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Heartbreaking to think this guy carried around all that unnecessary guilt for all of these years but wonderful that, upon reporting the story, listeners wrote in to help him get past it.

Look at how freaking huge that wombat is.

ASCII weather page. Cool.

This is the logical next step for Apple even if this fight with the FBI hadn’t come up. But, given the climate Apple finds itself in, these new measures will come under even greater scrutiny from the government and the public.

I love how fired up Tim Cook was in this interview, even if the interviewer asked some idiotic questions.

The PR battle is heating up.

Typically clear, well-written piece by Thompson, laying out both sides of the issue. Pass this around to people who may ask you what this story i

I like this new feature. I’m not an avid Facebooker but, when friends and family posted something of interest, I like to acknowledge it. But sometimes those posts don’t feel as if the “Like” is appropriate. These new emojis will help extend the range of expressible emotions on Facebook.

Hard to believe the movie came out more than 30 years ago. I watched it a couple of years ago with a 12 year old and it still stands up really well for both adults and kids

Today’s “world music” isn’t Peruvian pan flutes or African talking drums. It’s loud guitars, growling vocals and ultrafast “blast” beats. Heavy metal has become the unlikely soundtrack of globalization.

YEAH!

This is a really interesting idea. An app that manages all your subscription and junk email, keeping it out of your main email stream.

Federico Viticci updates us on how he is making out with his iPad. I truly don’t know anyone that uses one as much as he does.

I find it remarkable Apple is going to this incredible effort. They don’t really have to. They want to. The company is not going to be better because their new headquarters has the “world’s largest piece of curved glass”.

With Jony Ive focused on Apple’s product vision, Tim Cook has been playing to his strengths dedicating much of his attention to nurturing the Apple experience by focusing on six values: security and privacy, trust, equality and ethics, and environmentally responsibility.

You can get three “Twilight Zone Radio Dramas” for free by signing up and more than 150 Twilight Zone Radio Dramas (each approximately 40 minutes) are available for digital download for only $1.99 each. When I was a kid, I would lie under my covers, trying to tune in to a particular New York City radio station that, late at night, replayed old radio dramas.

I started watching this video and thought the picture quality was awful. And then I kept watching. Wow. That’s insane zoom.

The credit card company noted 92 percent of the their test subjects liked the new system over passwords, as Selfie ID authenticates customers with biometrics when selfies are taken with a front facing camera, or via fingerprint authentication via Apple’s Touch ID, for example.

I always wondered about the reliability of using photos or pictures. Touch ID seems better to me.

Tina Roth Eisenberg:

The Smart Rope counts your jumps and shows them in real-time with a futuristic LED display that appears right before your eyes. Pretty cool idea!

This is indeed a cool idea.

Court records released on Tuesday show the U.S. Justice Department has in the last four months sought court orders to force Apple Inc to help investigators extract data from 15 iPhones in cases across the country.

As you can see in the story, Apple has complied with court orders to help law enforcement when it could do so.

I thought these were great. They even have the poop emoji.

The engineering of the Panama Canal would be remarkable if it occurred today. But it was an even more incredible construction project when it originally opened in 1914. I hadn’t realized it was in danger of becoming irrelevant due to the massive size of today’s cruise and container ships.

I saw this movie over the weekend and it deserves all the accolades it’s receiving. Fun, funny, visually gorgeous.

Fortune:

In an interview on Feb. 12 at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., CEO Tim Cook spoke expansively about the state of Apple, Fortune’s most admired company for nine consecutive years. He talked about how Apple behaves in a down cycle, how the company’s once-sacrosanct only-in-Cupertino mind-set is evolving, and the importance of services to Apple’s product mix. Without acknowledging its existence,

Cook also shed possibly contradictory light on Apple’s widely rumored efforts to build an iCar: He suggested that Apple ultimately may decide not to make a car at all, yet he implied that if it did, it could utilize contract manufacturers to do so, just as it does with computers and phones.

The quote everyone is pointing to in this story is Cook saying, “Yeah, I’m probably not going to do that” with regards to talking about Apple’s much-rumored car project. Cook reiterates the point the company has been making for years – they explore all kinds of technologies and possible products. That doesn’t necessarily mean they will bring them to market.

It must be killing the guys at Fortune that they didn’t do this interview after the Apple vs FBI story broke.

It’s time for another exciting Mighty Deal Exclusive! This super mega bundle from Tom Chalky includes 57 hand-drawn fonts, 230 textures and brushes, and hundreds of extra design elements! If you were lucky enough to snag Tom Chalky’s mega bundle in early 2015, you know how fabulous these design assets can be. You also can take advantage of this year’s Mighty Deal as it contains all new pieces!

I’ve never met her, but she sounds like an amazing woman.

For your enjoyment, a new episode of my podcast, with special guest Jim Dalrymple. Topics include the Apple/FBI legal showdown, the debate over Apple software quality, and more.

I had a great time chatting with John.

White House Petitions:

We petition the Obama administration to halt efforts that compel Apple and other device makers to create a “backdoor” for the Government to access citizens data.

The United States government has demanded that Apple take an unprecedented step which threatens the security of its customers. The FBI, is demanding that Apple build a “backdoor” to bypass digital locks protecting consumer information on Apple’s popular iPhones.

We the undersigned, oppose this order, which has implications far beyond the legal case at hand.

I’m usually skeptical of these kinds of petitions (and there’s no doubt the administration will ignore these efforts) but it’s still one of many things you can do, including contacting your elected representatives, to voice your thoughts on this issue. I’m actually surprised there doesn’t seem to be a petition from the other point of view, supporting the FBI’s efforts.

Mashable:

Apple’s big fight with the Federal Bureau of Investigation could have been avoided if one government employee had kept his hands off the phone.

According to a senior Apple executive, the company has been working with the federal government since early January to try to provide a way to access the San Bernardino county-issued iPhone connected with Syed Farook, the gunman in the massacre.

The problem, according to Apple, is that the company was called too late.

That’s because the phone was apparently erased of any chance to access its data only an hour after the device came into government custody. An unnamed person in the San Bernardino County government — likely an information technology employee — reset the Apple ID associated with the iPhone 5C in an attempt to access the data.

This comedy of errors would be funny if the stakes weren’t so high.

Vox:

NASCAR is ridiculous. At the Daytona 500 in Florida this weekend, 40 souped-up cars will chase each other around a 2.5-mile track at speeds approaching 200 mph. They’ll do this for 200 laps, for a total distance of 500 miles.

But this is what’s truly crazy: For much of the race, the cars will be just inches apart from one another.

This amps up the drama of the sport. But the drivers do it for another reason: It helps them go faster.

Here’s why.

NASCAR gets a lot of flack (arguably justified) for simply being “roundy round” and not requiring much in the way of skill to go left for 500 miles but at least for tracks like Daytona, the abilities of the drivers are incredible considering the speeds they are traveling and the proximity of the cars.

Rich Mogull:

Don’t be distracted by the technical details. The model of phone, the method of encryption, the detailed description of the specific attack technique, and even the feasibility are all irrelevant.

Don’t be distracted by the legal wrangling. By the timing, the courts, or the laws in question. Nor by politicians, proposed legislation, Snowden, or speeches at think tanks or universities.

Don’t be distracted by who is involved. Apple, the FBI, dead terrorists, or common drug dealers. Everything, all of it, boils down to a single question.

Do we have a right to security?

This isn’t the government vs. some technology companies. It’s the government vs. your right to fundamental security in the digital age.

Rich expands on the points he brought up on my show this past Wednesday and, as usual, asks good questions. Keep in mind, there is no “right to privacy” embedded in the US Constitution so it is what we make of it. We can be secure from governmental intrusion or not. As Rich says, there is no middle ground.