At its I/O 2017 developer conference today, Google announced Google Assistant is coming to iOS as a standalone app, rolling out to the U.S. first. Until now, the only way iPhone users could access Google Assistant was through Allo, the Google messaging app nobody uses.
It’s great that Google Assistant is coming, but the lack of integration with iOS will certainly hurt its chances of being used as much as Siri.
We — Manton Reece and Brent Simmons — have noticed that JSON has become the developers’ choice for APIs, and that developers will often go out of their way to avoid XML. JSON is simpler to read and write, and it’s less prone to bugs.
Two very smart guys that I respect a lot. I’m going to take a look at this.
Pretty good technique all the way around.
Mark Gurman and Alex Webb, Bloomberg:
Apple Inc. plans to announce an update to its laptop lineup at an annual conference for app developers in early June, a move that could help offset new competition from Microsoft Corp. as well as declining iPad sales.
Apple is planning three new laptops, according to people familiar with the matter. The MacBook Pro will get a faster Kaby Lake processor from Intel Corp., said the people, who requested anonymity to discuss internal planning. Apple is also working on a new version of the 12-inch MacBook with a faster Intel chip. The company has also considered updating the aging 13-inch MacBook Air with a new processor as sales of the laptop, Apple’s cheapest, remain surprisingly strong, one of the people said.
Not sure why Microsoft is so heavily featured in this article. This makes it sound like Apple is reacting to a threat, as opposed to simply taking advantage of new processors to update the Mac line, spur sales.
MarketWatch:
An Apple Inc. manufacturer has completed a trial run of the first-ever iPhones assembled in India, in an important step in the U.S. tech giant’s push into the fast-growing South Asian market.
The manufacturing of Apple’s cheapest iPhone model, the SE, was handled earlier this month by Taiwanese contract manufacturer Wistron Corp., which has an assembling unit in the southern state of Karnataka, a state official with direct knowledge of the matter told The Wall Street Journal.
Apple said in a statement that it has begun initial production of a small number of iPhone SE handsets in Bangalore and will begin shipping the Indian-made devices to domestic customers this month. The first devices could hit stores as early as this week or next, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The first step in an important journey for Apple in its quest to grow India market share.
From this The New York Times article:
In the space of just five years, Google has helped upend the sales methods companies use to place their products in classrooms. It has enlisted teachers and administrators to promote Google’s products to other schools. It has directly reached out to educators to test its products — effectively bypassing senior district officials. And it has outmaneuvered Apple and Microsoft with a powerful combination of low-cost laptops, called Chromebooks, and free classroom apps.
And, most importantly:
Today, more than half the nation’s primary- and secondary-school students — more than 30 million children — use Google education apps like Gmail and Docs, the company said. And Chromebooks, Google-powered laptops that initially struggled to find a purpose, are now a powerhouse in America’s schools. Today they account for more than half the mobile devices shipped to schools.
Those are some impressive numbers. Kids are growing up with an intimate understanding of how to use Google apps. Apple certainly is a player in this space, both with iPads and low-end MacBooks, but no matter the hardware, a major chunk of our kids are using Google Docs and Gmail.
Apple has iWork apps, has ported them to all the major platforms, true, and there are iCloud versions of the apps. But Google’s approach requires no app downloads, is driven by a link. There are no app installs to manage, just links to share back and forth. I’d argue the overall approach is simpler. For education, that is a vital difference. If a school district switches over from Chromebooks to iPads, there is no compelling reason for them to switch from Google Docs.
Take a few minutes to check out the offerings at your local Apple Store via Apple’s new Today at Apple page. Pick your favorite location, tap confirm, then start scrolling.
Some stores (such as New York’s SoHo Apple Store and San Francisco’s Union Square location) feature concerts and other performances. Most stores have a constant running string of classes, focusing on things like iPhone photography, making music with GarageBand, learning the ins and outs of Apple Music, video editing on your Mac, and lots more.
Good use of space, great for customers. Questions for me: Will the gatherings be compelling enough to draw people in and will Apple find a way to spread the word to draw crowds and keep them coming back.
One of the greatest things Apple has done with its technologies in recent years is to give people with disabilities the opportunity to be empowered and self-sufficient. Apple today published a series of videos showing how some of these people use their technologies.
May 18 is Global Accessibility Awareness Day and Apple stores around the world will host accessibility sessions so people can learn more about the technologies and features built into Apple products.
Carlos Vasquez
Carlos is the lead singer, drummer and PR manager for his metal band Distartica. Using VoiceOver, with Screen Curtain on iPhone, he can hail a ride, take a photo, and get the word out about his band’s album release while keeping his screen entirely black.
Ian Mackay
Ian is an outdoor and birding enthusiast. With Siri on iPhone, he can play a bird call or chat with a friend via FaceTime, and with Switch Control he is able to capture the perfect waterfall photo.
Meera Phillips
Meera is a teenager who loves soccer and jokes. She uses TouchChat on iPad to talk with her friends and family, and deliver the occasional one-liner.
Andrea Dalzell
Andrea is a nursing student and advocate for the disabled community. She uses Apple Watch to record wheelchair-specific workouts and share her victories with friends.
Patrick Lafayette
Patrick is a DJ and producer with a passion for music and excellent food. With VoiceOver, he has the freedom to express himself in his home studio with Logic Pro X and in the kitchen with TapTapSee.
Shane Rakowski
Shane is a middle school band and choir director who uses Made for iPhone hearing aids in her classroom so she can hear every note.
Todd Stabelfeldt
Todd is the CEO of a technology consulting company and a prominent member of the quadriplegic community. With Siri, Switch Control, and the Home app, he can open his front door, adjust the lights in his house, and queue up a party playlist.
This is a well done breakdown of the many services available for people that want to cut off their current cable TV subscription.
Currently, app-specific passwords are used to allow non-native apps like email clients to sign in to iCloud accounts that are protected by two-factor authentication. The security measure ensures that users can still link up their iCloud account to apps and services not provided by Apple, while also avoiding the need to disclose their Apple ID password to third parties.
Privacy and security are very important to Apple.
Universal Audio updated its software on Tuesday adding five new plug-ins. The plug-ins include Antares Auto-Tune Realtime; SSL 4000 G Bus Compressor Collection; Pure Plate Reverb; Fuchs Train II Amplifier; Eden WT800 Bass Amplifier.
There are videos on the product page introducing plug-in and what you can expect when using it. AS usual, UA has done a great job in choosing which plug-ins to release.
While we were on stage, Jack asked me to come back to work at Twitter. People cheered. But I wasn’t really sure if he meant it. After Tea Time, we spoke privately and Jack told me that he really did — he wanted me to come back and work at Twitter. The company I co-founded, the service I co-invented. I was stunned, but I knew the answer.
Other companies have brought back their founders—it has worked very well for some (Apple), and not so well for others (Yahoo).
This is a long read, but it’ll fly by. Beautifully crafted with lots of photos (by Dan Winters) and anecdotes (expertly related by long-time Apple historian Steven Levy).
One bit from the very end:
Last December, Cook, Ive, and Apple PR head Steve Dowling met with Laurene Powell Jobs, Steve’s widow. At the time, the campus didn’t have a name. One option was to brand the entire site after the company’s late CEO, but that didn’t feel right. A more intimate honor would come from lending his name to the 1,000-seat theater in the southeast corner of the campus. Not only had Jobs thought hard about what the theater should look like, but it will also be the stage for product launches like those he had so famously made his own. “It’s on a hill, at one of the highest points on this land,” Cook says. “It felt like him.”
And so his name will be on the theater. But anyone searching for Steve Jobs’ fingerprints on Apple Park will find them elsewhere—in the glint off the Ring’s curves, in the sway of the trees, and in the thousands of other details we can and cannot see.
Can’t wait for my first visit.
Esther Dyson pulled together this lovely collection of snapshots of people in the PC industry. This is real “back in the day” stuff. Lots of people I didn’t recognize, sprinkled with many I did. I love the young faces of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. And don’t miss Steve Ballmer playing charades.
[Via Dave Winer]
Daniel Eran Dilger, Apple Insider, steps through a series of cases where Apple was seriously behind, then overtook the competition. A few examples:
2007: A year prior to Peak iPod, Microsoft announced its own Zune to much fanfare as the “iPod-killer,” just as pundits began imagining in parallel that phones playing MP3s would kill Apple’s iPod empire. Everything seemed so dire for Apple. Zune could do wireless WiFi sync and MP3-playing feature phones appeared to cost much less than an iPod!
However, that year Apple introduced iPhone. Steve Jobs described it as “a widescreen iPod” in addition to a phone and “breakthrough internet device”. Zune staggered along like a zombie until it was terminated while basic phones playing MP3s were blown away by Apple’s “iPod phone” with a real web browser.
And:
2011: Google floated another feature Apple lacked for several years: Near Field Communications, or NFC, used in Google Wallet contactless payments. Google was supposed to rule in this arena, but Wallet failed to ever gain much traction, despite efforts to build out NFC payment infrastructure. Apple didn’t have NFC because it was so behind.
What Apple did instead was rapidly introduce Bluetooth 4 (starting with iPhone 4s) and build out a platform of near-proximity wireless integration between iOS devices, Macs and Apple Watch that was later branded as Continuity. Prior to launching Apple Pay, the company also lined up the dots for Touch ID, building security right into the design of its products.
Apple didn’t introduce Apple Pay until 2014, at least three years behind Wallet. However, the effort Apple put into building foundational support, and its prescience in supporting the much faster Bluetooth 4 rather than NFC for nearby connectivity, launched Apple far ahead of Google in both support for modern Bluetooth and in NFC payments, despite (or perhaps, because of) not being first to rush a loose payment concept to market.
Lots, lots more here. Terrific job, Daniel.
Jonathan S. Geller, BGR:
According to our source, Apple’s sights are now set on the epidemic of diabetes, and the company plans to introduce a game-changing glucose monitoring feature in an upcoming Apple Watch. An estimated 30 million people suffer from diabetes in the US alone, according to the American Diabetes Association, so Apple’s efforts could lead to a historic achievement in the world of health and fitness.
And:
Apple also plans to introduce interchangeable “smart watch bands” that add various functionality to the Apple Watch without added complexity, and without increasing the price of the watch itself. This could also mean that the glucose monitoring feature will be implemented as part of a smart band, rather than being built into the watch hardware.
A smart band is a natural evolution of, extension to the Apple Watch. Each Apple Watch includes a diagnostic six pin port, so there’s already a path for data flow between your existing Apple Watch and a new band.
Ryan Christoffel, writing for MacStories, walks through the new look for Shazam. I do like the new design. The old one was cluttered, and sometimes confusing.
Three thoughtful responses to yesterdays river of “MP3s are dead” articles.
No, the MP3 Is Not Dead, by Kirk McElhearn.
Your MP3s are going to be just fine, by Hayley Tsukayama for the Washington Post.
“MP3 is dead” missed the real, much better story by Marco Arment.
In a nutshell, your MP3s will not spontaneously combust, the last known MP3 patents have lapsed, AAC is a better format, but the MP3 format is ubiquitous.
Sal Soghoian on the CMD-D conference front page:
Sal here, with something pretty cool to share with you. We’ve started a new conference to bring together the Apple automation and scripting community!
The conference is called CMD-D (pronounced “Command-D”), and it will be held August 9th at the Santa Clara Convention Center. It’ll be a full day of exploring the current state of automation technology on both Apple platforms, sharing ideas and concepts, and showing what’s possible—all with the goal of inspiring and furthering development of your own automation projects.
To assist in this exploration of all things Automation, I’ve invited some of my smartest friends to present sessions focused on their own areas of automation expertise, on macOS and iOS. And, for those new to automation, we’re also planning a Scripting Boot Camp on August 8th.
Some of those friends include Jason Snell, Andy Ihnatko, Jon Pugh, and John Welch. This looks like a great conference.
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It’s a big day for Apple software updates. The company released macOS Sierra 10.12.5, iOS 10.3.2, watchOS 3.2.2, and tvOS 10.2.1. You can apply the update by going to Software Update on each device. The Apple Watch will need to updated from your iPhone.
Dore said companies that faced disruptions because they did not run the Microsoft update or because they were using older versions of Windows could face lawsuits if they publicly touted their cyber security. His law firm sued LinkedIn after a 2012 data breach, alleging individuals paid for premium accounts because the company falsely stated it had top-quality cyber security measures. LinkedIn settled for $1.25 million in 2014.
It’s amazing to me that so many institutions have such poor security.
Apple Watch is an incredible device for many reasons, but none are as great as how it helps people track their exercise and movement. The watch does this by using rings—closing the rings means you had a great day of standing, exercising, and movement. But what if you don’t close the rings?
People contact me quite often about how the watch has helped me in my efforts to exercise more. The conversation inevitably comes down to closing the rings every day. While that is a great goal to have, it’s not one that everyone can achieve.
For an athlete or someone who exercises regularly, closing the rings is a trivial thing to do. However, as I’ve said in the past, Apple Watch has the potential to help more people than those who are already exercising every day. It can help those of us who are overweight and need to start exercising.
The point I try to make tho these people is that they should use the Apple Watch as a tool to help them achieve their goals.
They are doing 100% more exercise than what they were six months ago. Closing the rings is a nice thing to do, but you have to track your own progress. Are you moving more than before you started exercising? Are you moving more than last month?
Yes. Then you’re doing good. That’s what matters.
Compare yourself to your goals, nobody else’s. Don’t worry about closing the rings for now—look at your own history and see how well you are doing and judge your progress from there.
The fact you are getting out and exercising should be celebrated. At some point all of those rings will close, but until then, don’t worry about it.
Another new one from Apple.
London’s Victoria and Albert Museum has announced the first major international retrospective of Pink Floyd, one of the world’s most pioneering and influential bands. To mark 50 years since the band released their first single Arnold Layne, and over 200 million record sales later, The Pink Floyd Exhibition: Their Moral Remains experience will be a spectacular and unparalleled audio-visual journey through Pink Floyd’s unique and extraordinary worlds; chronicling the music, design, and staging of the band, from their debut in the 1960s through to the present day.
I wish I could see this.
I don’t even know what to say, this is just cool.
The latest court ruling in a high-profile trade secrets case from U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco, made public on Monday, granted a partial injunction against Uber, which Waymo has accused of using stolen information to accelerate the building of its autonomous cars.
Clearly the judge didn’t believe Uber.
Macworld:
Over the past few decades, Apple has revolutionized the personal computer, the smartphone, and digital music, just to name a few. But the company’s next target might be its biggest yet: human health.
Those who have been paying attention have seen Apple heading in this direction since before Tim Cook took over as CEO. Probably, not coincidentally, since around the time that Steve Jobs was first diagnosed with the illness that eventually took his life.
This should come as no surprise. Apple has been signaling this move for quite some time.
National Geographic:
The unicorn of the sea just got a little less mysterious.
Until now, how narwhals used their long tusks had been subject to much speculation by scientists.
Behavior captured for the first time on camera shows narwhals using the long tusks protruding from their heads to stun Arctic cod by hitting them, using jagged, quick movements. This behavior immobilizes the fish, making them easier to prey upon.
I knew narwhals didn’t spear fish with their tusk but it’s interesting to see how they do use it.
Rene Ritchie put together a Q&A for last week’s ransomware attack.