“Libra raises many serious concerns regarding privacy, money laundering, consumer protection and financial stability,” Powell said during his semi-annual testimony on monetary policy before the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee.

“I don’t think the project can go forward” without addressing those concerns, he added later in the hearing.

Everything Facebook does should raise serious concerns.

They look like the blinders people put on horses, except they’re for people. I wonder if they really help you focus.

Google Translate allows you to explore unfamiliar lands, communicate in different languages, and make connections that would be otherwise impossible. One of my favorite features on the Google Translate mobile app is instant camera translation, which allows you to see the world in your language by just pointing your camera lens at the foreign text. Similar to the real-time translation feature we recently launched in Google Lens, this is an intuitive way to understand your surroundings, and it’s especially helpful when you’re traveling abroad as it works even when you’re not connected to Wi-Fi or using cellular data.

This is really cool. Although, Google will probably start showing you ads about whatever you translate.

Jason Snell on the MacBook:

At some point in the life of the MacBook, Apple seems to have gotten the message that it wasn’t the solution. (My guess is that Mac buyers sent the message by continuing to buy MacBook Airs—complete with MagSafe and familiar USB-A ports—despite Apple’s attempts to sell them fancy USB-C Retina Macs that cost hundreds more.)

Whatever the reason, the MacBook is gone and that’s not a bad thing. Apple did what it does best in most situations like this—it cleaned up the product line so it’s easy to understand, allowing people to buy the product they need.

I nodded my head in agreement with every word John wrote about Zoom. How did they possibly think this was okay?!

Executives from Amazon.com Inc, Apple Inc, Facebook Inc and Alphabet’s Google will testify before a House of Representatives congressional committee next week in a hearing to discuss the tremendous market power wielded by online platforms.

In a statement on Tuesday, the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee said witnesses would include: Adam Cohen, director of economic policy at Google; Nate Sutton, associate general counsel for regulation at Amazon; Facebook’s Matt Perault, head of global policy development and Apple vice president for corporate law Kyle Andeer.

There is a lot of concern about the power these platforms have, and with good reason. I’m not convinced that the government, any government, has the wherewithal to actually understand the technology that has ultimately raised these concerns though—that creates an even bigger problem. Of all the companies called to testify, it seems that Apple is in the safest position, partly because of its stance on security and privacy, and they don’t have the social networking platform that the others have.

Apple today announced that Sir Jony Ive, Apple’s chief design officer, will depart the company as an employee later this year to form an independent design company which will count Apple among its primary clients.

And with those words, the Internet went insane. I can understand how people feel about Jony’s announcement—he’s an icon in the design world and helped make some of Apple’s most iconic products. He will be missed, but I think this has been a long time coming.

Apple is making some positive changes in Apple Music. There are still a few little problems that crop up for me, but overall the service is doing very well.

On days when everything runs smoothly, taking public transit is one of the best ways to get around town. Not only is it cost-effective and efficient, but it also lets you stay hands free so you can sit back, relax and maybe even read a few chapters of your favorite book. But unexpected delays or overcrowded vehicles can quickly turn your ride from enjoyable to stressful. Starting today, Google Maps is rolling out two new features to help you better plan for your transit ride and stay more comfortable along the way.

I can certainly see how these would be useful features for those that rely on public transportation.

Sidecar, a new feature in Apple’s iOS and macOS operating systems, allows you to use your iPad as a second display with your Mac. It’s a great addition to the ecosystem and if you have the betas installed you can try it out. Bryan Wolfe gives you a rundown and how to get it setup.

Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference is arguably the most important event the company holds all year. WWDC is where developers find out the direction the company is taking with its technologies, which, in turn, allows them to make the apps that we use every day. […]

A U.S. judge ordered Facebook Inc to give shareholders emails and other records concerning how the social media company handles data privacy, after data for an estimated 87 million users was accessed by the British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.

This is a big hit for Facebook, but when it comes right down to it, people will still use the service and Facebook will continue to make billions in profit.

When you’re trying out a new restaurant, Google Maps already shows you how to get there, photos, reviews and ratings. But as you scan the menu, you’re probably wondering, “What’s good?” Now Google Maps is making it easy to “dish-cover” a restaurant’s most crowd-pleasing meals with a new popular dishes feature.

This is all crowd-sourced information, but still it could be interesting to see some of the actual meals a restaurant serves and not the professionally done photo shoots that look nothing like the meal in front of you.

Uber Technologies Inc reported a $1 billion loss and a 20% rise in revenue on Thursday in its first quarterly report as a public company, in line with the ride-hailing service’s forecasts.

The loss was in line with Uber’s forecast. Amazingly, the stock went up a bit at one point during after hours trading.

Our goal has always been to bring the AltConf experience to as many people as possible. So for 2019, we are hosting a number of other one day conference events, bringing AltConf to communities throughout Europe. You’ll be able to join us at AltConf London, Madrid, Paris and Berlin. Each will be a unique, one day conference, run and curated by local community volunteers, taking into account the local community to put on the best event possible.

If you aren’t able to be in California for WWDC, you can still be part of the community in one of these satellite events.

Join Jim Dalrymple and our exclusive sponsor Salesforce for an incredible night of music from The Houserockers on the first night of WWDC. […]

Located below the iconic Capitol Tower in Los Angeles, Capitol Studios is arguably the most recognized studio in the world — and much of its legend can be traced to its hallowed, subterranean echo chambers. From Ray Charles to Frank Sinatra, Beck to Muse, these underground spaces continue to provide gorgeous hi-fi ambience that is simply unmatched.

Now, after years of R&D and close collaboration with Capitol Studios — including unprecedented access to four legendary echo chambers 30-feet beneath the studio — Universal Audio proudly presents the Capitol Chambers plug-in, a startling end-to-end recreation of the most popular echo chambers ever created, exclusively for UAD hardware and UA Audio Interfaces.

The sound is absolutely stunning. Watch the video when you get to the UA web site.

Apple on Tuesday released new MacBook Pros, bringing an 8-core Intel processor to the laptop for the first time. Apple also told me today that its made some changes to the keyboard that it says will substantially reduce an issue that some users have been having with previous generation keyboards. […]

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 just been updated and is now,available in the Mac App Store! 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!

Grumpy Cat, arguably the internet’s most popular cat and one of its first viral memes, has died aged 7.

The furry sensation’s family announced her death on Twitter on Friday.

I laughed many times to Grumpy Cat.

Add signatures, text, and images. Make changes and correct typos. OCR scanned docs. Fill out forms. Proofread OCR text!

I love PDFpen and have used it for many years. The people that make this software care about their customers and the apps they release. I can’t recommend this enough.