It seems hard to believe that it was 20 years ago when Steve Jobs introduced the world to iMac. For me, that first iMac computer changed the history of what Apple was to become—one of the greatest, most innovative companies in ever. […]

Texture, the magazine subscription service that Apple purchased back in March, plans to shut down its Windows app at the end of June. Users were informed of the discontinuation this week through emails and a note inside the app, which said that after June 30th, “this app will stop working and will no longer be available in the Microsoft Store.” Texture’s Android, Amazon Fire, and iOS apps will still be supported.

Makes sense.

AI often sounds like some far-off science fiction concept, but it’s actually behind a lot of things you encounter in your daily life. Here’s the rundown: we train a software system with lots of examples so that it can pick up on patterns.

Clearly, the examples in this post are using Google apps, but many of them can be used in the Apple ecosystem as well. It’s fascinating how many things we do that involve machine learning these days.

Apple has acknowledged a microphone issue affecting a limited number of iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models running iOS 11.3 or later.

In an internal document distributed to Apple Authorized Service Providers this week, obtained by MacRumors, Apple said affected customers may experience a grayed-out speaker button during phone calls. The issue may also prevent affected customers from being heard during phone calls or FaceTime video chats.

It’s always fascinating to me how these types of issue only affect a small number of users using a certain model. I’m not being sarcastic, it’s honestly an interesting phenomena.

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From furniture manufacturer MOOW comes the Stüda, a LEGO-compatible table designed by Italian firm Nine Associati. Offered in three different sizes, the storage units are surfaced not in LEGOs themselves, but in Corian that they’ve CNC-milled to provide the studs.

What a great idea!

Google this morning posted a story on its Keyword Blog that highlights the ongoing growth of its AI helper, Google Assistant. According to the company, the Assistant now works with “every major device brand” in the U.S., meaning that it can connect with more than 5,000 smart home devices, up from 1,500 in January.

And

For home automation, Apple’s solution is HomeKit and Siri. Although not an exact comparison due to potentially missing products, Apple’s website has a list of HomeKit-compatible smart home products that reaches to about 200 as of writing, with some yet to launch.

The number of devices the technology can connect with is definitely important, but a lot of people are also concerned about privacy. I don’t think there is any doubt that Apple values customer privacy more than any other technology company, but a lot of the success of home products will be determined by how much the consumer actually cares about privacy versus features.

The Reform Government Surveillance coalition, which includes several major tech companies who have teamed up to lobby for surveillance law reform, this week released a statement condemning recent proposals for backdoor access into electronic devices and reaffirming a commitment to strong encryption.

The coalition is made up of multiple tech companies who have taken a strong stance against weakening encryption, including Apple, Google, Microsoft, Dropbox, Snap, Evernote, LinkedIn, Oath (owned by Verizon) and Facebook.

It’s great seeing some of these major companies uniting to help protect our privacy. It seems to me that it would be a long, hard road for a government to require backdoors on devices. We’ve seen this battle played out publicly in the past and I have no doubt we’ll see it again.

Tesla Inc on Wednesday posted its worst ever quarterly loss and said its Model 3 production target remains on track, expecting about 5,000 per week in about two months.

Tesla is an interesting case in the tech/auto industry, but surely they can’t continue these losses for much longer.

Hulu now has over 20 million U.S. subscribers – that’s up from the 17 million-plus it claimed in January. The news of its subscriber growth is being delivered alongside a series of pitches to advertisers at the company’s Upfronts presentation in New York this morning, where it’s also touting its upcoming original series and detailing its new ad products. One of those will be of particular interest to Hulu’s users, too – the company will at last allow subscribers to download shows to watch offline.

I love offline viewing with my Netflix account, so I’m sure this will be a big hit with Hulu subscribers. I tried Hulu a while ago, but I wasn’t all that impressed. I may give it another go.

Shares of Snap Inc sank as much as 22 percent to the lowest since its 2017 flotation on Wednesday, after first quarter numbers showed it losing confidence among users and advertisers due to a widely-panned redesign of Snapchat.

I’ve never been a big Snap user, but it seems to me that users of companies like this are very fickle—They could be very loyal one day and turn on you the next. This isn’t just about Snap, but every social media platform available today.

Amazon is pausing the unprecedented spree of headquarters construction that transformed the city of Seattle over the last decade, suspending plans to add 7,000 to 8,000 jobs in 1 million square feet of new office space.

Whether it’s a political maneuver to influence City Hall or an actual change in direction remains to be seen. But it could spook developers of housing and offices planning on Amazon’s continued growth.

Amazon has drawn a line in the sand and is sending a clear message to Seattle City Hall—approve this tax and we’re out.

Apple on Tuesday reported financial results for its fiscal 2018 second quarter, which ended on March 31, 2018. The company posted quarterly revenue of $61.1 billion, an increase of 16 percent from the year-ago quarter, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $2.73, up 30 percent.

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Daylite is the Mac CRM built for small businesses on the Mac that want to grow. It integrates with the Mac and Apple Mail like no other CRM. Keep track of all your leads, projects, and customers so nothing slips through the cracks. New in Daylite are powerful integrations through Zapier so you can automate more and save even more time.

Want to grow your business without risking things slipping through the cracks?

Signup today for a free 30 day trial!

Mention you heard about Daylite on The Loop and get 10% off your first month subscription.

The news that Apple is discontinuing the AirPort line, although expected, is a bitter pill to swallow for many Mac enthusiasts that love the no-nonsense, easy to administer backup and recovery features on the Time Capsule series. Even though the Time Capsule will be no more, you can still use Time Machine for your backup and recovery purposes in your post-AirPort world.

I imagine this is a question a lot of people have since Apple announced it would discontinue the AirPort product line. The good news is, the Time Machine technology will work, without a Time Capsule.

Speaking of Gibson:

The company, which filed for chapter 11 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, said it will continue to operate during the proceedings as it focuses on reorganizing around its core businesses. Gibson plans to wind down its Gibson’s Innovations business, which is largely outside of the U.S.

This is mismanagement at its worst. The Les Paul is my favorite guitar and I’m hopeful that someone will be able to save that instrument.

Last week, we reported that Tronical—the German company most well-known for its “robo-tuning” devices—had sued Gibson for $50 million. Now, Gibson has responded to Tronical’s lawsuit with a lawsuit of its own.

It’s true that most guitar players didn’t like the robot tuners that Tronical made, but I didn’t mind them. I have them on one of my more recent Les Pauls and they work fine, but I get why people don’t like them. Still, all of this Gibson mismanagement, financial problems, and lawsuits make me sad.

I joined John Gruber on his latest podcast and it was a great time, as always. We talked about MacBook keyboards, AirPower, and Google.

Apple on Thursday has officially discontinued its AirPort wireless networking products. The company told me that all AirPort Base Station products would continue to be sold in its stores “while supplies last.” […]

Gmail received some new features and a new look—It’s still clearly Gmail, but it does look better. This became available on my personal Gmail account this morning.

I’ve spoken with countless people over the years about how I use Apple Music, and how I get the most from the service. One thing I noticed is that many of these people stopped using the service and only listened to songs they had downloaded on their iPhone. I believe the reason they do that is they feel overwhelmed. […]

An appeal by Apple and Ireland against a European Union ruling for the U.S. firm to pay 13 billion euros ($16 billion) in disputed taxes is likely to be heard before the end of the year, Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said on Tuesday.

Apple and Ireland both say the company paid all the taxes that were due, but I can’t see the court reversing the EU decision.

Online streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music have become the recording industry’s single biggest revenue source, overtaking physical sales of CDs and digital downloads for the first time, a trade group said on Tuesday.

This, of course, comes as no big surprise. I still buy albums from iTunes for the bands I really love, but streaming on Apple Music is now the norm. What’s still unclear to me is how the musicians are doing financially with the rise of streaming services.

Google owner Alphabet Inc reported first-quarter sales and profit Monday that topped financial analysts’ estimates due to strong ad sales and a change in accounting for investments in startups, sending its shares up about 1 percent after hours.

Overall, Alphabet posted a $9.4 billion profit on sales of $31.1 billion.

Tim Cook:

“We don’t believe in sort of watering down one for the other. Both [The Mac and iPad] are incredible. One of the reasons that both of them are incredible is because we pushed them to do what they do well. And if you begin to merge the two … you begin to make trade offs and compromises.

“So maybe the company would be more efficient at the end of the day. But that’s not what it’s about. You know it’s about giving people things that they can then use to help them change the world or express their passion or express their creativity. So this merger thing that some folks are fixated on, I don’t think that’s what users want.”

I have never been a fan of merging these two devices. There are always going to be compromises when you look at merging them that aren’t necessary. I’ll gladly take two devices, and two operating system over a merged device.

If a new European law restricting what companies can do with people’s online data went into effect tomorrow, almost 1.9 billion Facebook Inc users around the world would be protected by it. The online social network is making changes that ensure the number will be much smaller.

Facebook members outside the United States and Canada, whether they know it or not, are currently governed by terms of service agreed with the company’s international headquarters in Ireland.

Next month, Facebook is planning to make that the case for only European users, meaning 1.5 billion members in Africa, Asia, Australia and Latin America will not fall under the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which takes effect on May 25.

It’s all a game.

Om Malik:

Douglas Weber is an American industrial designer based in Fukuoka, Japan. He formerly worked for Apple in Cupertino and is a fellow coffee nerd. He is currently working on what he deems the perfect coffee grinder at his new company Lyn Weber, which he founded with VFX designer Craig Lyn. We recently talked about the new wave of coffee and cafes and how and why design is becoming such an integral part of coffee culture.

Wow!

Facebook Inc said on Tuesday it would continue requiring people to accept targeted ads as a condition of using its service, a stance that may help keep its business model largely intact despite a new European Union privacy law.

And

Facebook Deputy Chief Privacy Officer Rob Sherman said the social network would begin seeking Europeans’ permission this week for a variety of ways Facebook uses their data, but he said that opting out of targeted marketing altogether would not be possible.

Whether you like targeted ads or not, it makes sense that Facebook is still going to require users to accept them—it’s their entire business model. The choice is simple—accept the ads or delete the app.