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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.

The Consumerist:

The floral wire services, FTD and Teleflora, were very relevant in 1910 and 1934 when they began, respectively. These companies, along with 1980s upstart 1-800-Flowers, now dominate the industry by advertising their national brand and squeezing local florists. While these companies, and mail-order services like Proflowers, blanket the airwaves and Web pages with ads showing off their great deals before major flower-giving holidays, they are not the best choice to get the best bloom for your buck.

We have long recommended that flower-givers follow this basic process

Definitely buy your significant other, male or female, a flower arrangement. But do your best to support your local flower merchant.

New York Times:

Apple’s record-breaking holiday quarter, which brought in $18 billion in earnings, allowed the company to capture 93 percent of the profit in the handset industry, according to a new report from Canaccord Genuity, an investment firm.

Samsung took the rest, but its share is shrinking, the report said.

Apple is doomed.

I think this will be pretty popular.

A hidden treasure trove of gear flown on the Apollo 11 mission to the moon sees the light of day after Neil Armstrong’s widow shares the find with the Smithsonian.

Wow.

Alphonse Swinehart:

In our terrestrial view of things, the speed of light seems incredibly fast. But as soon as you view it against the vast distances of the universe, it’s unfortunately very slow. This animation illustrates, in realtime, the journey of a photon of light emitted from the surface of the sun and traveling across a portion of the solar system, from a human perspective.

This visualization of the speed of light and the realization that, on a galactic scale, it’s actually really slow, is all kinds of mind boggling.

Petapixel:

Unlike other affordable photo-editing apps out there, which are usually dumbed down offerings with only a subset of Photoshop’s usefulness, Affinity Photo is trying to set itself apart by offering the power of Photoshop in a program that’s blazing fast and ridiculously affordable.

Looks very interesting and for free, there’s no harm in giving it a try.

Rolling Stone:

After three and a half hours of the Grammy telecast, you may feel like you saw everything that could possible be imagined – even Kanye West hilariously rushing the stage in defense of Beyoncé, yet again. But although the show was tailored for the home audience, those actually in attendance at Los Angeles’ Staples Center were privy to a few jokes, celebrations and candid moments that didn’t make the CBS broadcast. These were our favorites.

There were some great moments on TV but, as always, the best often happen away from the cameras.

Once a week, inside the 142-square-foot apartment he shares with his parents and two siblings in a rural California farming town, a two-year-old has a standing appointment with an iPad.

Born deaf, the toddler received cochlear implants seven months ago. He and his mother use FaceTime video chat to have hour-long sessions in Spanish with a speech therapist who is helping the boy learn how to listen and understand the new sounds.

What a truly great story.

Samsung is warning customers about discussing personal information in front of their smart television set.

The warning applies to TV viewers who control their Samsung Smart TV using its voice activation feature.

Such TV sets “listen” to some of what is said in front of them and may share details they hear with Samsung or third parties, it said.

Fuck. You.

I just can’t get over how good they are after all these years. Interesting to note that drummer Phil Rudd wasn’t with the band—try to hire one hitman and you lose your job.

Very impressive.

Many of you have noticed that The Loop Magazine hasn’t published as often since mid to late last year. I tried to make up for missing issues by publishing double issues once a month, but the schedule was still erratic. Clearly, this isn’t fair to the subscribers of the magazine.

I have been going through a personal crisis that has affected my ability and commitment to publish the magazine. I have kept the details private, but my problems are no excuse for letting a fine publication falter. I want to apologize to all those that put their faith in me to put out a quality product—I failed.

That said, I believe in The Loop Magazine. I believe the magazine app developed by Chris Harris and Mateusz Stawecki is second to none in the App Store. I believe the content we publish is engaging and different from everything else put out on Newsstand. I believe The Loop Magazine can work.

I am moving the magazine to a monthly publication that will contain double the amount of stories that the bi-weekly edition published—that’s 8-10 stories per month. I’m currently finishing up the latest issue and it should be published this week. This will be the start of a new chapter for The Loop Magazine, and I’m sure it will be a successful one.

Although I have no right to ask for it, I need your support to make the magazine successful. If you haven’t subscribed, take a look at the magazine and the content and see what you think—if you like it, subscribe. If you tried it before and were disappointed in me, try again. It’s available for both iPhone and iPad.

I have a lot to prove to you, the readers, but I believe this will work.

Thanks for your support.

Jim

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I almost choked when he said this whole wall is full of Les Pauls.