Yearly Archives: 2015

Jim and Dan talk about the latest Apple news.

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Developed by Softube, the Marshall Legends Bundle gives you three iconic Marshall amps — the Plexi Super Lead 1959 and the new Bluesbreaker 1962 and Silver Jubilee 2555.

Each of these classic Marshall amplifiers feature Unison™ technology for Apollo interfaces, giving you the same distinct tone, touch, and feel of each individual amplifier.

Yes, yes!

Quartz:

Perhaps most universal of all color systems is Pantone—the lingua franca of color.

Sound familiar? Unless you work in design, chances are your first encounter with the mythic New Jersey-based color standards company was via a color-coded mug, iPhone case or in a Sephora makeup counter. In recent years, the design of Pantone’s color chips have become a graphic trope: always a plain band of color with a white bar and some words and black numbers in Helvetica on the bottom.

This chip design is strictly technical, lifted from the layout of a tool used by designers to specify and standardize color when communicating with printers and fabric dyers. So how did it find its way onto mugs, home goods, hospital scrubs, nail polish and even boxer briefs?

The story of Pantone is very interesting. I once sat in a pub in San Francisco during a Macworld Expo with a very drunk Pantone executive who spilled some insider details on how the company orchestrated its way out of the restrictions of the design studio and into the wide open world of pop culture.

Come to the dark side. We have waffles!

TidBITS:

Reports emerged yesterday that a security exploit broker paid $1,000,000 for a browser-based iOS 9 attack, setting a record for buying and selling a computer exploit, at least in public. Security firm Zerodium announced the news via its Twitter feed, and stated that the exploit is an “untethered jailbreak” that works on all the latest versions of iOS.

As is typical with Apple security stories these days, you shouldn’t be overly concerned, but it should raise a few hairs on the back of your neck.

As always, Mogull writes clearly and non-technically about these issues. With his background in security, he offers up many details in this post that will have many of you shaking your head.

CBC:

A five-year-old girl’s bravery in saving her mother and baby brother following a car crash last summer was recognized in a ceremony at Edmonton police headquarters Monday.

The SUV careened down a 12-metre embankment, slammed into a tree and came to rest on its roof. The Royal Canadian Humane Association described how Lexis awoke to her 10-week-old brother’s cries.

After unsuccessfully trying to wake her mother, she took things into her own hands.

What an amazing little girl.

Plex:

There truly isn’t any other platform we’ve wanted to be on for as long as we have the Apple TV. Today’s the day, and we’re celebrating. The app is free in the app store for everyone, and requires the latest media server.

The instant the fourth generation Apple TV was announced with an app store, we here at Plex pumped our fists in the air with excitement, as we raced to download the new Xcode and read the developer documentation.

I used Plex in its original iteration but not since. It’s come a long way and many readers will swear by the software and be very excited by this Apple TV version.

The Verge:

Twitter’s “favorite” button, the service’s primary way for users to signal agreement, acknowledgement, laughter, support, and occasionally (and perversely!) utter hatred, is officially dead.

The company said today that it is replacing favorites with “likes,” to be represented in its apps and on the web by red heart icons. The changes, which also apply to Twitter-owned Vine, represent the company’s latest effort to simplify the user experience as it looks to attract new users.

“We want to make Twitter easier and more rewarding to use, and we know that at times the star could be confusing, especially to newcomers,” product manager Akarshan Kumar said in a blog post. “You might like a lot of things, but not everything can be your favorite.”

I’m not sure how this change will make Twitter “easier and more rewarding” for new users. We’ll all get used to it eventually but, personally, I like the idea of “favoriting” more than using the Facebook “Like”. Probably because I’m more of a Twitter user/fan than Facebook.

Atlas Obscura:

When you travel internationally, power outlets provide a pretty good reminder that you’re not in Kansas anymore.

Outlets vary wildly depending on the part of the world, both in the shape of their sockets and the voltage with which they’re compatible. For those who travel across multiple regions, it can be frustrating. And it’s probably too late to solve this problem, because of decisions made more than a century ago.

If you don’t travel internationally, you won’t know the aggravation of the world’s power outlets. Here is an interesting video about the British outlets and why they may be the best design.