Daily News Roundup: Jony Ive, Designer of the iPod and iPhone, Is Leaving Apple

Jony Ive may not be a household name, but in the tech world, he’s undoubtedly famous. He’s the person primarily responsible for the looks of the iPod, iPhone, Apple Watch, and even Apple’s new headquarters. Now he’s leaving Apple behind.

Jony Ive first joined Apple in 1992 and immediately began to his mark. The first product he designed, the MessagePad 110, was admittedly a commercial failure. But the MessagePad won several design awards for its thoughtful inclusion of a spring-loaded lid and integrated stylus. That’s the sort of thing we take for granted now but compared to what came before it was new and innovative.

Since then Jony was responsible for the design of iMacs, iPods, the iPhones, HomePod, and more. Not every product he had a hand in succeeded (the iPod Hi-Fi comes to mind), but it’s hard to point out a product that didn’t look great.

Now, Jony Ive is ready for something new. Apple confirmed that after 30 years, he is leaving the company to form a new creative firm named LoveFrom. LoveFrom already has its first client lined up: Apple. So in some ways, the more things change, the more they stay the same. [TechRadar]

In Other News:

• Ransomware delivered through web ads are on the rise: According to Malwarebytes, a campaign of drive-by ransomware infections is in full swing. Rather than target anyone specifically, the hackers are infecting through bad ad campaigns. The current batch of viruses relies primarily on outdated standalone Flash components. So maybe update that, or better yet uninstall Flash. [Ars Technica]
• Pokémon Masters coming to iOS and Android: A new Pokémon game is coming, and this time it’s not for your Nintendo. The story for the mobile game focuses on a Masters’ tournament and has you facing off with familiar and new characters in three-on-three matches. [Engadget]
• A Final Fantasy XIV TV series is in development: Final Fantasy XIV, the one you didn’t play because it was an MMO, may become a TV show. Hivemind, which brought us the Expanse, is involved, so it’s possible the series could be good and worth watching. Don’t count your chocobos before they’ve hatched though. [Digital Trends]
• Microsoft’s Chromium Based Edge browser is testing tracking prevention: Ads don’t just try to sell you stuff. They also try to identify you and track you as you browse the web. They want to learn more about you and then try to sell you things more effectively. If you don’t like it, it’s hard to prevent without killing all ads, which is bad for the web. Microsoft is testing a solution in its new Edge browser that attempts to cut out unnecessary trackers while still letting ads show. Good stuff. [TechDows]
• Apple Stores start selling a medical device for the first time: You can now buy the One Drop Blood Glucose Monitor in Apple Stores. While the company has offered the device online in the past, this is a first for the company’s physical retail sales. The device helps people with diabetes monitor blood sugar, and of course, syncs with Apple’s Health app. [MacRumors]
• DisplayPort 2 uses USB-C ports and supports up to 16K resolution: The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) announced an update to DisplayPort yesterday, and it came with a couple of surprises. While it will continue to support the previous port standard for backward compatibility, you’ll also find DisplayPort 2 in USB-C format. And the upgrade to the standard is “VR ready” and handles up to 16K resolution. Neat? [How-To Geek]
• Spotify’s pre-save feature adds albums to your library and hands over your data: The pre-save feature in Spotify is convenient. If you follow an artist and they drop a new album, it’s automatically added to your library. What you may not realize is the feature hands over data and other permissions about your listening habits to the artists. That includes the ability to track what you listen to, change what artists you follow, and potentially even control your music streaming remotely. Gross. [Billboard]
• Microsoft put Cortana in the Windows Store, hinting at a big separation: Cortana features deep integration into Windows. But it does update separately outside Windows updates. So it’s a little surprising to see the company add a Cortana Beta app to the Windows Store. The company could be experimenting with a new way to update Cortana, but it seems just as likely this the beginning of an even bigger separation from Windows. [The Verge]

NASA wants to send a drone to Saturn’s largest moon because it’s so fascinating.

If you look past the fact that temperatures range in the area of -300 degrees Fahrenheit (-185 degrees Celcius), Titan (Saturn’s largest moon) is remarkably similar to our planet. Titan has a thick atmosphere, something that makes it unique among moons, clouds, rivers, and lakes although methane forms those rivers and lakes instead of water.

Ok, we admit Titan sounds like a terrible place to live (or more accurately, die quickly). But it’s the closest Earth-like place we’ve found in the solar system, and we can get to it.

And that’s why NASA intends to send a drone, called Dragonfly, to skim through the moon’s atmosphere, sometime around 2034. We can reach it, but the journey will take eight years, plus time to plan and build.

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