Posts in Linked

Apple Reveals Its Focus on Self-Driving Vehicle Technology→

Apple’s famous reputation for secrecy continues to morph. While much of the company’s upcoming products remain shrouded in mystery – as evidenced by the numerous surprises at WWDC last week – other works in progress have voluntarily been thrust into the public eye. Alex Webb and Emily Chang report for Bloomberg on the latest big disclosure:

After years toiling away in secret on its car project, Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has for the first time laid out exactly what the company is up to in the automotive market: It’s concentrating on self-driving technology.

“We’re focusing on autonomous systems,” Cook said in a June 5 interview on Bloomberg Television that amounted to his most detailed comments yet on Apple’s automotive plans. “It’s a core technology that we view as very important.” He likened the effort to “the mother of all AI projects,” saying it’s “probably one of the most difficult AI projects to work on.”

Apple’s car-related work has been a loosely kept secret to this point due to the various permits and regulatory approvals required to test self-driving vehicles on public roads, but that doesn’t make today’s news any less surprising. It’s one thing to announce a product six months out, or even a year or more out as happened recently with the Mac Pro, but publicly disclosing an entrance into a huge new market – potentially a long while before the product is ready to ship – is a different thing entirely.

Cook at least isn’t giving away the whole story yet. The end of the Bloomberg story notes:

Cook was hesitant to disclose whether Apple will ultimately manufacture its own car. “We’ll see where it takes us,” Cook said. “We’re not really saying from a product point of view what we will do.”

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Connected, Episode 145: LEGO for Shortcuts→

Live from San Jose, the trio talk about the news from a little event known as WWDC.

Last week’s Connected, recorded in person during WWDC, is all about Apple’s announcements and our reactions to pro updates for Macs and iPads. You can listen here.

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iOS 11 Drag and Drop on the iPhone→

Steven Troughton-Smith played around with the first beta of iOS 11 and discovered that inter-app drag and drop – one of the marquee features for iPad this year – could in theory be used on the iPhone as well.

At WWDC, Apple explained that the same drag and drop API that powers iPad apps can be used on the iPhone to move content inside the app you’re currently using. So while on the iPad we’re going to get a wide array of gestures to transfer content between different apps, on the iPhone drag and drop will be limited to rearranging content in the current app only.

I want inter-app drag and drop to come to the iPhone eventually (it’s such a better solution than extensions and share sheets), but I could see a couple of reasons why Apple might want to wait for now.

First, giving the iPad exclusive access to the functionality is a great marketing move as Apple “relaunches” the iPad line this year. But more importantly, while the iPad supports multi-hand drag and drop, the same system would be awkward, if not downright impossible, on the iPhone’s screen. And if I had to guess, I’d say that Apple would prefer iPhone drag and drop to work well with one-handed operations – which makes me wonder if the company is waiting for a future software solution (a Shelf, a spring-loaded virtual Home button, or a new Dock) to enable more powerful drag and drop on the iPhone.

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Apple’s App Store Guidelines Now Allow Executable Code in Educational Apps and Developer Tools→

Apple made several changes to the App Store Review Guidelines during WWDC this week, including an easing of the prohibition against downloading and executing code on an iOS device. The ban on executable code remains intact, but rule 2.5.2 now also provides that:

Apps designed to teach, develop, or test executable code may, in limited circumstances, download code provided that such code is not used for other purposes. Such apps must make the source code provided by the Application completely viewable and editable by the user.

The change to the guidelines is limited, but it’s an important signal to third-party developers that Apple will accept certain educational apps and developer tools on iOS, which brings the promise of app development on iOS one step closer to reality.

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App Store Policy Now Allows Tipping Content Providers→

Josh Constine reports for TechCrunch about an updated App Store policy that will enable apps to allow tipping of content creators, provided 30% of that tip goes to Apple. The newly updated policy from Apple reads:

Apps may use in-app purchase currencies to enable customers to “tip” digital content providers in the app.

Constine explains that previously, tipping was a grey area, leading some developers to avoid implementing it for fear their apps would be rejected by the App Review team. But this new policy changes that, he writes:

This means developers can add tipping features without fearing repercussions from Apple, as long as they’re willing to give the giant 30 percent. The grey area had kept tipping out of some popular apps who sought to avoid any tension with Apple. Now app makers can offer and promote tipping features with confidence.

The developers will have to determine whether they themselves take a cut of the tips or pass the full 70 percent on to the content creators. Passing on 50 percent while taking a 20 percent cut could unlock paths to monetizing video where ads can be interruptive or tough to match with unpolished footage.

The App Store has been rife with changes since Phil Schiller adopted responsibility for it, and this particular change will impact certain people in different ways. Some developers may appreciate the clarity concerning what they can or can’t do in the realm of tipping, but for any apps currently allowing tipping without the 30% tax, both developers and content providers will be harmed.

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Apple Sharing Screen Repairing Machines with Third-Party Vendors→

As the iPhone has evolved in recent years, it has become more and more difficult to repair. Screen repairs in particular are challenging thanks to the wealth of technology integrated with an iPhone’s screen.

According to a new report from Reuters, Apple is making strides toward empowering more third-parties to perform those complex repairs. The company is beginning to roll out its proprietary tool for repairing iPhone screens, the Horizon Machine, to authorized repair companies. Plans are to deliver 400 Horizon Machines by the end of the year to repair centers across 25 countries. Stephen Nellis was given access to watch these Apple creations at work:

Dozens of Horizon Machines lined the tables. The contraptions, gray metal boxes the size of a microwave with a swing-out windowed door, vary slightly in shape depending on the model of iPhone they repair. Apple would not say where the machines were made or by whom
…
Once the new screen is mounted, the iPhone goes into the Horizon Machine, which allows Apple’s software to communicate with the fresh hardware. Over the course of 10 to 12 minutes, the machine talks to the phone’s operating system to pair the fingerprint sensor to the phone’s brain.

While that unfolds, a mechanical finger jabs the screen in multiple places to test the touch-sensitive surface. The machine also fine tunes the display and software to match the precise colors and calibration of the original.

The piece notes how the topic of phone repair can be a political one, as legislation has been introduced in several U.S. states that intends to promote increasing repair options for consumers. Whether that legislation comes to pass or not, sharing the Horizon Machine seems like a good move by Apple that will benefit its customers in the long run.

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Apple Publishes Video for WWDC 2017 Keynote→

The video of Apple’s WWDC keynote address, which was held earlier today at the San Jose Convention Center, is now available on the company’s website.

The nearly two-and-a-half hour keynote featured a wealth of information. Apple introduced new iPad Pro models, new iMacs and MacBooks, its first entry into the smart speaker market with HomePod, and the latest updates and improvements to iOS, macOS, and watchOS.

We’ll have full details on all of today’s announcements throughout the remainder of the day and as the WWDC conference continues over the next several days.

You can also follow all of our WWDC coverage through our WWDC 2017 hub, or subscribe to the dedicated WWDC 2017 RSS feed.

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Apple’s Arborist→

During his research for a Wired feature on Apple Park, Steven Levy met David Muffly, the arborist who planned the tree species planted at Apple’s new headquarters. On his Backchannel blog, Levy tells the story of how Muffly and Steve Jobs planned the trees that would be planted at Apple Park, including Muffly’s recollection of the first time he saw the mockups of the building:

Jobs took him to a room that had foam-core renderings of the proposed new Apple headquarters — a verdant space with lush greenery (80 percent of the space is landscaped) dominated by a huge ring-like building where 12,000 people would work. “I was like, whoa, this is crazy,” recalls Muffly. “And I’m looking at it and my brain is like, it’s the mothership!”

Muffly was impressed with Jobs’ extensive knowledge of trees native to Silicon Valley:

Jobs knew his trees, too. “He had a better sense than most arborists,” says Muffly. “He could tell visually which ones looked like they had good structure.” On a visit to Jobs’ house in 2011, Muffly saw this in action. They were in Jobs’ backyard garden, and in a neighbor’s yard there were two varieties of trees that Muffly wanted Jobs to choose between. “There was a kind of tree that I wanted to use and one that was more common,” says Muffly. “I asked, Steve, which of those two trees do you prefer? He liked questions like that. And he looked up and he pointed to the one I wanted. I said, Thank you, Steve. That was a good answer.”

Like other aspects of Apple Park, the scale of the landscaping is immense with roughly 9,000 trees planned. What I like most about Levy’s piece though, is that it adds a face, personality, and story to those huge numbers.

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