August 5, 2013
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Auto Adjust is a photo rescuing app for iPhone and iPad designed to fix photos as fast and as pain free possible. Contrast stretching, levels, curves, color correction, and noise reduction are right at your fingertips without having to dig through menus and popovers. There are no “Projects” or photo libraries that are stuck in the app. Photos are saved to your camera roll and photo stream at their original size with all EXIF and metadata preserved.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Matt Gemmell:
We act as if we take concentration for granted, yet everyone has had trouble keeping their mind on the task at hand. We litter our menubars with icons, keep notifications enabled, and run our email programs, chat apps and social media clients all day. Something’s got to give, and invariably it’s our creative output.
This is why I like the Notification Center so much. It’s not perfect, but it does allow me to see at a glance what’s coming in and if I need to deal with it without leaving the project I’m working on.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
I was asked the other day what I use in my studio for mixing, so I thought I’d post a link. My Adam’s are the A5 and are a bit older than the ones on company page, but the A5X is the closest thing to what I have. I love them.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Some of these portraits are pretty good.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
I know it may seem odd for The New York Times to post a programming style guide, but the senior developer over there, Matthew Bischoff, is a smart guy.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Craig Hockenberry asked developers if they were actively working on an update for their app to add iOS 7 features and compatibility—95% answered yes. What’s more, 52% of developers are going to require iOS 7 for their app. In other words, they are dropping support for all other operating systems.
I’ve been asked a lot about this strategy over the years and I’m in favor of it. Developers should offer their customers the latest and greatest as soon as they can. The only thing that would hold back a developer from doing that is the adoption rate of the operating system. Judging from the fast adoption rate of Apple’s operating systems, that doesn’t appear to be an issue.
August 3, 2013
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Simply put, it’s too complicated for us to even consider an Android app for the first version; we’ll continue to support those viewers with mobile web.
Just take a look at the different sizes of Android tablets they would have to support—that’s a nightmare.
You may remember this 14-year-old playing Eddie Van Halen’s Eruption earlier this year.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
This is one of my favorite guitar apps for the iPhone and iPad, especially for high gain tones.
Written by Jim Dalrymple

Thanks to Mighty Deals for sponsoring The Loop’s RSS feed this week. Our friends at MightyDeals.com have an amazing offer for those of you that need to build a new website.
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Each template will come with all sorts of modern design trends to impress your users including: Parallax effects, CSS3 animations, Flat style, Blurred backgrounds and more.
Normally, this set of 10 Bootstrap responsive template costs just $39. That’s a steal unto itself. But for a limited time only, you’ll get all 10 templates for just $10 – That’s like paying $1 per template. Pretty amazing, uh? See all the templates.
NSFW, but awesome.
For the uninitiated, Amanda Palmer is something of an indie darling; she first came on the scene in the mid-aughts as one half of Dresden Dolls. Palmer explains why she wrote this song in the video, but the executive summary is that British shitrag tabloid Daily Mail wrote a sensational piece about Palmer’s boob appearing during her performance at the Glastonbury Festival. Nudity is almost de rigueur at a Palmer event, so the Daily Mail’s coverage of it seemed ludicrous. Palmer responded with this.
(Via Upworthy)
(Updated with better quality video, hat tip to reader def4)
August 2, 2013
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Some new guitars from Fender. I’ve had a Squier since 1986 and it’s a wonderful guitar.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
It’s annoying as hell, but damn it’s funny.
Easily one of the funniest bits on TV.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
The world of wine is unnecessarily complicated. Bottles are identified by exact percentages of specific grape varietals except for when they’re labeled according to where the grapes were grown regardless of where the winery is, or by the village name within the wine region of origin, or by how long the wine was cellared before its release… you get the point. It’s no wonder some people give it all up and just drink Heineken… Jim.
This issue’s free article from The Loop Magazine.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
The flaws in Samsung Smart TVs, which have now been patched, enabled hackers to remotely turn on the TVs’ built-in cameras without leaving any trace of it on the screen. While you’re watching TV, a hacker anywhere around the world could have been watching you. Hackers also could have easily rerouted an unsuspecting user to a malicious website to steal bank account information.
I don’t even know how to express how creepy this is and how thankful I am that I’m not using a Samsung TV.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
This is the second time Google has banned Glass from one of its own events. They also banned Glass from its shareholder meeting in June.
August 1, 2013
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Great piece by Steven Levy.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
The Wall Street Journal has proven it can find fault with just about anything—this time it’s Apple’s retail operation. WSJ says that Apple retail—one of the most successful and different operations in the world—is suffering.
But then they have lines like this:
Sales at Apple Stores in the recently reported third quarter slipped to $4 billion, down slightly from a year earlier…
Most retailers would love to “slip” to that.
It [Apple] raked in $5,971 per square foot in 2012, up 17% from the $5,098 per square foot the year before, according to retail consultancy Customer Growth Partners. By comparison, Tiffany & Co. had sales of $3,453 per square foot in 2012, and popular yoga-clothes retailer Lululemon Athletica Inc. pulled in $2,464 per square foot last year.
Why not worry about Tiffany?
I wonder how much Microsoft makes per square foot? I know that’s a silly question for WSJ to ask.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Samsung’s marketing company is trying to buy off StackOverflow forum posters.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
John Gruber had a great post today about how the media jumps on stories that reflect poorly on Apple. I agree wholeheartedly with his points. It’s like the mainstream media are waiting with bated breath for the slightest mishap so they can bash Apple. A lot of times, they are just plain wrong.
Meanwhile Google left an I/O problem in its Nexus tablet for a year and nary a mention from the press.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
In this issue, Michael Dalrymple talks about why he collects vinyl albums instead of buying music from iTunes; Brenda Singer shows you the ways to ruin a perfectly good bottle of wine; Chris Domico’s kid came up with the perfect game idea; Bill Lonero counters arguments that music should be free; and as a developer, what Kevin Hoctor does means something, as it should for all of us.
You can get a free preview of all the articles online and subscribe to the magazine for iPhone and iPad from the App Store. You also get a free seven-day trial when you download the app.

Written by Jim Dalrymple
Matthew Modine is now offering a FREE download of the COMPLETE FIRST CHAPTER of his award-winning “appumentary!” This preview immerses you in Matthew’s private life as he first learns about the film, receives the script in the mail, and meets Stanley Kubrick for the first time.
I have this app and it’s amazing. If you want more from Matthew, you can also check out his Web TV channel.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
This looks very cool. You can also record your conversations, which is great for interviews. I bought it.
July 31, 2013
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Katherine Boehret for WSJ:
Another drawback: In my test, the new Nexus 7’s battery life was underwhelming. Compared with the same battery test of the iPad Mini and first Nexus 7, it fell short at just six hours; the others clocked in at 10 hours and 27 minutes and 10 hours and 44 minutes, respectively. Google claims the battery life can last over nine hours, but the company tests it in Airplane mode (Internet connection off), with screen brightness set to 44% while playing video. I keep Wi-Fi on in the background and screen brightness at 75% while playing video.
Seriously Google? Who would use a tablet without Internet turned on? I understand that companies do things to make battery tests look better for them, but this borders on outright lying. Apple usually underreports its battery life, leaving its customers pleasantly surprised.