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Apple Trying to Acquire Israeli Drama Starring Richard Gere

Andrew Orr ·

Apple is trying to acquire an Israeli drama starring Richard Gere for its video platform. Since it’s a violent drama, some people believe Apple might be stepping around its family-friendly image.

« Nevelot, » is a gritty thriller that follows two veterans who go on a killing spree, on the belief that the youth of today do not understand the sacrifices made by previous generations. The title of the show itself translates to « Bastards, » meaning it is likely to be renamed for Western audiences.

It’s strange that Apple would suddenly chase after a violent show. So strange that I think it’s unlikely. If Apple does acquire Nevelot it will most certainly be sanitized.

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Google Trainee Placed Fake Ad by Mistake

Charlotte Henry ·

A Google trainee placed a fake advert across a large number of websites and apps (via The Financial Times). The trainee accidentally placed a « buy » order during a training exercise. Nobody noticed the error for 45 minutes. The incident will cost the search giant millions of dollars.

The error, which happened late on Tuesday California time, saw the fake advert — a blank yellow rectangle — appear on many websites and in apps viewed in the US and Australia for a period of about 45 minutes. The failure to prevent such a basic human error is a black eye for Google, which has led the automation of online ad placement and is widely recognised as the leader in applying artificial intelligence to how such markets work.Google confirmed the mistake on Wednesday and said it would “honour payments to publishers for any ads purchased”. It would not comment on the scale of the problem, but one ad industry source put the potential cost at $10m.

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Apple Still Hasn't Got 'Undo' Right on iOS

Charlotte Henry ·

Daring Fireball’s John Gruber noticed something interesting when he was going through Apple’s Best of the Year awards. When talking about its iOS app of the year, Procreate, Apple had to explain how to Undo and Redo. This would not be necessary on a desktop – there are established conventions for these functions. While there are conventions iOS, they are not implemented with anywhere near the force they are on desktops and so for some apps something so seemingly basic required explanation.

What it comes down to, I think, is that the menu bar has become a vastly underestimated foundation of desktop computing. Once heralded, the menu bar is now seen as a vestige. I’m not arguing that iOS should have a Mac-style menu bar. I’m simply pointing out that without one, iOS is an 11-year-old platform that is still floundering to establish consistent conventions for some basic features, let alone complex ones, that are simple and obvious on the Mac.

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Microsoft's Edge Browser Coming to macOS

John Martellaro ·

Ever since Satya Nadella took over Microsoft as CEO, the company’s mantra has been to bring its tools and solutions to all popular platforms, not just Windows. This will be the case in 2019 with Microsoft’s Edge browser coming to macOS. It’s going with the Chromium flow. TechCrunch explains.

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Microsoft Edge Browser Coming to macOS in 2019

Andrew Orr ·

Microsoft Edge browser will be coming to the Mac next year. It was launched on iOS and VP Joe Belfiore made a blog post announcing it.

Microsoft Edge will now be delivered and updated for all supported versions of Windows and on a more frequent cadence. We also expect this work to enable us to bring Microsoft Edge to other platforms like macOS.

Microsoft also announced that it will rebuild Edge using Chromium, a move that further solidifies Google’s Chrome hegemony. If you’re a Mac user and don’t like Google Chrome, Firefox, or Safari, I guess give Edge a try? Or use Chromium because it’s open source and Edge will be built on top of it anyway.

Cool Stuff Found

Pro Photographer Tyler Stalman Reviews iPhone XR, XS Cameras

Andrew Orr ·

Professional photographer Tyler Stalman reviews the iPhone XR and iPhone XS cameras in a video. He talks about all of the new features, like Smart HDR, the new image signal processor, and how the wide-angle lens is slightly wider than previous models. Speaking of Smart HDR, he noted that it only works with video shot at 30 fps or lower. But it works whether you’re shooting in 720p, 1080p, or 4K. Mr. Stalman also notes something he found that can correct the blurring problems around the edges of subjects when you shoot in Portrait Mode.

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Apple Puts Third-Party Screen Time Apps on Timeout

Andrew Orr ·

Apple is putting third-party screen time apps on timeout. Now that Apple has this capability built into iOS 12, these other apps are being sherlocked. I had a feeling this was coming, and that’s why I haven’t reviewed these screen time apps that certain companies email me about. Apple cites security concerns because this type of app usually uses things like fake VPNs, MDM, and using your background location.

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Mixpanel: Numerous Insights Into iPhone Customer Behavior

John Martellaro ·

Jonny Evans at Apple Must reports on the recent findings of Mixpanel. The results are interesting. Quoting author Evans:

1. Apple’s iPhone 7 series smartphones remain the most widely used model of the company’s smartphones even as iOS 12 adoption across the iPhone user base is around 75 percent, according to the latest Mixpanel data.

2. A cursory glance at the company’s iPhone model data seems to prove what I’ve been hearing anecdotally myself: Apple’s iPhone users are navigating to a 2-3-year upgrade cycle.

3. Mixpanel claims around 1/20 iPhone users are now on an iPhone XS/Max with around one-third of that number now on the recently-released iPhone XR.

Item #3 appears to contradict Apple’s assertion about the relative sales of iPhone XR. Fascinating.