Fast Company:

The Macintosh Graphical User Interface was a new idiom. It was the first mass-market implementation of a new system of signs and symbols advocated by Douglas Engelbart; it was a new language that both rationally and by osmosis people started to speak. Once you had touched a Macintosh, you felt in control, and the “interface” of any other device, such as your VCRs or your LaserDisc players, came across as an impossible conversation.

By 1997, when Steve Jobs came back to Apple, 20 to 25 million Macintosh users had become a movement of people speaking the same language, and this because of various reasons:

Apple survived Jobs’s departure in 1985

Macintosh fans were unrelenting evangelists

The Macintosh had an amazing foothold in education, and

Windows, “the enemy,” was trying everything it could to speak Macintosh too.

The history of the Macintosh’s “survival” is fascinating and many of us participated in it in various ways.

Open Culture:

His Girl Friday stands out for many reasons, especially by refusing, unlike many Hollywood pictures written by former newspapermen, to instinctively glorify journalism, a mistake more recent films about the news still make.

Movies don’t get much more classic or screwball than this.

APM Reports:

The timing of CES and the people who attended could be more clues, or “ecologic evidence,” about how the virus spread in Silicon Valley at a time when people weren’t paying attention, said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert and professor at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine.

“As a clinician, it was weird to be in the Bay Area to see Santa Clara County being the hotspot,” he said. “You would think it would be San Francisco because there’s tons of people going into [the airport] and a lot of Chinese population, but I think there has to be something else to this.” It will take more research to determine whether CES is that connection, he said.

The conference, a well-known schmooze-fest of tech leaders from around the world, created an ideal environment for a virus to spread, particularly if highly infectious people were present. People jam into convention halls and casinos, share business cards, shake hands and socialize in close quarters with attendees from tech hubs across the United States — largely New York, Chicago, the Bay Area, and Southern California — and at least 63 other countries.

I speculated about this months ago. After all, for those of us who used to attend Macworld Expo, the “Expo Creeping Crud” is a well known “disease.” Almost invariably after attending, many of us would come down with a low grade flu.

This is just one more reason to not go to CES.

Wired:

According to AirDNA, an online rental analytics firm, new bookings on Airbnb are down 85 per cent; cancellation rates are close to 90 per cent. Revenue generated by Airbnb’s platform in March was down 25 per cent year-on-year, wiping out $1 billion in bookings. With much of the world still on lockdown, those numbers are unlikely to pick up anytime soon.

According GlobalData, an analytics firm, Airbnb could lose a “significant portion” of its host community as a result of the pandemic.

Data from AirDNA shows that of the 1.1 million Airbnb listings in the US, some 600,000 are from hosts that have at least two other listings. Around 600,000 of those 1.1 million listings are also available for more than six months of the year. Both are key indicators of properties that are more akin to hotel rooms than sharing economy holiday rentals.

A lot of things are going to change once this pandemic is over. Will Airbnb still be around? Contrary to its image of “average homeowners just trying to make a few bucks,” Airbnb has become the largest hotel chain in the world with the majority of its hosts’ professional property owners.

9to5 Mac:

A security company which discovered iPhone Mail vulnerabilities claimed that they have been ‘widely exploited’ in real-world attacks. Apple has now denied this claim, stating that it could find ‘no evidence’ that the exploits have been used. Additionally, it says that the vulnerabilities in question cannot bypass iPhone and iPad security safeguards.

Apple has acknowledged the three issues discovered by security group ZecOps, and has patched these in the iOS 13.4.5 beta which should be released to the public soon.

After the news came out last week, Apple has now responded with:

“We have thoroughly investigated the researcher’s report and, based on the information provided, have concluded these issues do not pose an immediate risk to our users,” the Cupertino, California company said. “The researcher identified three issues in Mail, but alone they are insufficient to bypass iPhone and iPad security protections, and we have found no evidence they were used against customers.”

Star Wars:

Have an upcoming video call? Don’t dial-in from your living room — send your transmission from the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon.

StarWars.com is excited to present a galaxy of virtual Star Wars backgrounds that you can use in any online meeting. If you’re home and catching up with friends, talking with family, or an an important work video call, you can now do so appearing as if you’re somewhere in a galaxy far, far away. Choose from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back‘s Hoth (wampa-free, thankfully), the ruins of the Death Star, and many, many more. Whether you dress as a Star Wars character is entirely up to you. (But we would encourage it.)

If you want to show off your Star Wars fandom, you can’t go too far wrong with these official backgrounds.

The Atlantic:

I grew up watching Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! every Saturday morning. Much as I loved it, though, the feeble animation and repetitive plots were apparent even to the young me. Whereas characters such as Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny seemed eternal, extending far into the past and future, Scooby-Doo felt like a show just for that particular moment, for my specific childhood.

Fast-forward 35 years or so, and to my astonishment, my children loved it just as much as I had. I probably wound up watching more Scooby-Doo episodes with my kids than I had watched as a kid. Evidence suggests that my experience is not unique. Scooby-Doo, believe it or not, has over the years been the subject of at least 19 TV series (on CBS, ABC, the WB, Cartoon Network, and Boomerang); more than 40 animated films; and two live-action movies in the early 2000s, the first of which grossed $275 million worldwide.

Which raises the obvious question: What on earth is going on? The Washington Post’s Hank Stuever once summed up the cartoon’s message as “Kids should meddle, dogs are sweet, life is groovy, and if something scares you, you should confront it.” But that hardly seems enough for half a century of on-air appeal.

Even as a kid, I hated Scooby-Doo. I’ve never understood its appeal after all of these years.

Matt Birchler:

I look at my brand spanking new iPhone (which I of course will likely replace in 5 short months) and while I love how it looks, how fast it runs, Face ID, and how good the cameras are, I keep wandering over to the iPhone SE page on Apple’s site and keep looking for the “gotcha” moment. What is the Achille’s heel that makes this actually a bad phone for someone like me who likes the best in phones?

So far, I can’t really find one.

The primary differences are Face ID, screen real estate, extra camera features. Toughest to give up, for me, would be the extra screen real estate. But I like Touch ID (not as convenient as Face ID, but it has its own convenience), and the iPhone SE camera is an excellent camera, I’d guess good enough for most folks.

And the cost saving is significant.

So when I see the $399 iPhone SE with 5 years of likely updates, with a really good single lens camera, and with it’s processor that’s faster than all 2020 $1,000+ Android phones, and will likely still be faster than all 2021 Android phones…well, it just looks like a damn good phone, and it makes it look like we’ve been frolicking around in excess for years now.

Practical vs luxury.

If you’ve been looking forward to the Apple TV+ show Defending Jacob or the History of the Beastie Boys documentary, today’s the day. Both are now live.

In other news, from this Apple media release:

Directed by Michael Showalter (“The Big Sick,” “The Lovebirds”) and based on the script by Emmy, Golden Globe, BAFTA, WGA Award winner Georgia Pritchett (“Succession,” “Veep”), “The Shrink Next Door” is a dark comedy inspired by true events that detail the bizarre relationship between psychiatrist to the stars Dr. Isaac “Ike” Herschkopf, played by Paul Rudd, and his longtime patient Martin “Marty” Markowitz, played by Will Ferrell. Over the course of their relationship, the all-too-charming Ike slowly takes over Marty’s life, even moving into Marty’s Hamptons home and taking over his family business.

The series is based on this podcast. Sounds like some dark, dark comedy.

Freedom of the Press Foundation:

Chances are you have recently spent more time in video chats than ever before, and may have jumped on multiple unfamiliar video call applications. Not all meetings have equal security and privacy needs, and sometimes you’re just concerned about everyones’ ability to join the meeting in the first place.

While it’s likely there are many other important considerations at work, we have a few key concerns for the security and practicality of these tools for newsrooms.

Let’s talk through some common video chat applications and how they approach these issues.

The chart at the bottom of this article shows there is no one, perfect app for everyone. Each person and organization needs to balance their needs and wants with the capabilities of the app in question.

Hodinkee:

With half a decade of perspective, it’s hard to imagine the watch world before Apple dropped their wrist-worn device, bringing more attention to watches than any other single event or product in recent memory. So, with the milestone just a few hours away, now seems as good a time as any to look back over the last few years, through the lens of the Apple Watch.

This is an Apple Watch retrospective written from our perspective, and hopefully, I can convince even the most Apple Watch-skeptical among you to take this journey with me.

The Apple Watch is a very interesting device five years after launch but there’s a very real sense that it will really come into its own over the next five years.

The Atlantic:

If you feel confused about whether people should wear masks and why and what kind, you’re not alone. COVID-19 is a novel disease and we’re learning new things about it every day. However, much of the confusion around masks stems from the conflation of two very different functions of masks.

Masks can be worn to protect the wearer from getting infected or masks can be worn to protect others from being infected by the wearer. Protecting the wearer is difficult: It requires medical-grade respirator masks, a proper fit, and careful putting on and taking off. But masks can also be worn to prevent transmission to others, and this is their most important use for society. If we lower the likelihood of one person’s infecting another, the impact is exponential, so even a small reduction in those odds results in a huge decrease in deaths. Luckily, blocking transmission outward at the source is much easier. It can be accomplished with something as simple as a cloth mask.

At the beginning of all of this, there was a lot of confusion regarding masks. Now it’s generally accepted that everyone should wear them, even homemade cloth masks, at all times when outside your home. Because, as the story points out, “Models show if 80% of people wear masks that are 60% effective, easily achievable with cloth, we can get to an effective R0 of less than one. That’s enough to halt the spread of the disease.”

Vice:

If you happen to have an extra $599.95 that you aren’t blowing on black market sourdough starter, then Kodak would like you to buy its 51,300 piece jigsaw puzzle. The company says that this is the “world’s largest commercially available puzzle,” and it will arrive at your doorstep in one 40-pound box that contains 27 individually wrapped bags of anxiety.

“Featuring wonderful, colorful photographs of twenty seven Wonders from around the World, these pictures were taken by professional photographers and then printed using high-performance printing presses,” Kodak says of its beautifully packaged reminder that we’re all just fragile collections of broken pieces.

Ultimately, the smaller puzzles are supposed to be connected to form the World’s Largest Puzzle, assuming that you have a large enough living space, an empty garage, or access to a vacant department store where you can assemble a puzzle that is six feet wide and 28 feet long.

There’s no way I could do this puzzle. It would completely stress me out.

Bloomberg:

Apple Inc. is planning to start selling Mac computers with its own main processors by next year, relying on designs that helped popularize the iPhone and iPad, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Cupertino, California-based technology giant is working on three of its own Mac processors, known as systems-on-a-chip, based on the A14 processor in the next iPhone. The first of these will be much faster than the processors in the iPhone and iPad, the people said.

And:

Apple is preparing to release at least one Mac with its own chip next year, according to the people. But the initiative to develop multiple chips, codenamed Kalamata, suggests the company will transition more of its Mac lineup away from current supplier Intel Corp.

Take with a grain of salt. It’s a rumor. But a believable one, very believable. So logical that Apple would want their own processors in every device they make.

Add in the recent rumors about Xcode coming to iPad Pro (big grain of salt, but still), and it all seems so inevitable.

Lots to read here, lots of detail. Two things stand out to me.

First, scroll down and look at the first four images embedded in Gruber’s review. All taken with front facing camera, two on the iPhone 11 Pro, two with the new SE.

Without looking at the identifying text, see if you can pick out which picture was taken with which phone. I would be surprised if your eye can pick out the difference. And, if pressed to pick a favorite, I’d not be surprised if you chose a self portrait taken with the SE.

Secondly:

It’s quite remarkable that the $400 iPhone SE significantly outperforms — and to a lesser but still noticeable degree, out-photographs — the $600 iPhone XR, both of which prices are for 64 GB base models. It’s even more remarkable that you can upgrade all the way to a 256 GB iPhone SE for $550, which is still less than the XR base model. But the XR has one obvious advantage: screen real estate. With the same text size, the XR shows significantly more vertical content.

For that last point, scroll to the bottom and check out the pic of the iPhone XR and SE side-by-side. Clear difference in screen real-estate. But in most every other way, the SE beats out the iPhone XR.

This is a great phone.

AndroidCentral:

I expect that some people are going to tell me about single thread versus multi-threaded performance and how the A13 GPU isn’t that great or how iPhones have much lower resolution screens so the chips don’t have to work as hard. All this is true, but another thing is true: the A13 is a stronger chip than the Snapdragon 865 for daily use in every category

I love when Apple gear appreciation pieces appear on Android sites. It’s one thing when Apple folk rave about the new shiny. But so much more credible when that appreciation comes from a traditional critic.

Also, what a strong headline.

Benjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac:

Tim Cook held talks with European Commissioner Thierry Breton yesterday regarding the upcoming contact tracing frameworks, that Apple and Google are jointly collaborating on. The companies announced a privacy-preserving API that allows devices to be notified when another user’s device who reports positive for COVID-19 was in close proximity, based on Bluetooth, without sharing the identities of said user.

And:

In a press conference following the call, iGeneration reports that Breton said Cook told him that the first version of the contact tracing API will be available on April 28.

And:

In a phase two followup said to arrive in the months ahead, Apple and Google will build parts of this system directly into the OS. This means an app download won’t be needed to get contact tracing proximity alerts.

No matter when this rolls out, it will have value in the long haul, a vital tool to help prevent the wandering in the dark we’re experiencing now.

ZDNet:

Cyber-security firm ZecOps said today it discovered what appears to be exploitation attempts using a new iOS vulnerability.

Apple is currently investigating the matter, and the company is preparing a security update to be made available soon.

In a report published today, ZecOps said it found evidence that hackers have been using an iOS bug since at least January 2018. Researchers say the new iOS exploit appears to have been leveraged as part of malformed emails sent to high-profile iOS users.

ZecOps researchers say the attack is a zero-click exploit that doesn’t require users to interact with the email, with the exploit triggering once the user receives the email or the user opens the Apple Mail app. The exploit doesn’t trigger in Gmail or other email clients, researchers said.

This is a particularly nasty exploit.

AppleInsider:

It’s Earth Day, and Apple is celebrating by highlighting apps that celebrate and protect our planet, helping you to get back to nature, and give back to the environment.

Apple designed this year’s Earth Day app stories to give readers a way to get involved in Earth Day — especially crucial as COVID-19 and social distancing have postponed many Earth Day celebrations.

Does Earth Day take on more meaning as we hear stories of better air, fewer car crashes, and animals wandering through cities because of the pandemic?

MacStories:

Following the surprise early release of the Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro, I’ve been waiting to get my hands on Apple’s highly anticipated accessory and evaluate it from the perspective of someone who uses the iPad Pro as a tablet, laptop, and desktop workstation.

I received the Magic Keyboard for my 12.9” iPad Pro yesterday afternoon; fortunately, I was able to order one in the US English keyboard layout from the Italian Apple Store last week, and the keyboard arrived three days ahead of its original scheduled delivery date. Obviously, less than a day of usage isn’t enough time to provide you with a comprehensive review; however, given that plenty of iPad users are still waiting for their Magic Keyboards to arrive, I thought it’d be useful to share some first impressions and thoughts based on my initial 24 hours with the keyboard.

Let’s dive in.

Viticci has been a full-time iPad user for many, many years. His is the opinion I’m most interested in when it comes to the Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro.

PetaPixel:

Photography for me is a way of connecting to nature and capturing the feeling I have when exploring amazing locations. A phone creates less of a barrier to capturing that moment.

But what happens when you take a photo with a modern phone like an iPhone 11 Pro and then print it really big? I wondered and decided to give it a go.

I wanted to print 30-40 inches (76-102cm), so I would have to accept that it will be printed at 120 PPI or less. But how bad would that look?

The assumption has always been you can easily print off your iPhone/camera phone photos as long as you don’t print them too large. This guy shows you can print massive iPhone shots.

New York Times:

There could hardly have been a more terrifying place to fight a fire than in the belly of the Losharik, a mysterious deep-diving Russian submarine.

Something, it appears, had gone terribly wrong in the battery compartment as the sub made its way through Russian waters 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle on the First of July.

A fire on any submarine may be a mariner’s worst nightmare, but a fire on the Losharik was a threat of another order altogether. The vessel is able to dive far deeper than almost any other sub, but the feats of engineering that allow it do so may have helped seal the fate of the 14 sailors killed in the disaster.

Both fascinating and terrifying. My father was a submariner in the Canadian Navy for a time and I’ve always held those particular sailors in the highest of respect. This accident must have been a horrific way to die.

Smithsonian Magazine:

Listen carefully on a quiet summer night and you might hear them. Even if you don’t see a bat’s frantically fluttering form, you might catch its high-pitched chirp as it searches the night for dinner. You’re probably hearing a little brown bat, a common insect-eater found throughout North America, but it is just one of more than a thousand species of bat ranging from the one-inch-long Kitti’s hog-nosed bat to the enormous, three-pound giant golden-crowned flying fox.

Large or small, bats suffer a reputation problem. Aside from being associated with vampires, they’re often called “flying rats” and blamed for the spread of zoonotic diseases into humans (including COVID-19, though whether that blame is founded is as of yet unclear.) This fear often overshadows the fascinating fact that bats are the only mammals to have evolved powered flight, and they’ve been flapping around for tens of millions of years. Where, then, did these flying oddities come from?

I’ve never been afraid of bats. They fascinate me. One of the big thrills of my life was floating on a canoe in Austin, Texas watching the Congress Avenue Bridge bat colony come out for the night – 500,000 to 1.5 million Brazilian free-tailed bats flying in the twilight.