New Microsoft Office App Available to Download
Cool Stuff Found

New Microsoft Office App Available to Download

Andrew Orr ·

Today Microsoft announced the public release of its new Microsoft Office app for iOS. It combines Word, Excel, and PowerPoint into a single office suite. It integrates the company’s Lens technology so you can convert images you take with your smartphone into editable Word and Excel documents, scan PDFs, and capture whiteboards with automatic digital enhancements to make the content easier to read. But you can also make quick notes, sign PDFs, scan QR code’s, and transfer your files between devices. App Store: Free (Offers In-App Purchases)

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Is iOS Really Adware? Not yet.

Charlotte Henry ·

iOS is adware for Apple’s services, according to Tumblr software engineer Steve Streza. William Gallagher of AppleInsider, does not agree, at least for now.

The key part though, is in the argument that iOS is nothing more than adware. The argument turns on the words “nothing more,” and it turns both ways. On the pro-Apple side, “nothing more” is practically an insult because iOS is so very much more than an advert platform. However, on the anti-Apple side, disputing the phrase “nothing more” means accepting that iOS is at least a little like adware. But we are in a world where waiting 6 seconds before we can skip a YouTube ad feels a long time. And speaking of which, you try persuading YouTube that you will never want its Music service, or that you’re fine without music continuing after you’e left a tab. Apple is doing what you would, too, and it’s probably doing what it must. That doesn’t mean we have to like it, but the notion that everything is over, iOS is just adware now, is pointless hyperbole.

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IRS Sues Facebook for $9 Billion Over Offshore Profits

Andrew Orr ·

The IRS is suing Facebook for US$9 billion, saying the company kept profits in subsidiaries based in Ireland.

The IRS argues that Facebook understated the value of the intellectual property it sold to an Irish subsidiary in 2010 while building out global operations, a move common among U.S. multinationals…Under the arrangement, Facebook’s subsidiaries pay royalties to the U.S.-based parent for access to its trademark, users and platform technologies. From 2010 to 2016, Facebook Ireland paid Facebook U.S. more than $14 billion in royalties and cost-sharing payments, according to the court filing.

If the IRS succeeds this would be one of Facebook’s biggest fines.

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Apple Pencil May Include a Grip-Monitoring Haptic System in The Future

Charlotte Henry ·

Future versions of the Apple Pencil may include a haptic system that will monitor the user’s grip. That’s according to AppleInsider, who noticed a recently granted patent.

In a patent granted by the USPTO to Apple on Tuesday titled “Touch-based input device with haptic feedback,” the filing details how a system could be used to perform two jobs: providing haptic feedback to the user, while also being able to read force measurements from the user’s grip. Apple’s proposal involves the use of a piezoelectric device attached to the inside of the housing, one that would be connected to the user grip region of the housing. The grip section would be deformable, both inwards and outwards, allowing it to be used for providing information to the user as well as taking in grip data. The piezoelectric device would theoretically push out the housing in the grip region when it needs to alert the user via haptic feedback.

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Smartphones Could Help Death Photography Make a Comeback

Andrew Orr ·

The New York Times has a piece today about death photography, and how it’s returning with the help of our ubiquitous smartphone camera.

“But we are returning to the older ways,” she went on, “a movement backward that some say began in the ’70s, with the back-to-nature movement and midwifery and natural births. The natural death movement is part of that. And these photos are unsurprising, too, because we carry our smartphones all the time, and it’s almost like if there isn’t a photo it didn’t happen. Now everyone is a photographer.”

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Apple Leverages iOS for Advertising You Can’t Block

Andrew Orr ·

Tumblr software engineer Steve Streza makes the case that iOS is adware for all of Apple’s services.

iOS 13 has an abundance of ads from Apple marketing Apple services, from the moment you set it up and all throughout the experience. These ads cannot be hidden through the iOS content blocker extension system. Some can be dismissed or hidden, but most cannot, and are purposefully designed into core apps like Music and the App Store. There’s a term to describe software that has lots of unremovable ads: adware, which what iOS has sadly become.

This particularly annoys me with Apple News, where roughly half the space is dedicated to showing me News+ content, even though I don’t subscribe. On iOS you can swipe to “See Less Often” but you can’t do this on iPad.

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How Jeff Bezos Built a Data Collecting Empire

Andrew Orr ·

BBC News published an inside look into “Why Amazon knows so much about you.”

“They happen to sell products, but they are a data company,” says James Thomson, one of the former executives interviewed.

“Each opportunity to interact with a customer is another opportunity to collect data.”

Founder Jeff Bezos frames it in terms of being a “customer obsession”, saying the firm’s first priority is to “figure out what they want, what’s important to them”.

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Jeff Bezos Pledges $10 Billion to Help Fight Climate Change

Charlotte Henry ·

Jeff Bezos said on Monday that he will contribute $10 billion in the fight against climate change, Yahoo Finance reported. Not so long ago, the Amazon founder was accused of being stingy after he donated $690,000 towards relief efforts following the Australian wildfires.

The Amazon (AMZN) CEO announced the launch on Instagram, asserting humans can save the Earth by using an inclusive approach that combines the efforts and resources of all stakeholders. “We can save Earth. It’s going to take collective action from big companies, small companies, nation-states, global organizations, and individuals,” the post stated. “⁣⁣⁣I’m committing $10 billion to start and will begin issuing grants this summer. Earth is the one thing we all have in common — let’s protect it, together.⁣⁣⁣” Bezos, who has a net worth of $130 billion, is no stranger to the climate change fight. In September 2019, the Amazon founder announced: “The Climate Pledge,” which stated that the retail behemoth’s ultimate goal is to become carbon-neutral by 2040.

Podcast

TMO Contributor John Kheit (#4) - TMO Background Mode Interview

John Martellaro · · Add Comment

John Kheit is a New York attorney and a regular contributor to The Mac Observer. We share many common interests, including the 4K/UHD/HDR TV revolution, 8K TV and displays, Wi-Fi/5G technologies and the state of Apple.

In this special edition, I interview John about his new 2019 Mac Pro. I asked John about the configuration he ordered, what substitutions he made (graphics card), his add-on SSD, and whether he bought the Pro Display XDR. John shared lots of technical tidbits: a changed initial order, his total outlay, details of the T2 security chip, the various kinds (layer configurations) of SSDs, his display setup and observations about the cooling system. If you’re planning to purchase a new Mac Pro, this conversation is essential listening.

Cool Stuff Found

Coming March 6, Apple Shares Trailer for ‘Amazing Stories’

Andrew Orr ·

Amazing Stories is an upcoming sci-fi series for Apple TV+ by Steven Spielberg. Each episode will be a new story to “transport the audience to worlds of wonder through the lens of today’s most imaginative filmmakers, directors and writers.” It launches on March 6 and there will be 10 episodes in the first season. Stars include Josh Holloway, Sasha Alexander, Dylan O’Brien, Victoria Pedretti, and Robert Forster.