Uncategorized

Tourism is a dangerous job in Canada.

Delaware Online:

While shooting football in the snow makes for fantastic photos, it’s also the most challenging scenario a modern photojournalist can find themselves in. Cameras today rely so heavily on autofocus for sports that snow renders them functionally useless.

Imagine trying to photograph someone standing behind a waterfall. Even if you can see them clearly, no matter what you do your camera focuses only the water. The same went for every thick snowflake between me and the players on the field, and when you consider there were thousands falling every second the challenge was daunting.

This was a fun game to watch and this guy got some spectacular shots in amazingly difficult photographic conditions.

Matthew Ungar sent me these pictures today that he took of iPhones and iPads at China Mobile. Great to see.

New York Times:

SantaCons of years past have been distinguished by sexism, drunkenness, xenophobia, homophobia and enough incidents of public vomiting and urination to fill an infinite dunk tank. Despite these rampant violations, the departing police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, recently praised SantaCon, claiming that it “makes New York New York.”

So “sexism, drunkenness, xenophobia, homophobia” are what make New York be New York? Bull.

Star Trek:

The Starship Enterprise NCC-1701 was the first fictional spacecraft to carry on the name of many vessels in English and U.S. history. There were actually two ships in the English Navy called the HMS Enterprize (and that’s not a typo). The first was from 1743 and the second sailed in 1775. Fast forward to the U.S. Pacific Fleet during WWII and the USS Enterprise CV6 was our first Aircraft Carrier to carry the name Enterprise. In 1955, the second USS Enterprise CV65 took to sea. She was a massive aircraft carrier and the first of our nuclear-powered fleet. Fast forward again to 1967, and a new USS Enterprise would to take us into space… with Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek.

But every true Star Trek fan knew all of this already, didn’t they?

I enjoyed reading this piece by Rene Ritchie, especially when he talked about the future. This is what I’ve been saying about Apple’s future devices—expect some magic, not a smart watch like the shit Samsung is putting out.

I’ve seen people posting on both sides of this issue tonight.

This is a pretty amazing story. Blatantly stealing other people’s work is not right.

Truth has never been an essential ingredient of viral content on the Internet. But in the stepped-up competition for readers, digital news sites are increasingly blurring the line between fact and fiction, and saying that it is all part of doing business in the rough-and-tumble world of online journalism.

I’m not saying I disagree, but it seems odd that the Times would post something like this when they are just as guilty as posting shit as the sites they condemn.

I give you Exhibit A.

Sarah Lockard is the “CEO and Publisher” of AroundMainLine.com in Philadelphia, and yesterday Philadelphia magazine ran an email she sent to area restaurants in which she offered them a “VERY innovative” and “exciting” opportunity: to host her family dinner on Christmas Eve in exchange for coverage on her site.

That’s just awful.

The difference is in other cosmopolitan cities, the lower part of society keep to themselves. They sell small trinkets, beg coyly, stay quiet, and generally stay out of your way. They realize it’s a privilege to be in the civilized part of town and view themselves as guests. And that’s okay.

Asshole.

Some good thoughts here from Daniel Jalkut.

When Microsoft co-founder and then-chief executive Bill Gates hired Ballmer from Procter & Gamble in 1980, it was to be “the business guy, whatever that meant,” Ballmer says. Since that day, his rallying cry has always been “How do you make money? How do you make money? How do you make money?”

And this, in my opinion, is why Microsoft is in trouble right now. Apple’s philosophy is “How do we make the best product?” They figure the money will come if they make great products that people want. And they’re right. Ballmer’s philosophy led them to making shitty products that people felt locked into owning. Those days are quickly coming to an end.

Great news for Mac users today from Universal Audio—the company released a public beta of its Pro Tools AAX implementation.

UAD software v7.4.1 is a free public beta that gives Pro Tools 11 users:

• Total session and automation compatibility with earlier versions of Pro Tools
• Access to the complete library of UAD Powered Plug-Ins in AAX 64
• Seamless interoperability with Apollo series interfaces and Realtime UAD Processing
• Support for Pro Tools 11’s faster-than-realtime (offline) bounce feature

There’s also some new functionality including:

• AudioSuite processing for file-based workflows, which allows you to process files and selections with UAD plug-ins, commit the changes and free up DSP
• Multi-mono support, so you can use UAD plug-ins on surround and stereo tracks with full linking and unlinking capability

These videos are always amazing. It’s basically a short movie made out of clips from movies released in 2013. Nick Bosworth is an editing genius.

Is nothing sacred? I mean, really. Stay the fuck away from Santa you evil crazy company.

I’ve been testing Castro and I really like it. If I were going to recommend a podcast app, this would be it.

Go paperless with Doxie – tiny and beautifully designed mobile scanners that scan everything, starting at just $149.

Doxie scans your paper: simply and automatically. Battery power and built-in memory means you can scan anywhere, then tuck Doxie away when you’re not using it. Once you’ve scanned everything, Doxie’s included Mac software makes organizing it all easy. Save, share, create searchable PDFs, and send to the cloud.

The Loop readers get free U.S. shipping and Guaranteed Christmas Delivery for all orders placed through December 19th. Order your Doxie today and give the gift of paperless.

Here’s video of a Christmas tree harvest using a helicopter at the Noble Mountain Tree Farm outside of Salem, OR. I had to check with a helicopter pilot friend of mine to make sure this wasn’t fake! Here’s another video showing the process from the pilot’s point of view. Amazing piloting skills.

Swedish Chef is my favorite.

Mashable:

Airports are perhaps the least jolly of locales during the holiday season, generally filled with disgruntled people facing delays, lost luggage and other mishaps. But, thanks to WestJet, one gaggle of weary travelers was treated to a Christmas miracle that turned an airport into Santa’s workshop.

Sniff. Excuse me, I have to go. I’ve got something in my eyes.

The Information published some information about what Scott Forstall has been up to—Business Insider relayed some of the news:

Amir Efrati at new technology site The Information is reporting that Forstall spent the year traveling to Italy and South Africa. He also advised a few startups, and became more philanthropically involved, focusing on education, poverty, and human rights.

What an incredibly inventive name for a company. They sell a product called Teüna, a chromatic tuner for iPhone and iPad.

So true, they need to be redesigned. Sometimes it’s difficult to even find my seat on the tickets. Throw in tickets for all sporting events and airline tickets and you’ve got something.

The uses could be almost limitless, but here are a few good ideas.

I linked to the “print” page because Citeworld split the article up into three pages.

Sharecare on Monday launched AskMD, an iPhone app designed to allow you to collect information about symptoms of your ailment, learn about the common causes and even connect you to local doctors to be treated. […]

Matthew Bischoff wrote a great article about why he chose to criticize his former employer, The New York Times, on their software strategy.

A guy’s phone catches fire and Samsung tries to silence him. Such assholes.

Good find from Cali Krueger.