Yearly Archives: 2015

DC Rainmaker:

This past week I’ve been slowly plotting a series of tests to batter the Apple Watch and see exactly how well it’d hold up to a variety of aquatic adventures. No doubt I’ve been showering with it twice-daily since it arrived…but that’s kinda lame in the grand scheme of waterproof tests. So while a few people have casually doggy-paddled around their backyard pool with the watch, I wanted to kick it up a notch…or, rather, a lot of notches.

Interesting that Apple seems to have seriously under promised on the waterproofing of the Apple Watch.

A new book on Elon by Ashlee Vance. I’m thinking this is going to be a great read.

Hard to believe all of those things are related, but they are.

Wow! One of my all-time favorite apps will now be available on all of my devices.

Apple today announced an expansion of its renewable energy and environmental protection initiatives in China, including a new multi-year project with World Wildlife Fund to significantly increase responsibly managed forests across China. The new forestland program aims to protect as much as 1 million acres of responsibly managed working forests which provide fiber for pulp, paper and wood products.

Apple is doing so much more than just releasing products.

I thought they did a great job with this commercial.

With regard to Apple’s Cook, he said: “He’s interested in Apple’s intervention in the car, that’s his role.” Marchionne was not more specific about Apple.

Apple is one of the few companies with the money and resources to come up with something interesting in the automobile space.

Still one of the most famous goals in hockey.

AV Club:

In 1980, a trio of gentlemen from Wisconsin – Jim Abrahams and brothers David and Jerry Zucker – took a cast of predominantly non-comedic actors, put a parodic spin on the disaster-film genre, and created a film which not only made moviegoers howl with laughter but also earned critical acclaim.

While it may not be the greatest movie ever made, it probably ranks in the top five of the silliest movies ever made. I loved it as a kid and love it even more as adult. Every time you watch it, you see and hear more gags and funny bits. To this day, if I ever hear someone say, “Surely, you can’t be…” I immediately flashback to the line in the movie.

Petapixel:

Today Flickr launched a number of new improvements to their service. In my mind, the most significant change is that Flickr is introducing the ability for you to bulk download your photos from their site.

Now you can fill up that free 1 terabyte (or unlimited terabytes if you’ve got a grandfathered Pro account) with confidence knowing that if you ever want/need those photos back from Flickr you’ll be able to get them back much more easily.

One of my knocks on Flickr (a site I’ve used for years) is now moot with this new feature. Really good news for those of us who want additional backups of our photos.

Mobile Forward:

The Apple Watch is out, and we’re seeing the first analyst estimates of some of its key costs. The variation in these early estimate is huge. It’s so big that, even if some estimates aren’t perfect, others are, to use a Tim Cook phrase, “in another universe”.

From my experience working with product and cost experts at a well-known mobile device company, I can tell you: Apple Watch does not cost $84 in hardware and manufacturing. It costs meaningfully more. Probably more than 2X that. And I’ll tell you why. Maybe I’ll even give you my estimate.

Every time one of these “this is what Product X actually costs to make!” articles comes out, I get pissed at the tech media for being so stupid as to believe and parrot the numbers without having any grounds to do so. This article, spelling/grammar issues aside, does a good job of explaining why these estimates aren’t worth the time it takes to type them out.

My thanks to Designer News for sponsoring The Loop this week. A new and exciting website has recently been launched for web designers and developers.

You likely spend hours every morning browsing through hundreds of posts on your RSS feeds, hoping to stumble across relevant stories. Designer News was built to provide web designers and developers with a single location to discover the latest and most significant stories on the Web.

They search through hundreds of posts on blogs, social media, and news channels, to deliver the most essential stories of the day. The content covers quality news, fresh tools and apps, case studies, code demos, inspiration posts, videos and more.

With frequent updates throughout the day, you’ll always find something interesting and fun to read.

Click here to visit the Designer News website and subscribe to the newsletter for the latest stories of the day.

This is a must see if you’re interested in recording. Bob Clearmountain is the best in the industry.

Great article from Tim Bajarin on the mistakes and lack of understanding Google had with glass.

Uber has submitted a bid for Here, the main competitor to Google Maps, for as much as $3 billion, according to three people with knowledge of the offer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Here is owned by Nokia, the Finnish telecom giant, which announced last month that it was considering selling the business.

Makes sense for Uber, but there’s stiff competition to purchase the mapping service.

Jim and Dan talk about Beats Music’s relaunch might hurt Spotify more than others, the new Apple TV remote’s probable touch pad redesign, Microsoft’s emoji additions, the Reserve Strap, Apple’s launch of the ‘Made for Apple Watch’ third-party band program, and more.

Learn about Applebot, the web crawler for Apple.

Interesting.

Among many other things, David Morgenstern was a long time Mac journalist. He was also a friend. Rest in Peace, David.

Tony made the iPod and worked on several versions of the iPhone before leaving Apple. This is when he founded Nest. I have a ton of respect for Tony and his thoughts on products. Note that this interview was done before the Apple Watch came out.

Wow, just wow.

The New York Times:

Once an indulgence reserved for special occasions, manicures have become a grooming staple for women across the economic spectrum. There are now more than 17,000 nail salons in the United States, according to census data. The number of salons in New York City alone has more than tripled over a decade and a half to nearly 2,000 in 2012.

But largely overlooked is the rampant exploitation of those who toil in the industry. The New York Times interviewed more than 150 nail salon workers and owners, in four languages, and found that a vast majority of workers are paid below minimum wage; sometimes they are not even paid. Workers endure all manner of humiliation, including having their tips docked as punishment for minor transgressions, constant video monitoring by owners, even physical abuse. Employers are rarely punished for labor and other violations.

Awful story of the treatment of these women. Pass this along to anyone you know who is “going to get my nails done”.

Macworld:

Released in 2010, MacKeeper has been dogged by accusations that it exaggerates security threats in order to convince customers to buy. Its aggressive marketing has splashed MacKeeper pop-up ads all over the web.

These days, MacKeeper has gone to a subscription-based pricing model rather than a $39.95 one-off payment. It costs $7.95 a month in the U.S. for the premium, year-long plan. Its latest feature is offering phone support from Apple-certified technicians, which it calls Human Inside.

But many of the tools in the software bundle, which includes an antivirus (AV) scanner and 15 other utilities, are already in OS X or available for free.

Macworld takes a light touch on the tsunami of criticism about the software and the various companies that have and do own it but it’s fairly common knowledge that, at the very least, you really don’t need to waste money on MacKeeper. MacKeeper has been known to be, at minimum, almost useless and, at its worse, to cause actual problems with your Mac.

Developed by Softube — and available exclusively for UAD-2 hardware and Apollo audio interfaces — the Marshall Plexi Super Lead 1959 plug-in is an expert emulation of the 100-watt British classic that defined the sound of rock.

And

The Neve 88 Series is a paragon of large-format analog console design. Introduced in 2001, the 88 Series is renowned for its startling depth, airiness, and clarity — deftly encompassing the best of all Neve designs that came before it.

I love the Marshall amp plug-in. Truly great work from UA, again.

Besides the fact they are malicious, copying, stinking bastards, their customer service sucks balls.

Apple’s iOS reached 20.3 percent share of the market for the first quarter of 2015 in Europe’s big five countries of Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, according to a new report from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.