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The For-Schools-And-Teachers Edition Thursday, August 11, 2016

Apple's ConnectED Program Has Helped Over 32,000 Students, by Juli Clover, MacRumors

Apple today announced that its ConnectED program, which saw the company donating $100 million in products to schools and teachers across the country, has impacted the lives of more than 30,000 students.

As of the 2016-2017 school year, there are 32,145 students at underserved public schools who have received iPads from Apple to bolster their education. Teachers have received more than 9,042 Macs and iPads and Apple has helped to install 189 miles of internet cable in schools.

More Money

After Apple Offers $200,000 For iPhone Hacks, A Private Firm Offers $500,000, by James Vincent, The Verge

There's an arms race in the hunt for tradable software vulnerabilities, but it's not just about methods — price counts too. Last week, Apple launched its first ever bug bounty program, offering cash rewards of up to $200,000 for ways to compromise its hardware and software. This week, an exploit trading firm named Exodus Intelligence unveiled its own new program for collecting vulnerabilities, which just happens to include a bounty for hacks targeting iOS 9.3 and up worth $500,000 — more than double what Apple is paying.

What Do You See

Understanding Basic Aesthetics In Photography, by Sebastian Jacobitz, Petapixel

Recently I got a message from a person who said that they liked my pictures, but unfortunately they don’t have a “photographic eye.” This inspired me to write the following article about basic aesthetics and their relationship to photography.

Smart Competition

App Darling IFTTT Says It Can Run With Apple, Google And Amazon In The Smart Home Race, by Mark Bergen, Recode

Starting today, IFTTT is allowing these recipe capabilities to live inside other company apps, starting primarily with home automation startups. That’s intentional: Connected-device makers have been trying to figure out how their many gadgets can talk to one another.​

Notes

Oops: Microsoft Leaks Its Golden Key, Unlocking Windows Secure Boot And Exposing The Danger Of Backdoors, by Daniel Eran Dilger, AppleInsider

Security researchers MY123 and Slipstream published a detailed explanation of how Microsoft bungled its security keys, and then failed to correctly patch for the issue, resulting in an ongoing issue that "may not be possible to fully resolve."

"A backdoor," the researchers noted, "which MS put in to secure boot because they decided to not let the user turn it off in certain devices, allows for secure boot to be disabled everywhere!"

The Microsoft Office World Championships Feature Blood, Tears, And Very Little Sweat, by Cara Giaimo, Atlas Obscura

Ryan Catalfu's hard work is finally paying off. Over the past year, he has put in hundreds of hours of training, earning a spot on the renowned United States team. Last week, he traveled far from home, met his competition, and settled in for the week of his life. And on Monday, August 8th, the 17-year-old North Carolinian woke up ready to take on the best in the world.

When he heard, later that day, that his event had been delayed, Catalfu didn't let it faze him. He got in a few more practice reps. He called up an old coach for last-minute pointers. He ate some lunch. And when his name was finally called, he walked into the arena calm, focused, and ready to absolutely crush everyone at Powerpoint 2013.

Bottom of the Page

Things I am interested to find out about the upcoming Apple-branded wireless EarPod:

Will it have an on-off switch, or will the remote control that is on the current iPhone EarPods double as an on-off switch? I don't think it can afford not to have an explicit on-off switch like the Apple Pencil, since the EarPods will use up power much more quickly than the Pencil.

Will it have an 'all-day' battery life, which in Apple-speak means about 10 hours before needing to recharge? Ten hours is almost double of many existing Bluetooth headphones, which I doubt Apple can achieve. Of course, famously, people at RIM initially didn't believe the first iPhone can have an 'all-day' battery life either.

Will the cable be short, or long? On the one hand, Apple hates cable, so it makes sense for a wireless EarPods to have a shorter cable. On the other hand, if the EarPod can continue to play music while plugged-in to the Lighting port for charging (just like the Magic Keyboard), it makes more sense for it to have a longer cable.

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Thanks for reading.