Very sad, he was a great actor.

U.S. District Judge Denise Cote:

“I look forward to your summations,” she continued. “It seems to me the issues have somewhat shifted during the course of the trial. Things change. People have to stay nimble. I’m looking forward to understanding where we are now.”

The judge made some interesting comments.

Paul Thurrott:

Faced with mounting criticism, Microsoft today quickly reversed course on some of the more draconian aspects of its coming Xbox One entertainment console. The firm will no longer require an always-on Internet connection and using and sharing games will work just as it does today on the Xbox 360.

That’s good news.

When asked if he regretted turning Jobs down he said: “Sure I regret it – the man who then did it [Jonathan Ive] makes $30 million a year!”

Sapper says that he admires the work of Jonathan Ive and Steve Jobs at Apple, citing the company as an exception in an industry he feels has been “degraded” by an overriding focus on profit.

Always love these types of stories. You have to respect Sapper’s decision to stick with his own projects.

Microsoft Corp. was recently in advanced discussions with Nokia Corp. about a purchase of the Finnish company’s device business, according to people familiar with the matter, in a marriage that could have reshaped the mobile-phone industry.

The talks have faltered, they said. One person said talks took place as recently as this month but aren’t likely to be revived.

The two sides made significant progress on a plan that would stitch the U.S. software giant with a mobile-phone pioneer. Both companies have struggled of late, as each has tried to adapt to a world in which consumers prefer smartphones built by Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.

I doubt this merger would have any significant impact on Apple or Samsung. It may help Nokia and Microsoft shake things up, but there’s already a lot at stake in the mobile market, so if they aren’t working closely already there’s little chance they ever will.

In a late breaking news story, Microsoft today announced due to feedback from the Xbox and gaming community they have changed “certain policies” regarding their controversial digital-rights management features of the upcoming Xbox One.

Microsoft waded into a shark-filled public relations pool with the Xbox One when they indicated that the device needed to stay online and that some method might be used to lock out used games unless gamers paid an additional fee. They should have seen it coming. It was just fucking stupid.

Hopefully this will keep the Xbox One from being another Surface – something no one wants.

I for one don’t feel comfortable breaking the agreement I signed when joining the developer program. Not everyone feels that way, and while it bothers me, I can only control what I do. I strive to cover and discuss only what Apple’s made public. It only seems right.

Food for thought from Stephen Hackett.

R. E. Warner:

Second, I have great respect for Neven Mrgan as a designer. He’s an accomplished artisan and not to be trifled with. However, his post on how the design of iOS 7 icons is “wrong” is misguided and I feel the need to address why I think that is, because I often see designers get caught by this particular hobgoblin of consistency—that a design just “feels” right to them without offering any rational justification.

It’s interesting watching designers hammer this stuff out.

Neven Mrgan:

Just about the most asinine, presumptuous, hubris-filled thing a designer can say is that someone else’s design is “wrong”. That word is reserved for judgments of absolute truth or ethical guidance; for flawed mathematical proofs and crimes. And yet, allow me to declare the following: Jony Ive’s icon grid in iOS 7 is wrong.

Jim and Dan are joined by designer Anthony Armendariz, co-founder of Funsize, to discuss the pros and cons of iOS 7’s new elements and features, the evolution of Apple technology, OS X Mavericks, the practicality of running new operating systems on external devices rather than your primary use computer or device, and more. Later they talk about an isolated guitar track of Jimi Hendrix’s ‘All Along the Watchtower’ from his Electric Ladyland album.

Sponsored by Hover (use code DANSENTME for 10% off), Shutterstock (use code DANSENTME6 for 30% off), and Harvest (use code 5BY5 for 50% off your first month) Mailchimp.

Apple Inc. won a $30-million contract Tuesday from the L.A. Unified School District, paving the way for the company to provide every student with an iPad in the nation’s second-largest school system.

The Board of Education voted 6 to 0 on Tuesday to approve the contract after hearing senior staff laud Apple’s product as both the best in quality and the least expensive option that met the district’s specifications.

This is great news for students.

The beard and I had this conversation with my daughter’s boyfriend.

The Dinky-style body is my favorite from Jackson. Today they released two 7-string and one 8-string model. Personally, I would have liked to have seen a 6-string too.

Facebook Inc said on Tuesday it now has 1 million active advertisers globally who used the platform in the last 28 days, a milestone for the company that is seeking to revive its revenue growth.

That is just a mind-boggling number of active advertisers.

Adobe Systems Inc, which makes the Photoshop and Acrobat software, reported a higher-than-expected adjusted quarterly profit as demand rose for the subscription-based version of its flagship software package.

Great news for Adobe. It seems clear they made the right decision going with Creative Cloud, even though not all users are behind it.

These are huge awards in the music industry.

The story of the Pippin reads like a geekier, technological version of a Greek tragedy. It has its heroes and its villains. There’s a strange artifact with supposedly untold magical powers. And like all good tragedies, it’s a story filled with its fair share of hubris, with characters who were destined to fail almost before they even began.

I remember this.

[Via MG Siegler]

Please, please WordPress don’t kill Poster.

Oopsie.

If you use Messages or iChat, you probably know that searching messages to find important info from past chats can be frustrating. Perhaps you couldn’t find what you were looking for, or your Mac slowed down so much that you gave up.

Chatology makes it easy.

I’ve been testing this for the past few weeks and it really is easy to use. Finding messages couldn’t be easier.

Invited over to Hong Kong by a young industrialist, he brought along a small entourage, including photographer Christopher Makos, who documented Warhol’s journey to Beijing, Tianamen Square, and the Great Wall.

It’s amazing all the little extras you can hear in the isolated track.