iOS 7 adoption rate outpacing iOS 6

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Chitika research:

One week following its release on September 18, 2013, iOS 7 users were generating more than 51% of all iOS-based Web traffic within North America. Growth has continued through the following two months, with iOS 7 usage rates surpassing the 70% mark within the continent. This makes it very likely that iOS 7 will continue to substantially outpace iOS 6 adoption, which reached 83% close to six months following its release in September 2012.

Meanwhile, Android is poking along:

Google’s latest OS dashboard reveals that 1.1 percent of active Android devices are running the new platform roughly a month after it became available. Not that its arrival is slowing down Jelly Bean’s growth, mind you. The older software now represents 54.5 percent of all Android use.

When you release a new version of your OS, the older version should drop, not gain in popularity.

Home To Stay Dog Rescue

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As many of you know, my wife has been involved in volunteering for a local dog rescue for a couple of years. Monique and a number of her friends, who also have many years experience rescuing dogs, decided to start their own dog rescue called Home To Stay. […]

BatBeard in the Beard Calendar

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The 2014 Beard Calendar is available to pre-order for $10. The guys behind the calendar asked me to be involved as “BatBeard,” an offer I gladly accepted. Meet Mr. May.

May

Black Label Society split with guitarist Nick Catanese

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BLACK LABEL SOCIETY have amicably parted ways with longtime guitarist Nick Catanese and wish him the very best in his future musical endeavors. A replacement will be officially announced soon.

The end of an era for Zakk Wylde fans.

Apple buys Topsy for $200 million

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Topsy specializes in data from Twitter, offering tools to analyze tweets and other information to help track consumer sentiment. Its tools can decipher how often a specific term is tweeted, find an influential person on a specific subject, or measure the exposure of an event or campaign.

Interesting.

iOS productivity showdown: Apple iWork vs. Microsoft Office 365 vs. Google Docs

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Shane Cole:

One of the first concerns facing businesses — and many consumers — when choosing a new mobile platform is how it will enable them to get work done. To answer the question, AppleInsider went hands-on to compare the top three iOS contenders: Apple’s iWork, Microsoft’s Office 365, and Google Docs.

Microsoft badly missed an opportunity here.

English translated to Death Metal

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Normal English: “You have to mow the lawn”

Death Metal English: “BRING DOWN THE SCYTHE OF GODS UPON THE NECKS OF THE GREEN-RIBBED LEGIONS AND SWEEP AWAY THEIR WRETCHED BODIES; THOU ART IMPLORED BY ME”

Absolutely priceless.

Interview with Tomb Raider composer Nathan McCree

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But, for those who are unfamiliar, Nathan created the iconic music for the very first three Tomb Raider games. If ever you heard the music when you picked up a secret, or was facing against a T-Rex, he created them.

LogoThief

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We are LogoThief. We exist to name and shame logo thieves and all others who plagiarise the work of logo designers.

Much respect.

Pro Tools 11

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I’ve been a Pro Tools user for years. It’s a powerful application for recording and editing audio—in fact, there are few, if any, studios you could go to in the world that don’t use Pro Tools. Avid took a bold step with the newest version by changing the plug-in format that third-party developers use for the app. While this caused some initial pain for the users, everything seems to be settling down now.

Mixing Heavy Rock tutorial

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A new video tutorial from Groove 3 and multi-platinum engineer and producer Kenny Gioia. Kenny is my favorite when it comes to video tutorials—he just has this way of teaching that comes across really well. I’m excited to watch this one.

Velocity speed reading app

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Thanks to Velocity for sponsoring The Loop’s RSS feed this week. Velocity is the only speed reading app designed and developed exclusively for iOS 7. Using a well-researched speed reading technique, you can breeze through your Instapaper or Pocket queue at superhuman speeds of up to 1,000 words per minute. Speed read websites, documents, or just about any text in one of Velocity’s 3 gorgeous themes and save more time than you know what to do with. See Velocity in action.

Microsoft ready to kill Windows RT

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Larson-Green, who is executive vice-president of Devices and Studios at Microsoft, said that the aim of Windows RT was “our first go at creating that more closed, turnkey experience [that Apple has on the iPad]…” but that Microsoft now has three mobile operating systems: “We have the Windows Phone OS. We have Windows RT and we have full Windows. We’re not going to have three.”

The Wisdom of Slash

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This was published earlier this year, but there are so many great Slash quotes, it’s worth a read.

Pedal Jeanie Pedalboard

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This looks great. It’s a grid setup, so you can place the pedals where they are most comfortable for you and it has eight regulated 9v connections and two regulated 12v connections, so you always have power.

Samsung caught cheating on benchmarks… again

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According to Futuremark, “when a device is suspected of breaking our rules it is delisted”. Among those that have been delisted – in other words, sent right to the bottom of Futuremark’s official performance chart and stripped of their scores – are HTC’s One and One Mini smartphones, and Samsung’s Galaxy Note and Galaxy Note III tablets.

I’m shocked Samsung would stoop to such levels.

The forgotten Apple Newsstand

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Unless Apple makes some unexpected changes to Newsstand, it will not be helping publishers win that fight for attention. For The Magazine’s Fleishman, at least, that means it’s time to seek solutions outside the product that Apple once marketed as a great hope for publishers.

Says Fleishman: “I hooked my wagon to a star that has dimmed in Apple’s eyes.”

Amplified: A Metric Thanksgiving

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Jim and Dan talk about Thanksgiving Day rules, Black Friday, the value of AppleCare, how Jim keeps on top of the news, Samsung leaving Android, discounted phones, PrimeSense 3D, remote controls, Photo Stream, Jim’s robot tuning system, and more.