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.

iOS 10’s new Bedtime feature

This is a feature I’m really looking forward to using. I haven’t slept well in many years, so it will be interesting to me to try to get on a schedule and track my patterns. Using the fitness rings and other health features in Apple Watch and iPhone have worked really good for me, so I’m confident this will help me too.

SampleTank 2 for iOS

With SampleTank for iOS, you now have the power of desktop virtual instruments — without compromise — with a massive number of over 1,900 high-quality instruments and the most advanced sound and groove workstation for the mobile platform.

IK Multimedia makes some great stuff for musicians on iOS.

Tesla unveils new Model S

Tesla Motors Inc. is adding versions of its Model S sedan and Model X sport utility vehicle with a more powerful battery pack that the company said makes the Model S the world’s quickest production car and gives it range of 315 miles on a single charge.

Tesla said it can go from a standstill to 60 miles per hour in 2.5 seconds.

New York Times reporters hacked

Hackers thought to be working for Russian intelligence have carried out a series of cyber breaches targeting reporters at the New York Times and other US news organizations, according to US officials briefed on the matter.

I wonder what they were looking for at media organizations.

Asking questions in design

Janice Gervais wrote a great article about asking the right questions of your client, and understanding why it’s important to have a clear picture.

Pinterest acquires Instapaper

For you, the Instapaper end user and customer, nothing changes. The Instapaper team will be moving from betaworks in New York City to Pinterest’s headquarters in San Francisco, and we’ll continue to make Instapaper a great place to save and read articles.

I used to be a huge Instapaper user.

The top TV ads of the Olympics

To get some insights into these questions, Google evaluated the top 12 brands totaling over 3.5 billion impressions that aired ads during the NBC broadcasts of the event.

Lyft: We’re not seeking a buyer

“Lyft is not seeking a buyer,” Zimmer told Business Insider.

“Getting approached and then having it characterized as us wanting to sell the business and failing to do so is a large mischaracterization,” he said. “If the company is approached, it doesn’t mean the company is looking.”

Lyft President John Zimmer said he was approached to sell the company and the media said they had been unsuccessful in finding a buyer. If true, that’s a pretty big mistake from the media organizations.

Failure

Ben Brooks on failing:

This advice has been taken too far and confused the word ‘mistake’ with ‘failure’. A mistake is touching the hot stove and burning your hand. A failure is setting yourself on fire and dying when you touched the stove. One of those two you learn from, the other kills you.

I thought this was a really good article. I enjoyed it.