MG Siegler on the Microsoft Surface

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In hindsight, I now see why Microsoft did not want me to review the Surface. That was probably the right call from a PR perspective. It’s simply not a good product.

After using it for over a week now, it’s hard to come up with a lot of nice things to say about the Surface. Don’t get me wrong, there are some solid things here. But by and large, it’s a strange, buggy, and clunky product that I simply can’t imagine many people buying after the initial hype wears off.

That’s near the beginning of the review. It gets worse.

25 years of cell phones

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Hmmm, something big seems to have happened around 2007. Wonder what that could have been?

Kaleidoscope 2.0 Public Beta

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Kaleidoscope is one of the world’s best tools for spotting differences in images and text, and now it supports merging of files and folders, too. Kaleidoscope integrates directly with Git, Subversion, Mercurial, and Bazaar to fit perfectly in your workflow.

Go get it.

Jackson 7-string sound samples

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If you’ve been following my Twitter stream, you know that I’m reviewing a new 7-string Jackson guitar. Many of you have asked for sound samples using a variety of products, so I put together a number of them for you. […]

Creating Retina graphics for your Web site

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The more products Apple releases, the more widespread Retina displays become. So far we have Retina capable iPhones, iPods, iPads and MacBooks of various sizes, which together make up a pretty substantial audience. Let’s take a look at how you can create special retina graphics for your website so your design looks crisp, sharp and clear on those powerful screens.

This is something we’re working on too.

10 Mac apps for $49.99

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Here’s a new Mac app bundle that went on sale today. If you use this link, I’ll get a little kickback from the people, which will help The Loop. Thanks people.

Pissed with iCloud

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iOS developer Justin Williams is not happy with iCloud and the services Apple offers that rely on it. While I’ve heard other people pick iCloud apart, I haven’t had any problems. iTunes Match is fantastic, downloading apps works great and syncing is very fast.

Problems in Web publishing

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Harry Marks outlines a problem that we see far too often in Web publishing these days. It drives me crazy as a reader.

Skewed News

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Six of 10 Americans believe news reporting is biased, according to Gallup. Still, we trust the media more than any other source of information. Skewed News Tutor helps news consumers learn to pinpoint exactly why a report might feel one-sided, or skewed.

Great idea.

Microsoft sued over Surface storage

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He discovered that a significant portion of the 32 GB storage space was being used by the operating system and pre-installed apps such as Word and Excel. Only 16 GB was available for him to use.

Seriously, 16GB for the operating system and apps is a bit much.

AC/DC comes to iTunes

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One of the last major iTunes holdouts is now available for download. AC/DC is finally on the iTunes Store. […]

Apple Specialist Sam Sung

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The Loop reader sent me this business card today. Sam Sung was helping his wife’s aunt. […]

Igloo’s Fall update, Q, is here

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Many thanks to Igloo Software for sponsoring this week’s feed on The Loop.

Q brings over 25 new features ­installed, tested and managed ­as a free platform update to all Igloo customers.

Igloo users can now post blogs, wiki articles, documents and status updates right from their email. Igloo has also developed a brand-new calendar that integrates with your intranet and your desktop calendar applications. Q also adds a smart search that finds relevant content and displays it instantly and inline. Igloo has also introduced the ability to find and @mention users from any content entry field.

Igloo is trying to make work a better place. A recent IDC report states “… Igloo had the best overall solution capability rating from respondents.” IDC placed Igloo in the Major Players category for enterprise social software. You can download a complimentary copy of the report from Igloo.

Get an intranet you’ll actually like. Try Igloo.

The new Twitter

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Matt Buchanan:

The message from Twitter over the last year has been consistent about one thing: Change is coming. It’s building a new Twitter. We sort of joked it would look like this — essentially, more like Facebook — but the new features Twitter rolled out last night show just how true that will be.

The other consistent message is that they’ll screw their developers.

The cost of a click

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Horace Dediu:

The bottom line is that an individual click is not as valuable as it used to be. Would a larger volume of mobile usage be a reason? Google won’t say.

With operating margins falling, Google must be very concerned.

No need for patent system overhaul, says Microsoft

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Bart Eppenauer, Microsoft’s chief patent counsel:

“There are a lot headlines about the patent system being out of control and major changes being needed,” Eppenauer says. “While certainly there are areas for improvement in the patent system — in terms of what the U.S. Patent [& Trademark] Office can do and what the courts can do and what companies can do — this doesn’t mean you need, at least from our point of view, some sort of radical overhaul of the system or a complete change in the approach to certain technologies.”

Why am I not surprised.

Tattoo for cancer

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TechCrunch’s Drew Olanoff recently celebrated his 33rd birthday (Happy Birthday brother), but instead of getting gifts, he asked people to donate to help fund research on children’s cancer. In exchange, he did some unique — I’ll let you read for yourself.

Much respect Drew.

You have got to be fucking kidding me

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Tired of the bold, yet unsubstantiated claims of financial analysts, the L.A. Times turns to a bastion of data analysis for its latest story… CouponCodes4u.com.

On Thursday, the folks behind CouponCodes4u.com made a bold prediction: They say the Kindle Fire HD will outsell the iPad mini by 2 to 1.

To back up that claim, the coupon clearing house website cited data collected from its website that shows nearly twice as many searches for the words “Kindle Fire HD” compared with “iPad mini” in the last three weeks.

Pathetic.

Here’s an analogy I posted on Twitter:

Equivalent of @latimes iPad mini/Kindle story is asking Ferrari club how many will buy a Corolla, then concluding Ferrari will outsell them.

Google, Dish may launch wireless service

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Dish has been in talks with several companies, including Google. While everything is in the early stages, it would be very interesting if Google did move ahead with this plan given its relationship with existing carriers.

Here is a Google Cache link of the WSJ article.

Musicians unite to fight Pandora

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MusicFIRST, an organization that represents musicians and their rights, in collaboration with SoundExchange on Wednesday announced that 125 artists, 40 of which are Grammy award winners, have opposed the bill. Artists include Common, Dead Kennedys, Missy Elliot, Vince Gill, Don Henley, Billy Joel, Maroon 5, Martha Reeves, David Sanborn, Michael W. Smith and Roger Waters, among others.

I always believed musicians should be paid for their music. Perhaps it’s because I know so many of them that rely on it for their livelihood, but whatever the reason, if you want to use their material, they need to get paid.

A trophy of design and a failure of engineering

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Shawn Blanc on his new Hidden Radio:

The device is little more than a giant volume knob with a speaker inside, and yet, ironically, it’s the most difficult-to-use volume knob in my home.

Great review of a kickstarter project he backed last year. Reading the review, I felt bad for Shawn because he didn’t seem to have any unreasonable expectations for the device, but yet it still failed.