Wall Street Journal:

Facebook is going to start forcing ads to appear for all users of its desktop website, even if they use ad-blocking software.

The social network said on Tuesday that it will change the way advertising is loaded into its desktop website to make its ad units considerably more difficult for ad blockers to detect.

And:

With the move, Facebook risks turning off some of its 1.7 billion monthly users who prefer not to see ads while browsing the internet. But users are more likely to access Facebook’s app on smartphones and tablets, which are less susceptible to ad blocking than personal computers. Facebook will not circumvent ad blockers on mobile devices.

Interesting. This is a desktop thing, not a mobile thing. I wonder if the desktop only approach is a technical limitation or, perhaps, an Apple app review limitation, or something else entirely.

There’s also this:

“This isn’t motivated by inventory; it’s not an opportunity for Facebook from that perspective,” Mr. Bosworth said. “We’re doing it more for the principle of the thing. We want to help lead the discussion on this.”

When you are selling ads, and forcing people to watch them, tough to stand behind principle.

Mark Gurman:

The updated notebooks will be thinner, include a touch screen strip for function keys, and will be offered with more powerful and efficient graphics processors for expert users such as video gamers, said the people, who asked not to be named.

The new computers have been in advanced testing within Apple since earlier this year, said one of the people, who didn’t want to be identified discussing products before their release. The MacBook Pros aren’t likely to debut at an event currently scheduled for Sept. 7 to introduce next-generation versions of the iPhone, according to one of the people.

And:

The most significant addition to the new MacBook Pro is a secondary display above the keyboard that replaces the standard function key row. Instead of physical keys, a strip-like screen will present functions on an as-needed basis that fit the current task or application. The smaller display will use Organic Light-Emitting Diodes, a thinner, lighter and sharper screen technology, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said earlier this year.

Apple’s goal with the dedicated function display is to simplify keyboard shortcuts traditionally used by experienced users. The panel will theoretically display media playback controls when iTunes is open, while it could display editing commands like cut and paste during word processing tasks, the people said. The display also allows Apple to add new buttons via software updates rather than through more expensive, slower hardware refreshes.

You had me at new MacBook Pro.

Here’s a priceless film from 1937 that shows Duke Ellington in the studio recording, and the process of making a vinyl record release afterwards. There’s a lot to notice in the video that will make you appreciate the recording process from back then.

This is absolutely fascinating. Certainly a truer sound than what we get today.

Nearly a dozen executives at companies from Sony Corp (6758.T) to Angry Birds-creator Rovio said Pokemon Go would be a tough act to follow, and some even said a challenge would not be worth it. Gamers should not expect the quick release of a rival app anytime soon, some said.

I think this is a good thing. We’re not looking for clones, we’re looking for innovation in markets, including gaming. Instead of trying to figure out a way to clone a successful product, figure out how to make one yourself.

Ben Bajarin on binge watching:

TV networks are, in my opinion and analysis, not well positioned for this shift given their business model. Due to their advertising focus, they are incentivized to release content over long periods of time due to how they structure ad deals. Netflix, HBO, and Amazon are not subsidizing these shows by ads but by my consumer dollars, so I’m paying for these stories as a service.

I don’t mind paying for services like Netflix because I can watch as much as I want, whenever I want. The ad focused model has to change at some point, whether the networks want it or not. I would have thought the DVR would have done more to change it already—I don’t watch anything live anymore, just so I can skip commercials.

An interesting post from the founder of Ruby on Rails, David Heinemeier Hansson.

Techcrunch:

Twitter’s curated tweet slideshow Moments has failed to move the user growth needle. But the sagging public company hopes to make itself accessible and indispensable by allowing more than just its in-house curators and partnered news publishers make Moments.

Another example of Twitter trying anything to get more users and more user engagement. Twitter Moments can be interesting especially when focused on a narrow target but, for the most part, users don’t seem to care very much about them.

Apple engineer Ivan Krstić spoke on far more than Apple’s new bug bounty program at the Black Hat security conference, and delved into the inner workings of iOS hardware and software security features both in iOS 9 and the forthcoming iOS 10.

Security is such an important issue these days. It’s a great move for Apple to speak publicly about what they are doing to make its products secure.

Apple, in emailed comments, said it did not oblige Russian resellers to fix prices for its products.

“Resellers set their own prices for the Apple products they sell in Russia and around the world,” the company’s press office said.

It just doesn’t make any sense that Apple would be involved in price fixing.

Vindu Goel, writing for the New York Times:

In the primordial days of computing, IBM machines were so common inside corporations that there was a running joke in the industry: Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM.

These days, the same could be said about Apple. Even IBM is promoting Apple gear.

And:

For Apple, which is struggling to reverse declining sales of its iPhones and Macs and has seen overall revenues drop for two quarters in a row, the corporate market is a surprising bright spot. Sales of high-end iPads to business customers in particular have been strong. Nearly half of all iPads are now bought by corporations and governments, according to the research firm Forrester.

“Apple is stronger in the enterprise market with its devices than it is with consumers,” said Frank Gillett, an industry analyst at Forrester.

Partnerships with more traditional enterprise entities like IBM, Cisco, and SAP are starting to bear fruit. Tim Cook is definitely playing the long game.

Check Point today disclosed details about a set of four vulnerabilities affecting 900 million Android smartphones and tablets that use Qualcomm chipsets. The Check Point mobile threat research team, which calls the set of vulnerabilities QuadRooter, presented its findings in a session at DEF CON 24 in Las Vegas.

Be safe Android people. There is a safer way.

I just opened up sponsorships for September on the site, at a lower price for a limited time. If you want to get your product in front of The Loop readers, get in touch.

Digg:

Around the world, more than half of people – estimates vary from 60 to 75 per cent – speak at least two languages. Many countries have more than one official national language – South Africa has 11. People are increasingly expected to speak, read and write at least one of a handful of “super” languages, such as English, Chinese, Hindi, Spanish or Arabic, as well. So to be monolingual, as many native English speakers are, is to be in the minority, and perhaps to be missing out.

Multilingualism has been shown to have many social, psychological and lifestyle advantages. Moreover, researchers are finding a swathe of health benefits from speaking more than one language, including faster stroke recovery and delayed onset of dementia.

Could it be that the human brain evolved to be multilingual – that those who speak only one language are not exploiting their full potential?

One of my biggest schooling regrets is not sticking with French in junior and high school. So many of us in Canada and the United States don’t speak a second language. To this day, I wish I could speak French or Italian. I’m working on the rudiments of Portuguese in preparation for a trip I hope to take next April.

Looks like The Muppet’s character, Beaker.

BBC:

A number of Olympians – including the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time, Michael Phelps – have been photographed with large red circles on their skin. What are they, and why is everyone suddenly going dotty over them?

When I was in high school, we just called these hickeys.

The short story – For the past year and a half I’ve collected wi-fi names that caught my attention all around Berlin. Click on the green markers on the map to read the wi-fi names exactly where I found them, along with my unrequested comments/interpretation/research on their meanings.

Some of these are funny—the comments certainly make a big difference in understanding the names.

AT&T has settled with the FCC over a “cramming” investigation that found the carrier allowed scammers to place unauthorized charges onto customer bills, and collected a fee from the sham companies involved in the scheme.

And carriers wonder why we don’t trust them.

After a few weeks of exploration, the studio and I settled on a composition and I was tasked with painting the finished poster. I used the Procreate app on my iPad Pro to do the preliminary sketches and for blocking the basic colors of the poster. I then exported these layers into Adobe Photoshop and began detailing the artwork at a much higher resolution.

This is really impressive. The iPad Pro can be used for many things from creative endeavors to daily work—as technology continues to move forward, the possibilities are almost endless.

Fast Company:

When I met Apple Music marketing chief Bozoma Saint John at Apple for an interview, she had just come from a photo shoot and she looked, well, fabulous. While she was wearing high heels (which put her up at around 6-foot-2 or so) and a shimmering blue dress, I’d soon learn that the fabulous has little to do with clothing. She practically radiates warmth and energy.

Saint John was relatively unknown in tech circles until she demoed Apple Music at the company’s developer conference in June. Now, a few weeks later, she’s the one part of the show many people remember.

Along with their excellent piece on Apple today, Fast Company also had an interview with Apple Music’s head of global consumer marketing, Bozoma Saint John, who has got to have the coolest name in technology right now.

Clickbait headlines are exactly why I support independent writers instead of organizations that lower themselves to using such tactics. Usually, clickbait offers nothing more than a tantalizing headline—nothing to backup the reason you clicked on it in the first place. It’s a frustrating practice, but when we become aware of what’s going on, we can support the people, and sites, that treat us, the readers, with respect.

Merger mania is all the rage in tech, where it’s beginning to feel like the late 1990s and early 2000 bust era all over again. But this time there’s a notable difference that speaks to the fundamental value being created in this second dot-com boom. Companies are being scooped up for billions instead of being shuttered.

It’s true, and stunning, when you consider how much companies are selling for these days.

Hulu is moving to an all-subscription model, eliminating the ad-supported service that has let users watch thousands of TV episodes in the nine years since it first launched.

I tried Hulu in the past and just didn’t find it compelling. Like many, I’m waiting to see what Apple can pull together.

Updated every Friday, Release Radar gives you up to two hours of the newest drops from the artists you follow and listen to the most, sprinkled in with some new discoveries based on your recent listening habits. Release Radar is the perfect complement to New Music Friday, which connects you with hot new artists you may not know about yet. You’ll soon find your personalized Release Radar playlist in the New Releases for You section within Discover on mobile and desktop.

Good idea—focus on your favorite artist’s new music instead of just a genre.

Japan’s Fair Trade Commission has raided the offices of Amazon.com Inc’s local unit on suspicion of pressuring retailers to offer products at lower prices than on rival sites, the Nikkei business daily said on Monday.

Isn’t this what Amazon does in every country it operates, including the U.S.?