Let’s Talk Apple – Ep. 44 (April 2017)


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Panel:

The show starts with a quick look at some Apple-related legal stories that made the news in April before moving on to look at the month’s notable Apple hirings. The four main stories are Apple’s Q2 2017 earnings call, Earth Day 2017, reports that Apple are working on an optical blood-glucose sensor, and Microsoft’s announcement of Windows 10 S and new Surface Laptop. The show finishes with a quick rundown of some other, shorter, Apple-related stories that made the news in April.

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!

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Legal Latest
  • Apple -v- Qualcomm
  • Apple -v- Samsung
    • A US Federal Appeals Court has partially sided with Apple in their appeal against the invalidation of part of one of the patents Samsung were found guilty of infringing, and for which Apple were awarded damages – arstechnica.com/…
Comings & Goings
  • Apple hires John Fenwick, (previous head of Google’s spacecraft operations) and Michael Trela (Google's head of satellite engineering) – www.macobserver.com/…
  • Apple hired Tim Dashwood, a cinematographer, and creator of VR and 3D plugins for Final Cut Pro X (Apple also make Tim's plugins free) – www.imore.com/… & www.fcp.co/…
  • Apple hired AR & VR expert Jeff Norris from NASA – www.macobserver.com/…
Main Stories
  1. Apple announce their Q2 2017 earnings – www.apple.com/…
    • The raw data – www.apple.com/…
    • A great summary of the call – www.imore.com/…
    • A transcript of Tim cook's contributions to the call – www.imore.com/…
    • 'Other' category (including AirPods, Apple Watch & Beats heaphones) now big enough to be a fortune 500 company – www.macobserver.com/…
      • Related – research by Creative Strategies and Experian finds that Apple's AirPods have a 98% customer satisfaction rating, and that users are exceptionally likely to recommend them to others – techpinions.com/…
      • Related – major apps drop Apple Watch support, and no one notices – appleinsider.com/…
  2. Earth Day 2017
    • Apple published its 2017 Environmental Responsibility Report. Apple is reducing its carbon footprint, including those of its suppliers – www.imore.com/…
    • Apple announced an ambitious goal of moving to closed-loop manufacturing – all raw materials would come from recycling, removing the need for any mining when building future hardware, but admits they don't know how they'll manage to do this yet – www.macobserver.com/… & arstechnica.com/…
    • Apple publish a collection of videos for Earth Day highlighting some of the company's environmental initiatives – www.imore.com/…
    • Apple SVP Lisa Jackson does an interview with John Gruber on his Talk Show podcast – daringfireball.net/…
  3. Apple reportedly running trials of a blood sugar sensor they have developed that doesn't require the skin to be broken – www.imore.com/… & www.macobserver.com/…
  4. Microsoft announce Windows 10 S & new Surface Laptops
    • Windows 10 S – www.theverge.com/…
      • Cut-down cheap version of Windows designed to run on low-end hardware – devices expected to start around $189 and go on sale this summer
      • Will be restricted to running apps from the Windows Store, but it will be possible to buy your way out of that restriction for $50 (doing so will void battery life promises on your hardware) – daringfireball.net/…
      • Targeted at the education market, with a focus on quick profile creation so first-time-login should only take about 15 seconds, and the OS comes with a free subscription to the education version of Mine Craft
      • Seen as a competitor to ChromeOS and ChromeBooks
    • Surface Laptop – starts at $999, and at first glance, appears to have great industrial design – www.macobserver.com/…
Quick Stories
  • Apple's car project becomes a little more visible as they are now testing a self-driving car system on California's public roads, and have had to file paperwork to get a permit to do that – uk.businessinsider.com/… & arstechnica.com/…
  • Apple have rolled out some changes to their physical stores, focusing on making the stores places where people come to hang out, and adding Today at Apple events – www.macobserver.com/… & www.cbsnews.com/…
  • Apple extends its repair coverage for swollen batteries on 1st generation Apple Watches to 3 years – www.macobserver.com/…
  • Apple make the iLife and iWork apps completely free – tidbits.com/…
  • Apple AI expert Tom Gruber spoke at TED 2017, focusing on the need for AI to help improve our lives – www.imore.com/…
  • The Internet Archive allows Classic Mac OS to be run from your browser – arstechnica.com/…

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