Apple's iCloud aims to 'demote the PC'

Steve Jobs, still gaunt from his battle with a rare form of cancer, interrupted his medical leave to unveil Apple Inc.'s new venture in the cloud.

In what the Apple chief executive described as a major shift in how millions of people would store and organize their music, documents, photos and emails across multiple devices, he showed off an online service that will let Apple users access their digital media from anywhere.

Jobs, who introduced this iCloud service at the opening day of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco on Monday, said people could no longer rely on the personal computer as their digital hub.

"Keeping these devices in sync is driving us crazy," he said. "We have a great solution for this problem. We are going to demote the PC to just be a device. We are going to move the digital hub, the center of your digital life, into the cloud."

Apple, the world's largest distributor of music, is giving consumers access to all the music saved on their hard drives — no matter whether they copied it illegally — for $25 a year, with the music industry's consent. Jobs said that was a first.

Apple is also pushing consumers to store their information in the cloud to capture even more of people's digital lives. It's a bid to keep its dominant position in the smartphone and tablet markets as it faces rising competition from devices powered by Google Inc.'s Android software, analysts say.

And just as it did with the iPhone — a latecomer that went on to revolutionize the smartphone — Apple may ultimately be the company to popularize cloud computing and, in so doing, gain an edge over competitors Google and Amazon.com Inc.

"Apple will set the tone for the way consumers will view what a cloud service should be like in the future," Creative Strategies analyst Tim Bajarin said.

But Apple is jumping into cloud computing at a time when the concept is under rising scrutiny. Last week's hijacking of hundreds of Google's Gmail accounts, including those of senior U.S. government officials, underscored the vulnerability of information stored on the Web.

In Google's case, a user can access to dozens of online services through a single account. Should hackers trick someone into handing over his or her password, they gain access to the person's files, calendar, contacts and any personal information stored or sent through email.

Although Apple's services have a pretty good track record for security, experts say iCloud could further protect sensitive information by offering an additional authentication step such as a security token that pings the user with a new passcode to log in. Google and Facebook offer such a feature.

"If somebody steals your password, they still need to get that code," said Tin Zaw, a security expert based in Los Angeles, "and that code can only be used once."

The latest attacks on cloud computing will not deter consumers and large organizations from using the technology because of the advantages it offers, analysts said.

The iCloud service, which replaces a previous $99-a-year service that let people synchronize their emails, contacts and calendars, also gives users access to documents, apps and photos through a new service, Photo Stream.

Apple is also making it easier for 200 million iTunes users to download and listen to their music collections on any device rather without having to manually upload every song in their libraries. It can do that because it reached deals with the four major record labels and music publishers to license their recordings.

Apple's new technology, iTunes Match, scans a user's hard drive looking for songs and authorizes the user to listen to iTunes' copy of any song it identifies — regardless of whether the user bought the song from iTunes. The only songs the user must spend time uploading are the ones that are not in iTunes' library.

In a dig at Amazon and Google — which have not reached deals with the music industry and require users to upload every song in their libraries to the Web before they can listen to them on multiple devices — Jobs said Apple's service works in minutes, not hours or days.

Apple will split the $24.99 annual fee for the iTunes Match service with record companies and publishers.

Jobs' decision to make what was only his second major public appearance since taking an indefinite medical leave in January signaled the importance he is placing on Apple's move into the cloud. He called the idea, which first emerged at Apple a decade ago, its "next big insight."

James Brown's "I Got You (I Feel Good)" played right before Jobs walked onstage. Jobs, looking thin in his signature black mock turtleneck and blue jeans, was met with a standing ovation as thousands of software developers snapped photos of him with their iPhones and iPads. One yelled "We love you," to which he replied that it "helps."

Jobs did not discuss his health, which he has said is a personal matter. He shared the spotlight with other Apple executives but was animated as he introduced iCloud, walking back and forth onstage, although he descended the stairs from the stage slowly.

"We think this is going to be pretty big," he said.

■単語
gaunt
音節gaunt 発音記号/gˈɔːnt/音声を聞く
【形容詞】
(gaunt・er; gaunt・est)
1〈人が〉(飢え・病気などで骨が出るほど)げっそりやせた，やせ衰えた.
2〈場所が〉不気味な，寂しい.
用例
the gaunt moors 荒涼とした荒れ野.
gauntly 【副詞】
gauntness 【名詞】

venture
音節ven・ture 発音記号/véntʃɚ｜‐tʃə/音声を聞く
【名詞】【可算名詞】
1冒険的事業，投機的企業，ベンチャー 《★特に事業で金銭上の危険をかけた行為にいう》.
用例
a joint venture 合弁企業.
2投機，思わく，やま.
用例
a bold venture 大やま.
3(危険を伴う)冒険 《★adventure のほうが一般的》.

可算名詞としての「venture」のイディオムやフレーズ
at a vénture
【動詞】 【他動詞】
1a〈…を〉思い切ってやる，敢行する.
用例
venture a flight in a storm あらしをついて飛行を敢行する.
b〔+to do〕思い切って〈…〉する; 大胆[無謀]にも〈…〉する.
用例
No one ventured to object to the plan. あえてその案に反対した者はなかった.
2〈…を〉思い切って言う[する].
用例
I would rather not venture an opinion [a guess]. 意見[推測]は差し控えたい.
3a〈生命・財産などを〉危険にさらす.
用例
They ventured their lives for the national cause. 彼らは国の大義のために身命を賭(と)した.
b〔+目+on+(代)名〕〈生命・財産などを〉〔…に〕賭(か)ける.
用例
He ventured all his wealth on the enterprise. 彼はその事業に全財産を賭けた.
4〈…の〉危険に身をさらす，進んで〈…に〉当たる.
用例
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.＝Nothing venture, nothing gain [win, have]. 《諺》 危険を冒さなければ何も得られない, 「虎穴(こけつ)に入らずんば虎子(こじ)を得ず」.
【自動詞】
1〔+前+(代)名〕危険を冒して〔…に〕乗り出す，思い切って〔…を〕試みる 〔on，upon〕.
用例
venture on a risky undertaking 危険な企てにあえて乗り出す.
2〔+副(句)〕思い切って進む，危険を冒して行く.
用例
They ventured out on the stormy sea to rescue us. 彼らは我々を救助するために勇気を奮ってあらしの海に乗り出した.
［フランス語 aventure 'adventure' の語頭音が落ちたもの］

demote
【動詞】
1
より低い位置へ割り当てる
(assign to a lower position)

She was demoted because she always speaks up 彼女は、常に遠慮なく言うので、降格された

Rooting out resume lies

With exams over, it is that time of the year when graduating students send out their resumes to land the ideal job.

A good curriculum vitae is likely to get a job seeker shortlisted for an interview. Yet, without much work experience, preparing a resume is a daunting prospect for many new entrants to the job market, as they would likely be competing against better-qualified professionals looking for greener pastures. So it is not surprising if some hopefuls are tempted to "spruce up" or embellish their resumes.

An example of this is the statement "extremely fluent in English and French", when in reality, the applicant is hardly conversant in the latter. Exaggerations in resumes are common: Some experts have estimated that 40 to 70 per cent of individuals do that.

Individuals also lie through omission, for example by leaving out criminal records or a low grade point average (GPA). (Note that embellishment refers to gross exaggeration or omission of information to the extent that it constitutes a lie, rather than mere fanciful ways of describing responsibilities.)

So is there a way to prevent, or at least minimise, instances of resume embellishment?

We conducted a study on 198 undergraduates, who had to compete for a coveted job after being shown a mock recruitment ad. The hypothetical job included several requirements, such as proficiency in English and Chinese.

The students were asked to state their proficiency in the languages before, and after, the advertisement was shown to them. Their answers pre- and post- advertisement were compared; any difference in their stated level of proficiency was considered a lie.

Participants were also asked three questions to find out if they had social connections that could help them get a job: "I know people in my type of work who might help me get a job", "I have some connections with people that will help me find a job" and "I have good job/internship references".

We found that students with such social networks had stronger attitudes against resume embellishment. Almost three in 10 of the students with job contacts did not lie about their language proficiencies. In contrast, the majority (82.3 per cent) of those without any connections were less than honest.

Respondents with social networks felt their ties could help them get a job. In addition, there was the fear of breaching the trust they enjoyed with their contacts. These factors reduced the incentive for these respondents to lie or cheat on their resumes. We also measured the effects of one's moral values but found that they had no impact on tendencies towards lying - this suggests that social networking, in itself, may serve as a deterrent.

Our findings hold important lessons for organisational hiring practices. They show it is better to build social ties with potential future employees, compared to assessing them purely through their resumes. For instance, hiring managers could go to career fairs and meet potential candidates.

By establishing some level of trust prior to the submission of a resume and by getting to know the job candidates better, recruiters will more likely hire the better candidates anyway. Firms could also avoid advertising themselves as "only hiring the best", which may compel job seekers to lie.

Applicants should bear in mind the potential consequences of lying on their resumes: Advances in communications technologies make it easier for information to spread not only within a company but within an industry as well.