The Manliest Town
GQ Magazine has named my hometown, Louisville, Kentucky, “the manliest town in America.”
Yeah, yeah, Chicago has broader shoulders. But when it comes to the masculine arts—bourbon, baseball, bettin’ the ponies—good luck topping Louisville. And don’t worry, the city’s not just coasting on its history. Lou-uh-vul strikes a balance between the traditions for which it’s justly famous and a right-now vibe that gives the town and its 750,000 residents a kind of courtly southern swagger. The gentlemen of Louisville know how to compliment a woman—and do so often.
You got that right.
M.I.C Gadget on the iPad 3:
“We have asked our sources, and they have assured us volume buttons will be on the device.”
How assuring.
Behold the official Windows 8 logo.
We saw images of the logo leak earlier this week, but the company unveiled it officially today stating that the logo is a Window rather than the traditional flag found in earlier versions of Windows. “We wanted the new logo to be both modern and classic,” says Microsoft’s Sam Moreau.
The logo uses flat colors and clean lines and shapes to convey the message of Metro and will change color based on the core theme color used in Windows 8. “When you change your color, the logo changes to reflect you,” explained Moreau
I actually like this redesign a lot. It aligns itself with the Metro UI and Windows Phone. It’s clean and minimalistic. If only the actual OS didn’t suck so bad.
Yannis Chalaris wins the award for best iPhone wallpaper of the day with this beautiful design inspired by the popular Clear to-do app. There’s a lock screen and Home screen version available for free on his Dribble page.
The Mountain Lion is Here
Apple stealthily announced OS X Mountain Lion to the world this morning. I’ve been reading reactions and reviews all day, and the best post is definitely by John Gruber:
There many new features, I’m told, but today they’re going to focus on telling me about ten of them. This is just like an Apple event, I keep thinking. Just like with Lion, Mountain Lion is evolving in the direction of the iPad. But, just as with Lion last year, it’s about sharing ideas and concepts with iOS, not sharing the exact same interaction design or code. The words “Windows” and “Microsoft” are never mentioned, but the insinuation is clear: Apple sees a fundamental difference between software for the keyboard-and-mouse-pointer Mac and that for the touchscreen iPad. Mountain Lion is not a step towards a single OS that powers both the Mac and iPad, but rather another in a series of steps toward defining a set of shared concepts, styles, and principles between two fundamentally distinct OSes.
MG Siegler, Jason Snell, and The Verge also provided great coverage. We’ve been cranking out posts like crazy at Cult of Mac all day, and I wrote a little piece about Apple’s approach to iOS and OS X moving forward. My coworker Buster wrote a great review of the new Messages for Mac as well.
It’s been an interesting day.
The Tumblr Empire
But Tumblr is growing up, fast: the site expanded its user base by 900 per cent in the year to June 2011. In 2010, it served under two billion monthly page views; now, it generates about 14 billion, more than Wikipedia or Twitter. Its 36 million users so far have created 42 million posts each day — 13.5 billion in total. According to Nielsen, it was the UK’s second most popular social network or blog in the third quarter of 2011, with 229.6 million page views, trailing onlyFacebook. In September 2011, the company raised $85 million (£55m) from investors — a round that valued Tumblr at $800 million (£500m).
A fantastic piece by Wired on David Karp and the success of Tumblr. It feels good to be using the most innovative social blogging platform out there.
How To Write About Apple And Not Sound Like An Idiot
A great piece by Chris Rawson at TUAW:
So many bloggers (and an exponentially greater number of commenters) are used to seeing Apple as this grand dystopian force in their lives that literally everything the company does must have some mustache-twirling, villainous motivation behind it. That mindset is both sad and dumb.
Some other things to add to this post: Don’t ever say that Apple is pressured to make products like its competitors (especially Samsung). Don’t ever say that Apple cares about market share. Don’t say that “Steve Jobs wouldn’t have let ______ happen” for the next several years at least. If you do say those things, you have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.
Technology Does Not = Happiness
Brian Lam for The Wirecutter:
I had a powerful moment of reflection when applying for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute’s Journalism fellowship last year. I realized I didn’t have as many clips I was proud of. I was spinning my wheels online. I didn’t get in. I would say over 5 years, my animal instincts were enhanced to the point where I could guess how many clicks the wolf-whistling mob would provide my website with a high level of confidence, but my intellect was dulled and my patience for books and feature length films was non-existent. I’m fixing that now byslowing down so I can make more time for the things that make me feel good to consume.
Brian absolutely hits the nail on the head with this post. It can be incredibly difficult to slow down and disconnect from the internet ether, but it’s so rewarding. Technology can be a blessing that makes our lives better, but it can also become a crutch that keeps us from truly living. I spend more time in front of a screen than most people I know, but I know and value the time I spend away from the stuff that doesn’t matter — the news, roundups, galleries, and BREAKING EXCLUSIVES that no one will remember in a month.
A shot I took on the beach in Daytona, FL with the iPhone 4S.
Phantom Menace Nostalgia
Mike Ryan for Moviefone:
I saw “The Phantom Menace” four times in theaters on its initial release. Each time, it got worse. Whereas, on its first viewing, I focused on the still glorious final lightsaber duel, the second viewing the next day (yes, the next day) felt like a different movie. Like most people, it became impossible to suppress my feelings toward Jar Jar Binks — who is in that movie a lot. By the time I saw it for a third time, I was bored. Other than for a few scenes, it became a boring movie. It became a movie about the illegal taxation of galactic trade routes. Shortly before it disappeared from theaters, I saw it one last time on a lark. Hey, it’s “Star Wars” in a movie theater, I thought. That’s the viewing that I noticed that one of Anakin’s slave friends had braces. Wait, there are orthodontists on Tatooine? I immediately regretted seeing it that fourth time.
I remember seeing The Phantom Menace when it premiered with my dad. The theatre was packed and I was probably more excited than I’d ever been. I was a Star Wars fanatic growing up. I collected all the trading cards and read all the graphic novels. I’ll admit that The Phantom Menace isn’t an incredible movie, but I would watch it again today and enjoy every minute of it.
My New Favorite App: SpotON Radio For iPhone
I recently caved and bought a premium Spotify subscription. This means that I get millions of streaming tracks on all my devices for only $9.99/month. It’s a much more fluid experience than using iTunes Match, and I like having the peace of mind that I have instant access to any song I could want to play (most of the time).
SpotON Radio is a gorgeous app for the iPhone that lets you create and listen to Spotify radio stations. It’s like Pandora, only you can skip as many tracks as you want and add them to your Spotify playlists. I love the entire experience, and the app is so well designed that I find myself using it more than my stock Music app.
The best part of all? SpotON Radio is totally free in the App Store. What are you waiting for?
Apple Has Helped Create 466,000 U.S. Jobs Since 2008
Apple recently announced that it has payed over $4 billion to third-party developers since the launch of the App Store on July 10, 2008. Apps are an essential part of the modern smartphone, and Apple continues to pave the way with the growing success of the App Store year after year.
Sparked by Apple’s initiative, 466,000 U.S jobs have been created through what is now called the “App Economy.” Jobs include those that now develop for other platforms, like Android and Windows Phone.
