The pageview beast

Written by

MG Siegler:

Most are stories written with little or no research done. They’re written as quickly as possible. The faster the better. Most are just rehashing information that spread by some other means. But that’s great, it means stories can be written without any burden beyond the writer having to read a little bit and type words fast. Many are written without the writer even having to think.

I am glad that I don’t make my money based on pageviews. I say what I want, when I want because I believe it to be true. That’s it.

The stupid continues

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This time with CNN’s “5 ways Microsoft’s Surface may be better than an iPad.” But what about the COM and Parallel ports?

WTF Gizmodo

Written by

Jesus Diaz for Gizmodo:

That weapon is Microsoft Surface. And it is beautiful. Beautiful and functional and simple and honest. Surface just bumped the MacBook Air and the iPad to the back seat…

Really? Remember this morning I said that New York Times article was really stupid — Jesus just took the stupid to a whole new level.

Then again, Giz seemed to like the PlayBook too.

Announcing vs. shipping

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Dermot Daly on the differences between Microsoft’s and Apple’s strategy of announcing products:

People’s reactions are then about sprinting to their local Apple store, or reaching for their credit card.

He’s right. Apple creates a furor around its products and people race to buy it. It shows a real lack of planning and knowledge when you don’t even know how much it’s going to cost.

Video: Playing guitar at the beard party

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This is the first video I’ve seen online, so I thought I’d post it. I was playing an EVH Wolfgang guitar through an Avid Eleven Rack. I was very pleased with the tone from the Eleven Rack. […]

Civilization V: Gods and Kings expansion pack

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This robust expansion covers the entire scope of time from founding your first Pantheon of the Gods and spreading religion across the world, to deploying your spies in enemy cities in order to steal information and technology.

Stupid New York Times

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Sam Grobart for The New York Times:

Microsoft’s answer to this question seems to be: “Of course you can!” The new Surface runs Windows — either a lightweight, tablet-friendly Windows RT version or the original gangster Windows 8. It has a keyboard. The Pro version has a stylus.

Usually with these stupid articles, I highlight a paragraph for the readers. With this one, I could have just put brackets around the whole thing.

Sam, Microsoft and its partners tried the tablet-as-a-PC-replacement thing for a decade and it didn’t work. Consumers didn’t like it because tablet computing is different than desktop computing.

Apple knows that it’s different and so do consumers — it’s time Sam and Microsoft faced that too.

AT&T employee leaked Apple, RIM sales figures

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Reuters:

Ebrahim was part of a so-called expert-network ring where some employees of specialized firms such as Primary Global Research (PGR) helped funnel corporate secrets from consultants at companies to hedge funds.

It must have been pretty easy to calculate RIM’s sales figures.

Developers not concerned about iPhone, iPad screen sizes

Written by

Neil Hughes:

Developers were asked to indicate, on a scale of one to 10, how difficult it might be for them to change their applications for the new screen sizes. On average, developers at WWDC said the difficulty would be just a 3.4 out of 10, suggesting they don’t see it as a major issue.

I’m not a developer, so I don’t know how difficult this would be, but if they’re not worried, neither am I.

HTC admits to Wi-Fi hardware issue

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“After investigating isolated reports of WiFi connectivity issues in the HTC One X, we have identified a fix that strengthens the area of the phone around the WiFi antennae connection points.”

I’m sure Consumer Reports is all over this.

Sidecar.me [Sponsor]

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Sidecar re-imagines the traditional phone call for your smartphone.

Sidecar lets you call and share:

  • See What I See Video: Share amazing real-time videos.

  • Photos: Snap brilliant pictures, or share photos from the phone’s gallery.

  • Locations: See where you are in relation to others, and share locations.

  • Contact: Information: Pass along and integrate contacts from their phone’s address book.

  • Whisper Text: Send a private text message to another Sidecar user during a call.

And the price is unbeatable:

  • Sidecar users can call each other anywhere in the world for free

  • Sidecar users can call regular phones numbers in the US or Canada for free over Wi-Fi.

Download the app for free in the App Store:

AmpliTube Slash

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Available for iPhone, iPad and Mac. I can’t wait to try this out.

No matter which version you choose, you’ll get Slash’s apocalyptic signature sounds and tones. From the Marshall® JCM Slash Silver Jubilee to the Slash signature “Wah-Distortion” pedal, rest assured they’re all Slash certified and approved. We worked closely with Slash in reproducing the sounds that inspire the legendary player himself, and the sound quality you’ve come to expect from AmpliTube.

Rock music ‘brings out the animal in us’

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Rock music such as Jimi Hendrix-style electric guitar excites us because it recreates the sound of primal distress calls and “brings out the animal in us”, scientists claim.

Works for me.

Charmingly simple audio recording on your mac [Sponsor]

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This is Piezo:

Piezo helps you record any audio on your Mac. Whether you want to record a Skype conversation, save a streaming radio program, or just record a quick voice memo, Piezo can do it. It runs on Mac OS X 10.6 and 10.7 and it can capture audio from any application (yup, even sandboxed App Store apps).

Download Piezo free, then buy it in the App Store or directly through our store.

Apple confirms Tim Cook email about Mac Pro

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Apple on Tuesday confirmed for The Loop that an email posted to the Mac Rumors forums was in fact from company CEO Tim Cook. Cook responded to a customer’s concerns about the Mac Pro and emailed him directly. The email … Continued

First Look: Retina display MacBook Pro

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I met with Apple after its WWDC keynote today to get one of the new Retina display MacBook Pro notebooks. I thought I’d give a quick rundown on some of the features and my thoughts before posting a more in-depth review. […]

Apple Design Award winners

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Apple just announced the winners of this year’s ADAs at Moscone West. The winners are as follows: […]

WWDC keynote live update

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Apple’s WWDC keynote will begin at 10:00 am PT. The Loop is at the event and will bring you live coverage throughout. Updates will be posted in reverse chronological order. […]

Charmingly simple audio recording on your mac [Sponsor]

Written by

This is Piezo:

Piezo helps you record any audio on your Mac. Whether you want to record a Skype conversation, save a streaming radio program, or just record a quick voice memo, Piezo can do it. It runs on Mac OS X 10.6 and 10.7 and it can capture audio from any application (yup, even sandboxed App Store apps).

Download Piezo free, then buy it in the App Store or directly through our store.

Meechu for iPhone

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Thanks to Meechu for sponsoring this week’s RSS feed on The Loop.

Headed to WWDC next week? Leave your business cards at home for shimming tables. Take Meechu with you on your iPhone and connect to all the cool people you meet quickly and easily.

When you meet someone, open Meechu and tap the broadcast button. Anyone else running Meechu will automatically exchange information with you. There’s no ceremony, no extra services to sign up for. It’s quick, easy and simple.

Meechu is on sale for $1.99 in the App Store through the end of WWDC.