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.

Jim talks to a blogger named John Gruber about remastered music, Apple’s earnings report, and respect from readers.

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My thanks to Igloo for sponsoring The Loop this week. Igloo allows you to share files, coordinate calendars, provide updates and manage projects easily.

• Why use the latest, sleekest devices if you are going to use them to stare at an intranet website that looks like it was built in the 90’s?

• Igloos are CSS and HTML5 friendly, which means they can be customized to look amazing.

• They are also responsive right off the bat, which means that everything you can do at your desk, you can now do on the go, on your phone.

• And just like your favorite Apple devices, Igloo helps you do your best work.

• Share files, coordinate calendars, provide status updates and manage projects. Igloo’s not just for your traditional intranet stuff like HR policies and expense forms. It also lets you work better together with your teams.

• For example, with Igloo’s latest release, Wolf, you can preview Photoshop, InDesign, HTML or CSS files straight from the platform, making it easier for co-workers to give feedback on creative assets.

• Head over to igloosoftware.com to sign up for a free trial today and invite up to 10 of your favorite coworkers to try it too.

It’s been an interesting and confusing day. I arrived at Apple this morning to talk to them about my issues with Apple Music and to hopefully fix my problems. The good news is that I have about 90 percent of my music back. […]

Rene Ritchie:

To make a bad analogy, if they’ve already broken into your house, they can break into the locked drawer in your desk as well.

well said.

I love my Apple Watch and just the thought of losing it is scary, but having a way to turn off Apple Pay on the Web is nice.

Just look at the company’s historic success with the iPhone and you can tell that we are indeed living in strange times! So far Apple has taken down Nokia and left Motorola, HTC and Samsung gasping for air. The profits have not stopped flowing to Cupertino. Apple has reported $42.3 billion in net income so far for the first three quarters of this fiscal year. That’s more than the company’s profits for all of 2012.

I’ve said this before, but no company that reports a profit in the billions of dollars should be worried about doom and gloom. It’s based on what Wall Street predicts, which seems flawed to me.

But that’s not the story at all. For one thing, Android overtook the Wintel world way back in 2012. The story here is that mobile utterly dwarfs desktop and laptop computing. Civilization has been changing under our very noses, and today even the second largest mobile platform outsells the world of Wintel.

This is an interesting take from Bryan Chaffin.

Jason Snell has a great transcript of what Tim Cook said to analysts during the earnings call today. In case you missed it, Apple reported a profit $10.7 billion on revenue of $49.6 billion.

Microsoft reported a $3.2 billion quarterly net loss, hurt by charges related to its Nokia phone business and job cuts, and weak demand for its Windows operating system.

The company took a charge of $7.5 billion in the fourth quarter related to the restructuring of its Nokia handset business, which it acquired last year.

Ouch.

Basically, the companies argue that a refusal to limit damages to infringing features could have huge impact in an era when consumer products incorporate many highly sophisticated components within a single device. That Samsung can be successfully sued over singular design features and forced to pay damages based on overall device sales rather than a portion of profits sets a dangerous precedent, the group argues.

I could see their point if Samsung had of taken one feature and incorporated it into a smartphone it designed. However, Samsung stole the entire phone—hardware, software, and everything else it could lay its grubby little hands on. They were caught and should pay.

Apple on Tuesday reported a third quarter profit of $10.7 billion on revenue of $49.6 billion. This compares to revenue of $37.4 billion and net profit of $7.7 billion in the year ago quarter.

Apple said the growth was fueled by record third quarter sales of iPhone and Mac, all-time record revenue from services and the successful launch of Apple Watch.

Updated every Monday morning, Discover Weekly brings you two hours of custom-made music recommendations, tailored specifically to you and delivered as a unique Spotify playlist.

Good idea.

Betts, who has spent more than 25 years in the auto industry with companies including Toyota and Nissan, vacated his role of head of quality at Chrysler Group last year to “pursue other interests.”

Oh Apple, what are you up to.

Ed is just on fire. Much respect.

I’m definitely going to see this movie.

Kiss your afternoon goodbye. Enjoy.

Pixelmator for iOS just keeps getting better. In the latest release, the guys added Dynamic Touch, which lets users adjust the brush size of all Retouch tools by painting with their tip or a larger area of their finger; the Pixelmator for Mac repairing algorithm has been added to iOS; and they published the Pixelmator for iOS User Guide and video tutorials.

This is one of my favorite apps and companies. Just go buy their software.

Merlin and Jim talk about the future, David Gilmore, and underrated guitarists.

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It has tremendous potential and lots of room for growth if only someone were to give it some love. Is that someone you?

I like this app. I think someone could do a lot with it.

Igloo allows you to share files, coordinate calendars, provide updates and manage projects easily.

• Why use the latest, sleekest devices if you are going to use them to stare at an intranet website that looks like it was built in the 90’s?

• Igloos are CSS and HTML5 friendly, which means they can be customized to look amazing.

• They are also responsive right off the bat, which means that everything you can do at your desk, you can now do on the go, on your phone.

• And just like your favorite Apple devices, Igloo helps you do your best work.

• Share files, coordinate calendars, provide status updates and manage projects. Igloo’s not just for your traditional intranet stuff like HR policies and expense forms. It also lets you work better together with your teams.

• For example, with Igloo’s latest release, Wolf, you can preview Photoshop, InDesign, HTML or CSS files straight from the platform, making it easier for co-workers to give feedback on creative assets.

• Head over to igloosoftware.com to sign up for a free trial today and invite up to 10 of your favorite coworkers to try it too.

One of the best ways to measure how a product is being received by its owners is customer satisfaction. This statistic alone is highlighted by Apple continually as the barometer in which they measure a product’s success. Many pundits will look to Apple Watch sales as the metric for its success. But the real question is, do people love it? The answer is yes.

I agree that pundits will look for sales numbers and I also agree that satisfaction is an important question in determining success.

Cool, but no.

When I posted earlier today about Neil Young pulling his music catalog from streaming services because of poor quality, I kept wondering why he would do that. Neil is right, quality does matter, but not at all costs. […]

Neil posted this to Facebook today:

Streaming has ended for me. I hope this is ok for my fans.

It’s not because of the money, although my share (like all the other artists) was dramatically reduced by bad deals made without my consent.

It’s about sound quality. I don’t need my music to be devalued by the worst quality in the history of broadcasting or any other form of distribution. I don’t feel right allowing this to be sold to my fans. It’s bad for my music.

For me, It’s about making and distributing music people can really hear and feel. I stand for that.

When the quality is back, I’ll give it another look. Never say never.

Neil Young

Global Human Resources Chief Denise Young Smith said at Fortune Brainstorm Tech on Tuesday morning that Apple’s next “diversity report” will come “sometime this summer” and will reveal some progress on recruiting diverse employees. “We did have some movement in our hiring or women and hiring of minorities,” said Young Smith, noting that about 35% of Apple’s recent recruits are women. The upcoming report, which Young Smith claims will have “more transparency” than its report last year, will show an uptick in hiring African-American and Hispanic recruits as well.

Apple should hire the most qualified person for the job, regardless of their gender or color of their skin.