Canadian Police Keep Cat Filter on During Murder Press Conference Live-Stream

People who run corporate social media accounts do have a hard time. Even more so if it is a public body like the police. When things go wrong, people notice. They certainly noticed when the Royal Canadian Mounted Police of British Columbia left the «cat filter» on during a Facebook live-stream of a press conference about a double murder, Sky News reported.

Sergeant Janelle Shoihet, from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police of British Columbia, blamed «technical difficulties» for the error. She was giving a briefing about the murders of an American woman and her Australian boyfriend, who were found dead on a remote highway earlier this week. Tweeting about the incident she said: «Yes we are aware and addressing it as it’s an automatic setting. Thank you, we will rectify and issue a video shortly».

Here's Why That BankMyCell iPhone Survey is Flawed

An iPhone Survey from BankMyCell has bounced around the Apple blogosphere. It claims that iPhone retention is down 15.2% this year compared to last year. But The Macalope tells us why it’s flawed.

You can’t compare results for different demographies and declare them meaningful. You’re not controlling for anything…The only constant here is the gullibility (or culpability) of the technology press.

If BankMyCell were interested in meaningful results, it would have compared its own results over two years if it couldn’t get CIRP’s demographic breakdown. But it’s clearly not…If the methodology is crap, then you can’t trust the numbers.

That last line is the lesson we can learn from this: If the methodology is flawed, so are the results. You can’t p-hack your way around this one.

How to Move Your Apple Mail Files From Old to New Mac

Tom Nelson at Lifewire writes:

Moving your Apple Mail to a new Mac, or to a new, clean install of the operating system (macOS), may seem like a difficult task, but it actually only requires saving three items and moving them to the new destination.

And if you have all your email account passwords handy, the number of files to move drops from three to two. Tom goes into great detail, which is good, but one might have to exercise some care and thought for specific cases.

InPixio Photo Clip 9 Editor for Mac: $29.99

We have a deal on InPixio Photo Clip 9 Editor for Mac. This software allows you to perfectly cut out objects or people in your photos, and it features an eraser tool for removing unwanted objects. It allows you to make creative montages with many backgrounds available. It’s $29.99 through our deal.

Theoretical Physicist Dr. Jim Gates - TMO Background Mode Interview

Dr. Jim Gates is a theoretical physicist and currently the Brown Theoretical Physics Center Director, Ford Foundation Professor of Physics, Affiliate Mathematics Professor, and a Watson Institute for International Studies & Public Affairs Faculty Fellow at Brown University. He is known for his work on supersymmetry, supergravity, and superstring theory.

We opened the show with a discussion of Jim’s early career, a B.S. with a dual major in mathematics and physics at MIT and, later, his Ph.D. in physics, also from MIT. In the heart of the podcast, Jim explained Superstring theory—its successes, failures and issues with dark energy. He also explained supersymmetry and supergravity for us. We finished with what’s considered the hottest topic in theoretical astrophysics. Jim is an extraordinary teacher and science communicator, so tune in and get your science hat on!

File Apple Feedback Using Shortcuts

Matthew Cassinellli shared a shortcut to let people file Apple feedback using the Shortcuts app. He says it’s for iOS 13 beta users.

…this shortcut has you describe the problem first, asks you to list the steps to reproduce it, has you enter your expected results versus what actually happened, and copied it all to the clipboard.

Then, it uses Open App to go into Feedback, you fill out the menial parts of the form, and paste in your completed description.

2020 Apple Watch Models Could get microLED Screens

New rumors suggest that 2020 Apple Watch models could get microLED screens, moving away from its current OLED display.

Switching from OLED to microLED is expected to bring miniaturization and battery life longevity improvements, as microLED pixels are more power-efficient. microLED panels are also less susceptible to burn-in artifacts compared to OLED.

On-Demand Workers Open to Exploitation

For several days, Andy Newman worked as a deliveryman for apps like Uber Eats and Postmates, revealing an inside look at on-demand workers and how they can be exploited.

Nearly a third of delivery cyclists missed work because of on-the-job injuries last year, one survey found, and at least four delivery riders or bike messengers have been killed in crashes with cars this year. Riders on electric bikes face fines and confiscation, though that may change.

Maria Figueroa, director of labor and policy research for the Cornell University Worker Institute in Manhattan, called the food couriers “the most vulnerable workers in digital labor.”

A Profile of Apple Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams

Writing for Bloomberg, Mark Gurman writes about Apple’s COO Jeff Williams and how he contributes to Apple’s culture.

Williams has distinguished himself as a modest, disciplined, demanding leader in the current CEO’s style. He’s negotiated with suppliers, shipped hundreds of millions of devices a year from Chinese factories to the rest of the globe, and been a bit more hands-on with product development than Cook, they say. Williams attends weekly reviews of product and industrial design progress, subsequently briefing Cook for a final signoff, and has been the lead executive shepherding the Apple Watch to market.

Mini-Robots Working Like Insects can Climb Stairs

Providing further evidence the robots are coming to get us, Reuters has a video of insect-like mini-robots. These devices combine and work together to overcome obstacles. This included stairs and rough terrain. A team of academics in the Reconfigurable Robotics Lab at the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne created them.