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The Special-Keys Edition Sunday, March 25, 2018

Justice Dept. Revives Push To Mandate A Way To Unlock Phones, by Charlie Savage, New York Times

The idea is that when devices encrypt themselves, they would generate a special access key that could unlock their data without the owner’s passcode. This electronic key would be stored on the device itself, inside part of its hard drive that would be separately encrypted — so that only the manufacturer, in response to a court order, could open it.

Law enforcement officials see that idea as attractive in part because companies like Apple are already trusted to securely hold special keys permitting them to push operating system updates to devices like iPhones.

Why Apple Cares About Mobile Game Developers, by Dean Takahashi, VentureBeat

We’ve heard that from developers in all categories, and certainly games. iOS makes the most sense for primary development. It’s easier development and it has a bigger payoff. We have a more homogenous software situation. About 90 percent of our customers are running the latest version of iOS. They can get a much bigger bang for the buck on iOS with more compelling technology.

‘Streaming Services Are Too Similar’, by Mark Savage, BBC

"The streaming services are all charging $9.99 and everyone has the same music," he told the BBC.

"And it's really nice. You get whatever song you want, you get your playlists - but there's got to be more interaction between the artist and the audience.

"Sooner or later, something's got to give," he said, indicating that Apple Music wanted more original content.

Stuff

Apple Ad Shows You How To Buy A Friend’s Pocket Square With Apple Pay Cash, by AppleInsider

In the 15-second short, the stylish character from "Fly Market" reappears at the local open-air market, where he has his eye on a friend's green pocket square.

Develop

What Could You Build With Just $10,000?, by Founder Collective, Medium

While collecting the stories of more than 50 startups that got big before they raised venture capital, it was surprising to learn how many founders claimed to get their business off the ground with just $5,000-$10,000. In a world where companies that have raised more than $5M describe themselves as “seed stage,” a four-figure sum seems insufficient to start a billion-dollar business. But it’s not. So, how do you become humongous with humble financing? There are a few principles that seem common.

Notes

The Mac Gaming Console Time Has Forgot, by Richard Moss, Ars Technica

Bandai's idea centred around the CD-ROM, which was surging in popularity as CD drives dropped in price. Myst, a video game, was often the first thing people bought. And many of Bandai's licenses, including Dragon Ball Z, Power Rangers, and Sailor Moon, were perfect for the games market. Bandai saw an opportunity to leverage these properties and the CD format together, and to thereby conquer the living room. They admired Apple and the Mac, so they hoped to partner with the Cupertino company in developing and releasing a game console and multimedia machine. Better yet, if the system could be a low-cost, more specialise Mac then they could avoid the problem facing the similar 3DO system—which had limited software available.

It fell to Eric Sirkin to explain that Apple, in its present state, would likely not be willing, or able, to launch it as an Apple-branded product. "My charter was to create opportunities for the Macintosh outside of its core market," he says. A stripped-down Mac packaged as a living room multimedia system could fit the charter, but only on the proviso that it was neither built nor sold by Apple. Sirkin explained that what Apple could do was lead the engineering and design of the product and then charge a per-system licence fee to Bandai. The manufacturing, marketing, and branding would all be Bandai's responsibility.

Bottom of the Page

I am certainly happy to hear that Apple may well be interested in printed words again.

Except that Texture was never available in Singapore, and looks unlikely it will ever make it here in the near future. And the iBook Store -- both the e-books and the audio-books, has never made it to where I live either.

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Thanks for reading.