If the suspense is too much to bear just watch the clips here and relax. Tomorrow we will see if the iPhone 11 will meet or even excede the accomplishemnts of the iPhone X.
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Although it’s been quietly hovering in the shadows since WWDC in May, Apple TV+ is about to explode onto the scene very soon, it would appear. As can be seen in the various teasers we’ve assembled here – big, nay, huge names and stars are onboard.
What’s not so well known, is that there are many, many productions already in the pipeline, presumably to be released over the next year. How many? Already outlined in available information are over 30 original series or features that are at various stages of production.
Here are just a few headline titles:
The service will be available in over 100 countries world wide, and the production war chest is rumored to be upwards of Six Billion Dollars.
The size and scope of this “hobby” project, as Steve Job’s once called the Apple TV device, is far larger, from all indications, than the somewhat underwhelming reactions from the press would have one believe.
“There’s truth pumping through your veins and into the story that you’re telling”
– Jennifer Aniston
Although there has not been much noise or hoopla yet, there are many indications that this could be a sleeping giant. Not necessarily an overnight success, but a long grinding campaign that will eventually reach higher and further than anyone is imagining at present.
Sharing the “plus” with its smaller sister Apple News +, it looks like the plus designation will mark the first foundational bricks of a possible future media empire, while in hardware everything “pro” begins to emerge.
Current rumors indicate that a new “pro” model iPhone is imminent to go along with the already established iPad Pro, MacBook Pro, iMac Pro and newly updated Mac Pro.
It would stand to reason, therefore, that, in the very near future, the “gang of Pro” will meet up with the Plus sisters, and a new extended services based media, software expansion will unite with the upper echelon hardware empire, and, if successful, will reveal a truly balanced spectrum of offerings.
“A story should make you forget your surroundings, forget your agenda, your day and, hopefully, makes you forget yourself”
– Steven Spielberg
And for a company that invented desktop publishing, pushed digital music transmission and photography into the mainstream, not to mention, put the smart into smartphone, there is an unavoidable logic and symmetry that is emerging. As Apple increases its focus on service income, original entertainment and educational production a balance across all sectors begins to take shape.
Naturally, coming “late” on the heels of the extremely successful growth of Netflix Original productions, Amazon, HBO, Hulu and now Disney’s Streaming Service, many will say that Apple is behind the curve and not likely to dominate.
Now, it would be wrong to mention Nokia, Blackberry, or Steve Ballmer, and say that Apple is not a company that you’d be wise to underestimate, but, after all, coming “late” with a significantly better product is what Apple does best.
“Life often makes no sense. There is something about stories, that brings a sense of order and purpose to the world and allows us to live other lives than the life we’re living”
– J.J. Abrams
The hardware, software, media content production and distribution networks are, over a period of decades, evolving into the only ecosystem that has a benign, if not heroic purpose in it’s relationships with its user base as well as its professional partnerships.
Constant complaints that Apple earns too much money or somehow takes advantage of customers often have a hollow ring. When you look at the innovative accomplishments and world changing technology created, and compare that to empty, corrupt almost meaningless advertising empires such as FaceBook or Google, somehow it seems a different level of trust has been earned.
Yes, in a sense Apple is following the lead of other tech behemoths that have upended the Hollywood Power structure, but, at the same time, one gets the sense that the slow, deliberate moves can be traced all the way back to Steve Jobs, his days at Pixar and that, somehow, his superior vision guides the entire evolution, even the new “plus” wing, of the ecosystem to this very day.
In then end, the broad array of product and service offerings that Apple is building, now being expanded into the realm of not just entertainment and educational distribution (as iTunes has had in place since 2001), but also into the production and financing of original programming, marks the beginning of a more complete and potentially better functioning ecosystem.
Overall, this is extremely positive, not only for Apple’s financial health but, indeed, for the vast legion of Apple adherents around the globe.
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This article will have a lot of links. Following them you can see the spate of articles recently published on Amazon’s problems with “marketplace” inventory. Even if you don’t look at the articles, the number of links shows that this is a situation that is being followed by the press.
But none of these articles even begin to hint at the deeper underlying problems. “Tip of the iceberg” would be putting it mildly.
The observations in this article are based on candid conversations with long time sellers on the Amazon Marketplace platform. As is typical, none of the sellers would agree to be named, for fear of retribution by the giant online retailer.
Reading titles of articles like “Amazon May Have a Counterfeit Problem”, the sellers we spoke with could only laugh at the equivocation and doubt. This, apparently, is not a “maybe” thing for those with intimate knowledge of the situation.
“The real situation is that Amazon’s fee structure and shipping requirements only allow for counterfeit, illegal import or “gray market” products (such as returns that are still “new” but not factory sealed) to be sold at a meaningful profit.”
– anonymous marketplace seller
There are plenty of lawsuits by well known manufacturers who claim there is a big problem with fakes selling on the Amazon platform. Daimler AG, the company that produces Mercedes-Benz products, filed a lawsuit in Washington State, and Birkenstock, the European shoe maker, has complained loudly and publicly about the situation, and ultimately pulled their Brand from the site altogether.
The problems go much deeper than this. According to the sellers we spoke to the issue is literally built into the entire inventory of more than 500 million products listed on the site.
A second reason is the way Amazon uses a legal strategy of “having it both ways”; customers feel like they are always buying from Amazon itself when buying on the site, or at least that they are protected by Amazon. At the same time when bigger problems do arise, suddenly, the marketplace is a pseudo-public area which can not be directly linked back to Amazon and for which they claim to have no liability.
But it is the third reason that shields the mega-site, more than anything else, from bad publicity: the fact that, in order to understand the issues thoroughly, a deep investigation into its history and business practices is required.
Apparently, according to our extremely experienced sources, it all goes back to the time, before 2008, when Amazon was still primarily an online bookstore (For years, in fact, the site’s tagline was “Earths biggest bookstore”).
The “business model” at that time was simple yet brutal; buy books directly from publishers at the full wholesale price and sell them for that same amount with “free” shipping (for prime members).
And in doing this they accomplished many things, all near and dear to their founder’s heart:
-Annihilate all book sellers, online or off, since selling at zero margin could only be done by losing billions, which, in-turn, only an online Wall Street financed “dot-com darling” could afford.
-Addict the suppliers (publishers) to the steady flow of sales, with the percentage from Amazon relentlessly rising until it is the only significant buyer.
-Preemptively destroy any online seller by putting the barrier to entry so high that it would be suicidal to even try to compete (see the diapers.com saga)
-Brain-wash the public into thinking that it was “normal” to be able to buy products at wholesale prices (with free shipping) and that there was nothing “fishy” about the fact that only Amazon could afford to do it (by losing billions, on paper).
From a Businessweek / Bloomberg story about how Bezos forced Diapers.com, owned by Quidisi, out of business (buying them out after the strong-arm mafia-like practices outlined below):
“Quidsi could now taste its own blood. At one point, Quidsi executives took what they knew about shipping rates, factored in Procter & Gamble’s (PG) wholesale prices, and calculated that Amazon was on track to lose $100 million over three months in the diaper category alone.
When Bezos’s lieutenants learned of WalMart’s counter-bid, they ratcheted up the pressure, telling the Quidsi founders that (Bezos) was such a furious competitor that he would drive diaper prices to zero if they sold to Bentonville.”
-report published in Businessweek and recounted in “The EVerything store”
All of this was a spectacular success, for Amazon, as can be attested to by the recently acquired “richest man-in-the-world” title. Amazon lost billions per quarter for decades and, and, yet, as the “last man standing” eventually turned that around into the creation of the world’s richest human. All stemming from virtual monopoly in online sales of ALL products in the US (over 50%, with the second largest online seller at 6.6%). Imagine even one other online retail company with more than 20% and it’s easy to see there is no “competition” for Amazon and no real alternative for buyers or sellers.
And what about sellers on the Amazon Marketplace? Did they benefit from the massive success of the platform (as they contributed more than 50% of revenue to the giant retailer)?
All the anecdotes of “some guy in Minnesota” who resells Walmart clearance items, aside, the only winners in that part of the story were and are …wait for it… counterfeiters, illegal importers and gray market sellers. Oh, and Chinese “no-brand” factories that sell on Amazon in the US.
It seems that, square in the bullseye of Amazon’s hit-list, in addition to anyone that sells anything who’s not on Amazon, is the very group that has kept the company afloat all these years: The millions of, mostly small, sellers on the marketplace all trying to eke out a living.
They have zero leverage and no where else to go to sell online (remember virtually all the customers are already locked into the Amazon platform due to the “bribery” of too-good-to-be-true prices and free shipping), therefore, they can be gouged with impossible fees.
The fee structure is, as you might expect, complicated, but fees are the highest of any online marketplace and never fall, only rise, which they do often, according to sellers. For items at lower price points deducted fees can be as much as 50%. The real costs are hidden in fees like “variable closing” and other made-up monikers to obfuscate the real reasoning behind the math. But in practical terms, selling a $8 item can cost up to $4 in added fees.
But, and this is the complicated bit, even that might work for a legitimate seller if not for the fact that, in many cases, the seller is competing against Amazon itself! And, as you have seen above, prices have no bottom limit as profit is not required for Amazon to “win”.
To wrap this mind-boggling concept up with a bow: if any company wants to realize even 1 cent of retail profit after fees, selling on the Amazon Marketplace, it must acquire the goods for roughly 70-90% below standard retail prices, and even that might not be sufficient.
Who can do that? Chinese no-brand factories shipping directly to the US with subsidized USPS shipping rates, counterfeiters, illegal importers and gray market sellers. Period.
A thorough investigation of the millions of sellers currently selling on Amazon would, without a doubt, say our sources, turn up not just a few bad apples, but a system that is virtually rotten to the core. Beyond even Elizabeth Warren’s wildest fears.
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A new 6k upgrade for the Pocket Cinema Camera line has been released by Blackmagic Design.
There’s been an explosion in the last year or so in the “prosumer” or semi-pro video production space. The Pocket Cinema 4K and now the upgraded 6k version appear to be aimed at this market.
Examples of a demo music video, a documentary film, an Indie faux film trailer as well as a mock fashion shoot (shown partially in video above) are available to view or download on the Blackmagic web site.
There is also an embedded video player which will play back at up to 4K and if you want to see the original 6k resolution you can load the clips or download.
Honestly, with all due respect to the filmmakers hired to do these camera test videos, they almost certainly don’t do justice to what the camera is capable of. They do, however, show a very high quality and texture of what relatively average lighting conditions and subject matter will yield. In the hands of extreme talent the possibilities are intriguing indeed.
One odd feature of our current visual media environment is that camera tech, including the 4K 60fps that any high level iPhone can produce, far outstrips the “broadcast” opportunities, since even 4K phone footage will clog up any average download bandwidth in a heartbeat.
As mentioned above, this higher resolution source footage, as well as the depth of field possibilities and a higher caliber of lenses can all combine to produce magic under the right conditions. This quality will not be lost when seen in less than optimal conditions. And, of course down the road when 5g, Starlink, and all the rest, are the new normal, 4K to 6k to 8k will start to be something even end-viewers will be able to enjoy.
A one minute clip is nearly 7 Gigabytes (!) which gives some idea of how the 6k video is to handle in post production settings. However, even when seen at lower resolutions, online for instance in our video above, the 1080HD version does clearly benefit from the original source footage quality.
Some of the most practical advantages of the higher spec performance include a higher dynamic range (up to 13 stops according to Blackmagic) and cleaner low light performance, using the ultra sensitive sensor with it’s secondary high base ISO of 3200.
As makers of the highly popular DaVinci Resolve Studio 16 post production software, which is provided at no cost if you purchase the camera, the standard file formats and proprietary Blackmagic RAW will clearly assist grading and editing flexibility.
Remote camera control using the iPad app by Blackmagic or 3rd party compatible apps such as Bluetooth+ or tRigger is also available.
It will shoot at up to 50 fps at 6144 x 3456 Super 35. The Cinema 6k can also shoot still photos at 21.2 megapixels and, with anamorphic lenses it will allow true anamorphic 6:5 aspect at 60 fps with a 3624 x 3020 resolution. Or, if you like 120 fps in 1080HD.
The 6k S35 23.10mm x 12.99 and 6144 x 3456 resolution is the headline and the idea of a camera that adds a major increase in resolution, without jumping up to 8k, which would likely require a top of the line Mac Pro to even begin to manage in post, is a great idea and will perhaps spawn a new standard.
There are also many pro features included in the Pocket Cinema 6k package – input options such as: mini XLR, USB-C, full-sized HDMI, mic input, DC 12v and headphone output.
Weighing in at slightly under 2 lbs and using an EF mount the Cinema 6k is compatible with Canon EF lenses.
Available now and having a retail price of $2495 USD this is, for now, the prosumer dream machine.
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Features
Pocket Cinema Camera 6k
Effective Sensor Size 23.10mm x 12.99mm (Super 35)
Lens Mount Active EF Mount
Lens Control Iris, focus and zoom on supported lenses.
Dynamic Range 13 stops
Dual Native ISO 400 and 3200
Shooting Resolutions 6144 x 3456 (6K) up to 50 fps
6144 x 2560 (6K 2.4:1) up to 60 fps
5744 x 3024 (5.7K 17:9) up to 60 fps
4096 x 2160 (4K DCI) up to 60 fps
3840 x 2160 (Ultra HD) up to 60 fps
3728 x 3104 (3.7K 6:5 anamorphic) up to 60 fps
2868 x 1512 (2.8K 17:9) up to 120 fps
1920 x 1080 (HD) up to 120 fps
Frame Rates Maximum sensor frame rate dependent on resolution and codec selected. Project frame rates of 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 50, 59.94 and 60 fps supported.
Off-speed frame rates up to 60 fps in 6K 2.4:1, 120 fps in 2.8K 17:9 and 1080HD.
Focus Autofocus available using compatible lenses.
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Imagine that a camera crew followed you around all day. Each time you expended energy through exercising (you might be an athlete) and your daily routine, running to work, climbing the stairs, kick boxing after work, or dancing in the evening, the crew shot a flattering moment of you in the middle of it all.
Or, better yet, say you are at the end of a long, active day. Ever since you’ve been “closing rings” on your apple watch, you know just what kinds of activities, and for how long, it will take to get them all closed. You watch, in your mind’s eye, an imaginary external montage of each step, each jump, each time your foot presses the pedal on your bike, all the various ways you express physicality and, this being a daydream (at night) you run the sequence in your mind over and over.
Each time you view the day’s movements and activities you choose just a snippet, a tiny captured slice, of every peak action revelation that, by the end of the long day, combine together to close your rings. By the time you’ve compressed it into the ultimate montage, it is not more than fifteen seconds of fleeting, flashing, images. And it is good.
Now you can doze off knowing that, tomorrow, you will live your life in motion, and, with your partner on your wrist, your rings will close again. And once more you will doze off watching your personal highlight reel of action, health and satisfaction.
Below are a few special Apple Watch owners who really did have that camera crew (graciously supplied by Apple, for commercial purposes) and we’ve attached the videos to prove it:
“Haley competes for the U.S. National Team as an elite open water swimmer. She uses the Pool Swim workout to track her yardage in the pool, where she closes her Exercise ring in training sessions every morning. Because she’s highly competitive, Haley tries to double her Move and Exercise rings every day.”
APPLE / HALEY A.
Haley’s swimming metrics are duration, active calories, laps, and distance.
Learn how to configure your workout metrics
“Jessica is the founder and lead instructor of Fat Buddha Yoga. She’s also a surfer and regularly DJs at clubs around the world. Being active in so many different ways can make it hard to track her fitness. But with Apple Watch, it’s simple. And whether she’s powering through a plank or dancing behind the turntables, everything counts”
APPLE / JESSICA S.
Jessica can see her progress with a lift of the wrist.
“Cory believes in closing his rings every day, no matter where he is in the world. As a captain of the Track Mafia running club and fitness instructor, he’s led people in sprints up mall escalators, jogs through the Wembley Stadium parking lot, and marathon runs that stretch all the way from Santa Monica to Las Vegas. He also frequently cycles or runs to whatever’s next on his busy schedule.”
APPLE / CORY W-M.
Cory inspires people to go the distance as a Nike Run Club coach.
Get motivated with the Nike Run Club app
Learn how to start an Activity competition
“In addition to the strenuous workout he gets on the podium, Jason likes to close his rings using the Workout app to track swimming, cycling, and weight lifting. When it comes to staying mentally fit, reminders from the Breathe app nudge Jason during his busy day, helping him to recenter.”
APPLE / JASON L.
The Heart Rate app lets Jason quickly check his pulse during performance breaks.
Learn about Apple Watch and heart health
“Natsumi is a yoga instructor and model living in Tokyo. She uses the Yoga workout to close her Exercise ring while she’s teaching a class. On occasion, Natsumi likes to surprise her students by taking them on hiking expeditions, where the Hiking workout tracks her distance and calorie burn. If Natsumi’s rings aren’t closed by the afternoon, she walks to her modeling gigs.”
APPLE / NATSUMI Y.
Natsumi uses the Breathe watch face to begin yoga classes.
Learn how to change your watch face
Couch potato turned avid marathon runner, cyclist, and swimmer, Atilla credits his transformation to Apple Watch. To close his rings, he makes sure to schedule two workouts every day. On his 12-mile runs, Atilla streams Apple Music for motivation. If he hasn’t closed his rings (which he admits being addicted to), an Outdoor Cycle or Open Water Swim workout gets the job done in the evening.
APPLE / ATILLA K.
Rolling Pace lets Atilla see a mile split at any point on his run.
Learn how to get more out of your run
“At 65, Eric prides himself on being in great shape. He closes his rings five times a week, walking everywhere throughout his city to visit clients, friends, and neighborhood shops. Along the way, Eric loves to watch his rings close and see the miles, calories, and flights of stairs stack up in the Outdoor Walk workout and the Activity app. Eric finds himself moving just as much on the weekends, dancing, playing volleyball, and riding his bike.”
APPLE / ERIC G.
Eric uses turn-by-turn directions in the Maps app to find his way around the city.
See how to get directions on Apple Watch
“As a busy student and point guard on her college basketball team, Yocelin doesn’t know what it means to sit still. She closes her rings virtually every day, running and lifting weights to stay in competitive shape. When she’s not on the court or in the classroom, Yocelin racks up even more Move calories and Exercise minutes taking care of her three younger brothers. If it weren’t for bedtime reminders from her Apple Watch, she might never rest.”
APPLE / YOCELIN S.
Yocelin stays motivated during workouts and before each game using AirPods to listen to her favorite songs.
Learn how to stream Apple Music
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In a move that anticipates the emergence of 5g in 2020 and beyond, Apple takes a bold step in moving it’s 5g modem production forward, though this deal.
If you are dreaming of the up-coming release of an ultra fast and state-of-the-art 5g iPhone you are in luck, just likely not this year. At minimum, this acquisition assures that Apple is seriously committed to a 5g future.
Fruit of this development assures that a plan is in place for 5g modem units, currently slated to be supplied by Qualcomm, to be supplied by Apple itself, over time. Ultimately, the acquisition paves the way for a strong, smooth transition toward Apple designing and producing this crucial component going forward.
According to the press release from July 25th, the two companies have signed an agreement for Apple to acquire the “majority” of the modem production unit of Intel for $1 Billion.
In the deal Apple will get intellectual property, leases and equipment along with 2,200 employees who will now work for the iPhone maker.
“We’ve worked with Intel for many years and know this team shares Apple’s passion for designing technologies that deliver the world’s best experiences for our users…”
– Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Technologies
This development is also in keeping with Apple’s long standing practice of staying ahead in smartphone innovation by investing in the ability to develop and manufacture key components, such as wireless modems in this case. With a critical transition to 5g wireless looming, this appears to be smart and decisive, if not unexpected, move for the company.
Wireless modems, previously outsourced to others, such as Intel and Qualcomm, are an increasingly important component for Apple, long term, to design in-house in order to enable special features, cost savings and control of the design process for the entire device.
Although it is likely that apple will continue for some time to use Qualcomm 5g modems for it’s iPhones, now that the lawsuit between the two companies has been settled, the Intel technology, patent and human resource transfer will enable it to shift to in-house production at some point, likely for 2021 and beyond.
A Prime target in the deal; patents for current and future wireless technology, which, when combined with Apple’s existing portfolio will reach a total of over 17,000.
These include patents for cellular standards, modem operations and architecture. After the deal, Intel will continue to operate in the modem area, however, exclusively for PC’s, internet-of-things and autonomous vehicles, while Apple will take over all operations related to smartphone applications.
”This agreement enables us to focus on developing technology for the 5G network while retaining critical intellectual property and modem technology that our team has created..”
– Intel CEO Bob Swan
The deal is expected to be finalized later this year.
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First is was the FaceApp that added years to your face with its app filter, in the FaceApp Challenge – with questionable issues regarding the origins (Russia) and terms of service agreement.
Now, from a more reassuring source, namely researchers in the US, including some from the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab, we have the opportunity to see our selfies (and celebrity snaps) transformed into pseudo-classical portrait styles.
The web site upload system, currently down due to massive demand, uses GAN (Generative Adversarial Network) results from 45,000 images in the art history archives to create a new photo based on the original plus the relevant data instructions from the scan.
“With AI Portraits Ars anyone is able to use GAN models to generate a new painting, where facial lines are completely redesigned.
The model decides for itself which style to use for the portrait. Details of the face and background contribute to direct the model towards a style.
In style transfer, there is usually a strong alteration of colors, but the features of the photo remain unchanged. AI Portraits Ars creates new forms, beyond altering the style of an existing photo.”
AI Portraits Ars Web Site
As can be seen from the montage above (and the version with names added below) the results are often flattering in an odd ancient sort of way. Also, some, such a Keanu Reeves, are obvious (?) whereas others you might never guess!
So below the results and thanks for playing!
The AI Portraits web site should be back up shortly, assuming the rush to try it out eventually slows!
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Perhaps not noticed due to the Mueller Mania, and with so much going on in Tech, here are a few stories that you might have missed. The first is tied to an antitrust inquiry announced by the Department of Justice on Tuesday and later commented on by the Treasury Seecretary. Two Apple stories follow and both are good news, first, a serious commitment to 5G development for iPhones, and second, a more focused lineup for Macbooks
Apple Acquires Intel’s Smartphone Modem Unit to Accelerate Huge 5G Push
MacBook Air and Pro Upgrades Harken Back to Steve Jobs Heroically Simplifying Apple Line Up in 1997
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On September 17, 1997, Steve Jobs took over at Apple as Interim CEO and immediately set about to right the ship by removing both products and people that had sent the company nearly to the brink of oblivion.
It’s easily forgotten that, at the time, the product offerings included literally dozens of desktop computers, servers and laptops as well as printers, digital cameras and, of course, the “MessagePad 2000” which, although ahead of it’s time, was surely better off dead.
He created the “4-square grid” to simplify and focus the computer product line up. Two categories for consumer machines and two for pro machines.
Fast forward to July, 2019, and once again Apple is choosing to re-focus the line up. With the MacBook line now gone, only the MackBook Air and MacBook Pro laptop product categories remain.
The MacBook Air models designed before 2018 have been removed from the Apple Store as has the 12-inch MacBook.
The remaining machines have improved specifications and, in the case of the new entry level MacBook Air, a $100 price cut to go along with the improved stats. The entry level portable has a new price of $1099 ($999 for students and teachers).
The new entry level Air sports a 13.3 in. Retina True Tone Display, sort-of new keyboard design (which appears to be an attempt to reassure that this is better than the infamous original “butterfly” style, which was widely complained about), 1.6 GHz dual core 8th Gen processor and 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports. It also comes with Touch ID.
The lowest cost for a MackBook Pro model, which now features the Touch Bar and will set you back an additional $200 more than the Air at $1299. It has the same display specs, other than additional brightness, but with higher powered quad-core processor and the Touch Bar.
Storage options have also been upgraded and re-priced across the entire Mac product line.
The simplifications of the full Mac lineup, now comprising 2 laptop categories, then the consumer and pro iMac all-in-one desktops, and finally, the Mac mini at the low end, contrasted with the mighty Mac Pro, coming in September, at the high end, are all revealed . The overall refresh for 2019 feels solid and complete and, as one biased observer put it, it borders on being wildly satisfying.
A good sign, from on high? Perhaps…
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Here, scattered across your screen, are Emoji that you will be living with starting with the release of iOS 13, in the Fall. Featuring diversity and fun new additions for already well populated categories, including animals, activities, food and, of course, smiley faces. When it comes to emoji, as the saying goes, more is better and better is just fine.
In an update that smiles on progressive ideas and openness, the “Holding Hands” emoji now sports any combination of gender, skin tone and even personalities, allowing the creation of up to 75 variations on the relationship and couples theme.
Based on a push from Apple, to add more emoji depicting disability themed icons, an ear adorning a hearing aid, a robotic, bionic-looking prosthetic arm and leg, wheelchairs, and a new guide dog will all be part of the new collection. Apple is dedicated to celebrating all forms of diversity and will take these steps to fill gaps in the current set of available emoji. Also exciting are the new animals: a flamingo, a sloth, a skunk and, likely to be a fan favorite, an orangutan.
“Many additional emoji categories are getting exciting updates with a new smiley face for yawning, a one-piece swimsuit, new food items including a waffle, falafel, butter and garlic, and new animals like the sloth, flamingo, orangutan and skunk.”
– APPLE PRESS RELEASE
In total, fifty-nine newly designed emoji will be included, after a free software update, on the iPad, iPhone, Mac and Apple Watch. These will be added to the thousands of emoji already available . These new designs are based on the approved characters in Unicode 12.0.
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In “the most challenging mission to date“, SpaceX and Elon Musk successfully launched the Falcon Heavy into orbit with 24 satellites onboard. Below we have embedded the SpaceX livestream link, which went live at 2:30am EDT, June 25th.
There are quite a few unique facts that make this launch special. It is the third flight for the Falcon Heavy, the first ever to take place at night, which creates a more dramatic viewing experience, and it is the first time that previously used side boosters will be redeployed. The two side boosters being used were flown previously, in April 2019, on the Arabsat-6A mission. And on top of all that, as if it was not enough, the 24 payloads are significant as well.
For example: the Planetary Society’s LightSail 2 will be onboard. A prototype of a popular sci-fi concept – a solar sail to be used for propulsion in space, this is the second iteration of the LightSail to be launched, both created by the Planetary Society.
“It’s really a romantic notion that has tremendous practical applications”
― Bill Nye, CEO of Planetary Society
This version, with a span of approximately 344 square feet and which had a pricetag of seven million dollars to build, will attempt to demonstrate that, using a LightSail, a spacecraft can accelerate and increase it’s distance from earth while in orbit. A successful test of the LightSail would begin to prove or discourage the possibility of using sails for interstellar travel.
In addition to this “Romantic” aspect of the mission, primarily this is a huge challenge for SpaceX, Musk and the Falcon Heavy,indeed, Musk, in a tweet, referred to it as …“our most difficult launch ever“. The STP-2 mission will launch 24 various spacecraft (satellites) into orbit, including the LightSail. It will be, assuming successful, more importantly, a step towards proving the Falcon Heavy’s ability to employ and reuse the side boosters described above, a first, and to observe the performance of it’s multi-burn profile for the rocket’s upper stage. In a quote from the dedicated STP-2 website: “In addition, SMC will use this mission as a pathfinder for the development of mission assurance policies and procedures related to the reuse of launch vehicle boosters.”
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Commenting on the antitrust review announced by the Justice Department on Tuesday, in an interview on CNBC, Mnuchin said that “it is good that the attorney general is going to look into this”.
Also saying that Amazon has “limited competition”, “hurt small businesses”, and that it was “absolutely right” for the Attorney General to look into “these issues”.
On Tuesday, the Justice Department announced via press release that it would initiate a review to determine if major online platforms had “reduced competition, stifled innovation or otherwise harmed consumers”.
”The Department of Justice announced today that the Department’s Antitrust Division is reviewing whether and how market-leading online platforms have achieved market power and are engaging in practices that have reduced competition, stifled innovation, or otherwise harmed consumers.”
Department of Justice Release from Tuesday, July 23, 2019
Interestingly, the idea of some kind of antitrust action against Amazon, Google or Facebook is one that is gaining traction among Republicans and Democrats alike. Senator Elizabeth Warren in particular has often spoken of the need for intervention.
Each of the “market-leading online platforms” have built-in defenses against traditional antitrust actions, which have traditionally looked for dominant companies where consumer prices were directly impacted by use of monopoly profits (such as in United States v. AT&T and later, v. Microsoft).
In the case of Facebook and Google, profits are hidden behind “free” products and services which allow the companies to claim that no harm comes to consumers as a result of their power. Naturally, the idea that the products and services come without cost is losing credibility in light of the many scandals and instances of harm, monetary or otherwise.
In the case of Amazon, it is even more complex, since, as a company famous for enormous losses rather than profit, all while using various loss leader strategies to prove that it is “consumer obsessed” and not a monopoly at all.
Indeed, Amazon’s response to the Justice Department’s press release was, through a spokesman, that Amazon accounts for “less than 4% of US retail sales” and that “small and medium-sized businesses are thriving with Amazon”. Not mentioned was the dominant 50% share of the online sales market.
By comparison the second largest online sales channel, eBay, for 2019 is estimated to reach 6.1%, while Walmart’s online platform has an approximate 4.6% share.
Rarely has the media been able (or willing) to unravel the deeply complex history of Amazon’s strategies – which can be traced all the way back to the incredibly favorable pricing of it’s stock during the dot.com bubble boom and it’s “stealth” transformation from “The World’s Largest Bookstore” into “The Everything Store” over a ten year period.
The closest definition for its business behavior is as a “monopsony”, which can be defined as holding a monopoly over suppliers or labor, not consumers.
And this is where the “hurt small businesses” comes in. Any small retailer wishing to survive, let alone make a profit, must have online sales in some form (ask Walmart if you doubt that online sales are a necessary requirement for a brick and mortar retail business in 2019) and the domination in that area – that is to say the control of the customers, by Amazon is so extreme that joining the Amazon Marketplace is the only option (other than trying to survive with 90% fewer online sales).
And the Marketplace is controlled with an iron fist by Amazon. For example, since around 2006 all communication between Amazon Marketplace sellers and their buyers is handled by an encrypted, anonymous messaging system designed to prevent sellers from obtaining any direct email addresses from buyers.
This amazingly elaborate system is a glaring indicator, hiding in plain sight, that Amazon views its “selling partners” as anything but.
Although third-party sellers accounted, for example, for 50% of paid units sold on Amazon in 2016, every customer was considered to belong 100% to Amazon and zero percent to the seller.
With fees that can total up to 50% (they use a complex exponential sliding scale which makes it impossible to quote any exact figure) the seller is doomed to have no brand value and no “good will” value as long as it agrees to cooperate on the platform. Not selling on Amazon, unless extremely well capitalized (such as a start-up with hundreds of millions of dollars), is a death sentence.
Naturally, the waters remain muddy, since examples of the precise opposite can be pointed to – if you are a manufacturer and your products are extremely cheap (you are probably in China) and you like to offer your margin to Jeff Bezos as “his opportunity” and, particularly if your products will harm an Amazon competitor that refuses to sell on Amazon, the red carpet will be laid at your feet.
It’s odd, as an observer, to note that there is not a single “brand success story” that can be pointed to as having built their brand through the Amazon third-party Marketplace. Could this be more than a coincidence?
”What I am glad we never did and that we’ve avoided so far is being on Amazon”
Jen Rubio, co-founder and chief brand officer of Away
Take, for example, Away Luggage, who went from being a “direct to consumer” start-up founded in 2015 to recently reaching a valuation of over one billion dollars and who made it a point NEVER to sell on Amazon;
She added that a “deal breaker” was that Amazon does not share customer data with vendors.
”Just sticking to our guns and not going on the [Amazon] platform was important for us”
Jen Rubio, Away
In our own recent interview with a long time Amazon Marketplace seller, who insisted on not being named, “or my children’s lives would be in danger”, he stated that many more behaviors towards seller “partners” are anything but collegial.
One of many examples is the “co-mingling” policy. As with much of what goes on behind the scenes at Amazon, this is an opaque, complex concept where all products that reside in any Amazon warehouse (supplied by various sellers participating in the “Fulfillment by Amazon” program) are considered to be “co-mingled” once they arrive.
When an item is purchased from a particular seller any item from any supplier is “picked” and shipped to the buyer. If that item is somehow inferior or even counterfeit, the seller whose name is on the order is automatically blamed although there is no way to trace the item’s true origin.
Our anonymous interviewee stated that, in one case, he was put out of business and even sued as having sold a counterfeit item, even though all his inventory was purchased from the original authorized manufacturer, and he could prove it.
Why didn’t he fight the false and obviously bogus accusation? $50,000 to $100,000 in Legal fees and no chance of any remedy other than, perhaps, re-instatement with no guarantee that the same thing wouldn’t happen again 2 days later.
One could get the impression, surveying the various accounts from sellers, across many walks of life, that Amazon’s perspective is not only that it is unimportant what happens to a particular seller that runs into problems on its platform, but that the demise of any seller is a “win” and that harm to any seller is harm to a competitor, even if that entity is technically a “Marketplace Partner”.
If true, this is as disturbing as any “consumer harm” effected through higher prices, as the sellers, who are also consumers let’s not forget, are just as trapped in the platform’s private “hell” as any consumer who is forced to pay higher prices as a result of monopolistic behavior.
Stories like the one above are “out-there” by the thousands but, strangely, hard to find online. A search on Google (oh yes, one of the other companies being scrutinized by the Justice Department) for “Amazon harms sellers” would often, in the recent past, bring up nothing but links to Amazon itself and how it is harmed by “counterfeit sellers” as if all the problems on the platform are created by the “other guy”.
Interestingly, even that is beginning to change, and there are more and more articles by reputable outlets such as Forbes , The Verge and INC who are daring to take information publicly gathered, as in our case, often from anonymous sources fearing retribution, and report on it without fearing similar retribution to its own organization. It seems likely more such stories will be published in the coming days and months. And perhaps, as they say, one day, the chickens will come home to roost.
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In “the most challenging mission to date“, SpaceX and Elon Musk are scheduled to launch the Falcon Heavy again tonight. Since there are some payloads on board from NASA they will be livestreaming the launch starting at 2am EDT. Below we have embedded the SpaceX livestream link, which goes live at 2:30am EDT, June 25th.
As of this writing, there is a 70% chance the conditions will be favorable for the attempt; if the launch does not take place today, the next window is scheduled for 11:30pm EDT, Tuesday, June 25th
There are quite a few unique facts that make this launch special. It is the third flight for the Falcon Heavy, the first ever to take place at night, which creates a more dramatic viewing experience, and it is the first time that previously used side boosters will be redeployed. The two side boosters being used were flown previously, in April 2019, on the Arabsat-6A mission. And on top of all that, as if it was not enough, the 24 payloads are significant as well.
For example: the Planetary Society’s LightSail 2 will be onboard. A prototype of a popular sci-fi concept – a solar sail to be used for propulsion in space, this is the second iteration of the LightSail to be launched, both created by the Planetary Society.
“It’s really a romantic notion that has tremendous practical applications”
― Bill Nye, CEO of Planetary Society
This version, with a span of approximately 344 square feet and which had a pricetag of seven million dollars to build, will attempt to demonstrate that, using a LightSail, a spacecraft can accelerate and increase it’s distance from earth while in orbit. A successful test of the LightSail would begin to prove or discourage the possibility of using sails for interstellar travel.
In addition to this “Romantic” aspect of the mission, primarily this is a huge challenge for SpaceX, Musk and the Falcon Heavy,indeed, Musk, in a tweet, referred to it as …“our most difficult launch ever“. The STP-2 mission will launch 24 various spacecraft (satellites) into orbit, including the LightSail. It will be, assuming successful, more importantly, a step towards proving the Falcon Heavy’s ability to employ and reuse the side boosters described above, a first, and to observe the performance of it’s multi-burn profile for the rocket’s upper stage. In a quote from the dedicated STP-2 website: “In addition, SMC will use this mission as a pathfinder for the development of mission assurance policies and procedures related to the reuse of launch vehicle boosters.”
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Isn’t it odd that everyone on the internet either seems to hate or love Elon Musk and Tesla? One theory behind why this may be the case, was put forth in a recent article by John Mayo-Smith published on Medium.com called Elon vs. The Alligators. In a nutshell, the article is a list, with a nice graphic in part II, of vested interests that would stand to lose from Tesla’s success and, conversely, benefit from its demise.
Fans of the 2006 documentary, “Who Killed The Electric Car” would be well aware of the “conspiracy” against the proliferation of electric cars. The rise of Tesla, by definition, signals the failure of those entrenched interests that previously banded together to try and stop the emergence of this essential technology in the transition away from deadly fossil fuels.
Musk and Tesla represent an initial sign that these kinds of cabals to suppress technological development may be losing their strangle-hold on our world. Meanwhile, overwhelmingly obvious facts, once seen as “conspiracy theories”, are beginning to be recognized for what they are: simple facts of history.
Take, for example, the video below “Why The US Has No High Speed Rail”, released on May 7th, 2019, by none other than that “underground, subversive organization” CNBC. This short documentary clip has already garnered more than 4.5 million views.
The video shows the highly evolved, generally safe, and amazingly comfortable high speed rail systems across the globe: China, Japan, France, Germany, India, Saudi Arabia and so on. And while more countries develop low emission, luxurious, high speed transport, the US still has no high speed rail.
Meanwhile, overwhelmingly obvious facts, once seen as “conspiracy theories”, are beginning to be recognized for what they are: simple facts of history.
– DL
The clip goes on to trace the history of the transportation infrastructure and show how it was dominated and controlled in the US by Big Oil, government road building subsidies and the Auto Industry. It follows the clear path of these forces, and how they systematically prevented any rise of non-automotive transportation.
Perhaps, even ten years ago, this video would have likely been systematically attacked, in the same way as previous stories, for daring to sing the virtues of highly efficient, low pollution transportation, and for the very same reasons.
Today, after a Sea change, it appears that it is not so easy to squelch access to information that lays out plain truths about the past. Information is no longer so easy to suppress. While we, as a species, face possible extinction from climate change / global warming, brought about at least partially by the precise “conspiracy” of corruption that is the reason the US still has no rail infrastructure, the need to face these kinds of facts is undeniable.
Could the large viewership, unchallenged, indicate that it is no longer possible to bully the citizenry into silence, simply by disparaging the source of information, be it journalistic or otherwise?
It doesn’t take an eagle eye to notice, that when it comes to auto fatalities, Tesla and Musk are held to a very different standard than any other car company. Doing any search of a general grouping of news reports pertaining to fatal auto collisions, instantly, a stark pattern emerges. Ford is not mentioned. Chevy? Nope. Neither is Toyota, or Nissan nor Chrysler or Subaru. Mercedes Benz? Never. This list could go on and on, but any casual observer can see the pattern.
Although there are almost 40,000 auto accident fatalities per year in the US, and a very tiny fraction of those involve any electric car, nevertheless, the name Tesla comes up again and again, as the headline of stories about car crashes, with or without fatalities.
Titles like: “5 killed on way to Funeral” or “His 6th DUI Proved Fatal” are common. But it appears that any crash, of any kind, that involves a Tesla is “news”. This is but one of endless examples that could be cited, and corroborated, showing a pattern of negative stories aimed at one car company above all others. Coincidence?
A little known episode in this long history is that of Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion car. Featured prominently at the 1933-34 World’s Fair in Chicago, it had an amazing fuel efficiency, with approximately 30 mpg, and at 20ft in length, could transport 8-11 passengers at up to 70 mph.
However, after a local Chicago politician (Chicago South Park Commissioner) ran his own vehicle into the first prototype, killing the driver of the Dymaxion, the whole episode was used, in bogus press reports, to bury not only public interest in the car itself, but any chance of the advances in gas milage and overall efficiency that it represented. Gas mileage in the 30 mpg range would then be delayed for decades.
Photo Credit / Medium.com
Headlines in New York and Chicago read: “Freak car rolls over – killing famous driver – injuring international passengers“. In a subsequent investigation the Dymaxion was cleared of any fault, and the politician and his car were found to have been illegally removed from the scene before any reporters arrived. To this day, the average fuel economy in the US is less than 30 MPG. Even after over 80 years, articles can still be found that smear the history of the car with lies and baseless inferences, the same ones propagated in 1933.
If suppression of inventions that could have reduced carbon emissions, the same polluting substances that, eventually, could destroy the earth, is not pure evil, it’s hard to say what is. And yet, those same forces and corrupt powers remain with us today. “Tump Loves Coal“.
It would be interesting to speculate why 4.5 million would want to know the answer to the question: “Why the US Has No High Speed Rail”. And what about the “Alligators” that are out to get Tesla and Elon Musk? Are they going to succeed? Or will 400 million decide that the alligator’s time, like the dinosaurs they resemble, is finally over.
What do you think?
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ABOVE: Logic Pro X 10.4.5 shown onstage at WWDC 2019 running 2,000 audio and software instrument tracks on the new Mac Pro.
Logic Pro X, Apple’s high end music production software, now has more under the hood, particularly when used with the new Mac Pro, which will be available in the Fall. Announced at WWDC 2019, this update is all that was promised and shown in the demo (see video above).
Particularly interesting for future Mac Pro users, the new Logic Pro X supports up to fifty-six processing threads. Up to five times the number of real-time plug-ins will be supported when using the new mac pro with this new Logic Pro version, as compared with the previous Mac Pro (trash can) version. This will enable smooth operation even within the most challenging production situations.
With support for up to one thousand audio tracks and one thousand software instrument tracks, which adds up to more than four times the number of tracks available, as needed.
Additionally, the new version supports one thousand Aux channel strips, one thousand external midi tracks and up to twelve sends per strip.
“As someone who uses Logic for everything I create musically, I got a huge kick seeing all the performance tweaks coming in Logic Pro X 10.4.5. And the expandability of the new Mac Pro will give it longevity and a home in my studio for a long time to come.”
— Oak Felder, producer for Demi Lovato, Drake, Alicia Keys and Rihanna
While many music and sound producers until now have opted to use the Apple’s free GarageBand app, essentially a stripped down version of Logic Pro X, with these new features ( a free upgrade for current Logic Pro X users) the relatively low price tag may begin to entice a larger percentage to go for the upper tier software.
Naturally, for the top pro clientele for whom cost is less relevant, the combination of the new Mac Pro and this upgraded version of Logic Pro X may be more competitive in a market where other similar products such as Avid Pro Tools and Abelton Live remain very popular.
A t WWDC, alongside updates to Logic Pro X, Apple announced macOS Catalina, iOS13 and iPadOS all expected to be released in time for the availability of the Mac Pro in the Fall.
Other Apple software, such as Final Cut Pro should see big updates by that time as well.
Also announced at WWDC, large creative software companies such as Adobe, BlackMagic and others pledged their support for the Mac Pro and detailed plans for major updates intended to take full advantage of the additional power and possibilities.
“Logic is my primary creative tool for composing music, playing a key role in creating the scores for ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ and ‘The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance’… I’m really excited to see the increased performance of Logic Pro X 10.4.5 along with the power, expandability and configurability of the new Mac Pro — together they will help me work even faster and let me focus more on being creative.”
— Daniel Pemberton, composer for “Black Mirror,” “Yesterday” and “Ocean’s 8”
Logic Pro X 10.4.5 is available now in the Mac App Store as a free update for all current users. For new users, the price remains a modest $199.99, which should be an enticement for many.
Additional new features in Logic Pro X 10.4.5, include:
At the end of the day, regardless of whether it’s on a MacBook Pro, a Mac Pro or even an iMac, the improvements to Logix Pro X represent a welcome sight, showing that Apple is truly committed to pushing forward the tools, both hardware and software, that will enable creators across all classes and styles to do more than ever with less effort and cost.
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Oddly fitting, it seems, to be writing this on the 75th anniversary of D-Day, and imagining a very different, yet strangely similar, world outcome at stake. As pundits and trolls debate prices and feature sets, something larger is happening just beyond the threshold of perception.
The superior ecosystem of integrated elements, conceived as a whole, is beginning to emerge after 35 years. And, as if rising from a fog, the outline of the way we will create and communicate via digital networks in the future, is getting clearer.
Beginning with a new Mac Pro featuring up to a 28-core, Xeon processor, and a new Pro Display XDR, a 32in, 6k Retina with a million to one contrast ratio and a billion colors, both announced along with macOS Catalina and iOS13, all due out in the Fall, there appears to be a pattern emerging.
In our most recent article covering WWDC: 8-core MacBook Pro and iPod Touch with A10 chip Released to Coincide With iOS and macOS Upgrade Announcements at WWDC, a trinity of forces was mentioned:
“With overall improvements in connectivity coming with 5g, not to mention all the satellite systems being built, the trinity of hardware muscle, accelerated software evolution, and hi-speed networking will be the “one more thing” of the era to come”.
The real story is about the improvements in the creative and computational power coming together on three fronts:
“If you want to teach people a new way of thinking, don’t bother trying to teach them. Instead, give them a tool, the use of which will lead to new ways of thinking.”
― R. Buckminster Fuller
Powerful fast hardware (nobody is complaining about the speed and power of the new Mac Pro), extended functionality of software – whether embedded within macOS Catalina, or from third parties, and then, finally, the-up-and coming speed and low latency of 5G and satellite networks.
However, a fourth, and very important force, not to be forgotten, is user sophistication. Seldom mentioned, it is barely a ‘thing’, yet without this essential component, the adoption of new technologies and communication methods could not move forward.
The gradual evolution of user adoption and skill will always gradually follow where the tools lead. For example, the ‘Digital Hub‘ of 2001 was a mystery, at the time, to a public that had barely begun to adopt the digital camera, and yet is completely obvious in hindisght.There’s a battle here, but it’s not for the stock price, revenue targets or market share. It’s for hearts, minds and the fulfillment of a sacred vision of a young Steve Jobs. To build a set of tools, overtake the Condor and soar above the mundane.
This combination, the rapidly emerging four pillars, will be nothing short of a revelation for the ages, all at a time when Moore’s Law is said to be dead or at least dying. And I didn’t even mention AI or machine learning.
“What a computer is to me is, it’s the most remarkable tool that we’ve ever come up with, and it’s the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds.”
– Steve Jobs
“I think one of the things that really separates us from the high primates is that we’re tool builders. I read a study that measured the efficiency of locomotion for various species on the planet. The condor used the least energy to move a kilometer.
The rest of the quote above from Steve Jobs:
And, humans came in with a rather unimpressive showing, about a third of the way down the list. It was not too proud a showing for the crown of creation. So, that didn’t look so good. But, then somebody at Scientific American had the insight to test the efficiency of locomotion for a man on a bicycle.
And, a man on a bicycle, a human on a bicycle, blew the condor away, completely off the top of the charts.”
[gdgallery_gallery id_gallery=”3″]
photos by Apple
What shines through is the path that Apple has kept all throughout the years and into today. Steve’s continuing, guiding hand prevented the core value propositions and and underlying goals from changing. And hallelujah to that.
My understanding is that a great part, if not the greatest part, of that ethos, was that human creativity and communication are paramount. And that building tools, to enhance and engender those, are a scared quest, worthy of noble men and women.
Now, here we stand, in a world that cries out for, and is even in danger of perishing without, a new higher level of communication and creativity.
And the tools are arriving, hopefully in-time, so let us be thankful to Steve’s great legacy, to Apple’s perseverance, and now pull together – and get to work…
[gdgallery_gallery id_gallery=”4″]
photos by Apple
Much has been made of the high prices and perceived ‘lack of innovation‘ in this, most recent, stream of new products from Apple. One ‘Fair and Balanced’ news organization’s headline screamed that Apple was considered ‘criminal’ for charging $999 for a monitor stand.
Sometimes, information comes at us all so fast, our brains need some time to catch up to reality. T his year’s WWDC was a bit like that, an avalanche of updates and features, exploding from 90 foot screens.
“And whence will come the wealth with which we may undertake to lead world-man into his new and validly hopeful life? From the wealth of the minds of world-man — whence comes all wealth.”
– R. Buckminster Fuller
A thousand dollar stand? Horrors. 50k for the maxed out system, boo hoo. ‘You can buy a gaming PC for around the same as the stand’. So what?. Next we’ll see an article calculating that if you buy 10 Pro Display XDRs and 10 stands that’ll be over $60,000! And somebody groaned! Quel Scandale! Apple haters are still hating and if it bleeds, it leads. And missing the story like it was the the broad side of a barn.
As a species, Buckmintser Fuller probably also said, we have been on training wheels. Well, now they are coming off, and we will need every ounce of power we can get our hands on if we are going to innovate and communicate ourselves out the messes we’ve created in this world.
Are these the tools meant to help content creators contribute to Apple’s shift from primarily hardware profits to income from subscriptions and services? Yes.
They are also the tools to help creators, communicators and scientists to innovate and ideate our way out of a road to possible self-inflicted extinction. Oh, yea, there’s that.
So let’s stand up and cheer for the company that is trying, like Steve wanted, to give us the best tools. ‘Cause heroes are hard to find, these days. Hero companies? There’s only one, or maybe two.
Apple is leading the way with serious simultaneous improvements in 2 of the 3 pillars of the golden triangle: more muscular hardware such as the new Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR, shown here, and a new galaxy of capabilities that will grow out of iOS13 and macOS Catalina, both announced and showcased this week at WWDC.
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Before Mojave, the macOS version that began, in earnest, the process of integration with iOS apps and features, a simultaneous upgrade to iOS 13 and macOS 10.15 Catalina would have perhaps yielded a yawn.
With a new MacBook Pro featuring an 8-core, 9th generation chip, and a new iPod Touch with the Apple A10 processor and With a new Mac Pro likely to be announced this week, there appears to be a pattern emerging.
With iMacs upgraded in March and the Mac mini already last October, it seems the entire Apple inventory will be refreshed by the end of 2019.
The one missing piece to the puzzle could be software. And, as if on cue, WWDC this week is expected to drop news on a variety of projects, but perhaps the best will be the two system software upgrades for iOS and macOS.
Doesn’t it seem, at times, as if the magic of hardware advances and even inventions of previously non-existent technology were expected to be a “given”? Suddenly, the absence of astoundingly new devices, created from thin air, is treated almost as a failure.
Anyone who attended CES 2019 would have noticed that we are in an era of gradual, incremental change. Many decry the lack of “innovation” yet seem to miss where the real action is and, even more, where it likely will be.
“The Future Might Be Sexier Than You Think”
– D.L.
Based on the various updates alluded to above, Apple has set the stage for a year of incremental hardware improvements.
The Mac Pro is expected to be a complete re-design, iPhones are always a mixed bag or upgraded with some new features. But what all of these share, is the dependence on, and ability to benefit from, improvements in system software and apps, both free from apple and at various cost from third parties.
Quietly, almost imperceptibly, macOS has been improving in leaps and bounds. Mojave was the first version of macOS where many long evolving technologies began to ripen. One need only look at the iCloud saga to see an example. Born as “Mobile Me” almost 20 years ago (!!) only with the Mojave / iOS 12 partnership did it really begin to show its potential.
[gdgallery_gallery id_gallery=”6″]
photos by Apple
Naturally, the more machines and devices connected to the same iCloud account the more useful it is. But, in a small business setting, with a few computers, iPhones, and iPads, it really begins to shine and becomes more useful with each (free) upgrade.
[gdgallery_gallery id_gallery=”7″]
photos by Apple
A few items from the list of functioning features already present in the Mojave / iOS 12 iCloud system:
It’s not so much the length of the list but the way the depth of the functionality of each part of the software expands over time. Every function or app listed above was, admittedly, barely ready for prime-time when first released.
But, with each update, including the “minor” ones, the functionality increases and often new features are added. Sometimes one has to dig for them and other times they ‘just work’, only better.
The one caveat is that relatively ‘fast’ internet access on all devices at all times is mandatory. With overall improvements in connectivity coming with 5g, not to mention all the satellite systems being built, the triumvirate of hardware muscle, software sophistication and hi-speed networking will be the “one more thing” of the era to come.
Will it be sexy like the first photo-pinch on the first iPhone ? Perhaps not. But with layering software systems, S.a.a.S. for businesses and AI infusing more and more ‘everyday tasks’ (tasks that once required expansive hardware, software and a computer science degree) with a ‘wow’ factor as yet to be measured, the future might be sexier than you think.
Apple is leading the way with serious simultaneous improvements in 2 of the 3 pillars of the golden triangle: more muscular hardware such as the new MacBook Pro and iPod Touch, shown here, and a new galaxy of capabilities that will grow out of iOS13 and macOS 10.15 Catalina, both announced and showcased this week at WWDC.
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With all the amazing products and software updates unveiled at Apple’s WWDC 2019, you’d think the viral meme would be something related. You’d be wrong. The trending topic for the first several days was… the monitor stand.
More specifically, the price of the monitor stand. Before you get really confused, it’s more the fact that the price was quoted separately, not a usual thing in general for monitor pricing. But this is no usual monitor.
As the name implies: The Pro Display XDR is meant for professional use. Hence the fairly hefty 5k price tag. So far, no big deal, right? Had Apple just announced a professional monitor, comparable in specs to pro monitors costing upwards of forty thousand dollars for 6k$, we’d probably have seen articles lauding them for creating thirty-four thousand in “savings”.
Further, if they had announced that the $6,000 monitor could be purchased “sans stand” for only 5k$, again, it’s all good. Instead, it was accidentally implied that the average-joe (who wants to buy a professional stand) would have to pay 5k$ for the screen and then another 1k$ for the “optional” stand.
Once this was announced scribes and haters all across the land began to decry the injustice to the world that this “arrogant” company would have the nerve to charge “as much as an iPhone XS”for nothing but a chunk of metal.
The race was on to compile the most outrageous comparisons: “you can buy an entire gaming PC for the price!”, wrote one, “it’s everything wrong with Apple today“, screamed another. After many such articles, each more ridiculous than the last, the “grown ups” began to chime in.
Finally, it was pointed out that professional video or film editing businesses, the folks for whom this stand was designed and priced, tend to have studio edit bays custom built for the purpose of high end editing, processing and color correcting, among other professional activities.
These bays, generally designed by a high tech professional architect, who costs himself, many times the “outrageous” $999, and monitor screens (you know, those forty thousand dollar ones mentioned by apple in the presentation), are generally wall mounted or set up on proprietary house-owned stands that go for far more than $999. The bays also have professional lighting design (to prevent visual inaccuracies when evaluating high end content), and, more often than not, really cool (read: expensive), furniture.
So, wait, what was really announced is that those same pros described above could opt-out of a monitor stand they do not need and save the much whined about $999? You don’t say. How nice those Apple folks are. So thoughtful. Trying to help rich folks avoid paying $999 for a stand that will end up in a storage room.
Why so misunderstood then, if this is all so obvious? Digital Deflation. Yes, that nasty sounding trend that has changed the world around us for more than 25 years.
To make sense of this hilarious tale, it seems, we have to first go back. Waaaay Baaack. All the way to around 1996. At that time there was no 8k video to edit, let alone multiple streams of said 8k. Nevertheless, a professional workstation, absolutely necessary at the time to do any non-linear editing or EFX, would set you back around $100,000+. And those monitors? They’d likely be CRT and still cost 50k or some ungodly number.
Many of the processes that were routinely required in editing, color correcting and EFX generation could not be achieved on any computer or software alone. Everything had hardware add-ons, tally up another 50k here and 50k there.
Fast forward to 2019. Your iPhone can shoot excellent 4k video anywhere, anytime, since it’s already in your pocket. Cost: zero additional dollars after owning the phone.
Add to that software, if you are on a budget you can forego the daunting challenge of coughing up a couple of hundred dollars to buy Final Cut Pro (there’s that pesky “Pro” again in the name), and go with Blackmagic Design’s “DaVinci Resolve” software, which happens to include excellent non-linear editing, EFX generation and management, color correction and much more. Price tag? For the functioning entry level version, zero dollars. For added professional functionality, a few hundred dollars.
Bottom line, if you already have an iPhone and some kind of Mac, zero dollars.
Here’s where it really gets crazy. Apple, and other tech companies, have, in essence, engendered this deflation by reducing the costs of everything needed for digital media creation, at a higher and higher level to, practically, zero$.
Great, right? Well, not entirely. It seems that when the cost of production nears zero, the monetization of the fruits of creation head south even faster. Translation? It’s damn hard to get paid if you are a freelancer producing and editing digital media products. Only the highest level creators (Hollywood Heavyweights, top of the charts, you get the idea) can garner much of anything, and, of course, they can afford many times that $999 for fruit toppings at breakfast.
Everyone else (a.k.a. “the rest of us”) live in side-hustle hell. Hence the moans, groans, and whining over the “dream” of having $999 to spare for a monitor stand.
So, to re-cap, the same people who were “gifted” by massive advances in technical capabilities spearheaded by apple, to the point where millions of dollars of production overhead for hardware was reduced to almost zero, were also victims of an unemployment epidemic, unleashed by the “barriers to entry” for their chosen profession being reduced to… wait for it… zero.
And, yea, by the way, all this applies double to writers working for digital media outlets. So let the angst flow freely next time an arrogant monolithic company has the audacity to release a pro product at a pro price. I feel ya, Dog, I really do.
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Despite receiving some pushback from two board members of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, The Boring Company has nevertheless secured a contract to build a transport tunnel under the Las Vegas Convention Center campus.
The project, which was approved following a vote by the board on Wednesday, will be comprised of two tunnels that are designed to transport passengers from the Convention Center’s New Exhibit Hall to the existing North/Central Hall. A third, pedestrian tunnel, may also be included in the project.
The Boring Company’s Las Vegas tunnel is expected to be completed in time for the 2021 Consumer Electronics Show, which will be held in January, as usual. Elon Musk has expressed his optimism at the project’s potential completion date, stating on Twitter that the transport tunnel could be operational by the end of 2019.
This is a very aggressive timetable, though the relatively short length of the tunnel, at less than one mile, could improve the Boring Company’s chances at completing the project within Musk’s target timeframe.
Read More: Las Vegas Signs Up for Elon Musk’s High Speed Dreams
The Las Vegas transport tunnel will utilize a Loop System, which is comprised of autonomous electric vehicles (AEV) that can carry passengers from one point to another. The Boring Company notes that standard AEVs are Tesla Model X and Model 3 vehicles, though high-occupancy AEVs are also under development.
Photo / The Boring Company
The latter utilizes a modified Model X chassis that is capable of transporting up to 16 passengers with both sitting and standing room. Provided that The Boring Company could complete the transport tunnel without delays, test runs in the system could begin as early as November 2020, according to the project’s public contract.
Photo / The Boring Company
In its vote on Wednesday, the LVCA granted a $48.6 million contract to the tunneling startup, though the total project is estimated to cost around $52.5 million. Two-thirds of the total funding for the project will not be released to the tunneling startup until the transport tunnel is complete. Previous reports also hinted that if the Boring Company is unable to receive a certificate of occupancy for the transport tunnel, the LVCA will get back its entire investment.
“Future expansions to augment LVCC Loop can include service extensions to McCarran International Airport, hotels on the Las Vegas Strip, downtown Las Vegas, Las Vegas Stadium, and, in the long term, Los Angeles”
– The Boring Company
While the Boring Company was able to secure the Las Vegas contract, the tunneling startup’s proposal still met some pushback from two board members of the LVCA. In recent weeks, board members Michele Fiore and Carolyn Goodman argued against the Boring Company’s proposal, citing the startup’s inexperience. The two board members suggested that the LVCA adopt the proposal of Austria-based Doppelmayr Garaventa Group instead, which would create an above-ground transit system that at a projected cost of around $215 million to complete.
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After several previous attempts the mighty Falcon 9 achieved launch in spectacular fashion on Thursday night (EDT).
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On Tuesday, May 14th, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket fulfilled its static fire test, a wet dress rehearsal launch, where the engines fire at full thrust. The test was successful and included all cargo (satellites) on board, which appears to indicate a full launch is now ready to go forward. Musk was initially planning for Wednesday May 15th and then Thursday, May 16th, but is now aiming for tonight starting at 10:30PM EST.
Musk predicts that it will take at least 6 launches (360 more satellites) for “minor coverage” and then another 6 (total of 720 satellites) for “moderate coverage”. Musk is a realist and does predict that things will inevitably go wrong during the process. Tuesday’s static fire success and soon, a successful launch, can be huge steps towards bigger things to come.
The SpaceX CEO recently won the Stephen Hawking Science Medal for Science and Communication. He was awarded for his work in space travel and humanity.
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On Tuesday, May 14th, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket fulfilled its static fire test, a wet dress rehearsal launch, where the engines fire at full thrust. The test was successful and included all cargo (satellites) on board, which appears to indicate a full launch is now ready to go forward. Musk was initially planning for late Wednesday, but is now aiming for Thursday, May 23rd.
Musk predicts that it will take at least 6 launches (360 more satellites) for “minor coverage” and then another 6 (total of 720 satellites) for “moderate coverage”. Musk is a realist and does predict that things will inevitably go wrong during the process. Tuesday’s static fire success and soon, a successful launch, can be huge steps towards bigger things to come.
The SpaceX CEO recently won the Stephen Hawking Science Medal for Science and Communication. He was awarded for his work in space travel and humanity.
Find books on Big Tech, Sustainable Energy, Economics and many other topics at our sister site: Cherrybooks on Bookshop.org
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