Tim Cook on Apple and Microsoft partnership: 'It's what customers want' | Macworld

Evidently nobody has told Tim Cook that Mac Office 2016 is a subset of Windows Office 2016; also see Office 2016 For Mac Is Unstable On El Capitan, Be Careful If You Upgrade (Thurrott)

"“If you think back in time, Apple and IBM were foes,” Cook said. “Apple and Microsoft still compete, but we can partner on more things than we compete on. And that’s what customers want. [Apple users] love Office, and they want it to work on Mac better than it works on Windows, and it should.”

During Apple’s last event on September 9, Microsoft presented new Office features for the just-announced iPad Pro.

“I’m not a believer of holding grudges,” Cook continued. “Having as many friends as you can, you can deliver much better solutions, and that's what the enterprise wants us to do. Companies want to partner with other companies that are part of an ecosystem, not on an island by themselves. The island days are gone.”"

Tim Cook on Apple and Microsoft partnership: 'It's what customers want' | Macworld

A British Lord is Using Wi-Fi to Power a Pollution Sensor - Bloomberg Business

Tesla Model X integration details tbd; tangentially, see VW Scandal Shows a Need for More Tech, Not Less (NYT)

"The first application of the technology is being launched on Sept. 30, placed inside a personal air pollution sensor called CleanSpace, which allows individuals to monitor the air quality around them. The sensor, called Tag, pairs with a mobile app to keep track both of carbon monoxide levels and transport choices made by an individual. Users earn points each time they walk, run or cycle. These can be traded for rewards from partners including Amazon, Boohoo.com and MaxiNutrition. The data from individual sensors is aggregated to build up a map of the air quality, in the same way Waze does for traffic."

A British Lord is Using Wi-Fi to Power a Pollution Sensor - Bloomberg Business

Amazon Flex: The retailer’s Uber-like effort to bring you packages - The Washington Post

See this Amazon page for details and locations

"With Amazon Flex, the company says, drivers can make from $18 to $25 an hour ferrying packages to customers that were ordered as part of its one-hour Prime Now delivery service. As with on-demand car services such as Uber and Lyft, drivers will be independent contractors who select their own work hours.

The new approach is part of the retailer’s ongoing obsession with getting items to customers faster, and could help reduce Amazon’s dependency on major shipping carriers such as UPS and FedEx. And with Uber also experimenting with using its network for deliveries, it could also put these two big names in the tech sector in direct competition."

Amazon Flex: The retailer’s Uber-like effort to bring you packages - The Washington Post

Tesla Launches Model X Electric SUV - WSJ

Not your average SUV

"Some of Tesla’s customers have been waiting for more than three years, having put down $40,000 to be among the “signature” group that gets the vehicles first. These customers ordered fully loaded vehicles that cost $132,000. There is another, higher-tier version—the “ludicrous” edition of the Model X—that goes from zero to 60 mph in 3.2 seconds. It will cost $142,000.

It also has a HEPA air filter that Mr. Musk said would make the air in the cabin so clean that it actually could filter chemicals from a biological weapon. “Bioweapon defense mode is there, in the HVAC” menu, he said."

Also see Tesla's new Model X has a 'bioweapon defense mode' button (The Verge)

Tesla Launches Model X Electric SUV - WSJ

OS X El Capitan Review: A Free Tune-Up for Your Mac - WSJ

For a detailed review, see OS X 10.11 El Capitan: The Ars Technica Review (Ars Technica)

"The Mac’s new operating system may lack that predictive intelligence and deeper smarts, but I’ll excuse those absent big-leap features this year. The improved performance and productivity of El Capitan pave the trail for a future operating system that even those of us with dust bunnies in our USB ports might embrace."

OS X El Capitan Review: A Free Tune-Up for Your Mac - WSJ

Google Unveils New Devices to Connect Smartphone and TV - The New York Times

A new wave of Google-branded hardware; also see First Look: Google’s Pixel C Tablet and Keyboard (WSJ)

"Apple used a flashy stage show this month to lay out a vision for how it wants to take over your living room. Now it is Google’s turn.

Google on Tuesday revealed two new Chromecast streaming devices — one for televisions, another for speakers — along with a new tablet computer and a pair of new devices from the company’s Nexus line of Android mobile phones."

From Hands-on: the Pixel C is a great Android tablet that costs a great deal of money (The Verge):

"It's nice to see that Google isn't giving up on the high-end tablet, even though its recent Nexus efforts haven't really justified further investment. Maybe that's why the project got handed over to the Pixel team, who has a track record of making really nice hardware. And the Pixel C is really nice — but it's hard to say whether it's worth as much as a similarly spec'd iPad Air — which is in the same price neighborhood."

Google Unveils New Devices to Connect Smartphone and TV - The New York Times

Edward Snowden and Neil deGrasse Tyson Discuss Water on Mars | GOOD

~580K followers so far today...

"With the simple tweet “Can you hear me now?” infamous NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden joined the ranks of Twitter today. Rather hilariously, Snowden is following just one other account—the National Security Agency. Almost immediately Snowden was welcomed by prolific Twitter user and popularizer of science, Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Any cultural mashup like this was bound to send shockwaves across the internet. But what’s really remarkable here is how ordinary, how truly geeky (and complimentary) the back-and-forth was."

Edward Snowden and Neil deGrasse Tyson Discuss Water on Mars | GOOD

Slack revamps its Posts tool to better kill email | The Verge

Tangentially, Ev Williams’s Medium Raises $57 Million for the ‘Best Stories and Ideas on the Internet’ (Re/code)

"Previously, workplace communications app Slack has primarily worked like a (particularly advanced) chatroom, developed so that participants can write, search, and track short messages across multiple channels. But now the service has also updated its Posts system, making it easier for users to write longer messages that would before have been sent via email, and allowing other users to add comments directly to the text.

Posts existed in earlier versions of Slack but were unwieldy, sending users out of the app and into a web browser to write, and offering limited formatting tools. The new "Posts 2.0" now open in the Slack app itself, come with a suite of text options, and will auto-expand links or show images that you choose to share. Any posts you create will go into your starred items, making them quick to dig up when you use Slack, and other users are able to add comments directly to your message to keep discussions organized and in one place."

Slack revamps its Posts tool to better kill email | The Verge

Are the new iPhones secretly waterproof? Two tests say: Possibly | VentureBeat | Mobile | by Chris O'Brien

Don't try this at home...

"While Apple has been careful not to make any claims, it appears the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus may be extremely water-resistant at the very least. And quite possibly waterproof.

It makes sense Apple doesn’t discuss this feature to avoid being legally responsible next time you drop your iPhone in the toilet because you were texting while, well, you know.

In any case, two gadget people who apparently have money to burn decided to take the plunge, so to speak, and see how the new devices would handle water."

Are the new iPhones secretly waterproof? Two tests say: Possibly | VentureBeat | Mobile | by Chris O'Brien

Amazon's Fire HD 10 tablet a rare misfire for company - Fortune

Perhaps in part explaining why Amazon's Fire tablets are no longer Kindle-branded

"This is not to say the HD 10’s screen is unacceptable, merely that it’s not ideal for reading. Thankfully, its bright and colorful display, and low resolution and pixel density don’t have such a negative impact on games, videos, and other visual media. In fact, the tablet’s unusually wide form—it has a 16:10 aspect ratio—makes it well-suited for movies and TV shows. High-definition titles play nearly full-screen, without the thick black letterbox bars you see in tablets with 4:3 aspect ratios.

As for performance, despite the inclusion of a quad-core processor, I found the Fire HD 10 to be sluggish. Amazon’s own Washington Post app took 10-15 seconds to load, and I sporadically experienced long load times in Amazon’s Silk Web browser as well. When you tap in a text field, the keyboard often takes several seconds to appear. It’s experiences like this that can make the tablet aggravating to use."

Amazon's Fire HD 10 tablet a rare misfire for company - Fortune

Sherry Turkle’s ‘Reclaiming Conversation’ - The New York Times

Final paragraph from a Jonathan Franzen review of Sherry Turkle's latest book

"It’s tempting to correlate the rise of “digital democracy” with steeply rising levels of income inequality; to see more than just an irony. But maybe the erosion of humane values is a price that most people are willing to pay for the “costless” convenience of Google, the comforts of Facebook and the reliable company of iPhones. The appeal of “Reclaiming Conversation” lies in its evocation of a time, not so long ago, when conversation and privacy and nuanced debate weren’t boutique luxuries. It’s not Turkle’s fault that her book can be read as a handbook for the privileged. She’s addressing a middle class in which she herself grew up, invoking a depth of human potential that used to be widespread. But the middle, as we know, is disappearing."

Sherry Turkle’s ‘Reclaiming Conversation’ - The New York Times

How Apple is trying to protect your privacy as its products get more personal - The Washington Post

Curate different

"Apple News, which can deliver a stream of headlines right onto one of the home screens of the iPhone, launched this month into a crowded space. Tech giants such as Google, Facebook and Twitter have long been using algorithms to serve piping hot headlines from the Web to consumers while using their reading habits to enhance the vast trove of data the companies keep on every user.

Apple's offering is different in that its stories are also curated by a small team of journalists. And the company clearly hopes a selling point will be its pledges on privacy protection.

“We don’t build a profile based on your email content or web browsing habits to sell to advertisers,” chief executive Tim Cook wrote in a letter that introduced its privacy Web site last year. “We don’t ‘monetize’ the information you store on your iPhone or in iCloud.”"

How Apple is trying to protect your privacy as its products get more personal - The Washington Post

Google Virtual-Reality System Aims to Enliven Education - The New York Times

Part of relentless Google/Microsoft competition to be first in class; check this Google post for more details; also see Microsoft expands virtual reality ambitions with Google Cardboard rival (CNet)

"But the advent of Google Expeditions is also indicative of an industry strategy shift. Some leading tech companies have recently made a decision to focus on designing products specifically for classroom use, rather than simply modifying their existing consumer or enterprise products and then marketing them to schools.

Last year, Google introduced Classroom, a free app that teachers can use to create, collect and comment on student assignments. This month, Facebook announced that company engineers were working with Summit Public Schools in California on software to customize learning to individual students.

Google engineers similarly worked with teachers to develop virtual-reality field trips based on course curriculums."

Google Virtual-Reality System Aims to Enliven Education - The New York Times

How India Influenced Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg - India Real Time - WSJ

Small world

"Before Facebook entered the stratosphere of Internet success and while he was considering whether or not to sell the social-media company, Mr. Zuckerberg said that Apple Inc. founder Steve Jobs recommended he visit a temple in India “in order to reconnect with what I believed was the mission of the company.”  

Mr. Zuckerberg did not say which temple but said that Mr. Jobs had been there when he was thinking about his vision of the future for Apple.

“And so I went and I traveled for almost a month,” said Mr. Zuckerberg. “Seeing the people, seeing how people connected, having the opportunity to feel how much better the world could be if everyone had a stronger ability to connect reinforced for me the importance of what we were doing and that is something that I have always remembered over the last 10 years as we have built Facebook.”"

How India Influenced Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg - India Real Time - WSJ

How Medium and Twitter could withstand Facebook’s moves to get the journalists and celebrities to… — Medium

From a Robert Scoble perspective on Facebook, Twitter, and Medium (also posted as a Facebook note); also see Facebook turns Notes into a blogging platform with revamped interface (The Next Web) and, tangentially, Facebook has built a parallel universe for journalists… and it’s just like Twitter (The Next Web)

"So, now, we get to the new Facebook Notes feature. That’s quite nice. Looks awesome, like Medium, but Medium has a much better interaction model for journalists and celebrities. Comments are left right next to the content itself and there isn’t an affordance for the crazy Reddit-style crazy mob commenting that often happens on Facebook. Just go to Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook page and look at the comments there. Very low quality generally. Facebook is trying to improve them by “surfacing” comments from verified celebrities, or those that get higher numbers of likes, but, still, it’s a mess compared to any post on Medium I’ve seen.

Why is Medium better?"

(Check the full post for a detailed comparison)

How Medium and Twitter could withstand Facebook’s moves to get the journalists and celebrities to… — Medium

The case against Dropbox looks stronger with each passing day | The Verge

Excerpt from a Dropbox reality check -- tbd if the lightweight workflow and project management features added by competitors such as Box will prevent a category-wide reset

"It’s a set of circumstances that have led some to speculate that Dropbox will become "the first dead decacorn," as startup founder Alex Danco wrote last month in a widely read piece. ("Decacorn" is Silicon Valley-speak for a company valued at $10 billion or more, a play on the use of "unicorn" to refer to billion-dollar startups.) This month CB Insights, estimating that the company’s valuation is at least 25 times its 2014 revenues, called investors’ enthusiasm for Dropbox "irrational." Ben Thompson, the analyst and author of the Stratechery blog, calls Dropbox "probably the most fragile" of the 10 most highly valued private companies.

All of this goes well beyond the usual criticisms lobbed at fast-growing startups: that they can’t keep up their pace of growth indefinitely, say, or that their business model will hit roadblocks as they attempt to begin profiting from their users. Rather, it’s that the fundamental assumptions around Dropbox’s business have shifted, at the same time that the behavior of office workers is changing to make the product less relevant. It’s a criticism that could use a thoughtful answer — but at Disrupt, Houston was unwilling or simply unable to give one."

The case against Dropbox looks stronger with each passing day | The Verge

To Unite the Earth, Connect It - The New York Times

Better connected -- from a NYT opinion post by Bono and Mark Zuckerberg

"Today over half the people on this planet don’t have access. That is not good for anyone — not for the disempowered and disconnected, and not for the other half, whose commerce and security depend on having stable societies.

An unprecedented array of technologists and activists — from Mo Ibrahim to Bill and Melinda Gates, action/2015, Ushahidi and Sahara Reporters have come together to support a global Connectivity Declaration, pledging their support for the new global goals and connecting the world to opportunity. This needs to become a global movement."

To Unite the Earth, Connect It - The New York Times

Adblockers: The Only Way Out | Monday Note

Check the full post for some accentuate-the-positive projections; also see Facebook Ads Are All-Knowing, Unblockable, and in Everyone’s Phone (BloombergBusiness) and Ad Blocking Is a Hot Topic for Marketing, Media Executives (WSJ)

"The advertising community can now brace for a double whammy: from a public that will increasingly draw on an expanding arsenal of ad-blocking and anti-tracking tools; and from advertisers opening their eyes to the vast scope of cheating. That’s why many predict a huge impact on the digital economy.

Now, if we take the long view and focus on the segment of high quality news content, current abuses could clear up the landscape in several positive ways."

Adblockers: The Only Way Out  | Monday Note

Microsoft Leads Movement to Offset Emissions With Internal Carbon Tax - The New York Times

Final paragraphs from an encouraging energy snapshot

"Real carbon taxes — and not just voluntary efforts — may not become commonplace anytime soon. Yet more big companies and their investors appear likely to decide that internal carbon pricing makes sense ethically and economically.

“This year the level of investor engagement on this topic has turned a corner,” said Ms. Simpson of Calpers. “You now have trillions of dollars asking for this, rather than millions. And as with everything, money talks.”"

Microsoft Leads Movement to Offset Emissions With Internal Carbon Tax - The New York Times

Dirty secrets | The Economist

Final paragraph from a stark VW assessment; also see The Real Winner in the VW Diesel Scandal? Hybrid Cars (Wired)

"Even if other makers of diesel vehicles have not resorted to the same level of deception as VW, the scandal could mean that these cars struggle to meet standards applied rigorously to both types of emission. Some fear that this may be the “death of diesel”. So be it. There is still scope to improve the venerable petrol engine; and to switch to cleaner cars that run on methane, hydrogen and electricity, or are hybrids. A multi-billion-dollar race is already under way between these various technologies, with makers often betting on several of them as the way to meet emissions targets. If VW’s behaviour hastens diesel’s death, it may lead at last, after so many false starts, to the beginning of the electric-car age."

Dirty secrets | The Economist

Stop Googling. Let’s Talk. - The New York Times

From a timely Sherry Turkle reality check -- a NYT essay adapted from her latest book (available 10/6), Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age

"We can also redesign technology to leave more room for talking to each other. The “do not disturb” feature on the iPhone offers one model. You are not interrupted by vibrations, lights or rings, but you can set the phone to receive calls from designated people or to signal when someone calls you repeatedly. Engineers are ready with more ideas: What if our phones were not designed to keep us attached, but to do a task and then release us? What if the communications industry began to measure the success of devices not by how much time consumers spend on them but by whether it is time well spent?

It is always wise to approach our relationship with technology in the context that goes beyond it. We live, for example, in a political culture where conversations are blocked by our vulnerability to partisanship as well as by our new distractions. We thought that online posting would make us bolder than we are in person, but a 2014 Pew study demonstrated that people are less likely to post opinions on social media when they fear their followers will disagree with them. Designing for our vulnerabilities means finding ways to talk to people, online and off, whose opinions differ from our own."

Stop Googling. Let’s Talk. - The New York Times

In the Future, How Will We Talk to Our Technology? | WIRED

Hey Siri, are these new Bluetooth earpieces getting any market traction?

"Right now, we really only had one way to talk to our gadgets: We tap a button, bring the bottom half of our phone to our mouth, and speak extra-clearly into it. But few believe that’s how it’ll always be—and they have plenty of pop culture examples of this future. The earbud from Her, the screens-everywhere world of Total Recall, or the computer in Star Trek. But mostly it’s the earbud from Her.

Everywhere you turn, there’s a company working on this kind of wireless, unobtrusive, forget-it’s-in-there earpiece. Bragi’s Dash is probably the most commonly-cited example, but there’s also the Pearbuds, the OwnPhones, the Motorola Hint, the HearNotes, the Earin buds, the Truebuds, and countless others from companies big and small. Kickstarter’s filthy with the stuff. They’re not just Bluetooth headsets minus the ostentatiousness, they’re an omnipresent way to digitally hear and be heard."

In the Future, How Will We Talk to Our Technology? | WIRED

New iPhone adds a touch of class | BetaBoston

Final paragraph from a hands-on iPhone 6s review

"In all, the iPhone 6s is a major upgrade that doesn’t seem major until you try it.  The lines outside the retailers this morning may have been a little thinner than usual.  But Apple’s smartphone rivals can take no comfort from that.  By adding potent new features to an already superb product, Apple has built a phone that’s pretty much untouchable."

New iPhone adds a touch of class | BetaBoston

This Is Microsoft Outlook’s Coolest New Feature | TIME

Groups provide a compelling way for Microsoft to highlight product line synergy -- across Azure (Groups are based on Azure Active Directory), Office 365 (e.g., OneDrive and Office Graph making Groups-shared content visible, permission-filtered, via Delve), and traditional Office apps (especially Outlook and OneNote)

"At first glance, Outlook Groups, part of Microsoft’s cloud-based Office 365 subscription service, looks like a shot across the bow of Slack, the messaging startup that’s taking workplaces by storm. That’s because like Slack, Groups lets users chat instead of email, straining an immeasurable amount of digital detritus from our already overflowing inboxes. But that’s where the comparisons between the two message services end. While Slack is basically a chat room for your business (with private messaging functionality), Groups also lets users share common calendars, OneDrive-hosted files, and OneNote notebooks."

This Is Microsoft Outlook’s Coolest New Feature | TIME

Microsoft has big plans for its mobile apps: more sharing, more collaboration | PCWorld

Final paragraphs from a review of Microsoft's newest mobile apps

"One of the criticisms of Office has been, basically, that we’ve seen it all before. And it’s true that if you look at the mainstays of Office—PowerPoint, Excel, Word—little has changed. Outlook, however, has evolved in significance with Office Groups, which has formed its own little collaborative network with Delve and the upcoming Planner Hub.

Microsoft hasn’t baked that level of sophistication into apps like Word and PowerPoint. What will be interesting to see is how much emphasis those mainstays are given going forward, and how much development will be put into emerging stars like Outlook."

Microsoft has big plans for its mobile apps: more sharing, more collaboration | PCWorld

Your Textbook Knows You're Going to Fail - Bloomberg Business

Sign of the times

"College professors no longer need to ask their class for an earnest show of hands to answer the dreaded question, "who did the reading?" Thanks to digital textbooks, instructors are able to tell exactly how much you've read, how long it took you to read it, and plenty more about your study habits. And whatever students might think about their speed-skimming abilities, a new study shows the more time college students spend reading their textbooks, the better their course grades. "

Your Textbook Knows You're Going to Fail - Bloomberg Business

Apple Propels an Ad-Blocking Cottage Industry - WSJ

Stimulus-response

"There is money to be made blocking ads and, as it turns out, allowing ads to evade ad blockers.

Eyeo GmbH, the company behind popular desktop ad-blocking tool Adblock Plus, now accepts payment from around 70 companies in exchange for letting their ads through its filter. Eyeo stipulates that they must comply with its “acceptable ads” policy, meaning their ads aren’t too disruptive or intrusive to users. In total, ads from some 700 companies meet the acceptable ads policy, an Eyeo spokesman said.

Eyeo is now reaching out to developers of other ad-blocking tools to cut deals that allow certain ads to pass through their filters, too, in exchange for payment."

Apple Propels an Ad-Blocking Cottage Industry - WSJ

Samsung and Oculus Announce $99 Gear VR Headset for Galaxy Phones - Digits - WSJ

tbd if/when a comparable iPhone option will be available

"Samsung Electronics Co. and Facebook Inc.’s Oculus VR unveiled a new version of the Gear VR headset Thursday, aimed at bringing what executives said was the “power of virtual reality to the mainstream.” To reach the masses, the headset will be priced at $99 and work with the full slate of 2015 Samsung Galaxy phones: Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S6 Edge+, S6 and S6 Edge.

The new headset is 22% lighter and “much more comfortable” than the previous Innovator editions, which Samsung first released last year to fine-tune its consumer product. The Gear VR includes a trackpad, back button and motion sensors to detect acceleration and gyroscopic position, but it still requires the brains and high-resolution screen of a smartphone to work. Phones are docked inside the headset, via a MicroUSB connection."

Samsung and Oculus Announce $99 Gear VR Headset for Galaxy Phones - Digits - WSJ

Life with Machine Learning — Galleys — Medium

Check the full post for an excerpt from The Master Algorithm: How the Quest for the Ultimate Learning Machine Will Remake Our World

"When a new technology is as pervasive and game changing as machine learning, it’s not wise to let it remain a black box. Opacity opens the door to error and misuse. Amazon’s algorithm, more than any one person, determines what books are read in the world today. The NSA’s algorithms decide whether you’re a potential terrorist. Climate models decide what’s a safe level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Stock-picking models drive the economy more than most of us do. You can’t control what you don’t understand, and that’s why you need to understand machine learning — as a citizen, a professional, and a human being engaged in the pursuit of happiness."

Life with Machine Learning — Galleys — Medium

Why Does Google Still Make Nexus Phones? | Tech.pinions - Perspective, Insight, Analysis

Final paragraph from a Google Nexus reality check

"Many developer programs provide hardware for testing purposes but, in the vast majority of cases, this hardware is either the standard version ordinary customers will also end up buying, or custom, stripped-down hardware for the sole purpose of developer testing. The Nexus program is odd in that it combines this same core purpose of providing devices to developers with the fanfare and branding of a consumer product, albeit a niche one. At some point, Google needs to apply the lessons it apparently learned but didn’t heed after the Nexus One launch and find a new purpose for the Nexus program. Perhaps Google Fi will provide that purpose and perhaps a device financing plan can stimulate sales. But, so far, there’s little evidence this year’s Nexus phones will fare any better than previous year’s versions."

Why Does Google Still Make Nexus Phones? | Tech.pinions - Perspective, Insight, Analysis

Socialtext founders launch Pingpad, a single app for chatting and collaborating | VentureBeat | Apps | by Ken Yeung

After cycling through knowledge management, enterprise 2.0, enterprise social, activity streams, and more, the software industry has gone back to basics: collaboration is back, and it's also at the center of the Office 2016 value proposition

"What Pingpad aims to do is streamline the entire process so that people won’t have to bounce from app to app just to be productive in their daily lives. Yes, you can jot notes on Evernote or Quip using a mobile device, but the actual messaging part is difficult, plus their network effect isn’t as big as WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger. And if you use those tools, you’re going to find it difficult to compose notes or documents. Pingpad appears to be positioning itself as the best of both worlds.

But here’s the thing: Is the time right for such a tool? Is this what people are genuinely looking for? Google apparently tried something like this in 2006 with its acquisition of Wiki collaboration service JotSpot (which was eventually rolled into the creation of Google Sites). Let’s also not forget that Slack seems to have done pretty well in the marketplace."

Socialtext founders launch Pingpad, a single app for chatting and collaborating | VentureBeat | Apps | by Ken Yeung

Windows 10 in China | Blogging Windows

Tangentially, if you're running Windows 10 and Office <= 2010, you can purchase Office 365 Personal for 50% off; see this Microsoft post for details

"Together, we will make it easy for Baidu customers to upgrade to Windows 10 and we will deliver a custom experience for customers in China, providing local browsing and search experiences. Baidu.com will become the default homepage and search for the Microsoft Edge browser in Windows 10. Baidu’s new Windows 10 distribution channel, Baidu “Windows 10 Express” will make it easy for Chinese Internet users to download an official Windows 10 experience. Additionally, Baidu will deliver Universal Windows Applications for Search, Video, Cloud and Maps for Windows 10.

We remain deeply committed to delivering Bing around the world and we’re also committed to offering locally relevant experiences – like Baidu in China – to provide great Windows 10 experiences."

Windows 10 in China | Blogging Windows

Ad blockers in iOS 9 won't cause advertising apocalypse, firm says - Fortune

Adpocalypse perhaps postponed; also see Ad Blocking: The Unnecessary Internet Apocalypse (Advertising Age)

"There’s been a lot of angst in the media and advertising industries about the potential effects of ad-blocking software, which appear to be increasing in popularity, in part because Apple’s new operating system includes support for such programs. A recent study estimated that ad blockers could lead to more than $20 billion in lost advertising sales. But is that likely? Brokerage firm UBS Securities doesn’t think so.

In a research note it published on Tuesday, UBS said that it doesn’t think ad-blocking will become a mainstream activity, and therefore it expects that the impact on actual advertising sales is going to be much smaller. At most, the industry might lose $1 billion or so in revenue, the firm estimates."

Ad blockers in iOS 9 won't cause advertising apocalypse, firm says - Fortune

Evan Spiegel, Brian Chesky, Reed Hastings Set for Colbert ‘Late Show’ | Re/code

A good strategy, as they'll run out of presidential primary candidates for nightly interviews by the end of the year, otherwise...

"“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” has been on the air only two weeks and we’ve already seen three major tech figures grace the stage — Apple’s Tim Cook, Uber’s Travis Kalanick and Tesla’s Elon Musk. Expect many more, says Emily Lazar, one of Colbert’s co-executive producers.

Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel is officially booked for the October 1 show. Airbnb founder Brian Chesky and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings are also in, but Colbert hasn’t announced when they’ll show up."

p.s. if you were disappointed in Colbert's Trump interview this week, see Watch: Stephen Colbert expertly returned Donald Trump to his rightful position as a comedy side show (Quartz)

Evan Spiegel, Brian Chesky, Reed Hastings Set for Colbert ‘Late Show’ | Re/code

Introducing 360 Video on Facebook | Facebook Newsroom

Starting with a Star Wars 360-degree video, naturally; also see The New Yorker's Introducing Our Mind-Blowing Virtual Reality App

"Our goal at Facebook is to connect you with the people and things that matter, every single day. Over time, we’ve seen that people enjoy more immersive content in their News Feeds. This is one reason video has been so successful on Facebook, and we’re excited to take it a step further with 360 video.

To create 360 videos, a special set of cameras is used to record all 360 degrees of a scene simultaneously. This means that when the video is playing on Facebook, you can choose what angle you want to see it from. On the web you can do this by dragging around the video with your cursor, and on mobile devices you do it by dragging with your finger — or even just by turning your device. You’ll be able to hold up your phone and the 360 video will follow you as you turn, looking around, to experience things from all over the world like never before."

Introducing 360 Video on Facebook | Facebook Newsroom

Google’s grab of Oyster suggests ebooks, like news, are becoming “content” read on big platforms » Nieman Journalism Lab

From an insightful ebook subscription model reality check

"So Oyster joins a line of other promising-seeming ebook startups — Readmill (acquired by Dropbox in 2014), Push Pop Press (acquired by Facebook in 2011) — that were acquired by big companies not because they specialized in books but because they had good mobile reading tech that can be used to read any sort of content, not just books. It makes Oyster look pretty prescient for focusing so hard on its technology and mobile reading experience (as it did from launch — and which was surely one of the main reasons it raised $17 million from big VCs), because otherwise the company’s exit would only stand as a symbol of the fact that ebook subscriptions don’t work.

As it is, consider this acquisition a symbol of the fact that big tech companies are thinking of ebooks less as discrete units that are bought and sold (or subscribed to) as individual objects, and more as pieces of content that exist alongside a whole lot of other content being read on mobile phones. If the ebook business model hasn’t caught up, that doesn’t really matter to Google, which finds value in Oyster in spite of the books. Amazon is off in another direction, attempting to create a subscription platform that cuts publishers out entirely."

Google’s grab of Oyster suggests ebooks, like news, are becoming “content” read on big platforms » Nieman Journalism Lab

The Washington Post Launches Instant Articles on Facebook - The Washington Post

Also see The Washington Post and Facebook: Smart strategy or deal with the devil? (Fortune) and, for a bigger-picture perspective on the future of journalism, Spotify but for the Titanic: A Proposal for the Future of News and Publishing (Zeynep Tufekci on Medium)

"The Washington Post today became the first new partner to launch on Facebook’s Instant Articles platform. The Post will send 100% of its stories to Facebook so that all Washington Post content can be formatted as Instant Articles, giving readers a lightning-fast user experience for reading, sharing and commenting within the Facebook iOS app.

“We want to reach current and future readers on all platforms, and we aren’t holding anything back,” said Fred Ryan, publisher, The Washington Post. “Launching Instant Articles on Facebook enables to give this extremely large audience a faster, more seamless news reading experience.”"

The Washington Post Launches Instant Articles on Facebook - The Washington Post

iPhone 6s: Apple’s Best Trap Yet - WSJ

Check the full article for more details and an Apple "happy trap" services timeline

"Just ask anyone who’s in a modern mixed marriage…that is, living with someone who doesn’t use the same smartphone operating system. It’s a relationship strain: How do they send messages? Share contacts and directions? You could use Google’s apps and services like Hangouts and Photos, but even then, everyone in the family has to agree on them.

One friend of mine tried switching to Android, but text messages started getting lost in his girlfriend’s iPhone iMessage app. (iMessage is known for causing headaches to those who move to Android.) He switched back to an iPhone in a week."

iPhone 6s: Apple’s Best Trap Yet - WSJ

IPhone 6s’s Hands-Free Siri Is an Omen of the Future - The New York Times

From a voice/digital assistant snapshot that's more positive than the "omen" headline implies

"But you can imagine that actually analyzing all of your speech can’t be far off, because it would make voice assistants more useful. In fact, for years now, Google’s top search engineers have been describing the “Star Trek” computer as their vision of the future of search.

“The ‘Star Trek’ computer is not just a metaphor that we use to explain to others what we’re building,” Amit Singhal, the head of Google’s search team, once told me. “It is the ideal that we’re aiming to build — the ideal version done realistically.”"

IPhone 6s’s Hands-Free Siri Is an Omen of the Future - The New York Times

The Risk of a Billion-Dollar Valuation in Silicon Valley - The New York Times

The word of the day, from an VC dynamics reality check: "unicorpse"

"That protection, however, may not just be driving up valuations. Liquidation preferences can come back to bite a start-up’s founders if valuations come down.

Higher valuations create higher expectations, and failure to meet them can set off a downward spiral and a forced sale. In that event, the venture capitalists are paid first, leaving “unicorpses” in their wake and the founders with nothing.

The recent season of the HBO comedy series “Silicon Valley” portrayed just such a situation: A founder of a dead start-up received nothing in a sale as a result of a liquidation preference, and was left crying that he “could have taken less money.”"

The Risk of a Billion-Dollar Valuation in Silicon Valley - The New York Times

The Plot Twist: E-Book Sales Slip, and Print Is Far From Dead - The New York Times

My e-book purchase rate is down due to higher prices (e.g., The Master Algorithm, which looks promising, is currently $19.22 for dead-tree edition and $15.39 for Kindle; I suppose somebody has to subsidize those $50 Amazon Fire tablets, but at that e-book price level, I'll dust off my library card...), the ability to easily read free (and often extensive) samples, and Blinkist, a nonfiction book summary service

"Now, there are signs that some e-book adopters are returning to print, or becoming hybrid readers, who juggle devices and paper. E-book sales fell by 10 percent in the first five months of this year, according to the Association of American Publishers, which collects data from nearly 1,200 publishers. Digital books accounted last year for around 20 percent of the market, roughly the same as they did a few years ago.

E-books’ declining popularity may signal that publishing, while not immune to technological upheaval, will weather the tidal wave of digital technology better than other forms of media, like music and television."

The Plot Twist: E-Book Sales Slip, and Print Is Far From Dead - The New York Times

Microsoft Releases Office 2016, a New Version for Windows Desktops | Re/code

Also see Microsoft Office 2016 review: It's all about collaboration (PCWorld)

"Having a new desktop version of the software means that consumers who pick up a new PC this holiday season can get Microsoft’s latest and greatest desktop software. For consumers, Microsoft is offering Windows 10 as a free update and is eager to get as many PCs running the new software as possible. Office 2016 is a free update to Windows 365 subscribers and also goes on sale Tuesday to consumers and businesses.

And it is those businesses that are perhaps most critical to Microsoft’s bottom line. The new Office gives businesses that want to upgrade their computers over the coming months and years the opportunity to upgrade both the operating system and Office at the same time.

“They don’t want to touch their desktops twice,” Capossela said."

Microsoft Releases Office 2016, a New Version for Windows Desktops | Re/code

Google Hires Part of Oyster ‘Netflix for E-Books’ Team | Re/code

The "sunsetting the existing Oyster service" blog post is a classic; for a more direct summary, see Oyster, a Subscription E-Book Service That Tried to Take on Amazon, Is Shutting Down (Slate)

"Those opportunities may happen at Google. A rep for the search giant confirmed that “a portion” of the Oyster team has joined Google Play Books, its online store for books. People familiar with the company say that CEO Eric Stromberg and co-founders Andrew Brown and Willem Van Lancker are part of the team joining Google.

Google is resistant to the notion that it bought Oyster. But sources said it will end up paying investors, who put a reported $17 million into the company, for the right to hire some of its staff.  In other words, this is an acqhire."

Google Hires Part of Oyster ‘Netflix for E-Books’ Team | Re/code

Apple Presses Ahead With Efforts to Create Car, Though Big Issues Remain - The New York Times

Check the full article for a recap of recent Apple car-related speculation

"Other details of the car project are falling into place. Apple is committing hundreds of people to the effort, and meeting with officials of the California Department of Motor Vehicles and of a testing ground for self-driving cars, said the person with knowledge of the work. The Wall Street Journal and The Guardian previously reported on those developments. Apple is aiming to introduce some sort of car product around 2020, several people with knowledge of the project said."

Apple Presses Ahead With Efforts to Create Car, Though Big Issues Remain - The New York Times

Skype Service Problems for Some Users Worldwide - The New York Times

A couple turbulent days in the clouds; also see Amazon’s AWS DynamoDB experiences outage, affecting Netflix, Reddit, Medium, and more (VentureBeat)

"Users of Skype, Microsoft’s Internet calling unit, faced a lengthy blackout on Monday after people worldwide were not able to make calls or sign into the service.

Customers in Europe, the United States and Japan, starting early morning European time, were affected, according to reports on social media. Skype did not specify how many of its roughly 300 million global users could not use the service."

Skype Service Problems for Some Users Worldwide - The New York Times

Progress without profits | The Economist

Final paragraphs from a cloud + open source + big data reality check

"Even so, it will be tough to survive in competition with giants like Amazon and Microsoft, which are offering comprehensive cloud-computing services. What is more, many potential customers may prefer to get all the pieces from one firm rather than stitching together software from startups, says Simon Crosby, a virtualisation veteran who works for Bromium, a provider of online-security software.

The current plethora of data-centre-software startups is likely to shrink as they run out of venture capital. Some firms will be gobbled up by established software firms, such as VMware and Red Hat. But they may be remembered fondly by data-centre managers for having made computing cheaper, faster and more flexible."

Progress without profits | The Economist

How Google Now, Siri & Cortana Predict What You Want (Search Engine Land)

Final paragraphs from a digital assistant review

"Having used them all, I would say Google Now is the assistant that will most easily give you a robust range of predictions, assuming you’re happy to embrace the Google ecosystem.

If you don’t use Google services, Cortana is an interesting alternative, especially now that it’s out for Android. Just don’t expect it’ll do as much as Google Now.

If you love privacy, Apple’s Siri is appealing. But the trade-off for that privacy is going to be far fewer predictions, having to teach Siri all over again if you switch devices or have to fully reset an existing one."

How Google Now, Siri & Cortana Predict What You Want

The best alternatives to the cable bundle are being offered by cable companies - The Washington Post

Stimulus-response

"Since Verizon Communications introduced in April cheaper, slimmed down bundles of just dozens of TV channels -- as opposed to hundreds, the company said on Thursday that 30 to 40 percent of its new FiOS television customers have asked for the new packages. And in a new bet on mobile video, the telecom firm said it has signed up 25,000 people for the free streaming service Go90 that goes live later this month.

Just months ago, the idea of introducing alternatives to the fat cable bundle were anathema to an industry that has long fought to keep that profitable business model intact. But with declining ratings and advertising revenues and more people dropping their cable subscriptions altogether, the industry has shifted tone."

The best alternatives to the cable bundle are being offered by cable companies - The Washington Post

Apple Confirms Discovery of Malicious Code in Some App Store Products - The New York Times

Infect different

"Apple confirmed on Sunday that a tool used by software developers for the company’s devices was copied and modified by hackers to put bad code into apps available on the App Store.

So far about 40 apps with malicious code, or malware, have made it into the App Store, said researchers at Palo Alto Networks, an online security company that is investigating the incident. In a blog post, the security company said the breach could potentially affect hundreds of millions of users."

From Malicious Code Infiltrates Some Apple App Store Apps in China (Re/code):

"Apple provides developers with secure tools for creating mobile apps, however some developers are believed to have a counterfeit version because it downloaded faster, according to a person familiar with the matter. These developers ignored warnings on their computers that they may be downloading malicious software."

Apple Confirms Discovery of Malicious Code in Some App Store Products - The New York Times

The creator of the most popular ad blocker has pulled it from the App Store - Digiday

Less Peaceful

"Yesterday was a big day for iOS 9’s early slate of ad blockers, which shot to the top of Apple’s paid app charts.  Today, Peace, the most popular of those apps, has been taken down — all because of a little thing called ethics.

“Ad blockers come with an important asterisk: while they do benefit a ton of people in major ways, they also hurt some, including many who don’t deserve the hit,” said Peace creator Marco Arment in a post announcing the move. Arment sang a slightly different tune the day before, when he argued that users “shouldn’t feel guilty” about protecting themselves from the Web’s abuses."

The creator of the most popular ad blocker has pulled it from the App Store - Digiday

Facebook’s Experimental Answer to Siri | MIT Technology Review

Also see We're on the Brink of a Revolution in Crazy-Smart Digital Assistants (Wired)

"Automated virtual assistants such as Siri have been offered for a while. Why make an assistant where humans do some of the work?

Virtual assistants on the market, like Siri and Cortana, are like search – you can ask a question and get an answer, but it’s limited. People have always been frustrated. On average, people who use Siri every day or week only use it for three or four questions. It’s because they’ve been burned. Users stop using it, or use the things they know work.

We wanted to focus on tasks that no AI in the world can do. To do that you need to understand what people want but also make a plan to fulfill it. Nobody has the data to train machine learning to do that. We decided to have AI and humans working together. The AI helps the humans and in turn they train the AI."

Facebook’s Experimental Answer to Siri | MIT Technology Review

Apple iOS 9 is out – with a LOT of security holes patched | Naked Security

Check the full post for an overview of security-related updates

"As usual, we recommend updating as soon as you can, for the fixes much more than the features.

And when you do the update, take the opportunity to review your security settings in general.

For example, we made sure that location services were turned off, as we wanted; and that the auto-sync features of iCloud were disabled, especially the one that pushed photos and screenshots to the cloud automatically.

Those may not be your preferences, of course, but do take the opportunity to check that your settings reflect your choices, and that you don't finish the update with a bunch of unwanted security changes."

Apple iOS 9 is out – with a LOT of security holes patched | Naked Security

Why HP Is Irrelevant - Om Malik

Lead paragraph from a stark HP perspective

"When I had a television, on sleepless nights, I would sometimes stay up late watching reruns. After a certain hour, the infomercials would take over — I can’t tell you how many times I was tempted to order an ab cruncher or juicer, only to be saved at the last second by good sense. However, such good sense doesn’t prevail over at HP, which seems to go on the equivalent of late-night shopping sprees, only to regret them a few years later. I was reminded of my past behavior when I read the news about HP’s decision to trim its enterprise business even further and offshore nearly 60 percent of the workforce to overseas locations."

Why HP Is Irrelevant - Om Malik

With $50 Fire Tablet, Amazon Doubles Down on Low-end Hardware | Re/code

Likely to disrupt at least the "value" Android tablet market

"The $50 model is being pitched as more capable than other bargain-basement tablets, but its ultra-low price may end up being its biggest feature. Amazon is betting that low prices would inspire customers to make use of its products in new ways. That’s why it is offering the Fire tablet in a six pack for $249.

Limp noted the tablets are far cheaper than many accessories for Apple’s iPad. “You can get two of them for the price of [an Apple] Pencil.”"

With $50 Fire Tablet, Amazon Doubles Down on Low-end Hardware | Re/code

Facebook Wants More Journalists Using Facebook | Re/code

A new Facebook tool for journalists; also see Facebook woos journalists with Signal, a dashboard to gather news across Facebook and Instagram (NiemanLab)

"The hope is that if Facebook makes this information easier to find, it will appear in other places on the Web — like the articles that journalists drum up every single day. Facebook is competing with other networks (see: Twitter) for your conversations around important and live events. If journalists believe those conversations are happening on Facebook, others likely will, too."

Facebook Wants More Journalists Using Facebook | Re/code

Amazon Updates Its Fire TV and Tablet Offerings - The New York Times

Signs of the (non-iPad) tablet times

"In addition, Amazon has added some cheap tablets to its Fire product family. It is offering a low-end Fire tablet for $50, which can also be bought as a six-pack for $250. This inexpensive tablet has a seven-inch screen, can play movies and load books, apps and games. On top of that, Amazon introduced two new tablets with high-definition screens, called Fire HD, which come in eight inches for $150 and in 10.1 inches for $230. (By comparison, Apple’s latest tablets cost $380 to $800.)"

Amazon Updates Its Fire TV and Tablet Offerings - The New York Times

New Ad Blocker "Peace" Tops iTunes Paid Apps Chart Within Hours (Marketing Land)

Based in part on the Ghostery database; see Introducing Peace, my privacy-focused iOS 9 ad blocker (Marco.org) for more details; for iPhone, Peace requires >= 5s at this point

"For months, marketers have been worrying over the possibility that consumers might embrace ad blocking that’s made easier in iOS 9. Now iOS 9 is out, and within hours of its launch yesterday, a new ad blocker called “Peace” became the most popular paid app.

The Peace app was created by Marco Arment, former CTO of Tumblr and founder of Instapaper. It sells for $2.99 in Apple’s app store. Within hours of the app going live, it topped the iTunes chart for paid apps for iPhone."

New Ad Blocker "Peace" Tops iTunes Paid Apps Chart Within Hours

Amazon Prime members are getting six months of The Washington Post for free | The Verge

Something to consider exploring along with Apple News

"Jeff Bezos is packaging together two of his biggest products: Amazon Prime and The Washington Post, which he purchased two years ago. As of today, Amazon is beginning to offer cheap Washington Post subscriptions as a benefit to Prime subscribers. Prime subscribers are now able to get the paper's National Digital Edition — basically, most of the content on its website and app — free for six months and for $3.99 per month after that. That would put a yearly subscription at just under $48, a pretty steep discount on the normal price of $130 per year."

Amazon Prime members are getting six months of The Washington Post for free | The Verge

Pinterest Crosses User Milestone of 100 Million - The New York Times

Perhaps peak Pinterest, as Facebook, Google, and Twitter all add seamless shopping services

"The company, based in San Francisco, has grown rapidly in the last five years, amassing a war chest from top venture capital investors and strategic partners, and gaining a valuation of $11 billion in the process. Pinterest’s highly visual interface — it is akin to a digital corkboard for saving pictures of places to visit and recipes to try — has influenced many other companies to make similar design decisions and rethink the importance of photos over text.

Early comparisons pitted Pinterest against social networking companies like Facebook and Twitter. But Pinterest sees itself as more of an existential competitor to Google, a way for people to discover things they want to do in the real world rather than a social avenue."

Pinterest Crosses User Milestone of 100 Million - The New York Times

Oracle Revenue Forecast Disappoints as License Sales Continue Falling - The New York Times

A partly cloudy day for Oracle

"Sales of Oracle's cloud-computing software and platform service rose 34 percent to $451 million. Sales of traditional software licenses fell 16 percent to $1.51 billion.

Wall Street was expecting cloud-based sales to increase 35 percent and licensed software sales to decline 17 percent, according to RBC Capital Markets.

"In the foreseeable future the database business continues to be a dark cloud over the company's head," FBR Capital Markets analyst Daniel Ives said."

Oracle Revenue Forecast Disappoints as License Sales Continue Falling - The New York Times

Google Glass Gets a New Name and Hires from Amazon - Digits - WSJ

See Google has hired a bunch of engineers from Amazon's Lab126 for a new wearable tech initiative called 'Project Aura' (Business Insider) for more details

"The Glass team, now called Project Aura, has been hiring engineers, software developers and project managers from Lab126, Amazon.com Inc.’s hardware-focused research division in the Bay Area. Google swooped in as Lab126 laid off dozens of engineers who worked on its failed Fire smartphone.

Aura is run by Ivy Ross, who previously ran the Glass project. She reports to Tony Fadell, head of Google’s connected-home business Nest, according to a person familiar with the situation. A spokeswoman for Mr. Fadell declined to comment.

Aura is working on the next incarnation of Glass, but the team is also developing other wearable technology, according to job descriptions on business-networking site LinkedIn."

Google Glass Gets a New Name and Hires from Amazon - Digits - WSJ

Udacity Says It Can Teach Tech Skills to Millions, and Fast - The New York Times

Timely educational innovation

"The nanodegree works like this: Last year, Udacity partnered with technology companies to create online courses geared toward teaching a set of discrete, highly prized technical skills — including mobile programming, data analysis and web development. Students who complete these courses are awarded the nanodegree, a credential that Udacity has worked with Google, AT&T and other companies to turn into a new form of workplace certification.

“We can’t turn you into a Nobel laureate,” Mr. Thrun told me. “But what we can do is something like upskilling — you’re a smart person, but the skills you have are inadequate for the current job market, or don’t let you get the job you aspire to have. We can help you get those skills.”"

Udacity Says It Can Teach Tech Skills to Millions, and Fast - The New York Times

Here's a look at Facebook's plan to kill unicorn startup Slack - SFGate

Check the full article for screenshots and more details; also see Facebook Is About to Take the Training Wheels off Facebook at Work (Re/code)

"Facebook plans to launch the product for free and will offer premium features that businesses can choose to pay for (no ads, ever). By vying to be the main internal communication tool for businesses, Facebook is strongly challenging other established products like Yammer, owned by Microsoft, or Slack, which is one of the fastest-growing business apps of all time and  now worth an estimated $2.8 billion, having raised $160 million. 
Facebook told Business Insider the company is rolling out the "for work" product to hundreds of more test companies, and that companies that have already signed on, like Heineken and Hootsuite, are "experiencing solid daily engagement rates" and"seeing increased productivity using the Groups and News Feed features.""

Here's a look at Facebook's plan to kill unicorn startup Slack - SFGate

Why WhatsApp Only Needs 50 Engineers for Its 900M Users | WIRED

WhatsApp as the ultimate Erlang case study

"Like Haskell, Erlang is a product of the ’80s. Engineers at Ericsson, the Swedish multinational that builds hardware and software for telecom companies, developed the language for use with high-speed phone networks. “Instead of inventing a language and then figuring out what to do with it, they set out to invent a language which solved a very specific problem,” says Francesco Cesarini, an Erlang guru based in the UK. “The problem was that of massive scalability and reliability. Phone networks were the only systems at the time who had to display those properties.”

Erlang remains on the fringes of the modern coding world, but at WhatsApp and other internet companies, including WeChat and Whisper, it has found a home with new applications that operate not unlike a massive phone network. In essence, WhatsApp is a replacement for cellphone texting services. It too requires that “scalability and reliability.”"

Why WhatsApp Only Needs 50 Engineers for Its 900M Users | WIRED

Salesforce Plans to Give Customers Amazon-Type Analytics - The New York Times

Adam Bosworth back in the spotlight

"“We’re going to learn a ton from our customers about how this works,” said Adam Bosworth, the engineer in charge of the IoT Cloud. He added, “there will be a time in five years or less when, if you miss a flight and you’re not rerouted to a new flight, and your contacts informed about the changes, you won’t fly that airline again.”

Mr. Bosworth, who has worked on the project for the past 18 months, is well known in the tech world. He was an early developer of spreadsheets, the most basic type of data analysis, at Microsoft, then led development of XML, a computer language important in the development of the World Wide Web. At Google he worked on projects including Google Health, a failed effort to put people’s health records online.

Mr. Bosworth said he had come out of retirement to do this project, choosing Salesforce because it sells to lots of nontech companies, which keep big amounts of data on their own customers."

Salesforce Plans to Give Customers Amazon-Type Analytics - The New York Times

Jeff Bezos Sees 'Millions' of People Living, Working in Space - Bloomberg Business

Amazon Prime shipping options tbd

"Amazon.com Inc. Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos envisions “millions” of people living in orbit as his exploration company, Blue Origin, and other commercial ventures develop spacecraft to make travel more widely available.
Investment from wealthy entrepreneurs with a passion for space will usher in a new era that makes leaving the Earth’s atmosphere accessible to anyone, Bezos said Tuesday. Earlier, he announced that Blue Origin will put $200 million into a new rocket assembly facility and launch site in Cape Canaveral, Florida."

Jeff Bezos Sees 'Millions' of People Living, Working in Space - Bloomberg Business

Evernote Founder Phil Libin Moves Into Venture Capital - Digits - WSJ

Post-freemium

"“The puzzles I want to work on are the early-stage puzzles,” said Mr. Libin, explaining why he felt it was time to leave Evernote. “How do you find product market fit? How do you design something beautiful? How do you get a team of talented nerds to walk through walls” to build a product?

His old company, where he remains executive chairman, is focused on making its business more predictable, getting better at operations, and hiring the people necessary to be a public company, he said.

Mr. Libin said he had spoken with a few venture-capital firms and hadn’t planned on going back to work so soon, but he decided the fit was right with General Catalyst. He starts work next Monday and will help the firm deploy its $675 million seventh fund."

Evernote Founder Phil Libin Moves Into Venture Capital - Digits - WSJ

iOS 9 Review: An Upgrade That Will Save You Time and Battery - WSJ

Check the full article for an iOS 9 overview; the upgrade will be available at 1:00 p.m. for people on the U.S. east coast (per International Business Times)

"Like clockwork, mid-September arrives, we update to a promising new iOS, then … we learn to survive with a buggy, slow and battery-drained iPhone. Again and again. It would make a boring sequel to “Groundhog Day.”

Here’s the spoiler, though: The plague of miserable, repetitive upgrade cycles ends Wednesday, with the arrival of iOS 9.

Available as a free update on all recent devices going back to the iPhone 4S and iPad 2, iOS 9 is all about stability—with fewer hair-pulling bugs, slowdowns and battery problems. Apple was so adamant about making up for last year’s disastrous iOS 8 launch—the one that left some with no cellular connectivity—that it even gave fearless users the opportunity to test out the new software early and report bugs."

iOS 9 Review: An Upgrade That Will Save You Time and Battery - WSJ

Coming Soon to Facebook: A 'Dislike' Button - The New York Times

Predictably... Also see Dislike Button? Facebook’s Not Getting That — But It May Gain Alternative To The Like Button (Marketing Land)

"The prospect of a new dislike button has been polarizing among Facebook users.

“There is already enough hate on Facebook and social media,” Atiq Haneef of Pakistan commented on an earlier version of this article on the Facebook page of The New York Times. “I’m gonna dislike this dislike button!”

But Roger Anderson of Atlanta, a former government microbiologist, wrote, “What’s wrong with a dislike button? Let’s have varying opinions on Facebook posts! If some feelings get hurt, then so be it and just grow up.”"

Coming Soon to Facebook: A 'Dislike' Button - The New York Times

Why users have such different experiences in Window 10 | Windows 10 content from SuperSite for Windows

Final paragraphs of another actual results may vary Windows 10 survey

"Did Microsoft push Windows 10 out too early? Based on the wide range of experiences we are seeing on the version of Windows 10 that was released on 29 July it sure seems more like a preview version of the operating system instead of a final release.

The first major update to Windows 10, Threshold 2, is expected later this year and hopefully it will deliver more stability to the OS and help to reduce the impact of the Windows 10 Experience Variable."

Why users have such different experiences in Window 10 | Windows 10 content from SuperSite for Windows

Deep Learning Machine Teaches Itself Chess in 72 Hours, Plays at International Master Level | MIT Technology Review

Not just playing games

"In the last few years, neural networks have become hugely powerful thanks to two advances. The first is a better understanding of how to fine-tune these networks as they learn, thanks in part to much faster computers. The second is the availability of massive annotated datasets to train the networks.

That has allowed computer scientists to train much bigger networks organized into many layers. These so-called deep neural networks have become hugely powerful and now routinely outperform humans in pattern recognition tasks such as face recognition and handwriting recognition.

So it’s no surprise that deep neural networks ought to be able to spot patterns in chess and that’s exactly the approach Lai has taken. His network consists of four layers that together examine each position on the board in three different ways."

Deep Learning Machine Teaches Itself Chess in 72 Hours, Plays at International Master Level | MIT Technology Review

Apple Makes Its Biggest Push to Date Into the Enterprise | Re/code

Check the full article for a review of related initiatives

"While Apple’s individual announcements may seem limited in scope individually, it’s clear that, taken together, Apple is pursuing the enterprise in a big way. Whether through the introduction of more powerful hardware, more applications targeted to business or improved data security, you should expect that Apple will continue to gain share in the enterprise for 2015 and beyond."

Apple Makes Its Biggest Push to Date Into the Enterprise | Re/code

Russian Authorities Rule Google Broke Antitrust Regulations - The New York Times

Only state-sponsored monopolies in Russia

"Earlier this year, Yandex had complained to the country’s competition authority that cellphone manufacturers were not able to include the company’s rival digital offerings in the Android operating system. After the complaint, the regulator began investigating whether Google unfairly bundled its own services, like digital maps, in its Android software.

Unlike in other parts of the world, where Google has outmuscled domestic search rivals, Yandex still holds more than a 50 percent market share in Russian online search, according to industry statistics. The company’s share price rose more than 8 percent in early afternoon trading in New York after the regulatory decision was announced."

Russian Authorities Rule Google Broke Antitrust Regulations - The New York Times

Microsoft sends out invitations for October 6 Windows 10 hardware blow-out | ZDNet

Tangentially, see Dell is also building its own Microsoft Surface clone (The Verge)

"While the invitations don't detail which new products Microsoft will unveil at the launch, tipsters have said Surface Pro 4, Band 2 and the new "Cityman" and "Talkman" premium Lumia phones (expected to be christened Lumia 950 and 950 XL) will be the stars of the Microsoft hardware show. 

I doubt any of the new Microsoft hardware will be available on October 6. I've heard from some contacts that the Surface Pro 4 tablets are likely to ship some time in November, still in time for the holiday season. I'd expect the Lumia phones and Bands also to be out in time for holiday."

Microsoft sends out invitations for October 6 Windows 10 hardware blow-out | ZDNet

My biggest problem with Windows 10: Instability | ZDNet

FWIW Windows 10 (running on Mac OS/Parallels) has been mostly stable for me since I tried the first 5 suggestions in this troubleshooting post

"Microsoft's original plan, we've heard from various sources, was to roll out Windows 10 in October 2015. Instead, due to OEM pressure, Microsoft began rolling out Windows 10 in late July. An update with a bunch of missing features, known as Threshold 2, is coming later this Fall.

But what I'm more interested in now is Redstone. Redstone is the next set of updates for Windows 10 after Threshold 2. Word is there will be two Redstone updates -- Summer and Fall -- in 2016. And according to my sources, a big focus for Redstone will be on improving the stability of the Windows 10 ecosystem and its many piece parts, via engineering processes instituted by the Windows team."

My biggest problem with Windows 10: Instability | ZDNet

How the iPad Pro with Pencil Maps to the Desktop Publishing Revolution of the Past | Tech.pinions - Perspective, Insight, Analysis

For another perspective, see Sorry, Apple. Turns Out Designers Don't Use iPads (Wired)

"With the iPad Pro and Pencil, Apple gives these same customers Jobs wanted to serve when he came back to Apple in 1997 another set of tools that will dramatically impact their workflow. In fact, the presenter from Adobe at last week’s event stated using Adobe Tools designed to work with Pencil meant people can now do things they could not even do on a PC. For these users, this is a big deal. I talked to some graphics designers after the Apple event and they are salivating over this product. They can now toss out their Wacom tablets and work directly on a large screen and interact with and manipulate their drawings, designs and engineering projects at the pixel level, which ultimately gives them more control of their designs or projects."

How the iPad Pro with Pencil Maps to the Desktop Publishing Revolution of the Past | Tech.pinions - Perspective, Insight, Analysis

Google's self-driving car push spurs hiring spree at automakers | Reuters

Also see Google Hires Auto Veteran to Lead Self-Driving Car Project (NYT)

"German premium carmakers BMW , Mercedes-Benz and Audi are snapping up software experts as tech firms such as Google threaten to outflank them in the race to develop a self-driving car.

Software expertise has become a new battleground for automakers and tech firms as cars need lines of code to connect electric car motors to batteries, talk to smartphones or activate brakes when a radar system detects an obstacle ahead.

Without beefing up their digital expertise, German automakers will struggle to offer new premium features such as autonomous driving and car-sharing services to compete with new rivals such as Google and Uber."

Google's self-driving car push spurs hiring spree at automakers | Reuters

Google Follows Amazon Web Services Into On-Demand Supercomputing - The New York Times

Economies of scale

"Using Google, cancer researchers at the Broad Institute used 51,200 computing cores to look at the interrelationships between human genes, the billions of ways they are expressed, the cell lines from some 500 types of cancer, and molecules that perturb those cells. The idea was to sort through billions of data points quickly, looking for promising areas for researchers to seek drugs and treatments.

The analysis, which on a single computer server would have run about 30 years, took a couple of hours, said Chris Dwan, the acting director of Information Technology at Broad. It cost about $4,000."

Google Follows Amazon Web Services Into On-Demand Supercomputing - The New York Times

Intelligence Start-Up Goes Behind Enemy Lines to Get Ahead of Hackers - The New York Times

Big -- and expensive -- security data

"The average organization receives 16,937 alerts a week. Only 19 percent of them are deemed “reliable,” and only 4 percent are investigated, according to a study released in January by the Ponemon Institute, which tracks data breaches. By the time criminals make enough noise to merit a full investigation, it can take financial services companies more than three months, on average, to discover them, and retailers more than six months.

“Just generating more alerts is wasting billions of dollars of venture capital,” said David Cowan, an iSight investor and a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. The last thing an executive in charge of network security needs is more alerts, he said: “They don’t have time. They need human, actionable threat intelligence.”"

Intelligence Start-Up Goes Behind Enemy Lines to Get Ahead of Hackers - The New York Times

TV Bundles Challenge Apple to Make a Deal - The New York Times

TV transition time -- one way or another; in near-term TV news, see Tim Cook Will Join Stephen Colbert on “The Late Show” (Re/code)

"“The record companies were facing what was obviously a mortal threat with illegal file sharing,” Mr. Wieser said. “You could argue that Steve Jobs didn’t let a good crisis go to waste and he cut some very good deals.”

By contrast, Mr. Wieser says that viewers in about three million of the country’s 110 million homes watch television shows via broadband only. “At that pace you can understand why there’s no sense of urgency” to work with Apple, he said."

TV Bundles Challenge Apple to Make a Deal - The New York Times

The software secretaries | The Economist

From an intelligent assistant market snapshot

"All these firms still have kinks to work out, but the sophistication and range of functions of their personal-assistant software are expanding (see table). The rise of Siri et al signals two important trends that will shape the future of the consumer internet: the evolution of “search”, away from typed search-engine queries towards a more personalised, interactive service, and a gradual shift from individual apps to an ecosystem of services that is mediated by a powerful software assistant.

According to Gartner, a research firm, around 38% of American consumers have used virtual-assistant services on their smartphones recently; by the end of 2016 an estimated two-thirds of consumers in developed markets will use them daily. Software robots are getting better at predicting what users need based on past behaviour and current location."

The software secretaries | The Economist

Ihnatko: 2 Apple updates that could be relaunches | Chicago Sun-Times

From an Andy Ihnatko perspective on Apple's product news

"New input controller, new OS, new app library, powerful A8 processor and now Apple talks about how much storage is on the Apple TV. The 32 gigabyte model is $149, with the 64 gigabyte one going for $199.

So, yeah: this is Apple’s newest home computer.

The obvious kinds of apps for Apple TV deliver entertainment: streaming music and video, and games. But go beyond that and the possibilities are intriguing. What if iOS developers ported the best iPad productivity apps to tvOS? The result would turn Apple TV into a slick tiny desktop that costs next to nothing.

No, an Apple TV running tvOS versions of my favorite iOS productivity apps wouldn’t be as powerful as a Mac. But a Chromebook isn’t as powerful as a Windows notebook, either and they’re intensely useful for many things."

Ihnatko: 2 Apple updates that could be relaunches | Chicago Sun-Times

Tablets in the Enterprise: Do Windows or Android Stand a Chance? | Tech.pinions - Perspective, Insight, Analysis

Excerpt from a detailed survey suggesting the iPad Pro is going to be pivotal

"So what’s the bottom line? These results confirm our expectations that the large market advantage of iPads in the workplace will fade over the next three years. The market will become a closer competitive race, with Android and Windows-powered devices picking up a significant share of organizational deployments. The data also suggests that not all organizations view the various tablet options the same and indeed, we found there are significant differences among various verticals (which we will save for a future discussion). Finally, size of deployments matter when devices are selected, indicating those organizations that have less than complete deployments of tablets (deployment to the general population) are much more likely to choose a solution based on HW and SW availability from vendors (task specific deployments)."

Tablets in the Enterprise: Do Windows or Android Stand a Chance? | Tech.pinions - Perspective, Insight, Analysis

If you buy AppleCare+, Apple's new iPhone Upgrade Program is a great deal (AppleInsider)

Check the full post for a U.S. carrier competitive comparison

"tl;dr: Apple's new iPhone Upgrade Program is a no-brainer for customers who buy AppleCare+ and want to upgrade their iPhone every year.

Unlike installment plans offered by some wireless carriers, Apple's iPhone Upgrade Program features a completely unlocked iPhone. In addition, the program is also interest free, so the loan comes at no cost to you.

In other words, the price you pay over two years is identical to what you would pay upfront for a new, unlocked iPhone 6s and AppleCare+ two-year warranty."

If you buy AppleCare+, Apple's new iPhone Upgrade Program is a great deal

Stephen Colbert Thinks Elon Musk Might Be a Supervillain - Digits - WSJ

Check here for an interview excerpt; tangentially, see SpaceX releases first interior photos of its astronaut-carrying spacecraft (The Verge)

"The conversation eventually turned to another of Mr. Musk’s ideas: colonizing the red planet. Mr. Colbert protested that the planet is uninhabitable and people would have to live in domes. Mr. Musk said one challenge, warming up the planet, could be overcome.

“Give me the fast way,” Mr. Colbert says.

“The fast way is: Drop thermonuclear weapons over the poles,” Mr. Musk says with a confident chuckle."

Also see Musk Ducks Super-Villain Question, Then Suggests Nuking Mars (BloombergBusiness), which includes the final interview topic:

"“I think the most important thing we need to solve this century is sustainable energy,” Musk said on the Late Show.
Colbert responded: “You seem like the guy to do it.”"  

Stephen Colbert Thinks Elon Musk Might Be a Supervillain - Digits - WSJ

At Apple’s Big Event, the Mac Was a No-Show - Digits - WSJ

Watch this space

"Despite the Mac’s history and deep emotional ties to Apple, the reality is that today’s Apple is a mobile-products company. It’s where the company makes the bulk of its money and where its customers spend the bulk of their time.

The Mac remains a strong and lucrative business, no doubt the most profitable PC line. In the most recent quarter ended June, Mac revenue grew 11% to $6.03 billion, making Apple the only one among the world’s top five PC makers with growing sales.

At most companies, that would be enough to grab the spotlight, but every business at Apple now plays second fiddle to the iPhone – a profit-making juggernaut."

At Apple’s Big Event, the Mac Was a No-Show - Digits - WSJ

As Head-Up Displays Become Common, Distraction Becomes an Issue - The New York Times

A digital dashboard dilemma -- viewer discretion is advised

"“It’s like the Wild West out there in terms of what’s being put into cars, and we’re expressing caution because there are no standards,” said Deborah Hersman, president of the independent National Safety Council near Chicago and a former chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board.

“If a head-up display can warn of a collision or a grade crossing ahead and a train coming, that may actually help,” she said. “But if it puts up an iPod playlist or sends a restaurant reservation, that may distract from the task of driving.”"

As Head-Up Displays Become Common, Distraction Becomes an Issue - The New York Times

How Bill Gates Predicted the iPad Pro — Backchannel — Medium

Excerpt from a Steven Levy long-term tablet perspective; also see The iPad Pro Just Launched — But Don't Ditch Your Laptop Just Yet (Tech.Mic)

"The unresolved question is the one where Gates and Jobs diverged on their answers. Gates argued that tablets would become the norm, replacing the laptop. Jobs found success by creating a media delivery system that could, in a pinch, do some work. The serious stuff, you could do on a Mac.

With the iPad Pro — armed with Surface-like keyboard, stylus, and Microsoft Office — Tim Cook seems to be tilting toward the Redmond doctrine.

I’ll be fascinated to see how this strategy works out. Because when you tally up the cost of an iPad Pro with an Apple smart keyboard, and an Apple Pencil, you’re paying more than you would for 13-inch Macbook Air. Or, for that matter, a Chromebook Pixel. That keyboard better be good."

How Bill Gates Predicted the iPad Pro — Backchannel — Medium

The iPhone Upgrade Plan is a Game-Changer | Tech.pinions - Perspective, Insight, Analysis

Interesting times for carriers; check the full post for additional insights

"For Apple, this is a great arrangement because iPhone upgrades become much more predictable and it gains much greater visibility over future iPhone sales as a result. This should also help to stabilize Apple’s revenues from quarter to quarter, depending on how it ends up accounting for these leases. But more importantly, Apple now avoids the situation where an iPhone customer looking to upgrade wanders into a carrier store to check out new iPhones and winds up walking out with a new Samsung instead. Apple basically protects itself against the threat of competitive switching with these users, who will never even go into a carrier store in the first place.
[...]
Even though the carriers have largely celebrated the end of subsidies and the move to installment and leasing plans, it’s quite possible the carriers have opened the door to a trend that may well come back to bite them. They’ve both weaned customers off subsidies and trained them to buy their devices outright in monthly installments and, in the process, they’ve played right into Apple’s hands. They might well rue the day they embraced the move away from subsidies."

The iPhone Upgrade Plan is a Game-Changer | Tech.pinions - Perspective, Insight, Analysis