Some interesting changes from Twitter.

A nice looking utility for your Mac.

Women-led private technology companies are more capital-efficient, achieve 35 percent higher return on investment, and, when venture-backed, bring in 12 percent higher revenue than male-owned tech companies.

Here it is: the fourth and final piece of the Ubuntu puzzle. We’ve seen the OS on smartphones, on TVs and of course on desktops, but the tablet version has spent a little longer in its dressing room. Fortunately, Canonical feels that the last stage in its four-screen strategy is now ready for the limelight and has released a video of the software in action.

Ubuntu is coming to smartphones, and now to tablets too. At least if you have a Nexus 7 or Nexus 10 tablet, that is, for a preview build that’s coming shortly. It’s a safe bet that it’ll be a while (sometime into 2014) before tablets start rolling off the assembly line with Ubuntu installed, however.

I really don’t understand what CNN and other mainstream media are doing these days, but their articles make very little sense. Here’s a good takedown of CNN’s latest.

A new photography blog with a clear vision on what they want to provide the reader. It seems like a great idea.

It’s cool, but I don’t know if I’d use it. A better question is what I’d use it for.

Apple, which is working with law enforcement to track down the hackers, told Reuters that only a small number of its employees’ Macintosh computers were breached, but “there was no evidence that any data left Apple.”

Reuters says its the same hackers that hit Facebook last week.

To improve their chances of beating a spam filter by sending you spam from your contact’s account, the spammer first has to break into that account. This means many spammers are turning into account thieves.

Good to see Google fighting these people.

Everyone wants Apple to release a cheaper iPhone, but there are some realities in building and bringing a device to market. Benedict Evans takes a look at it.

I get how it works. I just don’t care. I’m not interested in squeezing something so tight that I get every last drop. I don’t want, need, or care about every last drop. Those last drops usually don’t taste as good anyway. My thirst is usually well quenched far before that final drop.

Interesting thoughts from Jason Fried.

Seth Weintraub:

An extremely reliable source has confirmed to us that Google is in the process of building stand-alone retail stores in the U.S. and hopes to have the first flagship Google Stores open for the holidays in major metropolitan areas.

Here’s what I don’t understand — Google hates talking to its customers, so what are they going to do in a retail store? Obviously, they will have workers in those locations, but having retail stores means having an infrastructure of people. Sometimes people that have to talk to customers.

“We think it’s time to shake things up in the smartphone space,” Mike Woodward, President of HTC America, told ABC News in an interview. “We have decided to come out and reinvent the smartphone.”

HTC is using “Generation Feed,” for those of us keep that looking at our phones.

Apple’s revenue [19.9%] easily beat out rival Samsung, which came in second with 9.3 percent, up from 7 percent in 2011. The rest of the top five saw their share of revenue fall in 2012: HP dipped from 8.9 percent in 2011 to 8.2 percent last year, while Sony and Dell both slid to 4.4 percent and 3 percent, respectively.

That is an incredible number.

The slowdown was unsurprising for a network with roughly 30,000 users. So, in order to keep revenue coming, Mr Haddad made Netbot free. But rather than sell his users out for a pittance to online ad men, he took advantage of App.net’s incentive programme. Each month the social network currently divvies up $20,000 in cash among its most active developers, based on usage patterns and a monthly survey of users’ opinion.

Very smart.

BBEdit 10.5 from Bare Bones Software — The leading professional HTML and text editor for the Mac just keeps getting better. Now with Retina support and many other improvements — download the demo and see for yourself!

I’ve been using the app since 1994.

Not everything that Apple does in software design can be classified as Skeuomorphism. Louie Mantia does a good job of explaining it.

The Lumio Illuminated Book:

The name Lumio is inspired by the idea of an illuminated book. The light turns on when you open the cover and turns off when it’s closed. Lumio illuminates when you need light and stows away compactly when unused, ideal for modern living.

I’m not a fan of Kickstarter projects but this is one I’d support if I had the money!

Seth Godin:

Some organizations demand total fealty, and often that means never questioning those in authority.

Those organizations are ultimately doomed.

Totally agree.

WiseGEEK:

Some foods have significantly more calories than others but what does the difference actually look like? When you consider that an entire plate of broccoli contains the same number of calories as a small spoonful of peanut butter, you might think twice the next time you decide what to eat.

As a guy on a diet, this is an interesting series of photographs.

Some amazing shots.

[Via Jim Coudal]