Yearly Archives: 2012

Woman sues Apple after walking into glass doors

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Paswall claims that she didn’t realize that she was walking into a wall of glass as she approached the store, and says that she broke her nose as a result of the collision.Her suit claims that “the defendant was negligent … in allowing a clear, see-through glass wall and/or door to exist without proper warning.”

Don’t blame your stupid on someone else.

Shuttle Orbiter autopsies

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Smithsonian Air and Space:

After flying 148 million miles and orbiting Earth 5,830 times, Discovery, first flown in August 1984, was being decommissioned and readied for its trip to the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in northern Virginia, where it will arrive in mid-April.The three main engines had been removed from the shuttle’s aft end, which was now covered by a tightly fitted mask with three white discs the size of the engine bells. Clear plastic stretched across the crater in the orbiter’s nose, where the forward reaction control system—small thrusters that maneuvered the spacecraft in orbit—had been removed.And this harvesting of the orbiter’s components was only the beginning.

I always wish I had seen one of these launches in person.

Best Buy sells Nearly as many iPhones as Apple

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AllThingsD: Apple’s move to make Best Buy an outlet for the iPhone back in 2008 is proving a wise one — lucrative, too. Over the past few years, the retail chain has become an increasingly important outlet for Apple, extending … Continued

Screens

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Many thanks to Edovia for sponsoring The Loop this week with Screens. Screens VNC for iOS and Mac. It just works.

Josh Topolsky says Mike Daisey had to lie

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Josh Topolsky:

Mike Daisey is not a hero, but I’m not sure he’s a villain either.He leaned into his lies to sell tickets to a show, to get on network TV, to make money and get famous. But along the way — either on purpose or by accident — he opened a lot of eyes.And that’s the truth.

Bullshit.

Daisey made up some horrendous lies about Foxconn and Apple that never should have been told. He didn’t open anyone’s eyes. Rather, he infuriated the population with false stories of abuse, caused harm to the reputations of both companies and many of its executives, including Steve Jobs and Tim Cook.

Apple has been auditing its factories since 2007 and making conditions better for workers — that’s before Mike Daisey came along and they’ll be doing it after he leaves the public eye. Why? Because it’s the right thing to do. In fact, much of the information that media organizations use against Apple comes from the reports it makes public.

There is no reason to make excuses for Daisey or his lies.

Watch a rare Disney documentary called “The Sweatbox”

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SlashFilm:

Disney is a prolific company with its name on a great many successes, and it likes to hide its missteps and failures. The process of doing so sometimes helps those mistakes become things of legend. Song of the South, with its politically incorrect and racist portrayals of certain characters, is likely the most famous example. Another example might be The Sweatbox, a very rarely-seen documentary about the failed making of an animated film called Kingdom of the Sun, which eventually morphed into The Emperor’s New Groove.The Sweatbox filmmakers John-Paul Davidson and Trudie Styler were given unprecedented access to Disney’s process and the resulting film painted the executives in such a negative light, they more or less made sure the film would never been seen in public.

A harsh look at the process of making movies with some cool behind the scenes footage.

Globalization

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Om Malik:

Unlike the past, when Coca Cola, Levi’s and McDonald’s were icons of globalization, today the brands are very different. They aren’t entirely American, but instead very global.

I remember when seeing a European brand was odd, but not so much anymore. It really is becoming a small world.

TH2 guitar amp software

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Imagine you have a tool to express your talent with the best tone ever. Imagine people listening to your guitar tracks and saying “wow! how did you get that killer tone?!” Imagine you have more than 160 models including Randall, … Continued

Blackhawk and Mayfair Secretary Trunks

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Would you like a new desk or cubicle? What if you could have one of these two designs? The Blackhawk Trunk is “inspired by the gleaming nose cones and fuselages of mid-20th-century aircraft” and the Mayfair Trunk “spares no detail with handmade distressed cigar leather, a solid wood frame and over 3000 hand-hammered brass nail heads.” Both are gorgeous and would look great in your home or office!

Consumer Reports gets torched over iPad tests

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Adam Satariano for Bloomberg:

To many, the incident showed Consumer Reports is now chasing page-views on the Web instead of actually doing a public service.

Satariano quoted me, Marco Arment and MG Siegler.

Android fragmentation

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The following pie chart and table is based on the number of Android devices that have accessed Google Play within a 14-day period ending on the data collection date noted below.

Collection date was March 5, 2012.

Guitar Rig 5.1

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This update provides the following new features, fixes and improvements:Mid/Side Splitter: Split the signal into mid and side channels for a whole new approach to stereo processing.Global Sidechain: This global component applies sidechaining to the whole signal chain. Essential for frequency-specific compression and more.Favorites Tab: Fast access to the components you use most. This new tab automatically groups the components and presets you use regularly.New Demo Mode: Just drag the effect you want to try into your rack and take it for a spin. No re-starting, no need to change modes.

Guitar Rig is one my favorites.