iPad home button

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Dave Caolo goes over a few of the functions the iPad home button does besides take you to the home screen.

Apple looks to launch TV subscriptions by Christmas

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New York Post:

Apple is pitching the idea of offering channels as apps for its devices, including its Apple TV set-top box. It’s unclear whether it would group the apps together and charge a fee — similar to a cable-TV subscription — or offer the channels on an a la carte basis.

I would definitely buy these channel apps.

Things Apple could do better

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Mark Willis:

But nobody’s perfect. Here are a couple of specific things I wish Apple products did better, that I haven’t really heard others discuss. (Maybe they just have the good manners not to whine in public? But I digress.)

I was chuckling at the problems he brings up because they happen to me too. Interesting solutions he proposed.

Mountain Lion security and AppleScript

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Lex Friedman: To the average user, the two new security technologies coming to OS X this year—sandboxing and Gatekeeper—should be virtually invisible. But they could be all too visible to more advanced users, particularly those who use AppleScript and Automator. … Continued

Rampant negativity

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It is far too easy to emotionally default to negativity on the Internet. Whether it’s fueled by anti-social behavior, a perceived intrusion upon one’s curated garden of content and opinion, or some sort of basic personal distaste, we are all too frequently treated to a stinging assault on a person or corporate entity on Twitter and the like.

I’ve been guilty of this from time to time.

Forbes on the rumored 8-inch iPad

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Brian Caulfield for Forbes: If true, that’s quite a turnabout, for Apple. On a conference call with investors in late 2010, former Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs derided the idea of an 8-inch tablet.

Analog tape recording

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These days, owning an analog tape machine is somewhat akin to driving a classic car, with ongoing maintenance, scarcity of parts, and exotic fuel (analog tape) that’s expensive and hard to find. So while a handful of top studios still offer those classic spinning reels (and the engineers to maintain them), the good news for the rest of us is that there are now more convenient ways to achieve that classic magnetic sound.

Instapaper improvements

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So the bookmarklet now sports a completely new design that’s highly visible at every screen size, and works in more browsers, too.

The new version also supports multi-page articles. I didn’t even have to do anything, it just updated. I use Instapaper every single day and love it.

Hazel, a personal housekeeper for the Mac

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Hazel watches whatever folders you tell it to, automatically organizing your files according to the rules you create. It features a rule interface similar to that of Apple Mail so you should feel right at home.

My desktop is begging for this app.

AT&T, data plans and app makers

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This silly plan by AT&T has been out for a few days but Matt Alexander summed up my feelings nicely: Although AT&T might frame this as innovation, such maneuvering is transparently self-serving. Evidently tired of having the customer blame them … Continued

RIM may pre-announce poor Q4 results

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Reuters:

Blackberry maker Research in Motion Ltd (RIM) is likely to preannounce poor February quarter results and forecast a “very weak” May quarter on lower sales of its phones, according to Jefferies & Co analysts.

I kind of feel bad.

The Loop gets Decked

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I’m very happy to announce that as of March 1, 2012, The Loop has joined exclusive ad network, The Deck. You can see ads from The Deck on the right hand side of every page on the site.

Being part of The Deck allows me to keep The Loop focused on what’s important — the content. It also allows me to show relevant ads from top notch companies without impeding your reading experience.

Since The Loop went through its major redesign in September 2011, many of you wrote saying how much better the reading experience is. I truly appreciate that. Joining The Deck will preserve and strengthen that experience.

With the move to The Deck, I am joining some of the greatest sites on the Web including Daring Fireball, Marco Arment, Laughing Squid, Khoi Vinh and Jason Kottke, among many others.

The Deck, like The Loop, is about delivering a quality Web experience. I am committed to bringing that to you with my writing and the way I choose to present advertising on the site.

I hope you will take a minute and visit the advertisers when you see something that interests you.

Don’t forget, we also have $3 monthly memberships available for individuals (with a full text RSS feed) and exclusive weekly RSS sponsorships where companies and developers can reach The Loop’s readers.

Thank you for your continued support.

Reflection brings screen mirroring from iOS to the Mac

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TUAW:

Ever wanted to use AirPlay mirroring to show the screen of your iPad 2 or iPhone 4/4S on your Mac? Just released, Reflection ($14.99 for a single license, $39.99 for a 5 pack) offers a well-featured mirroring receiver for OS X, ideal for education and demos — and a great way to eliminate the Frankencable for iPad video capture.

Rock Hard Funk II drum loops

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With 400 live acoustic grooves to inspire any songwriter looking for a strong rhythmic foundation, this collection takes the atttiude of rock and pop and infuses it with the groove-centric vibe of funk.

Beta Monkey makes the best drum loops in the business. These are real drums, recorded in a studio with a drummer.

Humor: iPad 3 facts

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Joy of Tech: iPad 3 is so kickass it comes with Chuck Norris action jeans.

Samsung admits its tablet are a flop

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Samsung Electronics admitted that its attempt to breach the tablet market has largely been a flop, with one executive offering a sobering summary of its performance.“Honestly, we’re not doing very well in the tablet market,” Hankil Yoon, a product strategy executive for Samsung.

So, to boost sales you release a stylus?

Apple announces iPad event for March 7 in San Francisco

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As expected, Apple on Monday announced an event to show off the company’s next generation iPad. The invitation, sent to me by Apple, says the event will take place at 10:00 am on Wednesday, March 7, 2012 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. […]

Thumbtack gives easy access to Pinboard bookmarks

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Thumbtack is a menu bar utility that provides quick and easy access to the most recently saved bookmarks in your Pinboard account. It was developed around one core feature allowing it be polished, reliable, and extremely efficient.

The Loop’s full text RSS feed and other sharing options

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When The Loop re-launched in September 2011, I took down 99 percent of the ads and made the site easier to read. It’s all about the content. As part of the change, I also added a membership option and full text RSS feed.

Many people have said they didn’t know about the full text RSS, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to mention it again.

A membership to The Loop is basically a way for readers to help support the site. It costs $3 per month and in return you get access to a full text feed. We also have a free truncated feed too, so there are options available.

Even though the free feed is truncated, we try to include the full text for the linked list posts. The goal is not to make it harder to read the site, but easier.

The money from members has gone to good use. We have used the money to upgrade the servers, bandwidth and CDNs we use, making the site much faster than what it’s been in the past.

There are other ways you can follow the site. We have a Facebook page that you can like, a Google+ page, and you can follow The Loop for site updates and my twitter feed for site updates and my personal thoughts.

You can also share the stories using the Twitter, Facebook and Google+ buttons on the bottom of each story.

Thanks everyone for your continued support of The Loop.

Deposit for iPhone helps you count cash

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In many work environments, cashiers are given worksheets where denominations are counted, recorded, totaled, then submitted. Deposit was created with this in mind. With Deposit, each denomination is recorded separately, the total is calculated in real-time, and printed cash reports are only a few touches away.

It can also print the total and send an email to your manager.

School won’t publish student editorial about atheism

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Andrew Beaujon for Poynter:

Krystal Myers’ editorial for the Lenoir City High School student newspaper about how atheists like her don’t have the same rights as Christians met a somewhat ironic fate: It was not published. School officials feared “the potential for disruption in the school.”

Principles of clean Web design

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Minimalism has always been one of the things I admired most whether it’s about interior design, people, fashion or web design. When you are looking for information let’s say on the Internet, you might get really annoyed because of the flow of commercials or different colorful and intricate designer stuff that get in your way while browsing a website in order to find what’s most important – content. “Less is more” – that’s what should be on a web designer’s mind when inventing something new to post on the Internet.