From Google’s research blog:

“Two pizzas sitting on top of a stove top oven”
“A group of people shopping at an outdoor market”
“Best seats in the house”

People can summarize a complex scene in a few words without thinking twice. It’s much more difficult for computers. But we’ve just gotten a bit closer — we’ve developed a machine-learning system that can automatically produce captions (like the three above) to accurately describe images the first time it sees them. This kind of system could eventually help visually impaired people understand pictures, provide alternate text for images in parts of the world where mobile connections are slow, and make it easier for everyone to search on Google for images.

This is an incredible achievement in computer vision and object detection. Imagine a virtual assistant that could help guide you down the street, cross safely, avoid a crack in the sidewalk, find the entrance to a building. If you are visually impaired, this might make a huge difference in your ability to get around without help.

Wall Street Journal:

Samsung Electronics Co. said it would reduce the number of smartphone models it offers next year, part of a move to cut costs to combat declining profit.

The South Korean technology major said it would cut the number of models by about 25% to 30%, Robert Yi, head of investor relations, said during a presentation in New York.

The decision to streamline its large smartphone portfolio came as the company seeks to cut costs to better compete with cheaper models, mainly from Chinese smartphone makers such as Xiaomi Inc.

Smart move. This approach clearly worked for Steve Jobs, in a move that is said to have saved Apple.

Fresh off a partnership deal with Microsoft that injected Apple with $150 million, one of Jobs’ first goals as CEO was to review the company’s sprawling product line. What he found out was that Apple had been producing multiple versions of the same product to satisfy requests from retailers. For instance, the company was selling a dozen varied versions of the Macintosh computer.

Unable to explain why so many products were necessary, Jobs asked his team of top managers, “Which ones do I tell my friends to buy?” When he didn’t get a simple answer, Jobs got to work reducing the number of Apple products by 70 percent.

Buzzfeed:

A senior executive at Uber suggested that the company should consider hiring a team of opposition researchers to dig up dirt on its critics in the media — and specifically to spread details of the personal life of a female journalist who has criticized the company.

The executive was Uber Senior VP of Business Emil Michael and, according to the story, the female journalist was Sarah Lacey, who wrote this story for PandoDaily, an op-ed piece that excoriated Uber and its policies.

Michael’s remarks, assuming the story is true, were foolish and chilling, especially given the high profile nature of the crowd at the dinner.

Michael, who has been at Uber for more than a year as its senior vice president of business, floated the idea at a dinner Friday at Manhattan’s Waverly Inn attended by an influential New York crowd including actor Ed Norton and publisher Arianna Huffington. The dinner was hosted by Ian Osborne, a former adviser to British Prime Minister David Cameron and consultant to the company.

And before you dismiss the story as Buzzfeed hearsay, there were several journalists invited to the dinner, including a Buzzfeed editor, so this appears to be first hand reporting.

Vice:

It wasn’t just a smell; it was a force. With the first whiff, I thought, Camembert. But as the golf cart got closer, the smell became sweeter—noxiously sweet. You could call it the smell of death, but really it was the smell of what comes after: an obscene eruption of microbial life.

In the driver’s seat was Dr. Daniel Wescott, director of the Texas State Forensic Anthropology Centre.

He pointed to the corpse at our feet—one of the dozens of donor bodies exposed to the elements here in the forests and fields of Texas State University’s 26-acre decomposition research facility. Most of the local kids who tell ghost stories about the place just call it “the body farm.”

I had the opportunity to see the University of Tennessee’s version of this but chickened out.

The Guardian:

A coalition of technology and internet companies is lobbying to curb US National Security Agency surveillance powers and for more transparency on government data requests.

The Reform Government Surveillance coalition, including Facebook, Google, Twitter, Microsoft and Apple, added its support for the race to pass a bill through the US Senate before the end of the year, which would inhibit mass data collection from emails and internet metadata.

Even if their motives aren’t 100% altruistic, it’s still good to see these companies shining a light on the issue.

TechCrunch:

I’m fascinated by the reviews left by Monument Valley players in the wake of the decision by the game’s developer (ustwo) to price a recent content update at not-free. Ustwo had released the original game at $4 featuring 10 levels. The game was a labor of love and earned many just awards. It also went to sell in excess of 1.4 million copies – a feat that exemplifies how arty mobile gaming can work very well. This latest pack brings 8 new levels to the game and costs a pretty trivial $2. And yet in its wake came a surge of 1-star reviews. But why?

First lesson is people can be cheap and petty.

Sixty-two percent of the weight of the web is images, and we’re serving more image bytes every day. That would be peachy if all of those bytes were being put to good use. But on small or low-resolution screens, most of that data is waste.

A phone leash that fits your lifestyle.

I’m not sure how popular those iPod touch loops were that Apple released, but perhaps popular enough to make it worthwhile for these folks to make it for the iPhone.

A great post here from Allyson Kazmucha, Serenity Caldwell and Rene Ritchie on how to use Apple Pay. I used Apple Pay at Home Depot, Whole Foods and Peet’s Coffee and it always works great for me. Getting your card into the iPhone and using it at a store is easy as can be.

From The New York Times:

Samsung Turns to BlackBerry for Better Security

Dumb and Dumber

Great stuff.

I installed it and am having no issues so far.

M. G. Siegler:

All the scenes in space? IMAX. All the exterior scenes on different worlds? IMAX. Most of the scenes inside the spaceship? Regular film. Interiors on Earth? Regular film. Scenes out in the corn fields of Earth? Largely IMAX.

The effect is profound. Traditional film suddenly feels very small and almost claustrophobic. Those black bars at the top and bottom of the screen become horizontal railings that while perhaps not trapping us in, are clearly guiding us along. When the screen opens up to IMAX format though, you’re set free. I kept moving my head up and down trying to make sure I wasn’t missing anything.

One scene that stuck out in particular is when Matthew McConaughey’s Cooper is driving away from his farm. The shot goes from inside the truck, shot in film, to a shot from the back of the truck as the farm recedes, in IMAX, to a shot of a rocket launch, still in IMAX, to a shot of Cooper in a space shuttle, back in film format. You just couldn’t do something like this before this movie.

And:

I’ve seen the question asked a lot on the internet this past week: is it worth seeing Interstellar in theaters? In my view, absolutely yes. But if you’re going to do it, you simply must see it in IMAX. You will quite literally be missing out on aspects of the film if you do not.

V.ALRT is a personal alert device, a button you carry with you that pairs with your iPhone (iOS 7 or later) or Android phone (Android 4.3 or later). When you press the button on the device, V.ALRT will automatically dial or text message to three pre-selected contacts, sending your current location along with a canned message (such as “I’ve been in an accident”).

There are obvious concerns here, such as accidental button presses. But I found the V.ALRT to be an interesting idea. The current price is US$59.99 with free shipping.

If you put your iPhone in Lost Mode, Apple Pay should automatically be disabled for the device.

Still, good to know about this mechanism to remove your credit cards from the device’s approved Apple Pay list.

Sarah Guarino of 9to5mac walks you through the process.

From Apple’s press release:

Apple® today announced that the App Store℠ has added UnionPay as a payment option for customers in China. China UnionPay is the most popular payment card in China and will provide App Store customers with a simple and more convenient way to purchase their favorite apps. Customers can easily link their Apple ID with a UnionPay debit or credit card for one-tap purchases.

“The ability to buy apps and make purchases using UnionPay cards has been one of the most requested features from our customers in China,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “China is already our second largest market for app downloads, and now we’re providing users with an incredibly convenient way to purchase their favorite apps with just one-tap.”

From the Wall Street Journal:

The UnionPay partnership could potentially open the door for Apple Pay in China, if Apple can strike agreements with popular retailers and overcome technical and regulatory hurdles. Another route for Apple is a possible alliance with Alibaba, China’s largest e-commerce company, whose payment affiliate Alipay is the country’s largest mobile payment processor.

Reuters:

Many developers and early Glass users are losing interest in the much-hyped, $1,500 test version of the product: a camera, processor and stamp-sized computer screen mounted to the edge of eyeglass frames. Google Inc itself has pushed back the Glass roll out to the mass market.

While Glass may find some specialized, even lucrative, uses in the workplace, its prospects of becoming a consumer hit in the near future are slim, many developers say.

Of 16 Glass app makers contacted by Reuters, nine said that they had stopped work on their projects or abandoned them, mostly because of the lack of customers or limitations of the device. Three more have switched to developing for business, leaving behind consumer projects.

My 2 cents: If Google Glass was going to grab hold as a consumer product, I think it would already have happened. That said, I think this will turn out to have been a good investment for Google. There are plenty of vertical applications for Google Glass’s heads up display. And there’s still the possibility that Glass can pivot in the consumer space, find another form factor that is friendlier, less threatening.

“Dollar for dollar, the Sound Blaster ROAR produces the best sound of any portable Bluetooth speaker I’ve heard.”

– Tom’s Guide

Thanks to Creative for sponsoring The Loop’s RSS feed this week. The compact Sound Blaster Roar boasts of two 1.5-inch high-frequency drivers, a dedicated 2.5-inch subwoofer, and a pair of side-firing passive radiators. Now, all these drivers will only sound as good as the music you play through them, and the Roar supports aptX and AAC over Bluetooth for high-quality audio streaming.

All this, while adding other features like NFC support, a USB port for charging, an integrated MP3 player through its microSD card slot that also allows you to record calls taken with the built-in speakerphone.

The Red Dot Design Award-winning Roar has received consistent 5-star reviews on Amazon since its launch. Now available at $149.99 via Creative.com and Amazon.com.

Grantland:

Nelly Bly’s idea was to try to beat the time of Phileas Fogg, the hero of Jules Verne’s massively popular 1873 novel Around the World in Eighty Days. She’d send dispatches back to the paper, make an adventure out of it. Her editor was in favor, but the World’s business manager — who liked the concept — wanted to send a man.

“It is impossible for you to do it,” he told her. “You are a woman and would need a protector.” Even if she could travel alone, he said, she’d want to take too much baggage. “There is no use talking about it,” he insisted. “No one but a man could do this.”

“Very well,” she said. “Start the man, and I’ll start the same day for some other newspaper and beat him.”

With our world considered made so small with instantaneous communications, high speed train, plane and car travel, it’s hard to imagine what kind of true adventure, in every sense of the word, this would have been in 1889

Heyday:

Heyday transforms the photos and videos on your iPhone into a beautiful journal, presenting you with a delightful way to rediscover your most important memories. And since life happens when you least expect it, Heyday automatically chronicles the places you go and the things you see so you’ll never forget a meaningful place or moment again.

I mentioned and did a bit of a video review of Heyday on the Your Mac Life show last Wednesday. I’m not a “daily journal” kind of guy but Heyday is great for “following you around” and noting the places you’ve been, collating the pics you took and, at your leisure, allowing you to add notes, thoughts and impressions after the fact. Free in the iOS Store.

This is a nice list of one-hit-wonders, folks who had one big hit then faded into obscurity. The list starts in the 1960s and makes its way to 2006. But definitely not complete. Not even close.

How about 867-5309/Jenny by Tommy Tutone?

Or The Romantics, What I Like About You?

There are just so many more. But that’s the fun of lists. Love to read them, love to figure out what’s missing.

One entry on here, Sir Mix-A-Lot and Baby Got Back from 1992, immediately brought me to my favorite tweet of all time, this one from Ranjit Bhatnagar:

Sir Mix-a-lot likes big butts and cannot lie. His twin brother does not like big butts and cannot tell the truth. You may ask one question.

Must be the math geek in me.

Kim Komando, writing for USA Today:

When you install an app, you probably never read the app’s terms and conditions. You merely click “Agree.” In the terms and conditions, the app developer typically reveals what data you are voluntarily handing over to them such as your online activities, location, contact list, text messages, and more.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University recently analyzed the Google Play store’s top 100 apps operations, terms and conditions. They found the following 10 requested the most access to your smartphone or tablet’s hardware: Backgrounds HD Wallpaper, Brightest Flashlight, Dictionary.com, Google Maps, Horoscope, Mouse Trap, Pandora, Shazam, Talking Tom Virtual Pet.

It makes sense that Google Maps needs your location and song-identifying Shazam needs access to your microphone, but why does a virtual pet, dictionary or wallpaper app need anything like that? Both iOS and Android have built-in flashlights, so you don’t even need an app.

As I read this, Google leaves it up to the app developer to be honest about their intentions. Without oversight.

iOS lets you set permissions on a case-by-case basis. Go to Settings>>Privacy and choose the permission, such as camera or GPS. Slide the slider to “Off” to deny a permission.

Unlike iOS, Android doesn’t have per-app permission controls. Google had it as a hidden feature in Android 4.4.2, but removed it. No one knows when or if it will be back.

I am surprised this is still the case, given the incredible (and appropriate) scrutiny leveled at both Apple and Google from privacy advocates. Is Kim right about this?

From the Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) analysis of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus sales since launch:

CIRP finds that a smaller percentage of iPhone buyers came from the Google Android platform after the September 2014 launch, relative to the percentage coming from Android after the September 2013 launch. After the most recent launch, 12% of iPhone buyers reported having an Android phone, compared to 23% after the September 2013 launch.

In other words, for the iPhone 5s launch, 23% of iPhone buyers came from Android. For the 6/6 Plus, 12% came from Android.

OK, now add this:

Android owners did buy more expensive iPhones, relative to the previous launch. At the September 2014 launch, 85% of iPhone buyers that previously owned an Android phone bought the new iPhone 6 or 6 Plus. In contrast, at the September 2013 launch, 52% of iPhone buyers that previously owned an Android phone bought the then-new iPhone 5S.

The first part tells me the relative camps are stabilizing. Android users are more and more sticking with Android, iPhone users the same. The ecosystem walls/tentacles are doing their job.

But that second bit tells me that when the defection does occur, when an Android user does come over, the draw is the larger size of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

“Historically, former Android owners gravitated to the lower priced iPhone models,” continued Levin. “Following this year’s iPhone launch, only 15% of former Android owners bought the legacy 5S and 5C, compared to 47% for the lower priced 5C and 4S following the 2013 launch.”

“Android owners, many of whom already had experience with phones with larger screen phones, were drawn to the 5.5 inch iPhone 6 Plus,” continued Lowitz. “31% of former Android owners who bought an iPhone opted for the 6 Plus compared to only 25% of existing iPhone owners who chose the larger format flagship phone.”

This is all conjecture, given the study’s relatively small size (300 buyers), but interesting nonetheless. Add to this Tuesday’s UBS analyst note (via this article from Fortune) that reflected a study with 4,000 participants, 1,000 of them from mainland China.

• About 40% of respondents said they were likely to buy an iPhone 6 in the next year.
• Over half were leaning toward the higher-margin iPhone 6 Plus, compared with 38% for the iPhone 6.
• Demand in China was particularly high with 29% indicating they were very likely to buy the latest iPhone.
• More striking is Apple’s retention rate in China, which at over 80% “soars above Samsung and domestic brands”

No matter how you slice it, this all points in a positive direction for Apple.

As Manley Labs’ flagship compressor since 1994, the Variable Mu is a tube and transformer-driven classic that exudes hand-made craftsmanship. A gold standard among mixing and mastering engineers, the Variable Mu adds clarity and cohesion to stereo buses or your entire mix.

I love Manley gear and Universal Audio—I can’t wait to load this one into a project.

…estimates that 30% of American smartphone owners plan to use either Apple Pay or Google Wallet to buy things this holiday shopping season. What’s more, 17% of smartphone users surveyed said having the option to buy things with Apple Pay or Google Wallet would cause them to spend more money than they normally would.

Be smart Walmart. Nobody wants your shitty payment service.