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The Make-Noise Edition Friday, March 24, 2017

Apple Beats 1 Chief Wants To Rekindle The Record-store Romance, by Joan E. Solsman, CNET

We try to make as much noise and create as much context and tell stories for records and artists, within a place where the music is. Imagine Apple Music as a store. We're the front window. We're the thing you see by the counter. We try and put music into a frame that makes you more excited about it, more than just its existence.

You could put the record in a playlist, put it in a library, just let it exist and hopefully we find it. But culture is what the artist wants it to be. They want to create layers of thought, excitement and vision, and tell you how the record was made. They want to share that experience with you. That's what Beats 1 really is designed to do. It was to keep pace with the culture, so that it goes perfectly with the commodity.

Apple iCloud Ransom Demands: The Facts You Need To Know, by Zack Whittaker, ZDNet

It's clear that there's something to the hackers' claims, given that they have some working iCloud account credentials. But it's not truly known exactly how many, or if the sample that was sent was representative of the wider pool or were carefully selected. [...]

We can't be sure that this is something big, but based on our reporting, we can't say that it's nothing.

Those using two-factor authentication or Apple's trusted device system should be protected.

But concerned users should change their Apple iCloud password through this link. Look for the green padlock icon in the address bar and that the web address clearly says "iforgot.apple.com".

New WikiLeaks Dump: The CIA Built Thunderbolt Exploit, Implants To Target Macs, by Sean Gallagher, Ars Technica

The latest batch of files, dramatically named "Dark Matter" (after one of the tools described in the dump), consists of user manuals and other documentation for exploits targeting Apple MacBooks—including malware that leveraged a vulnerability in Apple's Thunderbolt interface uncovered by a researcher two years ago. Named "Sonic Screwdriver" after the ever-useful tool carried by the fictional Dr. Who, the malware was stored on an ordinary Thunderbolt Ethernet adapter. It exploited the Thunderbolt interface to allow anyone with physical access to a MacBook bypass password protection on firmware and install one of a series of Apple-specific CIA "implants."

'Clearance Sale' Shows The iPad Is Over. It's Done, by Andrew Orlowski, The Register

But Apple mistakenly thought it could add bags of value to it every year to keep us upgrading regularly. All people wanted was a dumb display to save cranking out the laptop. And despite vendors' best efforts to make them slower every year with OS updates, tablets just don't need updating very often at all.

Apple's Strategy Hasn't Changed—and Neither Have Pundits' Takes, by The Macalope, Macworld

None of this is new at all. Apple used to make one kind of Mac. Then it didn’t. Apple used to make one kind of iPod. Then it didn’t. Not only is this not new, this is literally Apple’s strategy. Enter a market with one product that redefines the experience, then iterate it and continue to expand the lineup to take more profit share.

Stuff

1Blocker Adds Easy Page Element Hiding, by John Voorhees, MacStories

From a webpage, all you have to do is tap the share button, pick the 1Blocker action extension, and then ‘Hide Page Element.’ 1Blocker reloads the page in the extension with toolbars on the top and bottom of the screen. Find something you want to hide and tap it.

How To Use Siri With The Reminders App – The Sweet Setup, by Bradley Chambers, The Sweet Setup

Reminders is our favorite simple list app for iOS, and one of the reasons is that we love using the native Siri integration. Here are some ways that you can use it to add items to your list.

Notes

‘Apple II Forever’: Found Photos Offer Early Look At Icons, by Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle

The April 24, 1984, press and exhibitor gathering was late to start and later to finish. Apple executives sat on the kind of metal folding chairs that one would find at a recreation center singles dance. Steve Jobs — hair feathered gloriously — hadn’t quite settled into his permanent turtleneck-and-jeans uniform yet, choosing a bow tie, suspenders and Velcro-strapped Nike high-tops.

But even at this early public launch of the Apple IIc computer, the marketing panache that would infuse countless future Apple events could be seen.

The 10 Most Influential Smartphone Apps, by Alex Hern, The Guardian

From Maps to Instagram, Uber to Snapchat – the top 10 app developments which have been copied, adopted or simply absorbed into everything else.

Food Friday

Hamburgers Are Bigger Than Ever, But The Meat Has Always Been Questionable, by Quinn Myers, MEL

For most of the world, the symbol most associated with America isn’t the bald eagle, George Washington or even the stars and stripes—it’s the hamburger and fries. But how much has this simple meal — a ground-beef sandwich with fried potatoes — changed since its glory days of the 1950s? Let’s find out.

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I truly wish there's an iPad mini Pro.

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Thanks for reading.