Google Staff Told to Work From Home Until Labor Day After COVID-19 Spikes

Google spokesperson Katherine Williams confirmed to Reuters that the company will not reopen its U.S. offices as planned. The decision comes in the midst of a spike in COVID-19 cases in various states.

Williams confirmed a Bloomberg report that cited an internal memo to employees sent by a Google executive. “For all of you that are working from home, please continue to do so unless you are told otherwise by your manager,” Chris Rackow, Google’s vice president of global security, said in the memo. “We don’t expect this guidance to change until Monday, Sept. 7 (Labor Day) at the earliest,” Rackow wrote, adding that the recent rise in coronavirus cases in the United States demonstrates that “COVID-19 is still very much alive”.

Jamf Files For U.S. IPO With $100 Million Valuation

Jamf, which makes software that allows organizations to manage Apple devices, filed for U.S IPO on Tuesday. The initial valuation of the firm was $100 million, Bloomberg News, reported, although this will likely change.

The company was aiming to be valued at about $3 billion in the listing, Bloomberg News reported in January. Jamf, founded in 2002, makes MDM — mobile device management — software that lets organizations manage large numbers of iPhones, Macs, Apple TVs, and iPads. One of its features allows a company to update the software on all of its Apple devices at the same time. Apple itself has been a customer since 2010, the filing shows. Jamf’s dependence on the $1.6 trillion tech giant also features prominently in the section of the filing that outlines potential risks to its business, along with the potential financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic. In 2019, Apple represented less than 1% of Jamf’s total revenue.

Trailer for 'Boys State' on Apple TV+

The trailer for watch Boys State, a new documentary film telling a political coming-of-age story as politically obsessed young-men head to Texas in a bid to be ‘Governor’ was released Tuesday. The documentary film is set to land on Apple TV+ August 14, and it will also be in select theaters from July 31,

What Does AirPods Pro Spatial Audio Mean for Augmented Reality?

Em Lazer-Walker digs into the AirPods Pro spatial audio feature announced at WWDC 2020. What does it mean for AR?

As Apple improves their indoor location technology, [spatial audio] could also easily become a big part of making indoor wayfinding viable before they ship AR glasses, since the ARKit model of “hold your phone out in front of you while you walk through a space” is both socially and physically awkward.

I can’t wait for spatial audio to arrive. I use an app I’ve mentioned before that uses 3D audio, and I wonder if Naturespace will make use of this technology.

How Apple Disrupted Certificate Authorities With Safari

In February, Apple implemented a rule in Safari in which TLS certificates have a lifespan of 398 days. According to ZDNet, Apple made this decision on its own without going through the standard procedure with certificate authorities.

Instead of calling for a vote, Apple simply announced its decision to implement 398-day lifespans on its devices, regardless of what the CAs in the CA/B Forum thought of the issue.

What took place this year is, in no simpler words, a demonstration that browser makers control the CA/B Forum, and that they hold full control of the HTTPS ecosystem, and that CAs are merely participants with no actual power.

Here’s Why This Company Won’t Add ‘Sign In with Apple’

Today is the deadline for developers to add Sign In with Apple to their apps. One company, AnyList, doesn’t want to add it and explained why.

After considering the merits of Sign in with Apple, we have decided not to support it. We understand that this may surprise some of our customers, so we’d like to explain in detail why we made this decision.

A couple arguments make sense, but I’m not buying some others. 1) I’m not a programmer so I don’t know how hard it is to add Sign In with Apple. 2) Saying iCloud isn’t “real email” is stupid. 3) AnyList removed its Facebook login, which is still a privacy-positive move even without adding Apple login.

NASA is Sending a 'Helicopter' to Mars

NASA is set to launch the Mars rover Perseverance in the coming weeks. On board will be a small ‘helicopter’ which will be the first human vehicle to take-off from the surface of the Red Planet and fly in its skies. Forbes has the details, including an interview with one of the project managers involved.

Before the primary science phase of the mission begins, however, the rover will deploy its flying companion on the surface. Called Ingenuity, the small vehicle – just 0.5 meters tall – is equipped with two counter-rotating blades that will enable it to hover in the air. It will be deployed on the Martian surface at some point in the first 90 days of the mission. A team back on the ground will then command the helicopter to perform some checks, before attempting a first flight… It will be capable of one flight per day, with 30 days in total allocated for its mission. While it does have camerad on board and will take images, this is mostly a technology demonstration to see if rotorcraft could be useful for future missions to Mars, perhaps even human missions.

Former Apple Senior Director Michael Gartenberg (#11) - BGM Interview

Michael Gartenberg spent three years as Apple’s Senior Director of Product Marketing, reporting directly to SVP Phil Schiller. He is currently a freelance writer and has become a regular guest here on Background Mode. This BGM Interview is his 11th appearance.

We explored the WWDC 2020 Keynote in detail. We started with the production values and layout and how some elements of this new kind of presentation might show up in future events. Then we turned to the Mac on Apple Silicon transition and some of the considerations for users. Later, there was a healthy discussion of iOS 14, Scribble and then macOS 11 Big Sur’s design language and how that differs from the nature of the Mac for UNIX users. Michael always delivers keen insights on how Apple markets its products and always helps us better understand the WWDC Keynote.

Rumors Suggest iPhone 12 Pro May Support 4K Video at 240fps

The iPhone 12 Pro could support 4K video shooting at 240fps. That’s according to new leaks and rumors emerging from the EverythingApplePro YouTube channel and reported on by CultofMac.

[Filip] Koroy reportedly found evidence of the new high resolution, slow-mo format in the iOS 14 beta code. Whether this is accurate remains to be seen. If it is, it would be far above what is available in other smartphone models right now. It would also make it likely that Apple will sell a shedload of high storage handsets this year — or way more iCloud subscriptions. The report also mentions that the iPhone 12 Pro could boast a ProMotion 120Hz high-refresh display, citing information from Apple leaker Max Weinbach. Apple introduced the 120Hz ProMotion iPad Pro back in 2017. Like the iPad Pro, which first debuted ProMotion, the iPhone 12 Pro could dynamically switch between 60Hz and 120Hz to save on battery. The regular iPhone 12, meanwhile, may stick with a regular 60Hz display. ProMotion for the iPhone 12 was first rumored at the end of 2019.

Disney Research Outlines Neural Face Swapping Technique That May Offer Hi-Res, Photorealistic Video

A new research paper from Disney Research and ETH Zurich offers a possible neural face swapping technique that will result in hi-resolution, photorealistic video. That means the technique could be applicable in TV and film, according to Techcrunch. There is also a video displaying the technology in action.

The researchers specifically intend this tech for use in replacing an existing actor’s performance with a substitute actor’s face, for instance when de-aging or increasing the age of someone, or potentially when portraying an actor who has passed away. They also suggest it could be used for replacing the faces of stunt doubles in cases where the conditions of a scene call for them to be used. This new method is unique from other approaches in a number of ways, including that any face used in the set can be swapped with any recorded performance, making it possible to relatively easily re-image the actors on demand. The other is that it kindles contrast- and light conditions in a compositing step to ensure the actor looks like they were actually present in the same conditions as the scene.