How to create your own iPhone-15-inspired ‘Action button’ on Android

September 22, 2023

If you’re reading this column, odds are, you don’t have a lot of iPhone envy.

Believe me, I’m right there with ya. But much as we may enjoy the (ahem) greener pastures here in the land o’ Googley matters, every now and then, Apple does come up with a genuinely interesting idea for its iPhone devotees.

And amidst all the magical and revolutionary blathering at last week’s iPhone 15 event, one such intriguing addition made its way to the surface. It’s a new “Action button” that sits on the side of the iPhone 15 Pro, exclusively, and is able to summon a single specific command of the phone-owner’s choosing.

It really is a clever concept — ’cause for all our focus on on-screen actions, there’s something to be said for a simple physical switch. It’s always there and available, and you can find it without any thought or effort and keep a common command at your fingertips for easy ongoing access.

And here’s a little secret: You don’t need Apple’s latest iGizmo to enjoy such an advantage. In fact, you can create a similar sort of setup on any Android phone you’re using — with even more flexibility, power, and potential in place.

[Want even more advanced Android knowledge? Check out my free Android Shortcut Supercourse to learn tons of time-saving tricks for your phone.]

Let me show you how.

Your Android ‘Action button’ adventure

Before we dive into the specifics, take a second to enjoy a quick bite of delicious irony with me: It’s the very fact that Android allows a more open approach to device ownership that empowers us to not only emulate but actually one up the latest and greatest feature Apple’s offering on its top-of-the-line device.

Unlike iOS, where the entire experience of using an iDevice is tightly controlled and you’re permitted only to navigate around your phone in the way that Apple thinks you should, here on Android, you’ve got all sorts of options. You can make things work in practically any way you want, and the app developer community is encouraged to create tools to support that level of flexibility and customization.

It’s that exact philosophy that makes this trick possible — and, specifically, it’s a spectacular little app called Key Mapper that helps makes it happen.

In the simplest possible terms, Key Mapper lets you assign extra actions to any physical button on your phone. So even without having a dedicated and space-required “Action button,” we can use it to create the same basic idea within any of your existing buttons — like the power and volume keys. And we can take things much further than what Apple allows and assign all sorts of advanced custom actions to those areas for on-demand access.

For example:

You could make it so that long-pressing your phone’s volume-down button summons Google Assistant and long-pressing volume-up opens your system settings or maybe an app you access often.
You could tell Key Mapper to make those functions available only when media isn’t actively playing, to avoid any potential conflict with an actual volume adjustment.
You could then create different shortcuts for when media is playing — maybe having a long-press of the volume-up key skip to the previous track in the current playlist and a long-press of the volume-down key skip to the next track.
You can even map actions to advanced key combinations, like having a quick press of the volume-up button followed by volume-down toggle your device’s flashlight.

The possibilities are practically endless, as are the available actions — a sprawling list of virtually any command imaginable that makes the iPhone’s seven supported options look quaint in comparison.

So, ready to get your custom Android “Action button” set up and running? It’s actually quite easy.

The Android ‘Action button’ steps

All right — here we go:

Install Key Mapper from the Play Store. It’s completely free, and while it does require some deep system permissions to operate, it doesn’t share, sell, or do anything shady with data — and it’s open source, too, so anyone can look at the actual underlying code and confirm that it’s telling the truth.
Open the app and follow the prompts to allow it the necessary forms of access (which genuinely are needed in order for the app to be able to detect your physical button presses and map them to different actions).
Once you’re on the app’s main screen, tap the plus icon in the bottom-center area.
Now tap the red Record Trigger button and press either your volume-up or volume-down button.
On the next screen, change the option toward the bottom from “Short press” to either “Long press” or “Double press” (as otherwise, the action you create here will take the place of a standard short-press of your volume button and prevent you from actually changing the volume — which you obviously wouldn’t want!).
Last but not least, tap “Actions” at the top of the screen, then tap the Add Action button and select whatever action you desire.

It’s possible the app may prompt you to grant another permission, depending on what specific action you select. With anything involving Do Not Disturb, for instance, Key Mapper has to have access to modify that setting before it can make anything happen. If you see any such prompt on the screen after you’ve selected your action, tap it and follow the steps to do what it needs.

Now, if you really want to get fancy, you can tap “Constraints” at the top of the screen and create specific limitations for when your new function will work — like with the media playing example from a minute ago — and you can tap “Options” to look through some advanced settings like controlling exactly how long you have to hold the button for a long-press to be registered.

But the basics are now in place, and once you’re ready to get your rule active, you can just tap the floppy disk icon in the lower-right corner of the screen to save it.

If you want to create additional commands for other volume-key long-press or double-press actions, just follow those same steps to add ’em into the mix. You can also record triggers that involve multiple key presses, either simultaneously or in succession, to expand your options even further.

All that’s left is to get yourself in the habit of using your snazzy new Android “Action button” shortcuts — and to resist the urge to show off your newfound powers to your iPhone-totin’ comrades too much.

Get even more advanced shortcut knowledge with my free Android Shortcut Supercourse. You’ll learn tons of time-saving tricks for your phone!

Cisco: Macs in business boost productivity and security, cuts costs

Jeanette Box

September 21, 2023

Mac adoption in the enterprise isn’t just about giving employees hardware options, according to Cisco CIO Fletcher Previn. It’s a business imperative — and many companies agree.

Previn spoke at this week’s Jamf Nation User Conference (JNUC), where he explained that migrating to Apple hardware boosts productivity, enhances security, and can trim ownership costs. And he has the evidence to back the claim up.

The former IBM CIO talked up many of the benefits of the platform following mass deployments there. Now in the same role at Cisco, his requirements have become even more security conscious — but the Apple benefits remain the same. The 12-month-old Mac@Cisco program gives 130,000 employees choice.

Previn was at JNUC to share details about Cisco’s Mac transition on the eve of Cisco’s announced takeover of cybersecurity specialist Splunk.

Cisco releases TCO tool for IT to make its own decisions

To arrive at some of these conclusions, Cisco built a tool to enumerate and assess differences between installed kit to get a credible cost of ownership figure. To help other businesses considering Mac adoption, Cisco also made its own Total Cost Ownership (TCO) Calculator available for Mac admins everywhere to download and use.

The tool will help them figure out the TCO for Mac and Windows end user computing devices such as laptops and desktops. The open-source application, built by a team with experience managing three huge enterprises, is available here.

“At Cisco, we are reimagining the Mac experience to support, engage, and empower employees to do their best work, and we appreciate offerings like Jamf Pro as we’ve rolled out our robust employee choice program to our global, hybrid workforce,” said Previn.

When given that choice, 60% of Cisco employees use a Mac today, with 24% switching to Mac from PC when they upgrade their devices. In addition to that, 88% of employees coming from companies Cisco acquires are already using Macs, he said.

Significant productivity benefits

That’s great from an employee choice point of view. At Cisco, team members using both a Mac and an iPhone had an 83% satisfaction rating with IT. It is clear that Mac adoption is growing.

But what benefits might other companies see by making the move? Previn shared Cisco data that showed sales teams using Macs outperform their PC counterparts, with 9.8% more deals created, 10.9% more bookings achieved, and 9.9% faster times to close a deal.

Software engineers generate nearly 11.5% more code when using a Mac, he said.

The existence of these benefits is not new. He identified similar benefits while leading the Mac transition at IBM, when he said: “Now, I don’t know if better employees want Macs, or giving Macs to employees makes them better. You got to be careful about cause and effect — but there seems to be a lot of corroborating evidence that says you want to have a choice program.”

The visible security benefits

Security is essential, particularly at a huge networking company such as Cisco. And Apple security tends to lead the industry. Does this show up when using Macs in business?

It does. Previn said that across the tens of thousands of Cisco employees, Mac users experience almost five times fewer cyberthreats and nine times fewer virus issues than PCs.

Many companies face challenges convincing staffers to adopt biometric security. But once you get people working with Macs, Previn found that 89% of his employees were using that kind of security, compared to just 29% of PC users.

(He noted that Windows users described the experience of setting up Windows Hello as “complicated,” adding that people were concerned at the security of their information when they do use it. This was not a challenge with Apple’s Touch ID.)

A strong cost argument to switch

Previn has famously said that Macs are a lot less expensive in the long run, despite the initial cost. This was certainly his experience at IBM. It is also his experience at Cisco.

Previn told JNUC that a Mac is actually $148-$395 less expensive to run than a Windows PC at Cisco over three years, depending on the hardware model. What that means is that once you consider software, support, and other capital costs, the Mac works out to be a better deal, despite the feeling that they cost more to purchase.

These TCO economies are wide and reflect all the many costs that contribute to fleet management. Take software updates, for example. He noted that the process of upgrading PCs to Windows 11 across the company had to be staggered over six-months. With macOS Ventura, it took just one. That alone cuts tech support costs.

Cause and effect?

Previn also said that at Cisco, it takes 33% fewer engineers to manage the Macs.

Breaking down the prejudice

We’ve all encountered people who continue to believe there are tasks Windows PCs can do that Macs cannot. That may even sometimes be true, particularly when handling legacy applications. But most of the time this is not actually the case, said Previn.

He explained that while some people still believe the Mac won’t run the software they need, in his experience this is not the case. Just because some people still think that way, doesn’t make it true, and the benefits of migration justify the need to overcome such resistance.

Please follow me on Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.

Got a Google Pixel Fold or Pixel Tablet? Find this secret setting this second

Jeanette Box

September 20, 2023

Google’s Pixel Fold and Pixel Tablet may not look like siblings, but the two 2023 flagship Android offerings actually have a surprising amount in common.

And i’s not just that they’re the first Pixel devices in their respective categories of folding phones and tablets, either. Nope: When you use the two products side by side, you quickly realize that they share plenty of DNA within the evolved Android setup they showcase and the overall user experience they provide. And that extends all the way to their relatively unusual unlocking mechanisms.

Both the Pixel Fold and Pixel Tablet, y’see, rely on a power-button-based fingerprint sensor instead of the more typical in-screen sensor other recent Pixels possess or even the rear-facing sensor from Pixel phones past. It’s a fine enough system, but with one teensy tweak, it can be made immeasurably more effective.

Best of all? The enhancement will take you roughly 20 seconds to pull off — and once you do it, you’ll never actively think about the change again.

[Psst: Want even more Pixel magic? Check out my free Pixel Academy e-course to discover all sorts of advanced intelligence lurking within your favorite Pixel device!]

20 seconds to a smarter Pixel Fold or Pixel Tablet

Start the clock, my fellow Pixel appreciator — here it is:

Both the Pixel Fold and the Pixel Tablet sport an out-of-sight, deeply buried setting that forces their fingerprint sensor to remain active all the time — even when your screen is off. That means you can save yourself a step and simply tap your finger to the device’s power button to simultaneously wake it up and unlock it, in one fell swoop, which is far swifter and more convenient than having to first wake the screen and then do the unlocking dance.

And it couldn’t be much easier to activate, once you know where to look:

On either the Pixel Fold or the Pixel Tablet, start by opening up your system settings (by swiping down twice from the top of the screen and then tapping the gear-shaped settings icon in the lower-right corner of the notification pulldown).
Tap “Security & privacy,” then “Device unlock.”
Tap “Face & Fingerprint Unlock.” Confirm your pattern, PIN, or password when prompted.
Now tap “Fingerprint Unlock.” (I told you this thing was buried, didn’t I?!)
Last but not least, look for a toggle at the bottom of the screen that’s labeled “Touch to unlock anytime” and flip it into the on position.

That’s it! Now, to test out your newfound speed-unlocking superpower, press your Pixel Fold or Pixel Tablet’s power button once to turn off its display, then gently tap the tip of your finger to the power button a second later without pressing. (That’s the trick to getting these power button fingerprint sensors to work well, by the way — gently tapping without applying much pressure.)

And just like that, your Pixel Fold or Pixel Tablet’s screen should light up and the system should recognize your appendage and let you in, all in that one single and seamless step.

Ahh…isn’t efficiency satisfying?!

Don’t let yourself miss an ounce of Pixel magic. Sign up for my free Pixel Academy e-course and discover tons of hidden features and time-saving tricks for your favorite Pixel gadget.

Jamf touts Jamf Pro 11 at JNUC, its annual Apple IT admin event

Jeanette Box

September 19, 2023

Now in its 14th year, the world’s biggest event for IT admins who manage Apple hardware, the Jamf Nation User Conference kicks off today in Austin, Texas with Apple-related insights from Cisco, Google, Microsoft, and other big names in tech management and integration.

MacPaw, Okta, Mac Stadium, and many other important vendors in the space are also on tap at the hybrid show.

Now with a new CEO

Following the retirement of former CEO Dean Hager, new CEO John Strosahl, holds true to the company mission: “We are so confident in Apple’s continued success that we believe Apple will flip the market over the next decade and be the No. 1 end-user technology used in the enterprise,” Strosahl said in a statement.

The event sees several improvements to existing products:

Jamf Pro 11 arrives

The latest iteration of the company’s suite for fleet management, Jamf Pro 11 gains an improved user interface, better accessibility tools, and support for Declarative Device Management.

It also includes new software update management workflows so IT can schedule and enforce the installation of software updates on managed devices. Jamf confirmed its system will also support Account Driven Device Enrollment, which will be available later for Macs and iOS/iPad OS devices.

Tools for Zero Trust

In the current security environment, identity and security are even greater considerations than before. With this in mind, the identity and access management tools in Jamf Connect have been beefed up with support for Zero Trust Network Access. This helps secure access to cloud and on-premises corporate data when remote employees use Apple devices.

The idea behind this is that the security is more robust than what you get with a VPN, while also being cheaper and more secure, according to the company.

Compliance management

The company also offers Jamf Protect, which helps secure devices while also managing compliance. In the latest iteration, admins can monitor compliance across their environment at a glance. Compliance detail extends to visibility of which apps and OS version in use across those environments are impacted by known Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs). Then admins can choose how to act, including through remote implementation of Apple’s Rapid Security Response routine.

You will be protected by robots

Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere and Jamf expects to make use of these technologies to enhance system security. At JNUC, the company discussed how it sees AI being integrated into security products, particularly around on-spot analyses of detailed raw telemetry and security alert data.

The idea here is that AI can continuously monitor for signs of attack and will alert IT when an attack is identified. The solution Jamf is building is sufficiently smart it can suggest ways to mitigate against identified threats. The company has also introduced its first tech support bots for its admin users.

Jamf acquired some of the components for these forms of protection in recent years. In 2021, it purchased tools from cmdSecurity. Those collect and stream macOS telemetry data to security and incident-event management (or other) logging tools. In 2022, it acquired ZecOps, and introduced an Executive Threat Protection feature that makes use of such features earlier this year.

The idea Jamf is working towards combines always-on security monitoring with ease of use for the people using the devices, and privacy for their personal use.

For enterprises, this security model promises protection outside the perimeter and fast insight if systems, even remote systems, are under attack — and if those attacks may be coordinated.

Office access

The company already partners with SwiftConnect to create an employee badge tech that lets people use badge entry systems to access enterprise buildings using an iPhone or Apple Watch. This system has now been improved so IT can temporarily disable a badge if a device goes beyond full security compliance.

The ultimate mass deployment market

Education remains the biggest space for large-scale Apple device deployments. Think about the thousands of pupils entering as new intake in a very short space of time each year. The sector is home to some of the most challenging mass deployments of Apple hardware, so it’s natural that Jamf introduced a new user interface and additional features within the suite of apps it offers in that sector. These include app installers, content filtering, and support for the US StateRAMP system designed to bring districts into compliance with state and local security policy.

Expect more from JNUC

I expect lots more news for Apple enterprise professionals will emerge from JNUC during the week, particularly as former IBM, now Cisco, CIO Fletcher Previn is expected to discuss what Cisco found during its own large-scale Mac deployments.

Please follow me on Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.

Apple again upsells users to the iPhone 15 Pro Max

Jeanette Box

September 18, 2023

Apple once again appears to have upsold the world to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, and while demand once again exceeded supply when orders began Friday, somewhere in Cupertino the bubbly was likely flowing as the company’s initial stockpile of the iPhone Pro Max sold out in minutes.

While that’s not exactly unusual at this point in Cupertino’s growing season, what is unusual is that it shows Apple’s most important annual gamble just paid off. The company has upsold the planet all over again and figured out how to make its highest-end device the one that real human beings want most of all, and made its price feel acceptable.

Good will finding

Backtrack just a little and this is what happened: Apple announced its new iPhone less than one week ago and has successfully convinced millions of people worldwide to purchase the most expensive model in its new range.

Did this really happen? Here’s what makes it look like it did:

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo cites his own industry checks that confirm robust demand for the company’s most expensive smartphone. He claims demand for the Pro Max is greater than for the equivalent model last year, though iPhone 15 Pro sales are a little weaker. More people are choosing the top-end device.
Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives says the “iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max is tracking strong out the gates,” citing pre-orders on the range as up by 10% to 12% on last year.
Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and others seemed to agree. Many noted the range of carrier promotions (opaque as some turn out to be) to help raise interest.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman thinks Apple will exceed last year’s December quarter revenue.

You don’t need a periscopic camera to zoom in on the significance of this.

Cool hand, Tim

Not only should this reception help secure Apple’s market position once again, but in the context of a slowing smartphone sector, the company will likely continue its journey to become the world’s biggest smartphone vendor.

The thing is, that combination of popularity and scale develops its own momentum and means we can expect more people to upgrade to Apple’s devices, given a choice. We’re seeing this already, as we do each time company top brass get a little smug about record numbers of Android switchers. Will that switching pattern become a flood?

How has Apple upsold the world? In part, by keeping its head down and following its own path. In part, by figuring out the key things people want from their iPhones. In 2007, these included a music player, real browser, and telephone. Today you can add resilient second-user sales value, a fast processor, and the camera to the mix.

Not only that, but a recent survey claims that once consumers purchase an iPhone they tend to stick with the same model. That implies that people who’ve purchased an iPhone Pro Max will be more likely to stick with that model next time they upgrade.

Get the picture

Apple’s focus on the camera really kicked in when executives realized that the iPhone had become the most popular device to grab photos shared on Flickr. The company has leaned into photography before and since, and really takes this up a level with the latest model.

In this case, it makes a camera designed for tomorrow, not today. Yes, this takes good photos, but it can also capture studio-quality video and immersive environments for use in VR.

If there is a problem, it is that delivery schedules are lengthening, and even if demand is solid, there are manufacturing challenges, said Kuo. However, so long as these aren’t too egregious, Apple should meet expectations, and any phones it doesn’t get to ship in the current quarter will be sold in the subsequent 13 weeks.

iPhone 12: Fade away, and radiate?

Jeanette Box

September 15, 2023

What’s up with the iPhone radiation story? On the eve of Apple’s big iPhone 15 reveal, France demanded the company remove iPhone 12 from sale in that country because it said the product radiates too much.

Now that demand seems to be spreading across Europe.

What’s happening here?

The story so far

ANFR, the French agency that regulates these things, claims that certain iPhone 12 models emit unacceptable levels of electromagnetic radiation. The regulator subsequently ordered Apple to halt all sales of that model as of Sept. 12, pending a fix. Apple denied the claim, citing numerous radiation studies of its own, and now promises a software patch to bring the device into line with French regulations. But questions are now being asked across the EU, with Italy, Germany, and Belgium demanding a similar software patch.

With that in mind, it seems important to note that both the French regulator and Apple say there is no danger to public health from the radiation.

Which begs the question as to why a ban on sales is required.

What France said

The French agency claimed the iPhone 12 failed one of two types of tests for radiation. According to the agency statement, the device exceeded the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) value with a 5.74 W/kg compared to the regulatory ceiling of 4W/kg. The results imply the device generates too much radiation when in your hand or pocket.

However, the regulator also described the problem as being caused by a succession of software updates since the device was originally introduced.

The French digital affairs minister even said the radiation emitted by iPhone 12 is still lower than what scientific studies see as potentially harmful to people. Incredibly, given all the media coverage this has generated, the radiation agency says its tests don’t even reflect typical smartphone use.

What Apple said

Apple was understandably a little shocked by the claims, particularly as they emerged within minutes of it launching the iPhone 15. From the company’s point of view, it engages in a stringent series of tests to ensure new products meet regulations in every country in which its devices are sold.

“Since it was introduced in 2020, iPhone 12 has been certified and recognized as meeting or exceeding all applicable SAR regulations and standards around the world,” Apple said in a statement following the declaration. “This is related to a specific testing protocol used by French regulators and not a safety concern. We will issue a software update for users in France to accommodate the protocol used by French regulators.”

“Apple has assured me that it will implement an update for the iPhone 12 in the next few days,” said digital minister Jean-Noel Barrot.

What is the problem?

The French decision to order Apple to cease selling that model of iPhone would have become a blanket ban on sales of the device across all 27 EU member states after three months.

In addition to which, if Apple were unable to patch its device to bring it in line with French law, it would have been forced to engage in an expensive product recall of already-sold iPhone 12 devices from across the EU, which would be one major PR problem for anyone. At least, it might be if the problem actually were severe, which this software-based problem doesn’t appear to be; that’s why Apple can fix it with a software patch.

However, Apple’s original intention to update the device in France may ultimately need to be extended to at least some other European nations.

On a more general note, before the usual tinfoil hat arguments concerning smartphone use begin, it seems appropriate to observe that many, many studies from the World Health Organization have identified no adverse health effects from mobile phone use.

What I think

“Je pense que ce n’est rien de plus qu’une tempête dans une tasse de thé,” as the French might say. (I think it’s nothing more than a storm in a teacup.)

Particularly when France’s own regulator confirms there’s no threat to health, and the problem can be resolved with a patch.

Indeed, if I were Apple, rather than nit-picking over which countries get that patch, I’d push it out fast and push it out globally to pinch the life out of the story. That’s while the company’s other teams work to keep the Apple Store online in the face of what appears to be undented demand for iPhone 15. C’est la vie, n’est pas? C’est la vie.

Quel dommage!

Please follow me on Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.

Google’s increasingly prickly Android perception problem

Jeanette Box

September 13, 2023

Ask most Android enthusiasts for their thoughts on the eternal “iPhone vs. Android” debate, and you’re bound to hear some comically common conclusions:

Android is more advanced and ambitious, both in its software and especially in its hardware (hello, folding phones!).
Android is more customizable and conducive to productivity, thanks to all the ways it lets you take total control of your virtual environment and make it work the way you want.
The iPhone is bland, old-fashioned, and boring in comparison.

Apple’s iOS platform certainly has its advantages, but it’s tough to deny that Android is the more modern, powerful, and adventurous option (a juxtaposition expressed admirably in this recent video analysis by the ever-balanced Marques Brownlee).

And yet, talk to most typical, non-tech-inclined phone buyers — particularly here in America — and you’re bound to hear a very different interpretation.

It’s shaping up to be a pressing problem. And it’s something that’s increasingly critical for Google to address.

[Get fresh Googley insight in your inbox with my free Android Intelligence newsletter. Three things to know and try every Friday!]

The Android-Apple shift

You’ve seen the stats by now, right? For a while, the tides have been turning in the US and Apple’s been gaining more and more of the American mobile market.

According to the number-crunching crew at Counterpoint Research, Apple currently commands just over half of all US smartphone sales, with 52% of Q2 2023 device purchases compared to Android’s 48%. To be clear, this is absolutely an American phenomenon: Globally, Android represents a whopping 81% of all phone sales for that same period, according to that same set of data. But here in the States, the trends are indisputable.

And among The Youths™, the pattern appears to be even more extreme: An annual survey from an investment bank called Piper Sandler (which, as far as I can tell, has no relation to Adam) says a staggering 87% of teens now own an iPhone, with 88% anticipating an iOS device to be their next mobile gizmo. Granted, the survey includes only 5,690 people, so it isn’t exactly comprehensive. But it’s frequently cited as a representative sampling of current trends.

And what’s even more troubling than any sheer number is the attitude that appears to be driving the data. A recent report from The Wall Street Journal says it all:

Deb Harrison lives in a house divided. The mom of teenagers, based in Hudson Valley, N.Y., says her children agree on a lot, but they cannot seem to get on the same page about their cellphones. Her youngest, Kira, 15 years old, has an Apple iPhone 11, because that’s what all her friends have. She didn’t want to be “the odd one out,” said Harrison. …

Where does this operating-system snobbery come from? Melissa Jones, a former teacher in Lebanon, Ind., observes that, among students, it’s considered most important to own a new, up-to-date phone. And judging by the copious TikTok content that pits users of the two operating systems against each other — with Android most frequently the butt of the joke — many teens associate Androids with older technology, and older people, no matter how new the phone actually is.

Yeesh. And hold the phone — it only gets worse from there:

“You’re telling me in 2023, you still have a ’Droid?” says 20-year-old online creator Abdoul Chamberlain during a video posted in April. “You gotta be at least 50 years old.” The video goes on to say that only parents have Androids, and despite the persistent claims from Android users that features like the cameras or battery life are better on the Android than the iPhone, Chamberlain refuses to get one.

Other videos more somberly describe the experience of showing up to high school with an Android phone and being called “broke” or “medieval” by the poster’s peers. Still more describe the feeling of being the lone Android user in a group chat of iPhone owners, shamed by texts which, when rendered in Apple’s proprietary iMessage platform, appear in a revelatory bright green rather than the cool blue of messages sent between Apple devices.

Crazy what years of powerful marketing and misleading messaging can do, isn’t it?

The Android image challenge

Silly as this perception may be, there’s no denying it’s real — here in the States, at least — and the pressure around that reality only grows more pressing for Google with every passing month.

The iMessage factor certainly seems to be a big part of it, and it’s no wonder: Apple has deliberately dumbed down its iPhone messaging experience for ages in order to reinforce the perception that Android phones are somehow not capable of keeping up with its standards. The reality, of course, is quite the opposite — and ironically, it’s iPhone owners who end up suffering the most from the subpar experience this manufactured stubbornness creates. But at the same time, the underlying goal of vilifying Android devices by making them seem less capable is clearly working.

(Also ironically: Google once had a massive advantage in the mobile messaging arena, and it’s the company’s own inability to commit to anything that got it into this pickle in the first place. But that’s a whole other can of worms.)

Still, while it may be easy to blame the iMessage messaging — and while the US-centric nature of this phenomenon absolutely supports that as a leading theory to the Apple-vs.-Android perception problem — there’s almost certainly more to the story.

Look, for instance, at the top-selling phones around the world, and you’ll spot a very consistent trend that’s been present in some form for years now. Plain and simple and without any sugar-coating, the Android devices most people are actually buying are the ones that absolutely suck.

Per a recent Counterpoint compilation of the most popular phone models of 2022, only two Android devices made the “most popular” product list: the Samsung Galaxy A13 and Galaxy A03 — phones that are typically sold through carriers for under a hundred bucks apiece.

Another list by an analysis firm called Omdia paints a similar portrait for the first half of 2023, with Samsung’s Galaxy A14, Galaxy A14 5G, Galaxy A54 5G, and Galaxy A34 5G (gesundheit!) claiming four of the top 10 spots for global smartphone sales.

For those of us who live in the land of Google Pixel products or even the higher-end Samsung Galaxy gadgets, let me illuminate you on what these low-end Galaxy A-this-and-that models are all about:

They are, to use the technical term, steaming hot piles of garbage — truly terrible all-around user experiences with bloated software, subpar performance, and virtually no ongoing software support.

And when the vast majority of people in the world are associating Android with those types of devices, combined with Apple’s artfully forced perception of Android being the lesser platform that can’t keep up with its magical messaging standards, it’s no wonder folks think Android is awful. Honestly, can you blame ’em?!

There is, however, one light at the end of this tunnel. And it’s completely in Google’s control.

The Google Pixel promise

For years now, I’ve been extolling the virtues of Google’s Pixel platform and the unmatched all-around experience that side of Android has to offer.

Much as I hate to make the comparison, it really is accurate to frame the Pixel as the closest equivalent to an “iPhone-esque” arrangement on Android — with the same company responsible for the operating system making the hardware and controlling the entire end-to-end experience.

The result is a level of polish, poise, and cohesiveness you simply don’t see anywhere else on Android — not to mention a glaring lack of the sort of preinstalled bloatware and confusingly redundant services device-makers like Samsung love to bake into all of their Android products. (And let’s not even get started on the shady data-selling part of that equation.)

With no disrespect to anyone who genuinely enjoys Samsung’s approach to Android, I’ve heard from countless people who have made the switch from a Galaxy phone to a Pixel over the years, and virtually every single one of ’em has sung the same tune: “Wow! I had no idea Android could be this good. I had no idea what I was missing.”

That’s the Android experience Google needs ordinary tech-totin’ people be aware of. But when the term “Android” is associated with so much bottom-of-the-barrel, godawful garbage, it’s damn-near impossible to break free from that and create a positive perception.

Subtle as they may seem, though, we’re seeing some small signs of hope amidst the darkness. For a while now, Pixel sales have been steadily rising at the same time that smartphone sales in general are struggling — which, suffice it to say, is a trend worth noticing.

To wit: A June 2023 analysis shows Pixel sales experiencing a hefty 20% year-to-year growth from last summer to this year, while phone sales in general dropped by 11%. Earlier this year, another report indicated a 67% year-to-year growth for Pixels in the first quarter of 2023. Other recent quarters show annual growth for Google as high as 230 or even 380 percent, again all while overall smartphone sales have been slumping.

Mind you, the actual sales numbers are still fairly small, with Pixels accounting for a mere 4% or so of the US smartphone market (though apparently now claiming the top spot for phone sales in Japan — go figure!). But much like what we observed with Android itself way back in the day, the trends here speak volumes. And even if the figures are relatively meager for the moment, if those trends continue quarter after quarter, the bigger picture will start to shift before long.

The comparison to Android itself in the platform’s early days isn’t entirely parallel, of course. Android has always had the advantage of having numerous phone-makers creating a vast array of products while the Pixel is but a single device line by a single manufacturer. But still: Two- to three-digit growth quarter after quarter can only add up, especially when everyone else is struggling to sell phones at the same time.

Even so, the challenge remains the perception around Android, and that may be a tough nut for Google to crack. It’s hard not to wonder if the association with the Android brand could ultimately prove to be a limiting factor for both the platform’s future and the Pixel’s success and if Google would do better to emphasize the Pixel as its own separate alternative — or perhaps to frame it as part of a small and very closely guarded subset of devices that receives some manner of enhanced branding to indicate their exceptional-experience status (Android Silver, anyone?).

One way or another, it’s clear Google’s got its work cut out for it in addressing the ever-expanding Android perception problem before it’s too late. It has the answer right in front of its face, with the Pixel product line and everything around it. The question now is if it can figure out how to embrace the momentum around that and turn its small but mighty spark into a truly powerful advantage.

Psst: Got a Pixel? Any Pixel? Sign up for my free Pixel Academy e-course to uncover tons of hidden features and time-saving tricks for your phone!

WWDC 2024: Is Apple on the road to Siri 2.0?

Jeanette Box

September 12, 2023

With Apple spending a lot of money on generative AI and machine learning models, is it time for us to start prepping for Siri 2.0?

The Information says Apple has “significantly” increased spending on AI development focused on genAI capabilities within Siri. The report suggests Apple’s internal AI research thrust is pushing in three key directions:

Building “Ajax,” its own proprietary Large Language Model (LLM). This has already been trained on more than 200 billion parameters, which could make it more powerful than Chat GPT 3.5 when it appeared. Apple is reportedly spending millions a day on Ajax.
Apple continues to develop machine image intelligence, which extends to image and video generation and the creation of 3D scenes.
A third group works on multimodal AI, handling text, images, and video. I expect this includes features such as text scanning in images and door recognition.

On the road to Siri 2.0

It feels as though Apple may be slightly stung by criticism of its AI achievements so far. With this in mind, it wants to:

Improve Siri’s conversational abilities.
Develop useful assistant features that rely on AI.
Introduce support for complex tasks within Siri, such as image or text recognition, scene generation and so forth.
And potentially make it possible to use voice to create Shortcuts functions.

While it’s true that ChatGPT caught most everyone by surprise, Apple seemed most left behind once that chatbot appeared. The iPhone maker appears to have put these developments on the fast track and may even have these features ready to roll within iOS 18, the report claimed. Work is being led by a new 16-member team of engineers building the “Foundational Model” LLM the company will use to build models, at a cost of millions of dollars each day.

Good foundations

Building powerful LLM-based models in Siri may be complicated a little by the company’s dedication to customer privacy. That implies that whatever models it does deploy will primarily use features that already exist on its devices. That’s where better integration with Shortcuts makes sense, though the company may not be completely reliant on that. Why? Because every Apple chip also carries a Neural Engine — a dedicated space on the chip to handle machine intelligence tasks.

The problem is that Apple’s existing LLMs are quite large, which means they would be difficult to carry and run on the device. That limitation suggests the company might develop highly focused automations that can work well on device in certain domains, and used in conjunction with cloud-based systems for more complex tasks; this might undermine Apple’s environmental work, given the energy and water such machines devour.

Making things that are actually useful

Will Apple’s teams be able to usefully figure out how to intelligently harness the user behavior data each device holds while keeping it private? Is it even possible to build AI models that can privately use data by processing on the device?

The company already does this to some extent — reminders of when to travel to get to meetings on time, recognition of incoming communications from key contacts, or even health-related personal fitness trends, for example.

Not every solution needs to be on-device, either. The Information suggests an Apple Care AI assistant may be in development, which would essentially help triage user queries to direct them to solutions they can follow for themselves or direct them to relevant human support operatives.

But Apple will want to do more and ensure whatever AI tools it does deploy are actually useful to its customers, and work well when handled totally on the device. Whatever it builds will be designed to support the user experience, rather than exploit user data.

On the road to WWDC 2024?

These major investments in the Ajax LLM and also in visual intelligence and multimodal AI, seem to be on the fast track. This suggests Siri 2.0 may be one of the big themes at WWDC 2024. Together, it will be interesting to see the extent to which these tools evolve to support the “Spatial Computing” visionOS platform the company is building.

Please follow me on Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.

Google defends search business in biggest US antitrust case of the century so far

Jeanette Box

September 12, 2023

The largest antitrust action since the turn-of-the-century Microsoft case is headed to trial today, as the federal government and a group of state attorneys general challenge Google’s dominance in search.

Google is specifically accused of creating a monopoly through the use of exclusivity contracts with device manufacturers and software providers — deals, in short, that make Google the default search engine for a given device or platform. The overall effect of those numerous deals, according to the government’s complaint, has been to artificially deny access to the search engine market to rivals, creating an effective monopoly.

The complaint, which was filed in October 2020 in the federal district court in Washington, D.C., further alleged that the exclusive contracts were used not just to broaden the use of its products, but to explicitly exclude competitors from chipping away at Google’s dominant market share in search.

“To preserve its dominance, Google has developed economic models to measure the ‘defensive value’ of foreclosing search rivals from effective distribution, search access points, and ultimately competition,” the government stated. “In sum, Google, deprives rivals of the quality reach, and financial position necessary to mount any meaningful competition to Google’s longstanding monopolies.”

What to expect in the Google antitrust case

To prove its case, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is likely to call witnesses from Google’s competitors, which is a common, well-worn technique in antitrust actions, according to David Olson, an associate professor at Boston College Law School.

“They’ll likely complain that the default placement of Google and the lock-in effect of that really hurt them,” he said. “And well, yeah, they don’t like Google, they’re competitors, so you have to take that with a grain of salt.”

The government, however, does have more potential sources of harmful testimony to Google — including Google itself, which may have made internal statements confirming the type of anticompetitive behavior covered by the lawsuit.

“When I teach antitrust, I tell students that the place you want to go for discovery is the sales and marketing people,” Olson said. “Sales and marketing people have a tough job, and they’re very rah-rah and they have to, you know, hype themselves up — so they will say things that sound terrible to an antitrust lawyer.”

Hance, the government can be expected to produce internal documents from Google that it will argue are “very damaging,” according to Olson.

What happens if the government wins against Google?

Surprisingly, nothing earthshaking will happen to Google itself if the government’s action succeeds, according to Vanderbilt University Law School associate dean Rebecca Haw Allensworth.

“This is a lawsuit against the use of these contracts, and the logical remedy is just ‘You can’t do these kinds of contracts,’” she said. “Google’s unlikely to get split up.”

A ruling for the Department of Justice could, however, have a substantial impact elsewhere in the tech industry, particularly for social media companies. The issues in the case center on the applicability of antitrust doctrine to “zero-price” markets, where the price of the actual good or service being sold is $0 — just like most social media networks — and a ruling against Google would set a major precedent.

“On the road to liability, if that’s what happens, the court would hold that a zero-price market is a market for antitrust purposes, and I think that holding would be very relevant for a lot of companies, particularly social media,” Allensworth said.

Google’s defense is likely to center on easy access to alternatives — rival search engines are merely a click away, the company is likely to argue — as well as the idea that their product is simply much better than its competitors, accounting for the low proportion of users who switch.

Shades of the Microsoft antitrust trial

The case is, as many commentators have noted, very similar to the Microsoft antitrust case filed in 1998 and settled with the DOJ in 2001. In that case — which had a tumultuous history and was more than a decade in the making — the government accused Microsoft of abusing the dominant position of Windows in the operating system marketplace to artificially prop up its Internet Explorer browser software, as well as systematically working to erode the market position of browser rivals like Netscape.

“I sometimes joke with my colleagues that they can just control-F for Microsoft and put in Google,” said Allensworth. “The idea is that you have a big dominant tech platform that’s not letting its rivals gain economy of scale.”

As search trial begins, advertising case looms for Google

While Judge Amit Mehta dismissed some of the claims against Google last month — which related to the Android Open Source Project, IoT devices, Google Assistant and various Android-related contracts with manufacturers — the remaining claims are set to proceed in a trial that is expected to last about 10 weeks. The case will be a bench trial, with no jury.

However, whether or not Google prevails, it is set to face a second antitrust action, this one related to Google’s advertising technology business, which appears more complex and widely considered to be harder to defend against. The case, filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, accuses Google of abusing its control over multiple parts of the online advertising business to exclude rival advertisers, inflate costs and reduce revenues for news publishers and other content creators. It is expected to go to trial next year.

Message to IT: Update all your Apple devices right away

Jeanette Box

September 8, 2023

Apple has pushed out an essential security update to defend against yet another attack by an out-of-control mercenary surveillance group.

Like a bad smell, NSO Group has clawed its way back into the spotlight with yet another unprincipled attack against free speech and citizens’ rights, as revealed by Citizen Lab. The security researchers found this latest example of a sinister, yet egregious zero-click attack while checking the device of an “Individual employed by a Washington DC-based civil society organization with international offices.”

What is this attack and what does it do?

This attack, which is being used to deliver NSO Group’s Pegasus mercenary spyware, is deeply concerning as it can compromise iPhones running iOS 16.6 without requiring any interaction from the victim. The researchers explained the exploit involved PassKit attachments containing malicious images sent via iMessage. The victim wasn’t even required to look at this image.

What happened next?

Citizen Lab alerted Apple to the attack and the company swiftly published a security update for all its devices to protect against it. Both companies confirm Lockdown Mode will secure devices against such attack.

What Apple says

Apple published support notes detailing the content of the latest security updates. Warning that these attacks may already be actively exploited, these reveal that “processing a maliciously crafted image may lead to arbitrary code execution,” and that this attack was also viable against Wallet.

“We would like to acknowledge The Citizen Lab at The University of Torontoʼs Munk School for their assistance,” Apple said.

What Citizen Lab says

“In this critical time for the future of democracy, the out-of-control mercenary spyware industry is directly undermining our core shared values, security and human rights,” Citizen Labs Senior Researcher John Scott-Railton warned the US House Intelligence Committee last July.

“Once more, civil society, is serving as the cybersecurity early warning system for…billions of devices around the world,” he subsequently warned on the latest attack.

These attacks are proliferating, the number of companies launching them is increasing, and researchers believe it is inevitable these dangerous exploits will eventually be used by criminals, threatening every aspect of civil society.

What this means for IT

There is a security war that must be fought. Apple has already patched 13 actively exploited zero-day vulnerabilities so far this year. The time for complacency with Apple security is gone.

With this in mind, it’s important to adopt a less casual stance to device security.

Individuals must be extremely sensitive to slight changes in device behavior, should be prepared to change passwords more frequently and should certainly think twice before leaving devices unattended or making use of public Wi-Fi. Take sensible precautions, use tough passcodes, and don’t click links from people you don’t know.
IT should accelerate testing when important security updates of this kind appear, as these exploits are quite clearly being used relatively indiscriminately in the wild.
If you use a device management service at your company, it will be good practice to schedule installation of software updates as frequently as company policy permits.

Make no mistake, this is war

The mercenaries who create and profit from these attacks like to claim they only work for legitimate governments. If that’s the case, it is strange that civil society advocates across the planet are regularly being targeted.

In other words, far from being found in action against a criminal or military target, this particular attack was being made against someone fighting for civil rights in some way. That is not at all reassuring.

Particularly in light of a recent investigation by the Polish government, which found “gross violations of constitutional standards” when the NSO Group’s Pegasus surveillance software was used against opposition leaders. These clearly aren’t the good guys they pretend to be.

These attacks threaten us all

In general, such attacks are described as being more likely to take place against high-value targets, as they can be costly to mount. But it is inevitable that attacks of this kind will proliferate and enter the realm of mainstream digital criminality.

It is essential this egregious and amoral sham “industry” is bought to heel.

MediaTek hints big speed boosts for upcoming iPhone, Macs

Jeanette Box

September 7, 2023

Not to say I’m obsessed with Apple’s processors, but MediaTek’s latest statement gives us some insight into what new A- and M-series chips from Cupertino may be capable of, and yes, they’ll be faster, cooler, and more performant.

MediaTek this morning tried to set its flag for business on news it has successfully developed its first chip using the 3-nanometer process technology TSMC also uses to build chips for Apple.

Is this Apple’s big advantage?

That’s good for MediaTek, but not much of a challenge for Apple, which has allegedly purchased all TSMC’s 3nm production for the next 12 months. No surprise, then, that MediaTek’s own 3nm chip won’t go into mass production before the second half of 2024, giving Apple a comfortable lead in an industry playing catch-up.

Don’t neglect that MediaTek is also one of the companies that will invest millions in Arm’s IPO to help protect access to those industry-leading smartphone processor designs. The politics of processor production aside, MediaTek’s news offers a pretty strong hint of the extent of improvement to expect once Apple’s new chips are introduced next week.

Ballpark figures

You shouldn’t expect identical results, as the processors made by both companies are different and only Apple (I think) has the deep Arm licensing to really adjust the reference design. But you can use these figures to help guide your thinking.

Here’s what MediaTek had to say (italics mine):

“TSMC’s 3nm process technology provides enhanced performance, power, and yield, in addition to complete platform support for both high performance computing and mobile applications. Compared with TSMC’s N5 process, TSMC’s 3nm technology currently offers as much as 18% speed improvement at same power, or 32% power reduction at same speed, and approximately 60% increase in logic density.”

The current iPhone 14 uses a tweaked version of TSMC’s N5 process, but it is reasonable to expect similar improvements in comparison with iPhone 15.

Actual improvements may vary

The real-world extent of those enhancements may differ, depending on what Apple’s teams decided to prioritize; Apple’s chip might focus on better battery life rather than performance, for example.

All the same, the MediaTek data strongly suggests the next iPhone (and future M3 Macs) will deliver what I see as significant improvements. They will be faster by almost 20%, will use a lot less power and will be more computationally capable given the increased logic density.

In Apple’s case, given the extent to which it is placing all internal systems on the same chip, that should translate into significant performance across the system, with the possible exception of networking which will remain laggard until Apple manages to bring the 5G radio onto the same chip, perhaps in 2025.

Up to 20% performance gains?

Zooming out for a brief attempt at competitive analysis, MediaTek’s news suggests that all the devices running Apple’s future chips will gain decent (10% to 20%) performance gains. What does that mean in real terms?

Well, there is this:

The existing iPhone 14 Pro delivers a 6,508 multicore score on Geekbench, while the closest competing chip, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, reaches 5,199 in the same category.
Add just 10% to the performance score for the iPhone and you’re looking at raw performance data in excess of 7,000 – just under 2,000 points in front of the Samsung chip!

Apple seems far ahead, and that advantage is visible in its Arm-powered Macs, including the fantastic M2 MacBook Air. Apple also has the huge advantage of having booked all TSMC’s 3nm chip production for the next year, which means it will be moving to the next generation 3nm chip just as competitors catch up.

A few sleeps until Sept. 12

In a sense, it’s a little fruitless pre-(guess)-estimating what Apple is preparing to announce in its (already filmed) iPhone 15 launch event next week, but if fortune telling and tea leaf reading are your thing, then MediaTek’s announcement hints you won’t be disappointed.

This iPhone will once again be faster and more computationally performant than the last one, while Mac performance improvements will continue to blow previous expectations away.

Please follow me on Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.

EU lists ‘gatekeepers’ to be regulated, opens iMessage and Bing investigations

Jeanette Box

September 6, 2023

The European Commission has published a list of so-called gatekeeper companies that will be regulated by its Digital Markets Act (DMA), simultaneously announcing it will open investigations into the arguments put forward by Microsoft and Apple that claim iMessage and Bing don’t meet the threshold for regulation.

The Commission said it had notified Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, Microsoft and Samsung of their gatekeeper status — companies with a market capitalization of at least €75 billion ($81 billion) or sales in Europe of over €7.5 billion, at least 45 million monthly users in the EU. Twenty-two core platforms operated by these companies also fall under the scope of the DMA.

These include:

Four social networks: TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn
Six “intermediation” services: Google Maps, Google Play, Google Shopping, Amazon Marketplace, iOS App Store, Meta Marketplace
Three ads delivery systems (ADS): Google, Amazon and Meta
Two browsers Chrome, Safari
Three operating systems: Google Android, iOS, Windows PC OS
Two Number Independent Interpersonal Communications Services (N-IICS) or messaging services: WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger
One search engine: Google
One video sharing platform: YouTube

Yesterday it was reported that Apple and Microsoft were arguing that neither iMessage nor Bing should be subject to regulatory requirements of the DMA as the platforms did not meet the threshold set out by the legislation. Both were left off the list published today.

“The Commission has opened four market investigations to further assess Microsoft’s and Apple’s submissions arguing that, despite meeting the thresholds, some of their core platform services do not qualify as gateways,” the Commission said in a statement, adding that the investigation should be completed within a maximum of five months.

An additional market investigation has been opened to further assess whether Apple’s iPadOS should be designated as gatekeeper, even though is does not meet the thresholds.

The Commission said it had also concluded that despite Gmail, Outlook.com and Samsung Internet Browser meeting the thresholds under the DMA to qualify as gatekeeper services, “Alphabet, Microsoft and Samsung provided sufficiently justified arguments showing that these services do not qualify as gateways for the respective core platform services.”

What’s next for the gatekeepers?

Gatekeepers now have six months to comply with the full terms of the DMA, during which time the companies must submit a detailed compliance report in which they outline how they will fulfill each of the obligations laid out by the DMA.

If a gatekeeper does not comply with the DMA’s obligations, the Commission can impose fines of up to 10% of the company’s total worldwide turnover, which can increase to 20% in case of repeated infringement.

Where the Commission deems systematic infringements have occurred, it has the power to adopt additional remedies such as obliging a gatekeeper to sell parts of a business or banning acquisitions of additional services related to the systemic non-compliance.

Even if Apple and Microsoft are ultimately successful in their challenges, there would not be an immediate floodgate of arguments from other gatekeepers, as the tech firms would have needed to object to their platforms being regulated before the list was published, said Zach Meyers, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform

“Other firms could — based on whatever reasoning Apple and Microsoft made, if they are successful — ask the Commission to reopen the decision to regulate their services later, but only if there has been a ‘substantial change’ or a mistake,” he said, adding that alternatively, the companies could wait until the Commission conducts another review, which happens at least once every threeyears.

Is that a Chromebook killer in your pocket, Tim Cook?

Jeanette Box

September 5, 2023

“An iPad, a Mac, a personal productivity device, an iPad, a Mac, a personal productivity device, can you see what it is yet?”

Apple may be planning a cheaper portable Mac to rival Chromebooks, according to DigiTimes. If that claim is true, then might this device be the combined iPad/Mac system that has been speculated on, discussed, and fantasized about for many years?

Part iPad, part Mac, and all productivity, it’s a system that could be the ultimate in affordable portable flexibility within the Apple ecosystem.

A hybrid happening?

There are some signals Apple may think that, too. Universal Control, Stage Manager, the increasingly useful iCloud Drive, and the many ways in which Macs and iPads already share some of the same user interface and design principles point in this direction.

Macs and iPads also share the same processors, with M-series Mac chips inside all iPads (other than the entry-level model). Same chip, similar user interfaces — there’s a whole lot of synchronicities going on between these platforms.

Or a low-cost Mac?

A low-cost MacBook system doesn’t need to be part iPad/part Mac, of course, tempting as it is to imagine it could be. It might simply be an M-powered lower-cost system using cheaper components and low-cost screen. At introduction, it could be unveiled as the MacBook (last made in 2019), to accompany the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, filling out the “Good, Better, Best” approach the company seems to be adopting across all its products.

DigiTimes claims the system will still use a metal casing made of “different materials” and will use lower-cost mechanical components. It’s easy to imagine the materials could reflect new advances in aluminium recycling and materials science, as we know Apple is working hard on developing circular manufacturing systems.

We won’t know Apple’s approach until later, if ever.

So, why is Apple doing this?

I think the company is chasing growth. It knows that the market for consumer PCs is in decline and that the only way to achieve growth in a declining market is to grab market share from competitors.

Just as Apple already has in the enterprise computing space, where it is growing share as Windows becomes increasingly less relevant, it now wants to make a grab for consumer market share — particularly in the education sector.

It needs to. Chromebooks are in wide use across education, and Apple already knows that the computers children learn on are the systems they want to use once they leave school. Cupertino’s huge market gains since the arrival of the iMac, iPod, and iPhone reflect that reality.

The reason employee choice schemes favor Apple is because your incoming workers all grew up using Apple’s kit. To maintain that trend, Apple needs to deliver systems that compete with Chromebooks in the all-important education and consumer markets. An affordable MacBook — or hybrid iPad/Mac device — could help bring the fight there.

Apple has new tools in its chest

There’s no corroboration to the claims at the moment, so it is important to take them with a pinch of salt. Merely because Apple could do something like this doesn’t mean it definitely will. But the one grain of truth I see here suggests Apple is ready to become a lot more aggressive in its search for growth across its product range.

In contrast to even five years ago, Apple has powerful new options:

Not only is Apple Silicon cheaper per chip than those made by others, because Apple owns the designs, but its frugal energy requirements mean it can be deployed in a range of different products, from phones to supercomputers. That’s a gift to product designers.
When it comes to product sale price, Apple’s growing range of accessories and services mean the revenue it generates per user is growing. That $500 MacBook sale might generate $50 gross, but the AirPods and Apple Music subscription it also sells to that customer bump up those earnings, effectively enabling the company to play with price where it makes sense to do so. Now imagine a low cost, highly recyclable MacBook you could rent as a service.

Will Apple release this product?

We don’t know. We also don’t know if such a system would be a bona fide Mac or an iPad/Mac hybrid. But I do know that Apple Silicon and Apple services, combined with an increasingly tough business environment means the company might well try some fresh approaches.

When it comes down to it, Apple is playing hardball. Company execs don’t just want to survive the current business challenges, they want to thrive and then bounce back bigger and better into eventual recovery. To achieve this, they are going to push hard on every single unique Apple message and challenge on every front, including user satisfaction, durability, cost of ownership, privacy, and commitment to the environment.

With this in mind, an affordable MacBook makes complete sense, but don’t hold your breath. It might never happen at all. But PC market positions will shift fast when it does.

Please follow me on Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.

Microsoft blames Aussie data center outage on staff strength, failed automation

Jeanette Box

September 4, 2023

Microsoft has blamed staff strength and failed automation for a data center outage in Australia that took place on August 30, disabling users from accessing Azure, Microsoft 365, and Power Platform services for over 24 hours.

In a post-incident analysis report, Microsoft said the outage occurred due to a utility power sag in Australia’s East region, which in turn “tripped a subset of the cooling units offline in one data center, within one of the Availability Zones.”

As the cooling units were not working properly, the rise in temperature forced an automated shutdown of the data center in order to preserve data and infrastructure health, affecting compute, network, and storage services.

However, Microsoft said that the cooling units could have been restarted manually, which was not possible due to the unavailability of enough personnel at the data center.

“Due to the size of the data center campus, the staffing of the team at night was insufficient to restart the chillers in a timely manner. We have temporarily increased the team size from three to seven, until the underlying issues are better understood and appropriate mitigations can be put in place,” Microsoft wrote as part of the report.

In addition, the company said it is working on other major reforms, such as improving existing automation for the data center to improve restoration of services when an incident occurs.

“We are exploring ways to improve existing automation to be more resilient to various voltage sag event types,” Microsoft said, adding that an evaluation was underway to ensure that the highest-load servers and their corresponding chillers restarted first.

In the past few months, Microsoft has reported several outages, especially the unavailability of M365 services. In July, an outage took out its OneDrive for Business and SharePoint Online services.

4 secret settings for a smarter Chrome Android setup

Jeanette Box

August 31, 2023

Hey. You. Yes, you there — the one with your overly moist eyeballs pointed at the screen. What if I were to tell you that that the browser you rely on for all of your web-based exploring on Android had oodles of extra features — top-secret settings that’d add awesome powers into your mobile browsing adventures and make wiggling your way around this wacky ol’ web of ours meaningfully better?

Well, provided you’re using Google’s Chrome browser for Android, that’s as true as true can be. And best of all, it doesn’t take much to uncover all of Chrome’s carefully concealed treasures — if you know where to look.

The four settings on this page will make your Android-based web browsing more powerful, more efficient, and generally just more pleasant. They’re all just sitting there waiting to be found, too — so really, why not take advantage of what they have to offer?

Before we spelunk any further, though, one quick word of warning: All of these settings are part of Chrome’s flags system, which is a home for under-development options that are still actively being worked on and aren’t technically intended for mainstream use. The flags system is meant for expert users and other similarly informed (and/or insane) folk who want to get an early look at advanced items. It also evolves pretty regularly, so it’s entirely possible some of the settings mentioned here may look different from what I’ve described or even be gone entirely at some point in the not-so-distant future.

What’s more, the flags system has loads of advanced options within it, some of which could potentially cause websites to look weird, Chrome itself to become unstable, or even your ears to start spewing a delightfully minty steam. (Hey, you never know.) So in other words: Proceed with caution, follow my instructions carefully, and don’t mess with anything else you encounter in this area of the browser unless you actually understand it and genuinely know what you’re doing.

[Psst: Love shortcuts? My Android Shortcut Supercourse will teach you tons of time-saving tricks for your phone. Sign up now for free!]

Got all that? Good. Now, let’s give your browser some spiffy new superpowers, shall we?

Chrome Android setting No. 1: A more intelligent browser button

One of my favorite tucked-away Chrome features is the relatively recent addition of a custom button for the browser’s toolbar. Have you found that yet?

Once activated, the feature adds an extra button into your browser’s top bar — and what makes it especially cool is that the button can be for whatever function you use the most: sharing a page, starting a new tab, or starting a new voice search.

You can also opt to have Chrome decide for you and dynamically change that button based on which of those actions it thinks you’re most likely to use at any given moment.

Here’s a rarely realized twist, though: In addition to those three existing commands, you can now expand the Chrome Android custom button’s capabilities with two new options — for translating a site on demand and for adding a page straight into your browser’s bookmarks, both with just a single tap at the tippity-top of your scriggity-screen.

All you’ve gotta do is flick a couple quick switches to make those shiny new options available:

First, type chrome:flags into your Chrome Android app’s address bar.
Then type adaptive button into the search box on the screen that comes up.
You should see three lines: “Adaptive button in top toolbar – Translate button,” “Adaptive button in tip toolbar – Add to bookmarks button,” and “Adaptive button in top toolbar customization.”
Tap the box beneath each of those lines and change its setting from “Disabled” to “Enabled.”
Tap the blue Relaunch button at the bottom of the screen.

Now, just head into Chrome’s settings — by tapping the three-dot menu icon in the browser’s upper-right corner and then selecting “Settings” from the menu that comes up — and look for the “Toolbar shortcut” section. (It should be under the “Advanced” heading, toward the bottom of the screen.)

Tap that, and how ’bout that? You should now see the full set of available browser button options, and you can pick whichever one your fancy little heart desires.

Now, while we’re thinking about improvements that’ll affect your entire Android web browsing experience…

Chrome Android setting No. 2: A dark mode upgrade

Android’s Dark Theme is a delightful way to make your virtual world a little easier on the eyes, especially in the evening hours or anytime you’re in a dim setting — say, a server room deep in the bowels of your company workplace or maybe a gigantic vat of Velveeta after you’ve been shrunken down to a tiny Lego-character size.

But oddly enough, using the system-wide Dark Theme toggle doesn’t actually affect the web. Most sites still show up bright as day and as a harsh contrast to the dim, mellow vibes the rest of Android offers up in that context.

Well, here’s the fix:

Once again, type chrome:flags into your browser’s address bar.
Now type dark into the search box on the screen that comes up.
See the line that says “Auto Dark Mode for Web Contents”? Change its setting from “Default” to “Enabled.”
Smack that splendid Relaunch button at the bottom of the screen. (Don’t worry. It likes it.)

All that’s left is to pull up any ol’ website you want, and you’ll see the site magically transformed into a dark motif for your viewing pleasure.

Ooh, ahh, etc.

Chrome Android setting No. 3: Zippier zooming

Let’s face it: Most of us aren’t getting any younger. (I say “most of us” ’cause there’s always that one dude who somehow seems to age backwards and look better with every passing year. We’re on to you, Josh from accounting.)

And sometimes, certain websites have a tendency of making their text Too Damn Small™ for our aging eyes. (Not that I’ve ever had that problem or anything…)

Android’s got ample options for increasing text size on a browser-wide basis or even across your entire device, but the reality is that text size isn’t always the same from one virtual stomping ground to the next. And on the web in particular, one site’s squintily sized text standard might live alongside another site’s perfectly fine word size choices.

Fret not, though, for I’ve got your back. Google’s Chrome Android app has a new option that makes it exceptionally easy to adjust text size on a site by site basis, as you’re working your way around the World Wide Webbitudes:

Start by typing chrome:flags into your browser’s address bar (feeling familiar yet?).
Next, type zoom into the search box on the screen that comes up.
Find the line labeled “Accessibility Page Zoom” and change its setting to “Enabled.”
Tap the Relaunch button at the bottom of the screen.

Now, get this: Once your browser comes back, you can open up any site, anywhere on the web, and look in Chrome’s main three-line menu icon to find a new “Zoom” option.

Tap that son of a gibbon and tap it good, and you’ll get a floating zoom bar right atop whatever page you’re viewing.

Best of all? Whatever changes you make to that site’s zoom settings should stick and then continue to apply for that specific site and that site only moving forward.

Chrome Android setting No. 4: Better bookmarks

While we’re thinking about easy interface enhancements, let’s take a sec to self-apply a hefty upgrade to an area of the Chrome Android app that’s long been brushed aside and neglected.

I’m talkin’ about Chrome’s bookmarks area — a part of Chrome that’s been rather blah (to use the technical term) for a good long while now. But don’t give up yet! Somewhat amazingly, Google hasn’t forgotten about this area entirely.

In fact, El Googaloo’s got a whole new look in the works for your Android-based browser bookmarks. And you can fast-track whatever phone you’re carrying into that new-and-improved setup by making this quick ‘n’ easy tweak:

Type — yup, you guessed it! — chrome:flags into your browser’s address bar.
Type bookmarks into the search box on the screen that comes up.
Tap the line labeled “Android Visual Bookmark Manager” and change its setting from “Disabled” to “Enabled.”
Tap the Relaunch button at the bottom of the screen.

After your browser restarts, tap the three-dot menu icon in its upper-right corner and then tap “Bookmarks” in that main Chrome menu. You’ll be greeted with a freshened-up Android bookmark view that doesn’t look like it was last touched in the prehistoric ages — and you can smugly enjoy the knowledge that you’re a step ahead and enjoying under-development features before anyone else even knows about ’em.

And yes, that includes Josh from accounting — that fresh-faced but stale-browsered showoff.

Hey, small victories, right? We’ll take what we can.

Ready for even more advanced Android knowledge? Sign up for my free Android Shortcut Supercourse to learn tons of time-saving tricks!

Three-quarters of large US firms now using more Apple devices — survey

Jeanette Box

August 29, 2023

Accelerating enterprise adoption of Apple devices feels inevitable, with 76% of large businesses now using more Apple devices, and nine in 10 IT professionals praising the business advantages of Macs, iPhones, and iPads in the workplace.

Those are some of the findings within an extensive Dimensional Research survey that identifies trends for IT use across US enterprises. Commissioned by Apple device management company Kandji, the study sheds fresh light on how Apple hardware is now being used in business, and the benefits they bring.

It follows reports that IDC expects business use of Apple devices to increase rapidly over the coming 12 months.

The fresh data seems to confirm the momentum, with 57% of US businesses agreeing that adoption of Apple devices is growing faster than other options.

As clear as the sun

In part, that’s because of advantages, including reliability (56%) and a longer usable life (53%). Business users like machines that don’t break often and stay usable longer.

Apple’s iPad is the most-wanted tablet system across business IT; it’s requested almost three times as often as Android equivalents and — bad news for Microsoft — almost eight times as sought-after as Surface. Apple’s grip on the mobile enterprise seems to be intensifying.

The survey, which is available for download here, carries dozens of valuable data points that illustrate not just the enterprise ascendancy Apple now has, but also confirms many advantages of a move to those devices. For example, 67% of IT pros saw productivity improve just by switching to Apple devices, while 56% note that iPhones and iPads are preferred to Android in terms of both productivity and user experience.

User satisfaction is a big part of the growth story, with 87% of IT pros saying they have benefited from moving to Apple and around 75% saying their systems are now more secure.

A familiar song

Security is a very big deal driving this enterprise transition.

76% of IT pros say Windows and Android devices are more likely to be targeted for attack than the equivalent devices from Cupertino. And, of course, the cost of ownership is lower, the data confirms. That’s been known for some time, ever since IBM revealed astonishing TCO savings by shifting to Macs.

Just 10% of respondents see no advantage to Apple ownership, making that position a clear outlier in denial of facts. All these data points confirm the momentum for Apple in the enterprise, but they also go a long way to showing that in terms of cost of ownership, security, employee choice, and productivity the move is far more than a change of chassis — it’s a strategic decision that promotes company growth.

“Apple devices have exceeded the bounds of fulfilling employee enjoyment and are now proven to be a strategic choice for the business,” said Adam Pettit, founder and CEO of Kandji. “I look forward to seeing their continued growth across enterprises of all sizes.”

Not just a good choice, a smart one

The report observes that in an environment of continued economic uncertainty, making shrewd platform choices has become a business advantage. Facing budget cuts and closer scrutiny on spending, enterprises can yield cost and productivity advantages by switching to Mac, for example.

Of course, to some extent you’d expect an Apple device management company sponsored survey to make these claims, but it is important to note the high quality group of respondents.

How the survey was constructed

Dimensional Research surveyed 315 qualified participants, at least 100 of them at C-suite levels of responsibility. The survey deliberately targeted larger businesses with a minimum of 500 devices deployed and at least 1,000 employees — in other words, mid- to large-sized firms.

With an eye on the expanding Apple device management market, most in that space will likely take heart from news that only a third of businesses report having a mature device management system in place. That’s a huge opportunity for such companies and suggests that enterprise integration of Apple devices may be a bright star in an otherwise challenging environment for that segment.

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