BabyCenter:

Of all the factors that parents consider in picking a name for their child, one floats consistently to the top: Picking a unique name.

As you can see from the list, some parents did a bang-up job. Each of the unusual names was given to at least two children – so it’s not a fluke!

Americus, Navaryous, Couture, Shoog, Cobain, Popeye…I think we can we agree that, in 2013, if you give your child any of these names, you immediately forfeit that kid to Child Protective Services because you are obviously an unfit parent.

Merlin Mann knows how to eat.

Thoughtful article by Rian van der Merwe.

BuzzFeed:

Impress and delight your favorite food lover with any one of these budget-friendly presents.

These are some very creative and original gift giving ideas but make sure you’ve eaten before you read the story because otherwise, you’re going to be hungry afterwards!

Many thanks to Doxie for sponsoring this week’s RSS feed on The Loop.

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John Gruber:

Google wasn’t trying to bolster Android by withholding turn-by-turn and vector tiles from iOS. They were withholding those features as a negotiating tactic to get Apple to integrate iOS Maps further with Google’s services.

I don’t mind the fact that Apple stood up to Google to protect our privacy. You shouldn’t either.

Matthew Handrahan, Gamesindustry.biz:

Games dominated the App Store again this year, comprising seven of the ten highest-grossing iPad apps and every one of the ten highest-grossing iPhone apps.

Does anyone else see a trend here?

Sacha Greif looks at Google Maps for iOS from a design perspective. He’s right that Google is finding its voice as far as design goes.

Marcelo Somers has a nice write-up on using 1Password. The only nitpick I have is that I would recommend everyone use 1Password — it may be difficult to get used to not using the same simple password for every site, but you’ll be far more secure.

This is just incredible.

[Via Coudal]

This is cool. I wasn’t all that impressed looking at the picture of the button, but the demo is much better.

Dell is definitely pulling the plug on the smartphone business, globally. A tough decision, leaving a market that is expected to reach $150.3 billion in 2014, according to MarketsandMarkets.

Now they just need to quit selling computers and we’re all set.

Great article from Stephen Hackett. This brought back some memories.

Anytune has been updated with a number of new features.

Derek Kessler:

Had Microsoft launched Office on the iPhone and iPad early on, they could have furthered the impression that Office was a must-have for anybody serious about anything, even on iOS. But they let years pass, and now Microsoft’s flagship applications aren’t so must-have anymore and Apple isn’t overly eager to accommodate them. It’s easy to imagine that four years ago when preparing to launch the iPhone App Store Apple may have been more willing to negotiate with Microsoft to get flagship apps like Word and Excel on the smartphone. But today? Apple’s doing just fine without them.

Spot on.

David Dennis, a man with an impressive beard himself, did a nice write-up on beards. Strange, still no picture of “the beard” in this batch either.

A new page from Apple that updates users on the status of its services, stores and iCloud.

Rod Christiansen posted about how the default search now works in iTunes 11 and how you can bring back the old version of the search. Such a simple solution.

Ian Betteridge:

The fact that Google is, on one hand, creating great applications for iOS and, on the other, fighting tooth and nail for market share against it makes me wonder if the company is divided into two factions, with a battle raging between them over its future direction. On one side, there’s the group who want to promote Android as a coherent product, and beat Apple into a pulp with it.

[…]

On the other side, there’s the “Pragmatists”. These are the ones who realise Google makes its money from advertising, not directly from selling products.

As Ian points out later, Google’s iOS apps have to be good. They’re a company that makes its money from advertising.

“I don’t think anyone I was corresponding with actually went and did this search to see what I was finding,” Welter says. She eventually wrote to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, and a few days later she got a reply from a representative in Amazon’s Executive Customer Relations department.

“She told me I was searching wrong,” Welter says.

Sam Rijver made this using Foldify for iPad. Much respect Sam.

ABC News:

Beer aficionados are pouncing at the rare opportunity to buy one of the world’s most elusive and revered beers for the first — and perhaps only — time in the United States.

It is called Westvleteren XII, and it is often hailed as the “world’s best beer” by reviewers and fans.

Westvleteren XII is produced by Trappist monks in Belgium and sold at the abbey of Saint Sixtus in the Belgian countryside.

First person to compare this to Heineken gets punched in the junk.

Amplified, The Talk Show with John Gruber and Before you Buy were named the “Best New Technology” podcasts in Apple’s App Store Best of 2012.

Thanks.