Despite Q2 sales dip, Apple's Macs, iPad and iPhone continue to outperform the industry

Despite Q2 sales dip, Apple's Macs, iPad and iPhone continue to outperform the industry: "Over the past quarter, reports from all over have been belaboring the idea that Apple is on the edge of crisis because its iPhone sales—which represent the majority of its business—declined year-over-year and because China—its brightest growth territory—similarly turned in disappointing sales numbers across the board."

Three percent of a big number is still a big number.

Who Will Debunk The Debunkers? | FiveThirtyEight

Who Will Debunk The Debunkers? | FiveThirtyEight: "In 2012, network scientist and data theorist Samuel Arbesman published a disturbing thesis: What we think of as established knowledge decays over time. According to his book ‘The Half-Life of Facts,’ certain kinds of propositions that may seem bulletproof today will be forgotten by next Tuesday; one’s reality can end up out of date. Take, for example, the story of Popeye and his spinach."

Nothing succeeds like bad science. The PR industry has known that for at least 75 years.

After three weeks in China, it's clear Beijing is Silicon Valley's only true competitor - Recode

After three weeks in China, it's clear Beijing is Silicon Valley's only true competitor - Recode: "Beijing will be the only true competitor to Silicon Valley in the next 10 years."

Bye-bye god complex. And "Ethics? What does that mean?"

Uber drivers waiting in villages near Heathrow cause 'huge distress' | Technology | The Guardian

Uber drivers waiting in villages near Heathrow cause 'huge distress' | Technology | The Guardian: "Instead, Heathrow has announced it is planning to build a waiting area capable of holding about 800 private hire vehicles on the airport’s northern perimeter road."

As the world turns.

Lower MacBook sales push Apple down to sixth place in laptop marketshare

Lower MacBook sales push Apple down to sixth place in laptop marketshare: "A drop in MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air shipments year-over-year likewise resulted in Apple losing share in the world's declining laptop market, according to March-quarter research data."

Maybe it's time to rethink that strategy of making jewelry and go back to making computers. I like that new rose gold model, it'll make a great gift for a Silicon Valley trophy wife. That's a market of at least 100. Hmmm, add the oligopolists. Now we're up to 500. Let's call it a Facebook appliance and be done with it.

Star pupil finds lost Mayan city by studying ancient charts of the night sky from his bedroom

Star pupil finds lost Mayan city by studying ancient charts of the night sky from his bedroom: "‘I was really surprised and excited when I realised that the most brilliant stars of the constellations matched the largest Maya cities,’ he told the Journal de Montréal."

A more interesting question is how a "primitive culture" could lay out geometrically precise arrangements of buildings (mapping star positions) across uneven terrain. Maybe they had help with an aerial view.

Amazon makes jump into self-published videos with Amazon Video Direct

Amazon makes jump into self-published videos with Amazon Video Direct: "Some of the partners already enrolled in Video Direct include Conde Nast, HowStuffWorks, The Guardian, Mattel, Machinima, Samuel Goldwyn Films, and Journeyman Pictures."

The advantage that YouTube has is that it's everywhere. Prime Video isn't even in Canada.

Apple remains no. 1 PC maker, despite falling Mac sales

Apple remains no. 1 PC maker, despite falling Mac sales: "Apple has once again been named the No. 1 seller of PCs, based on shipments of just over 14 million units in the first three months of 2016."

If only there weren't so many vendors.

Atom Text Editor, Hackable and Portable

Atom: " Atom is a text editor that's modern, approachable, yet hackable to the core—a tool you can customize to do anything but also use productively without ever touching a config file."

The intro video is hilarious.