Walt Mossberg to Retire in June

The Verge

Walt Mossberg, one of the great tech writers, will be retiring in June.

Over my career, I’ve reinvented myself numerous times. I covered the Pentagon, the State Department, and the CIA. I wrote about labor wars, trade wars, and real wars. I chronicled a nuclear plant meltdown and the defeat of communism. I co-founded a couple of media businesses.

And, in the best professional decision of my life, I converted myself into a tech columnist in 1991. As a result, I got to bear witness to a historic parade of exciting, revolutionary innovation — from slow, clumsy, ancient PCs to sleek, speedy smartphones; from CompuServe and early AOL to the mobile web, apps, and social media. My column has run weekly in a variety of places over the years, most recently on The Verge and Recode under the Vox Media umbrella, where I’ve been quite happy and have added a podcast of which I’m proud.

How We Turned 1,000 Fans Into 100,000 by Actually Giving a Shit…

The Maine

The Maine, writing on Medium:

Another invaluable thing we’ve learned along the way is to never underestimate our fans. At times, I’ve wondered if people are going to understand the message we are trying to convey with a song or a video or even something as simple as a tweet. Time after time, I have learned that this community we have created will be there for us through thick and thin. If you go back in time and listen to our first record all the way up to where we are now, it is no secret that we stretched ourselves in every direction.

Tom DeLonge on Why UFO Research Just Might Save Mankind

Tom DeLonge

Rolling Stone:

But since DeLonge parted ways with Blink-182 in 2015, his interest in extraterrestrials has become more than a hobby. “The more I got into it, the more I realized it was all real,” he tells Rolling Stone. “Then I was like, ‘OK, what am I going to do about it?'” So he started spreading the word. He began creating a multi-part, multi-platform rollout of an entirely new philosophy, one based on the theory that aliens have been visiting Earth for most of our species’ existence – and the only way for us to have a prosperous future on the planet is if we take that into account, and soon.

That sure is a headline.

Verizon Announces New Name Brand for AOL and Yahoo: Oath

The New York Times

The new digital media devision of Verizon that will include Yahoo, AOL, and The Huffington Post will be called Oath, The New York Times reports:

The brand will apply to the digital media division of Verizon after it buys Yahoo’s internet assets for $4.48 billion, a deal that is expected to close by the end of June. But do not count the legacy brands out just yet: Yahoo, AOL and The Huffington Post will continue to exist and operate with their own names — under the Oath umbrella.

Sort of a who’s who of internet companies from two decades ago. Maybe they should buy MySpace too?

Spotify Premium Users Will Get Some Albums Two Weeks Before Free Users

The Verge:

Spotify has agreed to a new licensing agreement with Universal Music Group, the companies announced today. As part of the deal, Spotify has agreed to allow new albums from Universal artists to be restricted to its premium service for up to two weeks moving forward, confirming our report from last month. Spotify will also pay slightly less to UMG in royalty fees, according to sources close to the situation.

The Mac Pro Lives

Apple

John Gruber, writing at Daring Fireball:

Apple is currently hard at work on a “completely rethought” Mac Pro, with a modular design that can accommodate high-end CPUs and big honking hot-running GPUs, and which should make it easier for Apple to update with new components on a regular basis. They’re also working on Apple-branded pro displays to go with them.

And:

Regarding iMacs, Schiller also said that new iMacs are in the works, slated for release some time this year (no specifics other than “this year”), including “configurations of iMac specifically with the pro customer in mind and acknowledging that our most popular desktop with pros is an iMac.”

Nice. I love my 5K iMac, it’s the best desktop computer I’ve ever owned. (And now we have fodder for all the tech podcasts for the next six months in anticipation, and for the six months after when the results aren’t perfectly tailored to each individual.) I’m just glad that the rumors of the Mac’s demise seem to have been greatly exaggerated.

Marco Arment’s Bluetooth Headphones Mega-Review

Marco Arment has published his mega-review of Bluetooth headphones:

My criteria for this review is what someone seeking good all-around headphones today probably wants:

  • Bluetooth
  • Closed-back for isolation, ideally with active noise cancellation (ANC)
  • Portable enough to fit in a small bag; suitable for listening at a desk, bringing on an airplane, and wearing outside
  • Definitely under $500, and ideally under $300

For everyday use I’ve been using AirPods for the past few months and absolutely love them. I listen to almost exclusively podcasts or audiobooks with them, but they’re fine for music.1 If you’re looking for where to start with Bluetooth headphones, this is a good resource.


  1. Most of the time if I’m listening to music it’s playing via speakers or I’m at my computer where I use a wired pair of headphones.

Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon Say You Shouldn’t Worry About Gutting of Internet Privacy Rules

The Verge

Jacob Kastrenakes, writing for The Verge:

Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon published blog posts this morning responding to the backlash they’ve been receiving since Congress voted to revoke a strong set of internet privacy rules that would have prevented internet providers from using or sharing their customers’ web browsing history without permission. The companies take different approaches when responding, but the takeaway from all three is that they think customers should stop worrying.

Ah, yes, trust the giant company, what could go wrong?

Smart TV Hack Embeds Attack Code Into Broadcast Signal—No Access Required

Technology

Dan Goodin, writing for Ars Technica:

The proof-of-concept exploit uses a low-cost transmitter to embed malicious commands into a rogue TV signal. That signal is then broadcast to nearby devices. It worked against two fully updated TV models made by Samsung. By exploiting two known security flaws in the Web browsers running in the background, the attack was able to gain highly privileged root access to the TVs. By revising the attack to target similar browser bugs found in other sets, the technique would likely work on a much wider range of TVs.

Twitter Ditches the Egg

Twitter

Twitter is getting rid of the egg avatar. Harry McCracken, writing at Co.Design:

Starting today, however, the egg is history. Twitter is dumping the tarnished icon for a new default profile picture–a blobby silhouette of a person’s head and shoulders, intentionally designed to represent a human without being concrete about gender, race, or any other characteristic. Everyone who’s been an egg until now, whatever their rationale, will automatically switch over.

I’m super excited to have these weird Dot candy looking silhouettes call me names.

The New Twitter @-Replies Suck

Twitter

Sarah Jeong, writing for Motherboard:

Twitter has rolled out its new @-replies to me about three or four times now, ambushing me with its unspeakable badness on the iPhone app or web Twitter. Today it rolled out for everyone and it makes me want to throw all my devices at a wall.

Thank god for Tweetbot, because this is horrible.

MLB.com Launch Personalized App Icons on iOS 10.3

Sarah Perez, writing for TechCrunch:

The MLB.com At Bat and NHL iOS applications have been updated today to take advantage of one of the new, but still under-the-radar features available in the just-launched version of Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS 10.3: personalized home screen icons. That’s right — you now can replace either of these apps’ default icon with one featuring your favorite team’s logo instead.

Clever.