Sue Halpern, writing for the The New York Review of Books, dug into two movies (Gibney’s Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine and Sorkin’s Steve Jobs) and a book (Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli’s Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader) to explore Steve Jobs’ legacy.

On the outpouring of grief:

Yet if the making of popular consumer goods was driving this outpouring of grief, then why hadn’t it happened before? Why didn’t people sob in the streets when George Eastman or Thomas Edison or Alexander Graham Bell died—especially since these men, unlike Steve Jobs, actually invented the cameras, electric lights, and telephones that became the ubiquitous and essential artifacts of modern life?* The difference, suggests the MIT sociologist Sherry Turkle, is that people’s feelings about Steve Jobs had less to do with the man, and less to do with the products themselves, and everything to do with the relationship between those products and their owners, a relationship so immediate and elemental that it elided the boundaries between them. “Jobs was making the computer an extension of yourself,” Turkle tells Gibney. “It wasn’t just for you, it was you.”

The outpouring of grief for Steve Jobs was palpable, widespread, and (in my opinion) genuine. By comparison (this in the footnote at the bottom of the article):

When Bell died, every phone exchange in the United States was shut down for a moment of silence. When Edison died, President Hoover turned off the White House lights for a minute and encouraged others to do so as well.

An interesting read. Halpern does a solid job weaving through the elements that make up Steve Jobs’ lasting legacy.

Here’s a link to Apple’s Investor Relations page, and a link to the audio webcast of the earnings call.

During the first half of the AFC title game in Denver, the Patriots’ Microsoft Surface tablets stopped working. According to CBS Sports sideline reporter Evan Washburn, “Patriots coaches did not have access” to the tablets during the Broncos’ second scoring drive. At the time, Washburn reported that some, but not all of them, were working.

Shocking.

Four senior Twitter executives are leaving the media company, CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted late Sunday night, the biggest leadership changes since Dorsey returned as chief executive as he struggles to revive the company’s growth.

I’m not sure what’s next for Twitter, but they’ve lost their way in recent years.

The New York Times:

In this always-on, always-connected world, what good is a Fitbit with no GPS or an iPad that can’t connect to the cloud?

Hint: Ask President Obama.

Mr. Obama is the first true gadget geek to occupy the Oval Office, and yet his eagerness to take part in the personal technology revolution is hampered by the secrecy and security challenges that are daily requirements of his job.

The President is obviously a fan of technology but the demands of the office dictate what he can use and how he can use it. Contrary to the opinion of some web sites, President Obama doesn’t “diss” Apple by not using their products. He’s constrained from using them because of their capabilities.

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Cyrus Farivar, writing for Ars Technica:

A second state lawmaker has now introduced a bill that would prohibit the sale of smartphones with unbreakable encryption. Except this time, despite very similar language to a pending New York bill, the stated rationale is to fight human trafficking, rather than terrorism.

Specifically, California Assemblymember Jim Cooper’s (D-Elk Grove) new bill, which was introduced Wednesday, would “require a smartphone that is manufactured on or after January 1, 2017, and sold in California, to be capable of being decrypted and unlocked by its manufacturer or its operating system provider.”

The dominos are falling.

Here’s a link to the bill. Interestingly, the wording is almost identical to the New York bill, including the $2,500 fine for each smartphone sold or leased.

From the Dormant Commerce Clause Wikipedia page:

The idea behind the dormant Commerce Clause is that this grant of power implies a negative converse—a restriction prohibiting a state from passing legislation that improperly burdens or discriminates against interstate commerce. The restriction is self-executing and applies even in the absence of a conflict between state and federal statutes, but Congress may allow states to pass legislation that would otherwise be forbidden by the dormant Commerce Clause.

Keep your eyes on this one.

You may be familiar with a handful of these tips. But my bet is that many of these will be new to you.

My favorite:

OS X actually contains two clipboards, although the second is much more primitive than the main one and will cut and paste only text. You won’t find it on any menus, either, and it is available only via two keyboard shortcuts. You can use it in the usual way by highlighting some text, using Control+K to cut the text, and pressing Control+Y to paste the content in the new position. (Note that’s Control and not Command; longtime Unix/Linux users will, of course, recognize this secondary clipboard as an implementation of the kill and yank tools found in the likes of Emacs.)

There’s no “copy” option, unfortunately, although you can emulate this by cutting the text with Control+K and then immediately pasting it back in with Control+Y, before moving to the new position where you’d like the text to be inserted and again pasting with Control+Y.

Only plain text is copied—any formatting such as bold or italics is lost. Additionally, although it should work fine within most OS X applications (but not the latest version of Microsoft Word, natch), it probably will not work if you cut text from one app to paste into another app—in my testing, each app seemed to have its own private secondary clipboard.

Have you ever found the need to scrub the styles from some styled text? This is a great way to do that. Select the styled text, then control-k and control-y. In all the applications I’ve tested, Undo appears to work, in case you change your mind.

[Via IHeartApple2.com]

Janko Roettgers, writing for Variety:

Amazon’s Prime members just got a new perk: Showtime and Starz, unbundled and cheap. The internet company launched a new initiative called “Streaming Partners Program” Tuesday that allows Prime members to add subscription programming from close to 20 partners for an added fee to their Prime video service.

Want to add unbundled Showtime to your Apple TV? That’ll be $10.99 a month. Same service on Amazon Prime? $8.99 a month. And Amazon Prime still has not delivered the promised Apple TV app.

Chess moves.

J.M. Porup, writing for Ars Technica:

Shodan, a search engine for the Internet of Things (IoT), recently launched a new section that lets users easily browse vulnerable webcams.

The feed includes images of marijuana plantations, back rooms of banks, children, kitchens, living rooms, garages, front gardens, back gardens, ski slopes, swimming pools, colleges and schools, laboratories, and cash register cameras in retail stores.

This is the wild, wild west. Enter the Internet of Things at your peril.

Chris DeVille, writing for The Verge:

In the music industry, which is also dealing with an influx of infinite streaming options, there’s been a lot of talk about curation. Everyone wants the ability to be the cool friend who filters out the garbage and points people to the good stuff — and to find ways to monetize that ability. It’s how Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal are striving to differentiate themselves.

TV channels are already adopting that strategy in their own way. The few networks that survive outside the comfort of a bundle will be the ones that mean something to people, that have built up a recognizable point of view. HBO did it first and best. Through a combination of quality programming and savvy branding (“It’s not TV, it’s HBO”), the network built up such fervent loyalty that when it finally launched its own subscription service, its customers followed in droves.

There are clear parallels between the networks and the web. Just as some sites are pure curation, so too are cable bundles. TV networks continue to rely on advertising as a significant source of revenue. As viewers migrate to alternatives like Netflix, Hulu, HBO Now, etc., that advertising revenue shrinks in direct proportion. Web sites built on similar advertising models are feeling a similar pinch, as alternatives spring up on a regular basis. More competition, and much of it free. Advertising revenue plummets.

Is this decline inevitable? Irreversible? Will we hit a point of critical mass when unbundled content is both plentiful enough and cheap enough to take the major networks out of the picture entirely? That critical point will occur when a network’s ad revenue no longer supports the budget for original programming.

OS X Daily:

More services and features rely on location to function properly on Mac OS X, but whereas iOS will default to showing you a little compass arrow icon when location is accessed and used, OS X doesn’t show comparable location usage by default in the latest versions.

For users who want to know when Mac OS is requesting access and using location data, you can toggle an optional setting that, much like iOS, will display a compass location icon in the menu bar of OS X.

Follow the link to see how to turn that compass icon on.

The Concert 88 Camera system features the camera mountable CR88V Micro Wireless Receiver with a removable shoe mount adapter, as well as a belt clip for strap mounting. For maximum convenience, the CR88V offers 12 hours of battery life from a single removable rechargeable lithium ion battery (two included). A battery level indicator lets you know when to swap in the backup. The receiver also offers a 1/8″ headphone monitor output with dedicated level control.

I’m heading over to see this later today, but it looks like a cool product if you’re doing reporting on the go.

Across the board, the Z Series Headphones feature lightweight components with a low-profile, over-ear fit and a stylish look. The entire line features ample cushioning for maximum comfort, highlighted by the genuine lambskin ear pads on the Z55 and Z45 models. Sonically, the headphones achieve wide, yet balanced and detailed sound fields ideal for critical studio monitoring. Their closed-back design provides effective sound isolation for recording by limiting unwanted background noise and signal bleed.

I used these during the last Dalrymple Report podcast and loved them. The sound was crisp and clear, and they were really comfortable.

Daisuke Wakabayashi, writing for the Wall Street Journal:

Steve Zadesky, a 16-year Apple veteran who has been overseeing its electric-car project for the last two years, has told people he is leaving the company. The timing of his departure isn’t clear. He is still at Apple for now.

And:

Mr. Zadesky, who worked on the iPod and the iPhone during his career, was given permission in 2014 to start investigating Apple’s entry into the electric car market. Last year, Apple designated the initiative—code-named “Titan”— a committed project and set a ship date of 2019.

And:

An engineer at Ford Motor Co. before joining Apple in 1999, Mr. Zadesky was in charge of tripling the size of the automotive team—already at around 600 employees in September—while coming up with a vision for the product.

The team has encountered some problems, according to people familiar with the matter, in laying out clear goals for the project. Apple has urged the team to push ahead with ambitious deadlines even though some on the team felt that those targets weren’t attainable, these people said.

For more than 40 years, Yamaha has developed industry-leading synthesizers, from the revolutionary DX7 in the 1980s to the renowned Motif series – one of the best-selling synthesizers of all time. Now, Yamaha raises the bar again with Montage. Montage, available in 61-, 76- and 88-key configurations, features the Motion Control Synthesizer Engine, a powerful and intuitive way to interact with and control sound.

I never thought I’d see Motif get replaced, but Yamaha did quite a job with the Montage. This is an impressive synth.

Inspired by raw power and performance, Revstar’s sound is as unique and bold as its aesthetic. Working to evoke a visceral, unbridled power and an individual, organic tone that is made possible only by considering every detail, Yamaha’s engineers chose materials carefully and designed custom pickups to make sure Revstar sounds as stunning as it looks.

I had a demo of these guitars today and I must say, I was impressed. They have a presence in look and feel that many guitars are missing these days. They aren’t heavy, but they are solid when you play them. I wouldn’t hesitate adding one of these to my collection.

With the TouchFlow Operation interface optimized for touch panel control, experienced engineers as well as newcomers to the field will find it easier than ever to achieve the ideal mix. Recallable D-PRE™ preamplifiers support sound quality that will satisfy the most discerning professional ears, while advanced live recording features and seamless operation with high-performance I/O racks give these compact digital mixers capabilities that make them outstanding choices for a wide range of applications. Experience the intuitive control and creative freedom that a truly evolved digital console can provide.

Yamaha made these mixers as foolproof as possible. They have a touchscreen display and a ton of presets preconfigured for each instrument in the band. You can also use an iPad to configure settings away from the mixer, so you can go onstage or anywhere in the room and check your sound. If I was going to buy a mixer today, I’d take a serious look at the TF series.

Record and compose music in studio quality on your laptop or iPad with the UR22mkII. With outstanding audio and build quality for its price class, the UR22mkII combines choice components with advanced connectivity and flexible I/O options to offer a full-on mobile production platform.

I love what Yamaha does with their new interfaces, making them compatible with iOS and Mac. I had a look at this today and it was impressive.

Anandtech:

Overall, the iPad Pro has proven to be a very different experience for me than previous iPads. The design is definitely familiar, with the same industrial design and general feel as previous iPads scaled up to a 12.9” form factor.

On the SoC side, we’re finally seeing a major player in ARM SoCs directly competing with Intel on their home ground of sorts, and the results are at least somewhat shocking. Despite a handicap on process node, the CPU of the A9X isn’t all that far off from Skylake Core M. And while A9X can’t go toe-to-toe, Apple is for the first time capable of reaching Intel’s level for some workloads. Otherwise on the GPU side, Apple arguably bests Intel.

Here is the incredibly detailed iPad Pro review you’ve been waiting for.

Appleinsider:

A peek at the schedule of Pope Francis has revealed that the head of the Catholic Church met with Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook on Friday, though what the two discussed remains a mystery.

Carol Glatz of the National Catholic Reporter snapped a picture of the Pope’s schedule on Friday, revealing that the pontiff had a meeting scheduled with Cook at 11:30 a.m. local time. Tom Cheshire of Sky News later confirmed that the meeting took place, as highlighted by Business Insider.

Cook’s meeting with His Holiness comes one week after Pope Francis met with Eric Schmidt, CEO of Apple rival Alphabet.

Oh, to be a fly on the wall of that meeting.

Bloomberg:

Apple received $1 billion from its rival in 2014, according to a transcript of court proceedings from Oracle Corp.’s copyright lawsuit against Google. The search engine giant has an agreement with Apple that gives the iPhone maker a percentage of the revenue Google generates through the Apple device, an attorney for Oracle said at a Jan. 14 hearing in federal court.

Considering how valuable that piece of virtual property is, I bet Google thinks they got a bargain in the deal.

Apple:

Apple’s conference call to discuss fourth fiscal quarter results is scheduled for Tuesday, January 26, 2016 at 2:00 pm PT/5:00 pm ET.

As always, this call is open to the public via the webcast. Only analysts are allowed to call in and ask questions. It promises to be yet more record numbers for Apple.

Today at NAMM, Apogee Electronics and Waves Audio announced a partnership that will connect the world’s most advanced multi-channel audio recording interface to the world’s most powerful DSP enabled audio network. Symphony I/O Mk II, Apogee’s new flagship converter, will offer optional SoundGrid connectivity, enabling it to connect to the Waves SoundGrid System for studio, live and post production audio networking with real-time digital signal processing of Waves and SoundGrid compatible third-party plugins.

This is a very interesting partnership. Apogee makes some terrific products—some of the best.

the Marshall JMP 2203 plug-in is an expert emulation of the legendary ultra-flexible 100-watt amplifier used by everyone from Iron Maiden and Slayer, to Jeff Beck and My Bloody Valentine.

I can’t wait to get home and try this plug-in. I love everything that UA does, but a rocking Marshall could be the best yet. UA also released the Sonnox Oxford Envolution and the Brainworx bx_digital V3 EQ Collection.

Either engaged automatically by just hitting a switch on the Profiler Remote or dynamically by using an expression pedal, all continuous parameters can be changed smoothly to take the tone from ultra dry clean rhythm to utmost distorted, FX soaked lead tones.

Kemper made a big splash a few years back with its amp profiling and while I haven’t had extensive experience with it, others I know have said they really like it.

Among the new shapes are 12-fret Grand Concerts (552ce 12-Fret, 562ce 12-Fret), Grand Orchestra guitar models (458e, 858e), along with a new 12-string Dreadnought (360e). Powers’ design philosophy is focused on giving players a broader spectrum of 12-string voices to enable them to find the right fit.

I’m heading up to Taylor’s booth to check these out today. Taylor is my favorite acoustic, but I don’t have a lot of experience with 12-strings, so it should be interesting.

The Washington Post:

Q-tips are one of the most perplexing things for sale in America. Plenty of consumer products are widely used in ways other than their core function — books for leveling tables, newspapers for keeping fires aflame, seltzer for removing stains, coffee tables for resting legs — but these cotton swabs are distinct. Q-tips are one of the only, if not the only, major consumer products whose main purpose is precisely the one the manufacturer explicitly warns against.

I’m sure I’m as guilty as anyone when it comes to using Q-tips in a way that can be harmful but at least I’m not my mother. She’d use bobby pins (kids, ask your grandmother) to “clean” her ears.