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How many of you had “sea monkies” when you were a kid? I remember seeing the ads in the back of almost every comic book I read but not believing for a second they looked as pictured. Sure enough, some kid in our neighborhood managed to convince his parents to let him buy the package and they were just as disappointing as I had imagined they would be.

Spirit of the West was/is one of my favorite bands. I saw them often when I was in college here in Vancouver and they were very approachable, often sitting with us after gigs and chatting. The song, “The Crawl”, was seen as a challenge to us college boys. We wanted to hit all the pubs in the song in one evening. We tried many times but my friends didn’t have my Nova Scotia stamina for heavy drinking. And check out one of their most well known songs, “Home for a Rest”. Very sad to hear of their myriad of health issues and even sadder I won’t get to see them one last time.

I absolutely hate these blast dryers. Now there’s scientific evidence for my hatred.

This is such a bizarre and useless accomplishment but, having wasted countless hours on this game, I can certainly appreciate the effort.

I used the hell out of iTunes allowances, but Family Sharing is a great way to share content.

My thanks to MacScan for sponsoring The Loop this week.

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MacGameStore.com today announced the release of an exciting “Pay What You Want” bundle to celebrate great Indie games. We’re also thrilled to announce that 10% of the proceeds from the sale of the bundle will go to “Stand Up To Cancer”, a groundbreaking initiative created to accelerate innovative cancer research that will get new therapies to patients quickly and save lives now.

If you beat the average price, you get even more games. The average price right now is just over $5.00.

The company that helped the FBI unlock a San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone to get data has sole legal ownership of the method, making it highly unlikely the technique will be disclosed by the government to Apple or any other entity, Obama administration sources said this week.

Not a big surprise. The government doesn’t want Apple to fix the exploit, but there is no doubt Apple is working very hard to close it.

A fascinating read from Ben Thompson, a nice analysis of Facebook, it’s core values, and how the changing nature of advertising and the growing sophistication of Facebook users’ sense of identity is stressing those values. Terrific insights.

Apple Inc. has constructed a secret team to explore changes to the App Store, including a new strategy for charging developers to have their apps more prominently displayed, according to people familiar with the plans.

Among the ideas being pursued, Apple is considering paid search, a Google-like model in which companies would pay to have their app shown at the top of search results based on what a customer is seeking. For instance, a game developer could pay to have its program shown when somebody looks for “football game,” “word puzzle” or “blackjack.”

I’ll be honest, this seems like a very un-Apple thing to do. This will only widen the gap of small developers having any chance of being fairly featured on the App Store, and that gap is pretty large already.

U.S. federal, state and local government agencies rank in last place in cyber security when compared against 17 major private industries, including transportation, retail and healthcare, according to a new report released Thursday.

No reason to be concerned, right?

Apple Inc and the FBI will return to Congress next week to testify before lawmakers about their heated disagreement over law enforcement access to encrypted devices, a congressional committee announced on Thursday.

We knew it wasn’t over.

This is a really well done video that does a great job of showing the issues that are only now being slowly resolved go back much farther than most Americans realize.

This was pretty obviously what was going to happen when Motor Trend started pimping this on Twitter yesterday. But many ClickWhores expectedly left their common sense at the door and happily “reported” the “Exclusive”. Sure enough, today’s “news” showed Motor Trend knows nothing about the mythical Apple Car. But many in the tech media won’t say that – they’ll just re-report uncritically because that’s so much easier than actually thinking.

Apple teamed up with 25 developers to donate the profits of their apps to WWF until April 24.

With Smile Software making significant changes to its shortcut utility, lots of folks have been looking at and for alternatives. I was a big fan of TypeIt4me long before I ever used TextExpander.

Sure, your browser can download. But does it let you easily accelerate downloads, limit bandwidth, download on a schedule, or execute rules to sort incoming downloaded files? Doubt it. And clearly, you’re not going to be able to quit that RAM-consuming monster of a browser until all your downloads are done.

I like the folks at Many Tricks. I think they make good software.

A core member of Apple’s elite industrial design team for more than 20 years, Mr. Coster is credited for his contributions to a wide range of now iconic consumer electronics ranging from the iPhone 4 to the iPad wireless keyboard. He holds more than 500 design patents and several utility patents, and has been recognized by several international design organizations for his work.

I’m always interested to see how Apple designers do outside the Apple ecosystem.

Few of us give much thought to the innards of our electronics but the supply chain process of getting all that stuff into your hands is remarkable. It’s also why we see so many rumors of individual components. The devices have become far too complex for Apple to keep a lid on everything.

As an older brother (to eight), I can definitely understand and appreciate playing this kind of prank on a younger sibling.

Amazon says it’s the thinnest and lightest Kindle ever. They also say it has the longest Kindle battery life–the included leather charging cover boosts battery to last months.

Cellebrite Mobile Synchronization Ltd., the forensics unit of a little-known Japanese pinball company, is fast becoming the go-to guys when law enforcement needs to unlock smartphones. Its group chief executive officer has plans to keep the firm on the frontlines against terrorism.

Not a big surprise they have some of the world’s biggest law enforcement agencies as clients.

Interesting move for Logitech.

I really dislike Yngwie. Probably why I love this video so much.

Juli Clover:

Teen interest in Apple’s iPhone continues to grow, according to data gathered by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster in the latest semiannual teen survey. 69 percent of teens surveyed own iPhones, up from 67 percent in the Fall 2015 survey. 75 percent of teens queried expect their next device to be an iPhone, up one percent from the previous survey.

This is very important. These are the people that Apple is relying on to purchase the iPhones of the future.

I’m always impressed with the things people can do with CSS.

110 years ago next week, on April 18, 1906, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake centered near the city of San Francisco struck at 5:15 AM. The intense shaking toppled hundreds of buildings, but the resulting out-of-control fires were even more destructive.

Devastating.

[Via Kottke]

Smile made some adjustments to its upgrade plans and pricing.

There are signs that Gibson’s move to diversify isn’t working out as planned. Moody’s Investor Service has downgraded Gibson Brands (formerly Gibson Guitar Corporation) credit to junk status, and according to reports, the company has put up two of its Nashville warehouses for sale as a result.

Gibson has been in trouble for a long time. I’m not sure if they tried to buy their way out of it or tried to ignore it, but either way, it seems to be getting worse.

That case and others show how cyber-criminals have professionalized ransomware schemes, borrowing tactics from customer service or marketing, law enforcement officials and security firms say. Some players in the booming underworld employ graphic artists, call centers and technical support to streamline payment and data recovery, according to security firms that advise businesses on hacking threats.

I didn’t realize how “professional” these people have become.