Written by Jim Dalrymple
Om Malik:
When I see Kickstarter I don’t see a company. Instead, I see a social movement. I see people doing things for people. I think of Kickstarter as a reflection of me, which is why I engage with it.
That’s what so interesting about Kickstarter — the projects succeed or fail based on public support.
May 21, 2012
Written by Jim Dalrymple
It’s a free update for existing Pro Tools 10 users. Go get it.
Panic, makers of Transmit, Unison and other products, announced Monday the forthcoming release of Coda 2, a new version of their Web editor for Mac OS X. They also introduced Diet Coda, a companion software app for the iPad. Both are coming Thursday, May 24th.
Coda 2 – a paid upgrade for users who purchased Coda more than a month or so ago – adds new features, an overhauled UI and more. The list of new features is too long to reproduce in its entirety here, so make sure to visit the Web site for details. But standout features include code folding support in the editor; new visual tabs in the interface; a new customizable sidebar; better file management, with support for Git; the ability to assign keyboard shortcuts; visual CSS editing with GUI pop-ups; a brand-new MySQL editor; better validation and more. Panic counts more than 100 new features all told.
A feature called AirPreview helps Coda for Mac tie into the companion Diet Coda app for iPad. You can use your iPad as a preview device.
Diet Coda is a Web code editor aimed specifically at iPad users. Features include fast syntax highlighting, remote-only editing using FTP or SFTP, Transmit-style file management, the Air Preview feature when used with Coda for Mac, “clip” support (for snippets of code) and more. It’s priced at $9.99.
Both will be on sale for 50 percent off during the first 24 hours of release, on Thursday, May 24.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Adam Haworth:
We all know Ping is kind of shit. Well, not kind of. It is shit. But I’ve been thinking recently (dangerous, I know) and I reckon there are a few ways that it can be rescued. Apple’s failed attempt at “social” is not dead yet.
I don’t think Apple knows what to do with Ping. That seems clear because users don’t know what to do with it either. I don’t know that a separate app is the way to go because social networking and sharing is such an impulsive decision — it almost has to be done on the spot.
Elgato on Monday unveiled their Game Capture, a new device intended for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 users who want to record game footage onto a Mac or PC. It costs $199.95 and will be available starting June 1st.
The USB 2.0 interface is about the size of a deck of cards, and requires no power supply to connect. It tethers to your Xbox 360 using HDMI, or your PS3 using an AV input. It can capture 480i, 576p, 720p and 1080i resolution video, encoding them on-the-fly using H.264 video compression. (The reason Game Capture HD doesn’t capture video from a PS3 using HDMI is because Sony HDCP protection; Microsoft doesn’t.)

Included software lets you timeshift the video you’re saving, edit and share; either by creating a local movie file you can do what you will with, or through YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or e-mail. You can send the video to your iTunes library, stream it to an Apple TV, or share it with other video editing applications like iMovie.
System requirements call for a OS X 10.7 or later, a 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or faster, 4 GB RAM and an available USB 2.0 port.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Lemkesoft has released GraphicConverter 8.0, a major new release for the graphic conversion and editing utility. This latest version adds support for 64-bit Intel-based Macs and new batch processing capabilities among many other additions.
GraphicConverter 8.0 is a free update for owners of GraphicConverter 7, but is a paid upgrade of $29.95 for users with versions 1 through 6. If you’ve never bought it before – and you should – it’s $39.95.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Daniel Keller for Universal Audio:
While you’ve been working hard and paying attention to the songs, the parts, the sounds, and all the other big-picture stuff, maybe something’s just ever so slightly out of tune. I’m not talking about the really obvious slightly sharp high E string on the rhythm guitar; sometimes it’s the subtle stuff that makes all the difference.
Nothing like an out of tune instrument to kill recording.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Florian Mueller:
Apple’s motion is fairly likely to succeed. If and when it does, there will be formal U.S. bans in place against all three of the leading Android device makers.
That’s what happens when you steal from your competitors.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
The initial challenge was to create a classic semi-transparent 3D box with 6 sides. The final challenge was to create a complete 3D bar chart which we will create in this tutorial.
So much better than plain images or using JavaScript.
May 20, 2012
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Reuters:
The chief executives of Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd are used to running the show at their global tech empires, but they will be in for a different experience when they arrive at a San Francisco federal courthouse on Monday.Apple’s Tim Cook and Samsung’s Choi Gee-sung, whose companies are embroiled in bitter patent litigation, have been instructed by a federal judge to appear for court-supervised mediation. A joint court filing in April said that “as directed by the Court, Apple and Samsung are both willing to participate” in the discussions. In other words, it was not exactly their idea.
I wonder if the judge will make them hug it out?
May 18, 2012
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Om Malik on Facebook back in the day:
when asked how the company will make money, Mark apparently said the company isn’t currently focused on monetization and will be looking to extend their platform’s reach. He doesn’t have to – if Facebook Connect works, the money will follow.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Rolling Stone:
Beards have been a hallmark of rock style since the Sixties, when the Beatles announced their adulthood by getting very, very shaggy. Facial hair on rock stars can range from the theatrical (Rob Zombie, ZZ Top) to the artfully scruffy (Thom Yorke, Bon Iver) to the meticulously detailed (pretty much any nü-metal band). We asked you to name your favorite rock beards; you can click through to see who you picked.
I call bullshit. Jim’s beard isn’t included. Hard to argue with Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top, though.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
A classic from FAIL Blog.

Written by Jim Dalrymple
Many thanks to SuperMegaUltraGroovy for sponsoring The Loop’s RSS feed this week with Capo.
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!
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Federico Viticci’s incredibly in-depth look at Apple’s App Store.
Everyone is talking about Samsung’s third-generation Galaxy smartphone and the extraordinary number of pre-orders the company received for the new device. It’s bullshit.
The media is reporting that the company has already received 9 million pre-orders for the device. On the surface, that sounds impressive, but read this paragraph from the original Reuters report again.
Samsung Electronics Co has received some 9 million pre-orders for its third-generation Galaxy S smartphone from more than 100 global carriers, the Korea Economic Daily reported on Friday.
Those are orders from its global carriers, not customers. Come on people.
When Apple reports its pre-orders for a new iPhone, it uses the number of phones ordered by end users. If Apple played this type of silly game, they could add on all of the orders from AT&T, Verizon and all of its carriers from around the world. And if they did that, the number of pre-orders would still be skewed in Apple’s favor.
There is no guarantee that carriers will sell all of the Samsung phones they ordered to end users. In fact, there is no guarantee they will sell even one phone.
What happens to all of the unsold inventory? They go back to Samsung, but they still count as pre-orders.
The lesson of the day: Don’t be fooled by bullshit.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Over the past five quarters, the onetime darling of mobile telecoms has eroded its cash pile by 2.1 billion euros ($2.7 billion) – a rate that would wipe out its entire 4.9 billion euros reserves in a couple years.
Truly amazing how far they have fallen.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Building on state-of-the-art encryption standards, DropKey quickly and easily encrypts any file specifically for your recipients — without the need for a password or the hassle of juggling a bunch of keys!
They are giving away the app until May 20.
Update: 5/8/2015 This product is no longer available.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
After almost forty five years of ownership rock superstar Jay Geils is selling his 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard. He has owned it since 1967 and it has appeared on every single J.Geils Band recording as well as on live shows around the world. Jay has played it on stage with bluesman B.B King, Duane Allman from the Allman Brothers Band, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells . Jay affectionately calls it his “lunch pail” Les Paul because he made his living for so many years playing it.
Somebody needs to buy this for me.
