This was actually pretty interesting, not only to see what held people up from updating right away, but also how misinformation and rumors affects an individual’s views of features in the operating system.
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Hockey Night in Canada: How the CBC lost it all
The Globe and Mail:
Not only had Rogers Communications Inc. wrenched the Canadian national broadcast rights to NHL games from the CBC’s grasp with a stunning $5.2-billion payout over the next 12 years, but the Visigoths were actually at the gate.Part of the ensuing deal, in which those in charge of the CBC meekly handed over the company’s airwaves for free, was that the Rogers people connected to Hockey Night, along with some people hired from rival TSN, would use the CBC’s studios and take over the show’s office space on the north side of the eighth floor – the plushest in the building thanks to the show’s status as the network’s biggest money spinner.
Truly appalling how Canada’s national broadcaster completely blew the deal by ignoring the importance of hockey to not only their bottom line but to the nation. Thanks to my friend Greg for the link.
Why you should celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving instead of Columbus Day
Vox:
Instead of Columbus Day, our northern neighbors spend the second Monday of every October celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving or, as they call it, Thanksgiving. As I wrote last year (what can I say, it’s my holiday tradition), Canadian Thanksgiving is a way better holiday than Columbus Day in every way.Here’s how the two holidays match up.
Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians!
Wells Fargo employee emails CEO asking for a raise — copies 200,000 other employees
Salon:
Tyrel Oates, a 30-year-old Portland, Oregon-based employee of Wells Fargo, shot to Internet fame after emailing the company’s CEO John Stumpf (and cc’ing 200,000 other employees) to ask for a $10,000 raise… for everyone at the company.
No way Wells Fargo does this but it’s a great way to put the ball in management’s court.
What it’s like to carry your Nobel Prize through airport security
Scientific American:
“When I won this, my grandma, who lives in Fargo, North Dakota, wanted to see it. I was coming around so I decided I’d bring my Nobel Prize. You would think that carrying around a Nobel Prize would be uneventful, and it was uneventful, until I tried to leave Fargo with it, and went through the X-ray machine. I could see they were puzzled. It was in my laptop bag. It’s made of gold, so it absorbs all the X-rays—it’s completely black. And they had never seen anything completely black.
My question is, why didn’t they notice it when he was going to North Dakota?
How to beard
There’s some good advice, especially when he says to leave it alone.
Apple Watch’s editorial debut in Vogue China
Today, BoF can reveal that the Apple Watch will make its fashion editorial debut on the cover of Vogue China’s November issue, featuring supermodel Liu Wen. We spoke to Angelica Cheung, editor-in-chief of Vogue China, to get the story behind the story.
GT seeks to close sapphire plant and sever ties with Apple
Ars Technica:
On Monday, GT filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. And today, GT said in separate filings with the US Bankruptcy Court in New Hampshire that it wants to terminate its contract with Apple and close the Arizona facility.The filing to end the contract with Apple states that the terms of GT’s contract with Apple are “oppressive and burdensome,” and the separate filing requesting to shutter the sapphire plant claims that doing so is the only way to rescue GT’s business.
Anyone have any doubt that we haven’t heard all the details of this story and yet and that it’s going to get a lot uglier before its resolved?
Watch Apple’s October 16th event live
Apple:
Join us here at apple.com/live on October 16 at 10 a.m. PDT to watch our special event live.
Let’s hope this one goes smoother than September’s livestream.
Apple and Google spark civil rights debate
TidBITS:
I fully understand the drive and motivations the law enforcement community has to maintain access to our devices.But law enforcement needs to understand that technology companies aren’t trying to protect the bad guys, but stop them. That until iOS 8, I had to walk my clients through the iOS security loopholes that made it difficult to protect corporate and personal data. That such back doors are already used to suppress free speech throughout the world, sometimes fatally. That without this encryption, we are all less secure.
As always, I like reading Rich Mogull’s take on these kinds of security issues.
Magic Script Creator
My thanks to Magic Script Creator for sponsoring The Loop’s RSS feed this week. Magic Script Creator lets you experiment with creating custom AppleScripts by just answering a few questions. No prior knowledge of AppleScript is needed in order to use this application. Included in Magic Script Creator are 24 different examples that you can configure hundreds of different ways. Most examples contain UNIX command line tools, combining their power with AppleScript’s strengths.
Version 4.0 contains two new major features. First, you can choose to compile your scripts with line by line remarks. This will help you understand what each line of code is executing. Second, for those examples containing UNIX command tools, you can export the MAN (or manual) page in an easy to read PDF. No more trying to read these manuals in a tiny terminal window! To learn more about Magic Script Creator, watch an instructional video, purchase the application, or try a demo version, please visit our homepage.
The most expensive stuff you can buy at New York Comic Con
Digg:
While comics may have started as disposable entertainment, it’s no secret that many books can fetch a hefty sum based on their rarity, CGC grade, illustrator, and/or characters that may have first appeared in them. We talked to the people working every collectibles booth at this year’s New York Comic Con and asked them what their most expensive item is, and what made these items so astonishingly valuable.
Makes me wish I had kept those comics I had as a kid. Some of them might be worth something today.
Amazon must be stopped
New Republic:
In confronting what to do about Amazon, first we have to realize our own complicity. We’ve all been seduced by the deep discounts, the monthly automatic diaper delivery, the free Prime movies, the gift wrapping, the free two-day shipping, the ability to buy shoes or books or pinto beans or a toilet all from the same place. But it has gone beyond seduction, really. We expect these kinds of conveniences now, as if they were birthrights. They’ve become baked into our ideas about how consumers should be treated.These expectations help fuel our collective denial about Amazon.
I don’t know that I agree with the central premise but the consolidation in Amazon is something to be concerned about and keep an eye on.
TextExpander touch 3.1
Type more with less effort on your iPhone or iPad! Expand custom keyboard shortcuts into frequently-used text snippets. Grab your favorite snippets from your Mac.
Such a great app made by a great company that cares about its users.
Alternate ways to carry your iPhone 6 Plus
Interesting choices to carry the larger iPhone 6 Plus. Mine fits in my pocket, but I’m a big guy, so I suppose that’s not an option for everyone.
SRV finally nominated for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
It’s a crime that it took them so long to nominate Stevie.
Facebook DNA
Om Malik:
The combination of Facebook and anonymity is as awkward as the marriage of Michael Jackson and Lisa Presley — farcical, comic and an act undertaken for the express purpose of deceit. Anonymity and privacy are not part of Facebook’s DNA.
Boom!
Jony Ive on design and Xiaomi stealing Apple’s ideas
Kyle Russell has a nice article about Jony Ive’s panel at the Vanity Fair Summit talking about design. It’s a very interesting process. Then someone asked Jony about Xiaomi:
When a member of the audience came up to ask a question about Xiaomi and their unofficial tagline of “the Apple of China,” Ive was very straightforward with his response: “I’ll stand a little bit harsh, I don’t see it as flattery. When you’re doing something for the first time, you don’t know it’s gonna work, you spend 7 or 8 years working on something, and then it’s copied. I think it is really straightforward. It is theft and it is lazy. I don’t think it is ok at all.”
Fucking right!
The greatest beards in history
Much respect bearded ones.
Amazon set to open first retail location
The site, set to open in time for the holiday-shopping season on Manhattan’s busy 34th Street, would mark an experiment by Amazon AMZN, -2.27% to connect with customers in the physical world. Amazon has built its business on competitive pricing and fast shipping. Until now, though, it couldn’t compete with the immediacy of a traditional store.
I’ll be honest, I’m not sure this makes sense to me. Amazon has a strong brand, but this doesn’t seem to do anything to strengthen its core business.
Rise and shine: What kids all around the world eat for breakfast
New York Times Magazine:
Americans tend to lack imagination when it comes to breakfast. The vast majority of us, surveys say, start our days with cold cereal — and those of us with children are more likely to buy the kinds with the most sugar. Children all over the world eat cornflakes and drink chocolate milk, of course, but in many places they also eat things that would strike the average American palate as strange, or worse.
Really interesting to read about the variety of foods these kids eat and a lot of it is food most of us have never even heard of. But the pictures are even better. The kids are so cute.
The Magazine shuts down
It’s very sad. Glenn is a great guy and friend, but I understand the issues of being an independent publisher on Apple’s Newsstand—it’s not fun. Apple should just admit that they don’t give a shit about digital magazines and be done with it.
The Loop sponsorships available
The Loop has been sold out of weekly sponsorships for the better part of two years, but we have some openings coming up in the next couple of months. There is only one sponsor a week, so you will have the exclusive spot to get your product or service in front of the fine, good looking readers of The Loop. If you would like to talk about a sponsorship or schedule a week, please Email Jim Dalrymple.
Amplified: CAW CAW CAW CAW
Jim and Shawn talk about Samsung, the Apple Watch and teens, Steve Ray Vaughn and “Does the iPhone 6 get lost in The Beard?” Special guest appearance on this Amplified by a crow!
Sponsored by lynda.com (Visit lynda.com/thebeard to get access to all their courses FREE for 7 days).
iTunes Festival: It’s for the fans
I did an iTunes Festival wrap-up piece on Fortune today, which includes an exclusive interview with Oliver Schusser, Apple’s head of iTunes Europe.
Buyer beware: What you’re actually getting at outlet stores
Racked:
Neiman, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s, Barneys New York, and Saks Fifth Avenue all have their own outlets; customers flock to these stores for the brand-name cachet and believe they’re shopping last season’s carefully curated inventory. However, this isn’t exactly the case.Nordstrom Rack, for example, confirms to Racked that only 20% of what it sells is clearance merchandise coming from their stores and website, while the rest is bought expressly for the outlet.
I’ve gone to dozens of outlet stores and malls, sometimes involuntarily, and I’ve always thought they were a little bit fishy. Turns out, many are.
King of click: the story of the greatest keyboard ever made
The Verge:
The first thing you notice about the IBM Model M keyboard, when you finally get your hands on it, is its size. After years of tapping chiclet keys and glass screens on two- and three-pound devices, hefting five pounds of plastic and metal (including a thick steel plate) is slightly intimidating. The second thing is the sound – the solid click that’s turned a standard-issue beige peripheral into one of the computer world’s most prized and useful antiques.
I used this keyboard so much in college, I can still hear that sound and feel that key pressure. Great keyboard.
Tight dirndls, heavy beers, and grabby hands: The life of an Oktoberfest waitress
Medium:
The physically and mentally exhausting nature of the Oktoberfest fortnight requires trust that’s cultivated in familiarity. Each server needs to know she can lean on her fellow team members when she’s endured so many boob ogles, grabby hands, and sawdust-covered blobs on the floor. Worming your way through 10,000 sweaty, beer-swilling revelers 12 hours a day for 16 days straight tests the limits of even the most crowd-loving extrovert.
Attending Oktoberfest in Germany has always been on my bucket list.
Apple sends out invites for Oct. 16 special event
Apple on Wednesday sent out an invite for a special event being held on its Cupertino, Calif. campus on October 16. The event will begin at 10:00 am PT. […]
Jumping the gun on teens and the Apple Watch
Recode:
“The concept of wearing a watch for teenagers is foreign — and I think that’s part of what is reflected in that response,” said Munster. “The second piece is, it’s still something that people need to hear more about, beyond what Apple has to say about it, before people get interested in it.”
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster responding to a survey of 7,200 teens, calling teen embrace of Apple Watch tepid. Seems to me, anticipating response to a product that has not yet hit people’s wrists is a fool’s errand.