Everyone has been focused on the new gadgets coming out of Cupertino, but Apple’s Mac team has been killing it lately. First the new MacBook, and now updated MacBook Pro and lower-priced iMac with a 5K display. […]

Jim Dalrymple and Merlin Man talk about firsts, staying healthy and active, and the virtues of consistent beer.

Download the MP3 of this episode.

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WALTR is the first Mac app in the world to allow users transfer and playback unsupported formats such as MKV, AVI, FLAC & more – directly from the native Videos/Music app.

iTunes is the only option Apple gives us for loading media onto our iPhone, iPad or iPod touch from our Macs, and it limits the audio and video file formats we can upload. That’s a thing of the past thanks to WALTR from Softorino. This awesome Mac app lets you upload a long list of file formats — such as MKV, AVI, MP4, CUE, FLAC, APE, ALAC, OGG, AAC, AIFF and WAV — to your iOS device without ever touching iTunes. Just fire up WALTR, connect your iPhone or iPad to your Mac via USB, and drag files to convert and upload them so you can watch or listen on the go. It really is drag-and-drop simple, and file transfers are surprisingly fast.
 
No iTunes required; No jailbreak required; No need to worry about 3rd party converters;

• the awesomely cool app name is inspired by Walter White from Breaking Bad.

• this is the same app that discovered 4K video playback on iPhone 6

You can try out WALTR for free and a license costs US$29.95 but you can use the Loop exclusive coupon ‘HEINEKENSPECIAL’ for a 33% discount.

According to the complaint, he registered the Celluride website in 2003 and developed a mobile phone prototype in 2006. It was then, the complaint said, that he encountered Kalanick at an office Kalanick was renting from his friend in San Francisco.

Halpern said in the complaint that with Kalanick’s promises to keep the information confidential, he shared his concept, designs and prototype.

I’m not sure of the legal issues here, but if Halpern’s company was public at the time, didn’t Kalanick just launch a competing service, Uber, and win?

I haven’t had this happen, and I hope you haven’t either, but if you do Apple has some advice for you.

Can you imagine the backlash and media uproar we would see if Apple ever sold an accessory that ruined iPhone displays? “Casegate” would be sung far and wide, and even your local news anchor would demand on air that Apple take action. Well, you won’t see quite that amount of attention in this case, but it look like Samsung is selling shoddy protective cases that leave customers with badly damaged smartphones.

Zach is right, the uproar would be amazing if this was Apple.

Audio latency is the phenomenon of sound reaching the ear at some point after it was created. In the natural world, latency is caused by physical distance from the sound source. The further away the sound source, the more latency. With digital audio there is also latency, and in this case it’s caused by buffering. MainStage (or any other audio software) needs some time to process audio data before it can be passed on to the Core Audio driver.

Some helpful information from Apple.

“HomeKit has been available for just a few months and we already have dozens of partners who have committed to bringing HomeKit accessories to market and we’re looking forward to the first ones coming next month,” Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said in a statement.

This is great news!

Jim and Dan talk about Pixelmator for iPhone, Scott Forstall is producing a Broadway musical, Apple Pay is creaming Walmart in the mobile payment war, how to back up your Apple Watch, Facebook begins testing instant articles from news publishers, the American Deluxe Stratocaster HSS Shawbucker, and more.

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My thanks to Hullo for sponsoring The Loop this week. Have you ever slept on a buckwheat pillow? It’s kind of like a beanbag for your head. Hullo includes…

• Quality construction & materials.
• Cool, comfortable support.
• American-made craftsmanship.
• Free shipping.
• 60-Night money-back guarantee.

Drop what you’re doing—go and check out Hullo. Try it for 60 nights. If it’s not your favorite pillow, return it for a refund. No-brainer!

There are some really cool items in this collection that are for sale. Have a look if you’re into Apple collectables.

Hosted by longtime Objective-C hacker, Pixarian, and CAM board member (in order of seniority: 26 yrs, 22 yrs, 13 yrs) Dr. Michael B. Johnson, this lively evening will feature a number of special guests from back in the day, including former solidThinking developer and current VP of Tools at Pixar Guido Quaroni, ur-NeXTSTEP developer Andy Stone, and several others too shy to let us give out their names (some of whom might work at a local fruit company).

I went to this event last year and will try again this year.

Apple Watch content backs up automatically to your companion iPhone, so you can restore your Apple Watch from a backup. When you back up your iPhone to iCloud or iTunes, your iPhone backup will also include your Apple Watch data.

Some great information here from Apple.

Have you ever slept on a buckwheat pillow? It’s kind of like a beanbag for your head. Hullo includes…

• Quality construction & materials.
• Cool, comfortable support.
• American-made craftsmanship.
• Free shipping.
• 60-Night money-back guarantee.

Drop what you’re doing—go and check out Hullo. Try it for 60 nights. If it’s not your favorite pillow, return it for a refund. No-brainer!

I have this plug-in and it’s amazing.

I like the Sunset Metallic and 3-Color Sunburst, but I’d take any of them.

A massive 10-page review from Rene. Great job.

The ruling came a week after what would have been the May 4 start of a criminal trial in Manhattan federal court of Ceglia, a 41-year-old wood pellet salesman from Wellsville, New York.

Instead, Ceglia removed his electronic ankle bracelet in early March and disappeared, along with his wife, two children and a dog. His whereabouts remain unknown.

Paul Ceglia forged documents and claimed Mark Zuckerberg owed him half of Facebook. Ceglia is now a fugitive and Facebook is suing the lawyers. I think it’s great.

The Washington Post compiled some of the best quotes from the new book written about Elon Musk.

A new book on Elon by Ashlee Vance. I’m thinking this is going to be a great read.

Hard to believe all of those things are related, but they are.

Wow! One of my all-time favorite apps will now be available on all of my devices.

Apple today announced an expansion of its renewable energy and environmental protection initiatives in China, including a new multi-year project with World Wildlife Fund to significantly increase responsibly managed forests across China. The new forestland program aims to protect as much as 1 million acres of responsibly managed working forests which provide fiber for pulp, paper and wood products.

Apple is doing so much more than just releasing products.

I thought they did a great job with this commercial.

With regard to Apple’s Cook, he said: “He’s interested in Apple’s intervention in the car, that’s his role.” Marchionne was not more specific about Apple.

Apple is one of the few companies with the money and resources to come up with something interesting in the automobile space.

Still one of the most famous goals in hockey.

My thanks to Designer News for sponsoring The Loop this week. A new and exciting website has recently been launched for web designers and developers.

You likely spend hours every morning browsing through hundreds of posts on your RSS feeds, hoping to stumble across relevant stories. Designer News was built to provide web designers and developers with a single location to discover the latest and most significant stories on the Web.

They search through hundreds of posts on blogs, social media, and news channels, to deliver the most essential stories of the day. The content covers quality news, fresh tools and apps, case studies, code demos, inspiration posts, videos and more.

With frequent updates throughout the day, you’ll always find something interesting and fun to read.

Click here to visit the Designer News website and subscribe to the newsletter for the latest stories of the day.

This is a must see if you’re interested in recording. Bob Clearmountain is the best in the industry.

Great article from Tim Bajarin on the mistakes and lack of understanding Google had with glass.

Uber has submitted a bid for Here, the main competitor to Google Maps, for as much as $3 billion, according to three people with knowledge of the offer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Here is owned by Nokia, the Finnish telecom giant, which announced last month that it was considering selling the business.

Makes sense for Uber, but there’s stiff competition to purchase the mapping service.