Buzzfeed:
It’s 2012. And it seems like something much, much worse than what the Mayans predicted is coming—and much sooner than you’d think. These are the twenty places you definitely want to see before it’s all over on March 6, 2012.
I’ve been to three of these and would like to get to at least three more. Won’t make it before March 6th though.
Pocket-Lint:
Running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the smartphone will come with a 5-megapixel autofocus rear camera and VGA front camera. No details as yet as to what the processor, memory or storage capacity will be.
Oh come on, you can’t be serious. Now companies can’t even come up with their own names?
Tim Bajarin:
Yes, the iPad is a real concern for the PC vendors as Apple has a huge lead in tablets and strong demand. But if Apple starts eating into their laptop market share, this will have the greatest impact on these PC vendors in the future and make it even harder for them to make strong profits on this part of their laptop business.
Tim brings up a good point. You could argue that Wintel vendors are scared of everything Apple does because they don’t understand how to compete with them. The iPad is a perfect example of that. However, it must scare the hell out of them when Apple starts eating their lunch in the laptop market.
Apple is attacking the PC vendors from both sides — one with the iPad and the other with the MacBook Air.
BGR:
In summation it’s a Galaxy Tab 10.1 with Ice Cream Sandwich and a slightly modified case.
Did anyone really expect Samsung to introduce an HD tablet? Of course not, they have to wait until Apple introduces theirs so they know what to copy.
John Gruber takes on John Battelle’s defense of Google and its practice to track users through cookies, even if they don’t want to be tracked.
There are many websites where the typography speaks for the site itself. Here typography becomes the chief element of a web or graphic design project.
Interesting examples of how different type affects the look and feel of a site.
Brushes are one of the fundamental features in Photoshop. With brushes, you can blend masks, create effects, add textures, and create lighting. There are thousands of brushes available online that you can download for your projects, but sometimes it can take hours to find the right brushes to get the specific look that you want. It can save you a lot of time if you just create your own brushes. You can use literally anything to create a custom brush. You just have to know how to convert your images or objects into the right format to define them as brushes.
Anthony Kay:
Netflix finally comes out and says No to a PlayBook app, much to the chagrin of the PlayBook user community who seemed to assume that with the release of PlayBook OS 2 all the missing apps would automagically appear within minutes of the update from RIM.
Not a big surprise really.
Florian Mueller:
It appears that Motorola Mobility, which is in the process of being acquired by Google, has sent Apple an enforcement letter demanding compliance with a permanent (but appealable) patent injunction that was handed down three weeks ago by the Mannheim Regional Court. The Motorola patent at issue in that litigation harks back to the time of pagers, a predecessor of text messages.
Pagers is probably the last innovative thing Motorola did.
Wired Science:
The moon, Venus, and Jupiter — the three brightest objects in the night sky — will be putting on a dazzling celestial show shortly after sunset both Feb. 25 and 26, coming together in a tight triangle. With any luck, you might also spot tiny Mercury down near the horizon just as the sun goes down.People all over the world can check out the performance just by stepping outside and looking westward. If snowstorms or general chilliness drive you inside, you can always watch the spectacular event live on the Slooh Space Camera feed, starting both nights at 6:30 p.m. PST.
Here’s what Schweitzer had to say about developing artful ears, and channeling years of experience as a performing musician into every mix he does. Of course, he also waxes on the utility and power of his Universal Audio signal chain, and other secrets to his success.
There is nothing like hearing directly from the pros about how they do it.
Aspyr notes that its newest update to Civilization V: Campaign Edition has caused problems for Lion users. The update coming from the Mac App Store seems to be the trouble, and only for Lion users, according to Aspyr – Snow Leopard users aren’t having difficulty, nor are customers who downloaded the software through Steam.
“We are working with Apple to rectify the issue but in all fairness, this is no fun for customers and we haven’t found a good vehicle for updating customers on what’s going on. We typically see less than 10% of affected users ever click through and submit support tickets, so lots of people are out there frustrated,” explained Aspyr spokesperson Elizabeth Howard.
To make it up to its customers, Aspyr is heavily discounting Civilization IV and Civilization IV: Colonization on the Mac App Store, down to $4.99 each. What’s more, once the update problem is fixed, Aspyr plans to offer Civilization V: Campaign Edition customers free access to the Wonders of the Ancient World Scenario Pack, DLC content for the game.
More details on the issue and workarounds are here.
An update to FXpansion’s drum sampler. The new version adds native 64-bit support for Windows 7 and Mac OSX, as well as a new kit and bonus kit-pieces from the BFD2 library recorded at London’s Air Studios (2 full kick/tom/snare sets, 2 crashes, 2 rides and a hihat).
Adam Satariano and Douglas MacMillan for Bloomberg:
Apple Inc. (AAPL), the world’s most valuable company, acquired San Francisco-based Chomp Inc., which helps users sort through the widening array of software applications for mobile devices. … Chomp’s software lets people search through the hundreds of thousands of downloadable applications available for Apple’s iPad and iPhone, as well as gadgets running Google Inc.’s Android operating system.
Reporting on this for TechCrunch, MG Siegler suggests that Apple will use Chomp to revamp the App Store. Discovering new apps certainly has gotten harder as the store has gotten larger and larger. If Chomp is one way to improve that experience, all the better.
We are aware some of you may not currently be able to access certain services on BlackBerrys including, email, some internet access, BlackBerry Messenger and BlackBerry App World. We are working with RIM to resolve this and we will let you know as soon as we know more.
RIM’s new CEO is right, nothing really needs to change, the company is just fine. Customers on Vodafone don’t seem to agree though.
Eric Caoili for Gamasutra:
Bungie co-founder Alex Seropian on Thursday revealed what he’s been up to since ditching Disney: a new, core-focused mobile studio.Called Industrial Toys, the developer says it wants to veer away from the “inferior gameplay, graphics, and … elementary mechanics” that the space is mostly known for, instead promising free-to-play titles with “intricately advanced layers of narrative and gameplay.”
Disney Interactive announced Seropian left earlier this month. He’s been joined by another Bungie alum, Brent Pease, who most recently worked at Dreamworks Animation. The company’s already set up a Facebook page and a Twitter account.
ESPN:
As the No. 10 Chevrolet rolled to a stop Thursday, the front end destroyed after a horrific impact with the inside retaining wall, Danica Patrick let her crew know she was all right.She did it with three simple words, two of which would make many blush.
The Daytona 500 is this weekend and this video reminds you of not only how dangerous the race is but also, paradoxically, how safe it is.
Michael Hiltzik for the LA Times:
Technology news bloggers’ curious habit of accepting investments from the very people they’re presumed to be covering objectively blew up last week over what might be termed the Path Affair.
I want nothing to do with this thing.
Daniel Eran Dilger:
Tim Cook met with shareholders for the first time following the passing of Apple’s cofounder and former chief executive Steve Jobs, revealing his own very distinct personality but also strong commonality with Jobs’ wit, passion and analytical focus.
EFF:
If you want to keep Google from combining your Web History with the data they have gathered about you in their other products, such as YouTube or Google Plus, you may want to remove all items from your Web History and stop your Web History from being recorded in the future.Note that disabling Web History in your Google account will not prevent Google from gathering and storing this information and using it for internal purposes. It also does not change the fact that any information gathered and stored by Google could be sought by law enforcement.
Hat tip to Daring Fireball.
Adweek:
It’s hard to think of a product that’s had a greater impact on the culture in the past five years than the iPhone. Thanks to TBWA, it’s gotten remarkable advertising to match. Check out all 84 spots that have aired so far, beginning with the first teaser up through today.
Webdesigner Depot:Mobile Internet usage is on the rise, and the world of Web design continues to evolve—so designers must learn to accomodate mobile devices. Thinking “Oh, my users won’t visit my website on a mobile device” is the worst mistake of all.
Eric Slivka for Mac Rumors:
A Shanghai court has declined to issue an injunction that would have barred sales of Apple’s iPad in the city, a ruling that is part of the dispute between Apple and Proview Technology over the trademark on the iPad name.
Round, round we go.
Ryan Cash and his views on Flickr.
Microsoft’s denial of Office for iPad was half-hearted at best, saying only that the story was “based on inaccurate rumors and speculation.” I said at the time the statement was released that something seemed strange.
Microsoft could have come out and said, “these rumors are completely false. We have no plans to offer Office for iPad at this time.” That surely would have put an end to it. But they didn’t do that.
It could be that Microsoft has a place on stage during Apple’s iPad event, which is expected to be held in the next few weeks. That would be the perfect reason for them to issue this half-hearted statement denying the existence of the software for iPad.
Apple likes to highlight cool software for the device it’s introducing, so why not Office? It would be more beneficial for Microsoft than Apple, but still I think Apple would give them a place at the keynote.
I think John Gruber nailed it when he said:
…if Microsoft does get a demo slot on stage during the iPad 3 keynote, Microsoft would be getting much more out of it than Apple.
The days of Microsoft dictating things to Apple are gone. These days Microsoft needs Apple.
You know your product is shit when a cartoon character makes fun of it.
Ars Technica:
To highlight work done to improve the sound of compressed music files, Apple recently launched a “Mastered for iTunes” section on the iTunes Store.How does this work? Ars spoke with Masterdisk Chief Engineer Andy VanDette, who recently completed a project remastering the bulk of Rush’s back catalogue. As part of the process, VanDette created special versions of each song specifically for uploading to the iTunes Store.
I bet you didn’t realize the effort that goes into creating music for the iTunes store.
Bob Brewin:
The command did not provide any explanation for the move in its notice on the Federal Business Opportunities website. Officials originally planned to acquire 2,861 iPad2 tablet computers to serve as electronic flight bags, storing digital versions of paper charts and technical manuals.
That’s unfortunate, I wonder what caused that?