Prelude to Tomorrow's Big-Ass iPhone Apple Event →

As a follow-up to the previous piece on screen sizes, here's Gruber with his predictions for today. On the potential iWatch:

And whatever it is, I think it will be controversial. Perhaps it will be expensive. Perhaps it will have far, far fewer features than do Android Wear devices. Perhaps it will appear under-powered at first.

But there will be something, or several somethings, that will cause it to be misunderstood by those who are only able to frame new creations in the context of what came before them. Apple’s watch won’t fit in an existing mold. It won’t be a phone on your wrist. It won’t be a watch as we know it. We already have excellent phones. We already have excellent watches. For the Apple watch to be worth creating, it must be excellent at something else.

He also links to Max Child's idea for a wrist iPod for runners. I'm a runner (I'm not sure that's a totally fair use of the word runner), and it sounds pretty cool to me.

We only have to wait a few more hours now, to find out the truth. The event will be live streamed here.

The Wrong Size →

This is a good piece by Marco Arment, writing about our tastes for bigger phone screens has changed over the last few years—particularly iPhone users:

But mostly, we’ve continued the inevitable progression of phones becoming most people’s primary computing device, rather than a thing in our pocket that’s mostly just for phone calls and messaging. When you only do a few things on your phone and it doesn’t really matter how big the screen is, you don’t demand bigger screens as much and it’s nice for the phone to be as small as possible. But bigger screens bring such substantial benefits to so many personal-computing tasks that as these devices become more capable and we use them for more, we’ll be more willing to carry around a bit more bulk for the benefits that it brings to what we actually care about.

Apple Courts Fashionistas As Smartwatch Expectations Mount →

Christina Farr, writing for Reuters:

Apple Inc has invited top fashion editors and bloggers in unprecedented numbers to its Tuesday launch gala, further evidence that the iPhone maker is preparing to take the wraps off a smartwatch.

[...] Apple seems poised to network with the who's who of the industry. In the past year or two, it has hired Patrick Pruniaux, former vice president of Tag Heuer's global sales and retail; Angela Ahrendts, former chief executive of Burberry Inc; and former Yves Saint Laurent CEO Paul Deneve joined as vice president of special projects.

Sounds like an iWatch is locked and loaded for a Tuesday unveiling.

New iPhone 6 Images Appear to Show a Working Device With Mobile Payments →

Alas, the days of being surprised by iPhone announcements are long behind us, at least from the hardware standpoint. We're now looking at fully working iPhones before they're announced.

Luckily, the iWatch will be a surprise because it's going to be announced so far ahead of it's actual release—probably for that exact reason. There are thousands of "concepts" and "renders" on the web, but no actual leaks. 

And, of course, we should get some nice little extras on the iOS 8 side. Even if they're not total surprises, the mobile payment system, Health and HomeKit should all get more in-depth looks on Tuesday. 

Countdown to the Big Event — 3 More Sleeps

Apple's countdown to the start of the live stream. 

Costco Canada Launches Online iPad, iPod touch and Apple TV Sales →

The Retina iPad mini looks like the best deal at $32 cheaper than if you bought it from Apple. 

Marc Newson to Join Apple →

Very interesting. 

Tim Cook Says Apple to Add Security Alerts for iCloud Users →

WSJ:

In his first interview on the subject, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said celebrities' iCloud accounts were compromised when hackers correctly answered security questions to obtain their passwords, or when they were victimized by a phishing scam to obtain user IDs and passwords.

He said none of the Apple IDs and passwords leaked from the company's servers.

To make such leaks less likely, Mr. Cook said Apple will alert users via email and push notifications when someone tries to change an account password, restore iCloud data to a new device, or when a device logs into an account for the first time.

Until now, users got an email when someone tried to change a password or log in for the first time from an unknown Apple device; there were no notifications for restoring iCloud data.

I agree with John Gruber:

That Cook would take time this week, in the run-up to Tuesday’s event, to address this says to me he’s taking it pretty damn seriously.

[via Daring Fireball]

IKEA Ad Parodies Apple Product Videos, and It's Great

Well done.

iWatch Will Reportedly Come in Two Sizes, Include NFC and OLED Display →

The Wall Street Journal [paywall] is reporting that the iWatch will be announced this year, but not be available until 2015. This jibes with what John Paczkowski said last week. 

John Gruber also posted a couple more "jokes" last week that confirm what WSJ is reporting:

I’ve been working on a new joke — about NFC and a new secure enclave where you can store your credit cards, so you can pay for things at brick and mortar retail stores just by taking out your iPhone, but only if it’s one of the new iPhones — but no one seems to get my sense of humor.

Follow-up joke: It would be cool, and would make a lot of sense, if the new wearable thing had the same magic payment apparatus.

Jony Ive: Switzerland is in Trouble →

Nick Bilton of The New York Times:

According to a designer who works at Apple, Jonathan Ive, Apple’s design chief, in bragging about how cool he thought the iWatch was shaping up to be, gleefully said Switzerland is in trouble — though he chose a much bolder term for “trouble” to express how he thought the watchmaking nation might be in a tough predicament when Apple’s watch comes out.

In my mind, I hear him saying, "Switzerland is fucked". 

Google Analyst: Bitcoin Could Be 'The Internet of Money' →

No shit. The direct link to Andy Yee's paper. 

Turn on Two-Factor Authentication on These Sites →

Good advice. Thanks to Mobilesyrup for the helpful PSA.

Sites for which they suggest you use two-factor authentication:

iCloud, PayPal, Google, Twitter, Facebook, Dropbox, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Amazon

Apple is "Outraged" Over Attack on Celebrity iCloud Accounts →

Apple's statement:

We wanted to provide an update to our investigation into the theft of photos of certain celebrities. When we learned of the theft, we were outraged and immediately mobilized Apple’s engineers to discover the source. Our customers’ privacy and security are of utmost importance to us. After more than 40 hours of investigation, we have discovered that certain celebrity accounts were compromised by a very targeted attack on user names, passwords and security questions, a practice that has become all too common on the Internet. None of the cases we have investigated has resulted from any breach in any of Apple’s systems including iCloud or Find my iPhone. We are continuing to work with law enforcement to help identify the criminals involved.

Revisiting My iPhone 6 and iOS 8 Predictions

When I made some predictions for the upcoming iPhone 6 and iOS 8 about a month before WWDC, I promised I would come back and see how I did. Well, iOS 8 is pretty much ready to go GM, and the iPhone 6 will be unveiled in just a few days, so now is as good a time as any to take a look back. 

Let's see how I did:

• Screen size — Well, I might have gotten this one partly right. I talked about both the 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch model, but guessed that we'd only see the 4.7-inch model this year. I still felt that way until recently, but now I'm not so sure. It looks more and more like there will be two new sizes announced on September 9th. 
• Camera — This might be one of the few hardware surprises during the announcement. There haven't been many consistent rumours. I've heard 8-megapixel, 12-megapixel, 13-megapixel. We'll have to wait and see on this one. There's a pretty good chance they stick with an 8MP camera and continue to focus on low-light performance.
• Hardware design — Yeah, it seems pretty clear at this point that the iPhone 6 is going to look like a smaller iPad Air for the most part. There appear to be a few small differences, but that's the general look of it. 
• Internals — It looks like I was right on the A8 SoC, not that I was going out on a limb, but it looks like we will probably get NFC this year, too. I didn't think that would happen, and I'm still going to have to see it to believe it, but the rumours of NFC and an Apple mobile payment system are ramping up and seem more credible than in past years. 
• iPhone lineup — I think I was only partly right here, too. If the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 comes to pass, then I guess there won't be a new 4-inch iPhone 6. It's looking like the 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch iPhone 6's will be the new models and the iPhone 5S and 5C will move down a tier and remain as the only 4-inch iPhones. The iPhone 4S will get killed off and the 30-pin connector will go with it. Gruber has some good thoughts on this one on the most recent episode of The Talk Show. It would also appear that the 5.5-inch model will be $100 more than the 4.7-inch model, much like the iPad Air is more expensive than the iPad mini with Retina Display.
• iOS 8 — There's lots to cover here. To be totally fair, I can't exactly call these predictions. It was more of a wish list.
  • Touch ID and mobile payments — It seems like this one could come true this year.
  • Inter-app communication — Yep. Extensions were announced at WWDC and I'm excited. This is the best part about iOS 8 and most of the benefits aren't available in the betas because it's all about third party apps.
  • Better notifications — They aren't doing all the things I wanted, but interactive notifications are pretty cool.
  • Improved keyboard and third part keyboards — Yes!
  • Health — It's in there, and it should get some stage time alongside Apple's new wearable on September 9th. 

Of course, we still haven't officially seen the iPhone 6 yet, so nothing is for sure, but I feel pretty good about what we're going to see. I'm very excited for Apple's September 9th event. It seems they will be announcing a lot of amazing stuff.

HD Hands-On Video of iPhone 6 Assembled From Leaked Parts →

I haven't linked to very many of the rumours and leaks, but I expect that this is the real deal. Where there's this much smoke, there's fire. The parts that are assembled in this video have leaked many times over the past weeks and months. I have to believe, at this point, that they're the real deal. I just don't think that Apple is able to keep iPhone and iPad hardware a secret anymore. Their supply chain is too vast to keep it all under wraps. Maybe announcing an "iWatch" a few months before it ships will allow for the element of surprise, because we haven't seen any leaks on that front yet. Or, maybe its initial production run is relatively small and better able to be kept quiet. 

Some interesting things of note in this video:

• The protruding camera lens — I really hope that one isn't real
• The Apple logo on the back of the phone is purportedly made of Liquidmetal

Apple Says it is "Actively Investigating" Celebrity Photo Hack →

We'll see where this goes, but in the meantime, I strongly suggest using two-factor authentication on any sensitive accounts you might own, such as email, cloud storage and the like. 

Meet the Man Building the Fort Knox of Bitcoin →

Wences Casares, CEO of Bitcoin startup Xapo on Bitcoin's potential:

I think that bitcoin is going to change the world more than the internet did, and I’m very conscious of what I’m saying. I know that it’s hard to imagine, but I truly think that it touches something that matters more to a huge percentage of the world. We don’t see the problem here in America. I think it will take longer to develop, but it will have a bigger impact, by giving the majority of people in the world the ability to affordably safekeep their money.

Casares comparing Bitcoin's potential growth to that of cellphones:

Think of the cellphone. There were never more than 1.2 billion landlines. Then the cellphone came and we’re at 6.3 billion. Why? It’s not because only those people wanted to communicate. The landlines were all post-pay. You need to have credit to get one. The cell phones were pre-paid. Suddenly you could get one with cash. It had nothing to do with technology. It was an economic restriction. Now there are 1.5 billion bank accounts, same threshold as land lines. I think bitcoin will allow us to see 6.3 billion people banking on their cell phones. That’s what’s so exciting to me. That’s a much better world than we have today.

Pretty exciting stuff. Now that we're coming out of the dog days of summer, I think we'll be hearing a lot more Bitcoin news. 

Look Daddy! Santa Gave Me an iWatch Raincheck →

John Paczkowski, at Recode:

So that new wearable device Apple is introducing on September 9? It’s going to be a while before anyone is actually wearing it. Sources in position to know tell me it won’t arrive at market for a few months. “It’s not shipping anytime soon,” said one.

Yep. I agree. That's pretty much exactly what I said yesterday. Devices in new categories tend to be announced much further in advance than new generations of existing devices. And, since we haven't seen a single supply chain leak of the new "iWatch", then I can't believe it's anywhere near ready to ship.

John Gruber adds more thoughts on why a new device in a new category would be pre-announced:

If true, why? I’m guessing something similar to why they pre-announced the original iPhone — otherwise it would leak through regulatory filings with various governments around the world. Plus, they have no worries about the Osborne Effect with a new product category.

'Without A Doubt: iPhone 6 Will Include an NFC Payment Platform' →

Wired seems pretty sure about this one. Here's their story from yesterday. 

Apple is in the perfect position to launch its own mobile wallet. The Cupertino company has a vast trove of credit cards already on file thanks to iTunes (over 800 million, in fact), and a huge pool of potential users, thanks to the millions of iOS devices out there. And mounting evidence has indicated that the company is investing in such an endeavor.