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Mic:

Some of the most mythic songs in history have never before been heard. Music has long played an integral role in literature and myth — forms that imperfectly captured the sounds described. What follows is a list of some of the most compelling songs that no living being has ever heard. These are songs that, without any music, testify to the true power of the art form

When I first read the headline, I thought it was poorly written but upon reading the story I realized they were right – there are many famous “songs” we’ve never actually heard.

That growth was led by Apple and its blockbuster iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, which captured the overwhelming majority of the industry’s profit. Android, meanwhile, was relegated to a record-low of 11 percent global smartphone profit share during the quarter.

Apple had 89 percent and Android took 11 percent. It’s hard to argue with numbers like that.

Web-only access is a free level of iCloud service that’s available to anyone, including people who don’t own or use Apple devices. It includes access to Pages, Numbers, and Keynote for iCloud and 1 GB of free storage for any documents you create.

This is such a great idea.

Bloomberg:

For almost a century, Kellogg defined the American breakfast: a moment when people would be jolted out of their drowsiness—often with a stupendous serving of sugar.

The sales of 19 of Kellogg’s top 25 cereals eroded last year, according to Consumer Edge Research, a Stamford (Conn.) firm that tracks the food industry. Sales of Frosted Flakes, the company’s No. 1 brand, fell 4.5 percent.

Kellogg executives don’t expect cereal sales to return to growth this year, though they hope to slow the rate of decline and do better in 2016. But some Wall Street analysts say cereal sales may never fully recover. In Battle Creek, so-called Cereal City, that would be the equivalent of the apocalypse.

I haven’t sat down to a bowl of breakfast cereal in more than a decade but my favourite was always Apple Jacks.

Ars Technica:

The Federal Communications Commission today voted to enforce net neutrality rules that prevent Internet providers—including cellular carriers—from blocking or throttling traffic or giving priority to Web services in exchange for payment.

The most controversial part of the FCC’s decision reclassifies fixed and mobile broadband as a telecommunications service, with providers to be regulated as common carriers under Title II of the Communications Act. This decision brings Internet service under the same type of regulatory regime faced by wireline telephone service and mobile voice, though the FCC is forbearing from stricter utility-style rules that it could also apply under Title II.

This is a big step but the fight isn’t over yet.

Apple updated its web site today confirming it will live stream the March 9 event.

Apple on Thursday sent out invites for a special event to be held on March 9, 2015. The event will be held in San Francisco at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, a venue that Apple has used many times before for special events. […]

This is exactly what I’d expect from Apple—lots of room on the page with the focus being on the product, and not on a bunch of needless words. It speaks for itself.

Jim, Shawn and Dave talk about Steve Jobs, Apple Watch pricing and Roadie Tuner!

Sponsored by WALTR (Visit the link and use the code BIGBEARDSPECIAL for 33% off).

I never realized how many great beard t-shirts were out there. I need to make my own beard t-shirts.

The list of software known to use the same HTTPS-breaking technology recently found preinstalled on Lenovo laptops has risen dramatically with the discovery of at least 12 new titles, including one that’s categorized as a malicious trojan by a major antivirus provider.

Good luck Lenovo users.

Apple is very particular and thorough.

Today in Media History: In 1964, sportswriters reported that Cassius Clay was the new heavyweight boxing champion.

What a great story.

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook was in Israel on Wednesday, and had a meeting with President Reuven Rivlin, as Apple is prepared to open a new office in the country.

Joanna Stern:

Without much thought, I did what most Americans do every two years: I agreed to be locked in by a multibillion-dollar wireless company. With pricey contracts and confusing add-ons, they make it incredibly hard to leave, let alone take our phones with us. I deserve to walk around with “Property of Verizon” stamped on my forehead.

I know a lot of people that are going for the unlocked phone so they don’t have to be locked in any more. It’s more expensive upfront, but sometimes the flexibility is worth it.

Rumors have been swirling since late last night that Apple acquired Instrument and effect plug-in maker, Camel Audio. I contacted Apple today to see whether or not the rumors were true. […]

Broadcast television may be now facing a similar, scary phase shift. Netflix has been making inroads among U.S. consumers for years, but its impact on the key 18-to-49-year-old demographic has so far been limited. Old habits die hard and many viewers have remained mostly loyal to habit of gorging on linear television on Thursday nights.

But the most recent numbers have some scary elements that point to a possibly massive disruption in the near term. Broadcast TV consumption among 18-to-34-year-old Americans plunged by 11% in the Christmas quarter. Ominously, audiences of young-skewing cable channels like Nickelodeon and MTV are now sliding by 14 to 17% year-on-year.

I’ll be honest, I’m more excited about a new Netflix series than I am about anything on one of the big networks.

Interesting article from John Cassidy in The New Yorker. If Apple is working on a car, I think they could give the traditional car companies more of a run than Cassidy does.

Tim Cook posted this tweet today. I still miss Steve. He would have been 60 today.

The car was from 1999, but Marc has designed a lot of transportation vehicles. Just another interesting point.

Medium:

(Apple is) in a lot of ways the story of a technology company hanging around, making interesting things, and waiting for the world to actually need what they wanted to build.

But also something to remember: narratives are bullshit. It’s the people who show up and build and keep going who ultimately write the stories that last.

Many don’t remember or know just how bad off Apple was in those days. It’s path has got to be considered the most remarkable story in the history of business.

djay Pro for Mac provides a complete toolkit for performing DJs. Its unique and modern interface is built around a sophisticated integration with iTunes and Spotify, giving you instant access to millions of tracks. Pristine sound quality and a powerful … Continued

A handy bit of info from Apple’s support site, just in case you ever need it.

I’ve been watching this robot tuner for quite some time. I decided to take the plunge this morning and give it a try.

The Money is Mine:

Settlements have been reached in the Canadian DRAM national class actions, totaling over $79 million.

You can get money from the settlements if you bought DRAM or electronic devices containing DRAM between April 1, 1999 and June 30, 2002.

Many of my fellow Candians qualify for this settlement and I’d encourage you to take advantage of it, even if it’s only at the $20 level. Thanks to my friend Greg for the heads up.

Filippo Valsorda:

Turns out Lenovo preloaded their laptops with adware that will intercept all your secure connections, and allow criminals to do it, too.

After investigating the Lenovo incident we found out that many other softwares – like some Parental Controls or security packages – do things even worse for your security. This test attempts to detect them all.

Send this to all your friends. Quick, simple test.

BBC:

On Oscar night the usually car-clogged streets of Hollywood fall silent because everyone is at a viewing party or, if they’re very lucky, sliding into a dress by Dior or slipping on a tuxedo en route to the big show.

The streets aren’t entirely empty: countless limousines are zipping all over town, then making their way to the Dolby Theatre, more than a dozen blocks surrounding Hollywood Boulevard closed to all other traffic as the purring cars patiently wait to drop off their clients.

Parking’s as difficult as a diva at the best of times in Hollywood, so where do hundreds and hundreds of limos – and their suited and booted chauffeurs – go to wait until they have to pick up again?

I never know whether that would be a cool job or not.

But the kicker here is that the Fire TV actually works. My Apple TV has been plagued by poor performance and repeated crashes—sometimes right in the middle of a show. Every time that’s happened, it’s been faster to switch inputs to my Fire TV and resume the video there than it has been to wait for the Apple TV to finish its glacial restarting process.

I found this really interesting. It’s certainly not a good sign that the Apple TV has such poor performance when watching a program. If it was caused by Dan’s Internet, then the Fire TV wouldn’t work either, but it does. I don’t have many problems with my Apple TV, except when watching the NHL station—that usually sucks really bad.

My thanks to Edovia for sponsoring The Loop’s RSS feed this week. Screens is a beautiful, yet powerful VNC client for iOS and Mac that lets you connect back to your computer from the comfort of your living room, the corner coffee shop or anywhere in the world.

Until the end of the month, we’re happy to offer 20% off Screens for Mac to the readers of The Loop. Simply use this link to save!

Jim’s Note: I’ve used Screens for Mac and iOS since they were first released. I love them both.

Top Hat quickly answers the one question that indie developers have every morning: How well did our apps do in the App Store yesterday?

Top Hat lives in the Yosemite menu bar and shows up-to-date daily sales figures for your apps. Revenue from In-App Purchases is aggregated to give you a single total for each app. Weekly figures can be inspected by holding ⌥ as you click the Top Hat icon.

A great new app from Oisin Prendiville, the man behind Castro podcasting app, Unread and Tokens. I’m buying this.