This is a funny story from Brad Reed at BGR. For what it’s worth, it does look like a crappy gadget.

It’s clear that Santa is no longer into cookies – he prefers Apples. It was a banner Christmas for the Apple, the company that started the mobile revolution with the introduction of the first iPhone in 2007. Seven years later, Apple accounted for 51% of the new device activations worldwide Flurry recognized in the week leading up to and including Christmas Day (December 19th – 25th). Samsung held the #2 position with 18% of new device activations, and Microsoft (Nokia) rounded out the top three with 5.8% share for mostly Lumia devices.

That’s a pretty substantial gap between first and second.

Microsoft Corp’s Xbox Live and Sony Corp’s PlayStation Network, Internet services that video gamers use to play online, were hit by connection failures on Christmas Day, with the hackers Lizard Squad claiming responsibility.

That would really piss me off.

I wanted to take a minute to thank you, the readers for making 2014 another great year on The Loop.

The Loop is so much more than just a job or somewhere I make money, it’s a place where I get to interact with people from around the world and share my honest opinions on Apple and technology. The Loop is an important part of my life.

If you are a member of The Loop, paying $3 a month, I want to thank you a little more. It may seem like a trivial amount of money, but it helps keep the lights on and make this whole site possible.

Of course, a huge thanks to the sponsors of The Loop. Your continued support of the site is critical to what we do. Thank you!

Over the last year, The Loop has become bigger than just me. Dave Mark and Shawn King work tireless every day to post interesting stories. I could not have done it without you year this year.

Thanks everyone. Have a great Christmas and Happy New Year!

Jim

Pixelmator for Mac and Pixelmator for iPad. Two powerful image editing apps that give you everything you need to create, edit, and enhance images. You can work seamlessly between Mac and iPad and even work effortlessly with Photoshop images.

In addition, Pixelmator for iPad is the sole and extremely proud winner of the App of the Year award, as a part of Apple’s Best of App Store 2014 selection.

I’ve heard good things about this software. Something to look at if you’re in the market.

Apparently-Amazon-doesn’t-like-hyphens. They-have-since-seen-the-error-of-their-ways-and-let-the-book-back-in.

Auto-Tune is a great app and one that I’ve used for many years. Sometimes it get used improperly, but that’s not the fault of the app.

So sad to hear that Joe died. Rest in Peace, Joe.

MY thanks to Doxie for sponsoring The Loop’s RSS feed this week. Doxie Go Wi-Fi is the tiny, rechargeable document and receipt scanner that scans anywhere — no computer required — then syncs wirelessly to your Mac, iPhone, and iPad.

Doxie scans your paper: simply and automatically. Battery power, built-in Wi-Fi, and new SmartMemory let you scan anywhere, then tuck Doxie away when you’re not using it.

Doxie’s elegant Mac and iOS apps handle any workflow — save scans to your desktop, share with your favorite apps, or send to cloud services like Evernote and Dropbox. Doxie’s new open developer API lets you build Doxie support into your service, software, or personal paperless workflow.

The Loop readers get free U.S. shipping and Guaranteed Christmas Delivery for all orders placed through December 21st. Order your Doxie today and give the gift of paperless.

Apple CEO, Tim Cook:

“I’m thrilled to announce that our total donation for this quarter will be more than $20 million — our biggest ever — bringing the total amount Apple has raised for (PRODUCT) RED to over $100 million,” Cook wrote. “The money we’ve raised is saving lives and bringing hope to people in need. It’s a cause we can all be proud to support.”

Much respect Apple people and everyone that purchased a product.

Some of these are really whacky.

There is just nothing like hearing from the guy that sits in the control room and is responsible for the recording. Some great tips in here too.

I’ve had some people ask what microphone I use on Amplified and other podcasts. I use the Samson C01U Pro USB Studio Condenser and it’s on sale at Amazon.

A fascinating piece by Mat Honan on a business that had big plans for journalism, but we’ll never see it.

This course is for Hendrix fans who want to learn his unique style of blues playing. Taking cues from Red House and Voodoo Chile Blues, this course will not disappoint.

Anthony Stauffer just released new guitar lessons teaching you all about Jimi Hendrix, one of the greatest guitarists to ever pick up the instrument.

Bryan Chaffin does a very good job on this piece. I especially like page 2, but it’s all worth a read.

Everything affects your tone when playing the guitar.

The impactful, full-bodied qualities of Marsala make for an elegant, grounded statement color when used on its own or as a strong accent to many other colors.

It’s a pleasing color.

Like most people these days, I demand quality from the products I purchase. I want quality design, functionality, and I want them to be built from quality materials so they last. I demand it. […]

Delivering a unanimous verdict today, the group said Apple’s iTunes 7.0, released in the fall of 2006, was a “genuine product improvement,” meaning that new features (though importantly increased security) were good for consumers. Plaintiffs in the case unsuccessfully argued that those features not only thwarted competition, but also made Apple’s products less useful since customers could not as easily use purchased music or jukebox software from other companies with the iPod.

Good. These stupid lawsuits have to stop.

Someone at Apple has a sense of humor this holiday season. iTunes on Monday released three curated lists of movies, TV shows and books in the categories: Pop Culture Junkies, Millennials, and Gadget, Gizmos & Geeks. Good stuff Apple.

Doxie Go Wi-Fi is the tiny, rechargeable document and receipt scanner that scans anywhere — no computer required — then syncs wirelessly to your Mac, iPhone, and iPad.

Doxie scans your paper: simply and automatically. Battery power, built-in Wi-Fi, and new SmartMemory let you scan anywhere, then tuck Doxie away when you’re not using it.

Doxie’s elegant Mac and iOS apps handle any workflow — save scans to your desktop, share with your favorite apps, or send to cloud services like Evernote and Dropbox. Doxie’s new open developer API lets you build Doxie support into your service, software, or personal paperless workflow.

The Loop readers get free U.S. shipping and Guaranteed Christmas Delivery for all orders placed through December 21st. Order your Doxie today and give the gift of paperless.

It’s beautiful. As someone who designs consumer electronics and watches, the more I looked at it the more impressed I was. It’s got Marc Newson’s fingerprints all over it.

It’s clearly something he designed rather than Jony Ive. It’s funny they announced he was working with them after the watch. But to me that was the Apple way of underhandedly giving him credit for the design without actually saying he designed it. But it seemed to me very Marc Newson.

A fascinating story.

My thanks to Smile Software for sponsoring The Loop’s RSS feed this week. PDFpen 2 is fully optimized for iOS 8 with an all new look and feel which runs on both iPad and iPhone. The enhanced toolbar and new editing bar make popular writing and highlighting features easy to access, with minimal taps. Import and export documents via iCloud Drive, making it easy to share cloud-based documents not just with the Mac, but with other apps on an iPad or iPhone. Use AirDrop to quickly send documents to other devices. PDFpen 2 supports palm and wrist protection when writing and highlighting. Documents can be secured with a password. Number pages automatically, including Bates numbering. All this and more make PDFpen 2 the perfect solution for all of your mobile PDF editing needs.

Ann and Nancy Wilson are amazing.

Rick Mueller solicited comments from people on how important the Oxford Comma really is.

A 15 minute tutorial from my favorite video trainer, Kenny Gioia.

It’s amazing how much photos have changed over the years. At one time, they were a specific memory of a specific period in time, but these days we take pictures every second and upload them for everyone to see. You could argue that they are the same thing, but just more of them, but there was something different about pictures years ago.