Liftoff #83: Apollo 7 ⇢

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On Liftoff, Jason and I are marking the 50th anniversary of each crewed Apollo mission. Up first, Apollo 7:

In October 1968, Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele and Walter Cunningham spent 11 days in space working the bugs out of the Apollo spacecraft on its first crewed mission. The vehicle performed perfectly; the crew did not.

This is a mission that would have faded into history apart from the mutiny.

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Phil Schiller, on the iPhone XR ⇢

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Chris Velazco at Engadget spoke to Phil Schiller about the upcoming iPhone:

Apple just released its flagship XS and XS Max to a chorus of positive reviews, and now here it is, a month later, preparing to launch another smartphone that packs many of the same features found in those really expensive ones. For Apple, this is all a little unheard of.

To add to the curiosity of it all, the R doesn’t mean much either. Phil Schiller, gingerly gripping a cup of coffee across from me, said the letters Apple uses never stand for something specific. But then his voice softened a little as he started to tell me about what the letters mean to him.

“I love cars and things that go fast, and R and S are both letters used to denote sport cars that are really extra special,” he said with a smile. That’s not exactly the answer I was hoping for, but I’m not sure what I should’ve expected from a) Apple’s SVP of global marketing and b) a longtime fan of Porsches and Audis.

Popping Into a Google Pop-up Shop

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Myke and I are in Chicago, where we are doing a live episode of Upgrade with Jason tonight. We both wanted to check out the Pixel 3 and Google’s other new hardware, so Myke and I dropped by Google’s pop-up store here yesterday.

The store is temporary one, and will only be open to the end of the year, but Google did an incredible job with it. As you walk in, you are greeted with a wooden bookcase, populated with products and paint cans showing off the subtle colors the company is using on its hardware.

Once in, the shop is really nicely put together. All of the interior, from the paint colors to the shelves and other fixtures are cohesive, and resonate with the design of Google’s hardware.

Downstairs, we checked out the Pixel 3 and 3 XL, in addition to the Pixel Slate and Home Hub. All of these products are displayed neatly, as you would see in an Apple Store.

The phones seem terrific. A few test shots next to my iPhone XS Max left me impressed, but that notch on the XL isn’t great. When I pick one up, I will do the smaller Pixel 3.

The Pixel Slate, Google’s new ChromeOS tablet, is pretty buggy still. Scrolling was janky, and even opening the app drawer made the device stutter and pause. It was pretty shocking to see it next to the year-old Pixelbook, which took everything I could throw at it.

The Home Hub is much, much smaller than I expected. The 7-inch screen is mounted on a tiny base, making the whole thing hunkered down near the countertop. It looks nice, and I’m sure it would be cool to have my photos float by as we spend time in the kitchen, but I left feeling a little underwhelmed by my time with it.

What was not underwhelming was the rest of the space. Upstairs, Google has built several different experiences. There’s a swing to show how the Pixel 3 can focus on a moving target with ease, and a treehouse outfitted with loads of smart home stuff. Walk in, shut the door, and you could talk to the Home Hub to turn on light, raise blinds, play music and more.

There was also a tiny kitchen for some reason. It made me look like a giant, and I think it was there just to be a Instagramable spot.

The only real downside to the shop was the knowledge of the staff. Myke purchased an unlocked Pixel, and they were confused about what that meant, and how to ring it up. The salespeople eventually worked it out, but it was surprising to me to see. I’m sure it is difficult to staff something what will be open just a few months, but there needs to be some more training on that front.

All in all, I left impressed. Google is making really interesting hardware, and they are starting to branch out into retail in a way that is markedly different from where Apple is now. In the early 2000s, the Apple Store was a destination for learning and exploring, and some of that has been lost, despite the company’s ever-changing roster of programs and talks at Apple Stores. Google may just be starting down this road, but it is on a good path.

Tim Cook, on Bloomberg Server Hacking Story ⇢

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John Paczkowski and Joseph Bernstein at BuzzFeed News:

“There is no truth in their story about Apple,” Cook told BuzzFeed News in a phone interview. “They need to do that right thing and retract it.”

This is an extraordinary statement from Cook and Apple. The company has never previously publicly (though it may have done so privately) called for the retraction of a news story — even in cases where the stories have had major errors or were demonstratively false, such as a This American Life episode that was shown to be fabricated.

Reached for comment, Bloomberg reiterated its previous defense of the story. “Bloomberg Businessweek’s investigation is the result of more than a year of reporting, during which we conducted more than 100 interviews,” a spokesperson told BuzzFeed News in response to a series of questions. “Seventeen individual sources, including government officials and insiders at the companies, confirmed the manipulation of hardware and other elements of the attacks. We also published three companies’ full statements, as well as a statement from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We stand by our story and are confident in our reporting and sources.”

Apple Announces October 30th Event

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I’m looking forward to seeing what Apple is planning. The invites are fun this time around. Every time this page is refreshed, the artwork changes.

Update: @alixrezax has found 370 different variations of the Apple logo used for this event:

Connected #214: The Californian Idea of Food ⇢

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This week on Connected:

Stephen was wrong, and Myke demands an apology before explaining what makes up dust. The FileMaker world is considered, then Federico explains why he thinks the pizza emoji is wrong. Lastly, Adobe and Palm are both in the news.

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The World’s Largest Apple Collection Needs a New Home ⇢

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Francois Murphy and Leonhard Foeger for Reuters:

Over the years since he began working for a company that repaired Apples in Vienna in the 1980s, Roland Borsky’s collection has grown to roughly 1,100 computers, he says – far more than the 472 items at Prague’s Apple Museum, which says it is the world’s biggest private collection of Apple products.

“Just as others collect cars and live in a little box to afford them, so it is with me,” he said in his office, which is so packed with dusty items like a wall of old monitors that he has moved most of them to a warehouse outside the city.

Borsky’s Mac repair shop has struggled since an Apple Store opened up in Vienna, and he is looking for places to show his collection to generate income, but may be forced to sell it all off. That’s a real shame, and I hope these machines find a good home.