The New York Times:
if you’re going to ever think about buying lottery tickets, a moment like this — when the Powerball jackpot has reached remarkable highs — is the best possible time.The biggest and most generally applicable reason buying lottery tickets is a non-terrible idea is this: It is fun to imagine one’s future after arriving at vast wealth.
I’ve always loved the Fran Leibowitz line of, “Your odds of winning the lottery are the same whether you play it or not.”
TED:
It’s a piece of cake. You can’t put lipstick on a pig. Why add fuel to the fire? Idioms are those phrases that mean more than the sum of their words. As our Open Translation Project volunteers translate TED Talks into 105 languages, they’re often challenged to translate English idioms into their language. Which made us wonder: what are their favorite idioms in their own tongue?
Many of these are even more nonsensical in English. My favourite is, “You sing like an elephant farted in your ear!” Hat tip to Lori Taber.
Two great reads that lay out the thread that brought three startups together to become Google Maps.
Blah, blah, blah, Apple should repurchase their shares, blah, blah, blah, make me more money, blah, blah, blah.
As of yesterday, February 11th, you now have the right to unlock your phone, provided you meet some basic criteria. Read on for the relevant links.
Two good reads if you are interested in learning about Photos for OS X, Apple’s coming replacement for iPhoto.
Karen Webster, in her weekly piece for PYMENTS.com, interviews PayPal’s GM of Retail, Brad Brodigan. She then follows this with some cogent analysis, focused on Apple Pay, PayPal, and friction in the payments market.
This weekend, a man wearing a skull mask posted a video on YouTube outlining his plans to murder me. I know his real name. I documented it and sent it to law enforcement, praying something is finally done. I have received these death threats and 43 others in the last five months.
This is just unreal. You have to read this piece.
The Led Zeppelin reissue campaign continues in 2015, turning the spotlight on the double album Physical Graffiti. The deluxe edition of the group’s sixth studio album will arrive 40 years to the day after the original debuted on February 24, 1975. As with the previous deluxe editions, Physical Graffiti has been newly remastered by guitarist and producer Jimmy Page and is accompanied by a disc of companion audio comprising previously unreleased music related to the original release.
It’s available for pre-order.
Heineken NV, the world’s third-largest brewer, forecast growth against a tough market backdrop in the year ahead after reporting higher revenue for 2014 and increasing its dividend.
I’ve done my part.
A Craigslist ad selling a guitar:
“THIS GUITAR WILL NOT PLAY DOOM METAL. This guitar needs to play GOOD RIFFS and not BORING doom riffs. If your favorite band is Black Sabbath, I can’t sell this guitar to you. If you own a Fender or Gibson and want to upgrade, I can’t sell this to you (Ibanez Japanese guitars are the PRIME of guitar craftsmanship crafted by the ancient Japanese wizards—if you think otherwise, you haven’t played one of these HEAVY METAL BATTLE TANKS.)
“If you want to play REAL GUITAR RIFFS, this guitar is for you! If you have a Marshall full-stack in your bedroom, THIS GUITAR IS FOR YOU. If you say you are ready to buy this guitar and show up to buy it wearing a Mastodon shirt, I can’t sell it to you. I MEAN RIFFS, not some banjo jangle pentatonic shit. If you own an HM2, this guitar is perfect. You can get the perfect chainsaw distortion with these HOT HIGH GAIN RAIL PICKUPS. Real riffs only.”
That’s some funny shit.
Good list of apps here from Lee Peterson. I use all of those and a couple more.
Each month, Foremost releases a limited-edition collection of clothing — three-to-five items per gender — alongside an interview series with some of the world’s most prominent, interesting, and creative personalities.
Good luck to my friend, Matt Alexander, on his new project.
Zak Wylde puts on such a great show. This is one of my favorite BLS songs.
Jim, Shawn and Special Guest Dave Mark talk Tim Cook, The Loop Magazine, The Grammys and Kanye West!
IFO Apple Store:
An original and significant element of Apple’s retail stores is disappearing. Over the past month workers have been removing the “atom” symbol that has pinpointed the Genius Bars since the first store opened in 2001, and they are replacing it with wall graphics to match those recently installed in back-lit wall displays.
I’ll be sorry to see them go. One of my favourite photos I ever took was of Steve Jobs at the opening of the first New York Store. He was leaning forward on the Genius Bar and I framed a perfect shot of him with the word “Genius” right about his head.
The number of stolen iPhones dropped by 40 percent in San Francisco and 25 percent in New York in the 12 months after Apple Inc added a kill switch to its devices in September 2013. In London, smartphone theft dropped by half, according to an announcement by officials in the three cities.
This was a real concern for cities around the world. The drop shows how powerful the kill switch has been as a deterrent.
Serenity Caldwell is a miracle worker. She put together a transcript of Tim Cook’s talk at the Goldman Sachs conference. Given the casual, conversational nature of his talk, that was no easy feat.
An interesting moment in Tim Cook’s Goldman Sachs talk where he calls out the moderator on his choice of watches.
Tim Cook talks Apple accomplishments and a lot more. Some great quotes.
Did you know there is a preference pane in your Mac’s System Preferences called Internet Accounts? Take a few minutes to read about this little known OS X feature.
the best repairs are the ones you do yourself. To that end, spend a few minutes reading Joe Caiati’s Mac troubleshooting guide, posted on 512 Pixels.
Joe is a former Apple Genius and writes from hard-won experience.
Advertising appears to be moving down the chain to your devices. An interesting and, perhaps, scary development.
Jon Stewart is stepping down as the host of The Daily Show. Here’s his announcement.
The project in Monterey County, California will provide enough energy for 60,000 homes as well as Apple’s future head office in nearby Cupertino, Cook said at a Goldman Sachs technology conference in San Francisco.
“We know in Apple that climate change is real. The time for talk is passed,” he said. “The time for action is now.”
Great move.
As his body weakened from a muscle disease, Ethan Och knew the time had come.
He told his music teacher he’d have to give up his favorite school activity.
His teacher wouldn’t let him just quit. They had another idea.
Today Ethan is back in the percussion section, drumming on an iPad hooked to an amplifier.
What a wonderful story.
The Guardian:
Three volunteers are on the shortlist to be among four people on the Mars One programme, the first manned space flight to Mars – a one-way trip that’s effectively a suicide mission. Why do they want to leave Earth, and who are they leaving behind? As the list of potential Mars explorers is whittled down further on 16 February, meet those competing to be the first to land on the Red Planet.
I’d go.
The Verge:
The company is stepping in to tell everyone to calm down and that those 1984 references are way off base. In a blog post plainly titled “Samsung Smart TVs Do Not Monitor Living Room Conversations,” the company does acknowledge that its clumsy, broad-strokes privacy policy could’ve used some clearer language.
The problem for Sony is that, even if their TVs don’t work the way they are accused of working, many of us have no problem believing they’d be sleazy enough to do that.
Quartz:
Unlike the transistor, the lithium-ion battery has not won a Nobel Prize. But many people think it should. The lithium-ion battery gave the transistor reach. Without it, we would not have smartphones, tablets or laptops, including the device you are reading at this very moment. There would be no Apple. No Samsung. No Tesla.In 1980, Goodenough, a whip-smart physicist then aged 57, invented lithium-ion’s nervous system.
He says, “I’m only 92. I still have time to go.” What a great attitude.
Monday Note:
I have no trouble with the Law of Large Numbers, it only underlines Apple’s truly stupendous growth and, in the end, it always wins. No business can grow by 20%, or even 10% for ever.But, for the other three, Market Share, Commoditization, and Modularity, how can we ignore the sea of contradicting facts?
Part of the reason why it seems Wall St doesn’t understand Apple is because the company’s operations don’t conform to so many commonly held beliefs about economics and business.