Using Activity Monitor to check CPU activity

When an app isn’t responding or working correctly, it might use more of the processor (CPU) than it should, even when the app doesn’t seem to be doing anything. As the CPU gets busier, it uses more energy, which reduces the length of time that your Mac can run on battery power. It also generates heat, which can cause the fans in your Mac to spin faster. 

I’ve used this from time to time to see if an app was dragging the system down.

Star Wars at Amazon

I’m not a huge Star Wars fan, but obviously the people at Amazon are. They are selling everything from toys to dog outfits in the Star Wars theme.

Apple Watch Human Interface Guidelines

As you design your Apple Watch app, understand the foundations on which Apple Watch itself was designed:

Some great information posted on Apple’s developer Web site.

A new website for web designers and developers [Sponsor]

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. Webdesigner 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 Webdesigner News website and subscribe to the newsletter for the latest stories of the day.

Twitter’s multi-billion dollar mistake

Mathew Ingram:

The idea that someone could monetize Twitter before Twitter itself got around to doing so was what one investor called a “holy shit moment” for the company.

I wonder what would have happened if Twitter embraced the third-parties years ago.

HelloTalk: Learn a new language on your iPhone

Thanks to HelloTalk for sponsoring The Loop this week. Finally, learning and practicing a new language is easier and more intuitive than ever before. Introducing HelloTalk, the language app where your teachers are native language speakers from around the world. You just pick the language you want to learn—there are over 100 from which to select—and almost instantaneously you’ll be in touch with native speakers of that language … and you’ll start learning and practicing immediately.

HelloTalk isn’t a course you strictly follow; rather, you learn and practice at your pace and in the manner that best meets the way you learn. Practice foreign languages with people around the world. Simultaneously speak and type the language you’re learning. Record your voice before speaking to your HelloTalk friends and compare your recording to standard pronunciations. Change your friends’ audio messages to text for better understanding, and receive help to improve your grammar. Easily translate whenever you don’t understand, and so much more.

With HelloTalk, you’ll discover learning a new language is fun … and fast. Download your copy for iPhone or Android today.

Amplified: The Beard Wins

Jim and Dan talk about the Apple’s record second quarter results, the Apple Watch’s issue with tattooed skin, and more.

Sponsored by MetaCDN (Use the code ‘5by5’ for a 10% discount for life) and Macminicolo (Get a full year of hosting for just $100).

Unpair your Apple Watch and iPhone

A new Apple support article covers the steps needed to unfair your watch. Might be handy to bookmark for the future, although it’s easy to find in the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.

Twitter, LinkedIn lose $6 billion market value after poor earnings

Shares of LinkedIn Corp, operator of the most popular social network for professionals, fell 20 percent in early trading on Friday, wiping out more than $6 billion of market value, after the company slashed its full-year forecast.

LinkedIn reported on Thursday its slowest quarterly revenue growth since it went public four years ago.

The surprisingly weak results followed Twitter Inc’s on Tuesday. Twitter’s stock fell by as much as 24 percent, slicing about $6 billion off its market value.

Social media companies are a bit to volatile for me.

The Loop Magazine: Apple’s New MacBook

The Loop Magazine released a new issue today with eight new articles. You can download the app for iPhone and iPad and get a free preview of every article in this month’s issue. You can purchase the issue for $1.99 or get a subscription for just $1.99 per month and get access to all of the issues.

In this issue:

Review: 12-inch MacBook: Jim Dalrymple got his hands on one of the new MacBooks Apple recently introduced and gives you his thoughts, from the Retina display to using the one USB-C port.

Skating To Where The MacBook Is Going To Be: Rene Ritchie takes a look at why the all-new MacBook is ahead of the curve and why competitors will have a hard time catching Apple.

The MacBook: A New Mac Laptop For A New Mac Customer: Peter Cohen tackles the criticism lobbed at the new MacBook and why he thinks they are wrong.

What Entertainment Looks Like In The Cord Cutting Age: Cable TV isn’t gone yet, but Darren Murph imagines what the future of TV will look like.

Behind The Mask: This is a really great piece written by Mateusz Stawecki. He talked to some of the people we hear speaking at conferences and finds out what bothers them about public speaking.

Apple Pay: Technology Done Right: Jim Dalrymple looks at Apple Pay and how the new payment technology is working for developers.

To Live, Or To View? Periscope and Meerkat Are Turning Life Into ‘Show & Tell’: Darren Murph looks at how some new apps have changed we way we share our lives.

My Life with iPad: The iPad recently turned five years old. Jim Dalrymple talks about his love of Apple’s tablet device.

The-Loop-issue-33-iPad

San Francisco’s luxury bus

Would you pay $6 to commute in a bus that looks like a cafe crossed with a Virgin America plane?

A luxury-bus startup called Leap Transit relaunched in San Francisco last week, carting passengers from the wealthy Marina district to downtown. It’s the latest company to offer a high-end alternative to public transit.

I’d do it.

Samsung profit plunges 39 percent

Samsung Electronics Co. said its first-quarter net income has plunged 39 percent as the smartphone business saw its profit shrink to less than half from a year earlier.

And

Sales fell 12 percent from a year earlier to 47.12 trillion won while operating income dropped 30 percent to 5.98 trillion won, in line with Samsung’s earnings preview earlier this month.

The wider-than-expected drop in net profit was due to a big profit plunge in Samsung’s mobile business. The maker of Galaxy smartphones said its mobile division generated 2.74 trillion won in quarterly profit, compared with 6.43 trillion won a year earlier.

Ouch, sucks to be Samsung. This may look like the smartphone market is falling, but it’s not. Apple sold 61.1 million iPhones, up 40 percent over last year.

IK Multimedia releases UltraTuner for iPhone and Apple Watch

UltraTuner is the most precise digital tuner available for iOS, providing precision down to .01 (yes, that’s 1/100th) of a cent. UltraTuner is 10x more precise than mechanical strobe tuners, which are generally considered the “gold standard” of precision tuners, and they typically don’t fit into your shirt pocket.

This looks very cool. The screenshots of it on the Apple Watch are just great.

BIAS FX for iPad

BIAS FX turns your iPad into a world-class, guitar amp-and-effects processor. It gives you an endless collection of insanely great-sounding guitar pedalboards, ultra-high definition stereo rack effects, dual amps and dual signal chain. You can share and download users and artists signature guitar pedalboards from the cloud.

Yes. Download!

Amplified: I Smashed The Watch

Jim and Dan talk all about the Apple Watch.

Sponsored by CleanMyMac 3 (Visit the link to check what’s new in CleanMyMac 3), Hover (Visit hover.com/5by5 to support the show and get the domain of your dreams), and Macminicolo (Visit macminicolo.net/100 to learn more and get a full year of hosting for just $100).

HelloTalk: Learn a new language on your iPhone [Sponsor]

Finally, learning and practicing a new language is easier and more intuitive than ever before. Introducing HelloTalk, the language app where your teachers are native language speakers from around the world. You just pick the language you want to learn—there are over 100 from which to select—and almost instantaneously you’ll be in touch with native speakers of that language … and you’ll start learning and practicing immediately.

HelloTalk isn’t a course you strictly follow; rather, you learn and practice at your pace and in the manner that best meets the way you learn. Practice foreign languages with people around the world. Simultaneously speak and type the language you’re learning. Record your voice before speaking to your HelloTalk friends and compare your recording to standard pronunciations. Change your friends’ audio messages to text for better understanding, and receive help to improve your grammar. Easily translate whenever you don’t understand, and so much more.

With HelloTalk, you’ll discover learning a new language is fun … and fast. Download your copy for iPhone or Android today.

Apple reports $13.6 billion profit for second quarter

Apple on Monday posted revenue of $58 billion and quarterly net profit of $13.6 billion, for the company’s second fiscal quarter. These results compare to revenue of $45.6 billion and net profit of $10.2 billion in the year-ago quarter. […]

Oh Samsung

Some people might not care. Like painting the back of the fence or finishing the underside of the cabinet, it’s a detail that only people who take tremendous pride in craft really care about. And, of course, people who look for just exactly that kind of quality.

Quality matters. Lining up ports matter. The details matter.

Unread 1.5

Unread is a really nice RSS reader for iPhone and iPad. I have it on my devices.

Release Notes Conference

You need more than technical chops to succeed as an independent developer. You need business sense as well. So this October, join some of the most experienced entrepreneurs and leaders in our community as they gather to talk about the business of iOS and Mac development.

This is going to be a great conference. I’ll be speaking, but I’m also looking forward to hearing the other speakers and meeting some new people.

Bushel: Free easy-to-use cloud-based tool for Apple devices

My thanks to Bushel for sponsoring The Loop this week. For some people, IT is a task and not a career. Bushel is a simple-to-use cloud-based tool that anyone can leverage to manage the Apple devices in their workplace. Bushel allows you to easily set-up and protect all of the Apple devices that you distribute to your team, or those that your team already has. Provide access to company email accounts, automatically install work apps to every device all at once, and separate and protect your team’s personal data from company data. And if a device is ever lost or stolen, you can even remotely lock it or wipe company data completely. Do all of this and much more, without any help from IT. All wrapped into one seamless interface so you can manage those Apple devices when you want, wherever you are. Bushel makes the complex simple, so you can focus on what matters most, all while taking back your nights and weekends. Your first three devices are free forever, and each additional device is just $2 per month with no contracts or commitments. Learn more at Bushel.com.

Billings Pro on Apple Watch

There are a ton of apps coming out for Apple Watch, but if you’re a business user, you might want to take a look at Billings Pro.

App Store for Apple Watch is live

You can now see what apps are available for the Apple Watch, even if you don’t have one of the devices. Just open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, which comes with the latest iOS update, and you can browse the available apps. Currently there are over 3,000 apps for Apple Watch. I expect that to increase very quickly.