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At ComputerWorld, Jonny Evans writes: “… there are lots of reasons to think about Apple’s [2018] pro tablets.” And he’s right. From Face ID to loss of the headphone jack (for the sake of consistency) to thinner bezels and better performance, these improvements may well get customers in a great buying mood. Check it out.

For those who are fascinated by (theoretical) four-space dimensional objects, this visual tutorial explains how a 4D sphere would appear as it travels into and out of our 3D space. For more background see the Wikipedia entry for Flatland. All kinds of SciFi fun has followed.

Brian Bumbery is Apple’s new Director of Apple Music Publicity. He has quite the pedigree in the music industry as a Warner Bros. Records PR strategist for Chris Cornell, Green Day, Madonna and Metallica. He also started his own PR company, BB Gun Press, in 2011. From Variety:

The move comes in the context of a larger transition at Apple Music, as former head Jimmy Iovine recently completed his move to a consulting role this month. Apple Music named Oliver Schusser, formerly in a senior role in the company’s European operation, as its new head in April. Apple chief Tim Cook announced in May that the company had passed 50 million subscribers (including free trials) in May; the company is on track to overtake global market leader Spotify in the U.S. within the next few months.

Apple Music isn’t just a hobby for Apple, and the caliber of people the company is bringing on board to run the streaming music business makes that very clear.

We’ve already heard the 2018 iPhone lineup will come in three sizes and look pretty much identical to the iPhone X. We can expect faster processors and improved battery life from the new models. The mid-size 6.1-inch LED screen model will have an aluminum frame instead of steel and gets the iPhone 8 single camera instead of the dual cameras we’ll see in the 5.8-inch and 6.5-inch OLED phones. Bloomberg says,

Perhaps the most significant phone will be a new, cheaper device destined to replace the iPhone 8. Codenamed N84, it will look like the iPhone X, but include a larger near 6.1-inch screen, come in multiple colors, and sport aluminum edges instead of the iPhone X’s stainless steel casing. It will also have a cheaper LCD screen instead of an OLED panel to keep costs down.

News of this year’s iPhone name scheme hasn’t leaked yet. Some insiders say Apple is considering iPhone Xs. Regardless of what the new line gets called, it’ll certainly be more colorful.

Apple’s macOS photography app, Aperture, had a storied and difficult past. Over at MacStories, author Stephen Hackett, recounts the history of this troubled app, its rise and fall. We tend to think of Apple’s wealth as enabling guaranteed success, but, in the end, apps are built and nurtured by human beings in competition with other companies. This is a well-told story.

Monument Valley is a popular game on the iPad thanks to its beautiful graphics and clever puzzles. Now it’s going to be a movie, too. Paramount Pictures is developing a movie based on Monument Valley, and it’s sequel Monument Valley 2. Deadline says,

Paramount Pictures and Akiva Goldsman’s Weed Road Pictures have set Patrick Osborne to develop to direct Monument Valley, hoping to launch a live action/CG hybrid family franchise based on the Ustwo Games’ international mobile game phenomenon. Osborne won the Best Animated Short Film Oscar for Feast and is currently directing Nimona for Fox and Blue Sky. The mobile game and its sequel take place in a surreal, Escher-esque landscape, where established laws of space and time do not apply. The film will send contemporary live-action characters into the game’s extraordinary, mind-bending world.

I love the Monument Valley games and the idea of a movie set in that world sounds intriguing. Still, I’d rather see the movie focus on the game characters instead of tossing real people into their world.

At first blush, this looks like a weird idea. Maybe a dumb idea. But on further inspection, this move by Amazon has all kinds of advantages. A Bloomberg article explains all, including the previous U.S. law that has banned film studios from having ownership in the movie theater industry, the so-called “Paramount Decree.”  Things in this market are very likely to change. Does Apple have to play this game too?

Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change is an epic New York Times Magazine article, and now it’s going to be an Apple television series. Apple bought the rights to the 30,000 word article. The series is produced by Anonymous Content, and the article’s author, Nathaniel Rich, will be involved. From the New York Times:

The “Losing Earth” article recounted how, from 1979 to 1989, a small group of American scientists, activists and politicians tried to save the world from the ravages of climate change before it was too late. The article was produced with the support of the Pulitzer Center and was based on more than 18 months of reporting and over 100 interviews.

Climate change is a big topic, and rightly so. It’s good to see Apple interested in more than just entertainment shows for its original TV content lineup.

Vlad Savov writes that thousand dollar smartphones are the new normal.

Three or four years ago, anyone proposing a four-figure price for a phone would have been laughed out of their boardroom meeting. Two years ago, if I’d told you Apple would be successfully selling a phone with a notch in its screen but no headphone jack, at a price of $999, you’d have shaken your head and accused me of wilder wishful thinking than Gene Munster’s Apple TV pipe dream.

This is a nonsensical argument. Smartphones have been around US$1000 for years now. Including tax my iPhone 7 Plus bill was around US$950. I bought it unlocked, and it wasn’t subsidized through a carrier like Vlad has gotten used to. Nothing has changed except the way carriers have split up the cost on contracts.

The ongoing push for easier access to our personal data isn’t limited to law enforcement in the United States. Police chiefs in Canada are pressuring their government to strike a deal with the US government to share data from cloud service and mobile devices for investigations without requiring the current procedures they see as inefficient. Canada’s lawmakers, however, aren’t ready to rush in. CTV News says,

But the government and the federal privacy commissioner say more consultation and study are needed to ensure appropriate protection of personal information before taking such a step.

That’s reassuring. The idea that a government isn’t willing to rush to remove personal privacy protections is refreshing. That said, it’ll be interesting to see if that attitude stands.

Whether it’s changing the rules to benefit big business or exerting control over content, governments more and more are seeking to control the internet. It’s all on page 2 of Particle Debris.

Apple’s painfully out of date Mac mini is reportedly getting a long overdue refresh this fall. What’s more, Apple is targeting pro users with the updated Mac. News of a new Mac mini is something of a surprise since it saw only minor improvements four years ago, and its last major changes came back in 2010. Bloomberg broke the news saying,

The computer has been favored because of its lower price, and it’s popular with app developers, those running home media centers, and server farm managers. For this year’s model, Apple is focusing primarily on these pro users, and new storage and processor options are likely to make it more expensive than previous versions.

Insider sources also backed up earlier reports of a MacBook refresh. The new 13-inch model will have a Retina display, and it’s starting to sound more like a MacBook Air replacement. Looks like Apple has a lot of product announcements for us this fall.

Apple has already pulled VPN apps from its iPhone and iPad App Store in China, and now it’s adding what the country considers gambling and pornography apps to that list. Apple hasn’t said how many apps have been pulled from its store, but reports are saying that number could be 25,000. Apple told the Wall Street Journal,

Gambling apps are illegal and not allowed on the App Store in China. We have already removed many apps and developers for trying to distribute illegal gambling apps on our App Store, and we are vigilant in our efforts to find these and stop them from being on the App Store.

Apple is in a tough position because it has to comply with China’s laws, but doesn’t want to be a government tool. Apple also can’t leave the country because the market is too big to give up, and that’s where most iPhones are made.