Two more execs leave RIM

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Alan Brenner, a senior vice president for the BlackBerry platform, will leave after a transition period, and Alistair Mitchell, a vice president for the BlackBerry Messenger instant messaging product, has already left, RIM spokeswoman Tenille Kennedy said in an email on Friday.

It just keeps getting worse.

Flashback

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John Moltz:

Back when XP was the current version of Windows, it seemed that every Windows user I know complained about being affected by malware. I even knew Windows users who used to brag about how fast they could reformat their machine and have it back up and running in pristine form.

Managing Notes with Siri

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However, I found that I can create, update and list notes with Siri. In fact, Siri is even smart enough to know which note you’re talking about. Here’s how to create and maintain notes with Siri.

I didn’t know you could do that.

Acorn image editor

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Thanks to Acorn for sponsoring the The Loop this week.

Brought to you by Flying Meat’s Acorn, the Mac OS X image editor for humans.

TH2 guitar amp software updated

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  • New Saint Amp effect emulates a classic amp+cab in a pedal.
  • New switch to enable/disable automation for smart parameters
  • Improvement: the list in the sound browser now scrolls to show the current sound and variation
  • Improvement: better compatibility when RTAS and AAX plug-ins are both present

I started using this a couple of weeks ago and I’m impressed so far.

Learn Guitar from iBookstore

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If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to play the guitar but didn’t know where to start and don’t want to spend a lot of money on private lessons, this is the book for you!Follow along with our guitar expert Jen Trani—a guitar instructor who’s been playing since she was 13—as she leads you through 20 video lessons! With interactive diagrams and quizzes, this beginner guitar course will get you acquainted with the basics so you can start rockin’ out today!

If you can play your guitar on the iPhone and iPad, it makes sense that you should be able to learn how to play to.

Isaacson says Steve Jobs was pissed at Google

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AppleInsider:

After hearing Page’s interpretation of Jobs’s words, Isaacson spoke out this week in a speech at the Royal institution of Great Britain. Isaacson said he felt that Android had ripped off many of his ideas found in the iPhone and iPad, and that his ire was very real, according to Macworld.“It’s almost copied verbatim by Android,” Isaacson said. “And they license it around promiscuously. And then Android starts surpassing Apple in market share, and this totally infuriated him. It wasn’t a matter of money. He said, ‘You can’t pay me off, I’m here to destroy you.'”

It’s time for Google to shut up.

Obviousness

Written by

John Gruber:

The sliding camera button on the iOS 5.1 home screen is a perfect example of Apple favoring obviousness over simplicity and even elegance.

How many newspapers have paywalls?

Written by

Adrienne LaFrance:

Pew says around 150 U.S. dailies have digital subscription models, but AP reports 300 newspapers with paywalls.

I gladly pay for a number of blogs, but I don’t have a subscription to a single newspaper.

Undesign 101

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I associate “undesign” with websites where the design and content is scaled back to the bare necessities, allowing for the quick implementation of a simple yet professional design.

Chasing 4G

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Chris Armstrong:

There’s been a lot of concern raised recently about Apple’s use of the term “4G” to describe the cellular connectivity in the new iPad. There seems to be some confusion. I decided I’d try to make sense of it.

Ferdinand Porsche dead at 76

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AP:

He designed Porsche’s classic 911 sports car – the sleek model that evokes power, wealth and envy among aficionados – cementing his grandfather’s name into the modern psycheFerdinand Alexander Porsche died Thursday in Salzburg, Austria at age 76, Porsche AG said. No cause was provided.

First Jim Marshall, now Porsche.

Pro Tools Express free training video

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Russ starts at the beginning with opening and saving a session, then goes into using loops, recording and editing audio, using virtual instruments, built-in effects and exporting your masterpiece for CD and the internet.

The 1 hour video is free with registration. I use Groove3 all the time for Pro Tools video training and it’s always high-quality stuff.

Nokia Lumia 900 has ‘mediocre hardware’

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So why didn’t Nokia pack the phone with the newest processor, best display, and more storage? I think it all comes down to price.

There is a place for low-end smartphones, but I don’t think people want shit products.

Android fragmentation vs iPhone fragmentation

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Chris Sauve:

iOS 5 captured approximately 75% of all iOS users in the same amount of time it took Gingerbread to get 4% of all Android users. Even more astounding is that 15 weeks after launch iOS 4 was at 70% and iOS 5 was at 60% while Ice Cream Sandwich got to just 1% share at the same age. If there were any question as to whether iOS had a less fragmented ecosystem than Android, the past two charts provide a fairly definitive answer.

But Android is winning.

The difference between 7-inch and 7.85-inch is everything

Written by

Odi Kosmatos:

Here’s why I think there will be a tablet from Apple that’s optimized for reading and has a 7″ retina display that runs iPhone apps unmodified, not a tablet with a 7.85″ display that runs iPad apps unmodified.

User Experience Design is alive and well

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Rian van der Merwe:

I understand and appreciate the arguments these designers and writers are trying to make, but as someone who teaches introductory courses on User Experience Design, this plead to call ourselves something else (or nothing at all) is problematic.

Jim Marshall dead at 88

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It is with profound sorrow that we announce the passing of our beloved founder and leader for the past 50 years, Jim Marshall. While mourning the Guv’nor though, we also salute a legendary man who led a full and truly remarkable life.

Marshall amps are the sound of Rock for so many of us. I had the pleasure of meeting Jim Marshall a few years ago and was able to tell him the effect his life’s work had on me.

Rest in Peace.

Universal Audio 1176 Classic Limiter Collection

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Picking up where UA’s original 1176LN Limiting Amplifier plug-in left off, this new 1176 collection provides unrivaled emulations of three distinct 1176 hardware units, and is indispensable for any serious engineer or producer.

Some of the best.

Leave Steve alone

Written by

Mat Honan:

Steve Jobs is dead. He doesn’t need to do another day’s work as your puppet pundit. Let the man rest.

Yes, please.

Google CEO: Steve Jobs’ fury about Android was just for show

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Google CEO Larry Page:

I think that served their interests. For a lot of companies, it’s useful for them to feel like they have an obvious competitor and to rally around that. I personally believe that it’s better to shoot higher. You don’t want to be looking at your competitors. You want to be looking at what’s possible and how to make the world better.

So, Larry looks to make the world a better place and Steve didn’t? Oh please.

The blogging cycle

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Dave Caolo:

I’ve noticed an interesting shift in blogging. In short, there’s a trend moving away from hyper-focused niche blogs, back to what I’d call “personality” blogs. It makes me think of when I started writing online in 2000, and I like it.

Dave’s article really took me back to when I began writing on the Internet.

For me, blogging in 2000 is what Twitter is today. People posted short items or a picture of what they were doing, but then it started to become a business. That’s not a bad thing at all, but it is nice to reminisce.