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When I attended the last (sadly) Macworld Expo, I stressed out over the proper etiquette of bowing and exchanging business cards. I wish I had had this video back then. These kinds of Japanese customs and rules are fascinating to me.

As an avid rider, I see a lot of great bikes on this list.

It’s best to not worry too much about getting “good” shots (I’m going to focus on watching, not shooting it) but, if you have to, here are some tips for the photographers among you.

Is it just me or is this more than a little disturbing? I get that babies cry when you take things from them but maybe because it’s a cell phone that makes this creepier than it should be.

Great 78: The Great 78 Project is a community project for the preservation, research and discovery of 78rpm records. From about 1898 to the 1950s, an estimated 3 million sides (~3 minute recordings) have been made on 78rpm discs. There … Continued

I love stories of the history of the Slinky. I’ve only ever had one and it was wrecked by a little brother very quickly but I’ve always thought the little spring was cool. But not the plastic ones. Those are awful.

Think of all the planning and logistics that go into a scene like this. Amazing.

The battle between Benchmark Capital and Travis Kalanick just went nuclear, with the venture capital firm suing the former Uber CEO for fraud, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty. The complaint was filed earlier today in Delaware Chancery Court.

Oh boy.

I remember when these missions launched. What an incredible accomplishment that they are still sending back data.

Check out her work in the article and on Facebook and Instagram. Mindblowing.

Besides the questions of, “Why would you do that, you sicko!?” and “How did you get the elephant into the elevator?”, this is an amusing (think “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” British humour) and interesting explanation.

A great article about the general theory of relativity and why it is so important even today.

Blue Apron posted mixed results for the quarter, but I think the CEO has the right outlook as he deals with pressure from Amazon:

But CEO Matthew Salzberg told CNBC that the grocery market is far from a “winner-take-all” battle between grocers, Blue Apron and Amazon.

“We admire Amazon as a company, and we take them seriously, big or small,” Salzberg said. “That being said, we are competing in a competitive and large market. … We think about ourselves very differently, I think, than Amazon thinks about themselves.”

That’s exactly right and a good way to look at the market. It’s easy to assume that he’s saying that because the quarter wasn’t great, but it is true.

Then, just as I was about to leave the dictionary’s Web site, I noticed something new: next to the earliest known year that a word appears in print—for “alembicated,” 1786—Merriam-Webster now offers a link to a list of all the other words that were first used in the same year. The feature is called Time Traveler…

That is so great.

Walt Disney Co. is ending its film distribution agreement with Netflix for new releases in one of the boldest moves a traditional studio has taken against the leading digital platform.

The Burbank company instead will launch a new Disney-branded direct-to-consumer streaming service in 2019. The decision represents a major shift in strategy for Disney, which for years has worked with Netflix to distribute its content — including hit films and original television shows.

No, Disney, I don’t want another streaming service. I get the company has a lot of hits, but damn, the number of streaming services is getting ridiculous.

Glen Campbell, the indelible voice behind 21 Top 40 hits including “Rhinestone Cowboy,” “Wichita Lineman” and “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” died Tuesday. He was 81. A rep for Universal Music Group, Campbell’s record label, confirmed the singer’s death to Rolling Stone. During a career that spanned six decades, Campbell sold over 45 million records. In 1968, one of his biggest years, he outsold the Beatles.

So sad. Much respect, Glen.

I would happily do a Kickstarter campaign to fly The Publisher of The Loop to Detroit so he can make a vinyl record of his music that we could all buy!

I didn’t watch Letterman for the last few years of his last show but I’ll definitely want to check this out.

Not every beginner photographer needs a DSRL but, if you do, you can’t go wrong with either of these cameras.

A lot of folks will be at work and likely unable to go outside to watch the eclipse.

Julian Assange has offered a job to the employee that Google fired for writing the memo on gender differences.

James Damore, the Google engineer who wrote the note, confirmed his dismissal in an email, saying that he had been fired for “perpetuating gender stereotypes.” He said he’s “currently exploring all possible legal remedies.”

I think he’ll have a really difficult time finding another job in Silicon Valley.

After decades of selling products—and knowing exactly what people are buying, and when they are buying it—Amazon has started cutting out the middle-man by selling self-produced items. Through its AmazonBasics house brand, it sells all sorts of small items, from iPhone chargers, to batteries, power strips—even foam rollers, backpacks and washcloths. It’s the sort of stuff that you might not be too brand loyal over—who really minds whether it’s a Duracell or a Panasonic battery? Amazon sees that a product is selling well, and may decide to work with manufacturers to make the product itself—it’s a tactic that is already worrying vendors, and can’t bode well for partnerships in the long run. But those are the obvious instances. Now, Amazon is selling products across a wide array of categories, using a host of brands that do not exist outside the confines of amazon.com and do not make it clear that they are Amazon-made products.

This is a common business practice and it’s smart too. I remember one oil company in Canada that would look at what it spent the most money on each year and then either buy the company or do it themselves. Each year, more money stayed within the confines of the main company.

Co-creator and co-executive producer Ben Winston and series executive producer and co-showrunner Eric Pankowski spoke with Billboard about the series that’s set to launch on Apple Music. They called it “A Celebration of the Joy of Music.” I get that.

I was a bit worried about the future of this show, but I’m looking forward to seeing these episodes. At least Apple finally stopped pimping Pharrell, so we won’t have to deal with him.

Female characters appear in superhero comics less often than males — but when they are included, how are they depicted?

I thought there would be a lot of people that would like to read this.

[Via Khoi]

I use Apple Music every single day, so I see all of the good and bad parts of the service. I also get to see the significant improvements Apple has made over time, and while there is still work to be done, the service is getting much better. […]

Apple says to “tag #ShotoniPhone to take part.” This has been a great campaign for Apple and being on Instagram will only make it more widespread.

From Revolver:

It all started as a joke. The Sword guitarist Kyle Shutt was smoking weed and talking with his bandmates about how absurd it is that every group that plays slow riffs or evokes feelings of dread get labeled “doom,” even if they sound nothing like pioneers of the genre: Black Sabbath, Pentagram Saint Vitus, Cathedral.

“Man, what if we did a heavy metal Pink Floyd cover band, called it Doom Side of the Moon, and did doom versions of Floyd songs!” he quipped.

Great idea and it turned out really good. You can listen to the album on Apple Music.

Thanks to last week’s inadvertent release of an unredacted build of HomePod’s version of iOS, we know some things that we didn’t know before. One of those things is that the new edge-to-edge iPhone is codenamed D22, and that the OS explicitly supports an iPhone display with hardware resolution of 2436 × 1125 pixels.

I love these resolution articles that Gruber does.

I do like The Rock. These are are kind of fun.