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I’m still a big fan of RSS.

This is exactly why I use Universal Audio in my recording and mixes. What they do is so exacting, it’s difficult to tell the plug-in from the actual hardware unit. Watch this video.

I can tell you that I’m really excited about the latest release from Universal Audio. They have always been the top plug-in maker for me, but this one goes above and beyond. Here’s what’s included:

• Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor
• Dytronics Tri-Stereo Chorus
• Gallien-Krueger® 800RB Bass Amp
• Ocean Way Microphone Collection
• Marshall Plexi Classic (FREE for Apollo owners)

Excuse me while I go download and play for the rest of the day.

This is one of those things we Canadians have always held up as a reason why Canada is better than the US. We’ll have to find something else now.

Sometimes I just enjoy knowing that things like this can be done. I love that coders and designers keep pushing things, sometimes in a simple way.

I love some of the things Tina Roth Eisenberg finds on the Web, but I couldn’t afford to buy this one.

This is specifically for Google Europe, but it’s a very interesting read on how they are trying to follow the law and strike the right balance.

Apple Inc has agreed to give limited help to the Indian government to develop an anti-spam mobile application for its iOS platform, after refusing to do so based on privacy concerns, according to sources and documents seen by Reuters.

Apple didn’t want the government to have its customer’s call and text logs. Apparently the app they are helping to develop will have limited capabilities.

Chris Davies did a great review of Google’s new wireless headphones, Pixel Buds. He went through all of the main features and compared them to Apple’s AirPods, a product I know much more about.

Apple put out its yearly holiday gift guide to help you choose the perfect present for your family and friends.

Pandora, the largest streaming music provider in the U.S., and Sonos, the wireless home sound system, today launched new ways for listeners to control their music on Sonos within Pandora’s award-winning mobile app. Listeners can now control Sonos directly through the Pandora mobile app and command Pandora stations with voice commands via Alexa. The new experience also includes support for Premium, Pandora’s on-demand service launched earlier this year.

Just tried this and it worked great. Why can’t Apple do this? HomePod, I guess. I am looking forward to getting one of those.

Apple Watch saves the day.

Uncrate: Emirates unveiled its new first class suites for its Boeing 777 and the amenities surpass most luxury hotels. Inspired by the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, each zero-gravity seat is enclosed in its own cabin with floor-to-ceiling sliding doors for complete privacy. … Continued

Our passports are packed and we’re crossing the border. Before you know it, Lyft will be coming to you live in Toronto. We’ve been looking forward to taking our brand of ridesharing international for some time, and we’re super pumped to share this with our close friends up north.

Lyft is a great service and the one I use all the time. This is a good first step to expand Lyft’s reach.

YouTube has confirmed it is working to resolve a bug in its mobile app that causes significant battery drain on Apple devices, even when the app is running in the background.

Definitely something to keep on an eye on until it gets fixed.

Josh Hawley, a Republican seeking to unseat Democratic U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill in next year’s elections, announced at a press conference that he issued an investigative subpoena to Google. He expressed concern over the accuracy of the company’s privacy policy, allegations it misappropriated content from rivals and claims it demoted competitors’ websites in search results.

The first thing I wondered is if Reuters put the first line in because they think this is a political move. Regardless, Google will have to answer the charges.

This is one of those videos that showed me the power of the internet. I still remember seeing this decades ago in a tiny QuickTime window and marveling at the fact that I could watch it on this “internet thing”.

I also marveled at the fact people could be so stupid as to think they could blow up a whale carcass.

Fubiz: Reinhard Görner is a German photographer specializing in architecture and the fine arts. For the photographic series “Libraries”, he travels across Europe to capture the solemnity of the libraries of the Old Continent. From Madrid to Stuttgart, passing through … Continued

This is pretty cool but, for the majority of us, our opposite point will be in an ocean.

No, this won’t tell you definitively when your camera’s shutter will fail but it might help to know how many actuations your DSLR has done. It’s also helpful for those who buy used bodies to find out how much wear and tear there may be on the shutter mechanism.

I know developers are of two minds – it is a Darwinian pressure cooker attempting to satisfy all of Apple’s demands and to be better than a dozen other developers, some of them your friends, who are all trying to do the same thing. But, on the other hand, it’s the kind of jumpstart a small company craves.

My weekend just might be spent watching “The Littlest Hobo” reruns.

I don’t know why I find this so amusing.

“The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” is a beautifully tragic song from Canadian songwriting legend Gordon Lightfoot.

I predicted Matchbox Cars and Risk would be inducted. I demand an immediate recount.

This certainly won’t stop scammers and will take more time than simply deleting the email but it might give you a small measure of satisfaction.

I’ve played the first couple of levels of the game and it seems pretty simplistic. If it weren’t for the research goals behind it, I don’t think I’d actually play it through to the end but it’s for a great cause so I’ll definitely play a few rounds each day.

One of the highlights of going to Macworld Expo each year in San Francisco was our drive to Cupertino to the Apple Employee Store to see what kind of cool swag we could score. I hope the new Visitor Center is just as exciting.

I mentioned when I wrote my iPhone X first look last week that I would follow-up with some more thoughts once I’ve had a chance to use the phone for a little while. Well, here it is. […]

Not generally a fan of hour-long dramas but I love Aniston and will watch just to see her back on TV.