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The Washington Post:

Apple and Dropbox said Tuesday that they do not support a controversial cybersecurity bill that, according to critics, would give the government sweeping new powers to spy on Americans in the name of protecting them from hackers.

The announcement by the two companies comes days before the Senate expects to vote on the legislation, known as the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, or CISA.

“We don’t support the current CISA proposal,” Apple said in a statement. “The trust of our customers means everything to us and we don’t believe security should come at the expense of their privacy.”

This is and will continue to be an ongoing battle. It’s great to see companies like Apple, Dropbox and others drawing a line in the sand and pushing back on the government’s attempts to access our private information.

Mashable:

Apple isn’t just a technology company. It’s increasingly becoming a luxury brand in its own right.

Apple’s sponsorship of the 2016 Met Gala and exhibition—announced last week— further underscores this shifting identity. Dubbed “Manus x Machina: Fashion in the Age of Technology,” the exhibition will highlight the intersection between machine-made fashion and handmade haute couture.

I sat down with Apple Chief Design Officer Jony Ive, Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour and Costume Institute Curator Andrew Bolton to talk about the gala and exhibit, how technology and fashion can work together, and the future of the two worlds.

Apple’s move into the “luxury market” is interesting but fraught with pitfalls. The fashion world is notoriously fickle. So it’s always interesting to hear from Apple’s principals about what they think and how they are going to navigate this minefield.

The Verge:

I didn’t know Steve Jobs during the early parts of his career — his first stint Apple and then his time running the failed NeXT — which take up most of the movie. And I know very little about his relationship with his daughter Lisa.

But the Steve Jobs I did know — the one the movie never shows — balanced his strong views and his impatience with a willingness to listen to others and to change his mind. In our many conversations, he loved to debate product and tech issues. Yes, we had some shouting matches, but we also had a lot of serious, calm conversation and even some laughs. And, unlike the man in the movie, I saw him listen to, and eventually agree with, contrary views raised by an employee.

Every review I’ve seen of this movie is similar – that it would have been a good movie had it been about an entirely fictitious character. In particular, reviewers have raved about Fasbender. But every person who knew Jobs echoes what Mossberg said – the movie is unfair to Jobs and doesn’t do the entirety of his life — or even the period portrayed — justice.

The Verge:

Apple will “start taking orders Monday” for the new Apple TV, and it will ship by the end of next week, Cook says.

This is from the liveblog of the Wall Street Journal conference’s interview with Tim Cook this evening, according to The Verge.

The Wall Street Journal:

Cook will be interviewed by Gerard Baker, The Wall Street Journal’s Editor in Chief. They will live-blog Cook’s interview on stage beginning at around 11:30 p.m. ET, 8:30 PST.

This should be an interesting interview. I’ll miss it though because I will be caught up in the exciting Canadian Election results. To all my fellow Canadians – get out and vote!

Benjamin Mayo:

The current set of videos in the list include imagery from China, San Francisco, Hawaii, New York City and London. Interestingly, there are multiple variants for each location as well as separate day and night shots. It seems like the Apple TV will dynamically show a contextually-relevant video for the user’s time of day. It’s also interesting just how many different sequences Apple has for each same location and time.

There are some gorgeous videos here. I look forward to seeing them on my TV and seeing Apple update them for more locations.

What if you could get 5% of your day back? What would you do?

You already have enough work to do today and shouldn’t have to waste time looking for the things you need to do your job!

Igloo can’t solve the conflict in Syria but it can help with conflict with coworkers. Igloo’s not just for your traditional intranet stuff like HR policies and expense forms. It lets you work better together with your team. Stop digging through your inbox for that file from 3 months back and give yourself the tools you need to do your best work.

Send your IT guy to try Igloo Software and see for yourself why Igloo is an intranet you’ll actually like.

The New York Times:

George Bell — a simple name, two syllables, the minimum. There were no obvious answers as to who he was or what shape his life had taken. What worries weighed on him. Whom he loved and who loved him.

Like most New Yorkers, he lived in the corners, under the pale light of obscurity.

In discovering a death, you find a life story and perhaps meaning. Could anything in the map of George Bell’s existence have explained his lonely end? Possibly not. But it was true that George Bell died carrying some secrets.

A well written and painfully sad story that will make you ask of yourself, “Will I be remembered when I’m gone?” Some of us won’t like the answer to that question.

Digg:

Two weeks ago, a YouTube channel called “Tony is Back!” was born. It claims — in a series of three commercials — that the Frosted Flakes mascot is now here to help the adults who grew up eating his nutritious cereal. Unfortunately, Tony is no longer any sort of role model.

Each of the three commercials functions like a brutal and disturbing garden-path joke, made plausible by the production value, “They’re Grrrrreat!” tagline, and inclusion of one obviously trademarked and highly-protected mascot/spokestiger. Even stranger, the channel created a website and a hashtag (tonyisback.com and #tonyisback, respectively). The site, like the commercials, looks professional enough to fool an average person. Many of the links point back to the official Kellogg website.

These might be considered NSFW but they are definitely weird and demented. How the site is still up even after the Facebook and Twitter pages have been suspended is beyond me. Perhaps it’s an attempt at a viral campaign by Kellog itself? Regardless, if you like your Sunday humor dark and weird, these videos will be right up your alley.

The Robb Report:

I decided to upgrade my Mac to El Capitan, but my computer said, on one condition: I must “carefully” read and agree with something. And so I did what anyone else would: I cleared my afternoon schedule and got right down to business; reading, carefully, the entire document. It turns out that I was much too pessimistic! I needed only 33 minutes.

I should note that I’m an attorney with a good understanding of license, trademark, and copyright law. I’m also a software developer with 20 years’ experience. So your own read-through may take more or less time, accordingly.

I thought it’d be a “fun” project to see what the “El Capitan License” actually says. Cool idea, huh? Kind of like spelunking through a cave that everyone says they’ve been through, but maybe no one really has. What will I find wedged in a wall or lurking in the dark around the next turn?

Like so many of us, I have never read these agreements we see all the time so it’s good that a trained professional did on our behalf. It’s also good to not see any truly onerous restrictions in Apple’s licensing terms.

Consumer Reports:

A number of websites recently created a stir with reports of a potential shortcoming of the iPhone 6s smartphones. According to those “chipgate” reports, the battery life on iPhone 6s models with an A9 central processing unit made by Samsung is worse than the battery life on models with a CPU made by TSMC. The phones with the Samsung chip also run hotter, the reports claim, than the phones with the chip made by TSMC.

While Consumer Reports’ tests had confirmed that the battery life on the 6s and 6s Plus is slightly shorter than that on the iPhone 6, they had not addressed the chipgate rumors. So, much like they did for last year’s “bendgate,” our engineers developed a special protocol to test this apparent issue. Those tests simulate real-world usage as opposed to relying on the benchmarks used by other organizations in their off-the-shelf tests.

As much as I dislike Consumer Reports for any number of reasons, I’m always fascinated by their testing and experiment methodologies.

CNET:

“Pirates” focuses on the heated personal rivalry between Steve Jobs of Apple and Bill Gates of Microsoft, recounting the parallel and often intertwined stories of the two companies and their tempestuous founders. Written and directed by photojournalist and documentary-maker Martyn Burke, the TV movie was based on the book “Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer” by Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine. It was first shown on TNT in June 1999.

“Pirates” is focused on recounting events rather than getting into the heads of its characters, so there’s not a great deal of insight into their motivations.

I watched this when it came out and remember thinking, while it was a “fun” movie, it really wasn’t very good. I’ll have to watch it again in light of the past 15 years. I was in the third row of the Macworld Expo Keynote audience when Noah Wylie came out in character as Steve Jobs and the place went bananas.

Oh shit, SELL SELL SELL.

The Boston Globe:

Hot air balloon festivals are a visual treat for many. Not only do they provide a stunning perspective for their passengers, but their playful shapes, colors, and themes make these floating vessels excellent subject matter for photographers, both on the ground and in the sky. Here is a look at some of the 2015 balloonist gatherings around the globe.

I’ve always told my students, if you ever want guaranteed great photos, find a hot air balloon festival.

Let’s see: Trade my MacBook that comes with a new, modern operating system for a piece of shit hardware that runs an operating system nobody wants…

Fuck no!

I have 4k video turned on all the time. I figure that video, and the tools we use, are only going to improve over time, so I might as well start capturing it now.

Thanks to Carbon Copy Cloner for sponsoring The Loop this week. What’s your plan when your Mac’s hard drive dies? Plan ahead and get back to work in minutes with a Carbon Copy Cloner bootable backup. CCC—the app that saves your bacon.

Jim’s Note: I’ve used this app for many years. I trust and love it.

Washington Post:

You may have heard that Apple’s on the hook for $862 million in potential penalties after a jury ruled that it infringed on a patent owned by the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

The university appears to be asking for roughly half that amount, about $400 million, but that is still a huge amount of money, particularly in relation to a) the size of the university’s budget and b) how much Apple’s spent on Washington lobbyists to head off just these types of lawsuits. And the stakes aren’t limited to the fines: If Apple is forced to pay future royalties, it’ll add to the production costs of future iPhones and iPads. While that won’t necessarily lead to increased prices for consumers, it could drag down the company’s profits over the long run even as it grapples with the reputational fallout of having copied someone else’s work.

Apple is almost sure to appeal, and it could very well get the fines reduced further or eliminated, as it did with another recent patent case this year. Still, the ruling represents a stinging rebuke for a company that has spent years accusing its rival, Samsung, of essentially stealing its hardware designs.

Many have and will call the University of Wisconsin–Madison a “patent troll” but that’s not necessarily the case in this particular situation. This does bring into question once again patents and lawsuits. The jury award could also open Apple up to further damages if they also loses a second lawsuit UW-Madison filed against the iPhone 6S, 6S Plus and the iPad Pro.

Medium:

Finding great stock photos is a pain. You’re left with either low-res amateur photos, people wearing cheesy headsets, or photos that are out of budget for the project you’re working on. Below is an ongoing list (so bookmark it) of the best stock photo sites I’ve come across.

I love using my own photos to illustrate things but sometimes, you just need one particular kind of shot. There are lots of sites that will charge you for lots of different kinds of images but, if you’re on a budget or just cheap, check out some of the sites listed at this page. Many of them have newsletters you can sign up for that will send you a daily list of new images.

Apple on Thursday released substantial updates for its iWork suite of applications on all its platforms: iOS, Mac, and the Web. There are a lot of changes in these updates—here are the major ones.

iMore:

Researchers from ANSSI, France’s National Information System Security Agency, have demonstrated a “hack” where, using transmitters from a short distance away, they can trigger Apple’s Siri and Google Now under certain specific circumstances.

Like usual, it’s something to be aware of but not overly concerned about. Once again, we should all be more concerned about the state of security reporting at mainstream publications.

Siri and Google Now are enabling and empowering technologies that help people live better lives. We should all be informed and educated about any potential security issues, but not sensationalized or made to feel scared in any way.

When I saw the Wired story, I (predictably) thought there was more to it than what was reported. As usual, whenever you read about “security threats” to Apple’s products, it’s always good to wait a few days until calmer heads investigate and give you a better, fuller version of the story.

Wow.

[Via Coudal]

Jim and Merlin talk Apple Watch workouts, playing guitar at parties, and break the fourth wall.

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Links:

• Tense Party Enters Third Hour Of Unplayed Acoustic Guitar Leaning Against Wall
• Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage (2010) – IMDb
• Upgrade #58: What’s Magic About That Keyboard?
• Rob Zombie – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Mission of Burma – “Signals, Calls, and Marches” (1981) on Apple Music

This would freak me out, but it looks cool.

Pixelmator 3.4 Twist adds support for the new OS X El Capitan, multitasking via Split View, the new Pixelmator Photos Extension with powerful Distort tools, and more.

This is such a great app. The guys at Pixelmator continue to improve the application, adding value for its customers.

Samsung is adding two new Galaxy Note 5 options to its lineup in South Korea. They’re exactly the same internally, but they come in two cool new colors — Silver Titanium and Pink Gold.

“Pink Gold,” really? Samsung is so pathetic.

Newer Tesla Motors Model S sedans will be able to steer and park themselves under certain conditions starting Thursday, the carmaker said, although Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk cautioned that drivers should keep holding the steering wheel.

“We’re being especially cautious at this stage so we’re advising drivers to keep their hands on the wheel just in case,” Musk told reporters at the company’s Silicon Valley headquarters. “Over time there will not be a need to have your hands on the wheel.”

The dynamic, engaging and interactive Newseum allows visitors to experience the stories of yesterday and today through the eyes of the media while celebrating the freedoms guaranteed to all Americans by the First Amendment.

I really want to go here. I’m a big fan of history and this museum is definitely in my wheel house.

What a great page on Apple’s Web site comparing the 1998 and 2015 iMac.

Jim and Dan talk about Apple’s brand new Magic Keyboard, Magic Trackpad 2, Magic Mouse 2, and the new 5k and 4k iMacs.

Brought to you by Braintree (To learn more, and for your first $50,000 in transactions fee-free, go to braintreepayments.com/amplified) and Squarespace (Visit the link and use the code GUITARS for a free trial and 10% off your first purchase).