Chip-card checkout nightmares

Chip-card checkout nightmares? WSJ’s Joanna Stern explains the transition to the new EMV chip cards for credit and debit, and why your smartphone is the real answer to all your payment problems.

It seems amazing that the U.S. is having such a tough time with this while the rest of the world has been using it for a while now.

OpenTV settles patent dispute with Apple

Kudelski said in a statement that the deal includes a “comprehensive patent license agreement” with Apple and that all pending patent litigation between the two companies would be dropped. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Good.

Samsung mocks Apple for removing headphone jack

Okay, two things: First, Apple hasn’t removed the headphone jack, those are only rumors. Second, I’m saving this video for later because Samsung is pretty quick to copy everything Apple does.

P.S. Pay your debt to Apple, Samsung, you thieving bastards.

Instagram Stories takes cue from Snapchat

Today, we’re introducing Instagram Stories, a new feature that lets you share all the moments of your day, not just the ones you want to keep on your profile. As you share multiple photos and videos, they appear together in a slideshow format: your story.

They disappear after 24 hours.

The history of the guitar Fuzz tone

In fact, the story about how the original “fuzz tone” was born takes a number of unusual twists that are pretty amazing for such a ubiquitous sound.

It is amazing how some of these things were created.

Apple updates iOS 10 with more than 100 new emojis

More than one hundred new and redesigned emoji characters will be available to iPhone and iPad users this Fall with iOS 10. This exciting update brings more gender options to existing characters, including new female athletes and professionals, adds beautiful redesigns of popular emoji, a new rainbow flag and more family options.

Apple is working closely with the Unicode Consortium to ensure that popular emoji characters reflect the diversity of people everywhere.

Wonderful.

macOS Sierra beta 4 available

In addition to releasing iOS 10, tvOS, and watchOS beta 4, Apple has also released macOS Sierra beta 4 today. You can download it via the automatic download mechanism if you have Sierra installed. You can also download it from Apple’s developer portal if you are a registered developer.

Kagi shuts down

It is with sadness that we announce Kagi has ceased operations as of July 31st, 2016.

Wow, I remember using Kagi to purchase shareware for many years.

Judge voids $625.6 million verdict against Apple

A federal judge has thrown out a verdict requiring Apple Inc (AAPL.O) to pay VirnetX Holding Corp (VHC.A) $625.6 million for infringing four patents relating to Internet security technology, causing VirnetX’s share price to plunge.

VirnetX said they are preparing for a retrial.

NASA’s stargazing tips for summer skywatching

Summer nights feature dazzling array of stars stretched across the sky, as the arch of the Milky Way stretches up from the south and fills the northern skies. Classic constellations and asterisms like Scorpius, Cygnus, Cassiopeia, the Coma Cluster, Sagittarius and its Teapot, and the Summer Triangle mark the skies with their distinctive patterns catching curious eyes.

I’m becoming more interested in this all the time.

Using RGB in CSS

RGB stands for “red, green. blue”. Like hexadecimal, RGB color is an additive system. Values of 0 for each component will produce a black color, while maximum values for each component will produce white. Modifying the values for each component will change the color; while easier to read than hexadecimal, RGB is not as instinctive as a system like HSL.

Apple, every second

This is very cool. How much Apple is spending and making on various products every second. I don’t know how accurate it is, but it’s still fascinating.

Best telescopes for the money

Space.com’s Dave Brody takes a look at telescopes in a number of categories. I’m finding space more interesting all the time, so I decided to have a look around at telescopes and share my findings. I’m still not sure what’s best, but I’ll continue to look.

Google implements HSTS

To further protect users, we’ve taken another step to strengthen how we use encryption for data in transit by implementing HTTP Strict Transport Security—HSTS for short—on the www.google.com domain. HSTS prevents people from accidentally navigating to HTTP URLs by automatically converting insecure HTTP URLs into secure HTTPS URLs.

An iOS only environment

Some great things from Ben Brooks in here. I especially liked this part when he talked about picking up your iPad:

This took some training, but now I am very accustomed to reading with my iPad in my hands, portrait orientation, and my feet kicked up on my desk. At first this didn’t feel like I was taking my work seriously, but then I realized just how much more attention I was paying to the document at hand.

I’m going to have to think about this a bit more, or at least how I use it, but I think he’s right.

Tesla considers two theories for autopilot crash

Tesla is considering whether the radar and camera input for the vehicle’s automatic emergency braking system failed to detect the truck trailer or the automatic braking system’s radar may have detected the trailer but discounted this input as part of a design to “tune out” structures such as bridges to avoid triggering false braking, the source said.

CSS reflections

This article is going to explore the options we have today for creating the reflection, illustrate the “almost” solutions, how cross-browser issues cause pain and, finally, discuss my thoughts on what should be done.

“Figure out what your goal is and stop worrying about looking smart”

The point is this: if you start by counting and measuring, you will likely count and measure what’s easiest – and that might be the wrong thing. “Figure out what your goal is and stop worrying about looking smart. That’s my best piece of advice ,” Hall asserts. “Most bad decisions are somehow grounded in insecurity about looking smart. That makes people dumb.”

A great interview with Erika Hall, the co-founder of Mule Design.

Apple says Supreme Court should rule against Samsung

In its legal brief, Apple said Samsung has introduced “no evidence” that design patent damages should be decided on anything less than the value of an entire smartphone. Apple said there was no need for the Supreme Court to send the case back to a lower court for further proceedings.

Samsung are thieves and should pay what they owe.

Don’t play Pokemon Go on the railroad tracks

This one might seem obvious, but…. Bulgarian state railway company BDZ is urging players of Pokemon GO to keep off the railway tracks.

You know what—if you’re that stupid, go ahead and play on the railroad tracks, it’ll be fine.

Microsoft to cut more jobs

Microsoft Corp said it would cut about 2,850 more jobs over the next 12 months, taking its total planned job cuts to up to 4,700, or about 4 percent of its workforce.

I hate seeing people lose their jobs.

Challenges of getting a product made in the U.S.A.

It was craftsmanship rather than the bottom line that motivated Brian Holmes when he decided in 2010 to start a business and went looking for a manufacturer. He and his wife, Kari, started Pad & Quill, a company based in Minneapolis that makes high-end cases and other products for the iPhone and other Apple products.

I’ve raved about Pad & Quill on this site many times. It’s great seeing them get recognized for their commitment to quality.