NASA remembers Neil Armstrong

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Famed Apollo 11 moonwalker Neil Armstrong died one year ago today and NASA is remembering the iconic astronaut with a touching music video tribute.

He truly inspired a generation.

Oscar Wilde on Art

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A true artist takes no notice whatever of the public. The public are to him non-existent. He has no poppied or honeyed cakes through which to give the monster sleep or sustenance. He leaves that to the popular novelist.

Microsoft’s downfall

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Software isn’t an industry where the monster company selling the last generation’s product gets to stay being the monster for the next generation. It’s the industry where a thousand hungry small companies are waiting for a shift in the market that will allow them to slay the monster, carve it up and eat it for breakfast.

Very interesting article.

[Via Rian van der Merwe]

I’m speaking at FutureStack; get 50% off registration

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In the future, nothing is impossible. FutureStack 2013 is an opportunity for disruptive Developers, innovative Technologists and world-changing Creatives to imagine, build and help craft the future of Modern Software. Big ideas aren’t just welcome — they’re required.

I’ll be speaking at the FutureStack conference, which will be held in San Francisco in October. There are a lot of very smart people on the speakers list and some great sessions. If you’re interested in going to the conference, you can get 50% off the registration fee because you know me.

Infinite State

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First, it takes three months to understand a new job. Until those 90 days are over, you don’t really know what hand you’ve been dealt. Second, it takes approximately three years before you’ll become bored with your current gig. While I can’t point you to the definitive research paper that confirms this hypothesis, I have been stumbling around Silicon Valley for a couple of decades and my advice hasn’t changed: 90 days to understand the new gig, three years before you’re bored with it.

Interesting article from Michael Lopp. I never really thought about it like that before, but maybe that’s because I’ve been doing the same job for 20 years.

The Bundle of Bundles: $147 of software for $47 [Sponsor]

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There are bundles and there are bundles. And then, well, then there are bundles of bundles.

In this Mighty Deal’s case, however, it feels like we have a bundle that consists of bundles of bundles! Confused yet? Don’t be. Just know that this is one of the biggest bundle deals ever! With literally thousands of high-quality elements for creative designers, this Bundle Storm pretty much has it all!

Stock photos! Vector images! Backgrounds! Patterns! Themes! Gradients! Actions! Icons! Buttons! Infographics! Why, there’s even tools to quickly create your own mascot!

You can also check out the Full Smashing Library Deal.

Elementary OS

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elementary OS is a free replacement for Windows on the PC and OS X on the Mac. It comes with what you’d expect, like a fast web browser and an app store with thousands of apps. Plus some things you may not expect, like free updates and no known viruses.

I don’t know a lot about it, but it looks like OS X. I’m also not sure where the “thousands of apps” came from.

Google cripples Chromecast

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According to AllCast developer Koushik Dutta, the most recent Chromecast firmware update not only breaks the functionality third-party apps were using to stream local media and other stuff that doesn’t have built-in Chromecast support but breaks it on purpose.

It’s like they don’t want people to buy it.

F-Sim Space Shuttle

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Many thanks to F-Sim Space Shuttle for sponsoring The Loop’s RSS feed this week. F-Sim Space Shuttle is a fun and highly realistic flight simulator for iOS. Your goal is to land one of the most amazing aircrafts ever built: the Space Shuttle Orbiter. Flight dynamics and the head-up display are simulated in great detail and accuracy. During descent the orbiter is an extremely heavy, unpowered glider, so there’s only one chance to get it right. Air speeds two times faster and glide slopes seven times steeper than a typical airliner approach make for a unique challenge.

Landing a space shuttle is not easy, but there are several landing aids and tutorials that will help you make your first safe landing. Every landing is rated, and more experienced pilots can try a perfect landing or add more challenges (night approaches, crosswind landings, system failures, and much more). A landing analysis screen shows how you performed and how you can improve future landings. You’ll also get a score that can be uploaded to Game Center. You can watch breathtaking replays of your flight from different camera angles and even record your replays to the camera roll in full HD.

Apple opposes Feds new proposal in e-book case

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The United States offered to ease the terms of a proposed civil injunction against Apple Inc for conspiring to raise e-book prices, but the company said the revised proposal is still designed to “inflict punishment” and must be rejected.

Sounds to me like Apple is in this for the long haul.

Samsung creates horrible ad

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Samsung might have a 10-figure advertising budget, but it still managed to create an ad with such bad acting (and horribly sexist undertones) that it was pulled shortly after being spotted–and relentlessly mocked–by Reddit members Thursday.

It’s just painful to watch.

Apple and security as a service

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Ben Bajarin:

By owning all the key components from designing the system-on-chip, to the hardware and software security layers, the operating system, the hardware itself, and the underlying cloud framework, Apple is uniquely positioned to create a security solution unlike many others.

CNET accepts cash to repost positive reviews

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A new advertising campaign allows companies to pay CNET to repost positive reviews on their homepage. Guess who took advantage of that program? You guessed it, Samsung.

Apple executives as Microsoft CEO

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It will be interesting to see which Apple executives Microsoft tries to get to run the company. You know it’s going to happen. Apple has all the products that Microsoft wished it had.

Pandora not concerned about Apple’s iTunes Radio

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Peter Kafka:

Kennedy also dismissed concerns about Apple’s impending iTunes Radio launch, which will directly compete with his service. This one would be easier to take at face value if Pandora’s PR machinery wasn’t working so hard to downplay Apple’s entry.

But, for the record, Kennedy repeated the lines he has always used to describe competition in the past. “We’ve now been around for eight years. We’ve seen competitors large and small enter the market and, in some cases, exit the market,” he said. “I’ve never seen an analysis that identifies an effect from any competitor … we don’t see the picture changing.”

Yet Pandora is removing the 40 hour listening limit for mobile users two weeks before Apple introduces iTunes Radio. Pandora may not have seen any effect from previous competition, but they’ve never faced Apple before.

BlackBerry, Nokia and Microsoft never thought they’d see any effect from Apple either. You see where that got them.

Apple buys map app, Embark

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We don’t know how much Apple paid for the several-person team it acquired very recently. But we heard from people knowledgeable about the deal that the company plans to directly integrate Embark’s technology into Apple Maps.

Nice scoop for Jessica Lessin.

App Cubby changes it name to Contrast

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So App Cubby is no more, but the people are the same. David Barnard is one of the good guys in the development scene who cares about his customers and the apps he makes. He’s showcasing a new app called Perfect Weather on the Contrast Web site.

Consumer Reports: The Nexus 7 sucks balls

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The new Nexus 7 has all the makings of a great tablet but it’s been plagued by multiple problems ever since its release, including faulty GPS and a bug-riddled touch interface. Because of this, Consumer Reports is warning tablet fans to avoid buying Google’s newest tablet until the company fixes all these issues. The publication in particular singles out the Nexus 7′s shoddy touch screen implementation as particularly headache-inducing.

Apple is probably sending a cake to the Nexus 7 team for making its tablet suck so bad.

Apple and Education

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Apple on Thursday made some significant changes to its “Apple and Education” Web site, adding resources, stories, planning ideas and more for students, teachers and IT staff.

ReadQuick for iPhone and iPad

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ReadQuick helps you read faster than ever before. Designed for the iPad, this app helps you speed read your way through your reading list. ReadQuick displays the articles of your choice one word at a time at a pace you set. It is the only app that teaches you how to speed read while getting through your daily reading.

It has support for Pocket, Instapaper and a Featured, as well as giving you your reading stats.

Icon argument

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Great article by Bobby Solomon on how making “hollow icons” aren’t going to confuse your users.

German government says Windows 8 too dangerous to use

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The National Security Agency’s snooping practices may be costing American companies a lot of money. German publication Zeit Online has obtained leaked documents that purportedly show that IT experts within the German government believe that Windows 8 contains back doors that the NSA could use to remotely control any computers that have it installed.

Wow.

Stolen photo wins Samsung photo contest

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Due to a friend’s tip, he discovered one of his photos as winning entry on Samsung Camera’s photo contest „Live the moment“ on Facebook. Horizontally flipped, slightly cropped and digitally altered with an instagram filter, a user submitted the photo as his own to the contest via his instagram profile – and won. Samsung Camera made a congratulatory shout out on Facebook, including the picture.