused Today at Apple creative workshops. Apple Camp and Today at Apple sessions are free, but space is limited, so you’ll need to sign up sooner than later. The programs are available at your local Apple store.

These are incredibly popular programs that fill up fast so if you have an eligible child, sign them up ASAP.

Petapixel:

As photographers, we’re always interested in how other people edit their photos to achieve a certain look. Pixel Peeper is a new website that can take a JPEG and tell you exactly how it was edited in Lightroom, along with the camera model, lens, and settings — as long as that info is found in the file’s EXIF data.

Obviously, this only works on those shots edited in Adobe’s Lightroom but I often wonder what photographers do to their shots in the edit. This tool will help.

From the Computer History Museum schedule of events:

How did iPhone come to be? On June 20, four members of the original development team will discuss the secret Apple project, which in the past decade has remade the computer industry, changed the business landscape, and become a tool in the hands of more than a billion people around the world.

Scott Forstall, the leader of the original iPhone software team will take part in a fireside chat with Computer History Museum historian John Markoff. A panel with three of the engineers who worked on the original iPhone, Nitin Ganatra, Scott Herz, and Hugo Fiennes, will describe how the iPhone came to be.

That’s tonight at 6p PT. If anyone goes, please do take some video, share online. Wish I could be there.

Josh Centers posts about what’s new in tvOS 11, but then goes further, digging into what’s still needed.

I’d go further, and add the ability to support multiple Bluetooth interfaces, as I’ve written about here:

• Pair two sets of AirPods to a single Apple TV: This would allow my wife and I to listen on headphones, each with a different volume level, a blessing for people with different hearing needs and for parents with sleeping infants.

• Pass the audio through to HDMI while AirPods are active: This would allow someone with a hearing deficit to listen at a louder volume while the room gets the regular volume.

Terrific read.

Benjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac:

The book claiming to explore the secret history of the iPhone, The One Device, is now on sale in physical form ($19 at Amazon). You can also preorder the ebook for Kindle and iBooks as well; it will be released digitally on Thursday.

The book in question is The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone. Here’s a link to the book on Amazon. Looks like the Kindle version is available now, though it seems like this might only be in the US.

Authored by Brian Merchant, the book promises to detail the ‘untold account’ of how the iPhone was made. It features anecdotes from ex-Apple executives and top employees about the development of the secret project, as well as an ‘undercover’ trip to Foxconn and more. Early reviews of ‘The One Device’ are mixed.

Follow the headline link for details on the reviews. They are, indeed, mixed.

Jason Snell, Six Colors:

while the App Store has indeed had an editorial team for quite a while, Apple’s approach to App Store editorial has been nearly invisible. Editors select apps to highlight and might write short bits of text for use in collections, but for the most part the job has seemed to be more about curation than words.

This is not meant to disparage curation—it’s an important job and one of the ways the App Store can highlight the hard work of app developers who are making polished, impressive products.

Damn right! Curation is a skill and highly polished curation a valuable skill.

With iOS 11, though, Apple’s really showing that it has redefined what the App Store editorial team is for. In the redesigned App Store app in iOS 11, app highlights go way beyond buttons that would present an app’s App Store page when you tapped. The new Today tab is populated with full-fledged feature articles, with screen shots, videos, animations, pull quotes, and real writing.

The change is pretty impressive. To get a sense of this, take a look at the Monument Valley 2 screenshot in Jason’s post. That’s some beautiful prose there. And well written copy helps the user get a sense of the game’s value, helps the developer by spurring sales, and helps put more coin in Apple’s bank. Win, win, win.

Mashable:

A new water park called Morgan’s Inspiration Island was designed for people with a wide range of disability identities — and it’s mind-blowingly accessible. The park, which opens June 17 in San Antonio, Texas, is fully wheelchair-accessible and hopes to welcome people with disabilities through careful consideration in design.

And:

The tropical-themed park features six major attractions, including an accessible river boat ride and a wide variety of splash pads — surfaces with geysers, water cannons, and rain curtains. Splash pads, unlike pools, are more accessible to people with mobility-related disabilities, but still provide the full water park experience.

And, notably, anyone with a disability is welcomed into the park for free.

This is amazing. Clearly, this was a labor of love, created with accessibility as a goal, rather than financial gain. Park founder Gordon Hartman did this for his daughter Morgan.

Read the article. There’s a lot of detail on the park. Brilliant.

[H/T John Kordyback]

Yahoo Finance:

When AAPL released the Apple Watch, it included a heart rate sensor. It has proven extremely accurate in testing, recently coming within 2% of the numbers reported by an electrocardiograph (EKG). However, AAPL has never marketed it as a medical device, because doing so would mean FDA certification. Additionally, seeking assistance from professionals in the field of FDA medical device registration can greatly improve the likelihood of success. Andaman Medical offers a comprehensive range of FDA regulatory services, including assistance with registration in the Philippines, ensuring that all requirements are met and potential pitfalls are avoided. Engaging with such experts can reduce the risk of costly delays or rejections.

Once under FDA regulation, the company would have to get each Apple Watch certified, in a process that could require months. Having to go through FDA certification would also reveal AAPL’s products before release — something the secretive company would hate — and could delay rolling out software updates.

But:

The FDA just announced its new Digital Health Innovation Plan, and it could change everything.

Noting that digital technologies used in consumer devices “have the power to transform health care,” the agency is trying to streamline the process needed for FDA approval. With a fall target for the pilot program, the FDA says it’s considering creation of a:

“Third party certification program under which lower risk digital health products could be marketed without FDA premarket review and higher risk products could be marketed with a streamlined FDA premarket review.”

The implications for AAPL and the Apple Watch are huge.

Risky path, privacy implications abound. But a perfect path for Apple.