Yearly Archives: 2015

I’m definitely going to see this movie.

Kiss your afternoon goodbye. Enjoy.

Pixelmator for iOS just keeps getting better. In the latest release, the guys added Dynamic Touch, which lets users adjust the brush size of all Retouch tools by painting with their tip or a larger area of their finger; the Pixelmator for Mac repairing algorithm has been added to iOS; and they published the Pixelmator for iOS User Guide and video tutorials.

This is one of my favorite apps and companies. Just go buy their software.

Merlin and Jim talk about the future, David Gilmore, and underrated guitarists.

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Apple:

Listen to streaming audio from the conference call.

Live streaming audio requires iPhone®, iPad®, or iPod touch® running iOS 4.2 or above, a Mac® running OS X 10.6.8 or above or a PC running Windows 7 and QuickTime 7 or later. Safari or Internet Explorer also required.

This is the quarterly call where Apple talks about just how many metric buttloads of money they have made in the past three months, the ridiculous number of iPhones and Macs they’ve sold but not a word on how many Apple Watches they have put on wrists around the world.

While the conference call is restricted to analysts (some of whom will ask really stupid questions), you can be a fly on the wall and listen in to the audio, starting at 5 p.m. ET (2 p.m. PT).

It has tremendous potential and lots of room for growth if only someone were to give it some love. Is that someone you?

I like this app. I think someone could do a lot with it.

Igloo allows you to share files, coordinate calendars, provide updates and manage projects easily.

• Why use the latest, sleekest devices if you are going to use them to stare at an intranet website that looks like it was built in the 90’s?

• Igloos are CSS and HTML5 friendly, which means they can be customized to look amazing.

• They are also responsive right off the bat, which means that everything you can do at your desk, you can now do on the go, on your phone.

• And just like your favorite Apple devices, Igloo helps you do your best work.

• Share files, coordinate calendars, provide status updates and manage projects. Igloo’s not just for your traditional intranet stuff like HR policies and expense forms. It also lets you work better together with your teams.

• For example, with Igloo’s latest release, Wolf, you can preview Photoshop, InDesign, HTML or CSS files straight from the platform, making it easier for co-workers to give feedback on creative assets.

• Head over to igloosoftware.com to sign up for a free trial today and invite up to 10 of your favorite coworkers to try it too.

One of the best ways to measure how a product is being received by its owners is customer satisfaction. This statistic alone is highlighted by Apple continually as the barometer in which they measure a product’s success. Many pundits will look to Apple Watch sales as the metric for its success. But the real question is, do people love it? The answer is yes.

I agree that pundits will look for sales numbers and I also agree that satisfaction is an important question in determining success.

Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum:

For the Smithsonian’s first-ever Kickstarter campaign, we are proud to announce plans to conserve, digitize, and display Neil Armstrong’s Apollo 11 spacesuit in time for this milestone anniversary. We want to preserve Armstrong’s spacesuit – and the story it tells of its incredible journey – down to the particles of lunar dust that cling to its surface. Just like the Apollo program, we will accomplish this in collaboration of thousands of people across the country and around the world. And that’s where you come in.

I’m a vocal critic of Kickstarter in general but this is for a great cause and a relative pittance. Some smart company or billionaire should just step up and cover the costs of the suit’s restoration and dispaly.

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The Atlantic:

I talked to Lisa Hardaway, an engineer at Ball Aerospace in Colorado who led technical development of the one called “Ralph.” Ralph captures visible and some infrared light. When you see Pluto looking tan- and sepia-toned in the new, high-resolution photos, you’re looking at data captured by Ralph.

​Since it captures visible light, Ralph is in many ways comparable to the camera found in a phone or fancy DSLR. In conventional camera terms, it’s a 75mm lens at f/8.7. But it was far harder to build than a normal camera.

Hilarious that these incredible images we are getting from New Horizons are from a “Ralph”. An “Omar” or a “Brad” I could understand.

Cool, but no.

New York Times:

Free smartphone navigation apps from Apple and Google offer turn-by-turn driving, walking and biking directions. And many new cars have the option of built-in navigation systems. So is there any longer a reason to buy a stand-alone GPS unit?

While smartphone navigation apps have some advantages, including limiting the number of devices one needs to buy and carry around, they also have some negatives.

I’m still a huge fan of stand-alone GPS devices for the reasons stated here and many others. I’ve tried almost every iPhone navigation app and I still come back to my Garmin or TomTom GPS on my motorcycle. If you’re just going around town, the phone may do the trick but, if you are travelling and/or wanting to “customize” your trip, a dedicated GPS is the way to go.

When I posted earlier today about Neil Young pulling his music catalog from streaming services because of poor quality, I kept wondering why he would do that. Neil is right, quality does matter, but not at all costs. […]

NASA:

New close-up images of a region near Pluto’s equator reveal a giant surprise: a range of youthful mountains rising as high as 11,000 feet (3,500 meters) above the surface of the icy body.

NASA’s Twitter account and web page are starting to post some amazing photos after New Horizon’s fly-by of the planet.