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Next time you go traveling, check out this map to see what is in the area you’ll be visiting. Next year, I’m (hopefully) heading to Portugal and Southeast Asia to teach beginning photography workshops and I’ve already picked out some of these extraordinary places to visit.

At 6’3″, I generally sit on the aisle for legroom but I’m going to try this “trick” next time I go to a theater.

Notice the difference in these shots from a professional photographer, in particular, the background elements. Something I teach my students all the time is to look behind your subject to see if there are elements there that don’t add to or even subtract/distract from your subject.

Interesting to view the list with Brexit in mind. As is, 3 of the top 10, including #1 Oxford, are in the EU. After Brexit, 0.

It’s a big day for Apple OS updates. Earlier today iOS 10.1 was updated, and now macOS Sierra, tvOS, watchOS have all received major updates. You can update each of the OSes on their respective devices—except the watchOS, that has to be downloaded from the iPhone app before updating.

The AE600 is the next generation of active equalization. New and unique EQ modes, independent control of fixed and active EQ bands, and an ultra low latency algorithm make the AE600 the perfect solution for any audio production.

McDSP makes some quality software.

I don’t know how improbable it is. After all, rich people have and will always want rich people products, won’t they?

A huge release from Apple, which includes the new Portrait mode for iPhone 7 Plus users (the feature that blurs the background in your photo), is now available. You can go to Settings > General > Software Update to get the download. If you don’t have an iPhone 7 Plus, you can use FabFocus to get a similar effect on an iPhone 5s or later.

Mountain Duck – based on the solid open source foundation of Cyberduck – lets you mount server and cloud storage as a disk on your desktop. Open remote files with any application and work like on a local volume without synchronising files.

Use coupon code “THELOOP” to get a 20% discount this week.

The New York Times is buying The Wirecutter, a five-year-old online consumer guide.

The Times will pay more than $30 million, including retention bonuses and other payouts, for the startup, according to people familiar with the transaction.

Wow, congrats to Brian Lam. He built a great business with The Wirecutter.

Younger readers may not realize just how insanely cool the iPod was.

Daring Fireball: Let me add here a note about something that’s been bothering me for months: the notion that Apple is going to do something “special” next year to commemorate the iPhone’s 10th anniversary. I would wager heavily that they … Continued

Whenever I went to San Francisco for Macworld Expo, I always tried to arrange a trip to the Apple Employee Store to get t-shirts or knick-knacks you can’t find anywhere else.

We designed the Apple Teacher program to help you build skills and stay inspired. You’ll discover new ways to enhance creativity and productivity by unlocking the magic of iPad, Mac, and built-in apps. You’ll get news and fresh ideas, featuring real stories, product tips, and great educational apps. And after completing online quizzes, you’ll receive an official Apple Teacher logo that you can share with the world.

Apple has always cared about education, kids, and teachers.

After today’s outages, I thought a little primer on what DNS is might be appropriate.

I find this fascinating. Is it even legal for Tesla to limit how you can use your own vehicle? I’ve been told it isn’t but that Tesla could, conceivably, void your warranty if you do. Regardless, how Tesla would or could detect the ride-sharing activity is interesting in and of itself.

I love reading stories like this. Imagine how much further along technology will be in five years. The PulsePoint app can be downloaded here.

Thanks to FabFocus for sponsoring The Loop this week.

With only one touch, FabFocus uses advanced human recognition A.I. to detect people in the foreground, automatically blurring the background to create a professional-looking depth of field effect. Unique to FabFocus, the app enables multiple bokeh effects, transforming point lights into your choice of hexagons, stars, hearts and more!

The Loop sponsorship special — 33% off this week only. Get FabFocus Now.

I never thought there would be kinds of food that would be endangered in this manner. After reading this story, I want to go to Italy and try the “threads of God”.

Those of you who have worked in IT probably already knew this and many of us have known or suspected it for years. When I worked for Apple 20+ years ago, we had a slide deck that showed this ROI. I never understood why Apple never took advantage of the data they had on it.

Apple on Wednesday sent out an invite to press for a special event the company will hold at its Cupertino, Calif. campus on October 27. I will be at the event and will bring you all the news. […]

It’s understandable why people want to buy adapters and cables from third parties because the Apple-branded ones are ridiculously expensive. But, their quality is undoubtedly suspect which is why Apple wants them off the market.

Developer Camp is a three-day hackathon and community event, held regularly in cities all around the world. It relies on a certain pattern to create trust and foster cooperation — right up until the presentations begin. Our next event is all about bots.

This looks like a great event. The camp works with girls, boys, men, and women, so everyone has a chance to learn to code or hone your skills.

With only one touch, FabFocus uses advanced human recognition A.I. to detect people in the foreground, automatically blurring the background to create a professional-looking depth of field effect. Unique to FabFocus, the app enables multiple bokeh effects, transforming point lights into your choice of hexagons, stars, hearts and more!

Loop sponsorship special— 33% off this week only. Get FabFocus Now.

Another shootout between the three most popular camera phones. Interesting to compare the Verge’s opinions with those of the CNET article I linked to yesterday.

I love these stories if only for the arguments they generate. I think Pearl Jam and Tupac should be in the Hall but would disagree that Journey, the J. Geils Band, and Joe Tex deserve entry. What about you? Who do you think, out of the 19 nominees this round, deserves to be in or not?

I’ve seen some of this artist’s work before and it is incredible the amount of time and skill this takes.

And according to one of its customer representatives, the Swedish music streaming company is not keen on going beyond its AirPlay support for Apple TV and coming out with its own Apple TV app soon.

This certainly isn’t because of anything Apple is doing to prevent Spotify from making an app—Pandora is on Apple TV, so it’s possible. I wonder if Spotify is just being childish here.

This is an interesting comparison. The reviewer uses the phones and takes the shots that an “average” person would take. This is not a “Review by a Pro” and therefore, might be even more applicable to our readers. Given the shots the reviewer used, I really don’t have very much argument with their conclusions.

Up for bid will be a slew of speakers and speaker boxes, more than half a dozen recording and live sound consoles, various vintage effects, analog and digital tape machines, guitars, drums and more. The full auction, “Property from the Estate of Frank and Gail Zappa,” will be held by Julien’s Auctions on November 4; the company will hold a public exhibition of the items October 31 through November 3.

His house was sold to Lady Gaga. There’s a lot of history in these items.