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Velocity is the only speed reading app designed and developed exclusively for iOS 7. Using a well-researched speed reading technique, you can breeze through your Instapaper or Pocket queue at superhuman speeds of up to 1,000 words per minute. Speed read websites, documents, or just about any text in one of Velocity’s 3 gorgeous themes and save more time than you know what to do with. See Velocity in action.

Tim Bajarin:

I think Samsung is working toward ditching Android completely sometime over the next three to five years to take complete control over its future. And this is where the backing of Tizen becomes interesting and important. Although Tizen has not attracted a lot of app support to date, if Samsung gets behind it and is able to prove to the market it will continue innovate around the platform, delivering hundreds of millions of smartphones and tablets annually under its brand, software developers would be crazy not to develop for it.

I’ve said it before—I think this is exactly what is going to happen. Without Samsung, Google’s importance in the mobile industry will be nowhere near what it is today.

This.

Get real writing done with iPads, iPhones, Android devices, Chromebooks, and other mobile hardware (including Microsoft Surface). Learn how top journalists, authors and public-relations professionals write using an array of mobile gadgets. Get recommendations on the best mobile hardware, software (apps!), and accessories.

All from one of the top technology journalists working today, Julio Ojeda-Zapata from Twincities.com and the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Writing on mobile devices is something we’re all doing more of these days.

It’s a simple question that we often forget to ask ourselves. We’ve found that when we do, it helps us feel positive and remember the things that matter most. We built Grateful in the hopes that it helps you remember too.

The concept is simple: every day enter what you are grateful for. Over time you will have a delightful collection of memories and reminders that we all have something to be grateful for.

Great timing for releasing this app.

Just an incredible amount of money—$12.8 million all told. I just wish I had enough to bid on some of the products.

Om Malik:

Well-placed sources tell us that the company is gearing up to launch new private messaging features inside its still red-hot photo and video sharing service. It is also experimenting with the idea of group messaging, our source tells us. The new features are likely to find home in the next version of Instagram, which is expected before end of the year. An Instagram spokesperson (not surprisingly) declined to comment.

Om knows his stuff.

Many thanks to MightyDeals for sponsoring The Loop’s RSS feed this week. This week MightyDeals is offering a great deal on MotoPress. It’s a WordPress plugin that replaces the default WP editor and makes content editing a snap. It uses a super easy drag-and-drop method, that works on all devices thanks to its responsive design. If you use WordPress, you’ll love this. See how it works.

Yesterday, after a period of engagement with the App Review Team from Apple, they informed us that TextExpander’s use of Reminders for shared snippet data storage is not an intended use of Reminders and will no longer be accepted. TextExpander touch will not clear review until this is resolved. Apps which implement the current TextExpander touch SDK may not clear review until their TextExpander touch SDK is updated.

I love the people at Smile Software and hate to this kind of stuff happen to them. They care about their products and customers.

LETTERS LIVE is a new series of public events organised by Canongate which will bring to life some of the most important, inspiring and entertaining letters ever written.

I would love to go to this event in London.

Byword is one of my favorite Mac apps—I use it everyday. It was just updated with a number of improvements.

Washington Post:

This has been a big week for Bitcoin. On Monday, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held the first-ever Congressional hearing on Bitcoin. Later in the day, the currency’s value reached an all-time high of more than $800.

That has left a lot of people scratching their heads. What’s Bitcoin? How do you use it? And why would anyone want to? Read on for answers.

Glad somebody asked.

In an interview with Larry King scheduled to run Thursday night, Bob Woodward talked about NSA leaker Edward Snowden. “I wish he’d come to me instead of others, particularly The Guardian, and I would have said to him ‘let’s not reveal who you are. Let’s make you a protected source and give me time with this data and let’s sort it out and present it in a coherent way,’ ” Woodward tells King.

In issue 15 of The Loop Magazine:

Matt Gemmell talks about letting go of distractions and interruptions that cause him to lose focus on what’s important; Kirk McElhearn investigates whether William Shakespeare was a real person or a name used by many different authors; Nick de Souza discusses how the iPad is helping in education in his article “Magical Lessons”; Chris Domico is reminded how a song can take you back in time in “Nostalgia”; and Jim Dalrymple reviews the iPad mini.

In keeping with its promise of updating iWork for OS X and iOS, Apple on Thursday released updates for Pages (iOS and OS X), Numbers (iOS and OS X), and Keynote (iOS and OS X). Changes for the individual apps are as follows:

The Federal Communications Commission will propose allowing passengers to use their cellphones on airplanes, people familiar with the matter said.

While phone use would still be restricted during takeoff and landing, the proposal would lift an FCC ban on airborne calls and cellular data use by passengers once a flight reaches 10,000 feet, an FCC official said.

I will punch you in the face if you make a loud phone call next to me.

I like these. I use Field Notes all the time.

Nice.

How am I not in this?

Fantastic pictures. Especially love that 1957 shot of Manhattan Beach. Used to live just a few blocks from there. If any of these places click for you, fun to pull up a map and compare what is to what used to be.

[Professional accountants: Avert your eyes; the following simplification could hurt.

Profit isn’t cash, it’s merely an increase in the value of your assets. Such increase can be illiquid. Profit is an accountant’s opinion. Cash is a fact.]

Fascinating article from Jean-Louis Gassée.

Jim and Dan talk about Sonic Port from Line 6, Mobile POD, using an iPad as a primary device, the Apple Store for iPad and the new generation of iOS 7 apps, Plex, The Bacon Method, and more.

Sponsored by Shopify (use code for % off), Squarespace (use code DANSENTME11 for 10% off), and Shutterstock (use code DANSENTME1113 for 25% off).

Studio Devil doesn’t have the glitz and glitter interface that other apps do, but when it comes to guitar tone, this app delivers. It’s one of my favorites.

MoneyWell for iPad is a full-featured personal finance app that gives you access to direct connect banking and the best proactive budgeting system available.

Too many changes in the new update to mention.

I bet a lot of people will take advantage of this.

Mr. Gascón said that, based on e-mails he had reviewed between a Samsung executive and a software developer, it appeared that the carriers were unwilling to allow Samsung to load the antitheft software. The emails, he said, suggest that the carriers are concerned that the software would eat into the profit they make from the insurance programs many consumers buy to cover lost or stolen phones.

Wow.

“In response to declining sales, the company is in a volatile state,” New York-based Pfizer told employees in a memo obtained by Bloomberg News. “We recommend that BlackBerry clients use their BlackBerry devices and plan to migrate to a new device at normal contract expiration.”

“Volatile state” is not what you want to hear from one of your largest customers.