MyAppleMenu

The Connectivity-Problems Edition Tuesday, October 18, 2016

iOS 10.0.3 Fixes iPhone 7 Cellular Connectivity Problems, by Andrew Cunningham, Ars Technica

Apple has just released iOS 10.0.3, a minor update to iOS 10 intended to fix cellular connectivity problems with the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. Unlike most iOS updates, this one is available exclusively for the newest iPhones, since older iPhones and iPads running iOS 10.0.2 don't seem to be affected.

Angela Ahrendts Talks Concepts Behind Next-Generation Apple Stores At Most Powerful Women Summit, by Husain Sumra, MacRumors

Ahrendts said that her big pitch for Apple was to integrate Apple's retail and online stores and turn the company's physical prescence into a bigger part of the communities they operate it. Cook, much to her surprise, loved the idea.

She said that she believes that "the bigger the company, the bigger the obligation" of that company to do something other than rake in profits. One of the things on her agenda was education, so Ahrendts planned on a next-generation of Apple retail stores that could function as something more than retail stores.

The Special Features That Enable Apple To Remove Security Tethers From Demo Devices, by Ben Lovejoy, 9to5Mac

The iPhone will reset when the device is powered off and then plugged in. When removed from the Apple Store, the stolen iPhone can’t do anything but ring for Find My iPhone until the battery dies. The iPhones are also Activation Locked using iCloud as a deterrent just like customer iPhones.

How Secure Are Fitness Devices?, by Bryon Moyer, Electronic Engineering Journal

Turns out that the Apple Watch was the only device using randomization, changing the MAC address at reboot and approximately every 10 minutes. They used a phone app called RamBLE on Android phones to track locations; it demonstrated that it’s possible to create a map of where you’ve been from the MAC address.

What Was Life Like Before Smartphones?, by Alex Balk, The Awl

Life before smartphones was boring because you didn’t feel crazy all the time. It was boring because you could still believe that what happened next might be okay. It was boring because you could look beyond what was in your hand and what you saw there was ambiguous enough that you needed to determine its shape on your own, rather than passively accepting whatever was presented to you. Life before smartphones was boring to the extent that your brain had to do actual work back then, and there is nothing your brain hates more than doing actual work. Your lazy brain is trying to trick you into thinking things were worse when you forced it to exercise all the time. Don’t believe your brain! Life now is boring, your brain is just confusing you with fear so that you won’t make a big deal about it.

Stuff

Apple's Beats Debuts Celebrity-laden Ad Promoting New Wireless Headphones, by Roger Fingas, AppleInsider

Apple-owned Beats on Monday premiered a new video ad on Twitter, promoting the brand's latest wireless headphones: the BeatsX, Solo3 Wireless, and Powerbeats3 Wireless.

Ozlo Virtual Assistant Launches On iOS And The Web, by Khari Johnson, VentureBeat

Calling itself one of the last independent AI-powered assistants, the Ozlo personal assistant was made publicly available for the first time today on iOS and the web.

Ozlo will expand to become a voice-enabled Amazon Alexa skill, and it will soon be available on bot platforms like Facebook Messenger as well, CEO Charles Jolley told VentureBeat in a phone interview.

Notes

Your Brilliant Kickstarter Idea Could Be On Sale In China Before You’ve Even Finished Funding It, by Josh Horwitz, Quartz

The Israeli entrepreneur had spent one year designing the product that would make him rich—a smartphone case that unfolds into a selfie stick. He had drawn up prototypes, secured some minimal funds from his family, and launched a crowdfunding campaign. He even shot a professional promo video, showing a couple taking the perfect selfie in front of the Eiffel Tower.

But one week after his product hit Kickstarter in December 2015, Sherman was shocked to see it for sale on AliExpress—Alibaba’s English-language wholesale site. Vendors across China were sellingidentical smartphone case selfie-sticks, using the same design Sherman came up with himself. Some of them were selling for as low as $10 a piece, well below Sherman’s expected retail price of £39 ($47.41). Amazingly, some of these vendors stole the name of Sherman’s product—Stikbox.

Made Men, by The Economist

“We go to places nobody thought were possible”, explained Lisa Jackson, vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives at Apple, at the inaugural event. Naples lags far behind northern Italy for transport and digital infrastructure, and criminality is rife. The Camorra, a mafia gang, runs one of the biggest drug-trafficking enterprises in the world from the city. The neighbourhood in which Apple has opened the academy (it is located inside a new campus of Federico II University) used to be more dangerous. “We used to see our friends die on the ground,” recalls Davide Varlese, a cousin of Mr Ciarravolo. But things have improved over the past decade as authorities have clamped down. At least the Camorra doesn’t come asking for money in bars any more, locals say.

Bottom of the Page

As someone who has been using computers for most of his life, there are two things that I miss on the little computer in my pocket.

Firstly, here I have a little computer that is always connected to the internet, and I can't run cron jobs to do little things here and there.

Secondly, here I have a little computer that has more RAM than my first Mac, and almost all of the apps that I use cannot undo my mistakes.

~

Thanks for reading.