Independent artists could disappear from YouTube “in a matter of days” after the Google video service confirmed it was dropping content from independent labels that have not signed up for its upcoming subscription music service.

Holy sweet shit.

Apple on Tuesday published a new page on its iBookstore, offering users the opportunity to pre-order upcoming books from publisher Hachette Digital.

Another great article from Ben Thompson.

If it’s good, Facebook could take a significant share of this market. Many consumers will use this type of service simply because they use Facebook all the time, making it the default service.

This particular part of the bill would give the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration the ability to enforce a set of rules for navigation apps on smartphones, which many drivers find more convenient and less expensive than built-in navigation systems. These rules would be subject to change, and apps would have to comply as regulators see fit.

I’m not opposed to regulation and safety, but I’d really like to see something done about people texting while driving, instead of listening to turn-by-turn directions from a smartphone.

You can choose how much you would like to pay for the digital edition of this book.

Beacons installed inside retail stores like Saks or grocery outlets can send proximity-based alerts to shoppers at the precise moment — and location — that they’re enabled to make a decision on a purchase. This is the holy grail of retail advertising, which normally takes a scattershot approach to ‘pre-advertising’ shoppers or tries to guesstimate when they’re in the vicinity of a product.

I’m not convinced this is something I want when I go shopping. Admittedly, when I do shop, I tend to know exactly what I want and where it is, so maybe I’m not the target market.

Wow!

But the district and Dell, its partner in the project, have failed to develop a customized platform that could serve students and teachers “directly enough or quickly enough,” Silva said. That work has been halted — with Dell agreeing to refund the $665,000 it has been paid in the form of future technology upgrades.

This happened a couple of weeks ago, but I’m just getting caught up. Just horrible for Dell. Hopefully other school districts will learn a lesson from this.

Daniel Eran Dilger:

A new profile of Apple’s chief executive, titled “Tim Cook, Making Apple his own” actually says little about Cook and virtually nothing noteworthy about how he is leading Apple. Instead, the New York Times simply recounts more predictions of doom for the company in a piece filled with fictions and fallacy.

Another Apple hit-piece from the New York Times, but without anything to really say. Tim Cook and Apple are coming off one of the most successful WWDCs in its history, but the Times has decided to make shit up because Tim wouldn’t give them an interview. Apple is fighting to change entire industries, while the New York Times fights for relevancy—Apple is doing the better job.

My thanks to Many Tricks for sponsoring this week’s RSS feed on The Loop. Many Tricks offers a number of apps to make using your Mac easier, more productive, and even more fun. Check out Moom, their impressive window moving and zooming tool; Name Mangler, which makes renaming tens of thousands of files a snap; Witch, a tool to let you quickly switch to any open window; or any of their other apps at Many Tricks.

Everyone knows by now that Amazon is evil – except Amazon itself, it seems. That’s why I took the fight directly to amazon.co.uk, creating a fake book for sale called Living Wages for Amazon Workers.

Interesting way to get the word out.

Amid criticisms that it has failed to innovate, Apple is increasingly taking marketing into its own hands. It’s madly building an internal agency that it’s telling recruits will eventually number 1,000.

It will be very interesting to see what comes out of this.

I love this song.

I’m a fan of this app.

Matt Drance:

What we saw at WWDC 2014 was built by thousands of people. The leadership at the top empowered those people to not only proceed, but to succeed. The attitude behind WWDC 2014 was one of increased openness and increased confidence — an attitude that managed to depart from the worst of the past while staying true to the best. Apple is undeniably the new company it deserves to be, and Tim Cook’s stewardship is on full display. I’m as excited for the future we haven’t yet seen as I am for the one we were just shown in San Francisco.

Exactly.

Mac user Shaun McGill bought a Windows 8 laptop for his son. I laughed.

Many Tricks offers a number of apps to make using your Mac easier, more productive, and even more fun. Check out Moom, their impressive window moving and zooming tool; Name Mangler, which makes renaming tens of thousands of files a snap; Witch, a tool to let you quickly switch to any open window; or any of their other apps at Many Tricks.

Scott Hurff:

You don’t go and make drastic changes like this an app that’s responsible for billions of messages a day without good reason. This update shows that Apple is keenly aware of the changing habits of their customer base, and I think this is going to be the most important change in iOS since Apple added “swipe up” access to the Camera in iOS 6.

There were some big changes in Messages in iOS 8.

A really good article from Jonathan Hays.

This should be interesting.

It is absolutely incredible to me the quality of pictures people take with their iPhone.

I always find it a better experience to visit a Web site formatted for the screen I’m using.

Matthew Hewlett and Caleb Turon, both Grade 9 students, found an old ATM operators manual online that showed how to get into the machine’s operator mode. On Wednesday over their lunch hour, they went to the BMO’s ATM at the Safeway on Grant Avenue to see if they could get into the system.

Smart teens, stupid banks.

Nowadays, more and more websites are using animations, whether that be in the form of GIFs, SVGs, WebGL, background videos and so on. When used properly, animation on the web brings life and interactivity, adding an extra layer of feedback and experience for users.

With the World Cup coming in the a fews, this is a good feature.

Dave Hamilton on whether Apple is too late to the home automation market:

Apple was not first with a smartphone, but it was the best. It was not even first with a personal computer, but it was the best. Apple was not first with a laptop, not with a tablet, not with a portable music player. But in every one of those categories Apple released a product that solved the pain points that everyone had simply accepted from other vendors and products.

I wrote something in this vein last year, so clearly I agree. It’s never too late to fix a problem, especially when other companies have become complacent.

Les was one of the nicest people I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet. Much respect.