Horween Leather for Your Brand New iPhone 7 / 7 Plus →

If you haven't already gotten the e-mail or checked it out, Nomad (one of my favorite anything Apple accessories purveyor) just announced an update to their Horween Leather Case. Now available for pre-order and shipping on October 31, it's by far one of the most beautiful and handcrafted cases I've been privy to own, and to tell you the truth, I'm probably on the train for this one too! =) Get yours for $39.95 for the iPhone 7 or $44.95 for the iPhone 7 Plus.

sidenote: one differentiator I can see consumers having is that the new Apple iPhone 7 Leather Case showcases "machined aluminum buttons that match the finish of your iPhone case." If you want to pay for it, Apple's variation on the leather case will cost you exactly $5 more than Nomad's offerings but it's not Horween, it's "European" but I say, to each his own.

Horween Leather offers an unparalleled blend of quality, consistency, responsiveness, and innovation. Through the years, we have cultivated our experience to offer dynamic lines of leathers. Our products include traditional, old world tannages and techniques, carefully updated with modern applications. Today, our leathers are still made by hand, the same way as generations ago.

Beautiful! 

Apple iPhone 7 Benchmarks vs Android

This iPhone 7 Single Core Geekbench testings shows an amazing lead compared to rest. Even dating back to the previous model at one year old, the Apple's Single Core optimization beats the rest. But when it comes to Multi-Core, Samsung does indeed come very close.

Device                    Single Core           Multi-Core
iPhone 7 / 7 Plus         3285 / 3211           5285 / 5191
iPhone SE                    2409                 4051
iPhone 6s / 6s Plus       2375 / 2400           3991 / 4027
Samsung Galaxy S7            1806                 5228
Samsung Galaxy Note 7        1786                 5213
Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge       1744                 5203
Huawei P9                    1729                 4735
OnePlus 3                    1698                 4015
LG G5                        1658                 3745
iPhone 6 / 6 Plus            1463 / 1471        2457 / 2470

One VERY interesting feat is the fact that today's iPhone 7 / 7 Plus beats out the MacBook Pro 15" (Late 2011) and even the Mac Pro (Late 2013) in single core benchmarks. Intel better be watching. As The Verge clearly put it,

Now, before you accuse me of being high on my own metaphorical supply, I’m not saying that Intel will be crippled or surpassed anytime soon. But I am arguing that the chip giant is under a substantial threat, the likes of which it hasn’t faced for a long time, maybe ever. A quick look at the Geekbench scores attained by the iPhone 7 quantifies a staggering achievement: the single-core performance of Apple’s latest generation of smartphone processors has basically caught up with Intel’s laptops CPUs. The A10 chip inside the iPhone 7 comfortably outpaces its predecessors and Android rivals, and even outdoes a wide catalog of relatively recent Mac computers (including the not-so-recent Mac Pro). The iPhone’s notoriously hard to benchmark against anything else and this is just one metric, but it’s illustrative of Apple’s accelerating momentum and mobile focus.Now, before you accuse me of being high on my own metaphorical supply, I’m not saying that Intel will be crippled or surpassed anytime soon. But I am arguing that the chip giant is under a substantial threat, the likes of which it hasn’t faced for a long time, maybe ever. A quick look at the Geekbench scores attained by the iPhone 7 quantifies a staggering achievement: the single-core performance of Apple’s latest generation of smartphone processors has basically caught up with Intel’s laptops CPUs. The A10 chip inside the iPhone 7 comfortably outpaces its predecessors and Android rivals, and even outdoes a wide catalog of relatively recent Mac computers (including the not-so-recent Mac Pro). The iPhone’s notoriously hard to benchmark against anything else and this is just one metric, but it’s illustrative of Apple’s accelerating momentum and mobile focus.

This is one POWERFUL A10 Fusion chip and Apple I'm sure is proud. Congrats on the optimizations!

Failure to Recognize →

Apple has squandered its once-commanding lead in hardware and software design. Though the new iPhones include several new features, including water resistance and upgraded cameras, they look pretty much the same as the old ones. The new Apple Watch does too. And as competitors have borrowed and even begun to surpass Apple’s best designs, what was iconic about the company’s phones, computers, tablets and other products has come to seem generic.

It's a generic now standard that Apple has created! No matter what Apple puts out, they are going to be haters because they haven't 1) advanced as much in hardware or software or 2) changed a standard currently widely adopted alienating a large chunk of their user base.

What Mr. Manjoo fails to accept is that no other company goes into their manufacturing details and design process as much as Apple does. It goes without saying, it's all deliberate. In describing the the creation of the new Jet Black iPhone 7, we are shown the process was indeed different from the previous iPhone 6/6s production and that the new Apple Watch series 2 development was put through the ringer in creating a truly water resistant and swimming pool compatible design able to withstand 50m.

Did you even check out the speaker ejecting water? That's pretty ridiculous if you ask me. I don't think Samsung, LG or even HTC put that much care and love for design into ANY of their products. Slow and steady.

Evolution of Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria

Not cool. Not cool at all.

iPhone 7 and Apple AirPods

Jet Black or Rose Gold iPhone 7 in 128GB and maybe some AirPods... pre-ordering begins tomorrow night / Friday morning at 12:01AM. What are you upgrading to? 

Completely redone camera now both with Optical Image Stabilization and a f-stop of 1.8 down from 2.2. That along is pretty remarkable. As they say, "the best camera is the one you have in your pocket." Although, this might be the first time where I'm not necessarily all about get the Plus size model. Thoughts? 

28:50 from NYC to LAX →

I remember reading about this feat a few years back and here's a quick rundown by Bleacher Report of the details of how this group of three did the Canonball Run in just under 29 hours. Amazing and they did it in my one my favorite cars; the Mercedes CL55AMG.

My Monday Jam →

After listening and watching to literally over 20 different iterations of "Let Me Love You," the way that Alex Goot, Against the Current and Kurt Hugo Schneider arranged the latest Justin Bieber / DJ Snake song is just awesome music! Loved the video and song so much that I even bought it on iTunes for only $1.29! Well worth it. Wish I could download the video too.

That note that Chrissy Constanza dips on the middle "Na Na Na" just hits so good. So so good.

Bottom Line: It's Still Slower

For example, XDA shows that the Note 7 launches Chrome in 0.493 seconds versus the HTC 10’s nippy 0.298 seconds. I’ve sat here and dutifully done that test myself a dozen times, throwing in the OnePlus 3 as well. How noticeable is the difference? It isn’t. On some occasions I see the Note 7 launching faster, anyway. Same goes for the Google Play Store, Gmail, Hangouts, and every other shared app that I have across my Android devices. Everything launches and operates at roughly equivalent speed across the HTC 10, Note 7, and OnePlus 3.

I don't know why The Verge really cares that their initial praise piece is getting hit on that much since, it [Samsung Note 7] is slower. Any could argue, don't pay attention to the benchmarks and you'll be fine, but I bet if it had been faster, they would have been singing a different tune.

Does Your iPhone 6/6 Plus Exhibit 'Touch Disease' →

Turns out, Jessa’s not alone. Lots of repair pros are experiencing the same influx of faulty iPhones—most with flickering gray bars and all with glitchy touch functionality. Rami Odeh, a repair tech from New Orleans, sees up to 100 iPhone 6 and 6 Pluses a month that don’t respond well to touch. About half of the repairs sent to Michael Huie—the specialist behind Microsoldering.com—show symptoms of the same problem.

Of course, there’s no way to tell exactly how many phones are afflicted with what we’re calling Touch Disease, but every repair tech we spoke to told us that the problem is incredibly common.

“This issue is widespread enough that I feel like almost every iPhone 6/6+ has a touch of it (no pun intended) and are like ticking bombs just waiting to act up,” says Jason Villmer, owner of STS Telecom—a board repair shop in Missouri. He sees phones like this several times a week.

It's just a matter of time, that Apple will address it as a full recall. This news comes just in time as my wife's iPhone 6 Plus is nearing the end of her Apple Care. Time to bring it in.

The Nomad Bus Hostel

Almost 2 years ago I heard about this Belgian couple who had imported an american school bus from the USA to Belgium and planned on converting it into a pow and wave chasing hostel on wheels.

Wait? What?!

Follow photographer / media journalist Chris Eyre-Walker on his awesome adventure on the Nomad Bus. Pretty amazing story of a converted American Yellow School Bus wandering throughout Europe.

Keeping the Faith →

What Apple has accomplished with Maps is an example of the kind of grind-it-out innovation that’s happening all the time at the company. You don’t hear a lot about it, perhaps because it doesn’t support the enthralling myth that innovation comes in blinding flashes that lead to hitherto unimaginable products. When critics ding Apple for its failure to introduce "breakthrough" devices and services, they are missing three key facts about technology: First, that breakthrough moments are unpredictable outcomes of ongoing, incremental innovation; second, that ongoing, behind-the-scenes innovation brings significant benefits, even if it fails to create singular disruptions; and, third, that new technologies only connect broadly when a mainstream audience is ready and has a compelling need. "The world thinks we delivered [a breakthrough] every year while Steve was here," says Cue. "Those products were developed over a long period of time."

Keep the faith. I know it's hard, but when it's ready, you'll know and once again, be in awe.

Robbing Home Runs

If you ask me about the most memorable play I ever made, it’s probably going back-to-back home runs. But my best play? That happened at the 415-foot mark, just below the Tiger Stadium overhang. If I close my eyes, I can still feel the ball rolling back into my palm.

Still one of my favorite players. What a beautiful article and medium that The Players' Tribune has become.

Pokemon Go Conspiracy →

It’s hard to imagine what the government really thinks of Pokémon Go and there’s little indication the app is actually an organized plot to turn users into surveillance drones, ready-to-be-deployed as a zombie swarm.

Even the location profile from the app seems rather useless, given that people are exploring areas and walkways that they would otherwise ignore. If the app is directing the user, how much does the data really tell us about the user? Not much.

Seriously though. Just go outside and try it out. I've seen people all around the country playing this game and a lot of friends going out on field trips. It's definitely stimulated a different kind of gaming.