BusyContacts brings to contact management the same power, flexibility, and sharing capabilities that BusyCal users have enjoyed with their calendars. What’s more, BusyContacts integrates seamlessly with BusyCal forming a flexible, easy to use CRM solution that works the way you do.
I really like the work these guys do. Great looking app.
Popular Mechanics:
The paper on which tonight’s edition is being printed arrived, as it does each week, from four different paper mills—two in Quebec, one in Ontario, and one in Tennessee—where it was packaged into rolls large enough to serve as the business end of a steamroller: 2,200 pounds each and fifty inches in diameter. Eighteen-wheelers carried them to a Times storage facility in the Bronx, where more trucks took twenty rolls each from there to the plant in Queens, where manned forklifts deposited each one in a four-story warehouse that can hold 2,231 just like it.
For all of its problems and issues, The New York Times is still my favourite paper and this is a really interesting story about how it ends up in physical form.
The Wall Street Journal:
Anki Overdrive is the latest proof that videogames are coming to real life. The tiny AI-powered cars, which surprised robotics and slot-car fans alike when they first hit the market in 2013, will get new customizable tracks—plus hotter designs and abilities—when they arrive this fall.But this second generation swaps out the simple roll-out mat tracks that the first cars drove on for a set of modular tracks that you can lay out any way you want. The new tracks are made up of plastic pieces that magnetically snap together. You can even create terrain—bridges, banked turns and dead-end cliffs.
I had the original track and, while interesting, it quickly lost our interest because of the track limits. This new setup looks fantastic.
Re/code:
Oh God, what is this?That’s the first thought you might have when a notification appears on your iPhone or iPad prompting you to download a “Carrier Settings Update.”If you’re like me, you’ll shrug and tap the Update button (YOLO!). But others might be a little more wary, and want to know what the update is for and whether it’s safe to download before taking any action.Unfortunately, getting answers to these questions is much harder than it should be.
I had this happen while setting up a friend’s phone yesterday. Finding info on what it is was frustratingly difficult.
The New York Times:
if you’re going to ever think about buying lottery tickets, a moment like this — when the Powerball jackpot has reached remarkable highs — is the best possible time.The biggest and most generally applicable reason buying lottery tickets is a non-terrible idea is this: It is fun to imagine one’s future after arriving at vast wealth.
I’ve always loved the Fran Leibowitz line of, “Your odds of winning the lottery are the same whether you play it or not.”
TED:
It’s a piece of cake. You can’t put lipstick on a pig. Why add fuel to the fire? Idioms are those phrases that mean more than the sum of their words. As our Open Translation Project volunteers translate TED Talks into 105 languages, they’re often challenged to translate English idioms into their language. Which made us wonder: what are their favorite idioms in their own tongue?
Many of these are even more nonsensical in English. My favourite is, “You sing like an elephant farted in your ear!” Hat tip to Lori Taber.
This weekend, a man wearing a skull mask posted a video on YouTube outlining his plans to murder me. I know his real name. I documented it and sent it to law enforcement, praying something is finally done. I have received these death threats and 43 others in the last five months.
This is just unreal. You have to read this piece.
The Led Zeppelin reissue campaign continues in 2015, turning the spotlight on the double album Physical Graffiti. The deluxe edition of the group’s sixth studio album will arrive 40 years to the day after the original debuted on February 24, 1975. As with the previous deluxe editions, Physical Graffiti has been newly remastered by guitarist and producer Jimmy Page and is accompanied by a disc of companion audio comprising previously unreleased music related to the original release.
It’s available for pre-order.
Heineken NV, the world’s third-largest brewer, forecast growth against a tough market backdrop in the year ahead after reporting higher revenue for 2014 and increasing its dividend.
I’ve done my part.
A Craigslist ad selling a guitar:
“THIS GUITAR WILL NOT PLAY DOOM METAL. This guitar needs to play GOOD RIFFS and not BORING doom riffs. If your favorite band is Black Sabbath, I can’t sell this guitar to you. If you own a Fender or Gibson and want to upgrade, I can’t sell this to you (Ibanez Japanese guitars are the PRIME of guitar craftsmanship crafted by the ancient Japanese wizards—if you think otherwise, you haven’t played one of these HEAVY METAL BATTLE TANKS.)
“If you want to play REAL GUITAR RIFFS, this guitar is for you! If you have a Marshall full-stack in your bedroom, THIS GUITAR IS FOR YOU. If you say you are ready to buy this guitar and show up to buy it wearing a Mastodon shirt, I can’t sell it to you. I MEAN RIFFS, not some banjo jangle pentatonic shit. If you own an HM2, this guitar is perfect. You can get the perfect chainsaw distortion with these HOT HIGH GAIN RAIL PICKUPS. Real riffs only.”
That’s some funny shit.
Good list of apps here from Lee Peterson. I use all of those and a couple more.
Each month, Foremost releases a limited-edition collection of clothing — three-to-five items per gender — alongside an interview series with some of the world’s most prominent, interesting, and creative personalities.
Good luck to my friend, Matt Alexander, on his new project.
Zak Wylde puts on such a great show. This is one of my favorite BLS songs.
Jim, Shawn and Special Guest Dave Mark talk Tim Cook, The Loop Magazine, The Grammys and Kanye West!
IFO Apple Store:
An original and significant element of Apple’s retail stores is disappearing. Over the past month workers have been removing the “atom” symbol that has pinpointed the Genius Bars since the first store opened in 2001, and they are replacing it with wall graphics to match those recently installed in back-lit wall displays.
I’ll be sorry to see them go. One of my favourite photos I ever took was of Steve Jobs at the opening of the first New York Store. He was leaning forward on the Genius Bar and I framed a perfect shot of him with the word “Genius” right about his head.
The number of stolen iPhones dropped by 40 percent in San Francisco and 25 percent in New York in the 12 months after Apple Inc added a kill switch to its devices in September 2013. In London, smartphone theft dropped by half, according to an announcement by officials in the three cities.
This was a real concern for cities around the world. The drop shows how powerful the kill switch has been as a deterrent.
The project in Monterey County, California will provide enough energy for 60,000 homes as well as Apple’s future head office in nearby Cupertino, Cook said at a Goldman Sachs technology conference in San Francisco.
“We know in Apple that climate change is real. The time for talk is passed,” he said. “The time for action is now.”
Great move.
As his body weakened from a muscle disease, Ethan Och knew the time had come.
He told his music teacher he’d have to give up his favorite school activity.
His teacher wouldn’t let him just quit. They had another idea.
Today Ethan is back in the percussion section, drumming on an iPad hooked to an amplifier.
What a wonderful story.
The Guardian:
Three volunteers are on the shortlist to be among four people on the Mars One programme, the first manned space flight to Mars – a one-way trip that’s effectively a suicide mission. Why do they want to leave Earth, and who are they leaving behind? As the list of potential Mars explorers is whittled down further on 16 February, meet those competing to be the first to land on the Red Planet.
I’d go.
The Verge:
The company is stepping in to tell everyone to calm down and that those 1984 references are way off base. In a blog post plainly titled “Samsung Smart TVs Do Not Monitor Living Room Conversations,” the company does acknowledge that its clumsy, broad-strokes privacy policy could’ve used some clearer language.
The problem for Sony is that, even if their TVs don’t work the way they are accused of working, many of us have no problem believing they’d be sleazy enough to do that.
Quartz:
Unlike the transistor, the lithium-ion battery has not won a Nobel Prize. But many people think it should. The lithium-ion battery gave the transistor reach. Without it, we would not have smartphones, tablets or laptops, including the device you are reading at this very moment. There would be no Apple. No Samsung. No Tesla.In 1980, Goodenough, a whip-smart physicist then aged 57, invented lithium-ion’s nervous system.
He says, “I’m only 92. I still have time to go.” What a great attitude.
Monday Note:
I have no trouble with the Law of Large Numbers, it only underlines Apple’s truly stupendous growth and, in the end, it always wins. No business can grow by 20%, or even 10% for ever.But, for the other three, Market Share, Commoditization, and Modularity, how can we ignore the sea of contradicting facts?
Part of the reason why it seems Wall St doesn’t understand Apple is because the company’s operations don’t conform to so many commonly held beliefs about economics and business.
USA Today:
Starting next week, passengers on select JetBlue Airways flights can use Apple Pay on their iPhone 6 and 6 Plus handsets to buy food, drinks and certain onboard amenities when the plane reaches cruising altitude. You’ll be able to upgrade to available premium seats, too.JetBlue is the first airline to accept Apple Pay at 35,000 feet. It almost certainly won’t be the last.
One more Apple Pay domino falling.
Huffington Post:
Canadians have a reputation for being some of the world’s kindest people. This video proves that to be true.In order to test how Canadians would react, a blindfolded Muslim man stood at Dundas Square in downtown Toronto, with signs that read “I am a Muslim. I am labelled as a terrorist,” and “I trust you. Do you trust me? Give me a hug.”
To be fair, it doesn’t prove that – Canadians can be as racist as anyone else – but the video does make me very proud of my fellow country men and women.
The Hill:
Apple CEO Tim Cook will speak at the White House cybersecurity summit Friday at Stanford University, according to an event invitation.The White House is expected to reveal its next executive action on cybersecurity at the summit, which will bring together tech executives, leading academics and government officials to discuss ways in which the government can better collaborate with the private sector on cybersecurity initiatives.
Cook’s remarks will come amid a debate between tech companies and law enforcement officials over encryption.
Encryption and security is becoming more and more important to everyone on the internet – business, consumers, and governments. It will be interesting to see if anything concrete comes out of this summit.
Good luck to Steve, Dave, and Kelly.
Animal wins for the screams.
We all snap pictures like crazy these days and post them to a number of sharing sites. But there was a time when you would be so excited to get your roll of film back to see what pics you shot. Mari and Linda Johannessen are bringing that experience back with a new app for iPhone. You can take 24 pics, but you can’t review them. When the “film roll” is full, you send it away and get back 24 developed prints, delivered to your physical mailbox, within a week.
Personally, I love the idea.
Slashing prices on tablets all over the place. I thought they were selling so good.
Buy a phone, get a tablet for $0.99. And they still can’t beat the iPad. It makes you wonder why people are so worried about iPad sales.