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The 15th Anniversary of the iPod

Apple
Jason Tate

The iPod turned 15 over the weekend. The Verge has a cool visual history of the icon device:

And while the classic iPod design was finally retired two years ago, and the remaining members of the iPod line are less important to Apple’s strategy today than they were years ago, it’s still an integral part of history, both for the company and the larger tech industry.

So here’s a look back at some highlights in the history of the king of MP3 players, from the physically scrolling plastic wheel of the original iPod to the smooth glass and aluminum of today’s iPod Touch.

And Nobuyuki “Nobi” Hayashi found the 20 CDs that were curated by Steve Jobs to give to journalists along with the iPod to test out the device:

Steve Jobs insisted that Apple has no intention of stealing away the sales of the music industry; remember this was way before iTunes Music Store. What Apple did to keep its word is buying same number of 20 CDs sets and gave it along with the iPod prototypes to the journalists.

It has been 15 years since then, and I thought I have lost them. But recently, as I was moving to a new house, I have found that set (shrink wrapped).

Below you will find the list of those 20 CDs which was carefully selected by Steve Jobs and the original iPod team (lead by Stan Ng). Enjoy!

The Blow on the History of Female Producers

MTV
Jason Tate

Hazel Cills, writing at MTV:

While male producers and musicians like Philip Glass and Steve Reich have been written about and documented extensively, the work of female producers and early electronic musicians like Wendy Carlos, Laurie Spiegel, Delia Derbyshire, and more have essentially been ignored and undervalued by music historians. To combat the stereotype that production is solely a man’s job, The Blow created an online archive, womanproducer.com, to collect photos and clips of female producers in history. Recently, the archive has expanded into a live event series at Brooklyn’s National Sawdust, featuring performances and talks by artists like Zola Jesus, Neko Case, and more.

The Ramones Have Street Named After Them

Ramones
Jason Tate

The Ramones have had a street in NYC named after them:

A street in the band’s home neighborhood of Forest Hill, Queens, at the intersection of 67th Avenue and 110th Street, has been officially renamed Ramones Way. The sign stands in front of Forest Hills School, the alma mater of Johnny, Joey, Dee Dee, and Tommy Ramone, and was unveiled by councilwoman Karen Koslowitz this morning.

The New York Times Buys The Wirecutter

The New York Times
Jason Tate

The New York Times is buying two of my favorite websites, The Wirecutter and The Sweethome, for a reported $30 million dollars.

The Wirecutter provides recommendations for electronics and other gadgets that are both obsessively researched and simply presented. The Wirecutter also owns The Sweethome, which takes the same approach for home appliances and other gear.

Both sites make their money via affiliate links, which generate revenue when consumers click on them and make purchases via e-commerce sites like Amazon.

Donald Glover Cast as Young Lando Calrissian

Jason Tate

Donald Glover has been cast as a young Lando Calrissian in the upcoming Han Solo movie.

Lucasfilm announced today that Donald Glover, an acclaimed actor, award-winning writer, and Grammy-nominated artist, will be playing the part of Lando Calrissian in the still-untitled Han Solo Star Wars film, helmed by directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Glover will join Alden Ehrenreich — previously cast as Han Solo — in bringing two iconic Star Wars characters back to the big screen, but at a time in their lives previously unexplored.

Many Websites Go Down After DDoS Attack

Jason Tate

Quite a few websites and services (Twitter, SoundCloud, Spotify, etc.) are down today after a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack on the DNS provider Dyn occurred this morning. Gizmodo has the full list of sites and more information:

Domain Name Servers (DNS) act as the internet’s phone book. Basically, they facilitate your request to go to a certain webpage and make sure you are taken to the right place. If the DNS provider that handles requests for Twitter is down, well, good luck getting to Twitter. Some websites are coming back for some users, but it doesn’t look like the problem is fully resolved.