Bare Bones, makers of BBEdit, is one of my favorite software companies—in fact, I’ve been using their software for more than 20 years. Now, with the opening of their new online store, you can also own some Bare Bones clothing. T-shirts, hoodies, pins, fleece jackets, sweat pants and combinations of all of the products in a bundle are available from the store.

Visit the store to get your Bare Bones Official Merchandise!

In addition to a massive library of raw sound material, Superior Drummer 3 introduces a unique design*, a streamlined workflow and countless features for powerful drum production in your computer. With Superior Drummer 3, you have control and creative power beyond the imaginable. Welcome to the future.

I’ve been a Toontrack user for many years and love their drum software, but this new version is unreal. Check out the many videos on the product page detailing what you can do in Superior Drummer 3—amazing!

Universal Audio on Tuesday released two new entries to its arsenal of top-quality audio plug-ins. There are videos on the product pages for each plug-in.

Apple today announced that Deirdre O’Brien is taking on new responsibilities for Apple’s retail and online stores in an expanded role as senior vice president of Retail + People, reporting to CEO Tim Cook. After five transformative years leading the company’s retail and online stores, Angela Ahrendts plans to depart Apple in April for new personal and professional pursuits.

In her expanded role, Deirdre will bring her three decades of Apple experience to lead the company’s global retail reach, focused on the connection between the customer and the people and processes that serve them. She will continue to lead the People team, overseeing all People-related functions, including talent development and Apple University, recruiting, employee relations and experience, business partnership, benefits, compensation, and inclusion and diversity.

Wow.

During Heart Month, Apple will offer an Activity Challenge on Apple Watch and heart health events in Apple Stores in San Francisco, Chicago and New York to educate consumers on their heart health and encourage them to get active and live a better day.

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In recognition of Heart Month, Apple will host special Today at Apple sessions, “Heart Health with Apple,” in stores in New York, Chicago and San Francisco with celebrity fitness trainer Jeanette Jenkins, Sumbul Desai, MD, Apple’s vice president of Health, Nancy Brown, CEO of the American Heart Association, Jay Blahnik, senior director of fitness for health technologies, and Julz Arney and Craig Bolton from the Apple Fitness Technologies team. Attendees will hear a discussion about heart health and participate in a new Health & Fitness Walk, which was co-created with Jeanette for participants to take a brisk walk with Apple Watch around their community.

This is an awesome way for Apple to recognize heart month.

Apple on Tuesday reported its financial results for its fiscal first quarter ending December 29, 2018. The company posted revenue of $84.3 billion, a decline of 5 percent from the year-ago quarter, which was expected. […]

There are a lot of improvements to Pixelmator Pro in the latest update like Clipping masks, Layer tagging, Layer filtering and search, and quick opacity and blending controls in the Layers sidebar. That doesn’t even scratch the surface of everything that was added or improved in version 1.3. Check out Pixelmator’s Web site for all the changes.

Bare Bones, makers of BBEdit, is one of my favorite software companies—in fact, I’ve been using their software for more than 20 years. Now, with the opening of their new online store, you can also own some Bare Bones clothing. T-shirts, hoodies, pins, fleece jackets, sweat pants and combinations of all of the products in a bundle are available from the store.

Visit the store to get your Bare Bones Official Merchandise!

The insurers are exploring ways to subsidize the cost of the device for those who can’t afford the $279 price tag, which is the starting cost of an older model. The latest version of the device, which includes the most extensive health features including fall detection and an electrocardiogram to measure the heart’s rhythm, retails for a minimum of $399, which many seniors could benefit from but can’t afford.

This makes perfect sense for Apple. The health features of the Apple Watch continue to help people of all ages and save lives. Getting these devices into the hands of seniors is the right thing to do for all involved.

An ad-free version of the service will be available for a fee and non-pay TV customers can purchase a subscription to the service, the media company said

Everyone has to have their own service. From a user perspective, there are too many services to keep track of.

HomePod, the innovative wireless speaker from Apple, will be available in mainland China and Hong Kong markets starting Friday, January 18.

Under normal circumstances I would think this was great news, but with China’s economy being what it is, I’m not sure this will be a big help for Apple, at least not yet.

Damn good question.

Fans of Eddie Van Halen’s illustrious Eruption guitars can now own a piece of rock and roll history with three tribute model packages from EVH Guitars! These new models include the Super ’78 (limited to only 8 pieces), ’78 Eruption Relic (limited to only 30 guitars) and ’78 Eruption (limited to only 40 pieces). And in a true homage to this pivotal period, EVH has also recreated Eddie Van Halen’s original G&G case and loaded it up with the very items used by him at the time, such as ‘70s-era Fender Super Bullets strings, Van Halen ‘70s tortoiseshell picks, ’78 chain strap and 3-in-One oil. The tribute models are also accompanied by an exclusive collector’s booklet, a backstage pass vinyl cloth sticker, 8”x10” 1978 concert photo of Eddie Van Halen, autographed certificate of authenticity and an autographed vinyl copy of Van Halen.

I want one of these!

The allegations stem primarily from large severance payments to Andy Rubin, who led Google’s Android mobile operating division until 2014, and Amit Singhal, head of Google’s search unit until 2016. Company investigations into both men had found accusations of sexual harassment against them to be credible, according to the lawsuits.

A Mongolian band using traditional Mongolian instruments. It’s good.

Hulu is preparing to update its streaming app in order to make it simpler to navigate to and discover content you want to watch. Some of the changes coming in the weeks ahead are smaller, but worthwhile tweaks – like adding buttons or rearranging menus. But the more notable change is that Hulu is testing the elimination of the app’s existing landing page – currently known as “Lineup” – and replacing it with a new experience.

There’s a possibility that the testing might reveal that viewers prefer “Lineup” over “Hulu Picks” so the company can’t definitively say that it will drop Lineup permanently.

I’m currently testing out Hulu and it’s a pretty good app, but these changes are a good move. There are some other changes I would like to see with the DVR and other functions, but navigation should help users find the content they want faster.

According to its Feature Availability page, Apple today introduced a number of new features for Apple Maps. Several new Flyover locations have been added, and available maps for indoor malls have expanded.

Speed limits in Canada, new flyover locations, and indoor maps are among the changes in the latest updates.

Enthusiasm for aviation-related education programs in Purdue Polytechnic’s School of Aviation and Transportation Technology (SATT) continues to soar with the arrival of iPad and Apple Pencil for each of the nearly one thousand students and faculty. Undergraduate programs in SATT include professional flight, aeronautical engineering technology, aviation management and unmanned aerial systems.

Dubbed an Electronic Purdue Bag (EPB) — a nod to the Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) that replaced pilots’ paper-based flight information in the cockpit during in the 1990s — the new 9.7-inch cellular iPad, Apple Pencil and Logitech keyboard and case provide Purdue’s aviation students with a competitive advantage by preparing them for the technologically advanced aviation industry where most major airlines use iPad in the cockpit. Students now have access to the latest technical documents, including operating manuals and navigational charts, can generate multimedia safety reports on the spot, and will leverage the latest virtual and augmented reality (AR) tools on iPad. Eventually, students will develop their own apps and customize their learning experience.

This is great for Purdue students, but also a necessary move for the school. Since pilots are already using iPads, Purdue needs to be on the cutting edge and they clearly are. According to Purdue, they plan to upgrade all of the iPads every two years.

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd is set to post its first drop in quarterly operating profit in two years as slowing economic growth in China, a key market for the South Korean tech giant, erodes demand for its products.

[…]

“Depressed demand in China will further drive down Samsung’s chip sales there. And China’s overall smartphone market is stalled and declining, which will affect not only Apple but Samsung,” Song Myung-sup, a senior analyst at HI Investment & Securities, told Reuters.

Like I said, this is a China issue, not an iPhone problem.

Fifteen years ago, John Mayer joined Steve Jobs on stage to introduce a new app called GarageBand. For those of us who loved to create music, GarageBand was a revolution that would change the world. […]