RGB stands for “red, green. blue”. Like hexadecimal, RGB color is an additive system. Values of 0 for each component will produce a black color, while maximum values for each component will produce white. Modifying the values for each component will change the color; while easier to read than hexadecimal, RGB is not as instinctive as a system like HSL.

This is very cool. How much Apple is spending and making on various products every second. I don’t know how accurate it is, but it’s still fascinating.

Space.com’s Dave Brody takes a look at telescopes in a number of categories. I’m finding space more interesting all the time, so I decided to have a look around at telescopes and share my findings. I’m still not sure what’s best, but I’ll continue to look.

To further protect users, we’ve taken another step to strengthen how we use encryption for data in transit by implementing HTTP Strict Transport Security—HSTS for short—on the www.google.com domain. HSTS prevents people from accidentally navigating to HTTP URLs by automatically converting insecure HTTP URLs into secure HTTPS URLs.

Some great things from Ben Brooks in here. I especially liked this part when he talked about picking up your iPad:

This took some training, but now I am very accustomed to reading with my iPad in my hands, portrait orientation, and my feet kicked up on my desk. At first this didn’t feel like I was taking my work seriously, but then I realized just how much more attention I was paying to the document at hand.

I’m going to have to think about this a bit more, or at least how I use it, but I think he’s right.

Tesla is considering whether the radar and camera input for the vehicle’s automatic emergency braking system failed to detect the truck trailer or the automatic braking system’s radar may have detected the trailer but discounted this input as part of a design to “tune out” structures such as bridges to avoid triggering false braking, the source said.

Wired:

The inflation team showed up at 7:30 am yesterday. By the time they left well into the evening, 100,000 balloons were ready to descend from the heights of the Wells Fargo Arena, drowning the Democratic party’s presidential nominee and upper crust in a sea of star-spangled latex.

Balloon drops like the one that closed out the Democratic National Convention last night are commonplace by now; they’ve graced political conventions as far back as 1932. That doesn’t make them any less spectacular, though. Or any easier to coordinate. Pulling it off takes a team of wranglers and riggers, all working together to execute a balloon visionary’s master plan.

It’s actually a surprisingly complicated procedure.

Boing Boing:

Allec Joshua Ibay’s flight sim recreation of United Airlines Flight 232’s loss of all flight controls doesn’t skip a second. The unadorned, tick-tock quality of the video makes it surprisingly gripping, not least because of the incredible solution the crew found to their predicament: controlling the plane entirely by raising and lowering thrust from the engines. Even then, they couldn’t turn left at all, meaning the slightest overturn right would require an entire 360-degree swoop to get back on target.

Then they had to land it.

I’d seen the crash footage of this before but I’d never heard the story behind it. Ignoring the spelling mistakes, the flight sim recreation is very gripping.

Buzzfeed:

Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook will host a fundraiser with Hillary Clinton next month, as the Democratic nominee becomes the first woman in American history to lead a presidential ticket of a major party.

Cook, joined by Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, will help raise money for the Hillary Victory Fund, according to an invitation obtained by BuzzFeed News.

Cook is hosting the event as a private citizen. This comes on the heels of a similar event he held for Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.

This article is going to explore the options we have today for creating the reflection, illustrate the “almost” solutions, how cross-browser issues cause pain and, finally, discuss my thoughts on what should be done.

The point is this: if you start by counting and measuring, you will likely count and measure what’s easiest – and that might be the wrong thing. “Figure out what your goal is and stop worrying about looking smart. That’s my best piece of advice ,” Hall asserts. “Most bad decisions are somehow grounded in insecurity about looking smart. That makes people dumb.”

A great interview with Erika Hall, the co-founder of Mule Design.

In its legal brief, Apple said Samsung has introduced “no evidence” that design patent damages should be decided on anything less than the value of an entire smartphone. Apple said there was no need for the Supreme Court to send the case back to a lower court for further proceedings.

Samsung are thieves and should pay what they owe.

I’m not a big fan of the new Corvettes, but the 1960 model is a gem.

[Via Coudal]

This one might seem obvious, but…. Bulgarian state railway company BDZ is urging players of Pokemon GO to keep off the railway tracks.

You know what—if you’re that stupid, go ahead and play on the railroad tracks, it’ll be fine.

The Verge:

When Michael Crichton passed away in 2008, he left behind a massive collection of papers: outlines, notes, and several incomplete novels. In the years since his death, Crichton’s widow Sherri has been combing through those files, and recently discovered a new manuscript called Dragon Teeth, which is now set to be published by HarperCollins in 2017.

I’m a huge fan of Michael Crichton’s writing, from The Andromeda Strain, up through Jurassic Park and beyond, to project like the E.R. TV series. His books fueled my imagination. I hope that Dragon Teeth is up to the standard.

Mark Gurman and Alex Webb, writing for Bloomberg:

Apple Inc. plans to roll out a redesigned version of its Apple Store mobile app for selling devices that will use a customer’s buying history to recommend further purchases, taking a page from Amazon.com Inc.’s playbook. The updated retail app could be rolled out in the next two weeks, according to people familiar with the intended revamp. It’s likely to include a “For You” tab that suggests products based on prior orders, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the project isn’t yet public. While there are currently separate Apple Store apps for the iPhone and iPad, the new app will work on both devices and have the same basic features and interface.

Glenn Fleishman, writing for Macworld [AUTOPLAY]:

If you’re using Apple’s two-step verification system for logins, I have just one (not two) questions for you: do you know where your Recovery Key is?

A friend recently went through a multi-week set of interlocked problems when he was locked out of his Apple ID account on his iPhone, and couldn’t find his Recovery Key. He wasn’t ultimately able to get Apple to unlock his account. (During this period, his phone also locked up for a few days and he couldn’t receive texts or alerts, either.)

He had forgotten he’d enabled two-step verification, which is the older of Apple’s two methods of using a second piece of information to validate that you’re the accountholder. With the two-step system, Apple uses something akin to Find My iPhone to provide a code on your iOS devices or sends an SMS that you use to complete your login.

If you are not sure what kind of verification you have in place on your account, read this post.

AP News:

He’s made 18,000 parachute jumps, helped train some of the world’s most elite skydivers, done some of the stunts for “Ironman 3.” But the plunge Luke Aikins knows he’ll be remembered for is the one he’s making without a parachute. Or a wingsuit.

Or anything, really, other than the clothes he’ll be wearing when he jumps out of an airplane at 25,000 feet this weekend, attempting to become the first person to land safely on the ground in a net.

The Fox network will broadcast the two-minute jump live at 8 p.m. EDT (5 p.m. PDT) Saturday as part of an hour-long TV special called “Heaven Sent.”

Way back when, Evil Knievel did these sorts of televised, death-defying stunts on a regular basis.

More recently, we had Felix Baumgartner jumping from a balloon on the edge of space, albeit with a parachute.

Godspeed, Luke.

If you subscribe to the notion that Apple skates to where the puck is going to be (forgive the hockey analogy), this is clearly where this particular puck is headed. The marketplace is tipping away from wired headphones and the 3.5mm headphone jack that goes with it.

Ars Technica:

One of the many things Steve Jobs was famous for was his refusal to put a license plate on the back of his car, a Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG. Jobs—or someone close to him—spotted a loophole in California DMV regulations allowing six months of grace before a license plate had to be attached to a new car. As a result, the Apple supremo maintained a rolling six-month lease on a series of new SL55 AMGs, replacing one with another just before the grace period ran out.

Steve’s license plates were the center of many an anecdote. Miss him.

[H/T The mellifluously multiloquent not Jony Ive]

The Washington Post:

Imagine having all the files on your computer — your documents, your photos, your videos — locked and held hostage by hackers who demand a payout just because you opened the wrong email attachment or clicked the wrong link. That’s the nightmare scenario facing victims of ransomware, a type of malware that quietly encrypts files on a computer so that only a digital key held by the attacker can release them.

But a new initiative called No More Ransom may offer a glimmer of hope for victims. The project, a collaboration among Europol, the Netherlands’s national police and cybersecurity firms Intel Security and Kaspersky Lab, launched a website Monday featuring tools that can help some victims decrypt their data without paying off the criminals.

Here’s a link to the No More Ransom site. Tuck this link away and read on for more details.

[H/T Loop reader Andrew Leavitt]

Microsoft Corp said it would cut about 2,850 more jobs over the next 12 months, taking its total planned job cuts to up to 4,700, or about 4 percent of its workforce.

I hate seeing people lose their jobs.

It was craftsmanship rather than the bottom line that motivated Brian Holmes when he decided in 2010 to start a business and went looking for a manufacturer. He and his wife, Kari, started Pad & Quill, a company based in Minneapolis that makes high-end cases and other products for the iPhone and other Apple products.

I’ve raved about Pad & Quill on this site many times. It’s great seeing them get recognized for their commitment to quality.

Lenny Letter:

If you happen to be reading this on a Mac, take a look at the command key — it was designed by Susan Kare back in the ’80s, a time when computer screens were often black spaces with blinking cursors and the mouse was an exciting feature. The ⌘ symbol’s longevity is a testament to Kare’s prowess as a designer. She joined Apple in 1982 to design icons and fonts for one of the first personal computers with a graphic interface, the Macintosh.

She’s since gone on to create thousands of icons for hundreds of companies. For Windows 3, she designed the solitaire game; for Facebook, she created the original Gifts. Kare now works at Pinterest, where she’s a product-design lead. IRL, she’s whip-smart and wry. Earlier this month, Kare explained how to design an icon that stands the test of time, gave the scoop on working with a young Steve Jobs, and revealed the symbols she’s still trying to get right.

I always love reading about Kare. Her work has subtly influenced so much of what we Mac users see and do.

Illumina:

Illumina announced today that Philip W. Schiller has joined the company’s Board of Directors. Schiller is currently Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing and is a member of Apple’s executive team responsible for the company’s product marketing, developer relations, business marketing, education marketing, international marketing and App Store programs.

“Phil’s track record and global experience in bringing world-class products to market will help guide us as we continue to develop innovative new solutions for our customers,” said Francis deSouza, Illumina President and Chief Executive Officer. “His vision, integrity and passion are fully aligned with Illumina’s core values.”

This is all well and good and great for Illumina but I still think Eddy Cue on the board of Ferrari is much more of a fun gig.

The initiative is now prioritizing the development of an autonomous driving system, though it’s not abandoning efforts to designing Apple’s own vehicle. That leaves options open should the company eventually decide to partner with or acquire an established car maker, rather than building a car itself. An Apple spokesman declined to comment.

This is an option Shawn King has repeatedly said since rumors of an Apple car began. It’s certainly an appealing alternative for Apple if they could sell their software to car companies around the world.

The tech titan plans to open an Apple Store in the World Trade Center Transportation Hub, according to Jason Barlia, head of Apple’s marketing for New York stores. He spoke at the opening of Apple’s first Brooklyn store.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Apple started talking with the Walt Disney Company in early 2015 about getting Disney-owned content onto its then-planned streaming television service, but Apple executives, iTunes chief Eddy Cue in particular, made demands networks were not prepared to meet.

It makes it sound as though Eddy’s tough tactics are holding Apple back from this market. I don’t buy this at all. Remember, Eddy negotiated music for the iTunes store, which is incredibly popular. We want Eddy to be tough when negotiating deals that we’ll end up paying for, either in purchasing content or subscriptions.

Keep being tough Eddy, we’ll wait for a good deal that we’re willing to pay for.