An app from Many Tricks to hide desktop clutter.

Paul Kafasis:

Today, we’ve been informed that Apple has removed Airfoil Speakers Touch from the iOS App Store.1 We first heard from Apple about this decision two days ago, and we’ve been discussing the pending removal with them since then. However, we still do not yet have a clear answer on why Apple has chosen to remove Airfoil Speakers Touch. Needless to say, we’re quite disappointed with their decision, and we’re working hard to once again make the application available for you, our users.

There has to be a better way to handle this and deal with your developers.

My newest column on Techpinions:

The next time you see a forecast of Apple losing its dominance in a market, ask yourself what the competitors are doing to differentiate themselves from Apple. That answer is all you need to know.

Fortune has a detailed look at Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

Jonathan Ive on Apple’s designs:

“There is beauty when something works and it works intuitively.”

If you’ve already listened to this week’s episode of Jim Dalrymple’s Amplified podcast and you’re looking for more to entertain you, check out my latest appearance on The Bro Show, entitled “Check Out My Aspect Ratio.” Click the headline above to visit the 70 Decibels Web site for a download link.

Some of you have already seen this since I tweeted about it yesterday, but just in case: Presenting the Flashed Face Distortion Effect.

It’s an optical illusion caused by viewing two face images side by side, aligned at the eyes. Your brain plays tricks, and the net result is that normal, even attractive faces begin to appear grotesque, exaggerated and deformed. It’s a very unsettling effect straight out of a horror movie.

Arik Hesseldahl for All Things D, quoting from HP’s 8K SEC filing:

As part of the restructuring plan, HP expects approximately 27,000 employees, or approximately 8% of the company’s workforce as of October 31, 2011, to exit the company by the end of fiscal 2014, with a portion of those employees exiting the company as part of a voluntary early retirement program for U.S. employees whose combined age and years of service exceed certain levels.

I wonder what “portion” of the 27,000 will be allowed to retire.

Lifehacker:

Nearly every modern phone has a camera attached to it and subsequently more and more people are taking photos in public places than ever before. The shot might be as simple as snapping a picture of a parade or as tricky as recording video of a riot. Regardless of the reasons, the rules for photographing in public places are the same.For the most part, your right to take photographs and video in public places in the United States is protected under the First Amendment under free speech. This includes snapping pictures of your favorite monument when you’re on vacation or taking part in a little citizen journalism. It’s not as cut and dried as you may think and it’s good to know your rights and the caveats that come with them.

Good article and subsequent discussion in the comment section about your rights to photograph.

Jim and Dan talk discuss the the larger iPhone screen rumor, insight on how Apple works, some great Mac apps, Comic Sans, Dell’s decline, Chrome overtaking IE, Ron Johnson’s performance at JC Penny and how to play lead guitar.Sponsored by Warby Parker, Squarespace, and Shopify.

Harry Marks, Curious Rat, responding to a Gizmodo post entitled “10 Gadgets You’d Be a Fool To Buy Right Now”:

Here’s a better philosophy: Buy what you need when you need it.

I could not agree more.

Many times over the years I’ve been asked by friends and family when to buy a new Apple product – is the MacBook Pro or iPhone I’m getting today going to be outdated soon?

My answer is always the same: Get what you need when you need to get it, and if you can afford to wait, do so. Because within a few months whatever it is you’re looking at is bound to be replaced by something newer with more features and better capabilities.

Buy the right tool for the task and don’t worry about what’s coming down the pike. Trying to avoid buyer’s remorse is a loser’s game.

Karen Gullo for Bloomberg:

Google Inc. (GOOG), the largest Web search provider, didn’t infringe Oracle Corp. (ORCL)’s patents in developing Android software, a federal jury found in the second phase of an intellectual property trial in San Francisco. The 10-person jury ruled unanimously today that neither of the two patents at issue was infringed. Immediately after the verdict was announced, the judge dismissed the jury from the case and canceled the third phase of the trial over damages.

Oracle had alleged that Google violated two key Java patents. Oracle had sought $1 billion in damages. This may not be over – Oracle may still sue Google for copyright damages, according to the report.

That John Gruber is a smart guy.

The LogYourRun iPhone app was launched in the summer of 2009. It is coming up on 3 years now and I thought it might be interesting to do a short historic review of the evolution of the app to show some of the design and UI changes that the app has undergone during it’s life time. It has truly been an evolutionary process and I don’t think people with the current app would recognize the original incarnation of the app nor would they probably be too happy with the original version.

Amazing changes in a relatively short time.

Eric Savitz for Forbes:

Seagate this morning announced plans to acquire LaCie, a Paris-based producer of consumer data storage devices, for at least $186 million.

Seagate has already agreed to buy a controlling stake in the company. Once that transaction has been completed, Seagate said it plans to buy the rest of LaCie’s shares in cash.

LaCie has long been front and center for Mac users as a supplier of storage peripherals. The company has featured hard drive enclosures designed by Porsche and Phillipe Starck, and supports Thunderbolt, the high-speed I/O interface Apple introduced in 2011 with the redesigned MacBook Pro.

Don Jeffrey for Bloomberg:

The investors said the members of a proposed class action, or group lawsuit, have lost more than $2.5 billion since the initial public offering last week, in a complaint filed today in Manhattan federal court. They claimed Facebook and the banks didn’t disclose lower revenue estimates.

Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and others have been named in the lawsuit. The suit claims that Facebook isn’t selling as much advertising shown to mobile users, who make up the company’s greatest growth. The great majority of Facebook’s revenue comes from advertising. A lawyer for the plaintiffs says that underwriters lowered earnings estimates but failed to reveal this except to “a select group of investors.”

In related news, federal regulators are looking into the issue, and Massachusetts officials wasted no time in issuing a subpoena.

Rachel Weber for Gamesindustry International:

Blizzard’s latest release, Diablo III, sold 3.5 million in the first 24 hours on sale, setting a new record for the fastest selling PC game, and boasted 6.3 million players after a single week.

In retrospect, maybe it’s a bit more understandable now, when Blizzard had trouble scaling up the Battle.net servers to manage connections to this huge avalanche of new players.

Weber notes that when you factor in all the World of Warcraft players who bought an Annual Pass to get Diablo III for free, the number jumps from 3.5 to 4.7 million. 6.3 million gamers had jumped on board by the end of the first week. Just staggering.

This will be a huge hit.

Jonathan Ive on his favorite Apple design:

“It’s a really tough one. A lot does seem to come back to the fact that what we’re working on now feels like the most important and the best work we’ve done, and so it would be what we’re working on right now, which of course I can’t tell you about.”

Good to hear.

Reverse Engineering Rock and Roll: Capo is a revolutionary tool that helps you learn the music in your iTunes library. Available for your Mac, iPhone, iPod, and iPad.

Download the free trial for the Mac, and check out the new mastering-quality slowing engine that retains the detail in your music all the way down to quarter-speed!

Sam Gustin for Time:

Facebook’s Wall Street investment banks warned top clients of new doubts about the social network’s financial prospects just days before the company’s IPO, according to a series of reports that emerged Tuesday. After receiving briefings from Facebook executives, analysts at the banks lowered their financial forecasts for big institutional clients, some of whom scaled back plans to buy Facebook stock, even as the banks raised the IPO price and number of shares amid a frenzy of hype.

Very nice.

Creating great sounding tracks all starts before you hit Record for the first downbeat. Does your DAW rise above latency distractions and deliver the best sound quality possible? Avid’s Tom Graham, Brian Carter, and Gil Gowing share their tips and insight into tracking and mixing a full rock trio—during the actual recording session—using a host-based Pro Tools|HD Native system and ICON D-Control.

Mashable:

Steve Jobs may have built Apple into the world’s most valuable technology company in part by betting against the web. But global celebrities and some of the Internet’s brightest stars joined together to create a heartfelt tribute video honoring the legendary entrepreneur during Monday night’s Webby Awards in New York City.Barack Obama, Bono and Sarah Silverman were among roughly a dozen celebrities and political figures to appear in the video thanking Jobs for his company’s role in changing the technology world and everyday life for millions upon millions of digitally savvy consumers.

Dell posted first quarter sales, earnings, second quarter revenue guidance — you name it — well short of expectations Tuesday, sending shares of the Round Rock, Texas technology company were down more than 12% in after-hours trading.

Maybe they could bring back the Streak.

Chuck Remington for 9to5Mac:

Both of these phones sport a new, larger display that is 3.95 inches diagonally. Apple will not just increase the size of the display and leave the current resolution, but will actually be adding pixels to the display. The new iPhone display resolution will be 640 x 1136. That’s an extra 176 pixels longer of a display. The screen will be the same 1.94 inches wide, but will grow to 3.45 inches tall. This new resolution is very close to a 16:9 screen ratio, so this means that 16:9 videos can play full screen at their native aspect ratio.

Will Hains:

So, how hard it is for developers does not factor in Apple’s decision here. Rather, decisions are based on the resulting product; and then Apple works on making the transition as smooth as possible within that constraint. “Do I want this to happen?” is a different question to “Will it happen?”

I don’t agree with everything in this post, but the middle section is a good read.