Yearly Archives: 2015

Billboard:

Apple Music, the hardware giant’s soon-to-launch streaming service, has landed an eleventh-hour coup, striking deals with the independents’ digital rights organization Merlin and with Martin Mills’ indie powerhouse Beggars Group, sources tell Billboard. Label group PIAS has also announced it has signed on.

In a letter sent to Merlin members, CEO Charles Caldas writes, “I am pleased to say that Apple has made a decision to pay for all usage of Apple Music under the free trials on a per-play basis, as well as to modify a number of other terms that members had been communicating directly with Apple about. With these changes, we are happy to support the deal.”

I think independent music will be a big deal for Apple Music and, like many, am getting more and more excited to see what Apple Music will offer in terms of real world use.

This is a YouTube playlist showing how this guitar was built. Just wow.

BOOM!

Marketcircle, helping small businesses grow with amazing Mac, iPad, iPhone apps, and now Apple Watch. Marketcircle is a Mac-based software company in Toronto that develops award-winning apps to help you save time, stay organized, and work happier. Serving the Apple/Mac community for over 10 years, Marketcircle’s Daylite and Billings Pro can take your business to new heights.

Daylite is a business productivity app that brings together the benefits of a CRM, project management app, calendar app, and to-do app all in one. Daylite helps you share information, build effective processes, and increase efficiency. With Daylite to keep you and your team organized, you can accomplish more than you thought possible.

Billings Pro is a time tracking and invoicing app that helps freelancers and small businesses create beautiful and professional invoices in as little as 60 seconds. With less time managing invoices, you have more time to focus on clients and do the work you love.

Read about how small businesses have grown with the help of Daylite and Billings Pro. Get 10% off your Daylite license(s) when you use the promo code: LOOP0615 (valid until July 12th 2015).

This is just fascinating. I love EVH and what he’s done for guitar players over the years. This is definitely a must read.

Bluetooth Special Interest Group:

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) announced today that Apple, Inc. has become a Promoter member of the Bluetooth SIG. Promoter members are the sole voting class on Bluetooth SIG corporate matters and hold a continual seat on the SIG Board of Directors.

Current Promoter members Ericsson, Intel, Lenovo, Microsoft, Nokia, and Toshiba unanimously welcomed Apple to the highest membership level of the organization.

As the press release states, Apple has been a member of the group for years. This new status obviously means they will have more of a say over the future of Bluetooth.

Petapixel:

While Adobe provides an excellent range of products, some photographers are looking to expand their horizon with more affordable alternatives.

Emulsion is described as a 3rd party photo cataloging software designed to replace Apple’s in-house Aperture photo editing and management program.

For $50 you can pick up Emulsion, which allows non-destructive editing, metadata manipulation, photo organization, and more. A free thirty-day trial is also available for those who would like to give the software a thorough run before purchasing. Current requirements for Emulsion include Mac OS X Yosemite and 4 GB of RAM.

As the review points out, if you’re already a Lightroom user, this app isn’t any better. But, if you don’t need all the features of Lightroom, Emulsion looks like a good alternative.

Samsung:

Have you ever found yourself driving behind a semi-trailer truck? If you’re on a single-lane highway or road, it can be a nightmare. Even though the truck is driving relatively slowly, you cannot overtake it due to its size, and because you cannot see what is happening in front of the truck.

However, Samsung has developed a solution that may make this problem a thing of the past.

This is a very clever idea but likely far too expensive for most trucking companies. There’s also likely a lot of regulations that would have to be changed as well as assurances companies won’t simply use the technology to show even more advertisements to motorists stuck behind semis.

Bloomberg:

Apple Inc. takes Chinese consumer tastes into account when it designs many of its products, Chief Executive Tim Cook said, underscoring the country’s importance to the iPhone maker.

The company considers details including color palettes to suit local tastes, Cook said in an interview in the June 17 Chinese-language version of Bloomberg Businessweek, published under license by Modern Media Holdings.

The decision to offer a gold iPhone last year reflects in part the popularity of that color among Chinese users, he added. Greater China, which includes Taiwan and Hong Kong, is now Apple’s second-largest market and has become a battleground for the company as it vies with Samsung Electronics Co. and Xiaomi Corp. for smartphone supremacy.

This is a statement that will surprise some but really shouldn’t. China is poised to take over as Apple and the world’s largest market for consumer goods. It makes good business sense to cater to it whenever possible.

I just love Pad & Quill’s products. The workmanship and care put into every aspect of their bags is top notch. I own one of the bags already, but that backpack is calling my name. They also have a new briefcase available.

After a lot of bad press and a letter from Taylor Swift bringing attention to the cause, Apple Senior Vice President, Eddy Cue said on Twitter that artists will be paid for streaming music, even during the three-month Apple Music trial. […]

Apple is going to offer users a three-month trial for its new Apple Music streaming service. That’s good. However, Apple will not pay the artists for any music streamed during that time. That’s not just bad, it’s downright wrong. […]

Hope you all have a fantastic Father’s Day. Some corny jokes to share.

Jim and Dan talk about how the Apple Watch has changed Jim’s life for the better.

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Ars Technica:

IMAX’s letter is part of a disturbing trend in which some companies believe that owning a trademark actually allows them to control any speech about their product. Too many examples abound already of trademark owners that believe they’re entitled to control how movies and TV shows portray their brand.

IMAX has taken that to the next level here, believing it is entitled to literally silence someone speaking to a journalist because the name of a corporation happened to slip out of his mouth.

Good to see both Ars Technica pushing back against this kind of corporate bullying and IMAX’s apology after they realize how badly they screwed up.

As someone with an extremely complicated relationship with his three dads, this video had me in tears thinking about all the things I wish I could have said to them and all the things I wish I could have heard them say.

Don’t wait until it’s too late.

My thanks to HelloTalk for sponsoring The Loop this week. Finally, learning and practicing a new language is easier and more intuitive than ever before. Introducing HelloTalk, the language app where your teachers are native language speakers from around the world. You just pick the language you want to learn—there are over 100 from which to select—and almost instantaneously you’ll be in touch with native speakers of that language … and you’ll start learning and practicing immediately.

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