Great photos.

[Via 9to5Mac]

Sponsoring The Loop this week is SonicPics.

SonicPics is a fun and engaging digital storytelling app for iOS. Turn your photographs into narrated movies to share with your family and friends!

Check out SonicPics today on the app store.

If you’re going to buy a Mac, why not get a little something extra.

Nope, never seen anything like this before in my life.

Wall Street Journal:

On Aug. 31, the Federal Aviation Administration requested public comment on its longstanding policy of prohibiting the use of personal electronics during takeoffs and landings. The restrictions date back to 1991 and were motivated in part by anecdotal reports from pilots and flight crews that electronic devices affected an airliner’s navigation equipment or disrupted communication between the cockpit and the ground. Over the years, however, Boeing has been unable to duplicate these problems, and the FAA can only say that the devices’ radio signals “may” interfere with flight operations.

Gadgets may not but the near constant whining of people who can’t use their iPads and Kindles and can’t entertain themselves for a few minutes might drive some of us insane. Our parents seemed to get along just fine on airplanes without needing to be constantly distracted by electronic gizmos.

If you’ve been put off by the (arguably obtrusive) Special Offers on the Kindle Fire HD, Amazon has just announced that they will allow users to pay $15 to opt-out of the ads for the life of the device.

Okay, skinny jeans had to go.

Tricia Duryee for All Things D:

PayPal President David Marcus responded to mounting criticism from customers by promising that things are changing at the online payments company.

Marcus’ comments come on the heels of some well-publicized criticism of PayPal from Eliot Jay Stocks, a designer who created a magazine called 8 Faces. Stocks posted to his blog about how he would never use PayPal again after repeated incidents of them freezing the funds in his account.

Marcus posted to a discussion thread at the Hacker News Web site, noting “there’s a massive culture change happening at PayPal right now. If we suck at something, we now face it, and we do something about it.”

Of course, it’s one thing to promise change. It’s another to deliver it.

Dan Spitz, former lead guitarist for thrash metal band Anthrax, has sold more than 15 million albums, been nominated for 3 Grammy’s, created over 10 studio albums – and now he is recognized as one of the best watchmakers in the world.

That’s just awesome.

They killed the Mac version of the official Twitter client.

You’d definitely get candid shots with this.

With its elegantly implemented Thunderbolt connectivity, the Pro Tools|HD Native Thunderbolt interface gives producers, engineers, and mixers the incredible sound quality, low latency, and sheer power of the award-winning Pro Tools|HD Native system in a mobile-based hardware solution…

My buddy Corey Tamas is getting set to record his first album and he has a campaign up on Indiegogo where you can help. Support independent artists, I did.

Associated Press, via Huffington Post:

The ice cream maker that introduced the flavors Schweddy Balls and Karamel Sutra sued the maker of “Ben & Cherry’s” X-rated DVDs Wednesday, saying the “hardcore pornographic” films have smeared its reputation.

Caballero Video has produced titles like “Boston Cream Thighs” and “Peanut Butter D-Cup,” and has packaged them to imitate Ben & Jerry’s containers.

Philips new cordless phone.

Great rundown on what you’ll need to build your own style guide.

South Korea’s antitrust watchdog said Thursday it has launched an investigation into whether Samsung is abusing its dominant position in the wireless market to disadvantage Apple.

It’s been a bad couple of weeks for Samsung.

Jeff John Roberts for GigaOm:

The lawsuit was brought by California man Betsalel Williamson who had to replace the screen of his brand new iPhone after he knocked it off the arm of a chair, resulting “in spider cracks across the back glass panel.”

The judge ruled that Williamson failed to demonstrate that Apple breached its warranty or violated laws in California by stating that the glass was “ultradurable.” He said that it’s a fact of life that glass breaks when it’s impacted. The judge threw out the case.

Businessweek did an article today focusing on Daring Fireball’s John Gruber. Besides being a friend, John has helped me with advice and encouragement when I was redesigning The Loop. There is no doubt he has had a big impact on blogging.

Om Malik:

Jeff Bezos announced a whole slew of Kindle devices and launched the new Kindle Fire tablets. And if you believe all the Twitter chatter, then he did it in a Steve Jobs style presentation.

I agree with Om that Jeff Bezos has done a great job — except at making profits — and from all I’ve heard, his presentation today was great. Having said that, he’s no Steve Jobs, as much as he may want to be.

So Nokia admitted to faking the video and now they fake the images too. Was anything about yesterday’s event real?

Wired:

Amazon packed a boatload of new products, services and information into its Santa Monica media event Thursday morning. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos introduced a trifecta of new Kindle Fire Tablets, new software services to improve the tablet experience, and updated Kindle e-reader models.

If you are a fan of Amazon and/or their Kindle devices, there’s a lot to like about these announcements. Amazon has a niche – customers who want access to the Amazon ecosystem – and are serving it well.

It may not be a two horse race but the other horses are three legged.

Associated Press:

The nation will have a chance to say goodbye to Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, in a memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral on Sept. 13.The 10 a.m. service will be broadcast live on NASA Television and streamed on the websites of the cathedral and space agency.

I’d amend that first sentence to “The world will have a chance to say goodbye…” Armstrong represents and represented more than just America. He represented the best in all of us.

Vanity Fair:

At the apex of this year’s New Establishment list is a Digital Age grudge match–the warring heads of Apple, Google, and Amazon–while Mark Zuckerberg wonders when the gloom of Facebook’s I.P.O. is going to lift. But this crowd has entertainment powerhouses too (Joss Whedon, Adele, Ryan Seacrest), not to mention some real outlaws.