iPhone 5 Sleep/Wake Button Replacement Program
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I am posting this from my iPad!
I am posting this from my iPad. I can do that with the new Squarespace Blog app for iOS. Here's a picture of huggy Kirk I have saved on my iPad.
Hug me. I'm your captain.
And here's one of huggy Spock.
Hug me. I am not your captain.
New Week, New UGLY Chart
Apple Chart September 3 - september 16 2013 - via BigCharts.com
It is said there is no sound in a vacuum. And Wall Street abhors a vacuum the way dogs abhor vacuum cleaners. Which, ironically, make a lot of noise.
Apple Insider had investors reacting poorly to Apple’s lack of noise about iPhone 5c pre-orders on Monday. Shares in the Cupertino-company took a beating the whole day. According to the piece, market watchers attribute the beating to “the fact that Apple did not publish a press release touting preorders for the iPhone 5c,” after three full days of preorders.
They would be the ones who don’t assume the best.
The piece is willing to accept the premise that preorders for iPhone 5c are relatively weak compared to preorders for iPhones from years past. “While the iPhone 5c is a new model,” it notes:
...it includes many of the same parts as last year's iPhone 5, while lacking key features of the iPhone 5s such as the Touch ID fingerprint scanner, new A7 chip, and M7 motion coprocessor.
And there’s the potential thing. Or, “therein lies the rub,” if you wanna go Shakespeare. There’s a second phone coming out this week - the premium, iPhone 5s. For which preorders are not available. If it goes the way the iPhone 5 did last year, as well as the iPhone 4S the tear before that, iPhone 5s will likely sell out by the end of next weekend, then play hard to get for weeks to follow.
For a lot of investors, though, the silence was deafening and they had to get away from it. Apple shares closed at $450.12, down $14.78 for the day, or 3.18%. Shares of the company were trading just over $500 before last Tuesday’s iPhone event.
Probably the UGLIEST chart you'll see this week.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013 was Apple's first full day of trading after the introduction of iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s. Not. Pretty. (Chart via Yahoo! Finance)
Tell your mom not to click that link!
Seriously, I'm not worried about you. But please make sure your mom, your dad, or whoever can spot the differences between a real email from Apple and a fake. Come to think of it, just give them tips on potential fakes. Use this as an example. And thanks to Michael for sending this one my way. At least he said he was Michael...
The Cinema Mac Pro Ad...
... looks and sounds like something for the big screen. But it's on YouTube now, too. So here it is. Sit close to the screen, though. And crank your headphones.
The Making of "Jobs"
More clips from the movie we'll all likely see, even if we're not sure we want to. It's like "Sharknado," but with fewer "nados."
Report: iOS 7 beta 4 Adds T9 Chinese Pinyin Input Keyboard Option
Rodger, a listener from South China, wrote to say after he updated to iOS 7 beta 4, his iPhone 5 (the official retail model in Mainland China) was giving him the option for a T9 Chinese pinyin input keyboard. What he doesn’t know is whether this is only available as "special feature" for the Chinese market, or something that’ll be available everywhere. I can see why he might think it’s a far-east only thing, though, since I’ve not heard word one of it here, though he says it has been posted on several IT sites in China, including WeiPhone.com.
Pinyin is most easily described as “a system for writing Chinese words with the Roman alphabet,” according to a website called WiseGeek. Hard though it may be to imagine anyone trying to sell a smartphone in China without that, Rodger says, before this beta build, if a user needed T9 Chinese pinyin input keyboard, they had to go a jailbreakin’. Assuming this feature makes the leap from beta to public release, they’ll no longer be required to do that.
In other news, I love when I get email from China. Thanks for the information, Rodger. You rock.
Making the Case for a Low-Cost iPhone
Here's the DetroitBORG video mentioned on Mac OS Ken: 07.25.2013. Whether it stays may tell us whether it's legit.
HotBot Looks Nervous - Mac OS Ken: 07.01.2013
Album art for 1 July 2013 Mac OS Ken uses a picture from the Flickr stream of Garlandcannon. Isn't Creative Commons swell?
Mr. Cook Goes to Washington
From the Flickr stream of Mike Deerkoski
Wanna hold on to Apple CEO Tim Cook's prepared remarks to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation for posterity? Are you also a stamp collector?
All Things D highlighted Cap'n Cook's planned comments:
Apple has always believed in the simple, not the complex. This is evident in the Company’s products and the way it conducts itself. In this spirit, Apple has recommended to the Obama Administration and several members of Congress – and suggests to the Subcommittee today – to pass legislation that dramatically simplifies the U.S. corporate tax system.
This comprehensive reform should:
- Be revenue neutral;
- Eliminate all corporate tax expenditures;
- Lower corporate income tax rates; and
- Implement a reasonable tax on foreign earnings that allows free movement of capital back to the U.S.
Apple recognizes these and other improvements in the US corporate tax system may increase the Company’s taxes. Apple is not opposed to such a result if it occurs in the context of an overall improvement in efficiency, flexibility and competitiveness. Apple believes the changes it proposes will stimulate the creation of American jobs, increase domestic investment and promote economic growth.
Cook’s full prepared testimony is available from Apple’s site as a PDF.
Mac Roundtable Founding Member Tim Verpoorten Passes Away
The Mac community and Mac podcasting community lost one of its first over the weekend. Tim Verpoorten of the Mac Review Cast has passed away. In addition to the Mac Review Cast, Tim was a driving force behind starting the Mac Roundtable.
Personally, I can tell you I didn’t know him well enough. We’d talk at Macworld. He was a very knowledgable and very engaging guy. He was sick for a while. We all hoped he’d get better.
Bart Busschots referred to Tim as an ambassador for the Mac community. He was definitely a community builder. Through the Mac Roundtable I’ve come to know David Sparks and Katie Floyd and Chuck Joiner and I’m not even sure anymore how we all know each other. I do know the Mac Roundtable has been a bit of glue that’s stuck us all together from time to time. And one of the first guys to put that together is gone.
I sincerely regret not knowing Tim better. And I’m sorry to see him go.
C'est "Pipes"
This is a T-Mobile ad for iPhone 5 called "Pipes," not the Blue Man Group show called "Tubes." Though the similarities are noticeable. There's something icky about the visual, but it does make its point.
Found via MacDaily News.
Computerworld: Insect-like flying robot developed at Harvard
Good news! Robot Overlords come in all shapes and sizes! And I may have been kidding about the "good news" part. Computerworld has the story.
PSA: Phishing - Don't Rise to the Bait
The good people at Trend Micro have noted a rise in "phishing" attacks aimed at obtaining an unsuspecting user's Apple ID. With more people getting online thanks to iThings, it might be a good idea to hip the uninitiated to the ins and outs of such attacks. Have them take a look at Apple's knowledge base article: Identifying fraudulent "phishing" emails.
Now on Kickstarter - Snapzoom: The Universal Smartphone Scope Adapter
I see things like this and think, "I really wish I did video." Find out more about it here!
So are we meeting up or what?
I have a message for the people of New York City: People of New York - I love your city. I brought Duncan to town. We’ve been hanging at the Madison Square Park Dog Run. Look for me there. I’ll be the guy with the dog.
Not overly helpful.
I talked to a couple of friends in town. They say we should meet at the Heartland Brewery in Union Square - 35 Union Sq. W. at 17th St. Wanna say we do that Tuesday evening from 6:30 to 8:30? I hear it’s chill... they have beer... they have cocktails... they have food... I might try me some of that food... I only heard from a few of you... so - please - if you’re coming email me... info@macosken.com - subject line NYC Meet-up... just so I have some idea.
Duncan will not be there by the way... you’ll have to catch him at the dog park. Info@macosken.com - subject line NYC Meet-up if you want to meet up tomorrow night... Heartland Brewery in Union Square - 35 Union Sq. W. at 17th St. Shirt and shows are probably required.
iWatch: Design by Duncan
You know what's amazingly cool? When someone takes something stupid you said and turns it into art. On Monday's Mac OS Ken, I mockingly said everyone - including my dog Duncan - was working on a smart watch. Now hoopy frood Russ Matthews has mocked it up. Thanks, Russ! YOU ROCK!
Someone at GigaOm Likes Mac OS Ken!
Mike wrote to let me know that the Mac OS Ken album art was spotted on GigaOm's review of the Podcasts 1.2 update from Apple. Their takeaway:
With the Podcasts 1.2 update released Thursday, Apple’s own app is now on par with other iOS podcasting apps. One area in which it really excels now is automatic downloads of new episodes.
Plenty more in the review. I'm just going to keep looking at the pictures, though.
Thanks, Mike, for the heads up!