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Net Neutrality Endgame

Matt Drance:

Put simply: the Internet we know and depend on will become something very different. The business relationship with your provider will change its focus from consumption (how many ones and zeros came over the wire) to behavior (what kind of ones and zeros). The latter is much more discriminatory and insidious.

Amplified: Nobody’s Getting My Panties

This week, Merlin Mann sits in to chat with Jim about the Nest acquisition, the problem with Google’s opaque creepiness, Jim’s upcoming trip to NAMM, plus some special interactive tips from Jim on working the pentatonic blues solo.

Homework: Practice on GnR’s “Knocking on Heaven’s Door.”

5by5’s bandwidth for January provided by CacheFly: The fastest, most reliable CDN in the business.

Sponsors this week:

  • Ting ($25 off)
  • Shutterstock (25% off everything with discount code “DANSENTME114”)
  • Freshbooks (They’re giving away birthday cakes!)
  • Squarespace (10% off everything with discount code “NEWYEARS”)

The Loop Magazine Issue 19: What “Post PC” Means

In this issue, Don Lehman examines what “Post PC” really means; Darren Murph looks at how Land Rover is investing in brand loyalty; Kirk McElhearn looks back at the beauty of mono recordings; Dermot Daly discusses the iPhone’s 20 year reign; and Chris Domico gives us an inside look at the life of a freelance musician.

Visual Storytelling for iPad

Share your world through Storehouse. It’s the easiest way to create and discover beautiful stories.

Combine photos, videos, and text to meaningfully document your experiences. Publish your stories for friends and followers, or share them by email, Facebook, or Twitter. Explore stories created by your friends and our community of storytellers from all around the world.

This looks like a great app, and it’s free.

Apple and the FTC scam

Are you kidding me? The deal for Apple to reimburse parents for money their kids had spent on apps was already done and then the FTC swoops in.

Apple to refund $32.5 million for disputed kids’ app purchases

Apple Inc will refund consumers at least $32.5 million to settle a longstanding complaint that the technology company billed U.S. consumers for charges incurred by children through mobile apps without their parents’ consent.

Or, you know, you could just look after your kids and take responsibility for what they do.

Slimy Samsung bastards

First, let’s get the most mysterious thing about the Galaxy S5 out of the way: Yes, it will come in both metal and plastic versions as has been rumored, with the metal version costing around 800 Euros and the plastic model coming in at around 650 Euros. It’s pretty much similar to what Apple has done.

Unfollowing is a joy

Maureen O’Connor writing for New York Magazine:

There is such a thing as too much information for you. There is such a thing as information the speaker will later regret. But if an audience is willingly and pleasurably consuming the information, then by definition, that is the right amount of information for them. Assuming the information in question is yours to share — your life, your ideas, your stories, your pictures, your theories about elf genealogy in Lord of the Rings — you cannot share too much of it. There are no captive audiences on the Internet.

I enjoyed this article.

Baby Comes Home interactive iPad book for kids

In this interactive storybook app for kids, step into a dog’s world and experience the arrival of a family’s first baby from a lovable canine’s perspective.

As a father and a dog lover, I love this.

The Road to Geekdom

John Siracusa:

Geekdom is not a club; it’s a destination, open to anyone who wants to put in the time and effort to travel there. And if someone lacks the opportunity to get there, we geeks should help in any way we can. Take a new friend to a meetup or convention. Donate your old games, movies, comics, and toys. Be welcoming. Sharing your enthusiasm is part of being a geek.

The origin of Pixar

Today I Found Out:

Before a story about toys, before monsters went corporate, before anyone went searching for Nemo, and before twenty seven Academy Awards, Pixar was a high-end computer hardware company whose clients included the government and the medical community.

Many think Pixar sprung fully formed from the genius of Steve Jobs. This story does a good job of showing the history of the company long before Jobs was ever involved.

40 more maps that explain the world

Washington Post:

Consider this, then, a collection of maps meant to inspire your inner map nerd. I’ve searched far and wide for maps that can reveal and surprise and inform in ways that the daily headlines might not, with a careful eye for sourcing and detail.

Maps have always fascinated me and the ones pictured here cover the span from “Cool!” to “Oh, that’s not good.”

CES still matters, but “Shadow CES” matters even more

TIME:

A gigantic percentage of what makes the trek to Vegas worthwhile for those 150,000 participants is what I think of as Shadow CES — the show beyond the show, largely carried on behind closed doors.

The average encounter at Shadow CES is probably more interesting than the average CES one, for several reasons.

I’d venture to say more deals are made and more meaningful work is done at “Shadow CES” than on the actual show floor of CES.

Seattle Seahawks fans generated an earthquake

ESPN:

Seismologists say Seahawks fans shook the ground under Seattle’s CenturyLink Field during Saturday’s defeat of the New Orleans Saints, causing another fan-generated earthquake.

The scientists believe the small earthquake during a Marshawn Lynch touchdown was likely greater than Lynch’s famous “beast quake” touchdown run three years ago, which also came against New Orleans during a playoff game.

I went to a couple of Seahawks games in the late nineties in the old Kingdome and even though the team sucked, the fans loved to make noise.

How stars end up with Samsung devices

Fast Company:

Samsung’s program known as “White Glove.” It’s a marketing effort designed to convert Apple-slinging celebrities and business influencers into Samsung evangelists. When Beyoncé whips out her phone on the street in Brooklyn, Korea’s largest business conglomerate wants the paparazzi to see that she’s playing Words With Friends on a Samsung.

The White Glove program is a cross between the social marketing of Tupperware parties (minus the pressure to buy something), the house calls of Mormon missionaries (minus the pressure to give up smoking), and the persistence of Green Eggs and Ham–but for gadgets.

It may seem like a lot of time, energy and money on Samsung’s part but, for better or worse, celebrities are “influencers”. And before you knock the program, keep in mind this is something else Apple has done that Samsung has copied. Apple’s program in the Nineties was called “Apple Masters“.

How I made sure all 12 of my kids could pay for college themselves

Quartz:

My wife and I had 12 children over the course of 15 1/2 years. Today, our oldest is 37 and our youngest is 22. I have always had a very prosperous job and enough money to give my kids almost anything. But my wife and I decided not to.

I will share with you the things that we did, but first let me tell you the results: All 12 of my children have college degrees (or are in school), and we as parents did not pay for it.

Congratulations to the Thompson family. Maybe not a blueprint for everyone but there are some good ideas in the article for new parents.

Would you like to write for The Loop Magazine?

I’ve been asked many times over the last seven months if I accept submissions for The Loop Magazine—the answer is yes.

If you would like to write for The Loop Magazine, please submit your idea to me at Email [email protected]. The topics in the magazine are as diverse as the people who write them. It doesn’t have to be about Apple or even technology—it can literally be about anything, as long as it’s interesting.

You will be paid for your work. As a writer myself, I believe in paying writers for their work. Send me your ideas and we’ll discuss whether it’s right for The Loop Magazine.