Yearly Archives: 2015

A very thorough article at The Tennessean about Gibson, a company we know that sells guitars, but is turning into a consumer electronics company.

Petapixel:

After another stage performance in “Hamlet” this past weekend, actor Benedict Cumberbatch stopped outside the Barbican theater in London to make a request of his fans: he wants theater-goers to put away their cameras during his performances.

Speaking to the large crowd of fans gathered outside the theater, Cumberbatch politely says that seeing cameras pointed at him during the play is “mortifying” and that there’s “nothing less supportive or enjoyable” for the actors on stage.

It’s just as bad for the performer as it can be for the audience. Nothing ruins an event more than having a dozen cell phone screens brightly ruining your view of what is happening on stage.

Wired:

While streaming services provide endless ways to introduce listeners to unfamiliar music, the sheer number of them has fragmented the market. As we listen to music more each year, radio still holds the crown in one very important regard. “Radio continues to be the #1 source of discovery for new music,” says David Bakula, a Nielsen analyst.

According to Nielsen’s findings, this is true even for younger listeners, the prime audience for streaming services. “For younger millennials in particular, discovery is more and more driven by social media and other digital formats, but that’s still supplemental to radio,” says Bakula.

To me, Beats 1 is the most interesting aspect of the very uneven Apple Music. I tend to listen to music I already know and like but, listening to the Beats 1 DJs, I’m more likely to hear, listen to, and want to learn more about artists I’ve never heard of before.

Macworld:

Customers of the oft-criticized security and performance program MacKeeper have until Nov. 30 to file a claim for reimbursement, the result of a proposed class-action suit settlement.

Those who bought MacKeeper before July 8 are eligible, according to the settlement website where claims can be filed.

The class action suit accused MacKeeper’s original developer, ZeoBIT, of deceptively advertising the program and making false claims about what it could fix.

Half a million US customers are eligible to get at least some money back. If you know anyone who bought this crapware, please let them know about this settlement.

Time and Date:

The Perseid meteor shower, one of the brighter meteor showers of the year, occur every year between July 17 and August 24. The shower tends to peak around August 9-13.

The best time to view the Perseids, or most other meteor showers is when the sky is the darkest. Most astronomers suggest that depending on the Moon’s phase, the best time to view meteor showers is right before dawn.

I’m headed out later to shoot the meteor shower and test some photo gear tonight.

KelbyOne:

Each year, photographers around the world gather together on the same day to explore an area, photograph, share those photos with one another, and hopefully make some new friends! This year that happens on Saturday, October 3rd.

I’ve been a Walk Leader since the beginning and always have a great time hanging out with photographers of all skill levels. It’s a really cool idea to think that you and thousands of other photographers around the world are all shooting on the same day. If there is one in your area, go for the walk. If there isn’t, it’s not hard to organize a walk yourself.

Outside:

In Jay Blahnik’s first extended interview since Apple hired him to help launch the Watch, the company’s director of fitness for health technologies insists activity tracking is overemphasized, elite athletes have a sitting problem, and the real breakthrough apps for the device will probably be created outside of Cupertino.

You have to read between the lines sometimes but it’s pretty obvious Blahnik isn’t just a talking head and that he really wants the fitness aspect of the Apple Watch to be a big deal.

The Atlantic:

Today’s discerning beer drinkers might be convinced that America’s watery, bland lagers are a recent corporate invention. But the existence of American beers that are, as one industry executive once put it, “less challenging,” has a much longer history. In fact, Thomas Jefferson, himself an accomplished homebrewer, complained that some of his country’s beers were “meagre and often vapid” nearly 200 years ago.

Jefferson never lived to see the worst of it. Starting in about the mid-1800s, American beer has been defined by its dullness. Why? The answer lies in a combination of religious objections to alcohol, hordes of German immigrants, and a bunch of miners who just wanted to drink during their lunch break, says Ranjit Dighe, a professor of economics at the State University of New York at Oswego.

There are some amazing craft beers in America and elsewhere but the major brewery beer – Bud, Coors, Molson and the like – are quite simply not worth drinking.

Thanks to Macminicolo for sponsoring The Loop this week. For ten years, Macminicolo has been hosting thousands of Mac minis in a high end data center. The minis are used for all sorts of services. The Mac mini “has become Apple’s most popular server system.”

Readers of The Loop can signup for a twelve month trial for just $10/mo. Come see what a Mac mini can do. Signup here.

Comedy Central:

On Jon’s last episode of The Daily Show, he revisits The Best F#@king News Team Ever, gets a send-off from his top political targets and says goodbye after 16 years as host.

In case you missed it.

Google Inc and Samsung Electronics Co will release monthly security fixes for Android phones, a growing target for hackers, after the disclosure of a bug designed to attack the world’s most popular mobile operating system.

Sounds a lot like the weekly security updates Microsoft did (do?) for Windows.

Samsung Vice President Rick Segal acknowledged that his company could not force the telecommunications carriers that buy its devices in bulk to install the fixes and that some might do so only for higher-end users.

Then what’s the point?

Jim talks with Dan’s about his new Apple Watch, the latest Android vulnerability and the concerning state of Android security, iOS adoption rate, the changing devices we use to connect to the Internet, Lenny Kravitz’s unintentional exposure, and more.

The Ampeg SVT-VR Bass Amplifier plug-in is an exacting emulation of the legendary, 300-watt, all-tube behemoth used by everyone from Bootsy Collins to the late Chris Squire of Yes, while the Ampeg SVT-3 Pro Bass Amplifier plug-in models the tube/solid-state design and extended tone shaping of the rackmount modern classic.

Brainworx and UA do a great job with these instrument plug-ins. I have a number of them and they’re all top quality.

We’re on day who-the-heck-knows of the Android Stagefright security vulnerability, and there’s really no point keeping track of the days because no one’s going to fix it. The Android ecosystem can’t deal with security, and it won’t change until it’s too late.

This is shocking. (No, it’s really not).

John Gruber looking at which devices are important to us. I believe my answers would match the 2015 survey results.

Microsoft Outlook has added full Apple Watch support to its iPhone app, and it’s showing other email apps how it’s done.

Jared Newman takes Outlook for a spin and likes it. I’ve said before, Microsoft has done a great job on its iOS apps, but I’m still not a huge fan of the Mac versions.

I’ve seen a lot of tablet stands in the past few years, but this is one I’d actually buy.

I find most assembly lines mesmerizing. I’m completely addicted to the TV show “How it’s Made”. So any Youtube video that shows a process like this is a guaranteed view from me. This is different in that it is a homemade contraption and it is a wonder to behold. Not to mention the fact, this lucky guy has 11,000 marbles to play with.

Very cool.

Astrophysicist Dr. Brian May is recognized during a July 17, 2015 New Horizons science briefing at NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. May spent a long birthday weekend with the science team, attending two morning science plenaries, a meeting with the Student Dust Counter group, and working on stereo images of Pluto with the Geology, Geophysics and Imaging (GGI) team.

I’ve had the opportunity to meet and speak with Brian at some length during one of Queen’s European tours. He is not only smart and a fantastic guitarist, he’s also very humble.

The Washington Post:

At 8:15 a.m. on Aug. 6, 1945, the first bomb exploded over Hiroshima killing, by some estimates, 140,000 people, and destroying 90 percent of the city. But near its hypocenter only one building was left standing.

Seventy years later, the Genbaku Dome — now known as the Hiroshima Peace Memorial — is part of a very different city that’s home to 1.2 million residents and filled with skyscrapers, apartment buildings and streetcars.

Armed with archival photographs, Reuters photographer Issei Kato revisited some of the same locations destroyed 70 years ago in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

On such a sombre day, it’s good to not only look back and remember what happened but also to look forward and see how the city has endured and prospered. The before and after pictures are truly heartening.