You may not care about Taylor Swift or her presence on Spotify, but removing all her music from the service has had a curious side effect-it’s educating the average consumer about how little artists make from streaming services! I was in physical therapy this morning and heard two grandfathers discussing Spotify, all because of the publicity from Taylor Swift’s decision.
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, has written a heartfelt and beautiful letter in Bloomberg Businessweek coming out as a gay man. If you haven’t read it yet, please stop what you are doing, and read it immediately. It’s been a bit of an open secret for some time, but seeing him put it in writing is quite empowering and courageous.
Women’s fertility is rapidly becoming a fruitful and multiplying business. There are medicines to control fertility and plenty of calendars, apps, and other gear to help track it (for both reproductive and non-reproductive purposes). Now there’s even a smartphone accessory to help monitor your reproductive help: Wink by Kindara.
Apple Pay rolled out last week, and it’s already hitting some roadblocks as some retailers are blocking or not supporting it. This isn’t because they hate iPhones, it’s because they have a competing product — CurrentC — waiting. A few years ago, companies wouldn’t have dreamed of blocking a new Apple product, but competition has made it easier to say no.
I admit, I don’t know much about stitches. What I do know is that doing them right requires doing them carefully in a sterile environment, and in an emergency where someone needs stitches quickly you may not have either. However, an Israeli plastic surgeon may have fixed this by mixing band aids with a zip tie for Zip Tie Bandages!
I will never forget the moment I popped my first Sleater-Kinney CD into my stereo and heard the opening chords of “Dig Me Out”. From that sound forward my musical tastes were fixed in a specific hierarchy: Sleater-Kinney, and everyone else a distant second. I was heartbroken when they disbanded in 2006, but today they’ve announced a surprise reunion and album!
Remember Fruit Ninja? That oddly zen game of thwacking fruit that we all got hooked on in the early days of iOS? Well there’s something strange in the Fruit Ninja Dojo…guess it’s time to call Ghostbusters! Of course, do you call the Famous Original Ghostbusters ,or the future rebooted all-women Ghostbusters? It’s a Ghostbusters renaissance! (A ghostaissance? A renaibust?)
It’s my goal to make sure my son appreciates learning. He’s shown an early love of science, as his favorite CD is They Might Be Giants “Here Comes Science“. It’s great to see that as he grows he will have more options, like the soon to be released Trobo, the Storytelling Robot who focuses on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math!
There are two facts most Americans will agree are true: Women typically make $0.78 for every $1.00 men make, and you either find comedienne Sarah Silverman hysterical or offensive. The National Women’s Law Center has struck viral gold by combining these two things into an amazing video where she proposes getting a sex change to make more money.
My son is very allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, and sesame. Nuts are required by law to be listed, but sesame currently is not. We’ve gotten quite adept at calling companies about sesame as an ingredient, but disturbingly companies do not need to tell you without a doctor’s note … according to Heinz at least!
We love our Roku and use it constantly. It’s about to get far better, though, with a new screen mirroring feature! Android phones running KitKat will be able to beam the screen onto the TV, which will be handy for slideshows and game nights! Look for a full write-up after our Roku gets the update. Via Android Central
I had knee surgery last week. I am fine, but part of the recovery included a prescription for Vicodin. My one year old thought the Vicodin bottle was an awesome rattle, so now that I am finished with the pain pills I have disposed of them safely using the Pill Terminator!
This has been a roller coaster week for eBook fans. If you’re an Amazon Kindle fan, it’s been a positive coaster; there are new Kindles galore! On the other hand, if you’re a Barnes and Noble NOOK fan, you just lost the ability to download NOOK books directly to your computer. Disappointed? Happy? Unsure? Read on for more details!
When we moved into our house, the seller’s realtor presented us with a small remote for the blinds in the living room; the prior owners had installed electronic blinds there. We thought it was a silly gimmick, but we have found it quite useful. Now you can automate your blinds, too! Just back Tilt My Blinds on Kickstarter!
If you have an HTC One M8 on Verizon, here’s great news: the Android 4.4.3 “KitKat” update is out today, and it brings two excellent goodies with it! First, we’re finally getting Extreme Power Saving mode, designed to eke every drop out of a dying battery. Second, they’ve tweaked the lockscreen security app to prevent accidental resets!
I have a pretty great Pandora playlist curated for myself, and one of my favorites that comes up is Goldfinger’s cover of Nena’s “99 Red Balloons”. I like the original too, but my new favorite way to hear the song is definitely this very creative version using literal red balloons as instruments. This takes some serious creativity and talent!
We rarely let our one year old son play with our iPads. It’s not just that he’s little and tends to be rough on objects, it’s that he’s OBSESSED with Siri and loves pressing the home button over and over, rendering attempts to play games and watch videos impossible. However, it turns out there’s an easy solution-Guided Access in iOS!
Are you an artist looking for “a nu start”? Skip the Skyping with your Phoenix advisor and head to ArrestedFanArt.com, where you can enter your design for the 4th season DVDS of “Arrested Development“. There’s a $1,000 prize plus your design on the DVD cover. But you only have until 9/16; sadly, you can’t wait for Cinqo de Quatro for this contest.
I have a coworker who just had an awful experience with Chrysler over her Jeep. We joked that she should have called Fiat directly, but after seeing this ad, courtesy of Jalopnik, I think I’m just going to avoid making eye contact with my local Fiat dealer at all. And I won’t look at forest animals the same way again.
My wife Sarah’s phone died a watery death this week. You might feel a slight sense of deja vu, and that’s because this already happened a few weeks ago. We’re having a rough month for phones in our house. As a result, we’ve been FaceTiming a fair amount while I am at work, and we’ve concluded FaceTime really needs voicemail.
The stroller is probably the most important items you own when you have a baby (besides maybe the crib). It is a means to transport the baby, but it’s also a gateway to getting outside, especially if you have a jogging stroller. There’s no shortage of choices, and today we are looking at the Chicco Activ3 Jogging Stroller.