Yearly Archives: 2015

Fender guitars in for a tough week at NAMM

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Fender is planning on selling direct to customers and bypassing dealers:

Direct-to-consumer sales are expected to be a topic of intense discussion as buyers meet with Fender representatives. Some shop owners are so concerned that they plan to buy less merchandise from the manufacturer, said retailers, many of whom did not want to be named for fear that speaking publicly could damage relations with Fender.

Some are considering not re-upping as Fender dealers.

Guitars are one of those items that you really need to touch and feel to appreciate. I don’t think ordering online really works for buying a high-end guitar like a Strat or Tele. Fender is doing some damage here.

Meet Audio Hijack 3, my new favorite audio utility

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Six Colors:

Rogue Amoeba has announced the release of Audio Hijack 3, the successor to the venerable Mac sound utility Audio Hijack Pro. This is a huge update—the first major one for Audio Hijack in ten years—and so comprehensive that this feels more like a successor to the old Audio Hijack rather than a continuation.

Rogue Amoeba has always made good, high quality software especially on the audio side.

You don’t have to ride the tech upgrade treadmill

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Re/code:

The key rule in evaluating the flood of new hardware and software that’s constantly being hawked at you is this: If you’re happy with what you already use, if it works well for you, don’t upgrade.

Yes, the tech industry employs a massive marketing machine to get you on the upgrade treadmill and keep you there, but you don’t have to do so. Resistance isn’t futile.

Lack of funds may have something to do with it but I no longer need to be the first to have all the latest and greatest software and hardware. If what I use works and the new version doesn’t offer tangible benefits, I’ll stick with what I have.

How and why you should use a VPN to protect your data’s final mile

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Macworld:

While the amount of stuff you need to protect has shrunk enormously in the last few years, with Facebook and Twitter encrypting by default, and Google and others upping their game, a VPN still buys you peace of mind.

A well written article from Fleishman. How many of you use VPN on a regular basis?

Amazon Echo review: listen up

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The Verge:

Maybe it’s a good thing that Amazon is so slowly rolling out the Echo to customers — you can only get it by invitation, and if you do so you should know what you’re getting into. Right now, once the honeymoon ends, I suspect most people will stop using the Echo for anything other than occasional music and podcast listening. After a few days of trying to come up with things to ask Alexa just for the fun of the thing, my Echo became mostly a slightly faster way to set a timer or do quick conversions while I cook. It’s great for those things, but those are small things.

Yet this is the future, I’m sure of it.

I think the Echo is an interesting product and likely points the way to the future. Whether the Echo is part of that future or not is debatable.

On multi-user access to your iOS device

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Have you ever wanted to share your iPhone or iPad with someone else? If you share your Mac with someone, you can each have your own account. OS X is designed for multiple users. But iOS is not.

Here’s an idea for a short term fix.

Master Cpl. Jeff Davis, lip-syncing Delaware police officer

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7Online:

A video of a bald and burly Delaware police officer enthusiastically lip-syncing to Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off” is getting global attention.

The video, posted to the Dover Police Department’s Facebook page Friday, shows Master Cpl. Jeff Davis in uniform and driving a patrol car while lip-syncing to the popular pop song – sassy head rolls and finger-pointing included.

What a hilarious video. I especially love the moments like at 1:20 when he sees someone he recognizes and “becomes a cop” again. The rest of the time, he’s just an average father of four who knows “Shake it Off” because of his 10-year-old daughter.

The downside of watching the video is that I’ve now finally listened to my very first Taylor Swift song. Thanks to my friend Lesley for the link.

So long and thanks for all the fish, MacUser UK

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Craig Grannell:

Within the pages of MacUser, you’d not find a great deal of templated fare, and sometimes not even a great deal of content directly about the Mac. What you would find was interesting opinion and analysis about technology, brilliant insight into design and creativity, and in-depth features on all kinds of creative fare. All this was wrapped up in stunning design and layout work that let the content breathe and positively begged you to explore every page.

I never read MacUser on a regular basis but when I did, I always enjoyed its unique sensibility and writing style. A shame it’s shuttering its doors.

Uber ordered to shut down in South Carolina

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Uber said in a statement that the South Carolina Public Service Commission’s order directed at Raiser LLC, an Uber subsidiary, was unexpected and issued despite the company’s close work with state regulators.

I wonder if Uber’s antics in other cities/states/countries weighs in on decisions like this.

Double Bass Mania VIII: Metal Drum Loops

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Power and Precision. Speed and Aggression. Brutal and Insane. Your metal drum tracks deserve nothing less than what you bring to your music. Your music deserves the real thing – live drum brutality to take your songwriting to the next level. Your music needs Double Bass Mania VIII.

Double Bass Mania is my favorite series of drum loops ever. I’ll be getting this set to go along with all the others I have.

Apple’s HomeKit launch

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Very interesting wording from Philips in response to Kelly Guimont’s question regarding their support for HomeKit.

Police arrest man in Christmas Xbox, Playstation hacks

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Both systems suffered long outages over Christmas after a major distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack. A hacking group calling itself Lizard Squad, which had attacked the two networks earlier last year, claimed responsibility.

I wonder what they’ll do with him? Will Microsoft and Sony get a say in the matter? This will be interesting.

Parity, a game

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Parity is a free, web-based puzzle game, in the same class as Threes and the like, though not at all the same.

Dirty deeds, done dirt cheap

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New York Times:

A new website, called Hacker’s List, seeks to match hackers with people looking to gain access to email accounts, take down unflattering photos from a website or gain access to a company’s database. In less than three months of operation, over 500 hacking jobs have been put out to bid on the site, with hackers vying for the right to do the dirty work.

Tony Fadell now in charge of Google Glass

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Glass is moving from the Google X research lab to be a stand-alone unit led by Ivy Ross. Ms. Ross and her team will report to Tony Fadell, a former Apple executive who heads Nest Labs, the smart-home device company Google acquired for $3.2 billion in February 2014. Mr. Fadell will still run Nest, but he also will oversee Glass and provide strategic guidance to Ms. Ross.

Tony made the iPod and founded Nest after leaving Apple. I have a ton of respect for this man.