Wal-Mart Stores Inc said it is tripling the number of U.S. stores in a pilot program that lets shoppers scan items with their iPhones and pay at self-checkout counters.
Walmart’s “Scan & Go” program will soon be in more than 200 stores, up from about 70. The pilot began near its home office in Bentonville, Arkansas in late 2012, then expanded to Atlanta.
Obviously it’s working well.
Great upgrade to Smile’s excellent PDF editor for the Mac. New features include Microsoft Word export, a new editing bar, optimization for Retina displays and more. PDFpenpro gets some changes, too.
Daniel Eran Dilger has a good article on Apple’s recent hire.
“So we’re leaning on a lot of designers who get that job because they’re not qualified for the other jobs, rather than that they are really strongly qualified as a designer. It’s really hard to go to school to be a good designer.”
Richard Garriott developed Ultima, the now-legendary fantasy role playing game originally developed for the Apple II. He’s at it again with a Kickstarter-funded project coming for Mac, Windows and Linux, planned for a late 2014 release.
Rarer than hen’s teeth: Graphics card maker Sapphire has announced a Mac Pro-compatible graphics card (works in 2010 and above models). It’s based on AMD Radeon architecture and has some nice features like two mini DisplayPorts, HDMI and dual-link DVI. But expect to pay dearly for the privilege – $480.
Bear in mind that other third-party graphics cards will work in Mac Pros running Lion and Mountain Lion – I’m using a plain vanilla PC-compatible Nvidia GeForce 450 GTS in mine, which gives a nice boost for game frame rates over the Nvidia 8800 GT card it came with.
Update: Bare Feats already has the card in hand and has put it through its paces; benchmarks at the link.
Patent competition in the United States is usually a fierce arena for private companies, but now the South Korean and French governments are suiting up.
Both countries have launched patent-acquisition companies, with the goal of helping domestic technology firms and possibly making some money in the process. China and Japan are making moves into the business too.
Great, just what we need.
She even claims to have spoken to a botanist, but he has no recollection of ever speaking with her.
I really like Basil and this update added some nice features.
John Gruber giving his thoughts on Apple’s newest VP Kevin Lynch. There is also an Exhibit B. Like Gruber, it concerns me that Lynch kept beating the Flash drum for so long, even when it was clear it was dead.
You have to laugh.
James Whittaker:
The Google I was passionate about was a technology company that empowered its employees to innovate. The Google I left was an advertising company with a single corporate-mandated focus.
This article is a year old, but I think it says a lot about the changes Google has been, and still is, going through. Worth a read for sure.
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CNBC reporter Jon Fortt posted the message on his Twitter account. Lynch will be the VP of Technology.
Google is shutting down most of its good services for publishers like Feedburner and Google Reader, so I need to make a change at The Loop. If you are using The Loop’s Feedburner link in your RSS reeder, could you please change it to this one ASAP.
http://www.loopinsight.com/feed/
You will notice that when you add the new feed it will automatically redirect to the old Feedburner feed — that’s okay. As long as you are using the new URL, you will still get updates when I turn off Feedburner.
I will be shutting off the Feedburner link in the near future. Thanks for understanding.
If you are a member of The Loop, keep using your existing link, I’ll be in touch with more info on that later.
Lots of big changes in the new version. I already downloaded it.
Jared Lewandowski explores something that’s become very popular in design — simplicity.
Apple’s “Why iPhone” campaign tells people why the iPhone is better than its competitors.
iOS 6.1.3 is ready for download through the Software Update mechanism in iOS or through iTunes. Apple says changes include a fix for the bug that enabled users to bypass the passcode lock and access the phone app, and improvements to the Maps app in Japan.
Running a sustainable business requires generating sustainable revenue. Charge money for what you create.
Much is being made about the departure of EA CEO John Riccitiello, but SimCity’s sales certainly didn’t have much to do with it. Connectivity issues and a growing brouhaha over the game’s DRM aside, it’s still selling like hotcakes.
Khoi Vinh:
It’s a decision that has infuriated many, partly because when the company launched Google Reader in 2005, its free price tag undercut and then virtually destroyed the market for competitive products.
Soon enough, Google Reader had become a de facto industry standard, even as it became more and more apparent over the years that the company cared little for the market that it had come to own.
Assholes.
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Doing so will cost you dearly, though; the 30GB tier demands $300 per month, with the 40 / 50GB options coming in at $400 and $500 respectively. Naturally unlimited talk and text are included in each plan, just as before.
Plus $30 for each device you add to your share plan. Ouch.
Weibo users immediately begun to speculate about the meaning of that last sentence, with some noting that an odd flood of negative posts about Apple appearing on the site after 8:20pm. Speculation soon spread that Mr. Ho had been supplied with the text by CCTV as part of coordinated campaign to smear the Cupertino, Calif. electronics maker online.
…
While there is no evidence to suggest Mr. Ho or anyone else was paid to post messages in support of CCTV’s allegations, the reaction on Weibo points to rising mistrust of the country’s state-run media outlets among Chinese Internet users, who have increasing access to alternate sources of information via social media.
Who’s behind the coordinated campaign? And are they in cahoots with the analysts and hedge fund managers who seem intent on driving down Apple’s stock value in the States?
I’m getting increasingly paranoid about all of this stuff.
“We’ve been preparing the watch product for so long,” Lee Young Hee, executive vice president of Samsung’s mobile business, said during an interview in Seoul. “We are working very hard to get ready for it. We are preparing products for the future, and the watch is definitely one of them.”
In other words, ever since they heard Apple may be working on one.
I did an interview with Paul Campbell for the upcoming Úll Conference in Dublin, Ireland, where I’ll be speaking.
Don Melton sets the record straight on whether Apple actually assigns employees to work on fake projects.
Dave Grohl has become the unofficial Mayor of Rock ‘n’ Roll: a gregarious ambassador who wins armloads of Grammys and even directs a music documentary. Watch Grohl’s keynote address at the SXSW Music Festival in Austin, Texas.
Producer Graham Cochrane shows you how to fatten up a weak sounding snare drum.
Benedict Evans raises some good points. This has to worry Google.