Uncategorized

Eric Clapton and BB King

BB King can say more with one note on his guitar than most players can with an entire solo. […]

Apple service leads customers to buy new devices

That service left almost all of the 40 percent of Apple owners who took their Apple devices to the Genius Bar very happy. Nearly 90 percent of consumers who used Apple’s tech service said they were extremely or very satisfied. In contrast, top 2 box satisfaction among all consumer service interactions was 78 percent. A major part of their satisfaction came from the fact that only a small percentage actually paid for their service. According to the report, 88 percent of Genius Bar consumers said their service was free compared to 78 percent of all consumers.

I would say this goes for most companies. The problem is not everyone gets the importance of customer service and how it affects future purchases.

One More Thing Conference videos

For everyone who told us they wished they could come to the conference but couldn’t make it – this is for you. We’re making the full videos from both days of the One More Thing 2012 Conference available for download! It’s only $49, and you can come back to watch or download the videos again at any time up until the next conference. They’re all 720p, H.264 and encoded for most iOS devices.

I wasn’t at the conference, but I heard a lot of good things about it from people that were there.

Panorama lets you stand on the moon with Neil Armstrong

Wired:

Though 12 men have walked on the moon, only one could be the first. When Neil Armstrong, who died Aug. 25, touched down in 1969 on the lunar surface, he and fellow astronaut Buzz Aldrin made history and photographed their landing site in detail.This fitting panoramic tribute transports you to the Apollo 11 landing site and lets you see what Armstrong saw. Stitching together photographs taken by Armstrong himself, the full 360-degree view shows the flat volcanic regolith where the Apollo Lunar Module landed.

This is another in a long line of amazing panoramas created by the brilliant Hans Nyberg.

Chinese gamer returns dozens of spacebars stolen from internet cafe

The Verge:

According to a bizarre story reported by Chinese state newspaper The People’s Daily, a man recently turned up at an internet cafe in the country with dozens of stolen spacebars. Irritated by the noise made by players of the rhythmic game Audition Online, which involves repeated tapping of the keyboard, the disgruntled gamer had surreptitiously removed the offending keys from the establishment more than seven years previously.

But he decided to make amends in order to enjoy a fresh start following his upcoming wedding, returning the spacebars in bulk earlier this month.

Gamers are so odd.

Canadian National Canthem

I don’t see any igloos. Clearly this must have been filmed in the National Hut of Government.

Astronaut Neil Armstrong, first man to walk on moon, dies at age 82

NBC News:

Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, died Saturday, weeks after heart surgery and days after his 82nd birthday.Armstrong commanded the Apollo 11 spacecraft that landed on the moon on July 20, 1969, and he radioed back to Earth the historic news of “one giant leap for mankind.” He spent nearly three hours walking on the moon with fellow astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin.

Sad day.

Amplified: Texas Justice

This week, Dan and Jim discuss a potential release date for the next iPhone, Mat Honan of Wired’s hacking experience and Apple’s acquisition of AuthenTec, the company’s current host of lawsuits, vintage guitars, and more!Sponsored by Hover (use coupon DANSENTME for 10% off), Igloo Software, and Sourcebits.

Thinking small

Horace Dediu:

The irony is that by thinking small, Apple became the biggest company that ever was.

The All-New Squarespace 6

Design a visually rich website with magazine-quality layouts that scales to any screen size – all without touching a line of code. Squarespace 6 is a revolutionary new website creation platform with over 50 new features. Squarespace’s breakthrough LayoutEngine technology allows anyone to create visually-rich pages with any configuration of text, images, or blocks by dragging items exactly where you want them.

The platform comes equipped with 20 new, fully customizable templates and offers sophisticated media management, a robust blogging engine, deep social network integration, real-time statistics, multiple author support, and more.

Try Squarespace 6 today – free 14-day trial.

iPhone 5 and iPad mini events

John Gruber:

I’m thinking it makes more sense for Apple to hold two events. First, an iPhone event, focused solely on the new iPhone and iOS 6. Then, the iPhone ships nine days later, and there’s another wave of iPhone-focused attention as the reviews come out. Then, in the first or second week of October, Apple holds its traditional “music event”, exactly along the lines of the events at which they’ve been debuting new iPods for the last decade.

Oh that Gruber is a smart fellow.

Botched restoration of Jesus Fresco

Ms. Giménez said she had worked on the fresco using a 10-year-old picture of it, but she eventually left Jesus with a half-beard and, some say, a monkeylike appearance.

Wow. Just wow.

VMware Fusion 5 with 70 new features

VMware Fusion 5 has been designed to work on Mountain Lion and integrate to some of its key features. You can now get VMware Fusion updates directly in Mountain Lion’s notification center or search for your favorite Windows programs in Launchpad. And if you have an Apple TV, you can even use “AirPlay Mirroring” to view your Windows environment on your HDTV.

I talked to the folks at VMware earlier this week and it looks like a great update. Not only Mountain Lion and Retina support, but also lots of performance enhancements too. There’s also upgrade pricing.

Dell & HP are like reading a page from a horror novel

Om Malik:

Dell, in fact, is no different than HP which also has blown the shift to mobile and now is trying to do a comb-over by using cloud and enterprise as its areas of focus.

Om’s story on HP and Dell cuts deep, but he’s right on.

National Hobo Convention

The hobo is a migratory worker, some with a special skill or trade, others ready to work at any task, but always willing to work to make his way.The tramp, they’ll tell you, is a traveling non-worker, moving from town to town, but never willing to work for the handouts that he begs for. A bum is the lowest class, too lazy to roam around and never works.

[Via Kottke]

Bait and switch: What’s behind AT&T’s stance on FaceTime

GigaOM:

AT&T’s decision to block Apple’s video-calling program on its cellular network for certain customers has raised the ire of consumers and public-interest groups, and it may even draw the attention of the Federal Communications Commission. And after the wireless carrier posted its rationale on Wednesday on its decision to limit video over FaceTime to customers who have signed up for its Mobile Shared Data plan, I see two reasons the carrier has picked this fight.The first is to push more consumers over to the Mobile Shared Data plan, and the second is to establish a precedent that will put its Wi-Fi network on the same legal footing as its cellular one, especially when it comes to network neutrality.

Tom Reads His Spam

Our LOLs of the day come from Tom Webster, creator of “Tom Reads His Spam.”

Dell reports everything is down

Dell just announced its quarterly earnings:

Income: Down Revenue: Down Enterprise: Down Government: Down Small and medium businesses: Down And Consumer: You guessed it, down.

Oh and stock price: Down

Despite all of that, Dell posted “better than expected second-quarter earnings.”

Honda debuts Miimo robotic lawnmower

Autoblog:

Miimo is an autonomous robotic mower that Honda will be selling in the European market only (for now) starting in 2013.Miimo runs on power supplied by its lithium-ion battery pack and, just like a Roomba robotic vacuum, will return to its charging station for a fresh batch of electrons when it runs out.The mower can operate in a random pattern, a directional mode where it mows back and forth in lines, or a combination of the two. As for safety, Miimo has bump sensors so it won’t break any potted plants, and if lifted off the ground, its blades will automatically stop and starting up again requires entering a unique PIN number.

As a kid, sweating behind an old fashioned push-blade mower (no – I’m not that old. My father was that cheap!), I would have saved my allowance and bought one of these!

Dog shaming

Dogshaming is a new Tumblr for dog owners frustrated by their canine companions’ occasionally inappropriate behavior.

The All-New Squarespace 6 [Sponsor]

Design a visually rich website with magazine-quality layouts that scales to any screen size – all without touching a line of code. Squarespace 6 is a revolutionary new website creation platform with over 50 new features. Squarespace’s breakthrough LayoutEngine technology allows anyone to create visually-rich pages with any configuration of text, images, or blocks by dragging items exactly where you want them.

The platform comes equipped with 20 new, fully customizable templates and offers sophisticated media management, a robust blogging engine, deep social network integration, real-time statistics, multiple author support, and more.

Try Squarespace 6 today – free 14-day trial.