US Internet providers allow congestion on networks

In other words, U.S. Internet providers are the worst at making sure their networks can meet demand, at least from Level 3. Instead of augmenting their network capacity (at costs that are “not significant,” according to Level 3), these ISPs are holding out for payments, either from middlemen or from content providers such as Netflix.

This is what we pay for. As consumers, there seems to be very little we can do because they are all part of the scheme.

iTunes Match limit

Peter Cohen:

I also use iTunes Match, which has a 25,000 song limit. What happens when I hit the limit? Turns out things get weird.

It’s ridiculous that this happens these days, and the solutions are cumbersome and awful.

Understanding UX design

“UX” (user experience) has always been a broad, fluffy, and rather nebulous term to me. But I’ve finally found an analogy that makes UX make sense.

Pretty good analogy.

You can’t make this shit up about Samsung

The Galaxy S5 has 40 applications only, which is much reduced compared to, for example, the Galaxy Note 3 having 51 apps. 40 applications in the 2 pages. That’s it. If wanted, other relatively less frequently used apps can be easily downloaded through Galaxy Essential and Galaxy Gift widget.

Samsung is praising itself for only pre-installing 40 apps? That’s 40 apps… pre-installed. While admitting they used to pre-install more. Fucking morons.

Slingbox

I love this device. I just spent two weeks away in Ireland and Scotland, and was able to keep up on the NHL playoff games, thanks to my Slingbox. The only problem is that I need another one so I can watch my cable box too.

App.net lays off all employees, but service will continue

Dalton Caldwell, App.net co-founder:

The good news is that the renewal rate was high enough for App.net to be profitable and self-sustaining on a forward basis. Operational and hosting costs are sufficiently covered by revenue for us to feel confident in the continued viability of the service. No one should notice any change in the way the App.net API/service operates. To repeat, App.net will continue to operate normally on an indefinite basis.

The bad news is that the renewal rate was not high enough for us to have sufficient budget for full-time employees. After carefully considering a few different options, we are making the difficult decision to no longer employ any salaried employees, including founders. Dalton and Bryan will continue to be responsible for the operation of App.net, but no longer as employees. Additionally, as part of our efforts to ensure App.net is generating positive cash flow, we are winding down the Developer Incentive Program. We will be reaching out to developers currently enrolled in the program with more information.

Very sad.

EZdrummer 2

EZdrummer 2 is the easiest and the best drum sampler I’ve ever used—and I’ve used almost everything on the market.

iTunes Radio adds Blue Note Records and 75 years of Jazz

It’s a good day for Jazz lovers—iTunes has just added Blue Note Records to its list of labels on the store. That’s not all, iTunes Radio is also featuring Blue Note in a special channel that streaming music from 75 years of The Finest In Jazz.

Advice on working from home

Matt Gemmell does a great job on offering some advice on the dos and don’ts of working from home. Over the years, the hardest thing I’ve found is the discipline to leave work and spend time doing something else. I still haven’t found a remedy for that.

E. B. White’s letter on humanity

As long as there is one upright man, as long as there is one compassionate woman, the contagion may spread and the scene is not desolate. Hope is the thing that is left to us, in a bad time. I shall get up Sunday morning and wind the clock, as a contribution to order and steadfastness.

2014 National Design Awards Winners

The National Design Awards program celebrates design as a vital humanistic tool in shaping the world, and seeks to increase national awareness of design by educating the public and promoting excellence, innovation, and lasting achievement.

Congratulations to the winners.

100 years of type in design

Interest in type, typefaces, typography and fonts has grown far beyond the graphic design community, yet few truly understand how and why these vital components of design are created and applied. This exhibition, organized by Monotype and designed by AIGA Medalist and Pentagram partner Abbott Miller for the AIGA National Design Center, celebrates 100 years of type as a constant influence in the world around us.

[Via Khoi Vinh]

Apple’s new retail chief gets $68 million in stock

Apple Inc granted its new retail chief 113,334 restricted stock units, the company said in a regulatory filing on Monday, valued at $68.1 million based on Monday’s closing share price.

Good people cost money. If Apple is convinced she is worth it, then pay up and let her do her job.

Samsung to appeal Apple verdict, wants damages reduced to zero

Samsung will ask the trial judge and an appeals court, if necessary, to reduce the damages awarded by the jury May 2 and yesterday to zero, John Quinn, a lawyer for the maker of Galaxy smartphones, said in a statement.

This slimy company is just unbelievable.

Zakk Wylde’s custom guitar recovered

A custom-made, $10,000 guitar stolen in March from heavy metal rocker Zakk Wylde’s tour bus outside The Chicago Theatre has been recovered after being sold to a Chicago pawn shop, Wylde’s manager confirmed Saturday.

I can’t imagine how devastating it would be to lose a guitar like that. I’m glad to hear Zakk got it back.

PDFpen Scan+ from Smile: Scan and OCR directly from your iPhone or iPad camera [Sponsor]

PDFpen Scan+ 1.3 offers a redesigned user interface to make scanning simpler. Cropping is fast and precise. Bulk scanning is quicker with post-process image editing. OCR and preview the results, then copy the text for use elsewhere. Share your scanned PDF, with embedded OCR text, by email or via your favorite cloud service. PDFpen Scan+ is universal for iPad and iPhone and is available on the App Store.

CSS shapes

Rectangles inside other rectangles: this is what our webpages have always been made of. We’ve long tried to break free from their restrictions by using CSS to create geometric shapes, but those shapes have never affected the content inside the shaped element, or how the element is seen by other elements on the page.

How Google forces Android phone makers to use its apps

The Mobile Application Distribution Agreement, or MADA, is a deal that applies to phone and tablet makers that want to use Android applications such as YouTube or Gmail. Among other things, the MADA requires phone makers that want one of the Google apps to install all of them.

It’s all or nothing.

New Relic

Many thanks to New Relic for sponsoring The Loop’s RSS this this week. At New Relic, we make it super easy to build faster and better performing mobile applications. Is using New Relic really that easy? Yes, yes it is. We know you’re busy coding (and reading The Loop), that’s why in just five minutes you can deploy New Relic and be looking at game-changing data. Our first-of-its-kind SaaS mobile app monitoring solution pinpoints problems quickly in your mobile app. Spend less time troubleshooting, get more positive reviews and focus your time where it matters – on developing new features and growing your user base. Use New Relic to track your app performance across devices and networks and get full end-to-end visibility. The people using your app will thank you for it.

Samsung’s viral payola

John Biggs:

If you’ve ever wondered how some videos get popular while others languish in obscurity (or, on the flipside, if you’d like to know how to get some sweet views), look no further than an individual Samsung hired to push their video of a little, walking (Samsung-branded) SD card to social. I’ll refrain from linking to the video as it’s not very exciting.

I really do hate that company.

Social writing

It would be difficult to choose just one quote from this article. I really enjoyed it.

Luxury retail design

You don’t need to pack a retail store from floor to ceiling to sell products. I really like the experience, as well.

Playing cards for developers

code:deck is a standard playing card deck sporting a stylish modern design. Each individual card features a code excerpt describing it in one of many programming languages.

These are just great.

Kaleidoscope 2.1

Kaleidoscope is one of the world’s best tools for spotting differences in images and text, and now it supports the ignoring of leading, trailing and line-ending whitespace too. Kaleidoscope integrates directly with Git, Subversion, Mercurial, P4, and Bazaar to fit perfectly in your workflow.