Nerdist:

Hold on to your butts and roll for initiative, because this might be the greatest game we’ve ever played. Together with our sister site, Geek & Sundry, we invited the one and only Vin Diesel to come play Dungeons & Dragons with us… and not only did he accept, he may have become our new best friend.

D&D isn’t cool. It’s fun, and I played a lot in high school and college, but it’s not cool. But, if one of your players is Vin Diesel, a giant buff nerd in his own right, D&D gets very cool and even more fun. BTW, the DM in that video is really good. There’s even a 30 minute version of this on Youtube.

I’m not a Star Wars nerd by any stretch but this trailer is some kind of epic.

Alf Watt:

I worked on the Mac OS Wi-Fi client user experience at Apple from 2007–2012, implementing a number of features to help users identify when a Wi-Fi connection was not working as expected, as well as the utilities built into the OS to help debug problems when they occurred. When I left Apple, just after my five year anniversary, I owned the Wi-Fi Utility and Network Utility apps, along with some assorted supporting components deep inside the OS.

During my last few years I spent a lot of time working closely with AppleCare on customer Wi-Fi and networking issues: poring over user trouble reports, sitting down at call centers and listening in on calls, and generally doing everything I could to improve the user experience of Wi-Fi for Apple users. I failed.

Ignoring the bad copyediting and his possible behind the scenes motives for writing this, Watt’s piece is a pretty damning indictment of at least one seemingly dysfunctional area inside Apple. I will say that, as soon as I heard about WiFi Assist, I thought it was a bad idea from a customer point of view. I didn’t realize that it might have been a bad idea inside Apple, too.

BobRoss.com:

Bob Ross introduces us to his “Almighty” assortment of tools and colors, tells us that anyone can paint, and creates a landscape of a forest path just after a rain shower.

This guy was utterly hypnotic. When I was a kid, I could never pass up watching an episode even though I couldn’t paint and had zero interest in painting. Watching and listening to Ross was just incredibly soothing.

Alphr:

Last week, Tesla rolled out new autonomous functions to the Model S, and drivers are already reporting some serious issues. There are already several cases of Tesla’s Autopilot software losing the plot, with cars veering off the road and breaking the speed limit.

But Tesla’s Autopilot isn’t totally at fault. Before launch, Tesla claimed that the Model S’ new Autosteer functions were designed solely for motorways – but that hasn’t stopped some drivers using it elsewhere.

I predict that, within a year, we’ll hear about an accident involving this feature where it will turn out that the driver was completely ignoring what the car was doing. Of course, he’ll blame Tesla and sue.

TechInsider:

After a number of short teasers, Netflix has finally revealed the first full trailer for its next Marvel series, “Jessica Jones,” and it’s going to be really dark.

The series follows titular character Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), a former superhero who is grappling with PTSD after being controlled by a mysterious man Zebediah Killgrave (David Tennant).

Not being versed in the various iterations of Marvel’s super heroes, I’m not familiar with this character so I watched the trailer with no notion of who Jessica Jones is. That being said, this show looks interesting with lots of dark elements. I’m looking forward to watching it in November.

The Wall Street Journal:

In the age of wireless speakers and Bluetooth streaming, vacuum-tube amplifiers may seem antiquated, but you don’t have to be an audio nerd to appreciate their appeal. Designed to power traditional speakers and/or headphones, these devices are throwbacks, to be sure. Still, when their steampunk-esque glass tubes glow a soothing orange, it’s evident something magical is happening here—and your favorite tunes will never sound the same.

The science behind how these radiant glass tubes produce better sound is difficult to grasp. Suffice to say, just as nothing quite matches the ambience created by an incandescent bulb dimmed low, nothing quite sounds like a good tube amp. Audiophiles will argue about whether a solid-state or tube amp is superior. However, it’s best to think of tubes as an aesthetic choice—akin to applying a vintage filter to a pristine snapshot.

I have no idea if these actually sound better than their more expensive digital counterparts but they do look a lot cooler.

Chapman University:

The Chapman University Survey of American Fears, Wave 2 (2015) provides an unprecedented look into the fears of average Americans. In April of 2015, a random sample of 1,541 adults from across the United States were asked their level of fear about eighty-eight different fears across a huge variety of topics ranging from crime, the government, disasters, personal anxieties, technology and many others.

A little light reading going into your weekend. The list is interesting. How does it correspond to your personal fears and worries? I think it’s hilarious that “Zombies” and “Clowns” rank at all, let alone enough to make the list. And having “Obamacare” at 35.7% followed closely by “Illness” at 34.4% is kind of ironic.

CNN Money:

Todd Stabelfeldt is sending his wife a romantic text. He taps his chin on a button mounted on his wheelchair, then grins, pleased with his wooing.

A quadriplegic since he was 8, Stabelfeldt can’t move anything below his neck. Now a 36-year-old engineer and business owner, he’s turned his wheelchair into a powerful mobile communication hub using switches, a Bluetooth headset and an iPhone 6.

He averages a phone call every six minutes and sends more than 100 texts a day.

Wow. This guy gets more done in a day than I do in a week.

Apple World Today:

Apple today released seven (!) new Apple Watch ads highlighting some of the features and capabilities of the wearable. Each of the ads is just 16 seconds long and is perfect for catching the attention of TV viewers and giving them a message… before they get bored.

I’m still not completely sold on this new ad campaign. Not sure what it is but they just don’t grab my attention the way other previous efforts have.

The Washington Post:

Apple and Dropbox said Tuesday that they do not support a controversial cybersecurity bill that, according to critics, would give the government sweeping new powers to spy on Americans in the name of protecting them from hackers.

The announcement by the two companies comes days before the Senate expects to vote on the legislation, known as the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, or CISA.

“We don’t support the current CISA proposal,” Apple said in a statement. “The trust of our customers means everything to us and we don’t believe security should come at the expense of their privacy.”

This is and will continue to be an ongoing battle. It’s great to see companies like Apple, Dropbox and others drawing a line in the sand and pushing back on the government’s attempts to access our private information.

Mashable:

Apple isn’t just a technology company. It’s increasingly becoming a luxury brand in its own right.

Apple’s sponsorship of the 2016 Met Gala and exhibition—announced last week— further underscores this shifting identity. Dubbed “Manus x Machina: Fashion in the Age of Technology,” the exhibition will highlight the intersection between machine-made fashion and handmade haute couture.

I sat down with Apple Chief Design Officer Jony Ive, Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour and Costume Institute Curator Andrew Bolton to talk about the gala and exhibit, how technology and fashion can work together, and the future of the two worlds.

Apple’s move into the “luxury market” is interesting but fraught with pitfalls. The fashion world is notoriously fickle. So it’s always interesting to hear from Apple’s principals about what they think and how they are going to navigate this minefield.

The Verge:

I didn’t know Steve Jobs during the early parts of his career — his first stint Apple and then his time running the failed NeXT — which take up most of the movie. And I know very little about his relationship with his daughter Lisa.

But the Steve Jobs I did know — the one the movie never shows — balanced his strong views and his impatience with a willingness to listen to others and to change his mind. In our many conversations, he loved to debate product and tech issues. Yes, we had some shouting matches, but we also had a lot of serious, calm conversation and even some laughs. And, unlike the man in the movie, I saw him listen to, and eventually agree with, contrary views raised by an employee.

Every review I’ve seen of this movie is similar – that it would have been a good movie had it been about an entirely fictitious character. In particular, reviewers have raved about Fasbender. But every person who knew Jobs echoes what Mossberg said – the movie is unfair to Jobs and doesn’t do the entirety of his life — or even the period portrayed — justice.

The Verge:

Apple will “start taking orders Monday” for the new Apple TV, and it will ship by the end of next week, Cook says.

This is from the liveblog of the Wall Street Journal conference’s interview with Tim Cook this evening, according to The Verge.

The Wall Street Journal:

Cook will be interviewed by Gerard Baker, The Wall Street Journal’s Editor in Chief. They will live-blog Cook’s interview on stage beginning at around 11:30 p.m. ET, 8:30 PST.

This should be an interesting interview. I’ll miss it though because I will be caught up in the exciting Canadian Election results. To all my fellow Canadians – get out and vote!

Benjamin Mayo:

The current set of videos in the list include imagery from China, San Francisco, Hawaii, New York City and London. Interestingly, there are multiple variants for each location as well as separate day and night shots. It seems like the Apple TV will dynamically show a contextually-relevant video for the user’s time of day. It’s also interesting just how many different sequences Apple has for each same location and time.

There are some gorgeous videos here. I look forward to seeing them on my TV and seeing Apple update them for more locations.

The New York Times:

George Bell — a simple name, two syllables, the minimum. There were no obvious answers as to who he was or what shape his life had taken. What worries weighed on him. Whom he loved and who loved him.

Like most New Yorkers, he lived in the corners, under the pale light of obscurity.

In discovering a death, you find a life story and perhaps meaning. Could anything in the map of George Bell’s existence have explained his lonely end? Possibly not. But it was true that George Bell died carrying some secrets.

A well written and painfully sad story that will make you ask of yourself, “Will I be remembered when I’m gone?” Some of us won’t like the answer to that question.

Digg:

Two weeks ago, a YouTube channel called “Tony is Back!” was born. It claims — in a series of three commercials — that the Frosted Flakes mascot is now here to help the adults who grew up eating his nutritious cereal. Unfortunately, Tony is no longer any sort of role model.

Each of the three commercials functions like a brutal and disturbing garden-path joke, made plausible by the production value, “They’re Grrrrreat!” tagline, and inclusion of one obviously trademarked and highly-protected mascot/spokestiger. Even stranger, the channel created a website and a hashtag (tonyisback.com and #tonyisback, respectively). The site, like the commercials, looks professional enough to fool an average person. Many of the links point back to the official Kellogg website.

These might be considered NSFW but they are definitely weird and demented. How the site is still up even after the Facebook and Twitter pages have been suspended is beyond me. Perhaps it’s an attempt at a viral campaign by Kellog itself? Regardless, if you like your Sunday humor dark and weird, these videos will be right up your alley.

The Robb Report:

I decided to upgrade my Mac to El Capitan, but my computer said, on one condition: I must “carefully” read and agree with something. And so I did what anyone else would: I cleared my afternoon schedule and got right down to business; reading, carefully, the entire document. It turns out that I was much too pessimistic! I needed only 33 minutes.

I should note that I’m an attorney with a good understanding of license, trademark, and copyright law. I’m also a software developer with 20 years’ experience. So your own read-through may take more or less time, accordingly.

I thought it’d be a “fun” project to see what the “El Capitan License” actually says. Cool idea, huh? Kind of like spelunking through a cave that everyone says they’ve been through, but maybe no one really has. What will I find wedged in a wall or lurking in the dark around the next turn?

Like so many of us, I have never read these agreements we see all the time so it’s good that a trained professional did on our behalf. It’s also good to not see any truly onerous restrictions in Apple’s licensing terms.

Consumer Reports:

A number of websites recently created a stir with reports of a potential shortcoming of the iPhone 6s smartphones. According to those “chipgate” reports, the battery life on iPhone 6s models with an A9 central processing unit made by Samsung is worse than the battery life on models with a CPU made by TSMC. The phones with the Samsung chip also run hotter, the reports claim, than the phones with the chip made by TSMC.

While Consumer Reports’ tests had confirmed that the battery life on the 6s and 6s Plus is slightly shorter than that on the iPhone 6, they had not addressed the chipgate rumors. So, much like they did for last year’s “bendgate,” our engineers developed a special protocol to test this apparent issue. Those tests simulate real-world usage as opposed to relying on the benchmarks used by other organizations in their off-the-shelf tests.

As much as I dislike Consumer Reports for any number of reasons, I’m always fascinated by their testing and experiment methodologies.

CNET:

“Pirates” focuses on the heated personal rivalry between Steve Jobs of Apple and Bill Gates of Microsoft, recounting the parallel and often intertwined stories of the two companies and their tempestuous founders. Written and directed by photojournalist and documentary-maker Martyn Burke, the TV movie was based on the book “Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer” by Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine. It was first shown on TNT in June 1999.

“Pirates” is focused on recounting events rather than getting into the heads of its characters, so there’s not a great deal of insight into their motivations.

I watched this when it came out and remember thinking, while it was a “fun” movie, it really wasn’t very good. I’ll have to watch it again in light of the past 15 years. I was in the third row of the Macworld Expo Keynote audience when Noah Wylie came out in character as Steve Jobs and the place went bananas.

The Boston Globe:

Hot air balloon festivals are a visual treat for many. Not only do they provide a stunning perspective for their passengers, but their playful shapes, colors, and themes make these floating vessels excellent subject matter for photographers, both on the ground and in the sky. Here is a look at some of the 2015 balloonist gatherings around the globe.

I’ve always told my students, if you ever want guaranteed great photos, find a hot air balloon festival.

Washington Post:

You may have heard that Apple’s on the hook for $862 million in potential penalties after a jury ruled that it infringed on a patent owned by the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

The university appears to be asking for roughly half that amount, about $400 million, but that is still a huge amount of money, particularly in relation to a) the size of the university’s budget and b) how much Apple’s spent on Washington lobbyists to head off just these types of lawsuits. And the stakes aren’t limited to the fines: If Apple is forced to pay future royalties, it’ll add to the production costs of future iPhones and iPads. While that won’t necessarily lead to increased prices for consumers, it could drag down the company’s profits over the long run even as it grapples with the reputational fallout of having copied someone else’s work.

Apple is almost sure to appeal, and it could very well get the fines reduced further or eliminated, as it did with another recent patent case this year. Still, the ruling represents a stinging rebuke for a company that has spent years accusing its rival, Samsung, of essentially stealing its hardware designs.

Many have and will call the University of Wisconsin–Madison a “patent troll” but that’s not necessarily the case in this particular situation. This does bring into question once again patents and lawsuits. The jury award could also open Apple up to further damages if they also loses a second lawsuit UW-Madison filed against the iPhone 6S, 6S Plus and the iPad Pro.

Medium:

Finding great stock photos is a pain. You’re left with either low-res amateur photos, people wearing cheesy headsets, or photos that are out of budget for the project you’re working on. Below is an ongoing list (so bookmark it) of the best stock photo sites I’ve come across.

I love using my own photos to illustrate things but sometimes, you just need one particular kind of shot. There are lots of sites that will charge you for lots of different kinds of images but, if you’re on a budget or just cheap, check out some of the sites listed at this page. Many of them have newsletters you can sign up for that will send you a daily list of new images.

iMore:

Researchers from ANSSI, France’s National Information System Security Agency, have demonstrated a “hack” where, using transmitters from a short distance away, they can trigger Apple’s Siri and Google Now under certain specific circumstances.

Like usual, it’s something to be aware of but not overly concerned about. Once again, we should all be more concerned about the state of security reporting at mainstream publications.

Siri and Google Now are enabling and empowering technologies that help people live better lives. We should all be informed and educated about any potential security issues, but not sensationalized or made to feel scared in any way.

When I saw the Wired story, I (predictably) thought there was more to it than what was reported. As usual, whenever you read about “security threats” to Apple’s products, it’s always good to wait a few days until calmer heads investigate and give you a better, fuller version of the story.

Ars Technica:

On October 14, 1947, high above California’s Antelope Valley, Charles “Chuck” Yeager became the fastest man alive. That day Yeager—an Appalachian farm boy-turned-fighter ace—flew an experimental rocket plane called the Bell X-1 through the sound barrier and into the history books. Fifty years and one day later (and only about 500 miles due north), another fighter pilot—RAF Wing Commander Andy Green—equaled Yeager’s feat but on four wheels. Thrust SSC was the name of his ride, and it made Green the fastest man on Earth. It’s a title he still holds.

But 65 years to the day after Yeager’s supersonic flight, an Austrian skydiver named Felix Baumgartner got his own entry into the record books. Baumgartner rode a helium balloon from Roswell, New Mexico, (yes, that Roswell) 128,100 feet (39,045m) into the atmosphere and then stepped out of its gondola, breaking the sound barrier with nothing more than a pressure suit and the laws of gravity. Luckily for Green, Baumgartner became the fastest man en route to Earth.

All three of these historic supersonic firsts happened on (or about) October 14.

The speed of sound is one of those record marks that capture the imagination, even though it was first broken more than 60 years ago. No matter the conveyance, we are still fascinated whenever someone breaks the sound barrier.

NPR:

Berkeley Breathed has brought back his popular comic strip “Bloom County” after having retired it 25 years ago at the height of its popularity. At the time, “Bloom County” was published in over 1,200 newspapers. Anthologies that collected the strip were best-sellers.

I can’t tell you how happy this makes me. Along with The Far Side, Bloom County was one of my favorite comic strips. It’s latest iteration has lost none of the sweetness and world-weariness of the characters or the ever-so-gentle skewering of the world through Breathed’s eyes.

Vanity Fair:

Apple’s chief design officer Jony Ive in conversation with the director of the upcoming Star Wars film, J.J. Abrams. Moderated by the Academy Award–winning producer Brian Grazer.

An hour long conversation with and between three fascinating people.

Bloomberg:

The U.S. Justice Department said it’s satisfied Apple Inc. put in place reforms to comply with antitrust laws even though it fought with a monitor appointed to oversee its sale of electronic books.

The government on Monday recommended that the monitoring not be extended. In a letter to the Manhattan federal judge who found in 2013 that Apple illegally conspired with publishers to set e-book prices, the U.S. said Apple has “now implemented meaningful antitrust policies, procedures, and training programs that were obviously lacking at the time Apple participated in and facilitated the horizontal price-fixing conspiracy found by this court.”

While Apple won’t be sad to see the monitor go, looking through other details of this story tells you the monitor will be – he was making a small fortune billing Apple for his court-mandated time.

Steven Levy:

There are many reasons why Apple is the world’s most valuable company. Tim Cook is celebrated as a supply chain Maester who has internalized the focus on innovation that his predecessor inculcated in the culture. Jony Ive has drawn global raves for making Apple a design icon. Its marketing and branding practices set industry standards. But a visit to the lab where its legacy products — computers — are made suggests another reason.

Sweating the details.

Levy was given inside access to the iMac team while they developed the new machines and, as usual, his writing on the topic is fascinating.