The goal of the Product Manager

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Rian van der Merwe:

Executive buy-in is a prerequisite for success, so make sure that it’s well understood that even though everyone gets a voice, not everyone gets to decide.

That may very well be the most difficult part for a lot of PMs.

iPhone grabs global web usage lead from Nokia

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According to the independent website analytics company StatCounter, Apple had a nice 25.86 percent of mobile Internet usage in January 2013. Although that was a decline of 2.81 percent compared to the same month in 2012, Nokia’s share in the same period fell from 37.67 percent to 22.15 percent, a significant decline.

How to listen

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Seth Godin:

The best way to honor someone who has said something smart and useful is to say something back that is smart and useful. The other way to honor them is to go do something with what you learned.

Great advice.

iPhone survives 2000 foot drop

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Chris Santacroce was paragliding Thursday in Draper near Lone Peak when his iPhone slipped out of his pocket and fell some 2000 feet to the ground.

He didn’t even know it. “I land and I’m checking my pockets. It’s not there,” he said.

Tough iPhone.

MGWordCounter

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My latest chunk of open-source code is very simple: MGWordCounter provides live word-counting for NSTextViews on OS X and UITextViews on iOS.

Another useful bit of code from Matt Gemmell.

The BlackBerry 10 problem

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I made fun of BlackBerry and its co-CEOs for quite some time. While I had good reason to do it, I wasn’t against a BlackBerry comeback. However, with the launch behind us, I don’t think they did enough to get themselves off the ropes. […]

Microsoft to put $2 billion into Dell buyout

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Microsoft Corp is expected to invest around $2 billion in the deal, while private equity firm Silver Lake is expected to put in about $1 billion, the source said. Michael Dell is expected to roll over his roughly 16 percent stake and put in some of his own money so he has control of the company, the source added.

BBEdit [Sponsor]

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BBEdit 10.5 from Bare Bones Software — The leading professional HTML and text editor for the Mac just keeps getting better. Now with Retina support and many other improvements — download the demo and see for yourself!

I have been using BBEdit to create and maintain every site I’ve built since 1994, including The Loop.

Comments app for WordPress

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Bored of getting your inbox filled with comments from your WordPress Blog? Want’s to see those comments in the Notification Center on your Mac? Wants to see how many unread (and total!) comments are on your blog at a glance? Comments.app is your new friend, it’ll let you know, and one click later, you’re approving, marking as spam or replying.

Downloaded.

Charis acoustic guitars

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A reader emailed me about these this morning and the workmanship in these handmade guitars looks incredible. I also watched the video clip on Bill Wise, the guy who makes them — definitely worthwhile if you have a few minutes.

Netflix vs HBO

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Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer:

The goal is to become HBO faster than HBO can become us.

What a great mission.

Squarespace

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Many thanks to Squarespace for sponsoring The Loop’s RSS feed this week. Squarespace is an innovative website publishing platform that makes it easy to bring your ideas to life. Squarespace makes professional web design accessible to everyone. Start with an … Continued

Stephen Fry on smartphones

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Stephen talks about iPhone, Android, Samsung, BlackBerry 10 and Windows. It’s a great article.

OmniFocus 2

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The Omni Group founder Ken Case gives us a look at the upcoming app.

A guide to serif fonts

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Even if you’re an experienced designer, it’s never a bad time to refresh your memory a little with the structure of serif typefaces, a few recommendations and a little history.

Privacy flaw in Path’s iPhone app

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Brian X. Chen:

Jeffrey Paul, a data security consultant, on Friday published a blog post pointing out a security flaw in Path for iPhone users. If a user posts a photo inside Path and writes a caption, the app can still share the city or other general location where the photo was taken — even if a user has turned off location sharing for Path in the iPhone’s privacy settings.

Oopsie.

Sound City is on iTunes

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Directed by Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters) and featuring interviews and performances by the iconic musicians who made their careers in the studio, SOUND CITY tells the story of real rock n’roll history, and celebrates the human element of music, as Grohl gathers some of rock’s greatest artists to collaborate on a new album. Using Sound City’s legendary analog console, together they continue to create musical miracles in a digital world.

This is an absolute must-have movie.

3 Monkeys Amps

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These guys know what guitar amps are all about. You owe it to yourself to have a listen to these, no matter what type of music you like. Personally, I like the Zé Limited Run.