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“Every man looks better with a beard. Here’s proof.”

DVICE:

…financial institutions, mobile handset makers and carriers have dreamed of turning your cellphone into a mobile wallet, to use your smartphone the same way you use a credit or debit card.Finally, this year we may finally reach this near field communication (NFC) nirvana, of simply waving our smartphone over a retail payment terminal instead of a credit or debit card to pay for our copiously consumed commodities.There’s only one problem. Using your smartphone as a credit or debit card replacement may be more trouble than it’s worth.

I can’t imagine doing this on a regular basis. Too many concerns about security and data integrity for me.

The first five shots are from mockups as they evolved. The last screen shot is the shipping version — a screen shot from the app.

Jim and Dan talk about headphone guitar amps, a larger screened iPhone, the rumor of Mac’s with retina screens, Facebook streaming Casablanca, the Gibson Sheryl Crow Southern Jumbo Guitar, and Apple’s defense of Siri.Sponsored by Hover and Rackspace.

For many users, the advent of smartphone technology has dramatically changed what they look for in a cell phone device. Two smartphones makers, Apple and Research in Motion (RIM), enter the ACSI with very different results. At 83, Apple (iPhone) leads the field by a long shot, while RIM (Blackberry) lags behind as the least satisfying at 69.“Companies with weak customer satisfaction often have weak stock performance,” notes Fornell. “RIM’s sales are slumping amid a bevy of problems, from hardware and software issues to server lapses that have caused email and messaging outages. Over the past year, share price for RIM has virtually collapsed.”At 83, Apple’s iPhone is a game changer when it comes to customer satisfaction. No other cell phone company has ever broken into the 80s. Apple’s nearest competitors this year are three companies tied at 75: Nokia (+3%) and ACSI newcomers LG and HTC.

So, Apple is on top and RIM sucks balls. Seems about right.

The 1440 Challenge is an awards program — totaling $75,000 — aimed at further developing the best new ideas that help people learn, improve, and share the life skills of self-awareness, authenticity, trust, and empathy. These relationship skills help people connect at deeper levels with themselves, each other, and their communities. By leveraging communication technology and social media, winning entries will accelerate the development of these skills in the areas of education, wellness, or the workplace.

Go collect your money people.

Mashable:

Grab some popcorn and your laptop. Facebook users on Wednesday night will be treated to a one-night only screening of the classic film Casablanca, which will be streamed from the film’s brand page.Casablanca — the winner of three Academy Awards in 1944 and often heralded as one of the best movies of all time (according to, among others, world-renowned film critic Roger Ebert) — will be complimentary streamed on Casablanca’s Facebook page on May 16 at 7:00 p.m. ET. Only one screening for each Facebook account is permitted.

I’m begging you – don’t do this. Rent the disc, sit in front of your TV on your comfy couch with a loved one and watch it. There’s no magic in watching this wonderful movie on your laptop.

Mat Honan takes a deep, long look at how badly Yahoo has managed Flickr, the photo sharing service that was once at the top of the heap and is now barely an also-ran.

Lots of respect for Stephen, his family and the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

During the Games an aircraft carrier will dock on the Thames. Surface-to-air missile systems will scan the skies. Unmanned drones, thankfully without lethal missiles, will loiter above the gleaming stadiums and opening and closing ceremonies. RAF Typhoon Eurofighters will fly from RAF Northolt. A thousand armed US diplomatic and FBI agents and 55 dog teams will patrol an Olympic zone partitioned off from the wider city by an 11-mile, £80m, 5,000-volt electric fence.

Good times.

[Via Jim Coudal]

Dell is distancing itself from the misogynistic rant of Danish entertainer Mads Christensen, made during a European event last week.

[Via I Am Kel]

Reverse Engineering Rock and Roll: Capo is a revolutionary tool that helps you learn the music in your iTunes library. Available for your Mac, iPhone, iPod, and iPad.

Download the free trial for the Mac at http://capoapp.com, and check out the new mastering-quality slowing engine that retains the detail in your music all the way down to quarter-speed!

Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson is said to be stepping down to make way for Yahoo EVP Ross Levinsohn.

Betteridge’s Law of Headlines states the following:Any headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word ‘no’.Ian Betteridge explains his theory as follows:The reason why journalists use that style of headline is that they know the story is probably bollocks, and don’t actually have the sources and facts to back it up, but still want to run it.

If you post crap, but post it first, it’s still crap.

Carroll Hall Shelby, the Texan who created the famous Shelby Cobra and uncounted other high-performance machines that turned the auto world on its ear, and made it a whole lot more fun for 50 years, died in Dallas Thursday night at age 89. He had been hospitalized for pneumonia.

Jim and Dan talk about the latest 7-inch iPad rumors, justification for Mark Zuckerberg’s hoodie, iOS 6’s new Maps app, Lightroom 4, The Beard’s WWDC party, the MacMan, and more.Sponsored by Igloo Software and Hover.

Reuters:

Facebook co-founder, Eduardo Saverin, has renounced his U.S. citizenship, according to an Internal Revenue Service report, just days before the company’s record initial public offering.The offering could leave Saverin – who once owned 5 percent of the company – with a hefty capital-gains tax bill.

That’s convenient.

Thanks to Bare Bones Software and BBEdit for sponsoring The Loop’s RSS feed this week.

BBEdit 10 from Bare Bones Software — The leading professional HTML and text editor for the Mac just keeps getting better, with more than one hundred new features. Download the demo and see for yourself!

Robert Wright:

Because at some point over the past year he had clicked a button without reading the fine print and thus had entered the world of “frictionless sharing.” In this world, if you’re on a website that permits frictionless sharing (theatlantic.com doesn’t), every time you click on a headline, the site can report this behavior to your Facebook friends.

Things like this are just creepy.

I laughed at Marco Arment’s response to this commenter.

Paul Kafasis: This week marks the 75th anniversary of the Hindenburg disaster, a wreck perhaps best known for introducing the phrase “Oh, the humanity” to our lexicon. While chatting with my pal Marco a while back, I realized I knew … Continued

Drafts is the quick, easy way to capture and share ideas on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

Very clean interface with support for Markdown, TextExpander, Twitter and other services.

Analyst Michael Pachter recently took offense to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s lax dress code. CNet’s Jim Kerstetter says good for Zuck.