I don’t think Beats sound particularly good, but it’s an interesting article.

Dropbox made itself a household name by giving away cloud storage. The eight-year-old company, valued at $10 billion, had 300 million registered users a year ago; now it’s got 400 million. Its two-year-old effort to make money from business users has been less impressive. While Dropbox led the $904 million global market for business file-sharing last year with about a 24 percent share, No. 2 Box and No. 3 Microsoft each took about 21 percent and doubled their slice of the pie, growing almost twice as fast, according to researcher IDC.

Dropbox is hugely popular, but it seems clear they need to figure out this sales strategy quickly.

The Washington Post:

Lisa Jackson, former head of the Environmental Protection Agency and Apple’s top executive on environmental issues, will become the company’s lead on all policy initiatives, including the environment, education and accessibility. Her new title will be the vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives.

In a memo to employees, Apple chief executive Tim Cook said that Jackson’s new role is in line with the company’s dedication to “leaving the world better than we found it.”

Another good sign that Apple’s commitment to environment issues isn’t just lip service. Even better, they wisely see this as part of making the company better and more successful.

Rene Ritchie put together an FAQ of Apple’s new iOS.

An evergreen blog post:

Adobe has released an emergency software patch for Flash after it found a serious vulnerability being exploited by hackers.

Here’s the current Flash Player version numbers.

[H/T CM Harrington]

Fast Company:

Apple’s “World Gallery” campaign, by agency TBWA\Media Arts Lab, that showcased iPhone photos taken by amateur and professional photographers around the world, has snapped the top prize in the Outdoor Lions at Cannes this year.

According to the jury president Juan Carlos Ortiz, creative chairman at DDB Americas, the judges didn’t so much choose “World Gallery,” it chose them. Praising the Grand Prix winner, Ortiz said: “It’s not just a great idea, it’s a game changer. It’s really opening a new way of doing things and changing behavior.”

Congratulations not just to Apple for the win but to all the photographers who had their work showcased. It really brought to the fore how a creative person with an iPhone can create amazing images.

Billboard:

Apple Music, the hardware giant’s soon-to-launch streaming service, has landed an eleventh-hour coup, striking deals with the independents’ digital rights organization Merlin and with Martin Mills’ indie powerhouse Beggars Group, sources tell Billboard. Label group PIAS has also announced it has signed on.

In a letter sent to Merlin members, CEO Charles Caldas writes, “I am pleased to say that Apple has made a decision to pay for all usage of Apple Music under the free trials on a per-play basis, as well as to modify a number of other terms that members had been communicating directly with Apple about. With these changes, we are happy to support the deal.”

I think independent music will be a big deal for Apple Music and, like many, am getting more and more excited to see what Apple Music will offer in terms of real world use.

James Dempsey is an iOS developer, a rock star, and the unofficial Apple home page tabs historian.

New in this installment? Some slight tab shuffling, the disappearance of the iPod, and the change from iTunes to Music.

Brian McCullough, writing for InternetHistoryPodcast.com:

Aside from the naming similarities, though, InfoGear’s iPhone would have plenty of other eerie similarities to Apple’s later device, both philosophically and technically.

For one thing, just as in Steve Job’s famous mantra, the InfoGear iPhone was designed to do three core things (phone calls, email and light web browsing) but to do them well. And from the very beginning, there was an almost Apple-like obsession with simplicity and ease of use. Interested in presenting an approachable, consumer-friendly image, InfoGear hired Frog Design, famous for the previous industrial design of various Apple and Mac computers.

I remember this product. Interesting that it was called the iPhone and did the big three: email, web, and phone. Fun read.

Samuel Gibbs, writing for The Guardian:

Privacy campaigners and open source developers are up in arms over the secret installing of Google software which is capable of listening in on conversations held in front of a computer.

First spotted by open source developers, the Chromium browser – the open source basis for Google’s Chrome – began remotely installing audio-snooping code that was capable of listening to users.

It was designed to support Chrome’s new “OK, Google” hotword detection – which makes the computer respond when you talk to it – but was installed, and, some users have claimed, it is activated on computers without their permission.

Some folks are calling this evil. I don’t think there’s any evil intent here, at least not on Google’s part. But the use of this approach to do evil is obvious.

My two cents: I think every computer manufacturer should include a switch to disable the microphone and camera, a switch that is impossible to override remotely.

Juli Clover, writing for MacRumors:

When attempting to install iOS 9 on a device with insufficient space, there’s a popup that offers to temporarily delete some apps in order to make room for the update. Apps that are deleted are then reinstalled and replaced after the operating system update is completed.

This is a fantastic idea. A bit of a hack, made necessary by an OS update size that outgrew the smallest iOS device capacity. But a terrific idea, nonetheless.

Kirk McElhearn takes a quick tour through seven (six, really, with a seventh on the way) iOS browsers. Good to know the strengths and specialties of each. A short browse, worth your time.

Cody Lee, writing for iDownloadBlog:

Apple has added flyover support to more than 30 new locations in 2015, bringing the total number of 3D locations to 150. In April, the company added a number of new European cities to the list.

Here’s Apple’s official Flyover list.

And if you’ve never played with flyover, go to Apple Maps on your Mac or iOS device, then type one of the flyover locations in the search field. As an example, you might start with:

Colosseum, Rome

Once the map appears, tap the location pin, then tap the popup window that appears (on the Mac, click the info icon, the small circle with the letter “i”) and select “Flyover Tour”. Obviously, this option is only available in the locations that support it.

This is a YouTube playlist showing how this guitar was built. Just wow.

BOOM!

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Read about how small businesses have grown with the help of Daylite and Billings Pro. Get 10% off your Daylite license(s) when you use the promo code: LOOP0615 (valid until July 12th 2015).

This is just fascinating. I love EVH and what he’s done for guitar players over the years. This is definitely a must read.

Bluetooth Special Interest Group:

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) announced today that Apple, Inc. has become a Promoter member of the Bluetooth SIG. Promoter members are the sole voting class on Bluetooth SIG corporate matters and hold a continual seat on the SIG Board of Directors.

Current Promoter members Ericsson, Intel, Lenovo, Microsoft, Nokia, and Toshiba unanimously welcomed Apple to the highest membership level of the organization.

As the press release states, Apple has been a member of the group for years. This new status obviously means they will have more of a say over the future of Bluetooth.

Petapixel:

While Adobe provides an excellent range of products, some photographers are looking to expand their horizon with more affordable alternatives.

Emulsion is described as a 3rd party photo cataloging software designed to replace Apple’s in-house Aperture photo editing and management program.

For $50 you can pick up Emulsion, which allows non-destructive editing, metadata manipulation, photo organization, and more. A free thirty-day trial is also available for those who would like to give the software a thorough run before purchasing. Current requirements for Emulsion include Mac OS X Yosemite and 4 GB of RAM.

As the review points out, if you’re already a Lightroom user, this app isn’t any better. But, if you don’t need all the features of Lightroom, Emulsion looks like a good alternative.

Samsung:

Have you ever found yourself driving behind a semi-trailer truck? If you’re on a single-lane highway or road, it can be a nightmare. Even though the truck is driving relatively slowly, you cannot overtake it due to its size, and because you cannot see what is happening in front of the truck.However, Samsung has developed a solution that may make this problem a thing of the past.

This is a very clever idea, but it may be too expensive for most trucking companies. Additionally, numerous regulations would likely need to be changed to make it feasible. Companies also need assurances that the technology won’t simply be used to show even more advertisements to motorists stuck behind semis. However, for those looking to streamline their financial operations, resources like truckercfo.com can provide valuable insights and support, making it easier for trucking companies to adapt to new technologies and regulations while maintaining profitability.

Chantal Tode, writing for MobileCommerceDaily:

Mass merchant giant Walmart has introduced an Apple Watch application, suggesting that the device could have a broad market appeal while cementing the retailer’s role as a leader in mobile retail.

While there has been no shortage of marketers jumping in with Apple Watch apps since the device, Walmart’s entry here is notable given the retailer’s value positioning, which is in stark contrast to the $349 starting price for the Apple Watch. Walmart’s app is an extension to the retailer’s iPhone app, enabling customers to use their Apple Watch to check items off their shopping list while they shop without having to take out their phone.

As a reminder, Walmart is the biggest name behind CurrentC, the competitor to Apple Pay, created by the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX).

Bloomberg:

Apple Inc. takes Chinese consumer tastes into account when it designs many of its products, Chief Executive Tim Cook said, underscoring the country’s importance to the iPhone maker.

The company considers details including color palettes to suit local tastes, Cook said in an interview in the June 17 Chinese-language version of Bloomberg Businessweek, published under license by Modern Media Holdings.

The decision to offer a gold iPhone last year reflects in part the popularity of that color among Chinese users, he added. Greater China, which includes Taiwan and Hong Kong, is now Apple’s second-largest market and has become a battleground for the company as it vies with Samsung Electronics Co. and Xiaomi Corp. for smartphone supremacy.

This is a statement that will surprise some but really shouldn’t. China is poised to take over as Apple and the world’s largest market for consumer goods. It makes good business sense to cater to it whenever possible.

I just love Pad & Quill’s products. The workmanship and care put into every aspect of their bags is top notch. I own one of the bags already, but that backpack is calling my name. They also have a new briefcase available.

If you are not a weekend reader, chances are you missed a lot yesterday.

First, yesterday morning, Taylor Swift posted an editorial laying out her thoughts on Apple not paying musicians during the three month Apple Music trial period.

Swift’s editorial got incredible traction. The blogosphere caught fire. Unusual, given that it was a Sunday and Father’s Day (here’s our writeup about Swift’s post and Jim’s plea for Apple execs to give up their salaries for three months to pay those musicians). This was clearly an issue that touched people deeply.

Then, yesterday evening, Eddy Cue posted this bit on Twitter:

#AppleMusic will pay artist for streaming, even during customer’s free trial period

Late that night, Eddy did an interview with Billboard to discuss the details.

On what prompted this decision:

We’ve been hearing a lot of concern from indie artists about not getting paid during the three-month trial period, which was never our intent. We never looked at it as not paying them.

We had originally negotiated these deals based on paying them a higher royalty rate on an ongoing basis to compensate for this brief time. But when I woke up this morning and saw what Taylor had written, it really solidified that we needed to make a change. And so that’s why we decided we will now pay artists during the trial period and we’ll also keep the royalty rate at the higher rate.

Clearly, Taylor Swift’s post was that last straw, the lever that moved the world. But also telling is Cue’s comment about royalty rate. As a reminder, one of the articles that started this whole brouhaha was this post from re/code. In it, Apple’s Robert Kondrk addressed the Apple Music royalty rate:

Kondrk says Apple’s payouts are a few percentage points higher than the industry standard, in part to account for the lengthy trial period; most paid subscription services offer a free one-month trial.

The key words here are “in part to account for the lengthy trial period”. My sense here is that Apple thought they had a fair solution. Pay a higher rate, and in the long run, the artist will make more money. The problem with that approach, obviously, is that the artists didn’t buy into it.

The pleasant surprise is that Apple will keep that higher rate in place, during and after the free trial period. Perfect.

Now the only question is, will Taylor Swift return the favor and give Apple Music the ability to stream her massively popular 1989.

Your move, Taylor.

Lots going around about Apple Music and the deal that has artists not getting paid during the three month trial period.

There are many sides to this issue. There’s the business spin, the long view that Apple should do whatever is necessary to compete against Spotify and the like, with a long term win for artists as they weather the move from paid downloads to streaming.

There’s a comparison to other services, like HBO Now. Does HBO pay their fees to shows when they offer a free, three-month trial?

Artists signed the deals they signed. If they gave their labels the power to negotiate this deal with Apple, some of that anger certainly should go to the contract they signed.

There’s the non-business, fairness issue. Is it fair to an artist that Apple uses their music to build a customer-base without compensating that artist?

And there’s the view that Apple should follow a specific path because of their cash position.

A few days ago, this story took a turn when Taylor Swift announced that she would not allow Apple to include her hugely popular album, 1989, as part of the Apple Music stream.

The first response to this news was, this was not about Apple, that Swift was making a business decision regarding streaming in general.

Then, this morning, Taylor Swift released a blog post entitled, To Apple, Love Taylor.

From the post:

I write this to explain why I’ll be holding back my album, 1989, from the new streaming service, Apple Music. I feel this deserves an explanation because Apple has been and will continue to be one of my best partners in selling music and creating ways for me to connect with my fans. I respect the company and the truly ingenious minds that have created a legacy based on innovation and pushing the right boundaries.

I’m sure you are aware that Apple Music will be offering a free 3 month trial to anyone who signs up for the service. I’m not sure you know that Apple Music will not be paying writers, producers, or artists for those three months. I find it to be shocking, disappointing, and completely unlike this historically progressive and generous company.

To deflect criticism that this move is self-serving, Swift continues:

This is not about me. Thankfully I am on my fifth album and can support myself, my band, crew, and entire management team by playing live shows. This is about the new artist or band that has just released their first single and will not be paid for its success. This is about the young songwriter who just got his or her first cut and thought that the royalties from that would get them out of debt. This is about the producer who works tirelessly to innovate and create, just like the innovators and creators at Apple are pioneering in their field…but will not get paid for a quarter of a year’s worth of plays on his or her songs.

This is a growing public relations problem for Apple. At some point, does this become a big enough issue to erode the gains to their business model?

Swift concludes her post with this:

But I say to Apple with all due respect, it’s not too late to change this policy and change the minds of those in the music industry who will be deeply and gravely affected by this. We don’t ask you for free iPhones. Please don’t ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation.

A well written, savvy post by Swift. Whether heartfelt or Machiavellian manipulation, her post will no doubt be seen by millions of her fans and, most importantly, millions of potential Apple customers.

Wait. What?

Yes, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich is now a tech reviewer for Mashable. Read the review here and watch the video below. A solid job, Newt.