Linked List: March 17, 2015

Tuesday, 17 March 2015

Rene Ritchie on Apple Pay Security FUD ★

Rene Ritchie, writing at iMore:

It’s important to keep saying that because publications keep making it a point to link Apple Pay and “fraud” in their headlines. It’s important because those publications are spreading fear, uncertainty, and doubt about Apple Pay, which makes mobile payments more accessible and secures the very data often used to actually commit fraud, to the people for whom it is most beneficial. That’s why, as the FUD keeps coming up, we’re going to keep addressing it.

The Verge: ‘Microsoft Is Killing Off the Internet Explorer Brand’ ★

Tom Warren, writing for The Verge:

While Microsoft has dropped hints that the Internet Explorer brand is going away, the software maker has now confirmed that it will use a new name for its upcoming browser successor, codenamed Project Spartan. Speaking at Microsoft Convergence yesterday, Microsoft’s marketing chief Chris Capossela revealed that the company is currently working on a new name and brand. “We’re now researching what the new brand, or the new name, for our browser should be in Windows 10,” said Capossela. “We’ll continue to have Internet Explorer, but we’ll also have a new browser called Project Spartan, which is codenamed Project Spartan. We have to name the thing.”

As a lifelong Mac user, my thoughts on “Internet Explorer” run to the Mac version. It was a lifeboat back in the late ’90s — a browser with reasonable performance and high-quality rendering and strong support for web standards. But it would sometimes wedge your entire machine. It was like browsing with a stick of dynamite that could go off at any moment. And remember the pre-Safari days on Mac OS X? The days of bringing down the whole system were over, but good lord was that thing ugly.

‘IP Box’ – Hardware Device Unlocks iPhone PINs by Brute Force ★

MDSec:

Although we’re still analyzing the device it appears to be relatively simple in that it simulates the PIN entry over the USB connection and sequentially bruteforces every possible PIN combination. That in itself is not unsurprising and has been known for some time. What is surprising however is that this still works even with the “Erase data after 10 attempts” configuration setting enabled. Our initial analysis indicates that the IP Box is able to bypass this restriction by connecting directly to the iPhone’s power source and aggressively cutting the power after each failed PIN attempt, but before the attempt has been synchronized to flash memory. As such, each PIN entry takes approximately 40 seconds, meaning that it would take up to ~111 hours to bruteforce a 4 digit PIN.

Dastardly clever attack. This only works with 4-digit numeric PINs, but that’s what most iPhone owners use.

The Steve Jobs You Didn’t Know ★

Heartbreaking excerpt from Rick Tetzeli and Brent Schlender’s upcoming book, Becoming Steve Jobs:

One afternoon, Cook left the house feeling so upset that he had his own blood tested. He found out that he, like Steve, had a rare blood type, and guessed that it might be the same. He started doing research, and learned that it is possible to transfer a portion of a living person’s liver to someone in need of a transplant. About 6,000 living-donor transplants are performed every year in the United States, and the rate of success for both donor and recipient is high. The liver is a regenerative organ. The portion transplanted into the recipient will grow to a functional size, and the portion of the liver that the donor gives up will also grow back.

Cook decided to undergo a battery of tests that determine if someone is healthy enough to be a living donor. “I thought he was going to die,” Cook explains. He went to a hospital far from the Bay Area, since he didn’t want to be recognized. The day after he returned from the trip, he went to visit Steve. Sitting alone with him in the bedroom of the Palo Alto house, Tim began to offer his liver to Steve. “I really wanted him to do it,” he remembers. “He cut me off at the legs, almost before the words were out of my mouth. ‘No,’ he said. ‘I’ll never let you do that. I’ll never do that!’ ”

If you read nothing else today, make it this.

DeNA, the Company Making Mobile Games With Nintendo, Specializes in Free-to-Play ★

Mike Fahey, writing for Kotaku:

This is a company the owners of beloved properties trust with their brands. Why? Because DeNA knows how to make free-to-play work.

Look at those two screenshots. Every one of the games there is free-to-play. Every one of them features in-app purchases. Several of them have been among the top-grossing free-to-play games in the world.

Many of DeNA and Mobage’s most popular games rely on collectible card tactics to make revenue, building on rampant success of Rage of Bahamut. Players are given certain items for free — trading cards, Transformers, G.I. Joe squad members — and can play though a large portion of each game using them, but to be competitive they must purchase a chance at a rare item using real money.

Sure hope Nintendo has the wherewithal to pursue this in a balanced, non-scammy way.

Update: Steve Lubitz captures my skepticism:

“Nintendo games on mobile” is to “games with Nintendo IP on mobile” as Assistant Regional Manager is to Assistant to the Regional Manager.

Nintendo Commits to Creating Mobile Games With New Partner DeNA ★

Emily Gera, reporting for Polygon:

Nintendo finally confirmed today it will be making the leap to mobile game development as part of a new partnership with DeNA.

According to a statement released by the companies today, new Nintendo IP will be developed for smart devices and specifically optimized for this platform. In other words, rather than porting games created specifically for the Wii U or the Nintendo 3DS you can expect entirely new titles on mobile.

Here’s Nintendo’s announcement of the deal. I’m not sure if it’s a Japanese-to-English translation issue or just dense corporate-ese on the part of Nintendo chief Satoru Iwata, but I found it difficult to parse.

Not sure what to make of this yet, but it sounds like they’re doing what I suggested back in 2013 (part one, part two). As I concluded then:

It’s a choice for Nintendo between playing the actual hand they’ve been dealt, crummy though it may be, or playing the hand they wish they held.

Strategies for Beats ★

Larry Sukernik:

The more competition exists, the more bargaining power the music labels have over steaming services. Since it is unlikely Apple will convince the labels to a lower price tier, Apple must find a different way to grow the Beats brand into the next iTunes. Here are some strategies I would advise Apple to partake with Beats (preferably more than one).

Serious question: How big a problem is it for Apple that they haven’t yet gained any traction in streaming music? For a decade, they were the undisputed leader in digital music. In the new world of subscriptions/streaming, that’s no longer true.

The Miniature Models of ‘Blade Runner’ ★

So great.

App Submissions on Google Play Now Reviewed by Staff ★

Sarah Perez, reporting for TechCrunch:

According to Purnima Kochikar, Director of Business Development for Google Play, Google has been working to implement the new app review system for over half a year. The idea, she says, was to figure out a way to catch policy offenders earlier in the process, without adding friction and delays to the app publishing process. To that end, Google has been successful, it seems — the new system actually went live a couple of months ago, and there have been no complaints. Today, Android apps are approved in hours, not days, despite the addition of human reviewers.

“We started reviewing all apps and games before they’re published — it’s rolled out 100%,” says Kochikcar. “And developers haven’t noticed the change.”

For comparison, Apple’s App Store approval times are currently running at around seven days.

Streaming TV Service From Apple Rumored ★

Keach Hagey, Shalini Ramachandran, and Daisuke Wakabayashi, reporting for the WSJ:

The technology giant is in talks with programmers to offer a slimmed-down bundle of TV networks this fall, according to people familiar with the matter. The service would have about 25 channels, anchored by broadcasters such as ABC, CBS and Fox and would be available on Apple devices such as the Apple TV, they said.

For now, the talks don’t involve NBCUniversal, owner of the NBC broadcast network and cable channels like USA and Bravo, because of a falling-out between Apple and NBCUniversal parent company Comcast Corp., the people familiar with the matter said. […]

Some media executives said they believed Apple was aiming to price the service at about $30 to $40 a month.

Interesting, but I suggest taking it with a WSJ “people familiar with the matter“-sized grain of salt.

Android Taxonomies ★

Benedict Evans:

“Android” means lots of different things, and there’s a lot of confusion about forks, Xiaomi, China and AOSP, as well as “the next billion”. So this is how I try to think about this. First, there are actually (at least) six types of “Android” in the market today.

Meeting the Target Market ★

Jack March:

The new Macbook Stealth is not a compromise, it’s just meeting its target market. The people who buy the MacBook Air need it because it’s incredibly lightweight, not for performance or productivity. If they want that then they should buy a MacBook Pro.

Right now the MacBook Air has lots of competition, it’s not the thinnest laptop in the world anymore and that’s losing them sales. The Primary USP of the MacBook Air is how thin it is, and that should be Apple’s main objective.

Prescient, given that March wrote this all the way back in January.

(My only quibble: Everything in design is a compromise. Of course the dearth of peripheral ports on the new MacBook is a compromise. What March is saying, and I agree with, is that it’s a smart, forward-thinking compromise.)

‘SPECTRE’ Teaser Poster ★

Nice watch strap.