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But in a statement, a spokesman for Twitter appeared to dispute Everett’s version of events, saying the company has no problem with Twitpic’s name.

“We’re sad to see Twitpic is shutting down,” the spokesman said. “We encourage developers to build on top of the Twitter service, as Twitpic has done for years, and we made it clear that they could operate using the Twitpic name. Of course, we also have to protect our brand, and that includes trademarks tied to the brand.”

So, Twitter would let them keep the name, but not the trademark? That’s how it seems to me.

In a note to investors on Thursday, White, of Cantor Fitzgerald, used the words “underwhelming,” “rushed,” and “half-baked” to describe Samsung’s announcements, which also included the Gear VR partnership with Oculus, a Gear S smartwatch, and the new Note Edge handset with a side-facing display. White said he believes Samsung’s announcements were a subpar attempt at garnering buzz for its products before Apple holds its own presentation next Tuesday, Sept. 9.

Analyst Brian White isn’t the only one saying this about Samsung’s announcements. As I said yesterday, things could get rough for Samsung in the coming months.

With Sonic Port™ VX, it’s finally possible to record complete songs anywhere inspiration strikes. The guitar/bass input features 120dB of dynamic range for incomparable tone and best-in-class dynamics. A stereo line input lets you record keys, drum machines, DJ mixers and other sources. Zero-latency monitoring means you can record without distraction. And with professional-level 1/4” stereo outputs, you can easily connect studio monitors and perfect your mixes. With Sonic Port VX, the world is your studio.

Sonic Port VX brings three built-in professional condenser microphones to the party. Matched stereo mics let you record live performances with remarkable clarity.

This is an impressive looking device. I haven’t heard it yet, but I have one of the original Sonic Ports and love it.

That’s a huge building for an event that’s going to last a few hours. Typical of Apple, they go all out.

If you’re worried at all about the security of your Apple ID, you should have two-step verification enabled. Allyson Kazmucha does a great job of explaining what it is and how to enable it.

We can’t share the full list of developers yet (we just cracked 100!). But we can show you nearly 20 apps that are already working on integrating 1Password’s iOS 8 App Extension for fast, one-tap logging in and even updating your passwords!

The 1Password extension is going to be one of the most important extensions on iOS 8. Security and having safe passwords are always a pain in the ass, but having easy access to 1Password through this extension will make things much easier. I’m looking forward to it.

There you have it, you can watch the event for yourself. No need for any live blogs for this one.

With Dan still out, Shawn King and Jim talk about Apple’s upcoming September 9th event, the large scale celebrity iCloud hack, how to keep your passwords safe with 1Password, Marshall amps, and more!

Sponsored by Iconic by Ridgewood Publishing (visit iconicbook.com/5by5 for 20% off select editions of this beautiful coffee table book all about Apple).

Looks like there are a lot of great changes to Wordpress 4.0. I’ll test it out before installing it on The Loop, but the video shows some nice new features.

A few weeks ago Twitter contacted our legal demanding that we abandon our trademark application or risk losing access to their API. This came as a shock to us since Twitpic has been around since early 2008, and our trademark application has been in the USPTO since 2009.

Damn Twitter.

This is a great list of things to do on World Beard Day like bar-b-q, change a tire, build an all-bearded human pyramid and other fun activities us bearded men do.

Justin Perkins:

There is much more to mastering than just the sonic aspects and it varies between different release formats. It’s also gotten more complex as digital distribution evolves, CDs become the minority, and vinyl makes a comeback.

What a great resource Justin put together. A few tips you may not have known about mastering songs for all the different audio formats available.

Much respect to IKEA, they did a brilliant job on this ad.

This is more than a passing collaboration; it’s a long term project with long term goals. Marshall and Softube already have several new products under development.

Okay, this is exciting news for fans of Marshall amps. Softube is great at making software plugins, so I expect them to do a really good job at producing some Marshall sounds.

Mobile phone analysts said that, while packed full of hundreds of features and many of the latest hardware specs, there is little in the Note 4 to excite new users.

Jokes aside, this is a serious issue for Samsung, and one that couldn’t come at a better time for Apple. With disappointing sales of the Galaxy S5, the last thing Samsung needed was another failure, especially with Apple announcing new products next week. It certainly doesn’t sound like the Note 4 will be a blockbuster success.

Netflix speeds became so slow in December 2013 and January 2014 that customers grew irate, Netflix said in its petition. Calls made to Netflix’s customer support center about slow-loading videos more than quadrupled during those months.

It’s sad when people are forced to cancel their subscription to Netflix because the Comcast speeds were so slow. No wonder Netflix decided to pay Comcast; they really had no other choice.

I need one of these.

BoingBoing:

Twitter opened its analytics platform to every user on August 27, allowing all of us — not just verified users and those with advertising accounts — to track how many people viewed and acted upon our tweets. But the “Followers” section, revealing demographics, provoked the most discussion. Alongside breakdowns in followers’ interests and location is a gender bar that splits followers into male and female.

How can Twitter offer this information when it doesn’t ask for you to indicate a gender when you sign up for an account?

My Twitter account is 86% male and 14% female. But how does Twitter deal with the (not insignificant) percentage of folks who don’t fall under traditional genera roles?

This is remarkable to watch. Unlike traditional “pub pool”, Snooker play is very specific – you have to sink a red ball and then a coloured one and then a red and so on. In a perfect game, you sink a red then the black, then a red then the black until all the reds are gone. Then you sink the colored balls in order. A perfect game in Snooker is an example of amazing ball control and skill.

I spent an hour on Sunday speaking with Matt Dusenbury and Chris Domico about Web publishing and a few other topics.

Whereas the prior album “Apocalyptic Love” was recorded live with virtually no overdubs, “World on Fire” is a layered slab of Marshall riffs, acoustic and electric 12-strings and even a rare slide performance. On songs like the title track, “Stone Blind” and “Too Far Gone,” Slash brings down the hammer with huge guitar riffs while on “Bent to Fly” and “Battleground” he picks clean guitars over the most haunting melodies Kennedy has ever sung.

I love that Slash is willing to try anything to make a great song. He is a phenomenal guitar player, but he’s also an incredible songwriter.

There is a lot more to the new icons than just a fresh coat of paint — the visual language extends far beyond just the gradients.

Fascinating article by Nick Keppol as he takes an in-depth look at Apple’s new OS X icons.

KOMPLETE KONTROL S-Series keyboards unite the world of KOMPLETE software with a perfectly-integrated and luxurious hardware controller. Built to harness the full potential of the brand-new KOMPLETE 10 and KOMPLETE 10 ULTIMATE, these keyboards offer pure creative flow and a whole new way to play KOMPLETE. This is truly the komplete instrument – available October 1, pre-order now.

Native Instruments continues to push digital software and hardware forward.

This is Colossal:

Over the last three months photographer Thomas Herbrich snapped some 100,000 individual photographs of smoke, looking for unexpected anamalies and fortuitous coincidences where familiar shapes emerged.

It’s fascinating to see how the brain tries to create order out of chaos, just like looking up at the clouds, suddenly familiar patterns seem to stand out: faces, hands, or scrolls of paper.

He’s created some absolutely beautiful images.

Re/code:

Apple just issued a statement on the disclosure of celebrity photos said to have come from its iCloud storage service.

“We wanted to provide an update to our investigation into the theft of photos of certain celebrities. When we learned of the theft, we were outraged and immediately mobilized Apple’s engineers to discover the source.”

Apple very specifically pointed out in their statement to media outlets that “None of the cases we have investigated has resulted from any breach in any of Apple’s systems including iCloud or Find my iPhone.”

Gigaom:

An eye doctor says he’s recently seen a few 35-year-old patients whose lenses, which are typically clear all the way up until around age 40, are so cloudy they resemble 75-year-olds’. A sleep doctor says kids as young as toddlers are suffering from chronic insomnia, which in turn affects their behavior and performance at school and daycare. A scientist finds that women who work night shifts are twice as likely to develop breast cancer than those who sleep at night.

What do all these anecdotes have in common? Nighttime exposure to the blue light emanating from our screens.

Considering I’ve spent the last 20 years staring at a computer screen for 10 hours a day, I read this article with great interest and a lot of worry.

BlackBerry’s still in business? That’s so cute.

AV Club:

Star Trek is more than pop culture; it’s 20th century mythology with its own complicated mythos. “Beam me up” and “live long and prosper” may have invaded the cultural lexicon, but Star Trek is particularly intimidating for the uninitiated. Where to start and what to skip are up for debate even among the most hardcore Trekkies and Trekkers (the fandom can’t even decide on a name for itself).

I’m sure there’s little in this guide for the Star Trek fans reading this but if you know of someone who has just arrived on our planet, this is a helpful primer.

Vox:

Today is the anniversary of noteworthy event. Exactly 100 years ago — on September 1, 1914 — the passenger pigeon was driven to extinction.

You may not have heard of this species. But there were once incomprehensibly huge numbers of these birds. When Europeans first arrived to North America, there were somewhere between three and five billion of them in existence. (In comparison, there are now around 10.8 million common pigeons on the continent today.) At the time, they were probably the most numerous bird species on the planet.

Kind of scary to think that, if we can kill off a population of this size in a short period of time, what other damage can we do to the other species on our planet?

Re/code:

Apple said it was “actively investigating” the violation of several of its iCloud accounts, in which revealing photos and videos of prominent Hollywood actresses were taken and posted all over the Web.

“We take user privacy very seriously and are actively investigating this report,” said Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris.

To quote Penn Jillette, the magician: “Anyone has the right to take all the pictures they want, naked or otherwise and unless they want me to see them, I have no right to see them.”