WSJ:

The reviews are in for Apple Inc.’s first-ever online-only software conference: Virtual tech conferences can work.

Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference last week became a bellwether for the potential of corporate gatherings that take place exclusively online as the coronavirus pandemic makes physical conferences impossible.

Developers said they missed the serendipitous social interactions of in-person conferences, but many praised the sharp production and easier access of this year’s event, which was streamed free for eligible participants.

This year, the keynote was prerecorded, featuring senior Apple employees presenting without a live audience from various settings around Apple Park, the company’s 2.8-million-square-foot circular headquarters. Apple said tens of millions of people watched the keynote Monday.

It may give them hope but few if any have the ability execute across the board like Apple does.

The Verge:

…the company starts to offer eight of ViacomCBS’s channels, which are available today: BET, CMT, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, TV Land, and VH1.

And:

For comparison, Hulu’s Live TV plan costs $54.99 (a price that includes access to Hulu’s library of content, but lacks the unlimited DVR storage that YouTube TV offers), AT&T TV starts at $55 per month (with hefty increases after 12 months), and Sling TV’s full plan costs $45 per month. While there may be some concerns that YouTube TV is edging closer to the cost of actual cable, there are some advantages to Google’s over-the-top service, including easy access from nearly any device with an internet connection, a lower barrier to entry when it comes to additional hardware, and a much better UI than nearly any cable set-top box.

The cord cutter marketplace is still in flux, and likely will be for some time. Hard to see a clear winner in these piecemeal bundles. Seems like a disruption (to cable bundles) is coming, but still way over the horizon. I think things would move way faster if internet access and content delivery were two separate and untethered businesses.

Follow the headline link for a guided walkthrough with pics, or the video below (< 5 min) to see all that’s new in watchOS 7.

Bloomberg:

On calls in mid-April, an Apple Arcade creative producer told some developers that their upcoming games didn’t have the level of “engagement” Apple is seeking, the people said. Apple is increasingly interested in titles that will keep users hooked, so subscribers stay beyond the free trial of the service, according to the people.

And:

On the calls with developers in April, the Apple Arcade representative cited a specific example of the type of game the company wants: Grindstone, an engaging puzzle-action game by Capybara Games that has many levels.

And, from Apple:

“Apple Arcade has redefined what a gaming service can be, putting unlimited play at the fingertips of subscribers and their families across all their Apple devices,” Apple said in a statement. “We are proud to have launched the first-ever mobile game subscription service that now features more than 120 games, many of which are award-winning and widely celebrated for their artistry and gameplay. The vision has always been to grow and evolve the Apple Arcade catalog, and we can’t wait for our users to try the games developers are working on now.”

This seems a sound business strategy. For Apple Arcade to work, it needs the revenue from users who pay to stay beyond their free trial. And games that pull users in are going to be the winners here, both for their studios and for Apple.

Foo Yun Chee, Reuters:

“We compete with a wide variety of companies, Google, Samsung, Huawei HWT.UL, Vivo, LG 066570.KS, Lenovo 0992.HK and many more,” Daniel Matray, head of Apple’s App Store and Apple Media Services, told a Forum Europe online event.

“In fact, Apple does not have a dominant position in any market, and we face strong competition in every category, in tablets, wearables, desktop and notebook computers, maps, music, payments, messaging, and more,” he said.

And:

Matray defended Apple’s App Store, saying the same rules apply to all developers, large and small, with 85% of apps not required to pay a 30% fee to the company which is only valid for those which use its in-app payment service.

Not sure what else one could expect Matray to say. Making the talking points to defend against the EU antitrust investigations into the App Store and Apple Pay.

Ars Technica:

The touchscreen navigation/infotainment system in every new car or truck that some colloquially refer to as “the GPS” is technology that we take for granted today. But the road to today’s navigation touchscreens is a winding one marked by a trio of evolving technologies that developed over decades. It took a while before these innovations came together to ultimately doom the humble—not to mention difficult to read and refold—road map.

The next time you don’t know how to get somewhere and have to rely on maps embedded on your car’s display, you can thank the atomic clock, the satellite constellations powering actual global positioning systems, and the humble touchscreen.

I have the world’s worst sense of direction so GPS is literally crucial to me. I first used a Magellan system in a Hertz rental car 20 years ago and, while it was buggy, got me to my destination in Ohio from Nashville, TN and back with so little fuss (except for when I ignored it because I thought I knew better) that I almost wept with joy knowing my frustration with constantly being lost was almost over.

Objective-See:

Early today, the noted Malware researcher Dinesh Devadoss tweeted about a new piece of macOS ransomware “impersonating as Google Software Update program with zero detection.”

It’s not every day that a new piece of ransomware is uncovered that targets macOS. Moreover, as RansomWhere? claims to be able to generically detect such threats, I decided to take a peek at the malware and confirm my tool could detect it (with no a priori knowledge).

This is a really interesting if techy post on how malware hunters do their thing.

AnyList:

Starting June 30th, Apple will be enforcing a new rule in the App Store requiring many apps to support Sign in with Apple. AnyList is one of the apps affected by this new rule, which means that we must either implement Sign in with Apple or make other changes to our app. After considering the merits of Sign in with Apple, we have decided not to support it. We understand that this may surprise some of our customers, so we’d like to explain in detail why we made this decision.

We agree with Apple that privacy is a fundamental human right, and understand that the “Hide My Email” option in Sign in with Apple is well-intentioned, but it feels like Apple didn’t really think through all of the implications for basic user experience, customer support, and collaboration.

Beyond customer experience, there are also many problems that Sign in with Apple creates for us as developers, which has knock-on effects for our customers.

AnyList is my go-to app for collecting and sharing recipes and grocery lists with my wife. While most of us will love the “Sign in with Apple” feature, this is an interesting look at how it would be a PITA for some developers.

CNET:

Apple’s VP of Technology, Kevin Lynch, who has worked on the Apple Watch from the beginning, says that sleep has been part of the plan since the watch debuted five years ago. The company’s been researching sleep tech for years, running private sleep studies and using EEGs to measure sleep against what a device like the Apple Watch can record. Lynch has a unique perspective on why other features, like estimated sleep scores, aren’t being presented for now.

In a conversation with CNET during WWDC, he shared some thoughts on why Apple’s sleep tech is what it is.

So many people want to see this feature in their Apple Watch.

Filipe Espósito, 9to5Mac:

Netflix has been offering 4K content for a long time, but Mac users have never been able to watch them due to hardware limitations, since the platform relies on the HEVC codec.

And:

With macOS Big Sur, which is currently available as a beta developer, Mac users can finally watch movies and TV shows on Netflix in 4K resolution. It also works with Dolby Vision and HDR10, which delivers more brilliant and vivid colors.

Unfortunately, according to Apple, the 4K High Dynamic Range stream requires a Mac introduced in 2018 or later.

The absence of 4K in Safari was a tiny sore point. Glad to see this evolution happening.

From last week, InputMag with an interesting take on the move from skeuomorphism to flat design, followed by macOS Big Sur’s push into a new kind of design, dubbed neumorphism.

Take the discussion flying around Twitter about Big Sur’s icons with a grain of salt. This is a new design wave, and the rules are still being written, broken, and rewritten.

Some design elements break reality (shadows that are just wrong or that fight other shadows with inconsistent lighting patterns). Will Apple work on lining all those shadows up? Will they let icons be art, give designers a free hand?

I’ve always felt that the design pendulum swung too far to the flat side, offering fewer clues to users (Is the switch on or off? Hard to tell.) I’m looking forward to seeing what designers do with neumorphism, but hoping for a consistently lit, nuanced touch.

Google blog:

Today, we are announcing a licensing program to pay publishers for high-quality content for a new news experience launching later this year. This program will help participating publishers monetize their content through an enhanced storytelling experience that lets people go deeper into more complex stories, stay informed and be exposed to a world of different issues and interests. We will start with publishers in a number of countries around the globe, with more to come soon.

With the news of The New York Times bowing out of Apple News+, this feels like Google easing in. Question is, will Google’s model be even somewhat lucrative for news organizations?

As is, news and journalism has been crushed by the race to the bottom that torpedoed the value of factual reporting and allowed the rise of fairy tale journalism.

Where available, Google will also offer to pay for free access for users to read paywalled articles on a publisher’s site. This will let paywalled publishers grow their audiences and open an opportunity for people to read content they might not ordinarily see.

Here’s hoping this is a turn in the right direction.

The New York Times:

The New York Times said on Monday that it was exiting its partnership with Apple News, as news organizations struggle to compete with large tech companies for readers’ attention and dollars.

Starting on Monday, Times articles were no longer appearing alongside those from other publications in the curated Apple News feed available on Apple devices.

The Times is one of the first media organizations to pull out of Apple News.

“…one of the first…” If Apple doesn’t get its Apple News ducks in a row, The New York Times won’t be the last.

TechCrunch:

Apple is launching an interesting new Apple Card program for people who have their application declined.

Declined Apple Card applicants may begin seeing notifications on their device later today that offer them the Path to Apple Card program. It’s an opt-in program that can run for up to 4 months. It leverages the information that Goldman Sachs used to determine their credit worthiness to outline why they were declined and to help them improve the specific financial markers that would make them more likely to get approved next time.

Once a user opts in on their device, they get a once-a-month update on their progress on specific tasks that are personalized to their rating.

Once again, Apple leads in ways others won’t. This is a program the credit card companies should have instituted years ago.

Apple:

The Apple Design Awards celebrate the creative artistry and technical achievement of developers who reflect the best in design, innovation, and technology on Apple platforms.

As always, there are some beautifully designed apps listed. But of course, that’s the point.

Eclectic Light:

Despite extensive coverage of much of Big Sur and Apple Silicon, one session was missing from WWDC, that detailing changes in APFS for macOS 11. This article can’t be as authoritative, but I’ll try here to outline some of the improvements which are documented in various sources, including the latest update to the APFS reference documentation.

APFS in macOS 11 changes volume roles substantially.

I’m hearing about this being an issue for people so stay informed about the changes Big Sur can make to your system.

MacRumors:

Apple’s iOS 14 update adds several new features to the Photos app, including an option to add captions to images right from the iPhone, which is something that ‌Photos‌ users have been wanting for quite some time.

Tap to view any photo full screen on the ‌iPhone‌, and then swipe up to get to the caption field. Tap the field, type the caption, and press enter.

Captions in ‌iOS 14‌ sync across all devices if iCloud Photo Library is enabled, and the Description field in macOS Big Sur has been renamed to Captions for continuity.

There have always been kludges or other apps to accomplish this but it’s finally becoming a native feature.

ZDNet:

Apple said this week that it declined to implement 16 new web technologies (Web APIs) in Safari because they posed a threat to user privacy by opening new avenues for user fingerprinting.

The vast majority of these APIs are only implemented in Chromium-based browsers, and very few on Mozilla’s platform.

Apple claims that the 16 Web APIs above would allow online advertisers and data analytics firms to create scripts that fingerprint users and their devices.

Take a look at the list of APIs being blocked. As Jan Wildeboer said on Twitter, “The browser is becoming a backdoor, almost malware with all these possibilities.”

Simo Ahava:

Let me start by proclaiming with clarity and sincerity:

No, Safari 14 (or any other version of Safari) will not block Google Analytics from loading and running on a website.

In fact, the biggest revelation was the new Privacy Report, which is designed to elucidate how much the browser is working towards mitigating the damage caused by cross-site trackers.

For better or for worse, one of the previews showed that google-analytics.com is listed among the trackers that are being prevented on websites.

Queue panic and the spread of misinformation like wildfire through the dry brush of first-party analytics.

A lot of websites, biog and small, can now breathe a sigh of relief.

Vanity Fair:

While stuck in quarantine over the past few months, some of the most famous performers in the world worked in secret to shoot a homemade fan-film version of the classic on their phones—which will be shown on Quibi chapter by chapter, day by day, for two weeks starting this Monday.

Filmmaker Jason Reitman devised the idea back in March, seeing it as a way to stay busy during the lockdown while raising funds for the World Central Kitchen charity, which has been helping thousands of restaurants stay afloat during the quarantine by paying them to provide millions of meals to the needy.

The creators hope the footage can also provide some laughter to viewers in a time of hardship. Their scrappy version of The Princess Bride leans into its continuity lapses, utilizes absurd household props and back-of-the-closet costumes, and deploys multiple castings of the same roles to show that in a true fantasy, anyone can play anything.

This is utterly delightful.

Lickability:

Big Sur has just been announced, and you’re itching to give it a shot. But wait—you have plenty of apps to support and work to do. Is it worth the risk of things not working or crashing? Probably not. In this blog post, we are going to look into how to install the latest OS without disrupting your current setup.

I would never do this but if you’re brave enough, have at it.

Microsoft today announced a strategic change in its retail operations, including closing Microsoft Store physical locations. The company’s retail team members will continue to serve customers from Microsoft corporate facilities and remotely providing sales, training, and support. Microsoft will continue to invest in its digital storefronts on Microsoft.com, and stores in Xbox and Windows, reaching more than 1.2 billion people every month in 190 markets. The company will also reimagine spaces that serve all customers, including operating Microsoft Experience Centers in London, NYC, Sydney, and Redmond campus locations.

Microsoft really tried to compete with Apple Stores, even putting them near existing Apple locations, but the strategy never worked.