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Month: February 2016

What’s Going on With Apple and the FBI?

Jason Tate

Apple has publicly responded to a court order brought on by the FBI and US government asking them to purposefully break into one of their devices. There’s been a lot written on this subject today, so I’ve rounded-up what I think are the must reads after the jump.

The implications of the government’s demands are chilling. If the government can use the All Writs Act to make it easier to unlock your iPhone, it would have the power to reach into anyone’s device to capture their data. The government could extend this breach of privacy and demand that Apple build surveillance software to intercept your messages, access your health records or financial data, track your location, or even access your phone’s microphone or camera without your knowledge.

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The Story Behind Discovering Gravitational Waves

Jason Tate

Nicola Twilley, writing for The New Yorker, with the behind the scenes look at the scientists that discovered gravitational waves exist:

The fact that gravitational waves were detected so early prompted confusion and disbelief. “I had told everyone that we wouldn’t see anything until 2017 or 2018,” Reitze said. Janna Levin, a professor of astrophysics at Barnard College and Columbia University, who is not a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, was equally surprised. “When the rumors started, I was like, Come on!” she said. “They only just got it locked!” The signal, moreover, was almost too perfect. “Most of us thought that, when we ever saw such a thing, it would be something that you would need many, many computers and calculations to drag out of the noise,” Weiss said. Many of his colleagues assumed that the signal was some kind of test.

SoundCloud Lost $70m in Two Years

Soundcloud
Jason Tate

Cyrus Farivar, writing for Ars Technica, looks at the losses that are apparently piling up for SoundCloud.

New financial records released by SoundCloud show that the company has nearly doubled its losses from 2013 to 2014—those two years combined account for a total of €62.1 million ($70.3 million) in losses. […] With mounting losses, the company’s board of directors wrote that there are “material uncertainties facing the business.”

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Apple Execs on ‘The Talk Show’ Podcast

Daring Fireball
Jason Tate

John Gruber has Apple’s Eddie Cue and Craig Federichi on this week’s episode of The Talk Show:

Very special guests Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi join the show. Topics include: the new features in Apple’s upcoming OS releases (iOS 9.3 and tvOS 9.2); why Apple is expanding its public beta program for OS releases; iTunes’s monolithic design; how personally involved Eddy and Craig are in using, testing, and installing beta software; the sad decline of Duke’s men’s basketball team; and more.

The entire thing is worth a listen (and what a coup by Gruber) but I found the part explaining/discussing iTunes to be the most interesting.

More Pineapple Drinks Please (Episode 116)

Jason Tate

It’s coming out late, damn has it been a long day, but this week’s episode of Encore is here. This week we discuss Thomas going on a cruise, some about the Super Bowl and the half-time show, and the internet’s reaction to the halftime show, and some about the commercials. We then tackle the main topic this week: Discussing albums we don’t like in the most productive way, how our feelings on an album may be swayed by someone else’s impassioned defense or take-down of an album, and how this may or may not be related to the new Say Anything album. We finish up with a few questions about long distance relationships, noise-canceling headphones, and Thomas being in early on The Front Bottoms.

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The Reality of Missing Out

Twitter
Jason Tate

Ben Thompson’s weekly article, “The Reality of Missing Out,” showcases again why I think he’s one of the best strategy and technology writers out there:

The issue for LinkedIn is that a company’s stock price is not a scorecard rather it is the market’s estimate of a company’s future earnings, and the ratio to which the stock price varies from current earnings is the degree to which investors expect said earnings to grow. In the case of LinkedIn, the company’s relatively mature core business serving recruiters continues to do well; that’s why the company beat estimates. That market, though, has a natural limit, which means growth must be found elsewhere, and LinkedIn hoped that elsewhere would be in advertising. The lower-than-expected estimates and shuttering of Lead Accelerator, LinkedIn’s off-site advertising program (which follows on the heels of LinkedIn’s previous decision to end display advertising), suggested that said growth may not materialize.

The 1975 Are Poised to Make the Leap

Jason Tate

Spin interviewed The 1975 about their new album. Not only do I think this is one of the most fascinating bands in music right now, it’s kinda crazy to say this isn’t that hyperbolic:

Certainly, no boy band in history (except, y’know, the Beatles) has ever released an album like the one the 1975 will drop on February 26. I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it — more on that title later — is a 17-track, 74-minute behemoth that veers wildly between ‘80s faux-funk, ambient house, gospel-tinged R&B, Autre ne Veut-like fever-pop, and acoustic balladry. It’s impossible to form a credible opinion on it after only one listen, because the album you think you’re listening to shapeshifts unrecognizably about a half-dozen times over the course of an hour and a quarter.

The Terror of Donald Trump

Jason Tate

Ezra Klein, writing for Vox, on the pure horror of Trump’s candidacy:

Trump is the most dangerous major candidate for president in memory. He pairs terrible ideas with an alarming temperament; he’s a racist, a sexist, and a demagogue, but he’s also a narcissist, a bully, and a dilettante. He lies so constantly and so fluently that it’s hard to know if he even realizes he’s lying. He delights in schoolyard taunts and luxuriates in backlash.

We can’t fuck this up America.

Teenagers and Snapchat

Jason Tate

Ben Rosen interviewed his kid sister about Snapchat for Buzzfeed:

I’m mesmerized. What’s even the point of sending snaps to each other if you don’t look at them? Am I crazy? That seems so unnecessary. Still, this is adult-brain talking. If I wanted to be one of the teens, I needed to just accept it and press on.

That moment when you know you’re old and things are happening you don’t get? Yeah. That’s right now with my five whole views on my “story.” Look at me, the NARP.

Getting Ahead vs. Doing Well

Jason Tate

Seth Godin with my favorite thing I’ve read today:

This is the thinking that, “First class isn’t better because of the seats, it’s better because it’s not coach.” (Several airlines have tried to launch all-first-class seating, and all of them have stumbled.)

There are two challenges here. The first is that in a connection economy, the idea that others need to be in coach for you to be in first doesn’t scale very well. When we share an idea or an experience, we both have it, it doesn’t diminish the value, it increases it.

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Advertiser Threatens Financial Times

Jason Tate

Lucy Kellaway, writing for the Financial Times, responds to an advertiser threatening the publication. I’ve had that happen before — I wish my response was this good.

You say the FT management should think about “unacceptable biases” and its relationship with its advertisers. My piece was not biased and I fear you misunderstand our business model. It is my editors’ steadfast refusal to consider the impact of stories on advertisers that makes us the decent newspaper we are. It is why I want to go on working here. It is why the FT goes on paying me.

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