iMore:

I’m grateful to have witnessed changes like Title IX in my lifetime, but it’s not over yet. Today, we have many programs that support girls and women in technology fields, including my own project, App Camp For Girls. People recognize that discrimination in tech exists, and they’re taking action to level the playing field. As with Title IX, they offer support and encouragement specifically to girls and women so they can participate in this field to their fullest potential.

Discrimination still exists in this field and likely will exist for some time. But I don’t get discouraged by the terrible stories circulating in the news on harassment and workplace discrimination. I don’t get frustrated with well-meaning but clueless commenters who think the status quo reflects innate gender differences. Instead, I’m spurred on to redouble my own efforts to make the future better.

A good article by Jean MacDonald, formerly of the Mac developer Smile Software and the founder of App Camp for Girls.

CNBC:

Mad Money host Jim Cramer receives a surprise phone call from Apple CEO Tim Cook, who talks about innovation, Bar San Miguel, the company’s paranoia, and what it’s like to follow Steve Jobs as CEO.

I don’t think it was a “surprise call” at all but a good video to watch nonetheless.

Atomic Delights:

This walkthrough is a detailed narration of what we see in Apple’s Watch Craftsmanship videos. Of course, we only get to see a mere fraction of the process; I’ve tried to provide plausible explanations for the likely steps taking place between the processes shown on film, but these are assumptions and are included only to provide a more satisfying and complete narration.

Hey Samsung. Good luck copying this.

TidBITS:

The Intercept’s piece was mostly a condemnation of government tactics, but failed to address what matters to Apple’s customers — whether Apple’s products remain secure and safe to use. Overall, the information is quite optimistic, but the article highlights the complexities of modern security, privacy, and intelligence gathering. We are still in the early days of what is likely to be a generational issue as society continues to adjust to the digital age.

As always, Mogull has a well thought out, well written, and well reasoned piece with none of the hysteria you see in other articles about this subject.

Bloomberg:

Stanford University researchers were stunned when they awoke Tuesday to find that 11,000 people had signed up for a cardiovascular study using Apple Inc.’s ResearchKit, less than 24 hours after the iPhone tool was introduced.

“To get 10,000 people enrolled in a medical study normally, it would take a year and 50 medical centers around the country,” said Alan Yeung, medical director of Stanford Cardiovascular Health. “That’s the power of the phone.”

As the article points out, there are some concerns regarding the people who would get involved but, overall, the research community seems very excited about the present and future possibilities.

Jim, Shawn and Dave talk through the Apple Watch Event details!

Sponsored by Squarespace (use code GUITARS for a free trial and 10% off).

Robservatory:

I am fascinated by this new business Apple’s going into; the sheer number of products and prices is pretty amazing: By my count, Apple will be shipping 38 separate models of watches. There’s a gallery page at Apple’s site where you can page through all of the watches, and get the details on each specific model. You can also view the watches in the store, where you can find pricing info.

Both of these solutions, though, require lots of paging and scrolling to get all the details. I was curious as to how all the watches compared, so I pulled data from those sources and made one massive spreadsheet

Rob Griffiths has done the work so you don’t have to.

Macworld:

With the new 12-inch MacBook, Apple has gone all in for all-in-one, using USB-C to provide power, display output, and USB connections. Thunderbolt is gone. The SD card slot is gone as well.

The upside is compatibility, and thus lower costs and more options. USB-C is also a unifying and universal standard that doesn’t involve a single company acting as a licensing gatekeeper, the way Apple protects Lightning cables and adapters. USB-C would seem to have a lot to offer, but first we have to get over the hump of newness.

Typical story of “short term pain for long term gain” but it means I don’t see this particular machine as my next laptop.

Re/code:

OK, Comcast: Your move.

That’s the message HBO CEO Richard Plepler was sending yesterday to the cable giant and the other big pay-TV distributors, when he announced he was going to start selling subscriptions with Apple.

HBO’s plan to sell a standalone version of the service — HBO Now, for $15 a month — using Apple as its exclusive digital launch partner is big news. Remember, though, that it’s only half of the story: Plepler wants to use his new digital service to create a new revenue stream, and perhaps a life raft. But he also wants to use it as a lever to get more money out of his existing business with the pay-TV companies, which generated $5.4 billion last year.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. HBO exclusivity with Apple is for a rumored three month time frame.

The Wall Street Journal:

Apple Inc.’s huge gravitational pull on mall traffic is distorting the market for mall rents, winning the iPhone maker sweetheart deals and putting upward pressure on other tenants’ leases.

Apple draws so many shoppers that its stores single-handedly lift sales by 10% at the malls in which they operate, according to Green Street Advisors, a real-estate research firm. That gives Apple the clout to negotiate extremely low rents for itself relative to its sales, while creating upward pressure on prices paid by mall neighbors who might not benefit from the traffic.

No surprise and a big change from the early days of Apple Retail when Apple was “forced” to sign long term leases because mall operators were worried about the company’s long term viability.

Ars Technica:

Apple has published their second major security roll-up package of the year, Security Update 2015-002, which contains fixes for multiple version of OS X stretching from Mountain Lion 10.8.5 to Yosemite 10.10.2. These updates mitigate threats from several different vulnerabilities, but the most notable is a fix that will inoculate Safari users against the so-called “FREAK” SSL/TLS exploit.

Good to see Apple extending this patch back to Mountain Lion.

Fortune:

In an exclusive interview with Fortune, Apple’s human resources chief Denise Young Smith said the company is partnering with several non-profit organizations on a multi-year, multi-million-dollar effort to increase the pipeline of women, minorities, and veterans in the technology industry—and, of course, at Apple.

Good to see Apple doing more on this issue. There’s lots more to be done though and Apple can’t do it all alone. This has to become an industry-wide effort.

Here’s video of the first test run of #Fury325 at Carowinds from a riders point of view! The coaster was tested late Wednesday afternoon, March 4. Debuting this spring, Fury 325 will be the world’s tallest & fastest giga coaster. The thrill ride stands 325 feet tall with an 81-degree initial drop and reaches breathtaking speeds of 95 miles per hour.

Oh. My. God. I want to ride this so much.

I, Programmer:

Susan Kare is the artist responsible for many of the classic Mac icons that are universally recognized. Now her impact as a pioneering and influential computer iconographer has been recognized by the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Susan Kare designed all of her early icons on graph paper, with one square representing each pixel. Now this archive of sketches has been acquired by MoMA, jointly with San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art, and has gone on show as part of a new exhibition, This is for Everyone: Design Experiments For The Common Good.

We all owe a huge debt of gratitude to Kare for her lovely and elegant icon designs.

Dr. Drang:

Apple’s patent application is for a method that allows them to make 18k gold that has, on a volume basis, less gold than regular 18k gold.

How can this be? It’s because Apple’s gold is a metal matrix composite, not a standard alloy. Instead of mixing the gold with silver, copper, or other metals to make it harder, Apple is mixing it with low-density ceramic particles. The ceramic makes Apple’s gold harder and more scratch-resistant—which Tim Cook touted during the September announcement—and it also makes it less dense overall.

The media is going to have a field day with this. They’ll get it wrong but they’ll still lose their collective minds over it.

ZDNet:

For years, Oracle has tormented Windows users by bundling adware with its Java installer for Windows PCs. Now Oracle has begun including the same adware as part of a default installation of Java for the Mac, using the same deceptive techniques.

More sleazy business practices for you and yours to be made aware of. Thanks to Rob Griffiths for the heads up.

The Mac Observer:

For the purposes of Gatekeeper, Apple verifies the identity of the developer, but not their intent. It’s up to you to ensure that the applications you install and run on your Mac come from the people you think they came from, and we’ll show you how to do that.

The key words are, “it’s up to you” to not let your guard down and to always be aware of what you are downloading and installing. Apple is doing their part and it’s up to the user to do theirs.

CNN:

Apple will replace AT&T in the Dow — an exclusive club of 30 stocks that also includes tech giants Microsoft, Intel, and Cisco as well as brand-name consumer firms Walmart, Coca-Cola, and Disney.

“As the largest corporation in the world and a leader in technology. Apple is the clear choice for the Dow Jones Industrial Average,” said David Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, in a statement.

Apple will enter the Dow at the close of trading on March 18.

As tha article says, this is mostly symbolic but, for a company on the edge of bankruptcy less than 20 years ago, it’s a remarkable journey.

People hate him. Boy, wow, do they hate him. At first they loved him, and then they were confused by him, and then they were irritated by him, and now they straight-up loathe.

I’m definitely in the “loathe” camp. I’ve loathed him since way back in his days in Seattle. But it’s still an interesting, well written (and well presented on the web site) article. And, after reading it, I still loathe him.

CBC:

The contest is held in association with the Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous festival, but Takhini Hot Pools owner Andrew Umbrich says he runs the contest the entire month of February to account for unpredictable temperatures.

He says -20C works for hair sculpting, but -30C is ideal.

“It just takes 10 minutes to a half hour to make a pretty incredible picture,” he says.

Goofy Canadians.

This is a cleverly designed site that allows you to mix and match various Apple Watch bodies with different straps. Fun few minutes diversion. What’s your favourite look?

Jim, Shawn and Dave talk about the Apple Watch, healthier lifestyles and guitar amp software!

Sponsored by lynda.com. (Start learning something new in 2015 by visiting the link to get a 10-day free trial and access their 2400+ courses)

Sports Illustrated:

Eleven-year-old Jordyn Leopold misses her dad. NHL defenseman Jordan Leopold started the season with the Blues and was traded to the Blue Jackets in November. Jordyn and the rest of her family have been living in Minnesota, so she wrote a letter to the Wild asking them to trade for her dad.

Such a sweet story. And the daughter’s letter shows she knows more than a little bit about hockey.

Petapixel:

A photographer and birdwatcher in London has captured a strange and rare photo that has the Internet abuzz: an image showing a weasel riding on the back of a woodpecker as it flies through the air.

Perfect example of what I teach in my photography class – always be ready to shoot.

Buzzfeed:

Apple’s latest ad campaign, Shot on iPhone 6, is crowdsourced using iPhone photography from around the world. It is taking photos found online, typically seen in a browser window, and plastering them up in massive sizes out in the real world.

Apple found them by scouring online communities for photos that were tagged as having been taken with its newest iPhones.

Looks like keywording paid off for these folks.

Apple:

People take incredible photos and videos on iPhone 6 every day. And here are some of our favorites. Explore the gallery, learn a few tips, and see what’s possible with the world’s most popular camera.

This is a gorgeous gallery of images that are hard to believe were all taken with the iPhone 6.

New York Times:

When Apple releases its watch in April, it will enter a market already flooded with smartwatches running Android Wear, a version of Google’s Android software system tailored for wearable computers.

The results so far for Android smartwatches have been disappointing. About 720,000 smartwatches with Android Wear were shipped in 2014, according to Canalys, the research firm.

How is that “flooded”? Chen doesn’t even back up the premise of his story’s headline. I’ve spoken to dozens of “normal” people who are very excited to see the Apple Watch. Chen writes another of his typical poorly written and thought out New York Times hack jobs.

Thanks to John Molloy for the link.

New York Times:

Leonard Nimoy, the sonorous, gaunt-faced actor who won a worshipful global following as Mr. Spock, the resolutely logical human-alien first officer of the Starship Enterprise in the television and movie juggernaut “Star Trek,” died on Friday morning at his home in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles. He was 83.

His wife, Susan Bay Nimoy, confirmed his death, saying the cause was end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

He was a wonderful actor in many roles but will obviously always be known for the iconic Spock. A very sad loss.

Mic:

Some of the most mythic songs in history have never before been heard. Music has long played an integral role in literature and myth — forms that imperfectly captured the sounds described. What follows is a list of some of the most compelling songs that no living being has ever heard. These are songs that, without any music, testify to the true power of the art form

When I first read the headline, I thought it was poorly written but upon reading the story I realized they were right – there are many famous “songs” we’ve never actually heard.

Bloomberg:

For almost a century, Kellogg defined the American breakfast: a moment when people would be jolted out of their drowsiness—often with a stupendous serving of sugar.

The sales of 19 of Kellogg’s top 25 cereals eroded last year, according to Consumer Edge Research, a Stamford (Conn.) firm that tracks the food industry. Sales of Frosted Flakes, the company’s No. 1 brand, fell 4.5 percent.

Kellogg executives don’t expect cereal sales to return to growth this year, though they hope to slow the rate of decline and do better in 2016. But some Wall Street analysts say cereal sales may never fully recover. In Battle Creek, so-called Cereal City, that would be the equivalent of the apocalypse.

I haven’t sat down to a bowl of breakfast cereal in more than a decade but my favourite was always Apple Jacks.