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The Environmental-Progress Edition Thursday, August 18, 2016

Apple Announces Environmental Progress In China, by John Voorhees, MacStories

First, it announced that Lens Technology, which produces glass for Apple, has committed to using 100% renewable energy for all of its Apple operations by the end of 2018. [...] Second, Apple announced that all of its fourteen final assembly sites in China comply with UL’s Zero Waste to Landfill standard, which “certifies all of their manufacturing waste is reused, recycled, composted, or, when necessary, converted into energy.”

Apple’s Tim Cook Arrives In China Bearing Gifts: A New Research Center And Environmental Help, by Chris O'Brien, VentureBeat

In his five years as CEO, Cook has made Apple’s relationship with China a high priority. He was the first Apple CEO to visit, amid controversy over treatment of employees by the companies that build Apple’s gadgets. He has also expanded the number of Apple Stores in the region from 4 to 41. And he finally managed to sign a deal with China Mobile — the country’s largest carrier — that super-charged iPhone sales.

Dogfooding

With Eyesight Failing, CEO Hurries To Make Voice-enabled Tech Mainstream, by David Pierini, Cult Of Mac

When Chris Maury tried helping an elderly blind woman use voice commands on an iPad, she thanked him but said, “I just wish Siri could read me the news.”

Maury understood her frustration. He, too, was losing his vision and could foresee a struggle to remain productive using the visual interfaces common on all computing devices.

Remember When You Have To Develop Your Photos?

The Story Behind The Perfect Photo Of Olympic Pain, by David Davis, Deadspin

What does it feel like to have your lifelong dream dashed in an instant? How would you react?

Mary Decker experienced that worst-case scenario at the 1984 Summer Olympics, when America’s most talented and heralded middle-distance runner became entangled with chief rival Zola Budd midway through the 3000-meter finals, causing Decker to lose her balance and fall to the track. Injured and unable to rejoin the race, Decker’s wail echoed throughout the Los Angeles Coliseum as Budd and the other runners in the field continued toward the finish line.

Photographer David Burnett was stationed directly across from the action and squeezed off a series of pictures that that led to the worst moment of Decker’s career. He would be the first to tell you that he snapped the pictures—and THE picture—by happenstance. He was at his first Olympics, that most unwieldy of sporting events for journalists to cover, and he was not really a sports photographer.

Stuff

The Best Apps For Guitar Players, by Brian Sutich, The App Factor

One of the biggest barriers to learning guitar used to be cost. In today’s day and age, any computer or phone that can connect to the internet gives you the opportunity to learn guitar easily and on the cheap.

I wanted to share some of my most used apps for guitar practice and playing. These range from simple utilities (like a metronome) to full on backing tracks. These are the apps I go to every time I pick up a guitar to practice. Let’s dig in!

Apps That Help Take The Guesswork Out Of Grilling, by Kit Eaton, New York Times

Cooking with fire is a technique dating to our prehistoric ancestors, but today it can feel high tech with the many apps that take the guesswork out of grilling.

Parallels For Mac Has A New Version, But No Huge Reason To Upgrade, by Jon Brodkin, Ars Technica

Like clockwork, Parallels releases a new version of its desktop virtualization software for Mac computers every year. They often coincide with major new versions of the Windows and Mac operating systems, requiring major software changes to bring new Windows features to Apple computers or to make sure everything keeps working properly.

Parallels Desktop 12 for Mac is thus being announced today, but there isn't much to be excited about. While Parallels can run just about any operating system in a virtual machine, its primary purpose is letting Mac users run Windows applications. For that use case, last year's Parallels Desktop 11 release is still good enough.

Notes

Don't Try To Be Happy. We're Programmed To Be Dissatisfied, by Frank T Mcandrew, The Guardian

Perversely, such efforts to improve happiness could be a futile attempt to swim against the tide, as we may actually be programmed to be dissatisfied most of the time.

Part of the problem is that happiness isn’t just one thing.

Bottom of the Page

I'm happy to report that I've had a good 7.5 hours of sleep last night.

Hope I didn't jinx tonight.

~

Thanks for reading.