daring-rss

Faruk Korkmaz posits a seemingly likely explanation for that “computational photography glitch in a bridal shop” photo: it was taken in Panoramic mode. The subject claims it wasn’t a Panoramic mode photo, but she didn’t snap the photo, and if a photo taken in Panoramic mode isn’t wide enough to reach some threshold, the Photos app does not identify/badge it as such. And conversely, a normal photograph cropped to a very wide aspect ratio will be badged as Panoramic — like this and this from my own library — even though it wasn’t snapped in Panoramic mode.

I think it’s quite likely Korkmaz is correct that this is the explanation for how this photo was created; I remain unconvinced that it wasn’t a deliberate publicity stunt.

 ★ 

Faruk Korkmaz posits a seemingly likely explanation for that “computational photography glitch in a bridal shop” photo: it was taken in Panoramic mode. The subject claims it wasn’t a Panoramic mode photo, but she didn’t snap the photo, and if a photo taken in Panoramic mode isn’t wide enough to reach some threshold, the Photos app does not identify/badge it as such. And conversely, a normal photograph cropped to a very wide aspect ratio will be badged as Panoramic — like this and this from my own library — even though it wasn’t snapped in Panoramic mode.

I think it’s quite likely Korkmaz is correct that this is the explanation for how this photo was created; I remain unconvinced that it wasn’t a deliberate publicity stunt.

Read More 

This is just an astonishing 20-minute film by Hiroshi Sumi. An homage and loving look back at the earliest days of Industrial Light and Magic. I don’t want to say much more than that lest I spoil the wonder of it. I don’t know why anyone would exert so much effort to make something like this but I’m so inordinately delighted that Sumi did. It speaks to the power of obsession.

After you watch it, take a look at this tweet from Sumi, and this prototype rendering from three years ago.

Just amazing. So much obvious love. (Via Todd Vaziri.)

 ★ 

This is just an astonishing 20-minute film by Hiroshi Sumi. An homage and loving look back at the earliest days of Industrial Light and Magic. I don’t want to say much more than that lest I spoil the wonder of it. I don’t know why anyone would exert so much effort to make something like this but I’m so inordinately delighted that Sumi did. It speaks to the power of obsession.

After you watch it, take a look at this tweet from Sumi, and this prototype rendering from three years ago.

Just amazing. So much obvious love. (Via Todd Vaziri.)

Read More 

Katie Tarasov, CNBC:

In November, CNBC visited Apple’s campus in Cupertino, California,
the first journalists allowed to film inside one of the company’s
chip labs. We got a rare chance to talk with the head of Apple
silicon, Johny Srouji, about the company’s push into the complex
business of custom semiconductor development, which is also being
pursued by Amazon

“We have thousands of engineers,” Srouji said. “But if you look at
the portfolio of chips we do: very lean, actually. Very
efficient.”

Can’t say there’s any news in this, but it’s neat to see inside the chip-testing lab. (Same video is available on YouTube, too, if that’s your jam.)

 ★ 

Katie Tarasov, CNBC:

In November, CNBC visited Apple’s campus in Cupertino, California,
the first journalists allowed to film inside one of the company’s
chip labs. We got a rare chance to talk with the head of Apple
silicon, Johny Srouji, about the company’s push into the complex
business of custom semiconductor development, which is also being
pursued by Amazon

“We have thousands of engineers,” Srouji said. “But if you look at
the portfolio of chips we do: very lean, actually. Very
efficient.”

Can’t say there’s any news in this, but it’s neat to see inside the chip-testing lab. (Same video is available on YouTube, too, if that’s your jam.)

Read More 

Luke Bouma, writing for Cord Cutters:

Today, Cord Cutters News has confirmed that Amazon is adding
full-screen video ads that will play when you start your Fire TV
unless you quickly perform an action on it.

This new update will be rolling out to all Fire TVs made in 2016
or newer. With this update, the ad at the top of your Fire TV will
now start playing full-screen, often promoting a movie or TV show.
By hitting the home button, you can quickly exit the ad or if you
quickly perform an action on the Fire TV once it finishes, you
will avoid the video ad, but you only have a few seconds.

“Our focus is on delivering an immersive experience so customers
can enjoy their favorite TV shows and movies, as well as browse
and discover more content they’ll want to watch. We’re always
working to make the Fire TV experience better for customers and
have updated one of the prominent placements in the UI to play a
short content preview if no other action is taken by a customer
upon turning on their Fire TV.” Amazon said in a statement to Cord
Cutters News.

What a load of horseshit from Amazon in that statement. Autoplaying ads aren’t “immersive”. And this is in no way “working to make the Fire TV experience better for customers”. Working to make things better would mean getting rid of shit like this, not adding it.

I really don’t understand how anyone uses anything but an Apple TV box. Apple TV is far from perfect but holy hell, it really does start from the perspective of respecting you, the user. The people at Apple who make it are obviously trying to create the experience that they themselves want when they’re watching TV at home.

 ★ 

Luke Bouma, writing for Cord Cutters:

Today, Cord Cutters News has confirmed that Amazon is adding
full-screen video ads that will play when you start your Fire TV
unless you quickly perform an action on it.

This new update will be rolling out to all Fire TVs made in 2016
or newer. With this update, the ad at the top of your Fire TV will
now start playing full-screen, often promoting a movie or TV show.
By hitting the home button, you can quickly exit the ad or if you
quickly perform an action on the Fire TV once it finishes, you
will avoid the video ad, but you only have a few seconds.

“Our focus is on delivering an immersive experience so customers
can enjoy their favorite TV shows and movies, as well as browse
and discover more content they’ll want to watch. We’re always
working to make the Fire TV experience better for customers and
have updated one of the prominent placements in the UI to play a
short content preview if no other action is taken by a customer
upon turning on their Fire TV.” Amazon said in a statement to Cord
Cutters News.

What a load of horseshit from Amazon in that statement. Autoplaying ads aren’t “immersive”. And this is in no way “working to make the Fire TV experience better for customers”. Working to make things better would mean getting rid of shit like this, not adding it.

I really don’t understand how anyone uses anything but an Apple TV box. Apple TV is far from perfect but holy hell, it really does start from the perspective of respecting you, the user. The people at Apple who make it are obviously trying to create the experience that they themselves want when they’re watching TV at home.

Read More 

Wesley Hillard, self-described “Rumor Expert”, writing at AppleInsider:

A U.K. comedian and actor named Tessa Coates was trying on wedding
dresses when a shocking photo of her was taken, according to her
Instagram post shared by PetaPixel. The photo shows Coates
in a dress in front of two mirrors, but each of the three versions
of her had a different pose.

One mirror showed her with her arms down, the other mirror showed
her hands joined at her waist, and her real self was standing with
her left arm at her side. To anyone who doesn’t know better, this
could prove to be quite a shocking image.

To the contrary, to anyone who “knows better”, this image clearly seems fake. But it’s a viral sensation:

Coates’s original post on Instagram has over 5,000 likes.
A reposting from Trung Phan on Twitter has 8,500 likes, 1,600 retweets, and, if Twitter/X stats are to believed, over 1.8 million views.

Coates, in her Instagram description, claims “This is a real photo, not photoshopped, not a pano, not a Live Photo”, but I’m willing to say she’s almost certainly lying. Doing so feels slightly uncomfortable, given that the post was meant to celebrate her engagement, but I just don’t buy it. These are three entirely different arm poses, not three moments in time fractions of a second apart — and all three poses in the image are perfectly sharp. iPhone photography just doesn’t work in a way that would produce this image. I’d feel less certain this was a fake if there were motion blur in the arms in the mirrors. (Perhaps you can generate an image like this using a Google Pixel 8’s Best Take feature, but this is purportedly from an iPhone, which doesn’t have a feature like that. And even with Best Take, that’s a feature you invoke manually, using multiple original images as input. I don’t think any phone camera, let alone an iPhone, produces single still images such as this.)

In a thread on Threads, where several commenters are rightfully skeptical:

Tyler Stalman (who hosts a great podcast on photography and videography):

Any iPhone photographer can confirm that this is not an image
processing error, it would never look like this.

David Imel (a writer/researcher for MKBHD):

I really, REALLY do not think this is a real image. HDR on phones
takes 5-7 frames with split-second exposure times. Whole process
like .05 sec. Even a live photo is < 2 seconds.

Even if the phone thought they were diff people it wouldn’t stitch
like this and wouldn’t have time.

This is spreading everywhere and it’s driving me insane.

I challenge anyone who thinks this is legit to produce such an image using an iPhone with even a single mirror, let alone two. If I’m wrong, let me know.

 ★ 

Wesley Hillard, self-described “Rumor Expert”, writing at AppleInsider:

A U.K. comedian and actor named Tessa Coates was trying on wedding
dresses when a shocking photo of her was taken, according to her
Instagram post shared by PetaPixel. The photo shows Coates
in a dress in front of two mirrors, but each of the three versions
of her had a different pose.

One mirror showed her with her arms down, the other mirror showed
her hands joined at her waist, and her real self was standing with
her left arm at her side. To anyone who doesn’t know better, this
could prove to be quite a shocking image.

To the contrary, to anyone who “knows better”, this image clearly seems fake. But it’s a viral sensation:

Coates’s original post on Instagram has over 5,000 likes.
A reposting from Trung Phan on Twitter has 8,500 likes, 1,600 retweets, and, if Twitter/X stats are to believed, over 1.8 million views.

Coates, in her Instagram description, claims “This is a real photo, not photoshopped, not a pano, not a Live Photo”, but I’m willing to say she’s almost certainly lying. Doing so feels slightly uncomfortable, given that the post was meant to celebrate her engagement, but I just don’t buy it. These are three entirely different arm poses, not three moments in time fractions of a second apart — and all three poses in the image are perfectly sharp. iPhone photography just doesn’t work in a way that would produce this image. I’d feel less certain this was a fake if there were motion blur in the arms in the mirrors. (Perhaps you can generate an image like this using a Google Pixel 8’s Best Take feature, but this is purportedly from an iPhone, which doesn’t have a feature like that. And even with Best Take, that’s a feature you invoke manually, using multiple original images as input. I don’t think any phone camera, let alone an iPhone, produces single still images such as this.)

In a thread on Threads, where several commenters are rightfully skeptical:

Tyler Stalman (who hosts a great podcast on photography and videography):

Any iPhone photographer can confirm that this is not an image
processing error, it would never look like this.

David Imel (a writer/researcher for MKBHD):

I really, REALLY do not think this is a real image. HDR on phones
takes 5-7 frames with split-second exposure times. Whole process
like .05 sec. Even a live photo is < 2 seconds.

Even if the phone thought they were diff people it wouldn’t stitch
like this and wouldn’t have time.

This is spreading everywhere and it’s driving me insane.

I challenge anyone who thinks this is legit to produce such an image using an iPhone with even a single mirror, let alone two. If I’m wrong, let me know.

Read More 

Jason Snell:

Castro has been a popular iOS podcast app for many years,
but right now things look grim.

The cloud database that backs the service is broken and needs to
be replaced. As a result, the app has broken. (You can’t
even export subscriptions out of it, because even that function
apparently relies on the cloud database.) “The team is in the
progress of setting up a database replacement, which might take
some time. We aim to have this completed ASAP,” said an Xtweet
from @CastroPodcasts.

What’s worse, according to former Castro team member Mohit
Mamoria, “Castro is being shut down over the next two months.”

I always appreciated Castro — it’s a well-designed, well-made app that embraced iOS design idioms. But as a user it just never quite fit my mental model for how a podcast client should work, in the way that Overcast does. I wanted to like Castro more than I actually liked it.

As a publisher, Castro was the 4th or 5th most popular client for The Talk Show for a while, but in recent years has slipped. Right now it’s 10th — but in a logarithmic curve. Overcast remains 1st; Apple Podcasts 2nd. The truth is, if not for Overcast, Castro would likely be in that top position, not shutting down. But Overcast does exist, and it’s the app where most people with exquisite taste in UI are listening to podcasts. There aren’t many markets where listeners of The Talk Show are in the core demographic, but iOS podcast apps are one. I can’t say why or precisely when, but somewhere along the line Castro lost its mojo.

I salute everyone who’s worked on it, though, because it really is a splendid app.

 ★ 

Jason Snell:

Castro has been a popular iOS podcast app for many years,
but right now things look grim.

The cloud database that backs the service is broken and needs to
be replaced. As a result, the app has broken. (You can’t
even export subscriptions out of it, because even that function
apparently relies on the cloud database.) “The team is in the
progress of setting up a database replacement, which might take
some time. We aim to have this completed ASAP,” said an Xtweet
from @CastroPodcasts.

What’s worse, according to former Castro team member Mohit
Mamoria, “Castro is being shut down over the next two months.”

I always appreciated Castro — it’s a well-designed, well-made app that embraced iOS design idioms. But as a user it just never quite fit my mental model for how a podcast client should work, in the way that Overcast does. I wanted to like Castro more than I actually liked it.

As a publisher, Castro was the 4th or 5th most popular client for The Talk Show for a while, but in recent years has slipped. Right now it’s 10th — but in a logarithmic curve. Overcast remains 1st; Apple Podcasts 2nd. The truth is, if not for Overcast, Castro would likely be in that top position, not shutting down. But Overcast does exist, and it’s the app where most people with exquisite taste in UI are listening to podcasts. There aren’t many markets where listeners of The Talk Show are in the core demographic, but iOS podcast apps are one. I can’t say why or precisely when, but somewhere along the line Castro lost its mojo.

I salute everyone who’s worked on it, though, because it really is a splendid app.

Read More 

Jason Snell, writing at Six Colors:

Last month I wrote about how Apple’s cascade of macOS alerts and
warnings ruin the Mac upgrade experience. […]

This issue was brought home to me last week when I was reviewing
the M3 iMac and the M3 MacBook Pro. As a part of
reviewing those computers, I used Migration Assistant to move a
backup of my Mac Studio to the new systems via a USB drive.
Sometimes I try to review a computer with nothing migrated over,
but it can be a real slowdown and I didn’t really have any time to
spare last week.

Anyway, by migrating, I got to (twice) experience Apple’s ideal
process of moving every user from one Mac to the next. You start
up your new computer, migrate from a backup of the old computer,
and then start using the new one. There’s a lot that’s great about
this process, and it’s so much better than what we used to have to
do to move files over from one Mac to another.

And yet all of Apple’s security alerts got in the way again and
spoiled the whole thing. Here’s a screenshot I took right after my
new Mac booted for the first time after migration.

I went through the exact same thing. Except if I had taken a screenshot of all the security-permission alerts I had to go though, there would have been more of them — and Snell’s screenshot looks like a parody. Back in the heyday of the “Get a Mac” TV ad campaign, Apple justifiably lambasted Windows Vista for its security prompts, but that’s exactly the experience you get after running Migration Assistant on a Mac today. It’s terrible.

Don’t get me wrong: Migration Assistant is borderline miraculous. It’s a wonderful tool that seemingly just keeps getting better. But MacOS itself stores too many security/privacy settings in a way that are tied to the device, not your user account. There ought to be some way to OK all these things in one fell swoop.

As Snell says, setting up a new Mac should be a joy, not a chore. Migration Assistant takes care of so much, but these cursed security prompts spoil the experience.

 ★ 

Jason Snell, writing at Six Colors:

Last month I wrote about how Apple’s cascade of macOS alerts and
warnings ruin the Mac upgrade experience. […]

This issue was brought home to me last week when I was reviewing
the M3 iMac and the M3 MacBook Pro. As a part of
reviewing those computers, I used Migration Assistant to move a
backup of my Mac Studio to the new systems via a USB drive.
Sometimes I try to review a computer with nothing migrated over,
but it can be a real slowdown and I didn’t really have any time to
spare last week.

Anyway, by migrating, I got to (twice) experience Apple’s ideal
process of moving every user from one Mac to the next. You start
up your new computer, migrate from a backup of the old computer,
and then start using the new one. There’s a lot that’s great about
this process, and it’s so much better than what we used to have to
do to move files over from one Mac to another.

And yet all of Apple’s security alerts got in the way again and
spoiled the whole thing. Here’s a screenshot I took right after my
new Mac booted for the first time after migration.

I went through the exact same thing. Except if I had taken a screenshot of all the security-permission alerts I had to go though, there would have been more of them — and Snell’s screenshot looks like a parody. Back in the heyday of the “Get a Mac” TV ad campaign, Apple justifiably lambasted Windows Vista for its security prompts, but that’s exactly the experience you get after running Migration Assistant on a Mac today. It’s terrible.

Don’t get me wrong: Migration Assistant is borderline miraculous. It’s a wonderful tool that seemingly just keeps getting better. But MacOS itself stores too many security/privacy settings in a way that are tied to the device, not your user account. There ought to be some way to OK all these things in one fell swoop.

As Snell says, setting up a new Mac should be a joy, not a chore. Migration Assistant takes care of so much, but these cursed security prompts spoil the experience.

Read More 

Kyle Melnick, reporting last week for The Washington Post under the headline “A Toddler Was Taken in a Carjacking; VW Wanted $150 for GPS Coordinates, Lawsuit Says”:

Shepherd, who was four months pregnant, tried to fight off
the man. But she was thrown to the pavement and run over by
her own car as the man drove away with Isaiah in the back
seat, authorities said. Shepherd thought she might never see
her son again.

After Shepherd frantically called 911, investigators contacted
Volkswagen’s Car-Net service, which can track the location of the
manufacturer’s vehicles. They hoped to locate Isaiah.

But a customer service representative said that wouldn’t be
possible because Shepherd’s subscription to the satellite service
had expired, according to a new lawsuit. The employee said he
couldn’t help until a $150 payment was made, the complaint said.

This perfectly illustrates the perils of Apple eventually charging for Emergency SOS satellite service. If Apple someday cuts off free service for compatible iPhones, eventually there’s going to be someone who dies because they chose not to pay to continue service. No one wants that.

 ★ 

Kyle Melnick, reporting last week for The Washington Post under the headline “A Toddler Was Taken in a Carjacking; VW Wanted $150 for GPS Coordinates, Lawsuit Says”:

Shepherd, who was four months pregnant, tried to fight off
the man. But she was thrown to the pavement and run over by
her own car as the man drove away with Isaiah in the back
seat, authorities said. Shepherd thought she might never see
her son again.

After Shepherd frantically called 911, investigators contacted
Volkswagen’s Car-Net service, which can track the location of the
manufacturer’s vehicles. They hoped to locate Isaiah.

But a customer service representative said that wouldn’t be
possible because Shepherd’s subscription to the satellite service
had expired, according to a new lawsuit. The employee said he
couldn’t help until a $150 payment was made, the complaint said.

This perfectly illustrates the perils of Apple eventually charging for Emergency SOS satellite service. If Apple someday cuts off free service for compatible iPhones, eventually there’s going to be someone who dies because they chose not to pay to continue service. No one wants that.

Read More 

Apple Newsroom, two weeks ago:

One year ago today, Apple’s groundbreaking safety service
Emergency SOS via satellite became available on all iPhone 14
models in the U.S. and Canada. Now also available on the iPhone 15
lineup in 16 countries and regions, this innovative technology — 
which enables users to text with emergency services while outside
of cellular and Wi-Fi coverage — has already made a significant
impact, contributing to many lives being saved. Apple
today announced it is extending free access to Emergency SOS via
satellite for an additional year for existing iPhone 14 users.

My hunch on this is that Apple would like to make this available free of charge in perpetuity, but wasn’t sure how much it would actually get used, and thus how much it would actually cost. If they come right out and say it’s free forever, then it needs to be free forever. It’s safer to just do what they’ve done here: make it free for an extra year one year at a time, and see how it goes as more and more iPhones that support the feature remain in active use.

It’s a wonderful feature — quite literally life-saving in numerous cases — but it’d be hard to sell. It’s like buying insurance. People like paying for stuff they want to use, not for stuff they hope they never need. Obviously, people do buy insurance — Apple itself, of course, sells AppleCare — but how many people would pay extra for Emergency SOS? If Apple can just quietly eat the cost of this service, they should, and I think will.

 ★ 

Apple Newsroom, two weeks ago:

One year ago today, Apple’s groundbreaking safety service
Emergency SOS via satellite became available on all iPhone 14
models in the U.S. and Canada. Now also available on the iPhone 15
lineup in 16 countries and regions, this innovative technology — 
which enables users to text with emergency services while outside
of cellular and Wi-Fi coverage — has already made a significant
impact, contributing to many lives being saved. Apple
today announced it is extending free access to Emergency SOS via
satellite for an additional year for existing iPhone 14 users.

My hunch on this is that Apple would like to make this available free of charge in perpetuity, but wasn’t sure how much it would actually get used, and thus how much it would actually cost. If they come right out and say it’s free forever, then it needs to be free forever. It’s safer to just do what they’ve done here: make it free for an extra year one year at a time, and see how it goes as more and more iPhones that support the feature remain in active use.

It’s a wonderful feature — quite literally life-saving in numerous cases — but it’d be hard to sell. It’s like buying insurance. People like paying for stuff they want to use, not for stuff they hope they never need. Obviously, people do buy insurance — Apple itself, of course, sells AppleCare — but how many people would pay extra for Emergency SOS? If Apple can just quietly eat the cost of this service, they should, and I think will.

Read More 

Andrew Ross Sorkin and Robert D. Hershey Jr., reporting for The New York Times:

Charles T. Munger, who quit a well-established law career to be
Warren E. Buffett’s partner and maxim-spouting alter-ego as they
transformed a foundering New England textile company into the
spectacularly successful investment firm Berkshire Hathaway, died
on Tuesday in Santa Barbara, Calif. He was 99.

His death, at a hospital, was announced by Berkshire
Hathaway. He had a home in Los Angeles.

Although overshadowed by Mr. Buffett, who relished the spotlight,
Mr. Munger, a billionaire in his own right — Forbes listed his
fortune as $2.6 billion this year — had far more influence at
Berkshire than his title of vice chairman suggested.

Mr. Buffett has described him as the originator of Berkshire
Hathaway’s investing approach. “The blueprint he gave me was
simple: Forget what you know about buying fair businesses at
wonderful prices; instead, buy wonderful businesses at fair
prices,” Mr. Buffett once wrote in an annual report. […]

A $1,000 investment in Berkshire made in 1964 is worth more than
$10 million today.

Mr. Munger was often viewed as the moral compass of Berkshire
Hathaway, advising Mr. Buffett on personnel issues as well as
investments. His hiring policy: “Trust first, ability second.”

A new edition of Munger’s book of aphorisms, Poor Charlie’s Almanack — its title an allusion to Munger’s idol, Benjamin Franklin — is due next week.

 ★ 

Andrew Ross Sorkin and Robert D. Hershey Jr., reporting for The New York Times:

Charles T. Munger, who quit a well-established law career to be
Warren E. Buffett’s partner and maxim-spouting alter-ego as they
transformed a foundering New England textile company into the
spectacularly successful investment firm Berkshire Hathaway, died
on Tuesday in Santa Barbara, Calif. He was 99.

His death, at a hospital, was announced by Berkshire
Hathaway. He had a home in Los Angeles.

Although overshadowed by Mr. Buffett, who relished the spotlight,
Mr. Munger, a billionaire in his own right — Forbes listed his
fortune as $2.6 billion this year — had far more influence at
Berkshire than his title of vice chairman suggested.

Mr. Buffett has described him as the originator of Berkshire
Hathaway’s investing approach. “The blueprint he gave me was
simple: Forget what you know about buying fair businesses at
wonderful prices; instead, buy wonderful businesses at fair
prices,” Mr. Buffett once wrote in an annual report. […]

A $1,000 investment in Berkshire made in 1964 is worth more than
$10 million today.

Mr. Munger was often viewed as the moral compass of Berkshire
Hathaway, advising Mr. Buffett on personnel issues as well as
investments. His hiring policy: “Trust first, ability second.”

A new edition of Munger’s book of aphorisms, Poor Charlie’s Almanack — its title an allusion to Munger’s idol, Benjamin Franklin — is due next week.

Read More