By John Gruber

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Gizmodo: ‘Horror Stories From the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Flight Ban’ ★

Story from a Gizmodo reader:

At the security checkpoint as a husband/partner was saying goodbye to his wife/partner, she gave her phone to him because she thought she couldn’t take it on the plane. It was a Galaxy S5 or S6, I couldn’t really tell, but definitely not a Note. So lots of confusion. Finally, we are putting a lot of faith in flight attendants who don’t know the difference between a laptop and a tablet let alone a nuanced issue like what’s happening with the Note. I wouldn’t be surprised if we lose access to our cell phones pre-take off again as a result of Samsung’s fuckup.

Saturday Night Live had a joke this weekend about “Samsung Galaxy 7’s” — without the “Note”. It’s really easy to be confused by this. I really do worry that this fuckup is going to lead to all devices being banned from use on flights.

Update: Worse for Samsung would be a ban on all “Samsung” or even just “Galaxy” phones. Here’s a recording of a Lufthansa pilot forbidding the use of all “Galaxy S7” phones.

Bloomberg: ‘How Apple Scaled Back Its Titanic Plan to Take on Detroit’ ★

Mark Gurman and Alex Webb, writing for Bloomberg:

By the end of 2015, the project was blighted by internal strife. Managers battled about the project’s direction, according to people with knowledge of the operations. “It was an incredible failure of leadership,” one of the people said. In early 2016, project head Steve Zadesky, a former Ford Motor Co. engineer and early iPod designer, left Titan. Zadesky, who remains at Apple, declined to comment.

Zadesky handed the reins to his boss, Dan Riccio, adding to responsibilities that already included engineering annual iPhone, iPad, and Mac refreshes. Bob Mansfield, a highly regarded manager who helped develop the original iPad, returned in April from a part-time role at Apple to lead the team.

About a month later, Mansfield took the stage in a Silicon Valley auditorium packed with hundreds of Titan employees to announce the strategy shift, according to people who attended the meeting. Mansfield explained that he had examined the project and determined that Apple should move from building an outright competitor to Tesla Motors Inc. to an underlying self-driving platform.

Making a platform that Apple would, I can only suppose, license to actual car makers doesn’t sound anything like Apple at all. I’m not disputing Gurman and Webb’s reporting, I’m just pointing out that if true, it’s the most un-Apple-like project in the company’s history.

There are ways to square this story with Apple’s traditional integrated approach. Perhaps they’re thinking, Do the software first, see if we can do something worth making, and if so, buy a car company. But even that doesn’t sound like Apple.

Marco Arment:

Even if only the big-picture story is correct and every detail is wrong, Project Titan makes no sense to me now.

Sunday, 16 October 2016

The Talk Show: ‘Kicking Dirt on Them While They’re on Fire’ ★

Special guest Ben Thompson returns to the show. Topics include voice control with AirPods, how to get your entire music library onto an iPhone while using iCloud Music Library, Apple Watch durability, the Dash/App Store controversy, the disappointing and frustrating state of Siri and voice-driven AI assistants, Google’s new Pixel phones and the strategy behind them, Snap’s (née Snapchat) Spectacles (and why they’re nothing like Google’s ill-fated Glass), and more.

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Peter Thiel to Donate $1.25 Million in Support of Donald Trump ★

David Streitfeld, reporting for the NYT:

Peter Thiel, true to his reputation as the most contrarian soul in Silicon Valley, is doubling down on Donald J. Trump.

The only prominent supporter of the Republican candidate in the high-tech community, Mr. Thiel is making his first donation in support of Mr. Trump’s election. He will give $1.25 million through a combination of super PAC donations and funds given directly to the campaign, a person close to the investor said on Saturday.

Politics aside, this seems like a bad investment at this point.

Friday, 14 October 2016

Mod Turns Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Into a Weapon in Grand Theft Auto 5 ★

You can’t buy product placement like this.

SQLPro — Database Management Apps for Mac ★

My thanks to Hankinsoft Development for sponsoring this week’s DF RSS feed to promote SQLPro. SQLPro offers easy to use, feature-rich database clients for Microsoft SQL Server, Postgres, MySQL, Oracle, and SQLite databases. These are true native Mac apps — way faster, and way nicer than anything based on Java. SQLPro is great for creating new databases, editing schema, browsing and searching data in existing databases, and much more.

If you’re a developer looking for a native SQL management app, check out their website for more information, and download a seven-day free trial. When you’re ready to buy, use coupon code GRUBER to save 20 percent.

Thursday, 13 October 2016

How the Cleveland Indians Got Their Name ★

Joe Posnanski:

When I was a kid, it was an accepted fact that the Cleveland Indians were named to honor a Native American player named Louis Sockalexis.

When I was older, it was an accepted fact that the Cleveland Indians DID NOT name the team for Sockalexis, and that whole story was an invention to cover up for the nickname’s racist origins.

And, as I wrote in the even longer piece, neither one is quite fact. The truth is not exactly in the middle either; it sort of floats from side to side like a balloon dancing in the wind.

The New York Times’s General Counsel Responds to Donald Trump’s Threat of a Lawsuit ★

Bracing.

Tesla Increases Its Lead on the U.S. Luxury Sedan Market, Beating Mercedes, BMW, and Audi ★

Fred Lambert:

Tesla shocked the industry earlier this year when it confirmed having delivered 25,202 Model S sedans in the U.S. in 2015, which gave the company a 25% market share in the premium sedan market. For the first time, Tesla had surpassed market leaders like BMW and Mercedes. Furthermore, every single other large luxury sedan has seen its sales decrease during the same period.

Now the electric automaker is increasing its lead on the US luxury sedan market to such a point that the Model S is now twice as popular as the Mercedes S-Class or the BMW 7-Series. Tesla is literally selling more all-electric sedans in the US than Mercedes and BMW are selling S-Class and 7-Series combined.

I’m surprised at how few of these cars are sold overall, but it’s amazing that Tesla has already taken a commanding lead.

Verizon Says Its Pixel Phones Will Get Updates at the Same Time as Google’s ★

Ron Amadeo:

A Verizon spokesperson has reached out to Ars with the following corrections about its version of the Pixel:

“First and foremost, all operating system and security updates to the Pixel devices will happen in partnership with Google. In other words, when Google releases an update, Verizon phones will receive the same update at the same time (much like iOS updates). Verizon will not stand in the way of any major updates and users will get all updates at the same time as Google.

Also, the Verizon version of the Google Pixel is carrier unlocked, so you can use it where ever you like. Finally, we have three apps pre-installed on the phone Go90, My Verizon (which is your account management tool) and Verizon Messages (your messaging app). As you noted, all three can easily be uninstalled by the user.”

Assuming this pans out, it’s the closest anyone has gotten to Apple’s total control over the software on its phones. The only difference: the (removable) pre-installed Verizon crapware apps.

Wednesday, 12 October 2016

Rene Ritchie: ‘Solving for Dash’ ★

Rene Ritchie:

You’ll be able to hear a deeper discussion on this between Michael Gartenberg, Serenity Caldwell, special guest James Thomson, and myself on the Apple Talk podcast very soon, but here’s the consensus: Restore the developer account associated with Dash and put Dash back on the App Store. Leave the linked account banned. Monitor Dash going forward the way any other app has been monitored. And that’s it.

I think Apple already threw him his lifeline and he decided to tie it around his neck. Apple offered to do just what Rene is asking them to do, and in return only wanted Popescu to explain the circumstances that led Apple to reasonably (and perhaps correctly) assume both accounts were his.

Update: Dash developer Bogdan Popescu has given his “full story” in a statement to iMore, blaming his mother for the App Store fraud.

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Wednesday, 12 October 2016

Samsung’s Explosion-Proof Note 7 Return Packaging ★

Here’s a clever design that Samsung didn’t copy from Apple.

‘Packed It With So Much Innovation’ ★

The concluding paragraphs of Brian X. Chen and Choe Sang-Hun’s report for The New York Times on how Samsung came to the decision to completely abort the Galaxy Note 7:

“It was too quick to blame the batteries; I think there was nothing wrong with them or that they were not the main problem,” said Park Chul-wan, former director of the Center for Advanced Batteries at the Korea Electronics Technology Institute, who said he reviewed the regulatory agency’s documents.

It did not help that the hundreds of Samsung testers trying to pinpoint the problem could not easily communicate with one another: Fearing lawsuits and subpoenas, Samsung told employees involved in the testing to keep communications about the tests offline — meaning no emails were allowed, according to the person briefed on the process.

Mr. Park said he had talked with some Samsung engineers but none seemed to know what happened, nor were they able to replicate the problem. Replication would have been quick and easy if the problem was with the chip board and designs, he said.

“The problem seems to be far more complex,” Mr. Park said in a phone interview. “The Note 7 had more features and was more complex than any other phone manufactured. In a race to surpass iPhone, Samsung seems to have packed it with so much innovation it became uncontrollable.”

“Packed it with so much innovation it became uncontrollable” is a very odd quote to include. This sounds more like a statement from Samsung PR than from an objective outsider. And you would think that a company-wide edict to keep all communication about the investigation offline would merit more than a passing reference.

The Gender Divide ★

Nate Silver, FiveThirtyEight:

But it seems fair to say that, if Trump loses the election, it will be because women voted against him. I took a look at how men and women split their votes four years ago, according to polls conducted in November 2012. On average, Mitt Romney led President Obama by 7 percentage points among men, about the same as Trump’s 5-point lead among men now. But Romney held his own among women, losing them by 8 points, whereas they’re going against Trump by 15 points.

That’s the difference between a close election — as you’ll remember, those national polls in late 2012 showed the race neck-and-neck — and one that’s starting to look like a blowout.

Includes rather stark maps showing what the Electoral College would be like if only women voted (massive Clinton landslide) or if only men voted (solid win for Trump).

John Scalzi: ‘Trump, the GOP, and the Fall’ ★

John Scalzi:

But note well: Donald Trump is not a black swan, an unforeseen event erupting upon an unsuspecting Republican Party. He is the end result of conscious and deliberate choices by the GOP, going back decades, to demonize its opponents, to polarize and obstruct, to pursue policies that enfeeble the political weal and to yoke the bigot and the ignorant to their wagon and to drive them by dangling carrots that they only ever intended to feed to the rich. Trump’s road to the candidacy was laid down and paved by the Southern Strategy, by Lee Atwater and Newt Gingrich and Karl Rove, by Fox News and the Tea Party, and by the smirking cynicism of three generations of GOP operatives, who have been fracking the white middle and working classes for years, crushing their fortunes with their social and economic policies, never imagining it would cause an earthquake. […]

But they don’t control Trump, which they are currently learning to their great misery. And the reason the GOP doesn’t control Trump is that they no longer control their base. The GOP trained their base election cycle after election cycle to be disdainful of government and to mistrust authority, which ultimately is an odd thing for a political party whose very rationale for existence is rooted in the concept of governmental authority to do. The GOP created a monster, but the monster isn’t Trump. The monster is the GOP’s base. Trump is the guy who stole their monster from them, for his own purposes.

Remember that a year ago, no one in the Republican establishment thought Trump had a chance of winning the primary — and then he wound up winning it rather easily. His path to the Republican nomination was actually easier than Hillary Clinton’s.

Democracy is entirely based on political compromises. The Trumplican base sees any sort of compromise as a betrayal.

See also: Scalzi’s endorsement of Hillary Clinton, every single word of which I agree with.

Tuesday, 11 October 2016

Samsung to Permanently Discontinue Galaxy Note 7 Smartphone ★

The Wall Street Journal:

Samsung Electronics Co. said on Tuesday that it is discontinuing its embattled Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, pulling the plug on a product whose botched recall has brought headaches to consumers and damaged the Samsung brand.

Samsung said in a filing with South Korean regulators that it would permanently cease production and sales of the device, following a string of reported incidents in which supposedly safe replacements of the smartphone overheated and in some cases caught fire.

“Taking our customer’s safety as our highest priority, we have decided to halt sales and production of the Galaxy Note 7,” the company said.

Horace Dediu:

Hmm. I wonder if we will soon see a quarter when one phone maker captures 100% of the profit in the industry.

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Monday, 10 October 2016

Samsung Says It Is ‘Adjusting’ Note 7 Supply Due to Fire Reports ★

CNBC:

Samsung Electronics said on Monday it is adjusting shipment volumes for Galaxy Note 7 smartphones due to reports of some of the devices catching fire. Samsung, in a statement, said the adjustments were being made in order to conduct in-depth inspections and to improve quality control. The firm did not elaborate further.

Where by “adjusting shipment volumes” they mean “ceasing production”.

Saturday, 8 October 2016

Tito ★

My thanks to Tito for sponsoring this week’s DF RSS feed. Tito is the best ticketing system I’ve ever seen. I’ve used it as an attendee, registering for conferences that use Tito, and I’ve used it as an event host, for my live episodes of The Talk Show.

Tito supports Apple Pay and Apple Wallet, and they’re about to ship a brand new iOS check-in app. Everything about it is really well designed.

To say thanks to everyone who has supported them in the last few years, they’re giving away €200 in Tito credit to all customers, old and new. No questions asked, this week only. Just use coupon code GRUBER.

Friday, 7 October 2016

Microsoft to Hold Windows 10 Event on October 26 in New York ★

Paul Thurrott:

As expected, Microsoft will hold a major press conference on October 26, 2016 in New York City. And while details are vague at this point, it’s fair to say that the rumors we’ve heard so far are almost certainly correct.

I’ve received an email invitation to the event, but its a bit vague. So here’s what I’ve heard from my sources.

That’s one day before Apple’s event to announce new MacBooks on Thursday 27 October — if Apple moved its earnings from the 27th to the 25th to make room for an event.

After Samsung Galaxy Southwest Airlines Incident, Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile Now Offer Exchange Options for Galaxy Note 7 Replacement Models ★

At this point Samsung ought to just recall them all and scrap the product. Who can trust one if even the replacements are dangerous fire hazards?

U.S. Court Reinstates Apple $120 Million Patent Win Over Samsung ★

Reuters:

The court said that there was substantial evidence for the jury verdict related to Samsung’s infringement of Apple patents on its slide-to-unlock and autocorrect features, as well as quick links, which automatically turn information like addresses and phone numbers into links.

Friday’s decision was made by the full slate of judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C. In an 8-3 ruling, the judges said that a previous panel of the same court should not have overturned the verdict last February.

This case is so old, even Apple isn’t using slide-to-unlock anymore.

The Value of Twitter ★

Dave Winer:

When people say Twitter, the company, is a lost cause they are out of their minds or don’t understand systems. Twitter works. There’s a company behind it that makes it work. The service has a lot of value, not just as servers, but that it’s all together in one place. If that were to break it could never be replaced. Look at the void left after Napster’s demise for a clue. Set us back 20-30 years.

Exactly.

Bruce Schneier: ‘We Need to Save the Internet From the Internet of Things’ ★

Bruce Schneier, writing for Motherboard:

What was new about the Krebs attack was both the massive scale and the particular devices the attackers recruited. Instead of using traditional computers for their botnet, they used CCTV cameras, digital video recorders, home routers, and other embedded computers attached to the internet as part of the Internet of Things.

Much has been written about how the IoT is wildly insecure. In fact, the software used to attack Krebs was simple and amateurish. What this attack demonstrates is that the economics of the IoT mean that it will remain insecure unless government steps in to fix the problem. This is a market failure that can’t get fixed on its own.

Schneier’s reasoning for calling for government intervention is simple: The market won’t fix this because neither the buyer nor the seller cares.

Inside Apple’s Lightning Audio Adapter ★

Jeff Suovanen, with some gorgeous X-ray photography of Apple’s headphone jack dongle:

But it appears Apple’s engineers did their job, and this tiny adapter performs better than most people expected or even thought possible.

Why did they do it? Was it worth it? Will other manufacturers copy it?

If you have to ask “Why did they do it?”, you just don’t get Apple.

Thursday, 6 October 2016

The Talk Show: ‘A Murder of Eeros’ ★

New episode of America’s favorite 3-star podcast, The Talk Show, with special guest Matthew Panzarino. Topics include Google’s “Made by Google” hardware announcements (the Pixel phones, Google Wi-Fi routers, their Amazon Echo competitor Google Home), mobile photography, Samsung’s acquisition of Viv, and more.

Apple Pulls Bizarre ‘Orchard’ Web Page Promoting Entry Level Marketing Jobs ★

Last night a web page at apple.com/the-orchard/ appeared. It is now gone. The entirety of the page was this image — text rendered in a PNG like a web page in 1996. A couple of glaringly obvious problems with this:

• Using a big long PNG image as a web page is ridiculous.
• The image only looked “right” when viewed on an iPhone. On larger displays it looked terrible.
• The text of the web page reads like ad agency hot air. It’s bullshit.
• That crude “O” with a leaf on the top to make it look like the Apple logo. What the holy hell was that? Who thought that was OK?

Something weird happened here.

Wednesday, 5 October 2016

Samsung Acquires Viv, a Next-Gen AI Assistant Built by Creators of Apple’s Siri ★

Matthew Panzarino, reporting for TechCrunch:

Samsung has agreed to acquire Viv, an AI and assistant system co-founded by Dag Kittlaus, Adam Cheyer and Chris Brigham — who created Siri, which was acquired by Apple in 2010. The three left Apple in the years after the acquisition and founded Viv in 2012. Pricing information was not available, but we’ll check around.

Viv has been billed as a more extensible, powerful version of Siri.

Viv will continue to operate as an independent company that will provide serves to Samsung and its platforms.

Huge score for Samsung. Does anyone disagree that AI assistant technology is table stakes for the next decade?

Tim Culpan: ‘HTC, You Loser’ ★

Tim Culpan, in his column for Bloomberg:

Google, of Android operating system fame, released its first Pixel smartphones Tuesday to replace its Nexus lineup. HTC has been selected to assemble the device, becoming for Google what Foxconn is to Apple. “Google has done the design work and a lot of the engineering,” the Mountain View-based company’s hardware chief Rick Osterloh told Bloomberg News.

Ouch! That’s gotta hurt. After spending years building its design and engineering chops, HTC has been demoted to water boy. Supplying Google with smartphones isn’t a victory — it’s an embarrassing end to HTC’s decade-long campaign to break out of that contract-manufacturing business and stand on its own two feet.

Android Police: ‘Huawei Passed on Chance to Produce Pixel Phones, U.S. Division Badly Struggling’ ★

David Ruddock, writing for Android Police:

Fast-forward shortly after the Nexus 5X and 6P launched, and Google began talks with Huawei to produce its 2016 smartphone portfolio - allegedly up to three phones, not just the two we ended up with. It’s unclear if they would have been branded Pixel, Nexus, or both (e.g., two Pixels and a cheaper Nexus). Google, though, set a hard rule for the partnership: Huawei would be relegated to a manufacturing role, producing phones with Google branding. The Huawei logo and name would be featured nowhere on the devices’ exteriors or in their marketing, much like the Pixel phones built by HTC that we’ll see unveiled tomorrow. According to our source, word spread inside Huawei quickly that global CEO Richard Yu himself ended negotiations with Google right then and there. Huawei was off the table for the new smartphones. Google’s “plan B” — HTC — ended up winning the contract.

It speaks to how far HTC has fallen that they’re now accepting a position akin to that of Foxconn — simply a manufacturer.

Replacement Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Phone Catches Fire on Southwest Plane ★

Jordan Golson, reporting for The Verge:

More worryingly, the phone in question was a replacement Galaxy Note 7, one that was deemed to be safe by Samsung. The Verge spoke to Brian Green, owner of the Note 7, on the phone earlier today and he confirmed that he had picked up the new phone at an AT&T store on September 21st. A photograph of the box shows the black square symbol that indicates a replacement Note 7 and Green said it had a green battery icon.

Green said that he had powered down the phone as requested by the flight crew and put it in his pocket when it began smoking. He dropped it on the floor of the plane and a “thick grey-green angry smoke” was pouring out of the device. Green’s colleague went back onto the plane to retrieve some personal belongings and said that the phone had burned through the carpet and scorched the subfloor of the plane.

The last line of the article is a real kicker.

Tuesday, 4 October 2016

‘First’ ★

Mark Gurman, in a profile of Google’s new Pixel phones published just before Google’s event started today:

Google is embarking on a wholesale revamp of its mobile phone strategy, debuting a pair of slick and powerful handsets that for the first time will go head-to-head with Apple Inc.’s iconic iPhone.

The first clause is true: the Pixels do mark a “wholesale revamp” of Google’s mobile phone strategy. The second clause is nonsense: Google has been going head-to-head against the iPhone ever since the first Android phone debuted. You can’t say the Nexus phones don’t count just because they never succeeded.

Google then-VP of engineering Vic Gundotra devoted his 2010 I/O keynote to ripping into the iPhone and iPad, pedal to the metal on “open beats closed” and how an ecosystem of over 60 different Android devices (a drop in the pond compared to today) was winning, saving the world from a future where “one man, one company, one device” controls mobile. (Gundotra tossed in “one carrier”, which was true at the time, but looks foolish in hindsight.) He even compared the iPhone to Orwell’s 1984. Really.

The only thing Orwellian here is Google’s attempt to flush down the memory hole their previous attempts to go head-to-head against the iPhone. Watch the first 10 minutes of Gundotra’s 2010 keynote — the whole thing is about beating the iPhone.

(Gundotra went heavy on the Flash Player thing, too. It occurs to me that many executives who were willing to bet publicly on Flash Player for mobile circa 2010 are no longer around. A notable exception: Kevin Lynch.)

Twelve South Sells Out of Candle That Smells Like a New Mac ★

Two thoughts:

• I have no idea if this candle actually smells like a new Mac, but I do know that Apple really does care about what its products smell like when they’re unboxed. Every sense counts: sight, touch, smell, sound. (Maybe not taste, but still.) They actually do concern themselves with the aroma of the materials they use in their packaging. High-end retailers create branded scents for the air in their stores too — I’ll bet Apple does.

• Nobody makes a candle that smells like Google search.

Monday, 3 October 2016

Washington Post Feature on Cobalt Mining in the Congo ★

Terrific feature by The Washington Post on the treacherous small-scale mining for cobalt — an essential component of lithium-ion batteries — in the Congo. Here’s a bit on Apple’s role:

Apple, in response to questions from The Post, acknowledged that this cobalt has made its way into its batteries. The Cupertino, Calif.-based tech giant said that an estimated 20 percent of the cobalt it uses comes from Huayou Cobalt. Paula Pyers, a senior director at Apple in charge of supply-chain social responsibility, said the company plans to increase scrutiny of how all its cobalt is obtained. Pyers also said Apple is committed to working with Huayou Cobalt to clean up the supply chain and to addressing the underlying issues, such as extreme poverty, that result in harsh work conditions and child labor.

The whole story is fascinating and incredibly well-reported and illustrated. But you must watch the video shot by a creuseur (French for “digger”) descending into one of the mines. It’s so clearly dangerous and profoundly claustrophobic, I found it hard to breathe while watching.

Nick Bilton on Twitter as an Acquisition ★

Nick Bilton, writing for The Hive:

What happens next to Twitter is anyone’s guess. But I do know that, for the first time, Twitter now has a Plan B. A few months ago, while reporting a feature story about the future on the company for Vanity Fair, I asked a number of executives what might happen if Dorsey, who seemed like a Hail Mary option, couldn’t turn Twitter around. What was Plan B, I asked them? “There is no Plan B,” I was told. “This is it.”

I admired their fortitude, but there was no denying that an acquisition had to be the next option on the table. And one executive humored me in a guessing game about who the dream buyer might be. But after I ticked off all the usual suspects — Yahoo, Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft — that tried to buy Twitter years ago, in one way or another, I was met with the same resounding answer: “no.”

“Then who?” I asked this executive.

To which the executive replied, elusively, “It’s a small world after all.”

The Microsoft Band Is Dead ★

Chris Welch, writing for The Verge:

In a statement earlier this month, Microsoft insisted that it remains “deeply committed to supporting our customers and exploring the wearables space.” (HoloLens is technically a wearable, after all.) At the time, Microsoft also noted that the Band 2 was still actively being sold — but that’s no longer the case as of today. The Band’s software development kit, which allowed apps to be created for the device, has also been removed. Also in September, the company renamed its smartphone health app to Microsoft Band; that software remains available for existing users.

Honestly, I’d pretty much forgotten that the Band even existed. I think it was obviously a hobby for Microsoft, not a major initiative, but still, this is what a flop looks like.

Friday, 30 September 2016

David Wondrich: ‘How Pennsylvania Rye Whiskey Lost Its Way’ ★

David Wondrich:

Scan a menu in a craft cocktail bar and it’s a lead-pipe cinch you’ll find something on it made with rye — straight rye whiskey, that is, made right here in the United States. For drinkers under, say, 35, it’s even a given. But those of us older than that can recall the days when if you asked for a rye Manhattan they would give you something made with Canadian “rye,” which oddly enough can be made with no rye in it at all. Indeed, things got so bad that the whole category almost completely disappeared. The troubles really began at the turn of the century with World War I and Prohibition on the horizon and then they only got worse.

The story of Old Overholt, which I began in my last column, is really the story of the whole Mid-Atlantic rye whiskey industry, and of industrial America. The rise, the fall and the rebirth — it’s a history that to my knowledge has never been fully explored and needs to be for this style of whiskey to be more than a fad. Here is the full unabridged story of how rye whiskey, our first indigenous distilled spirit (it goes back to 1648) almost became a footnote in American history.

Fascinating story. I love rye whiskey (particularly in an Old-Fashioned), but I didn’t know any of this history.

The Omni Group Is Moving to Free Apps With In-App Purchases ★

Ken Case, The Omni Group:

The underlying problem, as noted above, is that downloading the app has a fixed cost. We’ve always set that cost to be the standard price of our app, leaving us no way to charge less. But what if we take a fresh look at this problem, and make our downloads free? You know, like every iPhone app in the Top Grossing List has already done? It’s not that they don’t sell anything — or they wouldn’t be on that list. They just don’t sell the original download. (Which we’ve never done on our own store either.)

With the original download free, we can implement any pricing options we want to offer customers through In-App Purchases. We can offer our standard unlocks of Standard and Pro, of course. But we can also offer a free 2-week trial which unlocks all of the features of Pro and Standard, letting you freely choose between them. We can offer a discounted upgrade to the new Standard. And we can offer free upgrades to the new versions to any customers who recently purchased the old app.

Well, I’m pleased to share that that’s exactly what we’re going to do — starting next month, with the App Store edition of OmniGraffle 7.

This is the future of productivity apps in the App Store.

A nifty side-effect of this change:

As a bonus, this free download of the app now also works as a free document viewer. You don’t have to buy anything to use the app as a document viewer; you can just dismiss the licensing dialog — in which case you’ll only be able to open documents in read-only mode. This means that our customers can send OmniGraffle documents to anyone who has a Mac, knowing that they’ll be able to download the latest OmniGraffle for free and view those documents.

USA Today’s Editorial Board: Trump Is ‘Unfit for the Presidency’ ★

USA Today:

In the 34-year history of USA Today, the Editorial Board has never taken sides in the presidential race. Instead, we’ve expressed opinions about the major issues and haven’t presumed to tell our readers, who have a variety of priorities and values, which choice is best for them. Because every presidential race is different, we revisit our no-endorsement policy every four years. We’ve never seen reason to alter our approach. Until now.

This year, the choice isn’t between two capable major party nominees who happen to have significant ideological differences. This year, one of the candidates — Republican nominee Donald Trump — is, by unanimous consensus of the Editorial Board, unfit for the presidency.

It really speaks volumes that a newspaper that has never endorsed a candidate for president in its history would see fit to speak out so vociferously. In the same way that whitespace can amplify a message in graphic design, USA Today’s decades of political neutrality amplifies their message against Trump. This is not a normal election.

See also: The Arizona Republic:

Since The Arizona Republic began publication in 1890, we have never endorsed a Democrat over a Republican for president. Never. This reflects a deep philosophical appreciation for conservative ideals and Republican principles.

This year is different.

The 2016 Republican candidate is not conservative and he is not qualified.

I don’t know how much effect any newspaper endorsement has on election results, but these ought to be more effective than Clinton endorsements from traditionally liberal editorial boards like those of The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Yours Truly on Jeff Veen’s ‘Presentable’ Podcast ★

Jeff Veen has a (relatively) new podcast about design called Presentable. He was kind enough to have me as his guest this week. I’ve known Jeff for a long time, and have always considered him one of the most thoughtful people in the business. I really thought that came across in his questions for me, and our discussion.

The Ill-Fated Tale of Phoneys, the Stupid Little Sticker Pack That Went #1 on the App Store ★

Adam Howell:

Wednesday night of this week, John Gruber wrote, “This is very clever, and I can see how it could be damn funny, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Phoneys gets pulled from the App Store.” Shortly after John’s post — I mean, you can’t buy press better than that, a post from Gruber about $.99 stickers so clever that Apple was sure to pull them? — Phoneys, the stupid little sticker pack I’d launched just a few days before, climbed to #1 Top Paid and #1 Top Grossing in the iMessage app store.

Thursday night, last night, Bill from Apple called me.

Interesting that Apple is giving him a week to change the sticker style. But I really think Apple had no choice. The idea of Phoneys is fun, but I don’t think Apple should allow pranks like this in the App Store.

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