Linked List: June 10, 2017

Saturday, 10 June 2017

Field Notes 

My thanks to Field Notes for sponsoring this week’s DF feed (along with the display ad in the old Deck spot). Field Notes is offering two special kits for Father’s Day and they’re boxed up nice and ready to go. Each includes memo books, notebooks, and a hand-screened card. One features a matte, black Space Pen and the other a fine, limited-edition, hand-crafted rollerball pen.

They’re available through Tuesday, 13 June, and for U.S. addresses will arrive at dad’s house just before Father’s Day. A fantastic product and a great gift. (I would tell you that I’m ordering one for my dad, but he reads Daring Fireball and that would spoil the surprise.)

Apple Makes Major Podcast Updates 

Jason Snell:

Users will be able to download full seasons, and the Podcasts app will know if a podcast is intended to be listened to in chronological order — “start at the first episode!” — or if it’s more timely, where the most recent episode is the most important.

I’m excited by these changes because, yes, some of my podcasts are seasonal and are best consumed from the first episode onward. I’ll be adjusting my own podcast feeds to take advantage of Apple’s extensions as soon as it makes sense to do so.

The other big news out of today’s session is for podcasters (and presumably for podcast advertisers): Apple is opening up in-episode analytics of podcasts. For the most part, podcasters only really know when an episode’s MP3 file is downloaded. Beyond that, we can’t really tell if anyone listens to an episode, or how long they listen — only the apps know for sure.

I’m optimistic about Apple leading the way on these analytics, because they have a deserved reputation for respecting users’ privacy and no motivation to do anything intrusive.

Apple Introduces Core ML 

Otto Schnurr:

With Core ML, Apple has managed to achieve an equivalent of PDF for machine learning. With their .mlmodel format, the company is not venturing into the business of training models (at least not yet). Instead, they have rolled out a meticulously crafted red carpet for models that are already trained. It’s a carpet that deploys across their entire lineup of hardware.

As a business strategy, it’s shrewd. As a technical achievement, it’s stunning. It moves complex machine learning technology within reach of the average developer.

If it really turns out to be the PDF of machine learning, that’s quite an accomplishment.