A firmware update that will give LG TVs AirPlay 2 and HomeKit support is coming mid-2019, the company announced.
Charlotte Henry
Charlotte is a media junkie, covering how Apple is not just a revolutionary tech firm, but a revolutionary media firm for TMO. She is based in London, and writes and broadcasts for various outlets.
Articles by Charlotte Henry
Prey Finds You're More Likely to Lose Your iDevice Than Have it Stolen
New data from Prey, an app that helps secure and retrieve lost iPhones, iPads and Macs, showed that your device is much more likely to be misplaced than stolen. 9to5Mac picked up on some of the bizarre lost device scenarios. One user drunkenly put their phone in the fridge following a night out, while another took their corporate laptop having faked their own death!
When it came to analysing the main reasons for putting a device into missing mode, Prey found that theft was relatively low down the list. Misplaced: 69.12%, Pickpocket: 10.98%, Home invasion: 7.6%, Robbery: 6.76%, Car Break-in: 2.77%, Business Break-in: 2.77%. And among the two-thirds of devices that were merely misplaced by their owner, the most common scenario was accidentally leaving it at home.
Inside the Lives, and Servers, of Digital Hoarders
Despite the best efforts of Marie Kondo, many of us still hoard physical items. Perhaps not surprisingly, digital hoarding is getting ever more widespread too. Gizmodo looked into the lives of digital hoarders, who collect huge amounts of data, including rare files, audio recordings, and video games, and build their own data servers to do so.
Online, you’ll find people who use hashtags like “#digitalhoarder” and hang out in the 120,000-subscriber Reddit forum called /r/datahoarder, where they trade tips on building home data servers, share collections of rare files from video game manuals to ambient audio records, and discuss the best cloud services for backing up files…Many self-proclaimed digital hoarders say they enjoy their collections, can keep them contained in a relatively small amount of physical space, and often take pleasure in sharing them with other hobbyists or anyone who wants access to the same public data.
Laurene Powell Jobs on the Future of Media and Democracy
Laurene Powell Jobs is amongst a number of wealthy Americans increasingly investing in media. For example, in November 2018 her Emerson Collective purchased the company behind the Sunday Magazine and Pop-Up Magazine. She also bought a major stake in the Atlantic in 2017. The widow of late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs discussed her vision of the future of media with Re/Code‘s Kara Swisher.
Our issue areas are those that we think are the most calcified and the most important that reflect the American values and that are important to democracy. So we work in education, we work in immigration, we work in environment. And outside of that, it started to become really obvious to us that the cultural narrative, that the kind of in-depth journalism that exposes the injustices in these fields was under attack from both a business model point of view …
Female British Siri Voice Given an Upgrade
LONDON – Apple customers in the UK might be feeling that Siri is just that little bit more human. It is reported that the digital assistant’s British female voice has been given an upgrade. Cult of Mac noticed a number of users commenting on the improvement to the voice on iPhone, iPad, and HomePod. The male voice was improved earlier in 2019.
Apple launched a mission to make Siri sound less robotic in 2017. The release of iOS 11 that fall brought big improvements to Siri’s voice in a number of markets, and the improvements have slowly but surely continued since then. Apple is thought to be using machine learning techniques to make its assistant sound more natural. It hasn’t changed the voice artists behind Siri — at least not for the British accents — but they now sound more human.
Chinese Retailers Slash iPhone Prices for Second Time in 2019
Chinese retailers cut the price of iPhone XS models by as much as 1,700 yuan, the second time they have slashed iPhone prices in 2019.
Tim Cook Made Sure Apple Won in the US-China Trade War
A new in-depth report on Politico revealed the full extent of Apple’s involvement in the U.S.-China trade dispute, And how it was it was successful. A key factor was that CEO Tim Cook remained one of the few tech-leaders who engaged directly with President Donald Trump after comment’s from the President’s caused others to stop doing so. Mr. Cook was also aided by having strong business connections in China.
In the U.S., Cook has made a point of directly engaging with Trump, even as the president’s immigration policies and remarks about minorities have scared off other executives from liberal-leaning Silicon Valley. And in China, Cook — who knows some Mandarin — has actively cultivated government and business leaders during his frequent visits to a country where Apple’s supply chain supports an estimated 3 million jobs. “Among the tech titans, he’s probably the one who is best placed to deal with both sides at the same time,” said James Lewis, a former State and Commerce department official who dealt with China trade issues and now directs the technology policy program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Google Publishes macOS Zero-Day Exploit
Google publicly disclosed a zero-day flaw in macOS found by two researchers after Apple failed to fix it within a 90-day deadline.
Spotify Takes on Apple Music in India, Get 1 Million Users in a Week
Spotify launched in India under a week ago. It now has over a million unique users in the country, providing more competition to Apple Music.
Lots of Arguments Against Cord Cutting Are Stupid
Despite cord cutting getting ever more popular, lots of people continue to put up lots of arguments against it. The thing is, most of them just do not make sense. Fast Company helpfully compiled a list of 6 of the dumbest arguments against cord cutting. Something to deploy, perhaps, when friends and family tell you to renew the cable subscription.
By dropping cable or satellite TV for cheaper streaming services–or perhaps an over-the-air antenna–you can easily save hundreds of dollars every year. Yet we’re constantly being told by a parade of contrarian pundits that this is actually a bad idea–that the savings are illusory or that some future consequence will doom cord-cutting in the end. Most of these arguments collapse under scrutiny, which might explain why people are ignoring the naysayers and abandoning cable and satellite TV in record numbers.
Apple Acquires Patents From Failed AI Powered Home Security Startup
Apple acquired patent’s from Lighthouse AI in late 2018, it has emerged. Apple purchased 8 patents from the smart home security startup. They related to, amongst other things, computer-vision based security, visual authentication, and incident sharing. Lighthouse AI closed down in December 2018. The purchases are another indication of the renewed seriousness with which Apple is approaching AI. 9to5Mac wondered if we could see the technology associated with the patents used to improve Face ID.
The patents in question (via Patently Apple) relate to technology used for computer-vision based security, visual authentication, and more. In total, Apple acquired eight patents and patent applications from Lighthouse. Lighthouse AI officially shut down in December of last year after it failed to achieve commercial success. Lighthouse focused on using augmented reality and 3D sensing to make it easier for users to understand and sort through security footage.
Facebook Messenger on iOS Gets Dark Mode
The latest version of Facebook Messenger for iOS now has Dark Mode, but you don’t switch it on in the way you might expect.
Apple International Women's Day Comment Misfire
One part of Apple’s announcement of its International Women’s Day plans caught Charlotte somewhat by surprise.
Hollywood Execs Unhappy at Apple's Interfering
Apple execs, including Tim Cook, have reportedly interfered in production of content for its streaming service, annoying some media makers.
Qualcomm Launches Latest Legal Challenge Against Apple
The latest round of legal clashes between Apple and chipmaker Qualcomm will take place in San Francisco this week.
AirPods 2 Might Charge in 15 Minutes
The much anticipated AirPods 2 will charge quickly it seems. Very quickly. Cult of Mac reported on a tweet from writer Max Weinbach that said that the earbuds could be charged in 15 minutes. The case is though likely to be heavier and bigger, Mr. Weinbach said. It is also thought that the AirPods 2 will be available in black. It could all be unveiled at Apple’s expected March 25th event.
“AirPods wireless charging will happen. It will be VERY fast (0-100 in 15 minutes.) That speed is for the AirPods AND the case. It will probably use Qi charging,” said Max Weinbach on Twitter. The current version of these headphones already fast charge, but power comes from their case. The charging case has to be plugged into a Lightning cable. The next version will be all wireless.
German Researcher Gives Apple Details of Mojave Keychain Flaw, Despite no Bug Bounty
LONDON – Security researcher Linus Henze handed over all the detail of a macOS Keychain bug he discovered, AppleInsider reported. This is despite not receiving any money from Apple. The company does not have a bug bounty program. Mr. Henze had previously withheld the information. He wanted Apple to start offering a bug bounty for security flaws researchers bring them. He discovered an exploit which allowed apps to see passwords held in the macOS Mojave keychain.
German teenager Linus Henze has sent Apple full details of a Keychain security exploit that he demonstrated in early February, and has done so despite the company ignoring his previous conditions. Henze says that he has decided to reveal the details to Apple because the bug he’s found “is very critical and because the security of macOS users is important to me.”
Ex-Facebook Security Chief Slams its Phone Number Look-Up Feature
Concerns over Facebook’s phone number look-up setting erupted once again Friday. A tweet from Jamie Burge highlighted that users can be looked up via their phone number. Furthermore, users cannot turn off that setting. The tweet even prompted the social network’s former security chief, Alex Stamos to criticize the practice, Techcrunch reported. Mr. Stamos tweeted that “Facebook can’t credibly require two-factor for high-risk accounts without segmenting that from search and ads.”
Last year, Facebook was forced to admit that after months of pestering its users to switch on two-factor by signing up their phone number, it was also using those phone numbers to target users with ads. But some users are finding out just now that Facebook’s default setting allows everyone — with or without an account — to look up a user profile based off the same phone number previously added to their account.
Siri Shortcuts Might Just Be Misunderstood
Thursday’s update to Siri Shortcuts got writer Lance Ulanoff wondering if the feature is actually widely misunderstood. He saw it in action, working with apps that made an Espresso on command or could order your favourite pizza. He posted a column on Medium about the demo, and how Siri Shortcuts works. He concluded that the “ability to take deep dives into disparate apps without even touching your phone” is “the most compelling aspect” of the feature.
Getting Siri to launch an action isn’t that surprising, but what iPhone and iOS 12 users might not realize is the extent to which Siri’s been watching them and using local machine learning to build up a potential library of Siri Shortcut actions. It starts pretty simply. If you drag your thumb down on your home screen, you’ll immediately see a collection of 4-to-8 apps selected by Siri as those you use most often. There are also those Siri Suggestions that helpfully popup on your lock-screen offering to, for instance, initiate a call that its gleaned from your schedule.
New Siri Shortcuts for Third-Party Health and Fitness Apps
Apple highlighted a number of third-party health apps that have been updated to work with Siri Shortcuts Thursday. AppleInsider reported that the updated apps included QardioArm smart blood pressure, skiing-app Snoww as well as Streaks, WaterMinder, and Yazio. It also noted Apples suggestion that users could create personalized routines with these new Siri Shortcuts.
The apps Apple has selected offer a wide variety of functions to promote a healthy and active lifestyle, in a number of new ways. Following an announcement from Thursday about new additions to the Siri Shortcuts roster, the new batch of third-party health services cover both apps and hardware that can communicate with iPhones and other items in the Apple ecosystem.
Amazon Launches 'Day' to Reduce Number of Boxes it Delivers
Amazon launched a new delivery service called Amazon Day which could both burnish its green credentials, and reduce costs.
YouTube Disables Comments to Protect Minors
YouTube has disabled comments on videos featuring minors, launched a new comment classifier, and terminated channels that endangered children.
SpaceX Taking Next Steps Towards Sending Astronauts into Space
SpaceX will move a step closer to putting human’s into space this weekend. Early Saturday morning, it will launch an upgraded version of its Dragon capsule craft, called Crew Dragon. The craft will contain supplies for International Space Station. Wired reported on how Elon Musk’s company hopes to prove that this type of craft can keep a human crew safe if it had to make an emergency landing.
SpaceX has always intended for its Dragon capsules to ferry humans, but Every SpaceX Dragon capsule launched so far has only shuttled cargo to and from the ISS. The upgraded version, debuting on DM-1, will feature new crew life-support systems, seats, control panels, and a propulsion system that can be used to keep the crew safe during a launch emergency. But it won’t carry people; before astronauts can climb aboard, SpaceX has to prove Dragon is ready.
Apple Celebrating International Women's Day Throughout March
Apple will mark International Women’s Day throughout March, with a events, partnerships, and by highlighting women’s work.
