It is amazing that pilots from all over the world speak English when communicating with air traffic control. It makes sense, of course, there has to be a universal language so everyone understands the instructions.

[Via Coudal]

For 2016, Charvel is offering a limited run of the Guthrie Govan Signature model that shares many of the unique features of his original model, but in a handsome Britannica Red finish trimmed with a black burst.

This is a long way out of my price range, but I love Charvel guitars. I’ll definitely have one someday.

Speaking of Om Malik, he had this to say about Apple and Netflix:

Apple—if it really wants to get into content and wants to make a strong statement to the Hollywood establishment that has stymied its television efforts so far—should make a big, bold bet. It should use its massive stock market capitalization and cash hoard to buy Netflix. Apple is currently valued at $584 billion and it can afford Netflix, which is valued at around $42 billion.

Om Malik:

“If you want to do something for the shareholders make interesting damn MacBooks, which people can buy. You want to do something nice? Make a better phone, which people want to keep buying. Nobody cares if you do Planet of the Apps.”

Om had strong words for Apple, its fascination with Hollywood, and its executives.

One of Apple’s largest component suppliers, Samsung Electronics, is the subject of a new investigative report regarding its withholding of critical information about the toxic chemicals its employees were exposed to while working in the company’s factories.

Wow Samsung.

Here’s a priceless film from 1937 that shows Duke Ellington in the studio recording, and the process of making a vinyl record release afterwards. There’s a lot to notice in the video that will make you appreciate the recording process from back then.

This is absolutely fascinating. Certainly a truer sound than what we get today.

Nearly a dozen executives at companies from Sony Corp (6758.T) to Angry Birds-creator Rovio said Pokemon Go would be a tough act to follow, and some even said a challenge would not be worth it. Gamers should not expect the quick release of a rival app anytime soon, some said.

I think this is a good thing. We’re not looking for clones, we’re looking for innovation in markets, including gaming. Instead of trying to figure out a way to clone a successful product, figure out how to make one yourself.

Ben Bajarin on binge watching:

TV networks are, in my opinion and analysis, not well positioned for this shift given their business model. Due to their advertising focus, they are incentivized to release content over long periods of time due to how they structure ad deals. Netflix, HBO, and Amazon are not subsidizing these shows by ads but by my consumer dollars, so I’m paying for these stories as a service.

I don’t mind paying for services like Netflix because I can watch as much as I want, whenever I want. The ad focused model has to change at some point, whether the networks want it or not. I would have thought the DVR would have done more to change it already—I don’t watch anything live anymore, just so I can skip commercials.

An interesting post from the founder of Ruby on Rails, David Heinemeier Hansson.

In addition to release a new beta update for iOS 10 this morning, Apple issued updates for tvOS, watchOS, and macOS as well. All of the updates are for developers, and should be used with caution on a secondary device. The updates can all be downloaded from the device, if you have a previous beta installed, or from your developer account.

Apple released iOS Beta 5 to developers this morning. If you have iOS Beta installed, you can download the update by going to Settings > General > Software Update.

It should go without saying, but you should only install betas on a secondary device. Although Apple betas are really good, like most betas, things may not work as expected.

Apple engineer Ivan Krstić spoke on far more than Apple’s new bug bounty program at the Black Hat security conference, and delved into the inner workings of iOS hardware and software security features both in iOS 9 and the forthcoming iOS 10.

Security is such an important issue these days. It’s a great move for Apple to speak publicly about what they are doing to make its products secure.

Apple, in emailed comments, said it did not oblige Russian resellers to fix prices for its products.

“Resellers set their own prices for the Apple products they sell in Russia and around the world,” the company’s press office said.

It just doesn’t make any sense that Apple would be involved in price fixing.

Check Point today disclosed details about a set of four vulnerabilities affecting 900 million Android smartphones and tablets that use Qualcomm chipsets. The Check Point mobile threat research team, which calls the set of vulnerabilities QuadRooter, presented its findings in a session at DEF CON 24 in Las Vegas.

Be safe Android people. There is a safer way.

I just opened up sponsorships for September on the site, at a lower price for a limited time. If you want to get your product in front of The Loop readers, get in touch.

Looks like The Muppet’s character, Beaker.

The short story – For the past year and a half I’ve collected wi-fi names that caught my attention all around Berlin. Click on the green markers on the map to read the wi-fi names exactly where I found them, along with my unrequested comments/interpretation/research on their meanings.

Some of these are funny—the comments certainly make a big difference in understand the names.

AT&T has settled with the FCC over a “cramming” investigation that found the carrier allowed scammers to place unauthorized charges onto customer bills, and collected a fee from the sham companies involved in the scheme.

And carriers wonder why we don’t trust them.

After a few weeks of exploration, the studio and I settled on a composition and I was tasked with painting the finished poster. I used the Procreate app on my iPad Pro to do the preliminary sketches and for blocking the basic colors of the poster. I then exported these layers into Adobe Photoshop and began detailing the artwork at a much higher resolution.

This is really impressive. The iPad Pro can be used for many things from creative endeavors to daily work—as technology continues to move forward, the possibilities are almost endless.

Clickbait headlines are exactly why I support independent writers instead of organizations that lower themselves to using such tactics. Usually, clickbait offers nothing more than a tantalizing headline—nothing to backup the reason you clicked on it in the first place. It’s a frustrating practice, but when we become aware of what’s going on, we can support the people, and sites, that treat us, the readers, with respect.

Merger mania is all the rage in tech, where it’s beginning to feel like the late 1990s and early 2000 bust era all over again. But this time there’s a notable difference that speaks to the fundamental value being created in this second dot-com boom. Companies are being scooped up for billions instead of being shuttered.

It’s true, and stunning, when you consider how much companies are selling for these days.

Hulu is moving to an all-subscription model, eliminating the ad-supported service that has let users watch thousands of TV episodes in the nine years since it first launched.

I tried Hulu in the past and just didn’t find it compelling. Like many, I’m waiting to see what Apple can pull together.

Updated every Friday, Release Radar gives you up to two hours of the newest drops from the artists you follow and listen to the most, sprinkled in with some new discoveries based on your recent listening habits. Release Radar is the perfect complement to New Music Friday, which connects you with hot new artists you may not know about yet. You’ll soon find your personalized Release Radar playlist in the New Releases for You section within Discover on mobile and desktop.

Good idea—focus on your favorite artist’s new music instead of just a genre.

Japan’s Fair Trade Commission has raided the offices of Amazon.com Inc’s local unit on suspicion of pressuring retailers to offer products at lower prices than on rival sites, the Nikkei business daily said on Monday.

Isn’t this what Amazon does in every country it operates, including the U.S.?

The fervent Ronnie James Dio fans who gathered to watch a group of the late singer’s former bandmates close out Germany’s mega-sized heavy-metal festival Wacken Open Air Saturday night got a big surprise: a theatrical performance by Dio in hologram form.

I am a huge Dio fan, but I find this a bit creepy.

This seems to indicate that despite all the negative rhetoric often seen written in forums and on social media about tuning software it seems 9 in 10 preferred a tuned vocal in this case.

I don’t think listeners mind pitch corrected vocals, I think they mind overuse of pitch correction.

Now that is a travel voucher.

Have you had to write a rent check lately? Or maybe fax some important documents? Despite things like Venmo and email that normal people use every day, these ancient bits of tech and culture just keep hanging on. There’s clearly better technology, it’s just that not everyone is using it.

I laughed a little reading this.

If the first rule of Pokémon Go is “Gotta catch ‘em all,” the second rule is you are going to need to bring an extra battery to do so.

One game driving the sales of another accessory—good for them.

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band marked the Beatles’ cultural apex, effectively re-tuning the zeitgeist of Western society in 1967’s Summer of Love, but its predecessor – Revolver, released August 5th, 1966 – was the band’s biggest musical watershed. Never had the Beatles emerged with such a brace of high-quality songs.

Like many, Revolver is one of my favorites.