A baby singing Thunderstruck? Yeah, Dave found the video. We also discuss Apple encryption, as well as fixing and upgrading your Apple Watch.

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Dave and I talk about Neil Peart, Rush’s drummer who died last week, as well as NBC adding a new streaming service and a bad AirPods Pro update.

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I don’t think Dave and I have ever talked about the legendary singer Ronnie James Dio on the show before, but we fix that this week. We also discuss the various ways to adjust volume levels on iOS and Dave’s surprise check from AppleCare.

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Dave and I talk about some of the best gadgets over the last decade, Samsung’s inflated numbers, and the scourge the earth—porch pirates.

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Lodged with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by plaintiff Pro Music Rights, the suit focuses on unpaid royalties and ongoing infringement related to 15 registered copyrights covering a clutch of songs.

I have a feeling that there is more to this than meets the eye. Apple is not new to licensing and how the music business works, so it’ll be interesting to see how this progresses.

Graham Cochrane, a freelance recording and mix engineer:

Does anyone even care about rock music, or real instruments like drums and guitars anymore?!

It’s a question that’s been asked and talked about for years. I believe Rock is alive and well, but it is going through some changes that make many people uncomfortable. Graham has some interesting thoughts on the issue.

A German court on Thursday banned Uber ride-hailing services in Germany, arguing the U.S. company lacks a necessary license to offer passenger transport services using rental cars.

Uber also lost its license in London last month. I’m not sure what the path forward is for Uber in Europe, but it doesn’t look promising.

Jeremy Olshan, editor-in-chief of MarketWatch:

We are all drowning in a firehose of information at the expense of not only our attention spans but also true understanding. Our industry has a moral responsibility to help readers translate all that information into knowledge. Into wisdom.

This article isn’t specifically about tech journalism, but all journalism. I believe in reporting the truth, without bias, about any topic I write about. You may not agree with me, and that’s okay—in fact that’s healthy. When it comes to reporting on Apple, which I’ve been doing fo 25 years, I find myself in more disagreements with other writers more than ever before. A lot of that comes from me questioning the motives of why a story was written—which are often sensationalized—instead of enjoying the read. We need to help readers understand the information we write about.

It’s no secret that we’re pretty big fans of machine learning and we love thinking of new and exciting ways to use it in Pixelmator Pro. Our latest ML-powered feature is called ML Super Resolution, released in today’s update, and it makes it possible to increase the resolution of images while keeping them stunningly sharp and detailed. Yes, zooming and enhancing images like they do in all those cheesy police dramas is now a reality!

There is just no way to express how impressed I am with the folks at Pixelmator. They continue to evolve and innovate in a very difficult market.

Bare Bones Software, makers of BBEdit, is one of my favorite software companies — in fact, I’ve been using BBEdit for more than 20 years. BBEdit has been updated to version 13, and is available in the Mac App Store as a subscription! Same great features. Same user experience. You can subscribe in the Mac App Store or purchase perpetual licenses directly from Bare Bones Software. Also, you can still get great merch, including Classic and Rebus T-shirts, enamel pins, and more in their merch store!

Dave and I talk about the release of the Mac Pro this week and my annoyance with some complaining over the price. We also discuss Apple Maps and how it could learn from the way we use it.

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Needham analyst Laura Martin, who downgraded the California-based tech giant to “underperform”, believes Netflix will have to add a lower priced service to compete with competitors including Apple Inc’s Apple TV+ service and Walt Disney Co’s Disney+.

I don’t buy it. If all Netflix did was show old re-runs of shows, then this analysis would make some sense, but that’s not the only thing Netflix does. It’s original programming is among the best in the industry right now. Apple, Disney, and Amazon are add-ons to Netflix and I don’t see that changing in the next year.

A number of items that were stolen from the family of Ozzy Osbourne’s late guitarist Randy Rhoads were recovered early Sunday when an Eyewitness News viewer spotted them in a dumpster.

Someone had broken into the Rhoads family music school in North Hollywood on Thanksgiving night and stole irreplaceable instruments, memorabilia and photos.

I’m so glad the family got these items back. Randy was one of the great guitarists of our time.

Two years ago, Apple unveiled Intelligent Tracking Prevention for Safari which aimed to protect users of the browsers from unwanted tracking. It was yet another in a long-running move towards more privacy on behalf of the company for its customers, and this technology, in particular, seems to be having a major impact on the advertising industry.

The ad industry has hated Apple’s implementation of privacy features for its users from the very beginning. To be absolutely clear, the only reason we needed these types of features in the first place is because of the slimy way the ad industry tracked us in the first place.

Apple’s Siri Remote has always been a bone of contention for Apple TV users. And with Swiss fiber TV company Salt giving Apple TV 4K boxes to its subscribers it was only a matter of time before they complained. And when they did, Salt made an alternative.

It’s cool, but for my uses right now, the ATV remote seems to work fine.

Thanksgiving is over and Dave and I are back at it. From Billie Eilish to MacBook Pros shutting down, we talk about a variety of topics and have our usual amount of fun doing it.

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With Alphabet now well-established, and Google and the Other Bets operating effectively as independent companies, it’s the natural time to simplify our management structure. We’ve never been ones to hold on to management roles when we think there’s a better way to run the company. And Alphabet and Google no longer need two CEOs and a President. Going forward, Sundar will be the CEO of both Google and Alphabet. He will be the executive responsible and accountable for leading Google, and managing Alphabet’s investment in our portfolio of Other Bets. We are deeply committed to Google and Alphabet for the long term, and will remain actively involved as Board members, shareholders and co-founders. In addition, we plan to continue talking with Sundar regularly, especially on topics we’re passionate about!

That’s a pretty big move by the co-founders, but probably the right one.

I’m excited to share the news that Black Ink 2 has shipped and is available for immediate download both on the Black Ink home page and from the Mac App Store. As promised, customers who purchased a license to Black Ink 1 on or after January 1, 2018, are entitled to a free upgrade to Black Ink 2. Customers who purchased Black Ink 1 in 2017 or earlier are entitled to a discounted upgrade price.

Black Ink 2.0 is a huge update to the app, featuring a massive overhaul of the puzzle-solving window, support for new accessibility features, and at long last, Dark Mode support for macOS 10.14.

There are a lot of great new features in this version of the app from one of my favorite developers.

The film will explore alleged sexual misconduct in the music industry, following a former music executive who struggles with whether or not to go public with her story of assault and abuse by a notable music industry executive.

I’m glad to see Apple is tackling this story—it needs to be told.

In a statement, the film’s director, writer, and producer George Nolfi, as well as cast members such as Anthony Mackie, Samuel L. Jackson, Nicholas Hoult, Nia Long, and other key talent say they stand by the film and “its positive message of empowerment.” While expressing sympathy for Cynthia Garrett, they note that the film is not based on the memories of Garrett’s children, but on interviews with Garrett himself, as well as transcripts, court rulings, and articles.

I was really looking forward to this film, but I certainly understand Apple delaying the release to investigate the claims by Cynthia Garrett. It’s still unclear what will happen, or how long the investigation will take.

A federal judge on Monday rejected Apple Inc’s bid to dismiss a proposed class action lawsuit by customers who said it knew and concealed how the “butterfly” keyboards on its MacBook laptop computers were prone to failure.

I don’t think Apple concealed anything, but there were certainly a lot of complaints about the butterfly mechanism.

Thanks to BBEdit for sponsoring The Loop this week. Bare Bones Software, makers of BBEdit, is one of my favorite software companies — in fact, I’ve been using BBEdit for more than 20 years. BBEdit has been updated to version 13, and is available in the Mac App Store as a subscription! Same great features. Same user experience. You can subscribe in the Mac App Store or purchase perpetual licenses directly from Bare Bones Software. Also, you can still get great merch, including Classic and Rebus T-shirts, enamel pins, and more in their merch store!

Dave and I kicked off this week talking about cooking, but moved into how people are using GarageBand on iOS and Mac. We also discussed autocorrect on iOS and whether or not the AirPods Pro leave any room for competition.

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Guilherme Rambo:

Like I mentioned before, the problem began in August. So far I’ve tried every possible private communication channel before deciding to make this story public. It’s worth mentioning that I didn’t get any e-mail or call from Apple warning about any sort of action being taken against my developer account. Apple always says that “running to the press doesn’t help”. Unfortunately, they haven’t responded in any way, even when I tried reaching out through internal contacts that I have. So the only option I have left now is to “run to the press”.

I have to agree with Gruber on this one. If there is something wrong with his account, at least give him an explanation.

Bare Bones Software, makers of BBEdit, is one of my favorite software companies — in fact, I’ve been using BBEdit for more than 20 years. BBEdit has been updated to version 13, and is available in the Mac App Store … Continued

Dave and I talk about the new MacBook Pro that Apple released this week, looking beyond the fixed keyboard. We also look at Disney+ and the extraordinary start the the streaming service.

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With Apple Music Replay, subscribers will get a playlist of their top songs from 2019, plus playlists for every year you’ve subscribed to Apple Music, retroactively. These can be added to your Apple Music Library, so you can stream them at any time, even when offline. Like any playlist, your Apple Music Replay can also be shared with others, allowing you to compare top songs with friends, for example, or post to social media.

This is a great idea. My Replay lists haven’t shown up yet, but I’m looking forward to seeing them.

If you asked anyone about the MacBook Pro yesterday, the topic would inevitably come around to the keyboard. If you ask someone today, you will get the same topic, but the sentiment has shifted 180 degrees in that 24 hours. […]

Disney’s new streaming service, Disney+, has already seen 10 million sign-ups since launching Tuesday, the company announced Wednesday.

Okay, that is impressive. Even more impressive when you consider that many people had issues signing up for the service. Disney’s service is the one that will attract more families than any other on the market today and I don’t see that changing any time soon. They have as a close to a monopoly on family content as you will see.

The challenge, says Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller, was taking the best of the Magic Keyboard, an accessory designed for desktop computers such as the upcoming Mac Pro, which launches in December, and adapting and evolving it for the new notebook.

“People sometimes underestimate how much work goes into a keyboard, and that’s why most keyboards in the industry don’t change for 10 or 20 years,” Schiller said in an interview. “We decided that while we were advancing the butterfly keyboard, we would also — specifically for our pro customer — go back and really talk to many pro customers about what they most want in a keyboard and did a bunch of research. The team took the time to do the work to investigate, research, explore and reinvent.”

It’s always good to hear about these things directly from execs at Apple. I haven’t tried the new keyboard yet, but I’m looking forward to it. For what it’s worth, I’m one of the people that has had no issues with the butterfly keyboard design.