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My sincere thanks to FoundSounds for sponsoring The Loop’s RSS feed this week.FoundSounds is a unique new mobile app blurring the line between a social network and a collaborative art project. The premise is simple: if you find a sound you like, record it and share it with the world. Recordings are geotagged, and you can browse them by scrolling through a timeline or exploring a map. You can also construct sound collages that create intriguing sonic geographies. If enough sounds have been recorded in your area, consider taking a sound walk, which allows you to listen to recordings made near you. Walking past a concert venue would allow you to hear previous performances from that location, while passing by a new building would trigger the sounds of its construction. The vision of FoundSounds is to create a space where people can listen to sounds they might not normally hear. FoundSounds costs $0.99, the same as the price of a song on iTunes. FoundSounds is available on the iOS app store now.

The biggest change for some of you, however, will be that we have decided to remove the commenting function from the site. We thought about this decision long and hard, since we do value reader opinion. But we concluded that, as social media has continued its robust growth, the bulk of discussion of our stories is increasingly taking place there, making onsite comments less and less used and less and less useful.

I’ll admit, I’ve considered this too.

A draft motion seen by the Financial Times says that “unbundling [of] search engines from other commercial services” should be considered as a potential solution to Google’s dominance. It has the backing of the parliament’s two main political blocs, the European People’s Party and the Socialists.

Wow.

Apparently, the new iPhones can do it right out of the box.

Dan Goodin for Ars Technica:

As already alluded, the threat stems from the use of the Android clipboard, which acts as a temporary cache for text that is being copied and pasted, either within the same app or from one app to another. Android has no official programming interface that secures the clipboard. By design, its contents are available to any app installed on the phone, from the highest privileged banking app to one with no privileges at all.

Android wins.

Like most things on the Web, Dropcaps have been done poorly over the years, but perhaps a new CSS property will help.

But for type lovers, WatchKit contained a nice little surprise: a folder containing 23 different variations of the Apple Watch system font, the first one Apple has designed in-house in almost 20 years. Even better, that typeface finally has a name: San Francisco.

I really like the typeface.

Boston Globe:

More than 6 feet of lake-effect snow was dumped in the Buffalo, N.Y., area over the last few days with reports of more on the way. Storms closed a 100-mile plus section of the New York State Thruway, and the US National Guard has been called in to help dig out.

Some amazing photos included in this story. Being from Canada, I’ve experienced these kinds of snow falls when I was a kid – it was a lot of fun then but as an adult, I’m glad I don’t live somewhere I’d have to deal with this on a regular basis.

Wired:

There’s no way to anticipate the emotional impact of leaving your home planet. You look down at Earth and realize: You’re not on it. It’s breathtaking. It’s surreal. It’s a “we’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto” kind of feeling. But I’ve spent a total of 55 days in space, over the course of five missions for NASA, and I’ve learned that being out there isn’t just a series of breathtaking moments. It’s a mix of the transcendently magical and the deeply prosaic. It can be crowded, noisy, and occasionally uncomfortable. Space travel—at least the way we do it today—isn’t glamorous. But you can’t beat the view!

When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut. Hell, I still do.

Tina Roth Eisenberg finds some really interesting things.

From Intel’s site:

The Code For Good Campaign will help support Code.org, CodeClub, and GirlsWhoCode globally to educate, inspire, and equip the next generation of developers with the computing skills they need to pursue 21st century opportunities.

This kind of stuff is amazing and unacceptable.

I’ve seen a lot of people misunderstand what a prototype is. I should send this link to them.

Yesterday, John Gruber posted an article on which mobile devices Daring Fireball users were viewing his site with. I thought it was very interesting—interesting enough to take a look at what devices The Loop readers were using. Here’s what I found in Google Analytics: […]

Interesting article from Jacob Gube.

The report notes that Beats will continue to be a paid service and will likely be rebranded under the iTunes umbrella. The move could come alongside the launch of the Apple Watch, with users able to push Beats music from their iPhones to the wearable device.

This makes perfect sense to me.

On this episode, Jim and I talk about Uber, the Mac’s “Second Act”, how to learn to play guitar and what effects pedals are!

Sponsored by lynda.com (Start learning something new by visiting lynda.com/thebeard and get a FREE 10-day trial where you can access all of their 2,400+ courses), Animoto (use code AMPLIFIED at checkout and you’ll get 10% off a new Pro Annual subscription), and Backblaze (Click the link to get a two week free trial and then it’s just $5/month per computer for unlimited backup, and it backs up fast).

FoundSounds is a unique new mobile app blurring the line between a social network and a collaborative art project. The premise is simple: if you find a sound you like, record it and share it with the world. Recordings are geotagged, and you can browse them by scrolling through a timeline or exploring a map. You can also construct sound collages that create intriguing sonic geographies. If enough sounds have been recorded in your area, consider taking a sound walk, which allows you to listen to recordings made near you. Walking past a concert venue would allow you to hear previous performances from that location, while passing by a new building would trigger the sounds of its construction. The vision of FoundSounds is to create a space where people can listen to sounds they might not normally hear. FoundSounds costs $9.99, the same as the price of an album in iTunes. FoundSounds is available on the iOS app store now.

Answer some questions and The Grid will not only build a site for you, it will also adapt with you. I have no idea if this works, but I can’t wait to try it out and see how it does.

I’ve looked at a lot of blogging/Web site platforms over the years, but I’m really impressed with Barley. There is no admin area, so everything is done on the page itself—you just start typing and it becomes a new post. Very slick platform.

The Guardian:

Their name might sound a bit ominous, but the 1,500-strong gang…is a long way from the Hell’s Angels.

They’re called the blood bikers: men and women all over Britain who dedicate a few evenings a week to transporting hospital deliveries across the country as stand-ins for the daytime professionals. They are all volunteers, and in 2013 they responded to around 35,000 urgent requests from hospitals, saving the NHS hundreds of thousands of pounds. They take everything from blood and platelets to medicine and breast milk.

Great story about how volunteers on motorcycles transport medical supplies around Britain. Reminds me of another great organization called “Riders for Health” who do something similar in Africa.

Narrative:

In 1976, America turned 200 and cities around the country planned bicentennial celebrations. Twinsburg, a suburb of Cleveland, turned the event into double the reason to celebrate by dedicating one day of its bicentennial celebration to twins. Thirty-seven sets of twins attended that first celebration.

The world’s largest gathering of twins and multiples still attracts around 2,000 sets the first weekend of every August.

What a weird, cool place that would be in August.

I’m reading this book right now and I’m really enjoying it. Interesting to note that Jony Ive does the Foreword.

John Gruber dug into Google Analytics to get a sense of the percentage of Daring Fireball readers on an iPhone 6 vs iPhone 6 Plus vs other models. Terrific idea, good read.

No new features, but this is one of the best apps ever made.

Not sure which shirt looks best on you? Wondering if you take the Seahawks or the 49ers this Sunday? Ask your friends with Straw! Get instant responses delivered in real-time right to your phone, in a super visual, easy to decipher way.

I spoke with the developer about this app this afternoon and I really like it. It’s a cool way to get people’s opinion and share the results with whoever you want.

Initial users, fans, developers, even Sergey Brin—nobody seems to have much interest in this piece of shit product anymore.

Apple Watch represents a new chapter in the relationship people have with technology. Starting early 2015, you will be able to deliver innovative new experiences to your customers on their wrist. Learn how your existing app notifications can easily show up on Apple Watch. And by leveraging WatchKit, you can take your apps even further by extending and enhancing their functionality on Apple Watch.

This is a huge day for Apple. It may seem like this is just another SDK release for developers, but this is where Apple learns just how interested developers are in making apps for its new device. We’ve all seen it before with companies competing with Apple for iPhone and iPad apps—they matter to the consumer a lot. Products that don’t have deep developer support have a good chance of failing. When Apple does release the Apple Watch next year, they want to be able to stand up and brag about how many apps are already available. It’s an important day.

Apple is cracking down on Notification Center widgets in iOS once again, this time telling Neato that its note taking widget is unacceptable and will need to be removed due to the fact that it includes a keyboard.

I don’t understand Apple’s overall stance on this issue. I agree that some companies will, given the opportunity, take it too far and clutter the Notification Widget. However, there are times when an expanded widget makes sense.

Even the product page is the same as Apple’s for Nokia’s new tablet.