Here’s what’s happening: when customers buy our unlimited 4G LTE plan for their smartphones we include a fixed amount of LTE to be used for tethering (using the “Smartphone Mobile HotSpot” feature), at no extra cost, for the occasions when broadband may not be convenient or available. If customers hit that high-speed tethering limit, those tethering speeds slow down. If a customer needs more LTE tethering, they can add-on more. Simple.

However, these violators are going out of their way with all kinds of workarounds to steal more LTE tethered data.

Sounds fair to me.

Glenn Fleishman has a look at some of the early reviews, which don’t seem that good.

The Apple TV’s existing NFL Now channel was today revamped, changing the name to “NFL” and adding support for Game Pass subscriptions. Through the updated channel, NFL fans who have a Game Pass subscription can watch on-demand NFL games and live out-of-market preseason games on the Apple TV for the first time.

Lovely.

Apple and Cisco today announced a partnership to create a fast lane for iOS business users by optimizing Cisco networks for iOS devices and apps, integrating iPhone with Cisco enterprise environments and providing unique collaboration on iPhone and iPad.

“iOS is the world’s best mobile platform, and nearly every Fortune 500 and Global 500 company today has put iOS at the center of their mobile strategy,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “iPhone and iPad have become essential tools for the modern workforce and are changing the way work gets done. Together with Cisco, we believe we can give businesses the tools to maximize the potential of iOS and help employees become even more productive using the devices they already love.”

Apple is serious about the Enterprise market, or at least making sure enterprise customers have access to everything they need. Good move by Apple.

Introduced in the late 1960s, the AKG BX 20 reverb was a high-water mark for AKG’s esteemed engineers. An ingenious assembly of mechanical and electronic componentry, the BX 20 offered the glorious depth and color of spring reverb without any of the limitations.

This is so nice—listen to the audio samples on the page. Another great plug-in from Universal Audio.

Jim and Dan talk about self driving cars, the Apple Watch, cutting the cord, the iPad Pro, and more.

Brought to you by lynda (Visit the link to get free 10 day trial access to their 3,000+ courses) and Braintree (To learn more, and for your first $50,000 in transactions fee-free, go to braintreepayments.com/amplified).

AmpliTube MESA/Boogie is the most comprehensive collection of officially licensed MESA/Boogie virtual guitar amps and cabinets on the market. Now you can plug in and experience legendary tone wherever your computer can take you: You get everything from the violin-like sustain of the Mark series to the aggressive, huge crunch and searing gain of the Rectifier series.

IK Multimedia has done a great job in bringing some of world’s best amps to its application. I’m looking forward to trying this out.

Music Rising is a campaign that was launched to rescue the musical culture of the Central Gulf region of the United States from the destruction caused by the catastrophic hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 by replacing the musical instruments lost or destroyed in the deluge. Co-Founded by U2’s the Edge and legendary producer Bob Ezrin along with a host of music industry partners including MusiCares, Musician’s Friend, Gibson Musical Instruments and Guitar Center Music Foundation, the organization has gone to aid thousands of musicians, students and choir members.

Jay Z-backed music service Tidal — which carried a live stream of Lil Wayne’s Hurricane Katrina benefit show this weekend — cut the transmission during Drake’s performance and accused Apple of “interfering with artistry” by not allowing the set to be streamed, a charge which has been refuted.

Drakes own people denied the claim, yet Tidal went ahead with accusing Apple. Tidal says it has proof that Apple is behind it—show the proof or shut the fuck up.

There’s some fascinating data here from a survey iMore conducted in July.

Those settings, which are slated to arrive when Apple launches its iOS 9 operating system in September, will require all content that arrives on an iPhone (via apps, ads or otherwise) to use an encryption setting known as “https.” The setting ensures that third parties can’t read or track what users are doing on their phones.

In a blog post this week, Google told AdMob users to get ready for the new Apple setting. But if they’re not prepared, Google said, they can use a few lines of code to override it.

Go fuck yourself Google.

Jim and Merlin talk about beta software, bass players, and how to minimize stress when traveling.

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My daughter and her boyfriend, Ian, have had a rough month. Ian’s computer was stolen in Montreal a couple of weeks ago, and earlier today his camera gear was stolen. Nicole set up a GoFundMe page to help raise some money to buy new gear. I realize money is tight for everyone, but If you can help, I thank you.

Apple on Thursday sent out invitations for a special event to be held on September 9, 2015. The event will be held at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco at 10:00 am. […]

Now you can expand BIAS FX iPad with five of the most sought-after studio racks based on the LA2A Compressor, PSA-1 Preamp, Manley EQ, Echoplex and Dual Spring Reverb. The new studio racks can be integrated with BIAS Amp models, run into two different signal chains, and share and download on ToneCloud.

I really do like BIAS and use it all the time.

Drivers are steering clear of some new technology in cars, according to a survey released Tuesday, raising questions about whether car makers are moving too quickly to incorporate sophisticated technology.

This surprised me a lot when I first read it. Then I saw the numbers:

But the 2015 Drive Report from market research company JD Power found that 20 percent of new car owners had still not used approximately half of the technology features available in their vehicles after three months of purchase – the period after which drivers are less likely to adopt new features, researchers say.

Another way to say it is that 80 percent of drivers are using the technology. It makes sense that some tech systems in cars are not being used either because of the drivers age (older people may not like the technology) or because they are using a smartphone with similar technology. It seems the headline was written before the story in this case.

Logic Pro 10.2 gives you even more power to create electronic music with Alchemy, a next-generation synthesizer. Alchemy works hand in hand with all the beat-making and music-production features introduced in Logic Pro 10.1 to create all types of music, including EDM and Hip Hop.

Lots of big changes in the new version. I haven’t seen any of it in action yet though.

New data published by Wristly on Tuesday shows that 55% of people currently subscribed to Apple Music will purchase the service once their trial expires. However, the conversion rate could get even better for Apple.

“A 55% conversion rate would already be a big win for Apple, but if we additionally consider that a portion of the “undecided” will also convert to a paid subscription, then the total conversion rate from trial to purchase could rise as high as 65%-70% — which would be an astounding result!,” wrote Bernard Desarnauts, co-founder of Wristly.

The report also notes that 17% of people surveyed are not interested in streaming services at all, and 11% are satisfied with a competing product, like Spotify. A total of 71% of the people survey started a free trial of Apple Music.

Apple said earlier this month that Apple Music has 11 million trial members, which isn’t a bad number for a new service, but there is quite a bit of room for growth, given the amount of iOS devices out there.

Everyone posts “A week with [insert device here],” but Lee Peterson spent a week without the Apple Watch and missed it. I’ve become dependent on my watch now and wouldn’t want to go a week or a day without it.

Apple Inc’s China business experienced “strong growth” in July and August, Chief Executive Tim Cook told CNBC on Monday, seeking to assuage investor concerns over the company’s prospects in a market considered critical for its growth.

IPhone activations in China had accelerated over the past few weeks and the App Store in China had its best performance of the year over the past two weeks, Cook told CNBC in an emailed response to questions about Apple’s business in China.

Considering everything that’s been happening in the stock market, it was important that Cook did this. Apple has consistently bucked the trend in selling its products and this appears to be no different.

Thanks to MiStand+ for sponsoring The Loop this week. MiStand+ your tablet, any angle. Innovative, multi-axis adjustable stand for use with any tablet.

The CSS clip-path property is one of the most underused and yet most interesting properties in CSS. It can be used in conjunction with CSS Shapes to create interesting layouts, and can be taken to the extreme to create some incredibly impressive layouts and animations like the Species in Pieces project.

Okay, now you’ve gone too far South Korea.

MiStand+ your tablet, any angle. Innovative, multi-axis adjustable stand for use with any tablet.

Benedict Evans:

None of these are killer apps or ‘use cases’. All of them could be done with your phone. They’re just better with a watch.

This really sums up how I feel about the watch’s UI.

Six additional stainless steel links for wrists that exceed 205mm.

I can say from experience that it’s very easy to add or remove links to the Link Bracelet.

Apple has introduced a new feature for iCloud on the web that allows you to restore deleted items. Not only can you recover files that you’ve deleted, but also restore contacts, calendars, and reminders. This new feature also shows you how long it will be until those items are permanently deleted if you choose not to restore them.

Great feature.

For example, even with Cortana and searching the Web from the Start menu disabled, opening Start and typing will send a request to www.bing.com to request a file called threshold.appcache which appears to contain some Cortana information, even though Cortana is disabled. The request for this file appears to contain a random machine ID that persists across reboots.

As the article notes, it appears to be harmless traffic, but it still shouldn’t happen.

Realmac Software’s Daniel Counsell revisits a topic that’s been discussed for years, but still not addressed by Apple: Paid upgrades in the Mac App Store.

Thanks to Pad & Quill for sponsoring The Loop this week. I own a number of their products and they are all top quality.

From Kari (Mrs PQ):

Pad & Quill is passionate about designing and crafting unique leather bags, accessories and cases for Apple products. We employ the best leathers, canvas and various materials to make products that are beautiful, functional, durable and ageless. Our craftsmen exemplify the heart and soul of our company and we celebrate their skill by inviting each artisan to sign each Leather Bag or Apple Watch Bands as it is completed for you, our customer.