Dr. Chris Soghoian is an expert on the technology and politics of privacy. Most recently he’s been the Principal Technologist with the ACLU. In 2017, he’s one of three Innovation Fellows for the TechCongress where he’ll assist in federal policymaking. Chris earned his Ph.D. with a research focus on the role internet and telephone companies play in enabling government surveillance, and he’s also known for his work with the FTC and the Do Not Track initiative. Chris started life as a tech geek, and computers were always a part of his life. That led to an undergraduate degree in computer science. Then he interned at Apple and IBM. But a significant event changed his direction in life, and he gained a newfound appreciation for attorneys. Chris makes some interesting observations about today’s assaults on our privacy.
John Martellaro
John Martellaro was born at an early age and began writing about computers soon after that. With degrees in astrophysics (B.S.) and physics (M.S.), he has worked for NASA, White Sands Missile Range, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Apple. At Apple he worked as a Senior Marketing Manager, a Federal Account Executive and a High Performance Computing manager. His interests include chess, science fiction and astronomy. John is the host of the TMO podcast Background Mode.
Articles by John Martellaro
A Periodic Table of Fictional Metals and Alloys
You’ve heard of Duranium, Tritanium and Gold-pressed Latinum, right? These are fictional metals from Star Trek lore. But did you know a Periodic Table of all the elements and alloys mentioned across all fiction has been compiled? It includes all the magical substances from TV, the movies, comics, games, mythology and more. Of course, there’s no chemistry in this table. Instead, it’s a beautifully presented and organized database. Just click on any item to see its origin. For example, click on Dur to discover that “Duranium makes up the outer hull of Starfleet’s NX-class starships.” This table is just amazing to behold.
Asking the Important Questions About Apple for 2017
One can per into a crystal ball and try to predict what Apple will do in 2017. Or one can generate a wish list of things personally hoped for. Far better, however, is to ask some very astute questions about Apple going into 2017. Great questions are valuable guides for analysis as we go along. This is just what Neil Cybart has done. The discussion is on Asking the Important Questions About Apple for 2017 of last week’s Particle Debris.
A TMO Giveaway: Win a Copy of the Roddenberry Vault on Blu-ray
Rod Roddenberry, as part of his Background Mode interview with The Mac Observer, has generously provided us with three copies of The Roddenberry Vault on Blu-ray. We’re going to give away these amazing multi-disc packages to three lucky winners. Read on to see how you can win one for your Star Trek library.
TMO Background Mode: Interview with Producer Rod Roddenberry
Rod Roddenberry is a media producer. The son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, he’s following in his father’s footsteps. It all started when Steve Jobs gave Gene Roddenberry an original Macintosh in 1984, and the young Rod started experimenting with MacPaint. Ever since then, Rod has been an Apple enthusiast. Today, Rod is carrying on his father’s work as a producer, the chief executive of Roddenberry Entertainment and the founder of the Roddenberry Foundation. And he’s currently working with the CBS All Access Star Trek: Discovery. Rod’s foundation funds small grants focused on early-stage unconventional ideas that can disrupt and serve the greater good for mankind. Rod and I chatted about all this plus his passion for preserving the Earth’s oceans. We covered a lot of ground in this fascinating interview. You won’t want to miss it.
Sony Does About-Face - Introduces OLED 4K/UHD TV With Dolby Vision
LAS VEGAS — For a long time, Sony has had an excellent reputation for building great TVs. However, until yesterday, only LG was selling those magnificent OLED 4K/UHD TVs. Now, Sony has joined the fray with its own branded OLED 4K/UHD sets, and they’re amazing. And not only HDR but Dolby Vision to boot. The word is… wow.
TMO Background Mode: Interview with EdTech Specialist Phil Shapiro
Phil Shapiro is an EdTech specialist, a strong supporter of public libraries, children’s education, and the technology of learning. Currently he’s the “public geek” at the Tacoma Park, Maryland public library. The child of a UNICEF employee, Phil originally thought that the law might be a good tool to achieve social change, but not so much as he reached adulthood. Having finished law school, he turned his attention to his real passion, journalism and education as a better means of social change. A chance magazine article inspired him to pursue the synthesis of modern computer technology and learning. That evolved into a life-long career in the development of software for education, teaching teachers about tech, support of school Macs for students and the Virginia MUG. If you’re into EdTech, this is a must episode.
TMO Background Mode: Interview with the Editor of IPWatchdog Gene Quinn
Gene Quinn is a patent attorney and founder of IPWatchdog.com. Today he lectures, writes and helps aspiring patent attorneys and patent agents prepare themselves to pass the patent bar exam. In college, however, Gene’s interest was engineering. An important meeting with a Rutgers professor changed his life, and he graduated with a E.E. degree. Later, with new interests and confidence, he moved into the law. Gene goes into considerable detail about his career progression, having plans, and keeping options open. His first job after his law degree was in litigation, but soon his engineering experience led him into patent law. This is a powerful story about turning your skills and passion into a career when confronted with challenges. Plus, we talk about PCs in law, his current love for Macs and his experiment with the notorious Zune.
TMO Background Mode: Interview with Scrivener Creator Keith Blount
Keith Blount is the founder of the renowned writing app Scrivener. It’s designed for long-form text such as a thesis or novel. Think of it as a 3-ring binder and corkboard for the author. But Keith didn’t start life as a programmer. In college he studied history and literature. Later he became a school teacher. Interested in writing, however, he discovered that standard word processors didn’t have the facility he wanted for stitching together non-linear work. So he spent six months of evenings teaching himself Objective-C and Xcode. The first major release of Scrivener in 2007 was a huge hit. Today, Scrivener has sold over 500,000 copies and is available for Mac, Windows and iOS. Have you wondered how he named his company? You’ll just have to tune in!
The Artificial Intelligence Arms Race Is On
It’s easy to fall into the notion that Artificial Intelligence (AI) agents are intended only to speak to us, HAL 9000 style—to inform, analyze and guide via conversation. But today, AI agents are being used for many behind the scenes activities. For example, cancer research via IBM’s Watson, autonomous cars and better human language translations. As a result of the enormous impact AI can have, in the many forms of human interactions, “Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and the Chinese firm Baidu — have touched off an arms race for A.I.” There’s more discussion on page 2 of Particle Debris.
Apple's TV App Reveals its Plight with Television Industry
From time to time, we’ve seem articles that explain Apple’s plight with its TV business. But John has found a splendidly complete diagnosis at The Verge for this week’s focus. It examines the deepest motivations of Apple, it’s clash with the entertainment industry, its successes and failures, and how that has, in turn, affected Apple TV software design and customer perceptions.
TMO Background Mode: Interview with Attorney & Mac Power Users Co-Host Katie Floyd
Katie Floyd is an attorney by day. By night, she’s the co-founder and co-host of the Mac Power Users podcast. Katie tells the story of her original passion to be a journalist. She edited the high school yearbook and newspaper on a Mac and, later, majored in journalism in college. Then, in a magical turn of events, she took a political science class from an attorney. It was an both terrifying and exhilarating. September 11, 2001 happened just after graduation, and Katie decided that she wanted to do more. That led eventually to law school. We cover a lot of ground, including her new law firm, the creation of her MPU podcast with David Sparks and a discussion of her new 2016 MacBook Pro. Join me and Katie to hear her inspirational journey.
Building Apple's Ecosystem and Milking the iPhone
What are the proper metrics for evaluating Tim Cook’s performance? Should he be graded as a product visionary? Should he be graded as a salesman for the Apple life? Neil Cybart argues that neither of these is correct. Instead, Tim Cook should be judged on how well he’s built up the Apple ecosystem with products and services. That necessarily means milking the iPhone for all it’s worth. Building Apple’s Ecosystem and Milking the iPhone has the discussion.
An Update on TMO's Background Mode Podcast
Over the last three years, The Mac Observer’s John Martellaro has aired over 150 episodes of his Background Mode podcast. This show has allowed listeners to hear the inspiring success story of many notable people in the tech industry. Here’s an update on the status of the show and a recap of some notable guests who have joined him so far.
TMO Background Mode: Interview with Co-Founder of Brydge Technologies Nicholas Smith
Brydge Technologies makes outstanding aluminum, color matched keyboards for most iPads. Co-founder Nicholas Smith took over the original, failing company founded on Kickstarter and breathed new life into it. That was in the form of an outstanding customer relationship and order fulfillment systems. In this episode I chat with Nick about how he turned the product around, moved his company, with 15 people, from SIngapore to Park City, Utah (more consumer focus), decided not to use Apple’s Smart Connector and flourished in a market that now embraces iPads with keyboards. Nick also talks about what prepared him for this kind of venture, his turn-around artistry, and his vision for keyboards on our beloved iPads. He also provides a glimpse of his next new keyboard project. Bonus: we talk about skiing.
Apple's Brisk Moves to the Future Could Damage Important Revenues
Apple’s Mac business alone amounts to $23 billion annually. Jean-Louis Gassée reminds us that’s as much as the annual revenues of the Northrop Grumman Corp. That’s not something to take lightly. Also, a defocus from Apple branded displays and routers could simply drive customers into the arms of the competition in other closely related product areas. Even computers. Rene Ritche calls it the “Horn Effect.” Apple’s Brisk Moves to the Future Could Damage Important Revenues of Friday’s Particle Debris has the conversation.
TMO Background Mode: Interview with DynAgility CTO Chuck Shotton
Chuck Shotton may be the CTO of DynAgility today, but he’s legendary in the Apple community for having created the original web server for the Mac back in 1992. That was when technical pros were working with the private Internet, years before it went public. The equally legendary Peter Lewis delivered an FTP server, so Chuck took a week and put together a free web server, MacHTTP 0.1 for System 7. Quickly, he had a maling list near 100,000. In 1993, more refined, MacHTTP became shareware, and Chuck’s mailbox was overflowing with money, more than his day job. Join me and listen as Chuck tells the awesome story of his career, MacHTTP, and his decision to release a brand new version for macOS Sierra! A student’s dream come true.
TMO Background Mode: Interview with the Founder of olloclip Patrick O'Neil
Patrick O’Neil grew up in a family of photographers, and so designing a portable, add-on lens set for the iPhone was a natural thing to do. It all started as a Kickstarter project over five years ago at his kitchen table. Immediately successful with the iPhone 4, Patrick, along with his partner, was able to launch the olloclip company and has built these amazing lens kits ever since. The olloclip lens system is designed to have different creative options in your pocket: macro, fisheye, wide-angle or telephoto. We talked about the optics and engineering of these lenses, the mobility emphasis, keeping up with Apple’s changes, and how the product has evolved. Here’s Patrick’s story: from kitchen table to a company with almost 50 people readying the new lenses for the iPhone 7 and (joy!) the 7 Plus.
The Surface Studio Reviews Have Arrived, and They're Very Positive
According to CNET, “Microsoft’s ambitious love letter to creative professionals is the touchscreen iMac of your dreams.” That’s the Surface Studio, and the reviews, which are now starting to appear in print, back up the original assessment that this is a beautiful, functional, innovative computer for creative professionals. While not perfect in the first version, it has the capacity to cause these professionals to take Microsoft much more seriously in this market than before. Page 2 of Particle Debris sizes up this challenge to Apple.
Late Show With Stephen Colbert Pokes Fun at Apple's New Book
Apple new coffee table book: Designed by Apple in California comes in two sizes, 13-inch at US$199 and 16-inch at $299, and both contain some 450 photographs of Apple products that look back over the years. What’s not to like? Still, these days, Apple’s self-conscious celebration of its past does open it up to some playful parody. Watch this glorious send up of the Apple book by the Late Show. All in good fun, of course.
Brydge 12.9 Aluminum Keyboard for iPad Pro Exudes Class
Apple has waxed enthusiastic about keyboards for the iPad and now offers its own. But the design may not be for everyone. If you’ve been thinking about a sturdy, aluminum keyboard/case for your iPad Pro, one that makes it look (and function) very much like a MacBook, then you’ll want to read John’s review of the Brydge 12.9 model for iPad Pro.
Is the New 15-inch MacBook Pro THAT Much Faster than the 13-inch?
Bare Feats writes: “Both with the best processor, 16 GB of RAM, 1 TB flash storage, but different GPU. Is the 15-inch with Quad-Core processor and discrete GPU really that much faster? Is it worth the extra $$$, size, and weight?” Their test results show that for “21% more, the extra $$$ buys you a bigger screen, an average of 40% faster performance running CPU intensive pro apps, and an average of 110% faster running GPU intensive pro apps.” Quad-Core and discrete graphics always wins. But if you had any doubts, check out these performance tests.
TMO Background Mode: Interview with Creator & Host of The MacCast Podcast Adam Christianson
Adam Christianson is the creator and host of the acclaimed MacCast podcast. Adam is also the very awesome webmaster for The Mac Observer. However, Adam didn’t start out in high tech. At an early age, he wanted to become a cartoonist, inspired by Garfield’s creator Jim Davis. In high school, somewhat wiser, he transitioned to graphic design. Later, Adam attended Cal Poly which has a fabulous art and graphics design program. Early in his career, Adam gained experience in eCommerce and web mastering with Upper Deck, Corp. learning HTML, Perl, CGI forms, Visual BASIC and C#. However, by 2004, he’d discovered that his true love was tech talk and podcasting, and The MacCast was born. Adam was able to use his career skills to follow his dream, and he’s still living it today.
Why Absolutely Secure Encryption is Essential for a Free People
There’s a huge difference between a guaranteed secure communication and one that is feared to be compromised. In the former, people and governments are truly free to share and negotiate. In the latter, suspicion and fear color all conversations and stymie progress. And it always seems that encryption compromises to catch the bad guys end up being justified against political enemies as well. This article at The Guardian makes the case for absolute privacy, using WhatsApp. It does so in a very direct, compelling way in the context of international diplomacy. It’s all on page 2 of Particle Debris.