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I’ve had a few sets of custom fit earphones and have loved (and sadly, lost) them.

Now you can give the customer support experts in your organization the ability to respond to customer reviews on the App Store with the new Customer Support role in iTunes Connect. Users with the Admin or Customer Support role have the ability to respond to customer reviews.

Great idea.

Part of the problem has been the price, but with Amazon coming on the scene, that could change. The online retailer is known for offering low prices. Once the Whole Foods deal goes through, it’ll have a strong grocery backbone to plant a stake. Throw in a well-established logistics and delivery systems and Amazon is poised to be a real meal-kits player.

I don’t know how a company like Blue Apron can compete with Amazon. The article is right though, price has been a deterrent in making meal kits even more successful. With Amazon entering the market, that could be fixed very quickly.

Interesting piece on the issues with the way Apple manages apps. For me, there are all kinds of annoyances, minor and major, with the way Apple manages (often poorly) apps on iOS.

This is painful to watch. It’s even more painful to say that this is a typical experience for me using Siri.

“ISPs have incentives to shape Internet traffic and the FCC knows full well of instances where consumers have been harmed. AT&T blocked data sent by Apple’s FaceTime software, Comcast has interfered with Internet traffic generated by certain applications, and ISPs have rerouted users’ web searches to websites they didn’t request or expect,” said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Mitch Stoltz. “These are just some examples of ISPs controlling our Internet experience. Users pay them to connect to the Internet, not decide for them what they can see and do there.”

The FCC can’t seriously do this.

Up until just over 30 years ago, when the desktop computer debuted, the whole design production process would have been done primarily by hand, and with the aide of analog machines.

This is wonderful.

But ultimately we reached an impasse when OFCCP demanded even more: employees’ compensation and other job information dating back 15 years, as well as extensive personal employee data and contact information for more than 25,000 employees. We were concerned that these requests went beyond the scope of what was relevant to this specific audit, and posed unnecessary risks to employees’ privacy. Despite our repeated efforts to resolve this impasse informally, OFCCP issued a complaint against us demanding access to the information and asserting we had no right to challenge their requests.

Respect for standing up for what they felt was right.

This is a very cool visualization.

I appreciate whatever complications Apple is going through in their stance on privacy. I much prefer their approach to these issues over Google’s and Facebook’s.

There are some great new emojis in there.

While I’m not a good photographer, Om really is. He’s taken some great shots from around the world that I’ve really enjoyed seeing.

Typically amazing video and images in this piece. Hummingbirds are fascinating little creatures.

If you are even a casual fan of science fiction, you’ve got to check out some of these issues. The writing can seem dated at times but you’ll still enjoy some great sci-fi.

For me, it realistically is my last chance to see even a partial eclipse.

Powerful PSA from South Africa.

This is a little scary but not surprising. As they say, it’s a reminder that locks aren’t as secure as we think they are.

I used to be a competitive league bowler – I had my own custom fitted ball and everything – and had to learn these patterns. My problem was being terrible at adjusting to the changes over time.

This is an all too short article.

This is one of the primary reasons Apple created the Apple Retails Stores – to show off their products and technology.

As usual, there is a lot of hair on fire reporting from the tech and Mac media on subjects they don’t understand and/or are too lazy to actually do any research or real reporting. Fleishman does a great job on both.

Charvel continues its long-held partnerships with Warren DeMartini and Jake E Lee with the upcoming release of brand-new signature models. The Warren DeMartini USA Signature Frenchie and the Jake E Lee USA Signature Blue Burst will be unveiled this week at the Summer NAMM Show in Nashville, Tenn., and available to consumers in October 2017.

Both of these guys are among my favorite players.

Australia on Friday proposed new laws to compel companies such as U.S. social media giant Facebook and device manufacturer Apple to provide security agencies access to encrypted messages.

They don’t seem to understand that you can’t just let them have access to the information. Once access is grant, security is weaker for everyone.

Thanks to Jamf Now for sponsoring The Loop this week. Jamf Now is an on-demand mobile device management solution for your iPad, iPhone and Mac devices at work. We make management tasks like deploying Wi-Fi passwords, securing company data and enforcing passcodes, simple and affordable, so businesses can support their users; no IT required. Get started for free today!

I just love Mark’s guitar playing.

The BIAS Mini is a compact and portable size amplifier that comes in two versions, Guitar and Bass—each one specially designed to be the most versatile amplifier on the planet for the gigging musician.

And

The BIAS Twin Delay, Modulation, and Distortion pedals are Positive Grid’s new line of professional effects stompboxes designed for maximum tone versatility. All three pedals feature the same incredible tone of the award-winning BIAS Pro pedals in a compact 2-button pedal format.

I love Positive Grid’s software, but I haven’t tried their hardware gear yet. From what I’ve seen, it’s great sounding though.

Devindra Hardawar, writing for Engadget:

Amazon is working on a new Echo that will improve on the first speaker in practically every way, a source tells Engadget. And, not surprisingly, it’s aiming to take some of the hype away from Apple’s HomePod.

Experts said a 5,800-square-kilometer (2,239-square-mile) section of Larsen C was confirmed to have broken away between Monday and Wednesday by NASA’s Aqua MODIS satellite.

Holy crap, that’s huge.

The security issue, uncovered by research from cybersecurity firm UpGuard, was caused by a misconfigured security setting on a cloud server due to “human error.”

The error made customer phone numbers, names, and some PIN codes publicly available online. PIN codes are used to confirm the identity of people who call for customer service.

Wow!

Speaking of companies I respect, check out the new Fantastical for Mac. It’s just packed with great new features.