Yearly Archives: 2015

Wow.

[Via Coudal]

Jim and Merlin talk Apple Watch workouts, playing guitar at parties, and break the fourth wall.

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Links:

• Tense Party Enters Third Hour Of Unplayed Acoustic Guitar Leaning Against Wall
• Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage (2010) – IMDb
• Upgrade #58: What’s Magic About That Keyboard?
• Rob Zombie – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Mission of Burma – “Signals, Calls, and Marches” (1981) on Apple Music

This would freak me out, but it looks cool.

Pixelmator 3.4 Twist adds support for the new OS X El Capitan, multitasking via Split View, the new Pixelmator Photos Extension with powerful Distort tools, and more.

This is such a great app. The guys at Pixelmator continue to improve the application, adding value for its customers.

Samsung is adding two new Galaxy Note 5 options to its lineup in South Korea. They’re exactly the same internally, but they come in two cool new colors — Silver Titanium and Pink Gold.

“Pink Gold,” really? Samsung is so pathetic.

Newer Tesla Motors Model S sedans will be able to steer and park themselves under certain conditions starting Thursday, the carmaker said, although Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk cautioned that drivers should keep holding the steering wheel.

“We’re being especially cautious at this stage so we’re advising drivers to keep their hands on the wheel just in case,” Musk told reporters at the company’s Silicon Valley headquarters. “Over time there will not be a need to have your hands on the wheel.”

The dynamic, engaging and interactive Newseum allows visitors to experience the stories of yesterday and today through the eyes of the media while celebrating the freedoms guaranteed to all Americans by the First Amendment.

I really want to go here. I’m a big fan of history and this museum is definitely in my wheel house.

What a great page on Apple’s Web site comparing the 1998 and 2015 iMac.

Jim and Dan talk about Apple’s brand new Magic Keyboard, Magic Trackpad 2, Magic Mouse 2, and the new 5k and 4k iMacs.

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Ars Technica:

On October 14, 1947, high above California’s Antelope Valley, Charles “Chuck” Yeager became the fastest man alive. That day Yeager—an Appalachian farm boy-turned-fighter ace—flew an experimental rocket plane called the Bell X-1 through the sound barrier and into the history books. Fifty years and one day later (and only about 500 miles due north), another fighter pilot—RAF Wing Commander Andy Green—equaled Yeager’s feat but on four wheels. Thrust SSC was the name of his ride, and it made Green the fastest man on Earth. It’s a title he still holds.

But 65 years to the day after Yeager’s supersonic flight, an Austrian skydiver named Felix Baumgartner got his own entry into the record books. Baumgartner rode a helium balloon from Roswell, New Mexico, (yes, that Roswell) 128,100 feet (39,045m) into the atmosphere and then stepped out of its gondola, breaking the sound barrier with nothing more than a pressure suit and the laws of gravity. Luckily for Green, Baumgartner became the fastest man en route to Earth.

All three of these historic supersonic firsts happened on (or about) October 14.

The speed of sound is one of those record marks that capture the imagination, even though it was first broken more than 60 years ago. No matter the conveyance, we are still fascinated whenever someone breaks the sound barrier.

NPR:

Berkeley Breathed has brought back his popular comic strip “Bloom County” after having retired it 25 years ago at the height of its popularity. At the time, “Bloom County” was published in over 1,200 newspapers. Anthologies that collected the strip were best-sellers.

I can’t tell you how happy this makes me. Along with The Far Side, Bloom County was one of my favorite comic strips. It’s latest iteration has lost none of the sweetness and world-weariness of the characters or the ever-so-gentle skewering of the world through Breathed’s eyes.

It doesn’t seem like a good sign when you have to launch a support account for your new music service, especially when you’re known around the world for ease of use.

Vanity Fair:

Apple’s chief design officer Jony Ive in conversation with the director of the upcoming Star Wars film, J.J. Abrams. Moderated by the Academy Award–winning producer Brian Grazer.

An hour long conversation with and between three fascinating people.

Bloomberg:

The U.S. Justice Department said it’s satisfied Apple Inc. put in place reforms to comply with antitrust laws even though it fought with a monitor appointed to oversee its sale of electronic books.

The government on Monday recommended that the monitoring not be extended. In a letter to the Manhattan federal judge who found in 2013 that Apple illegally conspired with publishers to set e-book prices, the U.S. said Apple has “now implemented meaningful antitrust policies, procedures, and training programs that were obviously lacking at the time Apple participated in and facilitated the horizontal price-fixing conspiracy found by this court.”

While Apple won’t be sad to see the monitor go, looking through other details of this story tells you the monitor will be – he was making a small fortune billing Apple for his court-mandated time.

Steven Levy:

There are many reasons why Apple is the world’s most valuable company. Tim Cook is celebrated as a supply chain Maester who has internalized the focus on innovation that his predecessor inculcated in the culture. Jony Ive has drawn global raves for making Apple a design icon. Its marketing and branding practices set industry standards. But a visit to the lab where its legacy products — computers — are made suggests another reason.

Sweating the details.

Levy was given inside access to the iMac team while they developed the new machines and, as usual, his writing on the topic is fascinating.