by Jason Snell

December 20, 2018 12:57 PM PT

Slack bans users who visited embargoed countries

This is a bizarre story. Many people who visited Iran, Cuba, or other countries embargoed by the United States are reporting that they received an email Wednesday that Slack was deactivating their accounts.

Slack claims that this is part of an “update” that allows it to use geolocation to detect where its users are using the service. However, it seems that the company is being overzealous, literally banning individuals who dared to use a corporate Slack instance while visiting family in places such as Iran. And, it appears, Slack is doing so unnecessarily, as Russell Brandom at The Verge points out:

Since 2014, US sanctions have included a general license for personal communications tools, described in the license as “fee-based services incident to the exchange of personal communications over the Intemet, such as instant messaging, chat and email, social networking, sharing of photos and movies, web browsing, and blogging.” That clause is generally understood to include services like Slack.

An Oxford researcher interviewed by Brandom said that Slack’s decision was either “incompetent… or racist”:

“Detecting an Iranian IP address on a paid account (which is presumed to be for business) login as a violation of sanctions is a wrong interpretation of these regulations,” [Oxford researcher Mahsa] Alimardani says. “At best it’s over-regulation to prevent any sort of misunderstanding or possible future hassle with [the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control].”

As Brandom points out, the heavy hand of sanctions enforcement can lead companies like Google and (apparently) Slack to ban widely rather than be caught in even a narrow violation. Ironically, people who were banned by Slack have been complaining on Twitter, a service that hasn’t chosen to kick them off.

[Update: Slack has apologized.]

by Jason Snell

December 18, 2018 11:11 AM PT

iPhones can now automate tasks using NFC

Chaim Gartenberg at The Verge writes about the latest update to Launch Center Pro, which adds support for NFC scanning:

…even at their most elegant, the tags still send you through a series of jumps to your final destination. Tapping a tag pops up a notification on your phone, tapping the notification brings you into Launch Center Pro, and only then will Launch Center Pro launch the action it’s supposed to be doing, whether that’s sending a text, playing a song, opening a website, or any of the other myriad options possible.

I’m not surprised. Apple’s next step in iOS automation needs to be improving the flow of automated tasks. I appreciate the security concerns around scanning NFC tags, reading bar codes, running Shortcuts, and the rest—but right now there are too many barriers that slow down the usability of this stuff. It all takes too many taps and displays too much visual clutter. (Not to mention that we need the ability to fire off Shortcuts at intervals or specific times.)

Step one was getting this stuff up and running. Step two is making it feel a bit more magical.

by Jason Snell

December 17, 2018 7:42 AM PT

Building a Spotify player for a Mac SE/30

This is some next-level stuff:

Hi all, I built a Spotify player for my Macintosh SE/30:

[via John Siracusa]

by Jason Snell

December 16, 2018 9:17 AM PT

Apple’s video service gets “Peanuts”

Michael O’Connell of The Hollywood Reporter reports that Apple’s forthcoming video service will not have the football pulled out from under it:

The tech giant, which has not-so-quietly been amassing a strong roster of talent and original productions that is said to start rolling out in 2019, has completed a deal with DHX Media to create series, specials and shorts featuring iconic Charles M. Schulz characters such as Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the entire Peanuts gang. DHX, the Canadian-based kids programming giant that acquired a stake in the Peanuts franchise in 2017, will produce all of the projects.

As HBO’s deal with “Sesame Street” suggests, the battle of the future of television isn’t all about dark and gritty prestige dramas; it’s also about getting family- and kid-friendly content into these services, especially with the launch of Disney+ on the horizon.

People my age have a deep, abiding love for Charlie Brown and the gang. The oldest toy I have is a plush Snoopy. Every holiday season we cart out A Charlie Brown Christmas and crank the Vince Gauraldi Trio on the… well, I guess this year it’ll be on the HomePods.

Anyway, what I’m saying is, I hope this deal works out for Apple, DHX, and kids of all ages.

by Jason Snell

December 15, 2018 4:10 PM PT

An unusual friendship with Charles Barkley

Shirley Wang for NPR:

When Charles Barkley’s mother, Charcey Glenn, passed away in June 2015, Barkley’s hometown of Leeds, Alabama, came to the funeral to pay respects. But there was also an unexpected guest.

Barkley’s friends couldn’t quite place him. He wasn’t a basketball player, he wasn’t a sports figure, and he wasn’t from Barkley’s hometown…. He was my dad.

“You know, it was obviously a very difficult time,” Barkley told me recently. “And the next thing I know, he shows up. Everybody’s like, ‘Who’s the Asian dude over there?’ I just started laughing. I said, ‘That’s my boy, Lin.’ They’re, like, ‘How do you know him?’ I said, ‘It’s a long story.’ ”

This is an almost unbelievable and surprisingly affecting story about a suburban dad’s unlikely relationship with a legendary basketball player and announcer.

by Dan Moren

December 14, 2018 8:47 AM PT

Apple Music Connect follows in the footsteps of Ping

Zac Hall at 9to5Mac:

Apple has started notifying Apple Music artists that it is removing the ability for artists to post content to Apple Music Connect, and previously posted Apple Music Connect content is being removed from the For You section and Artist Pages in Apple Music. Connect content will still be viewable through search results on Apple Music, but Apple is removing artist-submitted Connect posts from search in May.

Social has never been one of Apple’s strengths, but bless their heart, they keep trying.

Nobody’s got a good handle on why some social networks thrive and others never get off the ground–and that’s probably because there isn’t a reason. It’s like the idea of “being cool”–the harder you try, the less you are.

by Jason Snell

December 13, 2018 2:56 PM PT

Becky Hansmeyer’s iPad Pro impressions

iOS developer Becky Hansmeyer has written up a log of her iPad Pro impressions, good and bad:

Um, so, yeah. A bunch of great iPad Pro reviews/impressions have trickled out over the past few weeks—so many in fact that I was hesitant to even write my own. I agree with much of what has already been expressed: the hardware is great, the software has numerous pain points, and the answer to “can this device replace your laptop?” is the same as it’s always been, which is “yep, maybe, probably not.” Yep for a ton of people that use computers for light work and entertainment, maybe for professionals in certain fields or with particular priorities and workflows, and probably not for the rest.

This is a really solid look at the good and bad of the current iPad Pro models, right down to the functional-but-super-boring Smart Keyboard Folio. I’m so glad Becky decided to write this, despite all the other articles on the subject.

by Jason Snell

December 12, 2018 2:42 PM PT

Google’s Fusion Tables get turned down… for what?

Google is apparently shutting down its nearly nine-year-old Fusion Tables data tool in a year, the company announced:

Notice: Google Fusion Tables Turndown

Google Fusion Tables and the Fusion Tables API will be turned down December 3, 2019. Embedded Fusion Tables visualizations — maps, charts, tables and cards — will also stop working that day. Maps using the Fusion Tables Layer in the Maps JavaScript API v3.37 will start to see errors in August 2019.

I will admit that I have never heard of this product. That said… has “turned down”/”turndown” now entered the Silicon Valley vocabulary? Is “to sunset” no longer euphemistic enough for shutting something off? Will Fusion Tables still operate, but at a much quieter volume? Is Fusion Tables getting a mint on its pillow and its comforter tweaked at a jaunty angle?

[via Travis Estell]

by Dan Moren

December 12, 2018 11:40 AM PT

Report: Apple looking into making its own cellular chips

The Verge:

Apple is apparently working on its own, in-house developed modem to allow it to better compete with Qualcomm, according to several new Apple job listings that task engineers to design and develop a layer 1 cellular PHY chip — implying that the company is working on actual, physical networking hardware. Two of the job posts are explicitly to hire a pair of cellular modem systems architects, one in Santa Clara and one in San Diego, home of Qualcomm. That’s alongside several other job postings Apple has listed in San Diego for RF design engineers.

There’s nothing inherently shocking about this report, which derives originally from The Information (paywall). Apple’s M.O. for the last several years has been to move more and more of its technology in house.

Historically, Apple has used a mix of modems from Intel and Qualcomm in iPhones. In the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, the company even used chips from both companies interchangeably, leading to some frustrations with Intel modems that were considered inferior to the Qualcomm counterparts.

However, as relations between Apple and Qualcomm deteriorated, iPhones have recently switched exclusively to Intel-powered modems. But it certainly seems obvious that such a situation couldn’t last, given Apple’s inclination to control every single part of its devices. (See also CPUs, graphics hardware, and even power management chips.)

But building up, testing, and deploying such chips at the enormous scale that Apple needs is bound to take some time, so don’t expect an Apple modem in next year’s iPhone. But perhaps you might see one in 2020…hey, just in time for a 5G iPhone, maybe.

by Jason Snell

December 12, 2018 10:30 AM PT

Office for Mac gets Dark Mode support

Microsoft rolled out a new set of updates to Office 365 customers on the Mac that adds support for Dark Mode in Mojave across all its apps, as well as support for Continuity Camera within PowerPoint.

Many Mac apps are gaining support for Dark Mode, which is great—but the prevalence of black-on-white content still makes it a place I don’t like to spend much time. When future versions of Safari support Dark Mode stylesheets, things will improve somewhat.

There needs to be more thought applied to those giant content areas in apps like Word, Excel, and yes, Numbers and Pages, too. I get that for a true WYSIWYG experience for building a document you’re going to print, you need to see things in black on white—but how about a toggle option? This especially goes for Excel, which I really don’t need to see in the equivalent of print-preview mode when I’m working.

The bottom line: Until all the apps I use give me a way to view their interfaces and content in a light-on-dark context, I don’t think I can use Dark Mode in Mojave.

by Jason Snell

December 12, 2018 10:24 AM PT

Apple continues planning its news subscription service

Gerry Smith of Bloomberg reports about Apple’s plans to re-launch the Texture content-subscription app within Apple News:

The tech giant is preparing to relaunch Texture, an app it agreed to buy in March that offers unlimited access to about 200 magazines. The company plans to make it a premium product within Apple News, which curates articles and comes preinstalled on iPhones, according to people familiar with the matter. A new version could be unveiled as soon as this coming spring, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t public.

As the article describes, the challenge here is that a lot of publications are making it work with their own premium subscription models. But there’s probably a second tier of publications that could see added revenue if they embraced Apple’s all-you-can-eat subscription approach.

It’s unclear if Apple can drive enough subscriptions to this service to provide enough revenue to make a bunch of other media businesses successful, though. My gut feeling is that it can’t, but it’s possible we’re heading for a hybrid model where dedicated subscribers pay news sources directly, while less loyal news grazers buy a Texture (or Apple News) subscription in order to browse widely without hitting a paywall.

And of course, this whole thing is going to be yet another bit of subscription revenue that adds to Apple’s ever-growing Services revenue line.

by Jason Snell

December 11, 2018 4:32 PM PT

Qualcomm/Apple battle escalates in China

The war between Qualcomm and Apple keeps heating up, as the New York Times reports:

A two-year legal battle between Apple and its chip supplier, Qualcomm, reached a new level of contention on Monday when Qualcomm said a Chinese court had ordered Apple to stop selling older iPhone models in China.

What’s peculiar about this ruling is that it only covers old models—the iPhone 6S/Plus, 7/Plus, 8/Plus, and iPhone X. Apple says it’s appealing the ruling. Perhaps more strangely, the patents being contested here are not the wireless patents that are at the core of Apple’s dispute with Qualcomm:

The ruling in China involved two Qualcomm patents. One lets consumers adjust and reformat the size and appearance of photographs. The other manages applications using a touch screen when viewing, navigating and dismissing applications, Qualcomm said.

Clearly Qualcomm’s using some questionable software patents to make trouble for Apple in order to force it to settle and pay Qualcomm what it says Apple owes. I’ve seen reports that say these patents aren’t even relevant on iOS 12, but Qualcomm’s general counsel told the Times that this wasn’t the case.

Qualcomm’s attacks on Apple have become more frequent and are getting uglier. Back to the Times:

Qualcomm has tried to put pressure on Apple by claiming patent infringement and other misdeeds, such as accusations that Apple stole proprietary Qualcomm software and shared it with Intel. Apple said Qualcomm had failed to provide evidence of any stolen information.

Qualcomm has also resorted to an aggressive public-relations campaign against Apple. It enlisted the firm Definers Public Affairs to publish negative articles about Apple on a conservative website and to start a false campaign to draft Apple’s chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, as a presidential candidate, presumably to make him a target of President Trump.

The Definers story is particularly sleazy. As a non-lawyer I can’t speak to the validity of the claims made on both sides of this case, but it’s clear that Qualcomm has decided to play hardball—whether out of desperation or confidence, I don’t know.

by Dan Moren

December 11, 2018 7:41 AM PT

Independent review finds no spy chips in Super Micro servers

Reuters reports on the latest findings–or lack thereof–in the Bloomberg spy chip story from October:

Computer hardware maker Super Micro Computer Inc told customers on Tuesday that an outside investigations firm had found no evidence of any malicious hardware in its current or older-model motherboards.

It seems pretty clear by now that Bloomberg–either knowingly or unknowingly–published a story that was demonstrably false. There has been no corroborating evidence from any other source or publication, and Apple, Amazon, and officials from both the U.S. and UK governments have all said there is nothing to back up the allegations.

This is extremely damaging for Bloomberg’s credibility, especially as the publication has made no move to retract the article, offer a correction, or indeed say anything publicly about the story. I certainly wouldn’t put any stock in anything that it reports in the information security realm–and perhaps not in technology in general–until it explains exactly how this story got published.