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.

Apple is the largest mobile phone vendor in the U.S.

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We estimate Apple shipped 17.7 million mobile phones for a record 34 percent share of the United States market in the fourth quarter of 2012. This was up sharply from 12.8 million units shipped and 25 percent share in Q4 2011. Apple has become the number one mobile phone vendor by volume in the United States for the first time ever. Apple’s success has been driven by its popular ecosystem of iPhones and App Store, generous carrier subsidies, and extensive marketing around the new iPhone 5 model. Samsung shipped 16.8 million mobile phones in the United States, for 32 percent share, during Q4 2012. This was a good performance from Samsung, as its market share rose 5 points from 27 percent a year earlier, but it was not enough to hold off a surging Apple. Samsung had been the number one mobile phone vendor in the US since 2008, and it will surely be keen to recapture that title in 2013 by launching improved new models such as the rumored Galaxy S4.

“iPhone plus”

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Interesting speculation from Marco Arment. I have to admit that these larger screen devices are selling better than what I would have ever guessed.

Pro Tools tips book for iPad

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Audio engineer Paul DeCarli put together 20 of his favorite tips for Pro Tools and published them in a book for the iPad. I met with Paul at NAMM last week and he did a good job with this book.

The new Line 6 guitar

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With 29 incredibly detailed Variax instruments—plus the ability to virtually tune down a whole octave without impacting playability or intonation—JTV-89F shatters the limitations of traditional guitars. The Floyd Rose licensed double-locking tremolo system by Graph Tech, high-gain humbucking pickups and lightning-fast fretboard combine to make JTV-89F the perfect instrument for players of heavier, high-gain styles.

A modeling guitar with a Floyd Rose is very interesting.

WakeyWakey

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WakeyWakey is a utility application that runs on Mac OS X (Lion or Mountain Lion). It was born out of necessity. I have two Macs that share a keyboard and mouse. The problem was that the second system’s monitor would go to sleep. I had to figure out a way to wake up the second monitor. The result is WakeyWakey.

There’s a companion iOS app too.

Apple dominates online video on demand

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Daniel Eran Dilger:

Among these online movie rental competitors, Apple now takes 45 percent of unit share, followed by Amazon’s Instant Video with 18 percent, the Walmart-owned Vudo with 15 percent, Microsoft’s Zune/Xbox with 14 percent share, and other players (including Google Play and Sony’s PlayStation Store) splitting the remaining 8 percent (no other player can command more than a 5 percent share).

So basically there’s Apple and then everyone else fighting for second.

Amplified: Surprise Me All You Want

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Jim and Dan talk about the new Apple TV, the 128GB iPad, Apple vs. Amazon profits and Wall Street, the future of the Apple Store, the Blackberry Z10, control surfaces and more.

Sponsored by Lynda and Shutterstock (use code DANSENTME1 for 30% off).