Senior Correspondent Arnold Woodworth's Weekend Roundup

Tim Cook said:
"Apple engineers platforms, devices, and services together. We do this so that we can create a seamless experience for our users that is unparalleled in the industry. This is something only Apple can do."

John Gruber (at Daring Fireball) wrote:
"Is this true, though? Is Apple the only company that can do this? I think it’s inarguable that they’re the only company that is doing it, but Cook is saying they’re the only company that can.

"I’ve been thinking about this for two weeks. Who else is even a maybe? I’d say it’s a short list: Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Samsung. And I’d divide that short list into halves — the close maybes (Microsoft and Google) and the not-so-close maybes (Amazon and Samsung)."

Here’s a tweet I wrote during the keynote, 20 minutes before Cook’s wrap-up:

    "Microsoft: one OS for all devices."
    "Apple: one continuous experience across all [Apple] devices."

Tim Cook is improving Apple’s internal operational efficiency.

The operational efficiency Cook wanted — and now seems to have achieved — wasn’t possible without large scale company-wide collaboration, and collaboration wasn’t possible with a fiefdom style of organization.

Jobs was a great CEO for leading Apple to become big. But Cook is a great CEO for leading Apple now that it is big, to allow the company to take advantage of its size and success.

Apple has never been more successful, powerful, and influential than it is today. They’ve thus never been in a better position to succumb to their worst instincts and act imperiously and capriciously.

Instead, they’ve begun to act more magnanimously.

http://daringfireball.net/2014/06/only_apple




Something else from Daring Fireball:
iOS 8 Uses Randomized MAC Addresses When Scanning for Wi-Fi Networks.
MAC addresses are used by both marketers and government agencies to track device location — this is a nice win for privacy.

http://gizmodo.com/a-hidden-feature-in-ios-8-will-stop-marketers-from-spyi-1588022805




Apple praised for plan to undermine extensive system that secretly tracks customers

many in the technological community are applauding the decision by Apple to tweak how the iPhone searches for WiFi connections.

People are taking seriously the need for encryption, even of data that seem innocuous, because of the ways it can be used.

“Apple hasn’t been limiting the information that Apple can see and that Apple can gather,” said Seth Schoen, a senior staff technologist for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group in San Francisco. “They’ve been limiting what third parties can see.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/apple-praised-for-plan-to-undermine-extensive-system-that-secretly-tracks-customers/2014/06/10/ce92978a-f0b5-11e3-bf76-447a5df6411f_story.html




What Apple is doing here will destroy the utility of that tracking [devices by their MAC address] by randomizing the address.

http://www.market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=229096






Why Apple’s partnership with Epic is a game changer for patients

Apple’s health app and healthkit is not a panacea. It’s certainly a big step — but not for the reason most people think.

Epic now covers more than 50% of patient’s in the United States, and that number is rapidly growing.

While many patients don’t know about Epic–even though their electronic health records and health data is stored there–a majority of physicians know Epic well. To many of us in medicine, we often joke how Epic is taking over the world.

If Apple is able to appropriately leverage Epic’s ability to reach more than 51% of the patient’s in the United States — it would be a game changer. Many physicians would welcome the ability to click on a tab in Epic and be presented with a nice graph showing a patient’s blood pressure trends since their prior visit. Currently, this data is haphazardly recorded by patients, and likewise, haphazardly interpreted by physicians to make key titrations in medication dosing.

http://www.imedicalapps.com/2014/06/apple-partnership-epic-game-changer/




Apple says "We’ll ‘soon’ begin encrypting iCloud email in transit between providers"

http://9to5mac.com/2014/06/13/apple-well-soon-begin-encrypting-icloud-email-in-transit-between-providers/




Angela Ahrendts appears at Tokyo Apple Store opening

SVP of Retail Angela Ahrendts made her first official public appearance as an Apple executive at the Friday opening of Apple’s tony new store in Tokyo, Japan.

http://www.cultofmac.com/283513/angela-ahrendts-appears-tokyo-apple-store-opening/




Hilarious moment quiz show contestant caught CHEATING with hidden phone

http://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/482318/Quiz-show-contestant-caught-cheating-with-Apple-iPhone-and-Spotify




The Unexpected Way Apple’s Growth is Exploited by Competitors

http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/the-unexpected-way-apples-growth-is-exploited-by-competitors




Here's some advice from Mr. Spock on how to assess whether to buy Apple shares: Be logical. Forget about all the articles you see from Apple fan boys who love the company because they love its products, or Apple haters, who fail to consider the company's financial success. If your opinion of Apple reflects your love of products that "just work," or hatred of having less access to the phone's content and less customization than is possible for users of Google's Android operating system, you're just not ready to think clearly about the stock.

Apple's numbers look good, despite the revenue growth challenges.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/apples-stock-at-whatever-price-is-a-real-buy-2014-06-09




Apple's stock may beat the market through 2016: The iPhone maker's stock split is a bullish indicator, studies show

Nothing has changed about Apple because of its 7-for-1 stock split.  So how can the split be bullish for anyone besides the lawyers and bookkeepers?  Yet it is, according to a number of academic studies and one good investment newsletter.

Stock splits are a signal from management that they have confidence in the continued appreciation of their companies' shares.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/apples-stock-may-beat-the-market-through-2016-2014-06-09




Best plays on the wearables revolution

Wearables are going to be so much bigger than anybody realizes. What you see and consider a "wearable computer" today isn't what the "Wearables Revolution" is all about.

If you want to be a successful tech investor, you've got to get ahead of the technology curve, not just take linear extrapolations from the technology you see around you right now.

Imagine the medical, health and training applications from having non-invasive wearable sensors on your body to track your blood, hormones, or whatever other levels you need tracked. It's not even that far out there.

The wearables revolution is about health monitors.

Wearables and what people do with them will change society. Invasion of privacy is going to be an ever bigger issue with wearables and drones and robots and their ability to track and keep data, video and other private information.

Now for another topic:  World stocks inch towards all-time high.

When was the last time you talked to somebody, bull or bear, who was actually looking for a major pullback? Even the bears are bullish right now, no?

http://blogs.marketwatch.com/cody/2014/06/09/best-plays-on-the-wearables-revolution/




A Dangerous Question: Does Internet Advertising Work at All?

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/06/a-dangerous-question-does-internet-advertising-work-at-all/372704/




The Dark Side Of Facebook, Where People Lie, Steal, And Make Millions

There’s another popular way to acquire lots of fans quickly on Facebook: hijack them.

Facebook hijacking is when a person who isn’t the owner of a Facebook fan page is able to seize control of the page from its manager. Pages go largely unpoliced by Facebook, and there are a number of ways to steal a page from its owner.

http://www.businessinsider.com/jason-fyk-dark-facebook-cybercrime-2014-6