My friend Avril Orloff shared this beautiful quote on her facebook page.

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners. I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple of years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. 

A lot of people never get past this phase – they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know it’s normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work…

It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

We’ve tested several new Android phones, and the OnePlus 3 is now our favorite cheap flagship, rivaling phones that cost hundreds more. We liked the performance of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, but we don’t think anybody should use one until the ongoing recall is complete. [Best Android Phone]

Out on a windy, quasi-autumnal Sunday afternoon. A lovely, lively place.

Click image for a larger version

Some random notes on my secret project Mac app…

* * *

It’s very close to what I call the Minimally Usable Milestone (MUM). That doesn’t mean all the features are all there — or even that they’re all designed — but that you could use the app for its main purpose, if you don’t mind all the unfinished parts.

This is pretty exciting for me. What this means is that the app has good bones, and now it’s a matter of implementing commands, doing some side windows, that kind of thing. It’s still a ton of work, but it’s rewarding in a specific way: every bit of progress is something I can see and use. Up until now it’s mostly been programming-by-faith.

The app has taken a long time to get to this point for a few reasons. One is that I was working on two apps at the same time. I realized that it wasn’t realistic to do two — so I picked the one I wanted to do the most.

Another is that I work in bits and pieces — 15 minutes here and there, and when I’m lucky a few hours in a row on the weekend. As long as the work is steady I don’t lose context — and even 15 minutes a day adds up after a while (especially as you consider that some of the work is thinking work that happens in the shower, on the bus, and so on).

A third is that I have the luxury of shipping whenever, which means my process goes like this: write the code to understand the problem, then write it again now that I understand it. It’s not fast, but I do it this way because it’s super-important to me that I don’t have to do major surgery later. The bones, the foundation of the app, should need only minimal attention after 1.0.

* * *

I don’t know when the beta will be. I don’t know if it will be public or not. But it won’t go into beta until 1) there are no known crashing bugs, 2) there are no known bugs, and 3) it’s fast. (Of those three, the hard one is really #2.)

However, there will be testers who see it before it hits beta. I like early feedback. But even that is still a ways away.

* * *

All of the code at the app level is in Swift. There are about 10 frameworks (modules) that the app uses: some could conceivably be used in other apps, and others are app-specific. The oldest of these still has a bunch of Objective-C code, while newer modules are in Swift. It’s rare that I write a new line of Objective-C.

I like not just writing modular code but actually enforcing that by using actual modules. Though some modules may depend on lower-level modules, they’re each otherwise self-contained, with their own tests and so on. I like to be able to focus: I select the module in that popup in the Xcode toolbar, and then just work on it and forget about everything else.

* * *

I’ve found a simple organization pattern that I like for my Swift code.

• Properties at the top.
• Init methods
• Public or internal methods.
• Then a private extension. The public/internal methods can see into the extension, but nothing else can. (This way I never have to mark an individual func as private.)

I also make heavy use of // MARK: Whatever for organization.

I do not make separate extensions for protocol conformance methods. I tried it and it felt too busy. Instead I just have public/internal and then the private extension.

I also mark things as final all the damn time. Subclasses are the devil’s classes. I’m a big fan of protocol-oriented-programming.

And: my methods tend to be small. This is probably a function of my available time — I break things into smaller chunks, because I only have time for a small chunk. It’s probably also a function of my having to enlarge my font size in Xcode. Something in my brain responds to the actual physical on-screen size and not the number of lines of code.

* * *

I keep the app to-do list in OmniOutliner (which I work on at my day job), since app to-do lists are hierarchical. I’ve been using an outliner for this purpose since the ’90s, and OmniOutliner specifically for probably more than ten years. I have no idea if anybody else does this, but for me it works great.

I will use a bug tracker later, of course, but for now there’s no need. A big flat list would be unwieldy at this point. I need to see the structure of what needs to be done, and I need to expand and collapse so I can focus. (Obviously OmniFocus might also be good for this purpose.)

I use OmniOutliner very simply. Hide the toolbar. Hide the inspector. One column only. No status checkbox — I just delete lines as they’re completed (because otherwise they add noise).

* * *

Next up on the Secret Project Diary — I’m not sure when — I plan to write about the app I’m not doing. The one that got away.

Daniel Willingham, Sept 15, 2016

When both Daniel Willingham and  Joanne Jacobs storm the barricades over an article in the NY Times, I figure there's something to recommend it. And novelist Nicholson Baker's  Fortress of Tedium is a light romp through his own education at the School Without Walls and the contrasting eyeball-drenching monotony of a more traditional school. "In my experience, he writes, "very high-school subject, no matter how worthy and jazzy and thought-­ provoking it may have seemed to an earnest Common Corer, is stuffed into the curricular Veg-­ O-­ Matic, and out comes a nasty packet with grading rubrics on the back." Lovely. Willingham, ever with the scowl, cites  some  research that no self-respecting researcher would take as conclusive, quotes Baker as having said something he did not say (specifically, "The school that would have been perfect for me, would be perfect for everyone," which is nowhere to be found in the article), and then writes, "He cannot understand why high school must be so stifling and soulless." I can't understand it either. It probably has a lot to do with grouches like Willingham and Jacobs.

In midst of a crazy couple of weeks, some retail therapy and cool finds.

I’m most excited about The Napsack, a sleeping bag which you can also wear as a coat, from a company called Poler that has a lot of fun items, patterns, and colorways.

The Zolt Laptop Charger + Apple Macbook cable add-on is small and handy. The version I got previously from Kickstarter made a weird buzzing, this new model is quiet and works great. If you passed it before, worth trying now.

Snow Peak is an amazing Japanese camping brand. Some of their materials are so soft, and the titanium stuff is super light.

I’m always a sucker for the timelessness and quality of Will Leather Goods, some of their bags and backpacks are looking great these days, especially the Oaxacan line.

I’ve been liking this 3-port USB + USB-C charger from Aukey.

Via @Charlesarthur, a twitter thread from @nickbaum, one time project manager of Google Reader:

I realized this weekend that it’s my fault that @Google shut down Google Reader. /1

I was the PM from 06-07. We launched a major redesign that significantly changed our growth rate… but didn’t take us to “Google scale”. /2

I used to think it was unfair and short-sighted that Google didn’t give us enough resources to execute to our full potential. /3

… but as a founder, I know resources aren’t something you are owed or deserve. They’re something you earn. /4

I should have realized that not reaching ~100m actives was an existential threat, and worked to convince the team to focus 100% on that. /5

As a service, Google Reader allowed users to curate their own long form content stream by subscribing to web feeds (RSS, Atom). When it shut down, I moved my subscriptions over to feedly.com, where I still read them every day.

If, as the thread above suggests, Google isn’t interested in “free”, “public” services with less than 100m – 100 million – active users, it means that “useful for some”, even if that “some” counts in the tens of millions, just won’t cut it.

Such are the economics of scale, I guess…

100. million. active. users.

Reply to this post

Another great service that is effectively useless. 

• Google has launched a new service that has the potential to deliver incredible value to Google but the limitations of Android render this stroke of genius effectively useless.
• Google has updated its search app on Android such that it can now search for and categorise content and data within apps and services that it does not own.
• This provides the user with a useful tool for searching his device and gives Google the ability to collect data from Digital Life services that it does not own.
• This is a variant of Google’s Now on Tap service which allows context based search from anywhere on the device (see here).
• I have long believed that this is a stroke of genius as Google currently only has 41% coverage of the Digital Life pie but this feature allows Google to collect data as if it owned 100%.
• The net result will be greater understanding of its users and better targeting of its advertisements meaning higher prices, driving revenues and better margins.
• Unfortunately, this service requires low level changes to be made in the Android Open Source Package (AOSP) meaning that the device has to have version 6.0 (Marshmallow)or later in order for this service to work.
• The “in App” search also requires Marshmallow meaning that it will effectively be useless for several years to come.
• This is because although there are 920m Google Android users, only a tiny fraction of them have a device that runs Marshmallow.
• Furthermore, RFM research indicates that the vast majority of Android handsets cannot be upgraded to the next major release of Android meaning that to get Marshmallow the user needs to replace his device.
• This gives competing ecosystems plenty of time to study the innovation, download the source code, improve it and get it to market years ahead of Google.
• This is why I have long been of the opinion that Google is effectively doing competition on behalf of its competitors.
• Furthermore, it means that it will be at least 2 years before any real benefits of this new feature make themselves felt on Alphabet’s bottom line.
• By contrast, Apple is able to update over 90% of all its iOS devices within 3 months of a new version of the software becoming available.
• This is how Apple was able to launch Apple Music to 400m users within 3 months with the touch of a button.
• I have long believed that this situation, combined with the endemic fragmentation of Android is largely responsible for Google’s low Average Revenue Per User (ARPUs) on Android as well as the lower loyalty demonstrated by Android users.
• I can see only one solution to this problem which is for Google to take complete control of the Android software effectively removing new versions of the code from open source.
• This will allow Google to offer both a good user experience and also to ensure that improvements in its ecosystem are delivered to users in a timely manner.
• This in turn should bolster revenues from Android but I think that the market is already discounting these revenues in the valuation of Alphabet’s shares.
• This is why I remain cautious on the performance of Alphabet going forward and why I prefer Samsung, Microsoft, Baidu and even Apple from an investment standpoint.

CBC News, Sept 16, 2016

Students at the the University of Manitoba are being sent letters that demand payment and threaten huge sanctions over alleged copyright violations. "It's a tad frustrating when we see some of the messages that have content that really borders on extortion," said Joel  Gué nette, the University of Manitoba's copyright strategy manager. The university is advising students not to respond and not to pay the requested amount, because this may just spur the companies to ask for more money in the future. "In the past, Gué nette said, the school simply discarded the notices, but under the new legislation, the university  must forward them to students." All this is the result of new copyright laws that came into effect last year. "Gué nette said it's common for students to be threatened with multimillion-dollar lawsuits,  especially when the content is pornographic or 'perhaps more of a sensitive nature,' he said. The  maximum fine for copyright violation in Canada is  $5,000."

The Art of Beauty in Collaboration with Ryan Burke. Image courtesy of 29Rooms.

If you made it to 29Rooms this weekend, hopefully you brought your smartphone. The exhibit, organized by Refinery29, was a galaxy of art in 29 different spaces. From a fuzzy pink study to a bubble-filled green master bedroom, each wrapped visitors up in their own domain.

People were drawn directly into the installations, rather than simply viewing them from the outside. "We design events to create memorable moments IRL—thinking about all the senses," Piera Gelardi, co-founder of Refinery29, tells The Creators Project. "In tandem we think about how within our events visitors can create content of their own. So yes, that means putting thought into how each experience photographs and how a visitor could interact and take great selfies." Paradoxically, the goal is for visitors to share the exhibits with their circles online, where the majority of people will actually experience the event from someone else's feed.
 

 

A photo posted by AP (Ashley) Moline (@apmoline) on

Sep 9, 2016 at 8:44pm PDT

Many of the rooms don't just encourage selfies, but were designed specifically for them. There's the "Panda" ballpit by Diesel creative director Nicola Formichetti; the "You-Niverse" aura photos by Radiant Human where you leave with a portrait of yourself; and the "Wig Out" room, designed in collaboration with RuPaul, where viewers sit in a chair with a wig hanging over their head.

Taking selfies even becomes a political act at 29Rooms. People pose under a rainbow in the "Show Your Pride" room by Kate Moross. "We now experience images and media in so many new, more democratic ways," says Gelardi, viewing the selfie as a means of forcing new ideas of beauty into mainstream culture. "Selfies allow us to insert ourselves into the visual landscape and force representation to change."
 

 

A photo posted by @theurbanfind on

Sep 10, 2016 at 4:57am PDT

Snapping photos with the work is also a means of actively engaging with it, as opposed to passively staring. Signe Pierce, who created the "Come to Your Senses" room with hand-screened wallpaper company Flavor Paper, said she designed her peep-show installation with the idea of it being thoroughly interactive, and seflies were definitely a consideration in that respect. "It's strategic, but cool," Pierce tells us. One prominent feature of her piece is that mirrors cover everything; that ubiquitous surface of self reflection. "I think that the mirror's omnipresence is a literal reflection of the times we're currently in. It's an apt object for a generation that coined a new word for gazing at themselves."
 

 

A photo posted by Erin Li (@mserinli) on

Sep 9, 2016 at 8:54pm PDT

29Rooms isn't the only art event catering to selfie culture, museums around the country are creating installations and features that recognize the act's importance today in viewing art (though the selfie stick is often unwelcome). Academics have even coined the term "arties" for when people take selfies with a work of art. Their research indicates that while the average time spent viewing a piece remains the same, much of that time is now spent capturing just the right pic of their good side.
 

 

A photo posted by Gabrielle (@ms.glaz_goh) on

Sep 9, 2016 at 11:54pm PDT

Gelardi considers the rise of the selfie as a double-edged sword. "I have mixed feelings about it, honestly. When I see people posing for selfies in front of an artwork like Kara Walker’s Sugar Baby, I think selfies may the be the downfall of civilization," she says, referring to a large-scale sugar sculpture that was made in homage to unpaid and overworked laborers.

"On the other hand," says Gelardi, "I think the scavenger-like hunt for the perfect selfie can drive more people to seek out and engage with art, and become artists of their own."

See more of 29Rooms on Instagram or browse the hashtag #29rooms.

Related:

Aura Photography Brings Occult Art Back To NYC

Checking Patriarchy and Dogma Through the Art of the GIF

What's the Deal with the Selfie Generation?

#KissMyArs social media campaign poster, via

A lot went down this week in the weird and wild world of Art. Some things were more scandalous than others, some were just plain wacky—but all of them are worth knowing about. Without further ado:

+ Artists are speaking out about gender inequality surrounding Ars Electronica winners with a new social media crusade dubbed #KissMyArs. [The Guardian]

+ The 2016 Shanghai Biennale has revealed a full list of featured artist this year. The “Why Not Ask Again?"-themed exhibition will host artists like Sun Yuan & Peng Yu, Moinak Biswas, and Robin Meier. [Artforum]

+ Well known art critic David Hickey is walking away from the art world. In a recent announcement, the 71-year-old claimed he was retiring because the world of art has become “too obsessed with money and celebrity.” [Daily Mail]

View of the Dome Area leading up to the Apollo Recess at Sir John Soane’s, via

+ The Sir John Soane’s Museum in London is finally opening its doors tomorrow upon the completion of a $9 million renovation seven years in the making. [The Art Newspaper]

+ The Facebook AI Research group just released source code for cutting edge image recognition technology. [Research at Facebook]

+ 101-year-old painter Carmen Herrera has a new exhibition opening at the Whitney this month. [The Wall Street Journal]

+ Painter and philanthropist Daniel Simmons Jr., brother of D.M.C’s Rev. Run and Def Jam’s Russell Simmons, opened a community arts center in Philadelphia this weekend. [Philly.com]

+ Today, to help raise money for the Clinton campaign, Gagosian is hosting an Art for Hillary auction. The show includes work by Barbara Kruger, Jeff Koons, and Chuck Close. Minimum entry tickets start at $1,000. [Forbes]

An image of artist Marcel Duchamp’s “Porte-bouteilles,” via

+ Marcel Duchamp’s Porte-bouteilles, one of five surviving variants of the artist’s ‘ready-made’ sculptures, is going on sale next month at the Rauschenberg Foundation show. [The New York Times]

+ The Gagosian Gallery is planning to open a popup tattoo parlor at the New York Art Book Fair at MoMA PS1 in Long Island City. [ARTnews]

+ Miami’s Art Basel released a list of this year's participating curators, artists, and galleries. [artnet News]

+ 35 former art handlers, thought to be involved in the prestigious Drouot auction house scandal, were sentenced to up to 3 years in jail, with 18 months suspended. [Art Daily]

+ President Obama and the First Lady Michelle Obama are set to attend the dedication ceremony for the National Museum of African American History and Culture on September 24th. [The Washington Post]

Del Naja, who earlier this week denied he is Banksy, is pictured arriving at Bansky’s Dismaland last year, via

+ Robert ‘3D’ Del Naja, co-founder of English trip-hop group Massive Attack, denies rumors that he is Banksy. [Daily Mail]

+ The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs raised $1 million for an initiative that will help create more internship opportunities, and improve diversity within the city’s numerous cultural institutions. [The New York Times]

+ Barbra Streisand was named board chair of the new Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center site. [Billboard]

Did we miss any pressing art world stories? Let us know in the comments below!

Related:

$40 Jeff Koons, "Vagina Artist" Fined: Last Week in Art

Kanye Kissing Kanye: Last Week in Art

The Da Vinci Forgery: Last Week in Art

Poop Museums & Panama Papers: Last Week in Art

Almost two weeks after a voluntary recall was issued for the Galaxy Note 7 due to the phone’s explosion-prone 3,500 mAh battery, Samsung and Health Canada have announced an official recall.

The Note 7 went on sale in Canada on August 19th and was pulled globally on September 1st. To date, Samsung sold 2.5 million units but specific country numbers were omitted, however, Health Canada has, for the first time, revealed sales numbers from any Samsung device in Canada.

Health Canada notes in its release that “approximately 21,953 of the recalled smartphones were sold in Canada.”

In addition, while many of the cases of blown up Note 7 are in the United States, now at 70, Health Canada and Samsung Canada are reporting it has received one case of the battery overheating, but no injuries.

21,953 of the 2.5 million units sold within the thirteen day period represents approximately 1 percent of global sales.

The model numbers for the recalled Note 7 are SMN930WK64 (Black), SMN930WS64 (Silver), and SMN930WB64 (Blue).

Related: Samsung officially recalls Galaxy Note 7 devices

Solid rumours from Android Police that were backed up by tipster Evan Blass and Android Central have indicated that Google’s upcoming phones will eschew Nexus branding in favour of falling in line with the company’s Pixel brand.

Now those rumours seem all but confirmed with a leak of the forthcoming version of the Nexus Launcher showing that the software has been rebranded as the Pixel Launcher.

The leaked pictures come from ROM developer LlabTooFeR, and also reveal a version number beginning with 7.1, which likely indicates that the Pixel smartphones will launch with Android 7.1 Nougat.

Google's new Pixel Launcher. pic.twitter.com/g974gVOKzT

— LlabTooFeR (@LlabTooFeR) September 12, 2016

According to Android Police’s earlier article, the upcoming HTC-made Google devices code named ‘Sailfish’ and ‘Marlin’ will be launched under the names Pixel and Pixel XL, and will not feature any HTC branding.

The publication also wrote that according to a reliable source, the event unveiling those devices, along with a 4K Chromecast and Daydream VR viewer, would take place on October 4th.

Related: Google’s new smartphones may be called Pixel and Pixel XL, to be shown off on October 4

“Is the iPhone 7 worth upgrading to?”

This is the question I’ve been asked by friends, family and MobileSyrup readers since the somewhat controversial iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus were revealed.

It’s a difficult inquiry to respond to because while, yes, the iPhone 7 is a surprisingly significant upgrade over the 6s in many respects, it’s actually more so than some analysts expected: it’s water resistant, more powerful, sleeker and, as predicted, the tech giant has also killed the 3.5mm headphone jack.

Depending on your expectations, however, these upgrades might not be enough for you. Make no mistake, this is not a radical redesign of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus.

Similar to the jump between Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and the S7, the iPhone 7 is an incremental upgrade that solves most, but not all of the issues many people had with the iPhone 6s.

Now that both high-end Android phones and the iPhone have reached the age of maturity, game-changing features are poised to become more of a rarity. Welcome to the new era of iterative smartphone upgrades.

Specs

• iOS 10
• A10 Fusion chip with 64-bit architecture
• 2GB of RAM (iPhone 7) 3GB of RAM (iPhone 7 Plus)
• Capacity: 32GB, 128GB, 256GB
• 12 megapixel sensor, Optical Image Stabilizer, Wider f/1.8, 4K video recording at 30 fps
• FaceTime HD Camera: 7 megapixel, 1080p HD video recording
• Colours: Rose Gold, Gold, Silver, Black, Jet Black
• 138.3 mm x 67.1 mm x 7.1 mm (iPhone 7) 158.2 x 77.9 x 7.3mm (iPhone 7 Plus)
• Dual stereo speakers, Lightning connector
• Fingerprint sensor built into the new ‘Taptic Engine’ Home Button
• 4.7-inch retina HD display, 334 x 750 pixel resolution at 326 ppi (iPhone 7) 5.5-inch 1080 x 1920 pixel IPS dsiplay at 401 ppi (iPhone 7 Plus)
• 1960mAh battery (iPhone 7) 2,900mAh (iPhone 7 Plus)
• Rated IP67 under IEC standard 60529, water and dust resistant
• Touch ID fingerprint sensor, barometer, three-axis gyro, accelerometer, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor

Death of the 3.5mm headphone jack

Much of the narrative surrounding the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus revolves around Apple’s decision to kill the headphone jack, a port that for more than a century has provided an easy and ubiquitous way to connect audio devices, in favour of Lightning headphones and a Lightning to 3.5mm adapter that’s included in the box.

This shift has been seen by many as a slap in the face to consumers. Apple has a history of nixing aging technology from its devices, with the removal of the optical drive from most versions of its MacBook laptops being the most notable example. This resulted in thinner devices and consumers were able to see a visible tradeoff.

What makes removing the 3.5mm headphone jack from the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus more difficult to swallow, is the benefits from the port being dropped aren’t immediately apparent, which, has spurred conspiracy theorists and notable tech pundits to jump on the “Apple has digital audio DRM doomsday plans” commentary bandwagon.

Sure, battery life has been improved by two hours with the 7 and one hour with the 7 Plus, the phone now includes stereo speakers — which feature the best sound I’ve heard from a smartphone — but the benefits of dropping the jack aren’t immediately obvious and will likely be lost on the average consumer.

On the other hand, Apple also claims removing the headphone jack helped the company achieve IP67 water resistance certification for the device, which is likely true. However, both the Note 7 — which has recently been recalled — and the S7 and S7 Edge, arguably the iPhone’s main competitors in the high-end handset space, feature 3.5mm headphone jacks and are also IP68 waterproof, allowing the phones to be submerged in 1.5 meters of water for 30 minutes.

In comparison, the iPhone 7’s IP67 certification means the device can only be submerged one meter for 30 minutes. To the average user, the difference between the two competing devices’ water resistant certification means very little, though it’s interesting Samsung was able to achieve IP68 without removing the headphone jack.

Realistically, dropping the jack changes very little. If you’re an EarPod user, just use the lightning headphones included in the box. If you happen to own an expensive 3.5mm headset, leave them plugged into the included adapter and you’re good to go.

Of course, there are also Apple’s AirPod headphones, which unlike many people, I’m actually quite fond of, though their $230 CAD price tag is rather steep (we’ll be doing a separate story on Apple’s AirPods in the coming days). Of course, Apple’s headphones can no longer be used with other devices and for some, this could be a significant drawback.

Where Apple truly falters with the removal of the jack is the fact that the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus remain the same thickness as the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, 7.1mm and 7.3mm respectively. Motorola dropped the 3.5mm in the Moto Z in favour of USB-C, resulting in the thinnest smartphone of all time.

It would have been great if Apple made a similar size reduction with the 7 and 7 Plus, though the company is likely saving that move for the inevitable iPhone 8. It would have been great if Apple adopted USB-C rather than lightning for the iPhone 7, allowing the company to use the cross-platform standard, but given the Cupertino tech giant’s penchant for proprietary adapters, there’s no way that was ever going to happen.

For many, despite the rampant controversy surrounding the headphone jack being dropped, it’s really not that huge of an issue and while Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, saying that killing the headphone jack took “courage,” has transformed into an admittedly amusing running joke in the tech industry, sometimes aging technology really does need to be killed in order to push the industry forward.

It’s just unfortunately not clear yet where the tech industry is headed in this particular space.

3GS throwback

While Apple isn’t keen to admit it, the iPhone 7’s sleek new jet black colour looks like a throwback to the classic iPhone 3GS, which, as you might have expected, turns the phone into a smudge, grease and fingerprint magnet. While it hasn’t happened yet, I also predict the jet black iPhone 7 is a scratch magnet — Apple has already amusingly suggested consumers put the phone in a case. I far prefer the new matte black colour option over Jet Black, though it shows grease stains as well. The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus is also available in rose gold, gold and silver, with my personal favourite colour, space grey, being unfortunately jettisoned into the atmosphere this year.

Overall, the phone’s form factor is the same as it has been for the last few generations of the iPhone, though it does feature a few subtle differences.

The first thing most people will notice about the 7, apart from the 3.5mm headphone jack’s absence, is its new ‘Taptic Engine’ home button. Similar to the 2015 and 2016 MacBook, rather than a physical button, the iPhone 7’s Home Button subtly vibrates, with three distinct levels of intensity that can be altered in the settings.

At first, as I discussed in my hands-on, I loathed the Taptic Engine because it makes the entire base of the phone feel like it’s vibrating, similar to the haptic feedback featured in some Android phones but considerably more intense. However, over the course of the last few days, it’s grown on me considerably, especially when playing games and using apps that take advantage of the feature. Unlike traditional haptic feedback, Apple’s Taptic Engine more closely resembles the feel of touching physical buttons, a sensation I’ve never experienced before with a touchscreen.

Build wise, apart from the the headphone jack removal I discussed earlier, and cleverly hiding the 7’s antenna lines in the top and bottom of the phone, Apple’s latest iPhone, especially when looking at any colour variant that isn’t Black or Jet Black, looks nearly identical to the 6s.

It’s worth mentioning, however, that the camera bump now has a curve to it, with the phone’s body slanting into the shooter, as opposed to it sticking out a few millimeters like it did with iPhone 6s. While at first I wasn’t fond of this aesthetic shift, it quickly grew one me and gives the rear of the 7 a new, rounded look.

For me, one of the main issues surrounding the 7’s reveal is whether or not it stands up to the incredible aesthetic Samsung created with the Note 7’s linear lines and curved glass.

Unfortunately for Apple, despite the company’s best efforts, the fact that the phone still adopts the same form factor it’s clung to since the 6, results in it looking slightly dated when sitting beside the Note 7 and to a lesser extent, even the S7 and S7 Edge.

That’s not to say that the 7 doesn’t look sleek when compared to most other high-end handsets, but for me, Samsung has usurped Apple’s smartphone aesthetic crown by a small margin.

Under the hood

Moving to technical specs, the 7 and 7 Plus feature a variety upgrades over the 6s and 6s Plus, though it’s important to note that a number of key features haven’t changed.

For example, the 7 Plus measures in at 158.2mm x 77.9mm x 7.3mm, with the iPhone 6s Plus coming in at 158.1mm x 77.8mm x 7.1mm, making it actually thicker than its predecessor. In comparison, the 6s measure in at 138.3mm x 67.1mm x 7.1mm, with the 7 also coming in at 138.3mm x 67.1mm x 7.1mm.

The 7 Plus’ 1080 x 1920 401ppi IPS LCD display measures in at 5.5-inches just like last year’s phone, though the phone is 30 percent brighter now according to Apple and features 625 nits over the 500 nits in 6s Plus.

The 7 Plus is also slightly lighter at 188g over the 192g 6s Plus. The 7 is in the same situation, coming in at 4.7-inches with a 750 x 1334 pixel IPS LCD display and 326ppi, just like the 6s, though does feature a 30 percent brighter display. It also weighs 138g compared to its predecessor’s 143g.

In my experience, the 7 and 7 Plus’ screens look great, but also nearly identical to last year’s devices. I buy Apple’s claim that the screen is brighter and more vibrant, but the difference is negligible. It would have been great to see the tech giant finally opt for a quad HD screen like many of its Android competitors, but for most purposes, the added resolution is not necessary.

While the 7’s display and body dimensions remain nearly identical to the 6s, its processor has actually received a substantial upgrade. Apple says that its new A10 quad core Fusion processor is 40 percent faster than the 6s’ A9. While my time with the phone has been relatively limited, it handles high-end gaming, jumping between apps, and various intensive photography apps, with ease. Not once during my time with the iPhone 7 or 7 Plus have either phones lagged or slowed down.

The A10’s new quad core setup also has a stark division between its cores, with two being focused on high-end tasks like gaming, and then the remaining energy efficient pair of cores focused on everyday activities. While it’s difficult to know for sure, I think my smooth experienced with the phone, at least so far, is due to the Fusion chip’s new quad core setup. Apple also says that graphics performance has been improved by 50 percent over the A9 thank to its new silicon.

It’s also worth noting that the 7 features 2GB of RAM with the 7 Plus opting for 3GB (I ran benchmarks and doublechecked this spec). Coupled with the A10, the 7 Plus is benchmarking as one of the fastest smartphones on the market, exceeding even the 12.9-inch iPad Pro in terms of performance.

With all technical jargon aside, if you’re curious about the iPhone 7’s performance, rest assured — the phone is a beast.

Apple regains its camera dominance

The Note 7, S7 and S7 Edge, are the current kings of mobile photography, followed closely behind by Apple’s iPhone 6s and 6s Plus and a number of other smartphones. With the 7 and 7 Plus, Apple has successfully regained its camera throne, in part, due to the fact that the 7 now features image stabilization just like the 7 Plus, but also because of the 7 Plus’ new dual-camera setup.

We’ve seen dual-camera before in smartphones like the LG G5, upcoming LG V20 and the Leica-powered Huawei P9, which just like most of the Chinese company’s devices, isn’t coming to Canada. In the case of the 7 Plus, however, Apple has finally made the concept of a dual camera make sense.

Here’s how it works on a very basic level: the iPhone 7 Plus actually contains two cameras, a 27mm lens and a 56mm wide-angle shooter, with the former featuring optical 1x-zoom and the latter 2x-zoom. When shooting with the phone you can select between 1x or 2x optical zoom, and then all the way up to 10x digital.

Apple claims it has improved the clarity of photos that utilize digital zoom and while this is true, they still tend to be blurry and difficult to shoot. 2x optical shots, however, look spectacular. It may sound hard to believe, but 2x zoom actually makes a significant difference when shooting from a distance.

Overall image quality, whether you’re shooting with the iPhone 7 or 7 Plus, has been improved significantly thanks to both phones now featuring image stabilization — last year only the 6s Plus included IS — as well as a faster f/1.8 lens, allowing more light to hit the phone’s sensor. In comparison, the S7 features an f/1.7 lens.

The rear camera rocks a 12-megapixel shooter, the same amount of pixels as last year, with the front-facing camera being bumped up considerably, from a measly 5 megapixels in the 6s series, to 7, resulting in significantly better selfies.

A new image signal processor (ISP) that’s part of Apple’s new A10 chip, a Quad-LED True Tone Flash and new Wide Colour Capture, round out the experience. In practice, I found both the 7 and 7 Plus’ camera performance to be spectacular, with the handsets snapping vibrant, colourful photographs under almost any conditions, including extremely low light and notably even with the selfie shooter.

Unfortunately, the impressive depth-of-field iPhone 7 Plus feature the company showed off during its keynote is not yet available, though it’s coming in an update next month. It’s a shame this feature isn’t ready for launch because it could be a game changer, especially for those, like myself, who are tired of lugging their DSLR around all the time — get ready for ‘Bokeh.’

iOS 10’s Today View is spectacularly useful

On September 13th, iOS 10 drops on the every iPhone 5 and up, bringing a number of new features to the device. We’ve covered iOS 10 considerably a few weeks ago when the beta first launched and my thoughts about the operating system generally echo my view on the iPhone 7.

New features like Today View, which gives a brief overview of various widgets like Transit App, Weather and Calender, raise to wake, the ability to slide into the camera option and a revamped, significantly more useful Control Centre, are great. It’s worth noting that none of iOS 10’s new features are particularly mind blowing and that new third-party Siri voice integration remains somewhat sparse.

Also, as an avid photographer, it’s great that RAW support is coming to third-party photography apps, though only the 6s, 6s Plus and SE will be able to utilize the new feature. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to test out iOS 10’s new RAW support because no camera apps have released updates to support the file format.

An iterative future

Whether or not the iPhone 7 is for you will depend on your expectations and which current iOS device you’re using. If you’re still rocking a 6 or 5, the 40 percent increase in hardware power over the 6s with with the iPhone 7, could be reason alone to warrant an upgrade. Subtle new features like the home button’s new Taptic Engine and Stereo speakers, breathe new life into the aging overall design.

Still, it’s hard hard not to wonder what Apple has in store for the iPhone 8 given the 7’s incremental step forward.

Those hoping for a complete overhaul, which is still reportedly coming in the iPhone 8, will likely be disappointed with Apple’s ‘if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it’ approach with the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus.

The iPhone 7 is available in 32GB for $899, 128GB at $1,049 and 256GB at $1,159, and the iPhone 7 Plus is priced at $1,049 for the 32GB model, $1,179 for 128GB and finally, $1,309 for the 256GB iteration.

Pros

• Sleek new colour options (Jet black and Black)
• One of the most powerful smartphones on the market
• Taptic Engine is great
• Waterproof
• Camera is incredible, especially in the 7 Plus

Cons

• No headphone jack (for some, this is a dealbreaker)
• An iterative update
• Screen resolution has not been improved
• Jet Black is a fingerprint magnet

Related: iPhone 7 and 7 Plus hands-on: Death of the headphone jack

Kitchener-based Thalmic Labs, the wearable company most well-known for its Myo armband, has announced the opening of its San Francisco office as well as a new chief marketing officer.

Tara Kriese is the former senior director and head of marketing at Samsung Electronics America and joins the company at the San Francisco office as CMO during a period in which the company boasts it has “doubled in size” over the past year. Kriese has had 15 years of experience marketing in consumer tech and Samsung’s VR portfolio, including the Gear VR, Gear 360, and the Samsung VR service.

“Thalmic Labs has already revolutionized the wearable technology space with the introduction of gesture control technology and the Myo armband,” said Tara. “The company is eager to expand into new markets with a strong team of leaders and developers, and I am excited to utilize my experience in marketing emerging technologies to help Thalmic Labs in the next stage of its journey.”

For its San Francisco office, Thalmic Labs plans to hire for engineering, sales, marketing, and business development positions in San Francisco and will continue to hire in Waterloo.

“Tara is uniquely skilled at developing disruptive market opportunities, and we’re excited to begin leveraging her expertise as we take a big step in expanding the company,” said Stephen Lake, CEO and co-founder of Thalmic Labs. “She’s a leader in identifying new markets, segments, channels and trends, with expertise in emerging product categories as reflected in all her accomplishments in her career.”

Before joining Samsung, Kriese held various consumer and product marketing roles at Amazon, Microsoft and AOL.

In the midst of Samsung’s Note 7 debacle, the company announced its intention to sell its printer division to HP Inc for $1.05 billion.

The sale was reportedly approved by the company’s board of directors on September 12th, as part of an effort to concentrate on its core business areas. Samsung claims that its printer division employs approximately 6,000 people with production facilities in China and 50 sales offices around the world. The division reportedly generated $1.8 billion (2 trillion Korean won) in revenue in 2015.

HP has entered to acquire a 100 percent stake in the company, effective November 1st. The agreement states that Samsung will source printers from HP and continue to market in Korea under the Samsung brand.

Through this purchase, HP will gain 6,500 printing patents and 1,300 of the 6,000 employees, including researchers and engineers. HP claims it will attempt to replace “outdated” copiers with multifunction printers, including Samsung’s collection of A3 MFPs. 

Furthermore, Samsung will make an equity investment in HP of between $100 and $300 million through open market purchases.

This past week has been a tumultuous one for Samsung as the company’s latest flagship, the Note 7, encountered claims of explosive batteries around the world. Since then, the company has begun a billion dollar recall which allows owners of the phone to have it replaced with new one.

The company’s shares have fallen to their lowest level in over two months since the reports of exploding batteries began making their way across the internet. The recall is an unprecedented one for Samsung, and almost directly collided with the launch of Apple’s iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus last week.

HP on the other hand, split from its enterprise company HPE (Hewlett Packard Enterprises) ten months ago and already owned a 36 percent share in the 23 million units of hard copies peripherals sold this quarter. Samsung, the fourth largest vendor, only had a four percent share.

In general however, the demand for printing resources has decreased by over ten percent. The company reported in August that its overall revenues had decreased by 14.3 percent and its printer revenues by two percent.

The deal is expected to close within one year, pending shareholder approval.

Related: Samsung tells consumers to stop using the Note 7 immediately

Google released the iOS version of its VR camera app Cardboard Camera today, allowing iPhone users to take 3-D 360-degree panoramic pictures that can be viewed in mobile VR headsets like the Google Cardboard.

At the same time, the tech giant is launching another new feature for both versions of the app that lets users share virtual albums with anyone by generating a link that can be emailed, messaged or posted. Users can find the option to create this link in the share menu of their virtual albums.

Google also states that more than 5 million pictures have been taken with Cardboard Camera for Android so far, which was launched in December 2015.

Related: Make your own VR photos with Google’s new Cardboard Camera app

Images courtesy the artist

One of the more interesting aspects of data is that it can be turned into something else—even metamorphosed from one medium to a vastly different other. In All My Friends, experimental musician and sound artist Daniel Watkins turns image data into sonic data—but these aren’t just basic sounds. Watkins used all of his friends’ Facebook images and turned them into a cassette archive of piano compositions.

To do this, Watkins transferred the raw JPEG data from his friends’ profile pictures into a sound editing program and output the results as a WAV file. He then transferred the WAV file to MIDI, assigning piano and the interpretation method.

“This left me with 463 unique piano compositions derived from the raw data of these images of my friends,” Watkins tells The Creators Project. “I then transferred these composition onto individual cassette tapes creating a physical archive.”

“As an addendum I have also created, and hand bound several volumes of music notation derived from these compositions that will display alongside the archive,” he adds.

The 19-minute “Christina Santa Cruz” composition is rather dark, with the piano notes creating atonal drones. The space in and around the notes is filled in with the cassette tape’s magnetic crackle. The piece “Christopher Harris,” much shorter, at 1:45, is brighter and, one might say, jazzier, though no less foreboding. Hear both tracks here. 

Watkins says that the dubbing of the music onto cassette tapes gives the project a sculptural element. And for him it is another opportunity to “disrupt an otherwise literal medium”—portrait photography. In All My Friends, Watkins will be exhibiting the cassette tapes full of each friend’s sonic data, accompanied by the piano compositions.

“The translation from image to sound, and then from sound into sculpture makes for images that are rather bad at being images, but succeed because of the properties that arise from the act of translation,” says Watkins.Watkins will formally premiere All My Friends on February 25th, 2017 at Strathmore Gallery in Maryland. It will run through April 2nd.

Click here to see more of Daniel Watkins’ work.

Related:

[Premiere] David Lynch’s 'Factory Photographs' Get an Official Soundtrack

Eyes Control Light and Sound in a Cybernetic Feedback Experience

An Artist Turned Ayahuasca's Secrets into Sounds and Textile Art

From the Verge:

Ford … is acquiring Chariot, a private, crowdsourced shuttle service based in San Francisco, and is investing in Motivate, the largest operators of bike-share programs in the US. It also announced plans to set up a new division within the company tasked with advising cities directly about “mobility solutions,” CEO Mark Fields told The Verge Friday.

tl;dr: Databases are a very poor fit for any licensing scheme, like copyleft, that (1) is intended to encourage use by the entire world but also (2) wants to place requirements on that use. This is because of broken legal systems and the way data is used. Projects considering copyleft, or even mere attribution, for data, should consider other approaches instead.

I’ve been a user of copyleft/share-alike licenses for a long time, and even helped draft several of them, but I’ve come around to the point of view that copyleft is a poor fit for data. Unfortunately, I’ve been explaining this a lot lately, so I want to explain why in writing. This first post will focus on how the legal system around databases is broken. Later posts will focus on how databases are hard to license, and what we might do about it.

FOSS licensing, and particularly copyleft, relies on legal features database rights lack

Defenders of copyleft often have to point out that copyleft isn’t necessarily anti-copyright, because copyleft depends on copyright. This is true, of course, but the more I think about databases and open licensing, the more I think “copyleft depends on copyright” almost understates the case – global copyleft depends not just on “copyright”, but on very specific features of the international copyright system which database law lacks.

To put it in software terms, the underlying legal platform lacks the features necessary to reliably implement copyleft.

Consider some differences between the copyright system and database law:

• Maturity: Copyright has had 100 or so years as an international system to work out kinks like “what is a work” or “how do joint authors share rights?” Even software copyright law has existed for about 40 years. In contrast, database law in practice has existed for less  than 20 years, pretty much all of that in Europe, and I can count all the high court rulings on it on my fingers and toes. So key terms, like “substantial”, are pretty hard to define-courts and legislatures simply haven’t defined, or refined, the key concepts. This makes it very hard to write a general-purpose public license whose outcomes are predictable.

• Stability: Related to the previous point, copyright tends to change incrementally, as long-standing concepts are slowly adapted to new circumstances. (The gradual broadening of fair use in the Google era is a good example of this.) In contrast, since there are so few decisions, basically every decision about database law leads to upheaval. Open Source licenses tend to have a shelf-life of about ten years; good luck writing a database license that means the same thing in ten years as it does today!

• Global nature: Want to share copyrighted works with the entire world? Copyright (through the Berne Convention) has you covered. Want to share a database? Well, you can easily give it away to the whole world (probably!), but want to reliably put any conditions on that sharing? Good luck! You’ve now got to write a single contract that is enforceable in every jurisdiction, plus a license that works in the EU, Japan, South Korea, and Mexico. As an example again, “substantial” – used in both ODbL and CC 4.0 – is a term from the EU’s Database Directive, so good luck figuring out what it means in a contract in the US or within the context of Japan’s database law.

• Default rights: Eben Moglen has often pointed out that anyone who attacks the GPL is at a disadvantage, because if they somehow show that the license is legally invalid, then they get copyright’s “default”: which is to say, they don’t get anything. So they are forced to fight about the specific terms, rather than the validity of the license as a whole. In contrast, in much of the world (and certainly in the US), if you show that a database license is legally invalid, then you get database’s default: which is to say, you get everything. So someone who doesn’t want to follow the copyleft has very, very strong incentives to demolish your license altogether. (Unless, of course, the entire system shifts from underneath you to create a stronger default – like it may have in the EU with the Ryanair case.)

With all these differences, what starts off as hard (“write a general-purpose, public-facing license that requires sharing”) becomes insanely difficult in the database context. Key goals of a general-purpose, public license – global, predictable, reliable – are very hard to do.

In  upcoming posts, I’ll try to explain why, even if it were possible to write such a license from a legal perspective, it might not be a good idea because of how databases are used.

Inside Higfher Ed, Sept 15, 2016

The collapse of ITT Technical Institutes' chain of schools in the United States should counsel as warning about the perils of privatizing education. "U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, at the time of the Education Department action, compared ITT to the Corinthian chain, which collapsed amid federal and state scrutiny. 'For too long, ITT Tech and its executives have gotten rich off taxpayers while misleading and taking advantage of their students with Corinthian-style deceptive and abusive practices.'" Business as usual. The closure involves 130 campuses, 40,000 students and 8,000 employees. A ton of links, via Trace Urdan's excellent newsletter from Credit Suisse:

• ITT Tech Isn’ t Just a College Scandal. It Also Ran Charter Schools — and Left Teens Scrambling -- The 74 (9/12/16) Link
• After ITT Tech’ s Collapse, Other Colleges Try to Pick Up the Pieces -- Chronicle of Higher Education (9/9/16) Link
• ITT Tech Facing Lawsuits From Employees  -- Inside Higher Ed (9/9/16) Link
• Is the Federal Government Trying to Take Down the For Profit College Industry – Washington Post (9/8/16) Link
• Coding Dojo, Colleges Offer Scholarships In Response of ITT Tech Closure -- EdSurge (9/8/16) Link
• Downfall of ITT Technical Institutes Was a Long Time in the Making -- New York Times (9/7/16) Link
• The ‘ Institutional Ethnography’ That Led to ITT Tech’ s Collapse -- EdSurge (9/7/16) Link
• Options for ITT Tech students left in debt, without degrees -- WTVC (9/7/16) Link
• ITT Educational employees file lawsuit over sudden terminations -- Indianapolis Star Tribune (9/7/16) Link
• Analyst: Why Arizona's 3 largest for-profit schools likely won't share ITT's fate -- Phoenix Business Journal (9/7/16) Link
• As For-Profit ITT Announces Closure, Thousands of Students and Employees Face Uncertainty -- Chronicle of Higher Education (9/7/16) Link
• The End for ITT Tech – Inside Higher Ed (9/7/16) Link
• ITT Technical Institute Students Chart a Difficult Course  -- Wall Street Journal (9/7/16) Link
• Accreditation Trouble for ITT’ s Daniel Webster College – Inside Higher Ed (9/6/16) Link
• ITT Tech shutdown could cost taxpayers nearly $500M -- Politico (9/6/16) Link
• After Losing Aid for New Students, Giant For-Profit ITT Will Close All Its Campuses  -- Chronicle of Higher Education (9/6/16) Link
• Are ITT Alternatives Much Better? -- Cato (9/6/16) Link
• ITT Technical Institute Shuts Down After Government Cut Off New Funding -- Wall Street Journal (9/6/16) Link
• A Message from the Secretary of Education to ITT Students -- Homeroom (9/6/16) Link
• ITT Executives Have Only Themselves to Blame for the Company’ s Demise -- New America (9/6/16) Link

Next time you're considering the cost of public education as compared to the private sector, consider these costs.

Last week, the OPP announced it handed out an astonishing 800 distracted/inattentive driving charges over the three day period during Labour Day weekend. This brought the yearly total to a staggering ,8,800 fines relating to distracted driving.

A video has surfaced showing a TTC bus driver using his smartphone while driving, which is against the law. The video clip is only 12-seconds and it was reportedly captured on Friday afternoon in Scarborough.

TTC spokesperson Brad Ross stated disciplinary action against the driver is underway, which is either suspension or dismissal. “This is a very serious matter and the TTC is treating it as such given the enormous responsibility it has for the safety of its customers and all road users,” said Ross.

Using your handheld device — such as a smartphone, tablet, laptop, MP3, or DVD player — while driving was banned in 2009 and fines are now a minimum of $490.

Hello Mozillians!

As you may already know, last Friday – September 9th – we held a new Testday event, for Firefox 50.0 Aurora.

Thank you all for helping us making Mozilla a better place – Iryna Thompson, Survesh, Subhrajyoti, Kumaraguru, Karthikeyan, Nilima, gaby2300, Moin Shaikh.

From Bangladesh:  Nazir Ahmed Sabbir, Rezaul Huque Nayeem, Samad Talukder, Asif Mahmud Shuvo, Kazi Nuzhat Tasnem, Sajedul Islam, Md.Majedul islam, Mohammad Abidur Rahman Chowdhury, Raihan Ali, Niaz Bhuiyan Asif, Sufi Ahmed Hamim, Saheda Reza Antora, Toki Yasir, Md. Almas Hossain, Nashrif Mahmud, Maruf Rahman.

A big thank you goes out to all our active moderators too!

Results:

• there were 18 verified bugs:  
  • 1239372, 1288730, 1289067, 1281959, 1279120, 877856, 1279476, 1116787, 1277026, 1292049, 1204366, 1276468, 1286854, 1286511, 1283998,  1036815, 1109146, 1120967
• there was 1 new issue found:
  • 1301616
• some failures were mentioned in the etherpad; therefore, please add the requested details in the etherpad or, even better, join us on #qa IRC channel and let’s figure them out        

Keep an eye on QMO for upcoming events!