iPhone, Apple Watch combination charging dock

Matching the low-profile floating design from our Apple Watch Dock, iPhone + Apple Watch Dock adds functionality with a place for your iPhone. A combo dock ensures less clutter in a beautiful package.

This looks really nice.

Ireland joins Apple in fight over EU tax decision

Ireland’s cabinet agreed on Friday to join Apple in appealing against a multi-billion-euro back tax demand that the European Commission has imposed on the iPhone maker, despite misgivings among independents who back the fragile coalition.

The EU clearly overstepped here.

NFL puts tracking sensors inside footballs

The sensors, which rest just under the ball’s laces, can capture information like velocity, acceleration and distance, and send that info back to computer monitors in just half a second. The League has been using the sensors during preseason games this summer, but hasn’t yet decided if the sensors will be used in the regular season.

It is amazing how much data leagues and teams can get.

A CSS smiley face with dynamic googly eyes

In the previous article I demonstrated how to make an element rotate to follow the position of a cursor or a touch on the screen. At the time, I explained that the technique was not necessarily limited to a single element: in this article, I’ll show how to apply the code to two elements simultaneously, in the form of eyes that follow the mouse / touch position.

Who doesn’t love googly eyes.

Winning

He attached a tiny remote controlled tugboat to his Kayak to tow him around.

This is awesome.

More App Store changes coming September 7

We love helping customers discover innovative, useful, and exciting apps on the App Store. With more than 2 million apps available and around 100,000 new and updated apps submitted each week, there’s something for everyone. To make it easier for customers to find great apps that fit their needs, we’re implementing two suggestions from the developer community starting September 7, 2016.

Phil Schiller continues to make improvements.

Steve Jobs was working on a TV set

Instead, Jobs was going to focus his energy on one very specific, secret project: Apple’s reinvention of TV — including the TV set itself.

Walt Mossberg, Recode’s editor at large and an executive editor at the Verge, says Jobs called him on the night he announced he was formally handing over control of his company to Tim Cook, and told him about his TV ambitions.

“I think we figured out a way to do it, and it’s going to be fantastic,” Jobs told Mossberg, and invited him to see what he was working on.

Steve said that he had “cracked it” to his biographer. I wonder how much he shared with Apple.

Our (un)reasonable expectations of Apple

Apple is in a very unique position in the tech industry in that expectations of the company are much higher than those of its competitors. Let’s be honest, when was the last time you heard someone talk about Dell or HP product releases with the exuberance that we talk about Apple. That also puts Apple in a tough position of meeting, what are sometimes, inflated expectations from Wall St. and consumers. […]

Google to open rider-sharing service in San Francisco

Alphabet Inc’s Google unit plans to open its ride-sharing program to Waze app users in San Francisco this fall, pitting itself against Uber Technologies Inc, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The Waze app is extremely popular in the Bay Area, so I can see this Google ride-sharing service doing very well.

Úll conference 2016

Úll is an incredible conference that I attended for three straight years. The presenters are always great and it would be hard for me to say that there is a better organized conference anywhere in the world.

The best places to buy and sell a used iPhone

With a new iPhone arriving soon, many people will look to sell their old iPhone for some quick cash. But which places offer the best return and the smoothest process? To find out, Tom’s Guide tested seven services that buy and sell used iPhones.

I’m sure a lot of people will take advantage of this.

The best customer service reply ever

The Web site said his flight was delayed for 47 years, so he sarcastically asked customer service what he should do to pass the time. The answer is priceless.

Apple, Australian banks battle over Apple Pay

Apple in a recent filing with Australia’s antitrust watchdog slammed a request from the country’s three top banks for collective negotiations over third-party access to Apple Pay NFC technology, saying a threatened boycott would not only harm consumers, but hinder mobile wallet adoption and innovation.

Apple sued over unresponsive iPhone 6 screens

According to a proposed nationwide class-action lawsuit filed on Saturday, Apple has long been aware of the defect, which often surfaces after a flickering gray bar appears atop the touchscreens, but has refused to fix it.

I had a number of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus devices and never saw this issue, but I have read the reports of the problem last week. I’m not sure why Apple wouldn’t fix it if there was a hardware flaw, but I guess we’ll find out in the lawsuit.

EU rules against Apple in Ireland’s tax dispute

Apple will on Tuesday be hit with Europe’s largest tax penalty after Brussels ruled that the company received illegal state aid from Ireland.

The company will have to pay billions of euro in back taxes to Dublin as the European Commission moves to redraw the boundaries on aggressive tax avoidance by the world’s biggest corporations.

It’s important to note that Apple has paid every penny it owed in taxes. Based on Tim Cook’s previous comments, an appeal to this decision is certain.

Apple sends out invite for September 7 iPhone event

Apple on Monday send out an invitation for a special event to be held on September 7 at 10:00 am. This year’s event will be held at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, California. I will be at the event and will bring you all the news as it happens. […]

Bruce Lee’s philosophy of learning

Shared by his daughter, Shannon Lee:

Learning is discovery, the discovery of the cause of our ignorance. However, the best way of learning is not the computation of information. Learning is discovering, uncovering what is there in us.

iOS 10 beta 8, tvOS 10 beta 7 released

Apple is releasing beta updates fast and furious these days, which is very good. If you have the previous beta installed you can go to General > Settings > Software Update and install it from there.

Lady Gaga album may be first exclusivity loss for Apple

Interscope Records, which was co-founded by current Apple Music executive Jimmy Iovine in 1989, is one of the many labels owned by Universal Media Group. Apple’s rumored exclusivity loss of Lady Gaga’s new album appears to be the first ripple generated by UMG’s CEO Lucian Grainge decreeing earlier in the week that the company would no longer support exclusive music streaming on any service.

I’ll be honest with you, I’ll be glad if the exclusives stop. I want Apple to build a service that is second to none. Build an Apple app the way we know they can. Building a service on exclusives is a numbers game to boost subscriptions—as soon as the exclusive is over people will go to the service that’s the best. Apple is arguably not that service for many people right now. They need to change that quickly.

U Kentucky is suing its own student newspaper

Earlier this month, the university announced it would sue the Kernel over requests for documents involving the investigation of James Harwood, an associate professor of entomology accused of sexual assault and harassment in an investigation spanning seven months, after three years’ worth of allegations, according to the Kernel.

Respect to the student newspaper.

Spotify penalizing musicians with Apple Music exclusives

Spotify has been retaliating against musicians who introduce new material exclusively on rival Apple Music by making their songs harder to find, according to people familiar with the strategy. Artists who have given Apple exclusive access to new music have been told they won’t be able to get their tracks on featured playlists once the songs become available on Spotify, said the people, who declined to be identified discussing the steps. Those artists have also found their songs buried in the search rankings of Spotify, the world’s largest music-streaming service, the people said. Spotify said it doesn’t alter search rankings.

I hate that musicians are the ones caught in the middle of this Apple, Spotify fight, but you had to see something was going to happen. Apple is targeting Spotify, and they are fighting back.

Pad and Quill Back to Work Giveaway. $700 value!

Thanks to Pad and Quill for sponsoring The Loop’s RSS feed this week.

Pad and Quill has partnered with The Loop to offer you a chance to win a $700 Back to Work giveaway. One winner will receive a Luxury Briefcase, Leather Ipad pro case, Woodline case for the Iphone, and a Classic leather band for the Apple Watch.” Sign up for your chance to win!

The security content of iOS 9.3.5

If you like to know exactly what Apple did to improve security in the latest update, you can read this update on the company’s Web site.

Apple announces Apple Music Festival musical lineup

Alicia Keys, Bastille, Britney Spears, Calvin Harris, Chance the Rapper, Elton John, Michael Bublé, OneRepublic, Robbie Williams and The 1975.

Those are the headliners for the festival. Elton John!

Important to note that in order to watch the festival, you will need to sign-up for Apple Music. That wasn’t a requirement in the past. Seems like just another way to boost subscriptions, but it’s a numbers game these days.