Apple cares about accessibility. They’ve shown this over the years and they’re doing it again. […]
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A look at Instagram’s new icon
I always find these types of deep looks into design very fascinating.
iTunes Ping
Stephen Hackett wrote a piece looking back at iTunes Ping. Apple just never really gets social and music integration.
The coolest sign in Portland
Cabel Sasser, the co-founder of Panic, made the coolest sign I’ve seen in a long time. Really.
The amazing Marble Mountain machine
VIDEO: I found this remarkably fun to watch. I admire the building skills it took to bring this together.
Gemini 2: The intelligent duplicate file finder
Locate and remove duplicate files, even if they’re in remote corners of your system. Gemini 2 scans your whole disk speed-of-light fast, no matter how massive it is. Dig through scan results and hand-pick the files to erase, or better — let Smart Select do all the work.
Very nice looking interface and something I know I could use.
The Black Album drums for BFD3 and Kontakt
The Black Album Drums is a drum library for BFD3 and Kontakt 5.5 (full version) inspired by the drum sound featured on the “Black Album” by Metallica from 1991.
This is pretty special—these guys found the kit played on that record, not just the same model, but that exact kit.
Castamatic podcast player
Castamatic is the best way to listen to podcasts on any iOS device. Quickly assemble a custom sequence of shows to listen to, create a smart playlist, and listen to your favorite shows with top-notch audio quality, thanks to Castamatic’s custom DSP algorithms.
Another interesting podcast app.
Swiss beard society marks 75 years
Cheers bearded people!
Wal-Mart sues Visa over chip-enabled debit cards
Visa “has demanded that we allow fraud-prone signature verification for debit transactions in our U.S. stores because Visa stands to make more money processing,” Wal-Mart said.
The retailer pays about five cents more for a signature transaction than a PIN payment, said a person familiar with the rates.
I had no idea they paid more per transaction for a signature.
Quebec teen discovers ancient Mayan ruins by studying the stars
What an incredibly clever kid. I think at 15, I was still learning to tie my sneakers properly.
The mind-boggling challenge of designing 120-sided dice
The D&D nerds out there (a group I am proud to be part of) are undoubtedly trying to figure out a way to use these. If nothing else, at only $12 each, I’d buy a couple just to add to my dice collection.
7 amazing online photo editors
I’m a big fan of Adobe’s Lightroom but these online tools can do a lot of what desktop apps do.
Budweiser renames its beer “America”
Is it just me or does this seem less “patriotic” and more “weird and pandering” to anyone else?
Canadian banks RBC and CIBC sign up for Apple Pay, others to follow
Great news for my fellow Canadians.
Spotify growing faster since introduction of Apple Music
Spotify, which was created in Stockholm 10 years ago, now boasts of having close to 100 million users in more than 59 markets, despite increasing competition and, so far, a lack of profits.
Spotify claims it has 30 million paid users compared to Apple’s 13 million. Both Apple and Spotify say they are growing, so the users are coming from other services, or they are new to streaming.
Every iPhone speed tested
I love this guy’s videos.
Apple’s new iPhone ad with Neil Patrick Harris
Not much to really say about this one.
SoundShare: The social music app that Apple needs
We all know by know that Apple doesn’t do social well at all, and that includes Apple Music. Its failed attempts with Ping and Connect underscore the company’s lack of understanding in attempting to engage customers in the social realm. However, I’ve been testing a free new app called SoundShare that really gets the integration of social and music.
Back in Black: AC/DC and Axl Rose in Lisbon 2016
I never thought Axl could pull this off, but this is pretty damn good.
Creative things to do with a dead body
As a Nova Scotianer, I’d love to be buried at sea off the coast of my home province. After all the food the ocean has provided me (I’ve eaten hundreds of pounds of lobster), I think it’s only fair I feed the little fishies right back.
6 tips to keep in mind when talking to someone who stutters
As a stutterer myself, there is some great advice in this piece if you know anyone who has a stutter. Patience is the key.
One man will decide if the art of skywriting lives or dies
I’ve only ever seen skywriting once, when I was a kid, and I distinctly remember being utterly fascinated by it and driving my father nuts with questions.
James West forever changed the way we hear the world
I’ve never heard of an electret microphone but this is a fascinating story.
Apple meets with podcasters
Late last month, Apple brought seven leading podcast professionals to the company’s campus in Cupertino, Calif., to air their case to a room full of employees, according to two people who were there. The people would speak only on the condition of anonymity because they had signed nondisclosure agreements. The company made no promises, the people said, but several pressing issues for podcasters were discussed in frank terms.
Apple has problems, there’s no question about that. I hope these types of meetings will help, but we’ll see—I have my doubts.
The story behind hockey’s most famous photo
In honor of the NHL playoffs on now (I’m halfheartedly cheering for Nashville and Pittsburgh – both cities I used to live in), this is a really interesting back story of one of the greatest action photos ever taken.
Tim Cook Named Keynote Speaker at Startup Fest Europe
Apple CEO Tim Cook has been named as one of several tech industry executives that will speak at Startup Fest Europe, a festival geared towards helping startups grow faster, according to the event website.
That would be an interesting talk!
Apple Music ditching “Connect” tab in redesign
In the iOS 10 Apple Music redesign, the Connect feature will follow Ping’s lead and will be demoted. Apple Music Connect currently exists as its own tab across the Apple Music interface, but multiple sources say that the feature will lose its tab and become integrated into the “For You” recommendations page.
I do hope this is true. Connect is the most useless thing since Ping. However, I hope that “integrated” into For You doesn’t mean that it will be mixed in with my recommendations—that would completely ruin the For You tab for me. Just kill Connect and be done with it.
Immersion files second complaint over Apple’s 3D Touch
Immersion, a company which developers haptic feedback technology, has filed its second complaint of the year against Apple. The company claims that 3D Touch on the iPhone 6s and the Force Touch trackpad found on the 12-inch MacBook and recent MacBook Pro models violate a number of Immersion patents.
I wonder how Apple will argue this case.
Cupertino Mayor loses his mind
I don’t even know what to say about Cupertino Mayor, Barry Chang. He complains in an article The Guardian that he showed up unannounced at Apple’s headquarters and was denied a meeting—I assume with Tim Cook–he was asked to leave. […]