We were at Starbucks on Saturday night and we couldn’t find one Lightning adapter for the Powermat.
iOS 9: Ad-pocalypse Now
Apple is set to release iOS 9 on Wednesday, September 16, 2015. One of iOS 9 features that gained a lot of attention is what many calls as “Ad-Blocking”.
Apple calls it Content Blocking Safari Extensions.
Content Blocking gives your extensions a fast and efficient way to block cookies, images, resources, pop-ups, and other content.
This would be the beginning of “Ad-Pocalypse”. Publishers should have realized that there are ways to display ads without alienating the readers. Irrelevant and annoying ads would only drive readers away. Extended page-loading time paired with clickbait-ads are disservice to the readers. Promise of of targeted-advertising are nothing but privacy-invading tracking system. One would wonder why a site would have the need for 16 different trackers and analytics.
Take a look at one of The Macalope’s columns at Macworld. There’s the “Promoted Links by Taboola” which is one of the most irrelevant ad-networks on the Internet. Then there’s a “Dell Latitude 11 3000 Series Laptop” ad. A Dell advertisement on an Apple/Mac-oriented site! Don’t forget the Amazon Affiliate link on the top of the screenshot. Three different monetization scheme in 2048-pixel span. There are a lot more in the post. Shame on you, Macworld!
Daring Fireball and The Loop are much smaller operations compared to others. What these two sites have done are good examples in presenting ads the right way. Remember that readers could easily walk away whenever they find sites being unfriendly.
Content-Blocking/Ad-Blocking will be the new gold rush in the Apple App Store. Watch for apps such as Crystal and Purify on the App Store,
The Ad-pocalypse is coming, at least to the iOS platform.
Apple Released iOS 9 and watchOS 2 to Developers
Hey Siri, give us a hint already!
It is Wednesday, September 9, 2015. Apple is set to hold the “Hey Siri, give us a hint.” special event at 10:00 a.m. from the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium.
I spoke to firstnameatappledotcom on Labor Day for about an hour. Not a single thing that I could repeat without spoiling the surprise. On the other hand, Major Obvious says:
- NO U2!
In keeping with the “9” theme (iOS 9, September 9), I was expecting some performance from a band with 9 members on the stage. Unfortunately they are not an-Apple-Special-Event-kind-of musical-guess.
Apple will be providing its own coverage of the event in the form of live stream and some kind of live blogging.
As usual, there will be sites covering the event live from the venue.
Live Coverage links:
iOS 9 on the 9th of 9, 2015.
Mark your calendar for Apple special event “Hey Siri, give us a hint.” on September 9, 2015. Apple will be providing live stream of the event.
Requirements: Live streaming uses Apple’s HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) technology. HLS requires an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with Safari on iOS 7.0 or later, a Mac with Safari 6.0.5 or later on OS X v10.8.5 or later, or a PC with Edge on Windows 10. Streaming via Apple TV requires a second- or third-generation Apple TV with software 6.2 or later.
Edge on Windows 10, that’s interesting.
The event will take place at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco at 10:00 am.
The Bill Graham Civic Auditorium is a 7000 capacity arena, as such it has several elevated tiers of seating around an open plan hall.
Now, who would be the musical guest for the event?
Alongside the new models of iPhone, Apple would be introducing expanded Siri functionality across multiple devices; at least that’s what firstnameatappledotcom hinted at.
iPhone, Eight Years to The Day
The original iPhone went on sale on June 29, 2007. I was one of the “few” people who waited in line to get one at the Apple Store. The line was reasonably long, but the buying process was really quick. I spent roughly 5 minutes to finalize the transaction. I walked out with two iPhones, one for my colleague and one for me.
Today marks the eight anniversary of the release of the original iPhone.
‘Twas The Night Before Apple WWDC 2015
Apple will kick off this year’s Worldwide Developer Conference at 10:00 a.m. San Francisco time.
As usual in addition to Apple live stream1 of the Keynote, some sites will provide live coverage.
Apple’s own live blog
Warning, Autoplay!
Links will be added when they are made available (or if the author of this post is not slacking – ed).
There are a lot of expectations with regard to what apple would announce at WWDC. Remember, this is a developer event; so don’t expect introductions of new iPhone or iPad on Monday. In 2010 Apple introduced iPhone 4 at WWDC. Since then Apple introduced new iPhone on its own event in the September-October time.
To dispel (or fueled) some rumors on Apple products, firstnameatappledotcom, who claimed to be definitely not Phil Schiller, told me a few things on and off the record.
firstnameatappledotcom: “Seriously, you won’t tell anyone all the stuff I said OFF THE RECORD, will you?”
Certainly, because I want firstnameatappledotcom to keep his/her job at Apple.
firstnameatappledotcom: “Some of us really want to stick it to the Apple Rumor sites and call it iOS 8.5 instead of iOS 9.”
That’d be hilarious since both Tech Press and Community assume that the next iOS will be called iOS 9.
firstnameatappledotcom: “Rotate the 8 90° and we get iOS ∞. Forget iOS 9”
Just like the seemingly perpetual OS X (read: OS Ten)?
By the way, iOS 8.4 beta 3 was last released on May 11, 2015; iOS 8.4 Golden Master is likely to be released during WWDC week.
me: “What else do you feel like blabbing about?”
firstnameatappledotcom: “It is reckless to assume that Force Touch will be in the next iPhone and iPad.”
firstnameatappledotcom: “Just because Force Touch is in the Apple Watch and MacBooks, doesn’t mean it works well on the iPhone.”
I have thought about that. There are a lot of elements to deal with bringing feature such as Force Touch to a larger touch screen device. For sure the Tech Press, analysts and pundits ignore the challenges.
firstnameatappledotcom: “Some expect Apple Watch to have plethora of sensors, GPS module, cellular connectivity, etc. At the same time they want Apple Watch to be thin and have ultra long battery life. Seriously, you can’t have all those features with the current state of our technology.”
Apple Research & Development department are certainly looking into those features.
me: “I can think of one Apple Watch feature that is relatively easy to incorporate to iOS. I’d like to see iOS gaining “doodle” or “sketch” feature. From Apple Watch to iPhone, iPad, iPod touch; vice versa.”
firstnameatappledotcom: “I can’t tell you on the record about unannounced features or products. One of the hardest parts is to figure out which features would be suitable for any products. Apple R&D comes out with tons of ideas for products, a lot of them didn’t even make it past prototype stage.”
I guess we’ll have to wait for WWDC 2015 Keynote to see what’s coming from Apple for the next 6 months.
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- Live streaming video requires Safari 6.0.5 or later on OS X v10.8.5 or later; Safari on iOS 6.0 or later. Streaming via Apple TV requires second- or third-generation Apple TV with software 6.2 or later. ↩︎