On tonight's Republican Debate
/Sometimes the captions just nail it.
An iPad Pro Mini(ish) is apparently on the way!
/
“Apple will further differentiate the next-generation 9.7-inch iPad from its predecessor by making it part of the new iPad Pro line, according to sources. Much like the MacBook Pro comes in 13-inch and 15-inch sizes, the iPad Pro will soon come in 9.7-inch and 12.9-inch variations. This trend follows Apple not calling its 12-inch MacBook a new Air despite developing the product as an apparent successor to the MacBook Air.
The new 9.7-inch iPad Pro will debut at Apple’s Tuesday, March 15th event and begin shipping as soon as March 18th, we previously reported. The smaller iPad Pro will have nearly identical features and specifications as the bigger model, bringing along the A9X processor and RAM upgrades from the 12.9-inch model. It will also include the 12.9-inch model’s updated display technology to support the Apple Pencil.”
This is some seriously fantastic news. Not to mention that the fact that it's Mark Gurman reporting on this, which gives it an almost 100% chance of happening. I had been very interested in the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil for both sketching and design work, as well as future potential 3d sculpting uses, and photo retouching. Unfortunately my love for the device was quickly squelched by the overwhelming size of the device. It was just simply too big for me to deal with. A normal sized iPad with the iPad Pro's specs would be exactly up my alley, especially since it will likely knock $100 off of the entry fee.
Apple still has quite a few issues to deal with on the iOS side of things in getting professionals interested in the platform, but this commitment to building pro level devices on iOS leads me to believe they have some stuff up their sleeves for iOS 10 and 11 to fix a lot of that.
Heck, If you see Apple marketing iOS 10 as iOS X then you REALLY know they are willing to bring some more serious software to their mobile platform.
On The Oscars
/This pretty much sums it up.
Or, if you want to get a little bit more offensive and in-depth, this is actually better.
The Imperial March in a Major Key is crazy!
/
Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a huge music fan. Also I am a bit of an amateur music theory nerd. That being said, I always tend to love artists who take super happy major key songs and turn them dark and depressing by transposing them into a minor key.
Surprisingly, I haven't seen much of the reverse. And today I really wonder why that is, because this is HYSTERICAL. Laztozia on Soundcloud has transposed the ultimate villain theme "The Imperial March" from Star Wars into a major key. This has had the effect of turning it from a foreboding march of evil into something almost.. Olympic-esque? You just have to check it out. Take a listen below, and please check out the rest of Laztozia's work. It's fantastic. I really enjoyed the X-Files one as well.
OK GO's Insane new Zero Gravity Music Video
/Unless you've been living under a rock somewhere, you know that the band OK GO have been the masters of the intricate music video for over a decade now. Now, their new video has them doing their usual intricate choreography in ZERO GRAVITY. Nuts. Keep in mind that no wires or green screens were used in this video. Here is how it was done.
INSPIRATIONAL VIDEO - The Pale Blue Dot.
/Facebook's relatively new memories feature reminded me about this video today.
Everyone should watch this video at least once. It is simultaneously humbling, inspiring, and beautiful.
Starbucks changes it's loyalty program.→
/
File this in the same place as Amazon's shipping announcement today. Wall Street only ever wants to see growth. Easiest solution; encourage your biggest users to spend more per visit.
From CNN Money:
“Right now, customers receive gold status once they’ve earned 30 stars in a year. That’s loosely equivalent to visiting Starbucks 30 times, if you don’t get any bonus points along the way.
Gold members get a free food or beverage product after 12 stars.
But when the new points system launches, customers will have to earn 300 stars — or spend close to $150 — to reach gold status.
After that, they will need 125 stars (the equivalent to spending about $63) in exchange for a free item.”