Weather 2x

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I’d like to thank Weather 2x for sponsoring The Loop’s RSS feed this week.

A distinctively different kind of weather app for iPad and iPhone with stunning Retina-quality visuals and a refreshingly fun and touch centric UI.

Weather 2x is the perfect balance of aesthetics, intuitive functionality and the right amount of detail.

Check out the latest version with great new features including iCloud sync, Twitter & E-mail sharing, local weather detection, and images of Jim’s igloo for when it reaches those sub-zero temperatures.

I’ve been using Weather 2x since it first came out and love it.

Samsung investigated for antitrust violations

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South Korea’s antitrust watchdog said Thursday it has launched an investigation into whether Samsung is abusing its dominant position in the wireless market to disadvantage Apple.

It’s been a bad couple of weeks for Samsung.

John Gruber

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Businessweek did an article today focusing on Daring Fireball’s John Gruber. Besides being a friend, John has helped me with advice and encouragement when I was redesigning The Loop. There is no doubt he has had a big impact on blogging.

Jeff Bezos as Steve Jobs

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Om Malik:

Jeff Bezos announced a whole slew of Kindle devices and launched the new Kindle Fire tablets. And if you believe all the Twitter chatter, then he did it in a Steve Jobs style presentation.

I agree with Om that Jeff Bezos has done a great job — except at making profits — and from all I’ve heard, his presentation today was great. Having said that, he’s no Steve Jobs, as much as he may want to be.

Apple product names

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Interested article from Marko Savic on how Apple names its products.

An Amazon Apple TV competitor

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However, the location of the announcement and its proximity to Hollywood has some speculating that there may be more. One of the possibilities being raised is more content for Amazon’s Prime Instant streaming service. Of course, there’s another option: What if Amazon announced a streaming video device to compete head-to-head with Apple TV, Roku and Google TV?

Mac Game Store app

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Among its new features the app offers a sleak, easy to use interface, an intuitive system requirements checker, automatic game updates, and a place to meet with your fellow Mac gamers.

Great new Web site and app for Mac gamers.

iPhone prestige

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Midwestern regional carrier Cellcom won’t reveal how many iPhones it sold last quarter, but according to CEO Pat Riordan the specific numbers are irrelevant. The iPhone is luring new customers into its stores, it’s keeping old customers loyal, and it completes Cellcom’s smartphone portfolio.

How many other phones fall into that category for carriers? My guess is zero.

Amplified 23: Don’t Take Candy from Samsung

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On this week’s episode of Amplified, Jim and Dan discuss the upcoming Apple event and whether or not it will be exclusively iPhone, the Samsung Mob!lers program and IFA 2012, Apple’s addition of the Galaxy S III to its complaint, app development and the “Sparrow Problem”, the VOX JAMVOX, headphones, guitars, and more!Sponsored by Hover (use coupon DANSENTME for 10% off), Sourcebits, and Squarespace (use coupon DANSENTME9 for 10% off)

The World Wide Web 2012 rankings

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Designed and produced by the World Wide Web Foundation, the Web Index is the world’s first multi-dimensional measure of the Web’s growth, utility and impact on people and nations. It covers 61 developed and developing countries, incorporating indicators that assess the political, economic and social impact of the Web, as well as indicators of Web connectivity and infrastructure.

Nokia Windows 8 tablet

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“We have not announced any tablets, but I think the opportunity is very clear,” Nokia CEO Stephen Elop told ABC News. “People today increasingly are looking for a common digital experience between their smartphone and tablet, with a PC, and with their gaming platform, and so there’s clearly an opportunity across there. This is something that we’re looking at very closely.”

Not a huge surprise, really. Maybe a bigger surprise that it’s not more of a priority.

Nokia’s new Lumia might not be enough

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Kevin C. Tofel:

Instead, I was left with a key unanswered question from Nokia that directly impacts the company’s future: What did it announce today that will get consumers to switch from an iPhone or Android device? Without a compelling answer to that question, I suspect most new Lumia sales will come from those already using an older Lumia and that won’t generate the growth that Nokia needs to sustain a turnaround.

Smart article by Kevin. To my mind, this is the key point that Nokia may have missed. You have to give consumers a reason to switch and if they didn’t do that, they missed a huge opportunity. With the new iPhone coming soon, it’s hard to imagine that people will go for a Lumina.

Apple says it did not provide data to FBI

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Apple on Wednesday responded to a weird story earlier this week that UDID information was stolen by hackers from an FBI computer. Apple contacted The Loop with some additional information. […]

iPhone market share hits 33.4 percent

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Apple’s iPhone share of U.S. smartphone subscribers bumped upward 2 percentage points from May through July, giving it 33.4 percent of the market, online tracking and analytics firm comScore said Tuesday.

Android grew 1.4 percent to 52.2 percent of the market.

Mayer reviews every new Yahoo hire

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Now, according to a Yahoo executive involved in hiring, Mayer is actually doing it.She literally looks at every serious candidate’s resume.

Much respect to Marissa Mayer. She wants the talent she feels will improve the company and she’s making sure she gets it.

FBI denial

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The Federal Bureau of Investigation has issued a denial of responsibility regarding the leak of more than 1,000,000 iOS UDID numbers last night.

Fender Machete guitar amps

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Fender updated it’s line of Machete guitar amps today with a 50 Watt Head, a Combo and two cabinets.

Apple announces special event for September 12

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Check out our live coverage of the event. Apple on Tuesday sent out invites for an upcoming event happening in San Francisco on September 12, 2012. The invitation I received says the event will take place at the Yerba Buena … Continued