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There’s momentum to overturn an American law that prevents consumers from legally unlocking cell phones. A legal expert explains the best way to do it.

I’d like to thank Preschoolians for sponsoring The Loop this week.

Preschoolians is a footwear company for children birth to five years of age. Our footwear most closely resembles being barefoot. Our footwear protects the feet while being sure to stay out of the way.

Our Visu-Fit is a clear panel on the bottom of the shoe which allows parents to know for sure if our footwear fits and when it is time for a new pair. Time Magazine awarded Visu-FIt Invention of the Year.

Our recently introduced E-Photo-Fit allows you to take a photo of the bottom of your child’s foot and know for sure which size to order. We have have the largest selection of footwear in the world for pre-schoolers; in fact billions of choices.

We are the only company which even allows you to custom design the colors using our Design Your Own.

Use the code: theloop to save 20% on your first purchase.

Philip Elmer Dewitt offers a chart that shows Apple’s iPhone sales against Samsung’s Galaxy sales. The Galaxy has outsold the iPhone only once in ten quarters.

Thrillist’s CEO says 45 percent of their revenue is being generated from customers using their iPhone app. Not bad for a $40 million/year company.

In a post obviously not written by Jim, we direct your attention to a story about Warby Parker’s co-founder’s new venture: shaving products.

In which John Gruber suggests that boredom is affecting the objectivity of tech journalists.

Microsoft’s Surface sales have been weak, according to sources. Big surprise.

Hello World:

Go outside, be present with the people you love when you’re with them, or go make something. Staring at your little screen isn’t doing anything for you.”

Take a look at the fascinating photo comparison on the linked web site. What do you think? Does the 2013 photo represent a good thing, a bad thing or just the nature of the world we live in?

Some people are quick to call parents lazy who give their kids iPads and other gadgets. Not so fast, says Gary Marshall.

ShellyBlog:

Each year’s SXSW conference turns my hometown into a giant carnival of music, food, and strangers from strange lands.

My contribution to SXSW coverage is a listing of free music downloads and samplers, featuring bands who will be in or near Austin next week.

A lot of techies may not realize that while the first five days of SXSW is a tech conference, there’s a huge live music component too. Even better, a lot of these undiscovered bands make their music available for free online. Shelly Brisbin has collated some of the links to these gigabytes of MP3s.

Jim and Dan talk about truth in reporting, trusting the news and news agencies, android users in the air, twisting numbers, Rubin stepping down, “cheap” guitars, and more.

Sponsored by Hover (use code DANSENTME for 10% off), Shutterstock (use code DANSENTME3 for 30% off), and Squarespace (use code DANSENTME3 for 10% off).

Google’s CEO announced that Andy Rubin, the guy who started Android, is moving on “to start a new chapter at Google.”

Lifehacker offers practical suggestions for how to temper your next political discussion with facts and balance, not rhetoric.

Ben Long delves into pro workflow tools for iPad-toting photographers.

Gone are the days of not being able to categorize your audio recordings and voice memos or remember important moments. With CaptureAudio, your audio recordings can be sorted into binders and notebooks. More importantly, during a recording you can quickly and easily mark significant moments with audio markers called “flags” to immediately start playing from that moment during playback.

I’ve been using this app for a couple of weeks and it’s great.

As the Papal Conclave happens in Rome, the cardinals spend their days in the Sistine Chapel. Here is a very cool VR of the inside of the chapel.

A Day in the Life of a Douchebag

io9:

The relatively cheap shipping container is a good foundation for a strong, mobile, and post-apocalyptic home. In the last two decades, architects have been incorporating shipping containers into everything from schools to houses — for aesthetic reasons, but also out of economic necessity. Here are some of their most eye-catching creations.

You’d think living in a shipping container means your life couldn’t get much worse but take a look at some of these beautiful and innovative homes and tell me you wouldn’t want to live in any one of them.

This is really good.

A touching account of Karyn’s sudden battle with brain cancer. Be well Karyn.

Boing Boing:

Imagine my delight when I happened to discover Netflix had added the legendary ‘50s TV show, “You Bet Your Life” to its streaming service. The reason for my delight? The host of “You Bet Your Life” was none other than my grandfather, the one and only Groucho Marx.

But I also couldn’t stop thinking about how close every one of those classic episodes of “You Bet Your Life” came to being destroyed many years ago and how my grandfather and I managed to stop that from happening.

I’ve always been a huge Marx Brothers’ fan and especially of Groucho Marx. I’ve only ever seen short clips of “You Bet Your Life” but I’m happy to hear they were saved and are on Netflix!

A pro boxer in England took matters into his own hands recently after being taunted on Twitter.

The Wirecutter:

If I wanted to spend less than $700, the Canon Rebel T4i…would be my pick — but first I’d have to decide if I’d even want a DSLR to begin with.

Here’s the rub: if you’re newly making the switch to a lens-based system, and don’t plan on going pro, it’s really debatable if you even want a DSLR. While the format has some advantages, there’s very little that an entry-level DSLR can do that a new Mirrorless camera can’t do just as well while taking up much less space.

I would agree with this reviewer. If you’re looking at a budget DSLR, make sure you take a long hard look at the crop of (very good) Mirrorless cameras on the market today.

Gadling:

If I ruled the world, I would issue a decree commanding every hotel to install minibars stocked with $2 bottles of beer. But since that’s never going to happen, you might have to go to Nicaragua to experience such an enlightened minibar alcohol policy.

Two dollars is actually a pretty high price for a beer in Nicaragua, where most places charge $1 for a 12-ounce bottle of local beer. The Hotel Plaza Colon is an outstanding hotel and room rates there hover around $100 a night.

I might look at Nicaragua for my next big boy vacation! Any Loopers ever vacationed in the country?

Tell me this – Do you want to go to a site, click on something that looks like a story and instead have an ad fed to you? Because that’s what Mashable just “invented.”

I know what I think of this.

Preschoolians is a footwear company for children birth to five years of age. Our footwear most closely resembles being barefoot. Our footwear protects the feet while being sure to stay out of the way.

Our Visu-Fit is a clear panel on the bottom of the shoe which allows parents to know for sure if our footwear fits and when it is time for a new pair. Time Magazine awarded Visu-FIt Invention of the Year.

Our recently introduced E-Photo-Fit allows you to take a photo of the bottom of your child’s foot and know for sure which size to order. We have have the largest selection of footwear in the world for pre-schoolers; in fact billions of choices.

We are the only company which even allows you to custom design the colors using our Design Your Own.

Use the code: theloop to save 20% on your first purchase.

Developers should bear in mind that the App Store is about providing customers with what they want, not developers.

Graduates at the Kanazawa College of Art in Japan dressed up in costumes for their graduation. The results are remarkable.

This is great.