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The Joy-Of-Music Edition Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Apple Music's 'Carpool Karaoke' Showrunners Call Series 'A Celebration Of The Joy Of Music', by Gil Kaufman, Billboard

We were always surprised by the success of "Carpool" -- when we put the first one on with Mariah Carey, it had 14 million hits -- which, when you have a new late night show, that's the last thing you expect to happen. The fact that we stumbled into this joyful, wonderful piece of television is what makes it an amazing moment. People talk about it being a viral hit, but the fundamental thing that makes it work is that it's really just a beautiful piece of television with two people having a chat and making each other laugh, singing songs, with none of the barriers we usually see on TV.

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It's a celebration of the joy of music. You see people singing the hits you love, big stars singing other people’s songs -- actors, comedians and athletes singing and rapping songs that mean something to them. You can tell [it's real] because you can't fake passion and when you see it it's infectious.

The 20 Best Carpool Karaoke Episodes, Ranked, by Paula Mejia, Rolling Stone

Ahead of the spinoff show's Apple Music premiere on August 8th, we've ranked the 20 most memorable "Carpool Karaoke" segments.

New Businessses

Apple Finally Catches Up With The Rest Of The World And Joins Instagram, by Patrick Kulp, Mashable

The notoriously social media-shy tech giant just launched a new Instagram account to showcase some of the best photos taken with the iPhone.

Like Apple's long-running "Shot on iPhone" campaign, @Apple will exclusively feature curated and credited photos from iPhone users all over the world. The company says product photo galleries, commercials or other company marketing will never appear on the account.

Remember When The iPad Was Going To Be The Key To The Media Business?, by Peter Kafka, Recode

Hard to remember, but back in early 2010, when Jobs rolled out the iPad, Facebook wasn’t one of the two dominant distribution and monetization engines for media. It was just a social network. A big one! With 400 million users. But nothing like the two billion user giant it is today. The one that functions, for many people, like a media/news app.

Stuff

Apple Details 2017 Back To School Promotion In Europe: Free Beats With Select Mac Or iPad Pro Models, by Joe Rossignol, MacRumors

Apple today launched its annual Back to School promotion in Europe. The company is offering the choice of a free pair of Beats Solo3, BeatsX, or Powerbeats3 headphones to qualifying students, parents of students, and educators who purchase an eligible Mac with education pricing for a limited time.

Apple Music Is Getting Much Better, by Jim Dalrymple, The Loop

It seems Apple flipped a switch and realized that classic stations should be playing the best of those genres with only a little bit of discovery. That’s the way those stations should be. The hits of those years have already been set—that’s what people want to hear.

Apple MacBook Pro Lasts 135 Minutes Longer On Battery In Full Screen Mode, by Notebook Check

During the first review, the video was played in maximized window mode, whereas the second reviewer used full screen mode instead. Apparently, Apple has optimized the latter significantly: power consumption in full screen mode was much lower.

Honeydue Is A Money Management App For Couples, by Natasha Lomas, TechCrunch

Honeydue is a mobile app that aims to reduce money-related arguments between couples by offering tools to share information on respective account balances and spending.

The app also lets couples stay on top of money matters in other ways, such as being able to comment on individual transactions and manage bill reminders together — so they can, in the words of co-founder Eugene Park, “be on the same page” about money.

Notes

New iOS 11 Developer Beta Out; Messages In iCloud Delayed?, by Jason Snell, Six Colors

That wording suggests this feature won’t ship with iOS 11.0, but a subsequent update. It suggests that the feature’s not quite stable enough for Apple to migrate all iOS users to it just yet, and so it’s being removed as the company moves closer to shipping iOS 11.

Misunderstanding Apple Services, by Jean-Louis Gassée, Monday Note

Apple Services is a key component that ensures the durability of Apple’s personal computers business. But the “Next Big Thing”? It’s big, but it’s not new and it’s not a ‘thing’.

Some Employees Are Rumored To Hate The Open Floor Plan At Apple's New $5 Billion Campus, by Kif Leswing, Business Insider

The latest was shared by John Gruber, an Apple podcaster and blogger who frequently cites Apple insiders as "birdies."

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"When he was shown the floorplans, he was more or less just 'F--- that, f--- you, f--- this, this is b-------.' And they built his team their own building, off to the side on the campus. So they're not even in, not only are they not going along with the open floor plans, but Sroji's team is in their own building. Maybe internally they're saying it's for security, or that's there's a logical reason for it, but my understanding is that that building was built because Sroji was like, 'F-- this, my team isn't working like this.'"

The Man Who Wrote Those Password Rules Has A New Tip: N3v$r M1^d!, by Robert McMillan, Wall Street Journal

The new guidelines, which are already filtering through to the wider world, drop the password-expiration advice and the requirement for special characters, Mr. Grassi said. Those rules did little for security—they “actually had a negative impact on usability,” he said.

Long, easy-to-remember phrases now get the nod over crazy characters, and users should be forced to change passwords only if there is a sign they may have been stolen, says NIST, the federal agency that helps set industrial standards in the U.S.

F Is For Fired

Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo, by Mark Bergen, Bloomberg

Alphabet Inc.’s Google has fired an employee who wrote an internal memo blasting the web company’s diversity policies, creating a firestorm across Silicon Valley.

James Damore, the Google engineer who wrote the note, confirmed his dismissal in an email, saying that he had been fired for "perpetuating gender stereotypes." A Google representative didn’t immediately return a request for comment.

Google’s Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai sent a note to employees on Monday that said portions of the employee’s memo "violate our Code of Conduct and cross the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace." But he didn’t say if the company was taking action against the employee.

Why It May Be Illegal For Google To Punish That Engineer Over His Now Viral Anti-diversity Memo, by Dan Eaton, CNBC

First, federal labor law bars even non-union employers like Google from punishing an employee for communicating with fellow employees about improving working conditions. The purpose of the memo was to persuade Google to abandon certain diversity-related practices the engineer found objectionable and to convince co-workers to join his cause, or at least discuss the points he raised.

Bottom of the Page

If the rumors are true, somebody should buy up the office buildings near Apple Park. When Apple is forced to renovate Apple Park to put in cubicles and private offices, Apple will need a whole ton of temporary (or even new permanent) offices around the park.

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In my whole working life here at space-constraint-ed Singapore, I've only had one job that had semi-private offices. (And, if I remember correctly, I hated that job.)

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Thanks for reading.