Sexual Violence and the Warped Tour →

Paul Adler, writing for Cuepoint, on Medium:

But over the past half-decade, a handful of alt-scene, so-called “Warped Tour” bands have found themselves accused of sexual misconduct with minors. Musicians have been convicted of crimes, and other bands have been condemned for their apparent advocacy of physical and sexual violence, especially toward women. Of course, the bands and the tour are separate entities, and Warped isn’t legally responsible (moral responsibility is another matter) for the actions of its acts. Nonetheless, it’s tempting to let these scandals color the general perception of the tour. More difficult is untangling the nuances of this new age of opprobrium.

I’m sure this will be reported and cited with the same veracity and frequency as misogyny and sexual violence in hip hop.

Thousands Have Already Signed Up for Apple’s ResearchKit →

Michelle Fay Cortez and Caroline Chen, writing for Bloomberg:

Stanford University researchers were stunned when they awoke Tuesday to find that 11,000 people had signed up for a cardiovascular study using Apple Inc.’s ResearchKit, less than 24 hours after the iPhone tool was introduced.

“To get 10,000 people enrolled in a medical study normally, it would take a year and 50 medical centers around the country,” said Alan Yeung, medical director of Stanford Cardiovascular Health. “That’s the power of the phone.”

I was going to post this and direct my commentary towards those who rag on Apple products, or modern mobile technology in general, but I decided on this instead—a hearty ‘shame on you’ to the Apple Fans who, while tuned into the event announcing ResearchKit on Monday, amped up the snark and the stupidity on Twitter re: how bored they were by this segment of the presentation. You all proved just how vapid and self-centered Apple Fans can be. This wasn’t The Bachelorette Idol’s Got Talent. It was an announcement that’s going to, literally, save lives.

/via 9to5Mac

IBSWTD’s Favorite Podcasts: Radio Diaries: ‘Teenage Diaries Revisited: Melissa’s Story’ →

Having a podcast means getting other people to listen to your podcast. It isn’t easy. I’m always asking people to rate/review my show on iTunes, or tell a friend, or pledge a dollar or two on Patreon. I realized the other day that what I should also be doing is following my own advice by telling others about my favorite shows. So here’s my first IBSWTD’s Favorite Podcasts pick: the 3/10/15 episode of HowSound: ‘Teenage Diaries Revisited: Melissa’s Story.’ Here’s HowSound’s Rob Rosenthal, writing for Transom.org:

In 1996, Joe [Richman] produced Teen Diaries. He gave tape decks to teenagers to document their lives. The result, intimate portraits that, most likely, would have resulted in a very different piece had a producer been present during the field recordings. One of these diaries featured Melissa Rodriguez. It was called Teen Mom. Sixteen years later, Joe handed out recorders again to several of the original diarists, including Melissa.

A few things:

1. Radio Diaries, Richman’s podcast/radio show, is awesome. You should listen to all of the available episodes. ‘Walter the Seltzerman—It’s Not Easy Being Last’ and ’Strange Fruit—Voices of a Lynching’ come to mind as two of my favorites.
2. The Teenage Diaries Revisited series is also a must-listen. All of them, but especially the episode highlighted here.
3. HowSound, the podcast that is highlighting said episode, is also worth your time. It’s a little inside-baseball sometimes, but it’s worth it if nothing for the recommendations about other great shows.
4. Make sure you listen to the HowSound edition of ‘Teenage Diaries Revisited: Melissa’s Story’ that I’m linking to here, since you get to hear the story as well as an interview with Richman and Melissa.

So that’s my first IBSWTD’s Favorite Podcasts pick. I hope you enjoy it and if you do (or don’t) please feel free to let me know on my Twitter or the show’s Twitter.

‘Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck’ Trailer →

Corban Goble, writing for Pitchfork:

Frances Bean Cobain, Cobain's daughter with Courtney Love, is an executive producer of the film. The documentary features "dozens of Nirvana songs and performances as well as previously unheard Cobain originals," according to a press release, in addition to "no-holds-barred access to Kurt Cobain’s archives, home to his never-before-seen home movies, recordings, artwork, photography, journals, demos, personal archives, family archives and songbooks."

May 4th, HBO. Start dirtying-up your flannel and bust out your women’s sunglasses.

How Apple Will Make the Wearable Market →

Ben Thompson, writing on his site, Stratechery:

There has been a bit of consternation about Apple’s focus on “fashion” and all that entails, but there is a very practical aspect to this focus: people need to be willing to actually put the wearable on their body. While “form may follow function” for tools, the priorities are the exact opposite when it comes to what we wear: function is irrelevant without a form we find appealing. In this case, design actually is how it looks.

It’s on this point specifically that most critics – including myself – have failed to appreciate Apple’s approach. After last fall’s presentation I compared the Watch’s introduction to that of the iPod, iPhone, and iPad and found it lacking for its lack of focus on functionality. What I now appreciate, though, is that this was almost certainly on purpose: there was focus in that keynote, it just happened to be on the Watch’s appearance; since I’m a geek I dismissed it, but normal consumers, especially in the case of a wearable, absolutely will not.

If you only read one Apple Watch think-piece, make it Thompson’s.

I Better Start Writing This Down and Medium →

I’ve resisted too much cross-pollination between my podcast and this blog, but with a week to go until Episode 4, I wanted to remind folks about the show’s presence on Medium. If you’re enjoying the show, I really think you’ll enjoy seeing the script. Episode 3 is right here. And while you’re at it, poke around on Medium. It’s essentially a social network for writers.

Apple Watch and Watch Band Price/Availability Matrix →

Graham Spencer, writing for MacStories:

Louie Mantia has put together a fantastic matrix that lists every Apple Watch case and every Apple Watch Band and highlights which combinations are available to purchase, including which ones you can technically achieve with an additional purchase.

Seeing it laid-out like this, while much more helpful, helps to understand, at least a little, why Apple went with the ridiculous layout that they went with. End of the day, it’s just not super easy to explain.

KitchenAid’s 2015 Stand Mixer Color →

Christine Gallery, writing for The Kitchn:

Every January I go to the Winter Fancy Food Show in my hometown of San Francisco, but this year I attended the even bigger International Home and Housewares Show in Chicago for the first time!

It's an impressive, slightly overwhelming experience to navigate enormous halls filled with kitchen and housewares, but it's fun to see the newest and shiniest goods that brands have to offer. Stopping at the KitchenAid booth is a must, especially to see the newest color(s) for the stand mixers.

Interesting choice. Very interesting choice. Timely, too. I—my wife; I mean my wife—was looking for a stand mixer to match her iPhone, and her iPad, and the new MacBook she’s going to order.

Some People Want You To Think Apple ‘Sold Its Soul’ Today →

Robinson Meyer, writing for The Atlantic:

Today’s messaging was a little different.

The company announced new laptops: They will be available in gold. It showed us an example Apple Watch user: She was Christy Turlington Burns, a supermodel who Apple’s video shows taking time off from philanthropic work in Tanzania to run a half-marathon around Kilimanjaro.

And even the less-obviously luxe marketing seemed tailored to an aloof elite: You can call an Uber with your watch now! If you forget to stand up every so often (perhaps because your trans-Pacific first-class Emirates seat is just so comfortable), your watch will remind you to walk around a little!

But these are details. Most will correctly fixate on the price of the most-expensive watch, the 18-karat-gold Apple Watch Edition. Apple hasn’t released an upper price window for these watches, but Tim Cook mentioned on-stage Monday they started at $10,000.

Ignoring the stupid hyperbole of the second and third paragraphs (yeah, Apple should be ashamed for putting Every Mother Counts on the radar screen of millions of people), I’d just like to clear up two things for the author:

1. I’ve seen almost no one talking about the price of the most-expensive watch.
2. Apple has released the “upper price window” [sic]—$17,000.

I can go on store.apple.com right now and buy an almost $12,000 computer—and that’s only purchasing Apple products. Forget about the thousands of dollars of peripherals that someone who needs that computer would almost certainly buy. One of the most popular fallacies around is that because something doesn’t work for you, it must not work for anyone.

And that’s the funny thing about that word—need. Nobody needs anything. Nobody needs an Apple Watch. Nobody needs any luxury watch. Yet, somehow, people keep buying them. And the dream that Apple’s corporate charter is somehow a twenty year-old television advertisement? Some people need to believe in that too.