Let’s Talk Apple – Ep. 22 (June 2015)

Panel:

Bart Busschots (host) – @bbusschots
Nick Riley – @spligosh
Steve Stanger from the Mac Roundtable Podcast – @tmasteve
Victor Cajiao from the Artechulate Podcast – @victorcajiao

The show starts with a quick roundup of some of the court-related Apple news for June 2015, before jumping into the main stores of the month. First, some Home Kit News, then the news from Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference, then the ‘confederate flag’ kerfuffle in the App Store, and finally a collection of privacy-related stories including the EFF’s ‘who has your back’ report.

The show finishes with a quick roundup of some other important Apple-related news that broke in June, including some staffing changes at Apple, a recall of Beats speakers, and a replacement program for 3TB iMac hard drives.

You’ll find detailed show notes below the fold, and if you enjoy this free show, please consider clicking on the donate button at the top of the left side bar – the show is free for you to listen to, but not for Bart to Produce!

Links:

Legal Latest

Apple loses it's appeal of the eBooks Case – arstechnica.com/…
Apple tries to the turn the table on a so-called 'patent troll', asking a federal court to order Unwired Planet to pay Apple's legal fees (USD15m) for the case they lost against Apple – www.macobserver.com/…
The European Commission launch investigation into Amazon's eBook distribution arrangements – europa.eu/…

Main Stories

Home Kit
- Support Docs on Apple's site confirm that Apple TV 3rd ten and newer can act as hubs for HomeKit devices – www.macrumors.com/…
- HomeKit compatible devices starting to ship from Ecobee, Elgato, iHome, Insteon & Lutron – www.macobserver.com/…
- Philips Hue will get HomeKit support this fall – www.macobserver.com/…
WWDC
- Diversity on display
  - on the eve of the keynote, Tim Cook said the lack of diversity in tech is 'our fault' – mashable.com/…
  - the keynote itself saw the most diverse Apple crew
- OS X 10.11 El Capitan – www.macobserver.com/…
  - All Macs that run Yosemite will run El Capitain, but not all will have metal – www.macobserver.com/…
- iOS 9
  - If your device can run iOS 8, it can run iOS 9 – arstechnica.com/…
  - multitasking on iPads – www.macobserver.com/…
  - better Siri – www.macobserver.com/…
  - New iCloud Drive app – www.macobserver.com/…
  - App Thinning to improve the experience for users of 8Gb and 16GB devices – arstechnica.com/…
  - To help install OS updates, apps can be temporarily deleted and then automatically re-installed – arstechnica.com/…
  - PINs being bumped to six digits to improve security – arstechnica.com/…
  - Content blocking API added, seems to be aimed more at performance and privacy than ad blocking – www.baldurbjarnason.com/…
  - Android Migration Assistant – www.macobserver.com/…
- Watch OS 2 – www.macobserver.com/…
- Apple Pay – uk.businessinsider.com/…
  - Coming to UK in July – www.macobserver.com/…
  - RELATED – Apple release tech document explaining Apple Pay Verification – www.macobserver.com/…
- Apple News
  - A new app for iOS – www.macobserver.com/…
- Swift goes Open Source – www.macobserver.com/…
- Apple Music – www.macobserver.com/…
  - A streaming music Service
  - MUCH confusion over DRM – iMore explain what is actually happening – www.imore.com/…
  - iCloud Music Library confusingly similar to iTunes Match – arstechnica.com/…
  - A radio station
  - How to request songs – www.macobserver.com/…
  - A social network for musicians
  - Before it even went live, there were already anti-trust investigations underway
  - The Attorneys General New York Connecticut are investigating Apple's deal with the labels – www.nytimes.com/…
  - Controversy over Apple Music terms, especially the non-payment of any fees to artists during the free trial
  - Indie labels say Apple Music will put them out of business – www.macobserver.com/…
  - Taylor Swift sends an open letter to Apple – taylorswift.tumblr.com/…
  - Apple back down, artists will be paid the same as they get on Spotify during the free trial – www.macobserver.com/…
  - Apple's response also convinces previously sceptical indy labels to come onboard – www.macobserver.com/…
  - In an interview with Billboard, Eddie Cue says Taylor Swift's letter 'solidified' Apple's thinking – www.billboard.com/…
  - RELATED – Taylor Swift's draconian photography contract comes under fresh criticisms – The Irish Times boycotts photos for her Dublin concert – petapixel.com/…
  - The service went live on June 30
  - Early reviews are OK – www.macobserver.com/…
  - No Sonos support on launch, but coming 'soon' – www.macobserver.com/…
  - New apps:
  - iTunes 12.2 is now out adding Apple Music to Macs & Windows PCs – www.macobserver.com/…
  - iOS 8.4 brings Apple Music to iOS – arstechnica.com/…
  - Useful Apple Music Links:
  - Apple Music: what you need to know – www.macobserver.com/…
  - Apple Music FAQ – www.imore.com/…
  - 14 (More) Apple Music Tips – www.computerworld.com/…
Apple gets caught up in the "confederate flag" controversy
- Tim Cook Tweets his views on 'symbols and words' that feed racism – www.macobserver.com/…
- Apple starts removing apps that use the rebel flag, even in historically accurate contexts like civil war games. Some apps seem to be coming back, but there is a lot of confusion – arstechnica.com/… & www.macobserver.com/… & www.macobserver.com/…
- RELATED – the so-called 'confederate flag' is not actually the flag of the confederated states of America – www.cgpgrey.com/…
Apple get top marks, again, in this year's annual EFF who has your back report – www.macobserver.com/…
- RELATED – Tim Cook gave a blistering speech on privacy – Weakening Encryption Harms Good People – social.techcrunch.com/…
- RELATED – Edward Snowden calls Apple 'pioneering' in privacy, and calls on consumers to support Apple – if protecting privacy is profitable, more companies will do it – www.macobserver.com/… & www.macobserver.com/…

Quick Stories

OS X 10.10.4 released
- discoveryd really is dead! (and with it about 300 bugs in Apple's 'radar' bug tracking system) – daringfireball.net/…
- TRIM can now be enabled on 3rd party SSDs – arstechnica.com/…
Apple Staffing Changes
- Lisa Jackson's role has been expanded from VP for the environment to VP of environment, policy, and social initiatives – www.washingtonpost.com/…
- Apple release new staff Bios, and surprisingly, Alan Dye (new VP of UI design) and Richard Howarth (new VP of industrial design) report directly to Tim Cook, and not to Jony Ive – www.macobserver.com/…
Apple recalls Beats Pill XL over fire-safety fears – www.macobserver.com/…
Apple announces replacement program for 3TB HDs in 2012 and 2013 iMacs – arstechnica.com/…
Batteries are now eligible for replacement under Apple Care+ when they drop below 80% of original capacity – up from 50% previously – arstechnica.com/…
RIP Original iPad Mini – www.macobserver.com/…
Apple released iBooks Author 2.3, adding the ability to create books that can be read on iPhones – www.macobserver.com/…
The first real trailer (non-teaser) for the Job movie has been released – www.macobserver.com/…
- Woz says the dialogue in the jobs movie is fiction, but he loves it anyway – www.bloomberg.com/…
Apple's Q3 earnings call has been scheduled for 21 July – www.macobserver.com/…

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