The Guardian:

Snopes.com, a hugely popular fact-checking site which debunks urban legends, old wives’ tales, fake news, shoddy journalism and political spin. It started as a hobby in the internet’s Pleistocene epoch two decades ago and evolved into a professional site that millions now rely on as a lie-detector. Every day its team of writers and editors interrogate claims ricocheting around the internet to determine if they are false, true or somewhere in the middle – a cleaning of the Augean stables for the digital era.

I’ve been a huge fan of Snopes for decades. Whenever you hear something “incredible” on the internet, do a search for it on Snopes.

Apple has released new public betas of its iOS and macOS operating systems today. If you would like to sign-up for Apple’s public beta testing, you can do so on its Web site.

[Via MacRumors]

Today, we’re introducing Instagram Stories, a new feature that lets you share all the moments of your day, not just the ones you want to keep on your profile. As you share multiple photos and videos, they appear together in a slideshow format: your story.

They disappear after 24 hours.

In fact, the story about how the original “fuzz tone” was born takes a number of unusual twists that are pretty amazing for such a ubiquitous sound.

It is amazing how some of these things were created.

This weekend, the movie Suicide Squad goes into wide release. Early buzz is, the movie is terrific. I can’t wait to see it.

The New York Times, on one of the main characters, Harley Quinn:

How did Harley become one of the most popular female characters in the DC Universe? In part, by cleaning up her act, or what passes for clean in her world. In several incarnations — most notably, her foray into video games — Harley has been a true supervillain, maiming and killing with unbridled glee. Now she’s more of an antihero, as in “Suicide Squad,” where she and a team of bad guys take on even worse guys in “Dirty Dozen”-style missions.

If you are a fan of the character, the movie, or the genre, this article is worth the read, chock-full of Harley Quinn background.

Yesterday, Apple announced the addition of more gender diverse emoji in iOS 10. One emoji in particular, the handgun, got a lot of press attention when it was replaced by a water pistol.

Back in June, this radar (Apple’s internal bug-tracking system) was filed:

The current “pistol” emoji is a realistically rendered lethal weapon. As the spec doesn’t require it to be this way, Apple would be doing a service to society by changing this image to a plastic toy gun, such as a bright pink or green water squirter.

Solid suggestion, glad for the change.

Andrew Leavitt, writing on Medium:

You need only spend $171 for your anemic 27” iMac to run macOS Sierra, boot in seconds and open applications in a blink. Or you can buy a used one and upgrade it for just $500 starting from scratch. You really only require the latest models if you are working frequently with 4K video.

A machine that was originally built in 2009 can easily perform past another 5–10 years with a few straightforward upgrades. CraigsList has these computers lightly used for as little as $325 if you are patient. For another $171 in parts you can rock a machine almost matching today’s specs. And if you are presently struggling with an older iMac the decision is even easier (c’mon, it’s less than $200 and just an hour of tinkering). It’s fun and you might even learn something. Keep in mind that a new 27 iMac has a base price of $1800 (that’s with a 5K screen but no SSD and only 8GB of RAM). Boom, you just saved $1300.

We’re at a unique point in the upgrade cycle, with machines like the Mac Pro and MacBook Pro long overdue for an update, yet still selling at a premium. The opportunity is there to buy a used machine and upgrade it.

One path to explore is to build your own Mac from parts, a so called Hackintosh. Before you go that route, read this article. Then make your way through Andrew’s post and consider starting with a used iMac and retrofitting it. That’d be my choice.

Today Weather is a lightweight, fast loading, well designed weather site, optimized for your various devices.

Here’s a link to Today Weather.

And here’s a link to the blog post that explains it all.

This is my new go-to weather page. Worth a look.

The Messages app has undergone a lot of changes in iOS 10. Much of the evolution is hidden behind two icons, just to the left of the iMessage text field (just to the right of the camera icon).

There’s a lot to play with here. Just be aware that some of the actions will send without a specific confirmation. So if you are going to experiment, you might want to warn the person on the receiving end. For example, if you tap the Digital Touch icon (two fingers on a heart), then scribble out a sketch or two finger tap, the scribble or kiss will be sent immediately, without any staging. This is not a complaint, just an observation.

All that said, the linked post from Rene Ritchie talks you through some of these features. I love this path for Messages, looking forward to seeing more of this.

The Verge:

That’s where the Samsung PM1633a SSD comes in, clocking in at a massive 15.56 terabytes (or 15,360,000,000,000 bytes) of storage. Such power comes at a price, however, with preorders for the 15.56 terabyte behemoth coming in at around $10,000. The 15.56 TB size is not only the largest SSD ever made, but the largest single hard drive ever, finally breaking the 10 TB barrier that spinning disk drives seem to be capped at.

The drive’s small size and huge storage capacity means that you’d be able to outfit a standard 42U server storage rack with 1,008 PM1633a for a cool 15482.88 TB (over 15 petabytes) of storage, to presumably store a spare copy of the known universe. (Assuming you can afford the $10,080,000 price tag for such a setup.)

Want one? Here’s a link.

John Cleese:

Hello Youtubers. I haven’t the foggiest of what a Youtube Channel is, but regardless I’d like to welcome all fans of comedy (procrastinators) to this place.

I will be releasing seen, unseen, and ‘should never be seen’ material on here periodically in order to benefit from as much advertising revenue as possible…

I can’t subscribe to this fast enough.

CNET:

The updated remote control app for the 2015 Apple TV has arrived.

The new app, called Apple TV Remote, is basically a software version of the Apple TV’s tiny remote control: There is a large area at the top for gesture controls, making it easy to navigate around the user interface. Siri has a dedicated button allowing users to ask for a specific show or to use voice to search. And the Game Mode makes use of the accelerometer and gyroscope built into Apple mobile devices. And, like the Apple TV’s forthcoming software update, it also offers a “dark mode” option.

I hate the new Apple TV physical remote so much I can’t wait to try this one out.

More than one hundred new and redesigned emoji characters will be available to iPhone and iPad users this Fall with iOS 10. This exciting update brings more gender options to existing characters, including new female athletes and professionals, adds beautiful redesigns of popular emoji, a new rainbow flag and more family options.

Apple is working closely with the Unicode Consortium to ensure that popular emoji characters reflect the diversity of people everywhere.

Wonderful.

It is with sadness that we announce Kagi has ceased operations as of July 31st, 2016.

Wow, I remember using Kagi to purchase shareware for many years.

A federal judge has thrown out a verdict requiring Apple Inc (AAPL.O) to pay VirnetX Holding Corp (VHC.A) $625.6 million for infringing four patents relating to Internet security technology, causing VirnetX’s share price to plunge.

VirnetX said they are preparing for a retrial.

Summer nights feature dazzling array of stars stretched across the sky, as the arch of the Milky Way stretches up from the south and fills the northern skies. Classic constellations and asterisms like Scorpius, Cygnus, Cassiopeia, the Coma Cluster, Sagittarius and its Teapot, and the Summer Triangle mark the skies with their distinctive patterns catching curious eyes.

I’m becoming more interested in this all the time.

Pretty Famous:

PrettyFamous, an entertainment research site by Graphiq, found the most famous band formed each year since 1951. To do this, they created a customized Band Score on a scale of 1 to 100 based on a weighted average of a band’s Wikipedia page views in the last 30 days, page views of album releases and total number of Spotify followers.

The bands with the highest Band Score from each year were then ordered into a list starting in 1951 and continuing to 2015. It is important to note that since Wikipedia page views are current, all of these bands have stood the test of time, and remained famous many years after they were formed.

Interesting methodology. Not sure how you’d come up with a better measure of fame without turning straight to sales numbers.

Regardless, I found this pretty interesting. Scroll down to the tool, type in a year, then start clicking the arrow just to the right of the band picture to step through other bands formed in that year.

Bloomberg:

Didi Chuxing, the dominant ride-hailing service in China, said it will acquire Uber Technologies Inc.’s operations in the country, ending a battle that cost the two companies billions as they competed for customers and drivers.

And:

The truce brings to an end a bruising battle between the two companies for leadership in China’s fast-growing ride-hailing market. Uber has been spending at least $1 billion a year to gain ground in China, while Didi offered its own subsidies to drivers and riders to build its business.

Didi Chuxing and, as an investor, Apple are now in the driver’s seat (sorry) in China.

John Gruber explores a tree of possibilities:

The question is, what will Apple ship in the box with the new iPhones? I see the following options:

• Wireless ear buds.
• Wireless ear buds and this adapter.
• Lightning ear buds.
• Lightning ear buds and this adapter.
• The existing 3.5mm ear buds and this adapter.

At the bottom of the piece:

The bottom line: this move should be about moving away from wired headphones period, not moving from one wired jack to another. The best way to achieve that is for Apple to ship wireless ear buds in the box.

Great stuff.

This site aims to be a comprehensive list of things you can do with Siri. Save the link, but spend a few minutes scanning through the commands to see if there are any use cases that are new to you. And, of course, if you find this useful, pass the link along to your iOS friends.

[Via iHeartApple2]

Apple’s newsroom:

Thousands of customers turned out Saturday for the grand opening of Apple Williamsburg, the first Apple store in Brooklyn. Customers began queuing Friday on Bedford Ave before midnight, and when the store opened at 10 a.m. Saturday the line stretched around the block.

Here’s a link to the page, with pictures of the celebration.

The Telegraph:

Apple’s iTunes customers are being warned to delete “scam” emails that are being sent to some customers claiming they have been charged more than £20 to download a song.

Reports have surfaced on social media of iTunes users receiving an email claiming to be from Apple, detailing an alleged recent song purchase from the iTunes Store that costs £23.34.

Phishing continues to thrive because it works, at least to enough of a degree that it is profitable overall. As always, be vigilant, hover over links to verify before clicking on them.

I found this exchange amusing, especially this Kanye tweet:

I need Tim Cook Jay Z Dez Jimmy Larry me and Drake Scooter on the phone or in a room this week!!!

Is that the way you set up a meeting with Tim Cook? I wonder what Apple makes of this tweet stream.

Uproxx:

Meet Luke Aikins, a daredevil skydiver — he’s the guy in the tasteful lime green in the video below — who just plunged from 25,000 feet without any sort of safety device, save for a football field sized net waiting below. A net that had already proven to be less than perfect when a crash test dummy tore right through it during a test.

You ready for this? Because it’s pretty intense.

Dave wrote about this on Friday. It’s one of those stories that could have gone horribly wrong (Contrary to reports, FOX didn’t show it live but via a seven second delay for obvious reasons) and is something that seems like a ridiculously dangerous thing to do. But he made it.

Autoblog:

Translogic host Jonathon Buckley has done a lot of crazy things on the series, but being a “monkey” in a sidecar race might just be the craziest. In this episode, we travel to Millville, NJ, to learn more about the Sidecar Racing Association and participate in a few laps as a passenger, or monkey as they’re known in the racing world. It doesn’t take long for Bucko to realize just how physically exhausting it is to participate in this unique motorsport.

Racing a motorcycle is a dangerous thing to do. Being a “monkey” in a sidecar is insanity. Best line of the video: “I hope I get out of this alive…”