Linked List: January 28, 2019

Monday, 28 January 2019

That November Rumor of a Low-Price Apple TV Dongle ★

Back in November, The Information reported that Apple was considering a low-price Apple TV dongle. Amazon, Roku, and Google all have dongles that cost $30-40 with 4K support. Apple TV starts at $150 and you have to pay $180 to get 4K support. For people who just want something to plug in the back of their TV to watch streaming video, Apple TV’s prices are exorbitant. Me, I love Apple TV, and the price is well worth it. But Apple’s getting their ass kicked in this market and the reason is price — it doesn’t look a little more expensive, it looks 4 times more expensive.

Given that Apple announced this month they’d be building support for iTunes TV shows and movies into smart TVs from Samsung, and that TVs from Sony, LG, and Vizio will include built-in support for AirPlay 2, of course it makes sense for Apple to make a low-price Apple TV dongle. Sell it for cost and make money on movies, TV shows, and subscriptions to Apple’s upcoming content service. Bang the marketing drum on the privacy angle — no tracking what you watch — and the fact that it doesn’t show you ads.

They should keep the excellent high-performance $200 Apple TV around, include a real controller in the box, and make a serious run at turning it into a successful gaming console. Free games — if you subscribe to Apple’s all-included subscription service.

Update: Think of an Apple TV dongle as the iPod Shuffle of Apple TVs — iPod Shuffles sold for as low as $49. Maybe they make a dongle that costs $69, but they offer it for $29 if you sign up for a year-long subscription to their original content subscription plan. Whatever it takes to make every recent TV out there a potential target for iTunes and Apple original content.

FaceTime Bug Lets You Hear the Audio of the Person You Are Calling Before They Pick Up ★

Benjamin Mayo, 9to5Mac:

Here’s how to do the iPhone FaceTime bug:

Start a FaceTime Video call with an iPhone contact.

Whilst the call is dialing, swipe up from the bottom of the screen and tap Add Person.

Add your own phone number in the Add Person screen.

You will then start a group FaceTime call including yourself and the audio of the person you originally called, even if they haven’t accepted the call yet.

It will look like in the UI like the other person has joined the group chat, but on their actual device it will still be ringing on the lockscreen.

You can get video too. What a nightmare bug. Apple told BuzzFeed a fix will be released “later this week”, but until then, if you get a FaceTime call, assume the caller can hear you before you answer.

Update: Last night Apple disabled Group FaceTime — the source of the bug — on the server side, so it appears it’s safe to use FaceTime until the bug fix ships.

How Apple Got Screwed Assembling the 2013 Mac Pros in the U.S. ★

Jack Nicas, reporting for The New York Times:

But when Apple began making the $3,000 computer in Austin, Tex., it struggled to find enough screws, according to three people who worked on the project and spoke on the condition of anonymity because of confidentiality agreements.

In China, Apple relied on factories that can produce vast quantities of custom screws on short notice. In Texas, where they say everything is bigger, it turned out the screw suppliers were not.

Tests of new versions of the computer were hamstrung because a 20-employee machine shop that Apple’s manufacturing contractor was relying on could produce at most 1,000 screws a day.

This is a perfect example of how Apple’s China-centered supply chain, built over two decades, is going to be hard to replicate anywhere else in the world — and even if it happens, it’s going to take time.

This part of the story I don’t get:

Another frustration with manufacturing in Texas: American workers won’t work around the clock. Chinese factories have shifts working at all hours, if necessary, and workers are sometimes even roused from their sleep to meet production goals. That was not an option in Texas.

All sorts of industries in the U.S. operate around the clock. Hospitals, police and fire departments, diners, and, yes manufacturing plants. Surely The New York Times itself has staff on duty 24/7/365. My dad spent his entire career, over three decades, working third shift as a train dispatcher for Conrail. There are people in the U.S. who work weekends, who work holidays, and who work overtime. I don’t know how this statement that “Americans won’t work around the clock” passed the Times’s copy desk.

‘High Flying Bird’ – Another Steven Soderbergh Movie Shot on iPhone ★

Richard Lackey, writing for Cinema5D:

Almost exactly a year ago we took a brief look at the motivations for Soderbergh’s current “shot on iPhone” trajectory, and some of the first stills from Unsane (his first project to be shot with iPhones), a psychological thriller starring Claire Foy, Joshua Leonard, Jay Pharoah, Juno Temple, Aimee Mullins, and Amy Irving.

Now he’s behind the iPhone again with High Flying Bird, an NBA drama starring Andre Holland and written by Oscar-winner Tarell Alvin McCraney, who co-wrote Moonlight with Barry Jenkins. The supporting cast includes Zazie Beetz, Zachary Quinto, Kyle MacLachlan, Bill Duke, Sonja Sohn, and Caleb McLaughlin.

Cheddar: Apple Considering Subscription Service for Games ★

Alex Heath, writing for Cheddar:

The service would function like Netflix for games, allowing users who pay a subscription fee to access a bundled list of titles. Apple began privately discussing a subscription service with game developers in the second half of 2018, said the people, all of whom requested anonymity to discuss unannounced plans.

It’s unclear how much the subscription will cost or what kind of games Apple will offer. The service is still in the early stages of development, and Apple could ultimately decide to abandon it.

There are three main types of entertainment media: music, video, and games. Apple already has a subscription service for music, we know for a fact that they’re full-steam ahead on original content for TV shows and movies, so it makes sense that they’d be looking at games too.

On mobile, Apple is clearly the dominant player in the industry. Surely any subscription gaming service from Apple would start — and perhaps end — with the iPhone and iPad. The Mac is perhaps further behind on PC gaming than it’s ever been. I don’t think that’s going to change. But Apple TV still strikes me as a missed opportunity, simply because it doesn’t ship with a gaming controller. Maybe this company-wide emphasis on services revenue is the thing that could make Apple reconsider that.