The Verge:

Grove was the first hire at Intel, which was founded in 1968 by former employees of Fairchild Semiconductor. Grove joined on day one as the company’s director of engineering, became Intel’s president in 1979, and its CEO in 1987.

Grove was one of the great CEOs. Here’s a link to the Intel news release announcing his death.

Politico:

Citing new leads about how to access an Apple iPhone used by one of the perpetrators of the San Bernardino terrorist attack, the Justice Department asked Monday to postpone a court hearing set for Tuesday on whether Apple should be forced to help the FBI break into that phone.

Is this the FBI backing down from pressure either inside the government or from Apple’s various lobbying efforts or have they legitimately found a way around it? Either way is troubling.

Amazon:

Customers using an outdated software version on Kindle e-readers require an important software update by March 22, 2016 in order to continue to download Kindle books from the Cloud, access the Kindle Store, and use other Kindle services on their device.

Most of you probably have already updated but keep in mind those who may not be as technically knowledgeable as you are. I’ve already told 4 Kindle-using friends about this because they had no idea there was any kind of issue.

Apple:

Doctors around the world are using iPhone to transform the way we think about health. Apps created with ResearchKit are already producing medical insights and discoveries at a pace and scale never seen before. That success has inspired us to widen the scope from medical research to personal care with the introduction of CareKit — a framework for developers to build apps that let you manage your own well-being on a daily basis.

At today’s Apple Event, Apple spent a good period of time talking about ResearchKit and CareKit. I’ve got a couple of doctor friends who are research scientists and they’ve been really excited about ResearchKit and I’m sure will be just as excited about what they can do with CareKit. Research is all about data and these tools from Apple allow researchers to gather more data than they’ve even been able to in the past.

CNET:

Apple is ramping up its environmental push, including the creation of a robot that is supposed to better disassemble iPhones for easier reuse.

Two years ago, the tech giant said it wanted to be 100 percent energy-renewable in its worldwide operations. Currently, 93 percent of its facilities run on renewable energy, said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives. Jackson spoke Monday at the start of a product event at its headquarters in Cupertino, California.

While many on Twitter bemoaned this segment of the event today, I love hearing about Apple’s efforts to become more environmentally friendly. It’s really interesting to see them forge ahead, even in areas where it would be easy to throw their hands up and say they couldn’t solve the problem. The solar arrays on 800 rooftops in Singapore is a perfect example.

Macworld:

Knowing how encryption is used throughout the business world, it is clear that one of our most fundamental security tools is at the center of a civil rights debate, and the slightest misstep could set back corporate and government security by decades.

As always, Mogull writes clearly about these issues and provides a greater understanding of what will happen in the future.

Reuters:

Unlike Google, Amazon and Facebook, Apple is loathe to use customer data to deliver targeted advertising or personalized recommendations. Indeed, any collection of Apple customer data requires sign-off from a committee of three “privacy czars” and a top executive, according to four former employees who worked on a variety of products that went through privacy vetting.

Approval is anything but automatic: products including the Siri voice-command feature and the recently scaled-back iAd advertising network were restricted over privacy concerns, these people said.

Many employees take pride in Apple’s stance, and CEO Tim Cook has called it a matter of principle.

Whether Apple employees “loathe or fear” these czars mostly depends on how decisions affect their work. I’ve heard frustration from some but, overall, employees are happy and proud of Apple’s privacy stance both externally and internally, even if it causes frustration with what they are trying to accomplish.

On their YouTube page, Apple has posted four videos of the spots they played at this morning’s Apple event. They include the new iPad Pro introduction, one on “ResearchKit — Empowering doctors, researchers, and now” and the nostalgic and whimsical “Apple – 40 Years in 40 Seconds”, with a very funny Newton reference.

Macworld:

Apple’s update to the Apple Watch was mostly about style, but a price cut offered a nice bit of substance, too. The 38mm version of the Apple Watch Sport, formerly $349, will drop to $299 starting Monday. The 42mm Apple Watch Sport is now priced at $349, down from $399.

During an Apple press event on Monday morning, Tim Cook revealed a line of new Apple Watch band colors, and an all-new band made from woven nylon. The new woven nylon bands cost $49 and come in seven colors: gold/red, gold/royal blue, royal blue, pink, pearl, scuba blue, and black.

For those still on the fence about the Apple Watch, the price drop just might push them to buy.

Ars Technica:

As part of its big product event today, Apple is dropping a handful of significant updates to its platforms. The final versions of iOS 9.3, tvOS 9.2, and WatchOS 2.2 will all be available to download today for all supported devices. Apple began beta testing the updates back in January.

For you early adopters, all of these are available right now. Personally, there’s nothing crucial waiting for me so I’ll wait a few days before I update.

Apple:

Apple® today introduced iPhone® SE, the most powerful phone with a four-inch display, in a beloved compact aluminum design that has been updated with matte-chamfered edges, a color-matched stainless steel Apple logo, and four gorgeous metallic finishes, including rose gold. iPhone SE offers exceptional performance with the same 64-bit A9 chip offered in iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus for blazing fast speeds, longer battery life, faster wireless, a 12-megapixel iSight® camera featuring Live Photos™ and 4K video, and Touch ID® with Apple Pay®.

“iPhone SE is an exciting new idea — we started with a beloved, iconic design and reinvented it from the inside out. The result is the most beautiful and powerful phone with a four-inch display in the world,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “iPhone SE is packed with a stunning four-inch Retina display, advanced 64-bit A9 chip with M9 motion co-processor, longer battery life, 12-megapixel iSight camera with True Tone flash, Live Photos, 4K video, faster LTE and Wi-Fi, and Touch ID with Apple Pay. Everyone who wants a smaller phone is going to love iPhone SE.”

Except for the lack of 3D Touch, it seems like Apple jammed all the good stuff of the iPhone 6 into the new iPhone. This is going to be a great upgrade to those who want a new iPhone but don’t need the bulk or screen size of the 6.

Apple:

Apple® today introduced the all-new 9.7-inch iPad Pro™ — at just under one pound it features a new pro Retina® display with greater brightness, wider color gamut, lower reflectivity, Night Shift™ mode and introduces new True Tone® display technology to dynamically adjust white balance. The new iPad Pro delivers incredible performance with the 64-bit A9X chip that rivals most portable PCs, along with a four-speaker audio system that is twice as powerful,1 new 12-megapixel iSight® camera for shooting Live Photos™ and 4K video, 5-megapixel FaceTime® HD camera, and faster wireless technologies. And iPad Pro includes support for the breakthrough Apple Pencil™ and a new Smart Keyboard™ cover designed to fit the new 9.7-inch iPad Pro.

Apple’s press release highlights all the new features in the latest version of the iPad. Ben Bajarin said on Twitter, “30% of global iPad base still on version 1 or 2.” There’s the market for the new iPad.

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Here’s the message Apple has up:

It rotates through a series of other languages, as well.

As a reminder, today’s event is at 10a PT (1p ET). You can watch it on your Apple TV or live on Apple’s site.

Ellen Nakashima, writing for the Washington Post:

A group of Johns Hopkins University researchers has found a bug in the company’s vaunted encryption, one that would enable a skilled attacker to decrypt photos and videos sent as secure instant messages.

This specific flaw in Apple’s iMessage platform likely would not have helped the FBI pull data from an iPhone recovered in December’s San Bernardino, Calif., terrorist attack, but it shatters the notion that strong commercial encryption has left no opening for law enforcement and hackers, said Matthew D. Green, a computer science professor at Johns Hopkins University who led the research team.

And:

“Even Apple, with all their skills — and they have terrific cryptographers — wasn’t able to quite get this right,” said Green, whose team of graduate students will publish a paper describing the attack as soon as Apple issues a patch. “So it scares me that we’re having this conversation about adding back doors to encryption when we can’t even get basic encryption right.”

Most of the charging you do will be with a lightning cable or MacBook power adaptor. Maybe you’ve got a few gadgets with a mini or micro-USB adapter. But this is for all your non-mainstream gadgets. Those bricks you plug in the wall with one of about 100 different types of tips on the other end.

Got one of those? Then read on.

[H/T @varunorcv]

Keir Thomas, writing for Mac King Fu:

I’ve been using Mac OS X for over a decade and have written books about how to use it, but today learned of a new way of opening files via the App Switcher.

Boy, did I feel dumb.

To be fair to Keir, I did not know that one either.

So, I thought it fun to write one of those Wikipedia-style posts about every possible way to open a file on Mac OS X – or at least every method that I’m aware of. See how many you know.

Great post, worth it to scan through, tuck away, and pass along.

Apple appointed George Stathakopoulos, formerly vice president of information security at Amazon.com and before that Microsoft’s general manager of product security, to be vice president of corporate information security, the people said.

Stathakopoulos will be in charge of protecting corporate assets.

Jason Snell and Stephen Hackett take a fun look back at all the products Apple released at events held at Town Hall on its Cupertino Campus. I was there for every one of them. Tomorrow’s event will also be held at Town Hall.

Even though the Fitbit is made for Fitness, I prefer the Apple Watch because it can do more things. The ecosystem is obviously a huge advantage for Apple too.

CBC:

A Heart and Stroke Foundation survey found 86 per cent of Canadians said they would do CPR if the need arose, but only 30 per cent of cardiac arrest sufferers actually receive bystander CPR. Parker said this is often because people feel reluctant to perform CPR due to lack of training and knowledge or fear of making the situation worse.

The app is an attempt to close that gap by providing users with at least a rudimentary knowledge of the technique, as well as the all-important reminder to call 911.

This is one of those apps that you won’t need or use every day but you can download, go over, try the exercises and hope you never have to use them. It does not replace an accredited CPR program which, if one is available to you, you should definitely take.

The FBI has requested an evidentiary hearing, which means the court will hear testimony from witnesses on both sides.

Those witnesses will include Eric Neuenschwander, Apple’s head of product security and privacy, who can speak to the company’s security measures and the feasibility of the government’s proposed system. Neuenschwander filed a declaration to the court on Tuesday, which argued the government’s order would potentially endanger the Trusted Platform Module system used throughout the industry, including specific systems built by Tesla and Microsoft.

I was on the call today with Apple and they remained steadfast in their view that weakening encryption would be a bad thing. The fact the government requested an evidentiary hearing speaks volumes—I don’t think they feel they can rely on the law alone to win this case.

Remember, you have a voice in this fight too. There are things you can do.

NPR:

Too much sitting increases heart failure risk and disability risk, and shortens life expectancy, studies have found. But according to an analysis published Wednesday of 20 of the best studies done so far, there’s little evidence that workplace interventions like the sit-stand desk or even the flashier pedaling or treadmill desks will help you burn lots more calories, or prevent or reverse the harm of sitting for hours on end.

“What we actually found is that most of it is, very much, just fashionable and not proven good for your health,” says Dr. Jos Verbeek, a health researcher at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health.

Standing desks are very trendy right now (I have one from Oristand I’m testing for review) but always seemed to me to be one of those “too good to be true” things. Turns out, I may be right. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t stand, or at least, not sit for 10 hours a day but it seems the health benefits have been overblown.

Open Culture:

These paintings reside at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA), along with many thousands more that show us the development and interrelationship of modern art in Europe and America. And you can see close to half of them, whether they’re on display or not, at the MoMA’s digital collection.

One of the greatest advantages of the internet is the dispersion of knowledge into places that would never have received it otherwise. Imagine being a kid in Iowa who may never be able to visit the MoMA in New York City. That’s sad but, with online collections like this, at least that kid can see a version of some of the most important works of art of the 20th century.

“The FBI and NHTSA are warning the general public and manufacturers – of vehicles, vehicle components, and aftermarket devices – to maintain awareness of potential issues and cybersecurity threats related to connected vehicle technologies in modern vehicles,” the agencies said in the bulletin.

Here’s an idea: Let’s weaken the security of the iPhone, so the FBI can issue a warning about the risks of hacking of those devices too.