I attended Apple’s shareholder meeting in the company’s Cupertino, Calif. headquarters this morning as a member of the media. Apple CEO Tim Cook kicked off the meeting and received a standing ovation before giving a few brief remarks, including a look at next year’s meeting. […]
Megadeth’s David Ellefson opening a coffee shop
April 7-9, Ellefson Coffee Co., the boutique Coffee brand of Grammy-Winning Megadeth bassist David Ellefson will hold a GRAND OPENING for its first brick and mortar ELLEFSON COFFEE CO shop in David’s hometown of Jackson, MN. In addition to Ellefson himself, who will be in attendance, the event will be co-hosted by special guest comedian, and THAT METAL SHOW co-host, Don Jamieson.
I have to order some of this coffee. The blend names are amazing.
Microsoft unveils Xbox Game Pass gaming subscription
Today, we’re continuing our commitment to give you more options to diversify and expand your library of games with Xbox Game Pass, a new gaming subscription service coming later this spring. Xbox Game Pass gives you unlimited access to over 100 Xbox One and backward compatible Xbox 360 games – all for $9.99 per month.
I’m betting this will be popular.
Shopping for St. Patrick’s Day
There are some great things for the entire family and friends too. Scroll to the bottom to find a variety of categories, which may make it easier to narrow in on what you’re looking for.
Mozilla buys Pocket
Mozilla has acquired Pocket, a kind of DVR for the internet, for an undisclosed sum. The nine-year-old company, which makes tools for saving articles and videos to view them later, is Mozilla’s first acquisition. It represents a homecoming of sorts for Pocket, which began life as a Firefox extension before eventually expanding its team and building a suite of apps for every major platform. Pocket has been Firefox’s default read-it-later service since 2015.
SpaceX to fly tourists around the moon next year
The dark side of the moon. I think I’ll wait a bit on this trip.
Macintosh, Midi, and Music circa 1988
You don’t have to be a music fan to enjoy this great video from 1988. See how many people you recognize in the video.
My other favorite fictional detective
Earlier this week I posted about Jeremy Brett being my favorite Sherlock Holmes. I received a lot of great feedback from that, so I thought I’d tell you my other favorite fictional detective, Poirot.
David Suchet is absolutely spectacular in his depiction of Agatha Christie’s famous detective. I have watched these shows over and over again, enjoying them each time.
Apple addresses unexpected iPhone 6, 6s shutdowns with iOS 10.2.1
For a while now there have been reports of some older iPhone models, namely iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s, shutting down unexpectedly. Apple introduced some diagnostics into iOS 10.2 back in December to try and determine what was happening and, with iOS 10.2.1, they’ve rolled out a fix.
Glad to see they figured out what was going on.
Post producing an Oscar nominated short film on Final Cut Pro
In the busy week in the run up to the awards, the director of Timecode, Juanjo Giménez, very kindly answered our questions about the post production process.
What’s amazing to me is that this was his first project using Final Cut Pro.
Google sues Uber over self-driving trade secrets theft
Alphabet’s Waymo self-driving car unit sued Uber Technologies and its autonomous trucking subsidiary Otto in federal court on Thursday over allegations of theft of its confidential sensor technology.
Oh boy.
ColorWare’s colored AirPods
I usually don’t go for these types of colored Apple products, but damn I’d love to have a set of purple AirPods.
Fitbit paid just $23 million for Pebble
The price tag was just $23 million, according to figures disclosed Wednesday as part of Fitbit’s quarterly earnings report. Fitbit also spent $15 million on the assets of Vector Watch, another smartwatch company.
I’m not sure that Fitbit can do any more with Pebble than what Pebble did.
81 year old’s amazing guitar playing
Damn, I hope to still be walking at 81. Much respect.
Amazon gives everyone a discount on purchases today
Celebrating its 86.27 score in the Harris Corporate Reputation Poll, Amazon is giving everyone a discount of $8.62 on orders of $50 or more today only. Hey, celebrate whatever you want if I can save money.
Field Notes Utility Edition
“Utility” features your choice of two often-requested but rarely-available body pages: Engineer Graph or Ledger. Engineer Graph features an 1/8-inch grid with bolder lines each half-inch. It awaits your schematics, assembly drawings, geometry homework, or dungeon maps. The Ledger version, of course, is ultra-handy for mileage logs, parts lists, to-do lists, or any sort of handwritten accounting.
I’ve used these notebooks for years for all of my interviews and notes while on the road. I’d highly recommend them.
Verizon to offer 5G to select customers
New 5G networks are expected to provide speeds at least 10 times and up to maybe 100 times faster than today’s 4G networks, with the potential to connect at least 100 billion devices with download speeds that can reach 10 gigabits per second.
Those are impressive speeds.
Apple’s news campus, “Apple Park” will open in April
Apple on Wednesday said its new 175-acre campus will open to employees in April. The campus, dubbed “Apple Park” by the company, will take six months to fully occupy with the 12,000 employees that will work there. […]
My favorite Sherlock Holmes
A lot of great actors have played Sherlock Holmes over the years, but none did as great a job as Jeremy Brett. There is no doubt in my mind that he is the greatest Sherlock Holmes of all.
Toontrack releases Alt-Rock drums
Steve Albini’s imprint on the sound of rock is undeniable. Having worked on seminal albums by the Pixies, PJ Harvey and, perhaps most notably, Nirvana’s milestone record “In Utero,” his sonic DNA is in the fabric of productions that have helped create a new branch in rock history. This collection of drums captures the incomparable sonic fingerprint of not only Steve Albini but also the ambience of his very own studio, which he personally built and designed. Welcome to Electrical Audio in Chicago, IL, and a truly unique collection of drums.
I love Toontrack’s drum packs and use them all the time when I’m writing songs.
UPS tests drone deliveries
In Monday’s test, a drone launched from the roof of a UPS vehicle flew autonomously toward its destination, dropped a package and then returned to the vehicle as the driver continued on a delivery route.
This is clearly coming.
Amazon’s Alexa is intriguing
I’ve watched all the hubbub around Alexa since it first came out, but I never pulled the trigger and picked one up for myself. I know people that own them and they have nothing but praise for the device. It’s an intriguing proposition, but I’m still not sure if it’s something I’d use everyday or if it would be more of a novelty item.
Amazon is making a big push into the home market with Alexa, partnering with other manufacturers, which is a really smart move. The more I look at Alexa, the more I want to try it out, but I’ll still on the fence.
A 3km beer pipeline
I need a pipeline of Heineken to my house. Still, this is pretty amazing.
Snark guitar tuner
I’ve used a lot of tuners over the years, but this is one of my favorites. I have one of these that I use with my electric and acoustic guitars.
Billboard’s iPhone 7 Plus cover photo
The latest issue of Billboard features Camila Cabello on the cover in a stunning photo shot outside a rental home in Beverly Hills — with an iPhone 7 Plus using the new Portrait mode.
That is really remarkable. I love using Portrait Mode on my iPhone 7 Plus—even though I’m not a great photographer, Apple helps give my photos depth and polish that I wouldn’t be able to achieve otherwise.
AT&T expands access to unlimited plan
AT&T Inc said on Thursday it would make its unlimited data plan available to all wireless customers who pay a monthly bill, days after rival Verizon Communications Inc announced an unlimited option.
I really dislike the fact that we have to wait for a price war in order to get access to something like an unlimited plan. I don’t trust any wireless company.
Cord cutting advice using the Apple TV
This is a good article by Abdel Ibrahim that takes you through some apps and hardware you’ll need if you want to watch TV using the Apple TV. I still wish it was easier than what it is.
Apple brings WWDC back to San Jose in 2017
Apple on Thursday will announce that it’s bringing its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) back to San Jose, Calif. This will be the first time WWDC will be in San Jose since 2002— the conference moved to San Francisco in 2003. I spoke to Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing about the move.
BlackBerry hits 0.0% market share
BlackBerry has at last fallen to a rounded 0.0% share among smartphone operating systems, including iOS, Android, and Windows 10 Mobile, following an over seven year decline from its peak market share of approximately 20% in 2009, according to the latest quarterly data from research firm Gartner.
I remember the BlackBerry co-CEOs saying they weren’t worried at all about the release of the iPhone. Idiots.
Twitter battle: Nickelback vs. Arnold Schwarzenegger
Couldn’t resist. Good shots on both sides.