Jim Dalrymple, The Loop:

Apple on Tuesday sent out invites for an upcoming event happening in San Francisco on September 12, 2012. The invitation I received says the event will take place at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts at 10:00 am.

It is widely expected that Apple will announce its next generation iPhone at the event.

The invitation artwork is interesting. The shadowed number 5 seems to point to “iPhone 5” naming. I would have laid money on simply “iPhone.” To all waiting to upgrade, get your wallets ready.

Mike Anderson, former assistant to Lance Armstrong:

I was Lance’s personal assistant for two years, during the height of his racing career. Do I think he cheated? Yep. But my real problem is something that diehard fans seem unable to grasp: the vengeful tactics he uses against people who tell the truth about him, on and off the bike.

Anderson’s account of Armstrong is damning. If true, it confirms what we all probably know deep down is true - Lance was a cheater and did everything possible to quiet those who knew. My bet is that Armstrong isn’t fighting charges anymore because there are too many voices to silence.

Jean-Louis Gassée:

So, yes, if we stick to the basic ingredients list, Apple didn’t invent anything…not the Apple ][, nor the Macintosh, not the iPod, the iPhone, or the iPad…to say nothing of Apple Stores and App Stores. We’d seen them all before, in one fashion or another.

And yet, we can’t escape a key fact: The same chef was involved in all these creations. He didn’t write the code or design the hardware, but he was there in the kitchen — the “executive chef” in trade parlance — with a unique gift for picking ingredients and whipping up unique products.

Below are this site’s statistics following the eight month of regular publication. Past stats can be found for January, February, March, April, May, June, and July.

Most Visited Posts

• “Best Wishes, Jim” - Howard Schnellenberger
• Nike+ FuelBand Review
• How To Auto-Post On Facebook
• Blogging With Second Crack
• Sticking With Dropbox

Most Visited Linked Posts

• Logos Before They Were Famous
• Your Face On Drugs
• One More Thing
• iPad Air
• The Unibody iPhone

Visitors

• 1,045 page views (20,587 for 2012)
• 594 unique visitors (12,383 for 2012)
• 72% visits were from U.S., including all 50 States + D.C.
• Top international traffic included Germany (8%), United Kingdom (6%), and Canada (5%).

Platforms

• Macintosh (52%, down from 53%)
• Windows (41%, up from 39%)
• Linux (7%, down from 8%)

Browsers

• Chrome (35%, up from 32%)
• Safari and WebKit (30%, unchanged)
• Firefox (19%, down from 23%)
• Internet Explorer (9%, up from 8%)
• Mobile Safari (3%, down from 4%)
• Other (4%)

With a new iPhone this month, there will be plenty to talk about. Once again, I appreciate everyone who visited the site and offered feedback via Facebook, Twitter, and email.

If you have any suggestions or comments, do get in touch or feel free to follow me.

After seeing this latest offering from Samsung, Sebastiaan de With put together a collage comparing laptops before and after the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. Looks like Apple is inspiring competitors on more than just phones.

Craig Mod:

A not-so-long time ago there were no digital books. There were no Kindles or iPads. There were self-contained objects. Objects unnetworked. The only difference now is that they’re touching, they’re next to one another. The content is the same. But that small act of connection brings with it a potential sea change, change we’ll explore as we continue to platform books.

Mod provides a wonderfully extensive overview of book platforms and need for those platforms to mature.

Artist Tim Tadder on his cool photo project:

We just finished shooting a new project we call Water Wigs. The concept is simple and it is another visual exploration of something new and totally different. We found a bunch of awesome bald men and hurled water balloons at their heads, to capture the explosion of water at various intervals. The result a new head of of water hair! We used a laser and sound trigger to capture the right moments for each subject to create just the head of hair that fit best with the face.

(via: Kottke)

As we approach the start of another college football season for the Oklahoma Sooners, I thought I would share a story from my youth.

Growing up in Oklahoma, I quickly became a fan of the Sooner football team. Unfortunately, the team went through a rather mediocre stretch during my younger days. The team finished with 6 wins and 6 losses at the end of the 1994 season. Having gone 2-15-1 in his career against Texas, Nebraska, and Colorado, Coach Gary Gibbs (no relation) was forced to resign.

Before the 1995 season, the University of Oklahoma hired Howard Schnellenberger. With a national championship at Miami and a notable turnaround at Louisville, Schnellenberger arrived with great promise - declaring, “They’ll write books and make movies about my time here.”

Fast-forward to the summer of 1995. I was shopping with my mom at the now defunct Shepherd Mall in Oklahoma City. As we were walking around, I stopped dead in my tracks. “Holy crap, Mom! The new OU football coach is over there giving out free autographs!” I exclaimed. So we moved into line to meet Howard Schnellenberger and get his autograph. I don’t know if I can properly capture exactly how excited I was in meeting the coach of the state’s larger-than-life football team.

After a short while, we reached Coach and he greeted me. “Hi there, youngster.” he said in his uniquely gruff voice, “What’s your name?” Nearly forgetting, I shyly told him that my name was Jeremy. “Jerry?!?” he asked in a loud voice. “No sir, Jeremy.” I timidly replied. “Oh okay! Great!” he said handing me the signed note card, “Thanks for coming out and seeing me. Be sure and cheer us on this year. Boomer Sooner!”

I clenched that note card, not wanting to lose my new prized possession. I gushed to my mom how awesome it was meeting the coach of the Sooners. That may have been the coolest moment of my eleven-year-old life. As we walked to the car, I looked down at the autograph. Immediately, I noticed something didn’t quite look right. I read the note card once again. “Dang!” I yelled. My mom asked me what was wrong. I read her the autograph, “Best Wishes, Jim. Howard Schnellenberger. Sooners ‘95.”

The Sooners finished the 1995 season at 5-5-1 and Schnellenberger resigned under pressure following a series of controversial events. The story will hopefully bring you a chuckle and remind all Sooner fans that things can be, and were, much worse. So before jumping off any buildings following a close, unexpected defeat, just remember Howard.

Sam Byford, The Verge:

We’ve been tracking some of the rumors about what many have dubbed the ‘iPhone 5,’ but we don’t blame you if you feel a little overwhelmed — there’s a lot out there and it’s hard to know who to trust. With that in mind, we thought we’d sift through the most compelling rumors and let you know how we think Apple’s next phone will shape up.

Byford recaps rumors about the impending new iPhone, including design, display, internals, and naming. So far, everything seems pretty likely. Though, I’d love it if Apple shocked the world with something different.

Marco Arment:

This is the best computer I’ve ever used. And I can say that with no hesitation, qualification, or equivocation.

Arment later notes that he still can’t make the Retina MacBook Pro his main machine, owing to tradeoffs with portability, storage, and external displays.

The 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro isn’t the model for me (I have an 11-inch MacBook Air). For my purposes, 15 inches is too big for awesome portability, and too small as a desktop replacement. That means I would want an external display at home, thus eliminating the benefits of a Retina screen. I’ll be holding out for either a Retina external display or a Retina MacBook Air.