At a Town Hall meeting with Apple employees, the company has announced some major changes to its AppleCare extended service plans.
Apple adds two-step verification to more countries
Apple has rolled out two-step verification of Apple IDs to additional countries.
Bloomberg reporters discuss magnets
Fuckin’ magnets, how do they work?
Bloomberg reporters allegedly spied on Wall Street using Bloomberg terminals
The New York Post alleges that Bloomberg reporters used Bloomberg terminals to spy on Wall Street investors.
International Space Station ditches Windows for Linux
The International Space Station has switched laptops from Windows XP to Debian Linux in an attempt to improve reliability.
“What Apple means when it says it has ‘sold’ a product”
Erica Ogg breaks down what Apple means when it says it’s “sold” something – and channel inventory weighs importantly.
Another day, more hysterical anti-Apple bullshit from Bloomberg
Bloomberg just can’t help trashing Apple, no matter how hysterical or wrong-minded it is.
Wine tasting is bullshit. Here’s why.
io9:
The human palate is arguably the weakest of the five traditional senses. This begs an important question regarding wine tasting: is it bullshit, or is it complete and utter bullshit?There are no two ways about it: the bullshit is strong with wine. Wine tasting. Wine rating. Wine reviews. Wine descriptions. They’re all related. And they’re all egregious offenders, from a bullshit standpoint.
Just like many of us suspected.
World of Warcraft loses 1.3M players in three months
Blizzard Activision says it’s lost 1.3 million World of Warcraft subscribers in three months.
AT&T launches new prepaid service with iPhone, other handsets
AT&T is launching a prepaid subsidiary that is selling the iPhone and other handsets.
Pixelmator 2.2 adds new shape, move, paint selection tools and lots more
Pixelmator, the excellent image editing software, has gotten a major update with its new 2.2 release.
In which Bloomberg just makes shit up about the iPad mini
Philip Elmer Dewitt has caught Bloomberg’s Tim Culpan in a lie about iPad mini demand.
Poll: Americans choose smartphones over sex
Sex, Cigars & Booze Lifestyle Magazine:
A new poll finds that Americans are twice as willing to go without sex for a week than a smartphone.“Our poll shows that the tech revolution has changed our culture to the point that too many Americans seem to derive more pleasure and satisfaction from their smart phones and text lives than from their relationships and sex lives,” said Ron Sachs, President and CEO of Sachs Media Group.
If you choose a smartphone over sex, you’re doing sex wrong.
T-Mobile sells half a million iPhones in a month
T-Mobile reported selling half a million iPhone 5s to new and existing customers in their most recent financial report – not bad for a month’s work.
Hollywood effects legend Ray Harryhausen dead at 92
Ray Harryhausen, the pioneering special effects master behind some of the 20th century’s most astonishing creature effects, has passed away at the age of 92.
Spock vs. Spock in new Audi ad
Zachary Quinto and Leonard Nimoy – the two Spocks – star in a viral video from Audi. The results are hilarious, if you’re a Star Trek fan.
Iron Man set to…Iron Man
He is Iron Man. Tony Stark, I mean.
Adobe shifts from Creative Suite to Creative Cloud
Adobe’s kicking Creative Suite 6 development to the curb to focus purely on Creative Cloud.
“Addressable markets for high-end phones”
Ben Evans takes a look at the global market for phones like the iPhone, and decides that there are about 1.6 billion people left who might get one.
iPhone sales growth stalls internationally as carriers balk at subsidies
Apple’s facing global pressure to work differently with international carriers that represent huge numbers of cell phone users, in order to expand iPhone market share.
How Apple accidentally revolutionized health care
Apple’s been a major force of change in healthcare as more healthcare professionals rely on iOS devices in their daily work, and as patients also use them.
Adobe shows off Lightroom-style photo editing on iPad
Adobe showed off a prototype software app on the iPad capable of doing some pretty high-level tasks that pro photographers would love to have.
“Balrogs are assholes”
Willie Nelson auditions to be Gandalf.
IBM makes movie moving atoms
IBM’s made a short stop-motion animation to demonstrate its ability to move individual atoms.
Tim Cook coming to 11th D: All Things D conference
Tim Cook plans to return to D: All Things Digital when the 11th conference kicks off in late May.
Cookie Monster/Tom Waits – Hell Broke Luce
“Cookiewaits” mashes up Cookie Monster videos with Tom Waits songs, and the results are amazing.
Tor Books UK reports on going DRM-less, one year later
Tor Books UK went DRM free a year ago, and hasn’t suffered.
Bollywood actor goes ‘Samsung Style’ for S4 launch in India
Samsung outdid itself with its Indian launch of the Galaxy S4. It’s even cheesier than the US launch was.
20,000 people have already applied for a one-way mission to Mars
io9:
In the first three days of accepting applications, the Mars One project has received a whopping 20,000 applications, with more than 600 coming from China alone. The project plans to send a select group of colonists to the Red Planet for permanent settlement — with permanent being the key word.The Dutch aerospace project, which is aiming to put four humans on Mars by 2023, started accepting applications and audition tapes early last week.
No chance they make that very ambitious schedule but it’s good to dream. One question: Would you go on the one way trip if it was offered?
In praise of MacUpdate Desktop
MacUpdate Desktop is one of Peter’s indispensable apps. Find out why.