Tips for designers when choosing a CMS

Written by

Tyler Herman:

Don’t just go with the easiest one to configure without taking in some other considerations. A one-click install is nice, but should not be a deciding factor.

Apple hires new Senior Vice President of Retail

Written by

Apple today announced that John Browett will join the company as senior vice president of Retail, reporting to Apple CEO Tim Cook. Browett comes to Apple from European technology retailer Dixons Retail, where he has been CEO since 2007. Beginning in April, he will be responsible for Apple’s retail strategy and the continued expansion of Apple retail stores around the world.“Our retail stores are all about customer service, and John shares that commitment like no one else we’ve met,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We are thrilled to have him join our team and bring his incredible retail experience to Apple.”

Replacing Ron Johnson, who left Apple for Target.

MacDailyNews Take

Written by

After Cameron Kaine wrote for Seeking Alpha that the Kindle Fire was released to rave reviews, MacDailyNews did the best rebuttal I’ve seen in a long time. A massive list of links of everything but rave reviews.

Great stuff.

[Via DF]

iBooks 2 and home schooling

Written by

The Mac Observer:

By comparison, you’d spend around $800 for an iPad 2 and a new textbook each year for those four basic courses. You’d get more up-to-date materials, interactive learning, and a smaller footprint in your luggage for those long-distance field trips. And, you’d spend half as much for that learning experience as you would using traditional books.

Interesting, I hadn’t considered the impact on home schooling.

Cost of a Super Bowl ad

Written by

While Super Bowl ads require a substantial investment, they tend to get a measurable marketing bump from their prominent placement. According to Nielsen, ads that aired during 2011’s Super Bowl XLV were, on average, 58 percent more memorable than commercials airing during regular programming in the first quarter of 2011. In addition, brand awareness for commercials airing during the Super Bowl was up to 275 percent higher than awareness for the same creative during regular programming.

[…]

Startup caught stealing from 37signals

Written by

Jolie O’Dell:

Evidence shows that not only did the Curebit team copy 37signals; they’re serving some assets right from 37signals’ original site.

Not cool.

‘Destroy America’ tweet lands traveler in jail

Written by

When Van Bryan and Bunting arrived in the US, they were immediately detained by officials at Los Angeles International Airport, held by armed guards and questioned for over five hours before they were “handcuffed, put in a van with illegal immigrants and locked up overnight.”

Hollywood still hates you

Written by

Why doesn’t Hollywood get it? The music industry was handed profits from online downloads, but it seems like the movie industry is fighting the inevitable.

Pro Tools 10.0.1

Written by

There are a lot of changes in the latest version. Go get it.

Universal Audio’s Apollo

Written by

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

Meet Apollo, the first professional, high-resolution computer audio interface that delivers the sound, feel, and flow of analog recording. This 18 x 24 FireWire/Thunderbolt – ready interface combines genuine UA analog design with class-leading 24-bit/192 kHz sound quality and onboard Realtime UAD Processing.

Apple’s an easy target, but you can’t blame them for Foxconn

Written by

The cries from the media blaming Apple for the conditions at Foxconn are getting out of hand. Blaming Apple solely for the problems at the factory is like blaming one car-maker for greenhouse gasses. It doesn’t make sense. There are many companies and many factors that make Foxconn what it is. […]

The State of iCloud-enabled apps

Written by

Federico Viticci:

In 107 days since iCloud went live, and 235 since Apple’s announcement at WWDC ’11, it appears the majority of third-party developers are still considering whether or not iCloud is something worth investing their time — and customers’ money — or not.

An interesting read.

OmniPlan for iPad in 2012

Written by

Chris Foresman:

Users who rely on the desktop version of OmniPlan but wish to manage complicated projects and workflows on-the-go will soon be able to pinch and swipe their way to Gantt chart nirvana. According to Omni Group CEO Ken Case, project management app OmniPlan will make its way to the iPad, perhaps as soon as the second quarter of this year.

Great news from Ars Technica. The Omni Group make some great apps.

Rubinstein leaves HP

Written by

Arik Hesseldahl:

Jon Rubinstein, the former Apple executive who took over handheld maker Palm and moved with it to Hewlett-Packard in a 2010 acquisition, has left HP effective today, AllThingsD has learned.Rubinstein is said to have no immediate plans, and had completed a 12-24 month commitment to stay with HP after the acquisition. “Jon has fulfilled his commitment and we wish him well,” HP spokeswoman Mylene Mangalindan said.

Unfortunate, but unexpected considering what’s happened with Palm and webOS.

Studio Devil amp modeling software

Written by

I’m working on a review of Studio Devil, but I’m impressed enough with the modeling that I wanted to let everyone know about it now. It’s very accurate and sounds great.

Apple overtakes Samsung as No. 1 smartphone vendor

Written by

Alex Spektor, Associate Director at Strategy Analytics, said, “Global smartphone shipments grew 54 percent annually to reach a record 155.0 million units in Q4 2011. Apple overtook Samsung to become the world’s largest smartphone vendor by volume with 24 percent market share. Apple’s global smartphone shipments surged 128 percent annually to 37.0 million units, as distribution of the iPhone family expanded across numerous countries, dozens of operators and multiple price points.”

Motorola is in the shitter

Written by

MG Siegler gives us a rundown of Motorola’s quarterly earnings. Hint: It’s not good — Motorola couldn’t ship as much as Apple sold.

About Apple’s iBooks Author EULA

Written by

It seems that some people in the media went absolutely crazy over Apple’s iBooks Author EULA (End User License Agreement) while I was away last week, and I just can’t figure out why. […]

PrivacyScan available for Mac

Written by

PrivacyScan works by searching for known applications which leave files on your computer that could lead to privacy concerns. PrivacyScan offers support for a wide range of items, including popular web browsers such as Camino, Chrome, Firefox, Flock, iCab, OmniWeb, Opera, Safari, SeaMonkey, and Shiira, privacy threats presented by Flash Cookies, as well as standard apps such as Finder, Preview, and QuickTime. Once a scan has run its course and privacy threats have been detected, PrivacyScan offers a variety of choices for cleaning — from a standard quick delete to one of the many secure delete shredding options.

Made by the same people that make MacScan.

iPhone accounts for 80% of AT&T smartphone activations

Written by

AppleInsider:

The iPhone was dominant at AT&T, accounting for 80.8 percent of the 9.4 million smartphones sold through the carrier.In the previous quarter, the iPhone represented 56 percent of AT&T’s smartphone activations with 2.7 million units. The wireless carrier revealed that a majority of the 7.6 million iPhones it activated in the quarter were the iPhone 4S.

That’s impressive.

Apple pricing

Written by

Horace Dediu:

The evidence I see is that Apple does not change pricing but rather stakes out a specific price point as resonating with consumers given their positioning. They then doggedly stick to it. Competitors tend to exploit open price points or try to position with specs on the same spots Apple occupies.

Apple doesn’t do anything based on what its competition does, including price. Apple’s products are priced fairly and at what consumers can afford, and are willing to pay. The proof is the 37 million iPhones, 15million iPads, 15 million iPods, and 5 million Macs the company sold last quarter.