Archive for September 29, 2020

Apple And Epic Don’t Want A Jury Trial

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 29, 2020 by itnerd

It is incredible. Apple and Epic agree on something. They both do not want to have a jury trial in their ongoing legal dispute over Fortnite and Apple’s App Store policies, according to a court filing submitted to the Northern California court handling the case today. This is despite the fact the judge thinks a jury trial is important.

I still think Epic is still in a place where they are on the losing end of this. The judge who presided over this has shown that Epic’s arguments are bogus. All this move to a non-jury trial does is stall the inevitable.

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rag & bone & Microsoft Create A Virtual World That Challenges The Status Quo

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 29, 2020 by itnerd

rag & bone unveils a preview of its Spring/Summer 2021 collection with a dynamic teaser film, Metamorphosis, created in partnership with Microsoft. Metamorphosis explores new ways of bringing collections to life through the integration of innovative technology.

Metamorphosis is a special stand-alone collaboration that spans the creative worlds of design, technology, and filmmaking to bridge the authentic craft of rag & bone with technology to reveal elements from the collection. Creating the unexpected between rag & bone and Microsoft began with the Spring/Summer 2020 show, which featured real time point cloud data capture technology. The partnership will continue into 2021 with concepts aimed at simplifying how consumers digitally engage with rag & bone collections.

Set in a fantastical vision of New York, Metamorphosis represents a virtual transformation of movement, fabric detail and the versatility of rag & bone signatures. Through the use of Azure Virtual Machines for Cloud Rendering, classic outerwear, feminine meets masculine silhouettes, relaxed tailoring, and easy to wear essentials are mixed and matched to redefine an everyday wardrobe.

Created remotely on the Cloud and supported by Azure Virtual Machines, an avatar figure was generated to capture key looks in the collection. Through a variety of camera movements and atmospheric plays on light and dimension, the avatar explores a New York City that shifts perspectives of space and dimension. Each small and highly defined detail in the looks are created on the cloud using Microsoft Azure Solutions. Additionally, Microsoft Azure allows for powerful remote GPUs and other services that optimize the output of a virtual rag & bone collection. 3D software was utilized to run virtually in the cloud to facilitate direct renders of each piece featured in the teaser to cloud GPUs. A musical arrangement by DJ Kris Bones was created to round out the film’s surreal and imagined landscapes.

Available to view from today, Metamorphosis launches across rag & bone and Microsoft’s channels worldwide. A new set of look book imagery featuring expanded looks from Metamorphosis will accompany the film’s debut. Through a virtual articulation of how Cloud Computing has shaped the ways in which fashion can be interpreted, the partnership with Microsoft highlights rag & bone’s ongoing commitment to creating digital first experiences that are uniquely their own.

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Keyfactor Launches Inaugural Virtual Conference in October

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 29, 2020 by itnerd

Keyfactor, the leader in crypto-agility solutions, today announced its inaugural digitally delivered conference, the Critical Trust Virtual Summit, which will take place on October 21-22, 2020. The two-day online event will offer more than 15 sessions and panels delivered by industry-leading innovators and practitioners specializing in crypto-agile best practices across IT, security, engineering and DevOps.

The Critical Trust Virtual Summit includes panels and sessions featuring top industry experts focused on Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) best practices, certificate lifecycle automation, zero trust manufacturing and future industry trends. Event presenters, industry partners and highlighted sessions include:

IT, DevOps and security leaders and practitioners can register for their free Critical Trust Summit pass by visiting: https://summit.keyfactor.com/.

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A Follow Up On My Apple Watch Series 6 Review

Posted in Products with tags on September 29, 2020 by itnerd

After posting my review of the Apple Watch Series 6, I got requests to do a follow up on that review because apparently, I didn’t cover all the bases when it came to the Apple Watch Series 6. I also got requests to do a story on the sleep tracking functionality. That will happen later this week. But for now, I’m going to take the questions that I got and answer them as best as I can:

Is the Apple Watch Series 6 physically different than the Series 5?: At first glance it isn’t. But I have since discovered that the Series 6 is slightly thinner than the Series 5. But it’s really not noticeable as I really couldn’t tell when I had a Series 6 and Series 5 side by side. Whatever thinness that exists is likely due to the removal of the Force Touch hardware. But it’s essentially the same.

What about battery life?: This is a difficult question for me to answer because I use it for sleep tracking, which means I recharge when I wake up, and again when I go to bed. But battery life is longer than what I was used to with the Series 5. For example, I charged the Series 6 to 100% this morning, I and have worn it for 2.5 hours thus far and the battery is at 98% as I type this. The Series 5 would be into the low 90% range by now. So clearly there’s an improvement. Another data point is that by the time I get to 5PM, I am at 50% or more on the battery gauge. So battery life is clearly better. Of note, iFixit tore down the Apple Watch Series 6 and found that the battery is a bit bigger. That combined with the new S6 processor which is apparently more power efficient likely accounts for what I am seeing. When it comes to recharging, it is faster than I am used to as I can get from 50% to 100% charge in under an hour. That’s well within what that Apple advertises. Which is 0% – 80% in about an hour, and 80% to 100% in 30 minutes after that. That’s a total of 90 minutes to fully charge your Apple Watch Series 6. That convenience is a total win.

Something that I didn’t expect is that the haptics are far more pronounced on the Series 6 making next to impossible to miss. That is likely due to the new Taptic Engine that iFixit found when they tore down the Series 6.

One other thing. Blood oxygen measurements became a whole lot more reliable after a day or so. After being a bit finicky when I first got it, it became very reliable as I can always get a reading when I ask for one via the blood oxygen app. While it does measure blood oxygen in the background at a rate of roughly once an hour, I found that it also doesn’t measure blood oxygen in the background while you work out or you are moving. That’s a bit disappointing as I would like to know what my blood oxygen is during a bike ride without having to manually having to do it. It would also be nice to tie blood oxygen to sleep tracking as I think that would be useful. But it doesn’t do that either. More on that when I do my story on sleep tracking.

What did you think Apple could improve on?: They could have pushed the envelope on battery life. It is marginally better, but there are wearables out there that get days of battery life. Though those wearables don’t do as much as the Apple Watch does. Apple could have also figured out how to make the Apple Watch roam on LTE. That would be a game changer. Qi wireless charging is one other thing that Apple could have done something about as it would make charging more convenient as there are Qi wireless chargers everywhere now. Oh, and finally there’s the fact that Apple only makes the Apple Watch work with iPhones. Meaning that Android users have to switch to get their Apple Watch fix. While it would expand Apple’s base of customers if they did deliver Android support, much like Android Wear watches have iOS support, I honestly don’t see that happening.

My bottom line hasn’t changed. The Series 6 an iterative upgrade. Which isn’t really a liability as we haven’t reached peak saturation of the smart watch market yet. Also the Apple Watch SE is going to provide it some competition. And existing Apple Watch users may have to think long and hard about whether an upgrade is worth it. But it’s hard to deny that Apple is likely to continue to lead the smart watch market with the Series 6.

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Trump “Likely Exceeded” His Legal Authority By Trying To Ban TikTok

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 29, 2020 by itnerd

Things are not looking good for the Trump administration. The judge who on Sunday halted the TikTok ban dropped this on President Trump yesterday:

The federal judge who blocked the White House’s ban on TikTok downloads in the U.S. Sunday night said the Trump administration “likely exceeded the lawful bounds” of the powers afforded to the president under the the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

President Trump invoked the IEEPA in his executive order to ban TikTok, the short-form video app owned by Chinese internet giant ByteDance, in the United States. The law is designed to let the president take emergency action to prohibit business transactions with an entity that represents “an unusual and extraordinary threat, which has its source in whole or substantial part outside the United States, to the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States.”

However, the IEEPA includes two exceptions — both of which apply to TikTok, U.S. District Court Judge Carl Nichols of the District of Columbia wrote in his opinion, which was unsealed Monday.

And:

As cited by the judge, the IEEPA does not give the president authority to regulate or prohibit, either directly or indirectly, “the importation or exportation of ‘information or informational materials” or “personal communication[s], which do[] not involve a transfer of anything of value.”

Well…. That’s not good if you are President Trump. And it may mean that TikTok may live on in the US. While I expect this to play out in court this week, I also have a sneaking suspicion that the Trump administration may end up losing this fight in the end.

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