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I still remember this scene in the theatre as a little kid and thinking it was the greatest thing I had ever seen.

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Wired:

We have the phrase “scenic route” for a reason, and as Google’s driving directions increasingly become the only directions any of us ever think about checking, we risk losing sight of these alternate paths. That’s a shame.

Anyone who knows me knows I’ve been dreaming and talking about this kind of functionality for years. As a motorcycle rider, we often don’t want to take the direct route. Show us the fun, twisty, windy, pretty roads instead.

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The Verge:

Weird Al has a new album of parodies coming out, but you’ll probably want to look for them on the web rather than over the radio: eight songs off of the album are getting music videos, and they’ll be premiering over eight days. The first video came out and has Al singing “Tacky,” a parody of Pharrell’s unbearably catchy hit “Happy.”

Nirvana for all you Weird Al fans.

From Apple’s press release: Apple and IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced an exclusive partnership that teams the market-leading strengths of each company to transform enterprise mobility through a new class of business apps—bringing IBM’s big data and analytics capabilities to … Continued

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Salon:

Among the countless points discussed about this year’s World Cup…perhaps the most important looming question is whether this particular quadrennial tournament finally converted America into a nation of soccer fans.

Every four years, the World Cup masterfully demonstrates the fundamental differences between how America and the world respectively treat their athletes.

I don’t like to say “never” but there’s a fundamental difference between the way the American fan sees sports in general and “football” in particular and the way the rest of the world does. We go through this discussion every four years and nothing really changes.

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New York Magazine:

Swisher’s power derives from her reporting — driven, in turn, by her deep sourcing — and from the sense, unnerving to executives, that she has a red phone with a direct connection to the perma-class of venture capitalists on Sand Hill Road who fund their companies and fill their boards and decide their fates.

People like talking to Swisher.

Interesting profile. I’ve talked to Swisher on several occasions and she is, in the simplest terms, “intense”. In a good way.

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NPR:

If you’re going to pick up a pathogen on an intercontinental flight, it will probably be one hanging out on your seat or another surface, says Dr. Mark Gendreau, who specializes in aviation medicine at Lahey Medical Center in Peabody, Mass.

“When you look at most infectious diseases, the overwhelming majority are transmitted when you touch a contaminated surface,” he says. “You grab the door knob of the airplane bathroom, and then touch your eyes, nose or mouth.”

“But we’re not all doomed to get sick after a plane flight,” Gendreau says. “You can change behaviors when you’re traveling and substantially reduce the risk of catching anything.”

Ugh. One more thing to make air travel suck.

I love reading stories like this.

From Business Insider:

Former White House Press Secretary Jay Carney Could Be Apple’s Next PR Boss

Nope.

Tim Cook has never even met Jay Carney.

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Wired:

Instead of having a human poke around in your bag, the machine scans it for a variety of threats in just a few seconds.

You hold your ticket up to the machine, and it assigns you a pod. Close the door and walk around to the other side. In the time it takes you to get over there, the machine scans the bag for a range of threats.

There are some obvious issues with the embedded company video but those are easily remedied. It would be great to see these kinds of systems in place rather than the awful TSA procedures many of us have to go through now.

Remember last week when I chastised Reuters for being morons in writing the article about accessibility? My problem was that Reuters hacked up one of Tim Cook’s quotes to make it fit the story they had already written. Well, it turns out the National Federation for the Blind hated the story too.

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Washington Post:

Airbus has filed a seat patent that appears to pack people in without all the clunky cushions and awkward folding tables…Its cushions are shaped liked bicycle saddles, and when the seats aren’t being used, they fold vertically to save space.

“Reduced comfort remains tolerable for the passengers in as much as the flight lasts only one or a few hours,” Airbus sagely calculates.

How cheap would the flight have to be for you to pay to sit in those torture devices for two hours?

Some great new plug-ins from my favorite audio company, Universal Audio.

Apple’s iPhone 5s remains the world’s top selling smartphone as of May 2014, according to new data released on Monday by Counterpoint Technology Market Research. […]

No matter who you cheer for, The Captain deserves a hat tip in this, his last season as a New York Yankee.

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iMore:

Everything you need to know about setting up and using Siri on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad!

I’ll be sending this guide out to everyone I know who asks me how they can use Siri.

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New York Magazine:

I’m part of the latest tech trend, a bona fide phenomenon in Silicon Valley that is inspiring the kind of pants-wetting excitement usually reserved for new iPhones and Grand Theft Auto games. I’m talking about smartwatches—the tech world’s quixotic attempt to mount minicomputers on your wrist.

I’ve been wearing two smartwatches for several days apiece, and so far, it’s been an enlightening experience. Though not necessarily a hopeful one.

Obviously it depends on what the particular smartwatch does but in my talks with “average” people, the headline answer so far has been “No.” That being said, it brings to mind the classic (and probably apocryphal) Henry Ford line of, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

Kind of cool—it looks to be made from the same tolex that Marshall makes it amps with.

So Android isn’t safe when you’re using it and it’s not safe when you get rid of it either.

I’m sure everyone has seen the YouTube videos of these kids by now, but a new twist in the saga saw them sign a record deal with Sony.

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The Globe and Mail:

What used to be poor man’s fare, the fallback meal of people too impoverished to afford anything else, is now a billion dollar business and a universal mark of luxury – with the result that a lobster that sells for $3.50 on the wharf can cost $60 and more on a restaurant plate in New York or Toronto or Shanghai, regardless of how many lobsters are pulled from the sea. How this happens is the life story of Larry the Lobster.

As a native Nova Scotianer, lobster, both as a delicious beachside meal and an economy sustaining industry, is near and dear to me. The story of how lobster gets from the ocean floor to the dinner plate is one not many people know and the economics of it is fascinating.

Vox:

In Brazil, “Tudo bom” roughly translates to “all good.” It’s used both as a question and an answer. Tudo bom? Sim, tudo bom. Just like the World Cup. The World Cup in Brazil has been both a blessing and a curse. The joy of sport but at what cost?

As the World Cup wraps up in Brazil today, there will be much soul searching in the country — not just with regards to the awful loss to Germany but whether or not the whole enterprise was worth it. Knowing many Brazilians, I think most of them will say yes it was.

Regardless, I think the relative success of the the 2014 World Cup bodes well for Brazil’s hosting of the Summer Olympics.

Many thanks to Mighty Deals for sponsoring this week’s RSS feed on The Loop. Sometimes you just need a quick and simple photo editor to clean up your photos. Whether you need some mild editing, digital borders, objects removed, colors enhanced or areas brought into focus, this Mighty Deal has it all covered. This Snap Pack Bundle includes 4 incredible Mac photo apps, for one low price: Snapheal, FX Photo Studio, Focus 2 and ColorStrokes. They’re all incredibly easy to use and feature some truly robust editing tools.

Apple launched a new blog on its developer site on Friday dedicated to the Swift programming language introduced during WWDC. The company also made Xcode 6 beta available to all registered developers.

For a long time, Brooks has declined to put his music online, as he insisted albums be released in their entirety. It’s not clear if that’s how he’ll release his music moving forward, but all digital sales will be handled through his official website, not iTunes. There will be a window when his entire collection will be released at a “stupid” price.

Come on Garth, put it on iTunes and be done with this stupid shit.

Much respect.

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Slate:

Can you guess these ’90s hits by their first second?

Sadly, I only got seven out of sixteen but, in my defense, I didn’t like any of the songs I missed. Thanks to Dan Frakes for the link.

Apple released iTunes 11.3 on Thursday, bringing iTunes Extras to Apple TV and iOS 8 when its released this fall. […]

Great article on The Mac Observer—If you’re going to get tips, get them from the engineer that worked on it.

I was at the keynote when Steve Jobs launched the iPhone in 2007. It was an amazing introduction—historic for Apple and the consumer electronics industry. One thing that everyone was asking for after the launch was apps. On July 10, 2008, Apple launched the App Store, forever changing the way we use smartphones, tablets and many other devices. Think about how you used devices before apps, and how you use them today—there is no comparison. The iPhone and apps have changed the world.

Thanks Apple.