Jim and Shawn talk about the Mac, the iPhone in the past, the Apple Watch in the future, and how to learn to play guitar!
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Riveting. Watch Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson make their final push for the summit of El Capitan in one of the hardest free climbs in the world. This is being carried live.
One thing I’ve learned over the last 20 years of writing about Apple is that there’s no shortage of naysayers, ready to declare certain failure of the companies newest product—whatever that product happens to be. The Apple Watch is the latest in a long list of products, that includes the iPod, iPhone, iPad and Macs, that critics says will fail. […]
Smartphone company Samsung has recently approached BlackBerry Ltd to buy the company for as much as $7.5 billion, looking to gain access to its patent portfolio, according to a person familiar with the matter and documents seen by Reuters.
Patents is about all BlackBerry has left.
Matt Gemmell:
Rumours abound at the moment about an upcoming new 12” MacBook Air, with a Retina display, further-reduced thickness and weight, and of course a slightly larger screen. I’m intrigued, and all other things being more or less equal, I’ll certainly buy one.It’s tough to see what the next step will be, though. My wish list has been exhausted. Every checkbox is checked.
But what more is there to really do?
Matt makes a good point that, for the vast majority of us, Apple’s present laptops do more than we actually need them to do. I know my next laptop will likely be an Air if only because I no longer need the power of a full desktop CPU.
Google:
We’re taking it to the next level and letting you instantly translate text using your camera—so it’s way easier to navigate street signs in the Italian countryside or decide what to order off a Barcelona menu. While using the Translate app, just point your camera at a sign or text and you’ll see the translated text overlaid on your screen—even if you don’t have an Internet or data connection.
This looks really cool. I remember traveling in Italy and not being able to understand the signs at the train station. This would have come in very handy.
Musicians and songwriters often have trouble with EQing drums so they fit in a track. A lot of that comes from over-EQings already good sounding samples, or having to deal with poorly recorded drums to begin with, but even so, the basic technique isn’t that difficult if you know the basics.
If you are just learning how to EQ drums, bookmark this page and use the recommended frequencies.
Apple Inc sued Ericsson alleging that the Swedish company’s LTE wireless technology patents are not essential to industry cellular standards and that it is demanding excessive royalties for these patents.
These types of “essential” patent lawsuits are always interesting to watch—you never know which way the court will rule.
The Verge:
Set out in a series of detailed renders, the conceptual iMac combines the internal components of an 11.6-inch MacBook Air with the addition of a touchscreen and the new reversible USB connector. Its shape echoes that of the original Mac…There’s nothing particularly practical or realistic about this iMac, which is probably why it feels so sublimely desirable.
Utterly ridiculous. Utterly impractical. Utterly unbuildable. But I still want one.
RazorianFly:
While some are shocked at the sudden demise of Apple’s popular free giveaway promotions, such as 12 Days and the just axed “Single of the Week,” others are seemingly less shocked at the ending of these ‘FREE’ iTunes promotions.We think MacRumors forum user, fluchtpunkt, nails it:
“I think that entitlement mentality is what has killed these promotions. Getting free stuff is no longer enough. It must be exactly what you want.”
As the piece says, we may never know why Apple has discontinued these giveaways but I would have no problem believing it is, in part, due to the epic amounts of whining from a segment of users.
Shifts is a brand new productivity app for shift workers, designed to help you manage your work schedules and lives more efficiently.
This is a unique take on using a calendar—the first I’ve seen in a while.
John Moltz:
A newsroom can be an environment that benefits from an open floor plan, but this level of exacting control over it is exactly what’s wrong with corporate America. If you’re so concerned about coffee stains, hire someone to clean things up. It’s a hell of a lot cheaper and it sends a better message than spending $3 million to make a 2001: A Space Odyssey set for your employees to spend their days maintaining.
The memo from Wired’s editor-in-chief Scott Dadich has been making the rounds and Moltz, as usual, has a funny and accurate takedown of the attitude and tone of his attempt at controlling the workplace environment.
Bushel is a cloud-based solution designed from the ground up to make it easy for regular people to setup, manage and protect their Apple devices anytime from anywhere.
This looks really nice. You can manage three devices for free, so that’s a bonus.
Positive Grid, makers of BIAS for iOS and Mac, have started a new beta program targeted to guitar players that want to help shape the future of the company’s hardware products. I love the products this company puts out.
While his treatment for dementia would ultimately pull him from the band he started, AC/DC guitarist Malcolm Young was also treated for cancer and a heart condition after than band’s last tour. So sad.
Mark Gurman has certainly been on a roll lately. If true, this is an incredible amount of integration between the Apple Watch and the iPhone.
Enjoy.
Like my good friend Peter Cohen, Disk Warrior 5 has always been my go-to utility for fixing my Mac.
The list of features in this app is just incredible. I love the guys at Smile Software and the apps they make.
TidBITS:
To take over a Mac, the attacker needs physical access. He then plugs in Thunderstrike-enabled hardware — a modified Thunderbolt-to-Ethernet dongle in the demo — and reboots the Mac, triggering the process that replaces the firmware with malicious code. That’s it.While all Macs are technically vulnerable to the Thunderstrike attack, few readers face any immediate risk. The attack is highly targeted — someone needs both physical access to your Mac and time to reboot it and reinstall the firmware.
As always when it comes to Macs and security, Rich Mogull is my go-to guy. He writes well and clearly about the subject and I trust his opinion and advice.
The Sydney Morning Herald:
One student has spoken up against the world leaders with poor human rights records who took it upon themselves to march for free speech following the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks.In a series of tweets, London School of Economics student Daniel Wickham attacked some of the world leaders for attending the rally despite restricting press freedom in their own countries.
Good for him. When I first saw the photo of the world leaders, I thought it looked like just another photo op. Wickham shows it was also incredibly hypocritical.
Re/code:
The study of Amazon’s pricing uncovered some interesting tactics. First, Amazon doesn’t have the lowest prices across the board, which may not surprise industry insiders but might surprise Amazon shoppers.Instead, according to Boomerang’s analysis, Amazon identifies the most popular products on its site and consistently prices them under the competition.
A good reminder to not assume Amazon has the best prices and to always shop around.
The New York Times:
Popular messaging services like Snapchat and WhatsApp are in the cross hairs in Britain.That was the message delivered on Monday by Prime Minister David Cameron, who said he would pursue banning encrypted messaging services if Britain’s intelligence services were not given access to the communications.
I’m sorry to our British friends but you have an idiot for a Prime Minister.
New York Times:
Untrammeled oases beckon, once-avoided destinations become must-sees and familiar cities offer new reasons to visit.
Some obvious choices like Rome and some I really agree with like Milan, Cuba and Quebec City but some suspect suggestions, too. Squamish, BC? Orlando, FL? Cleveland, OH? Seriously?
The Robservatory:
Last week, I used the just-released Hubble Space Telescope images of the Andromeda galaxy to create a couple of desktop images for my Retina iMac. I liked the results so much that I spent some time collecting other suitable images from the Hubble site, and then cropping and/or scaling them to create interesting high-res desktop images.The end result is a collection of 50+ Retina iMac-sized (5120×2880) desktop wallpapers, courtesy of the Hubble Space Telescope. Here’s the full collection.
That nice young man, Rob Griffiths, put together this gorgeous collection of images.
If you talk about Apple to people these days, they automatically think of one of the companies mobile devices: iPhone, iPod, or iPad. Seldom do you hear the Mac at the start of those conversations. […]
Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi has been on a tear lately, although when you look at some of its devices, you quickly notice that they bear a striking resemblance to devices released by Apple. This is why we find it amusing that Xiaomi’s CEO is now warning its fans to watch out for knockoff Xiaomi products being sold at phone retail outlets in Chinese cities.
These guys are just incredible.
The Daily Dot:
We’re glad that 15-year-old Tyler Barlow decided to stick an old barbecue in a grassy field and ignite 5 pounds of thermite on top of it, because the resulting video is super cool.
A fifteen year old kid and 5lbs of thermite – what could possibly go wrong? Turns out, nothing bad because, except for a disturbing lack of safety gear, the kid seems to know what he’s talking about. And the thermite reaction is pretty cool.
The Consumerist:
Even though the newest and freshest iPhones, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, are now legally available in mainland China, hauling them over the border from Hong Kong is still a profitable enterprise. Apparently. According to a report in Chinese media, an enterprising young man created a plastic suit that held 94 iPhones, strapping them around his arms, legs, hips, and torso.
The pictures are hilarious.
Now that’s a birthday party!