I haven’t seen this in action, but it sounds cool.

Struggling to return strong profits, Samsung has slashed the retail price of its flagship smartphones — the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge — by €100. After the deduction, the revised cost of the 32GB variant Galaxy S6 is €599, whereas its Galaxy S6 Edge counterpart will slightly break the bank at €699. The smartphones were launched just four months ago.

[…]

The company is also rumored to launch two new smartphones, namely the Galaxy S6 Edge+ and the Galaxy Note 5 in the coming days.

Throw shit at the wall and see what sticks.

This is very cool. Great find by Tina Roth Eisenberg.

I love this song.

Brett Terpstra:

My point is, optimism is not the shining light of the enlightened human being. I’m tired of reading “inspirational” quotes on Facebook about how optimism is a goal we should all strive toward. Optimism and pessimism are not light and dark sides, they’re complementing halves of the same token. We need each other, you and I.

Interesting read.

Eddie is just such a great player.

When I first wrote my review of Apple Watch review and follow-up in June, I had lost 40 pounds. I noted that I still had a little way to go to reach a goal I had set about 11 months ago—today, I made it. […]

My thanks to Hullo for sponsoring The Loop this week. You already know the ergonomics of your desktop workstation are important; have you considered your sleep ergonomics? Hullo customer Matt writes:

“I’m kind of shocked myself at how big a difference it’s made, and surprised to find myself writing one of those seemingly overenthusiastic reviews, but Hullo deserves it. So worth it—the ability to precisely shape the pillow so that it supports my neck just right is something I’ll never want to give up!”

Check out Hullo for 60 nights. If you don’t like it, just send it back for a refund.

A great read from Jeffrey Zeldman. I especially liked this:

(Hint: if you’re thinking about leaving your job, you probably want to.)

If you ever wondered what swear words are popular around America, this story maps it out for you—literally.

Great app. I’ve been using Reeder for years.

Using insights from our more than 500 million Shutterstock downloads, discover which emotions businesses, marketing agencies, and media organizations are using to design an ongoing relationship with their customers.

I’m not a fan of infographics, but I did find this fascinating.

Are you a metalhead or a bot?

Brilliant.

As security researcher Nicholas Weaver put it in a (now deleted) tweet, ”Imagine if Windows patches had to pass through Dell and your ISP before they came to you? And neither cared? That is called Android.”

The way Android users get updates is just so screwed up.

Anyone that’s every listened to me talk about guitars knows how much I love Taylor. Their workmanship, attention to detail, and tone are second to none. I just got this beauty today.

“It was just right there,” he told Ars. “It was hovering, I would never have shot it if it was flying. When he came down with a video camera right over my back deck, that’s not going to work. I know they’re neat little vehicles, but one of those uses shouldn’t be flying into people’s yards and videotaping.”

Some drone owners are morons. There was a case in California where firefighters were trying to get a blaze under control and people with drones prevented helicopters from getting into the air. Jesus people, use your common sense.

Theodor Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, is one of the best children’s authors ever.

Om Malik:

Whether it is the fear of carrier overages, or just the preconceived notion that WiFi is faster, most of us continue to log into WiFi expecting it to be blazing fast. But it isn’t really true, both from my personal, anecdotal and totally unreliable point of view and from a data-backed view. Most of the popular public WiFi platforms like Starbucks WiFi, Xfinity, hotel WiFi and a whole lot of others are quite slow compared to a good LTE connection—especially Verizon, which is pricey but reliable.

This is so true. I connect to WiFi just assuming it will be faster than LTE, but many (most) times it just sucks.

AppleInsider has a roundup of the early reviews. Good for Microsoft if they’re able to pull this off—the last couple of releases alienated many of their users.

If I used a case, this is what I would have.

My friends Dave Wiskus and Joe Cieplinski have started a new band and podcast called Airplane Mode. In the first episode they tell the story of how they moved to New York City and started a band.

Much respect to Apple and the developers of these apps for helping make people’s lives better.

We are happy to announce that estimates in Billings Pro have come to the iPhone and iPad. Now you can create, edit, and send estimates from anywhere.

This is a great feature for Billings Pro mobile apps.

Nice.

Much respect to all the companies taking part in this initiative.

Pope Francis on Sunday became the first person registered for next year’s World Youth Day festivities, using an iPad to sign up while addressing thousands of pilgrims and tourists in Saint Peter’s Square.

“Thanks to this electronic device, I signed up as a simple pilgrim,” Francis said, declaring himself the first person registered for the next edition of the Youth Day celebration while flanked by two Polish youths.

Nice.

I love compressors… when they’re used properly.

Police in Beijing have busted a factory that produced more than 41,000 fake iPhones worth as much as 120 million yuan ($19 million), including some that reached the United States, and have arrested nine suspects in the counterfeiting operation.

THEY SHUT DOWN SAMSUNG!

When is a social network not a social network? When “using” a social network is a requirement to access services you really wanted to use. Like email. Or videos.

I know Google wants Google+ to work, but forcing people to use it isn’t the way to make it popular. Thankfully, they’ve learned that. At least for now.

My thanks to Hullo for sponsoring The Loop this week. You already know the ergonomics of your desktop workstation are important; have you considered your sleep ergonomics? You spend around one-third of your life sleeping—a lot of time for your head and neck to be in one position. Whether you are a side sleeper, a back sleeper, or a stomach sleeper, proper positioning and support of your head are important for quality sleep. Have you ever used more than one pillow, or folded your pillow in an attempt to find a comfortable position? Somewhat like a bean bag, Hullo can be shaped to hold your head in a comfortable position, and keep it there throughout the night. One simple pillow can make a difference you’ll appreciate, every night. Guaranteed. Check out Hullo.