Shawn Blanc

Ahhhhh.

Seth Godin:

Trying to please everyone will water down your efforts, frustrate your forward motion and ultimately fail.

The balancing act is to work to please precisely the right people, and just enough of them, to get your best work out the door.

Rene Ritchie:

iMore has learned that Apple is planning to debut the new iPhone at a special event on Wednesday, September 12, 2012, with the release date to follow 9 days later on Friday, September 21. This information comes from sources who have proven accurate in the past.

The iPad mini will be announced at the same September 12 event, as will the new iPod nano.

And this is what folks think the next iPhone might look like.

My thanks to The Theme Foundry for sponsoring the RSS feed this week. Their new WordPress theme, Avid, is really classy. It makes me want to start a photography weblog full of Noah pictures.

The Theme Foundry has been building handcrafted premium WordPress themes since 2008. Earlier this month they released Avid — a responsive, retina-optimized WordPress theme for photographers. Visit the live demo of Avid to see it in action or purchase it now for $68.

Sponsorship by The Syndicate

The final carrying of the Olympic torch with the passing of the flame from one generation to the next, and the lighting of the Cauldron which was composed of all the brass leaves from each country was so moving.

So long as we’re on the topic of the Olympics, Shaun White’s final run from the Vancouver 2010 winter games is one of my favorite moments in Olympic history. He already had the gold medal secured for the men’s half-pipe, so for his 2nd and final run he could do whatever he wanted. And he did. Busting out the Double McTwist 1260 at the end. So electric.

If you want to browse the live schedule of events from your iPhone this app seems to be the best way.

There are several websites out there with the live schedule, including the official London 2012 site (which has a mobile-friendly design). But even that site is not as easy to use as the Live Extra iOS App.

And for watching the live streams from your iPad, this app is, again, the best bet. (Note that in order to watch the live streams you’ll have to sign in with the username and password associated with your TV service provider.)

They’re estimating that 4,800,000,000 people will be tuning in to watch the Olympics. Amazing. Well, if you want to watch the London Olympics live from your computer, this is the website for it. And how convenient is it that Mountain Lion shipped just two days ago and you can now AirPlay your computer to your Apple TV? Boom.

Also, NPR has some more info about what to expect from the live stream:

NBC’s streaming video runs the gamut from unvarnished (and unhosted) feeds of competitions to fully produced coverage. So don’t freak out if there’s no sound. In fact, it might be a delightful break from chatty commentators.

Alan Taylor’s In Focus photoblog:

Today marks the end of the 70-day Olympic Torch relay through the United Kingdom, leading to the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London. Since arriving in Cornwall on May 18, the flame has been carried through villages and cities, across lakes and mountain ranges, on foot, by train, on horseback, and through the air, from Cornwall to central London. The torch has passed through the hands of more than 8,000 torchbearers on its 8,000 mile (12,800 km) journey.

Also, Taylor posted photos about a month ago from the first half of the Torch Relay.

Built specifically for the London Olympics, the Aquatic Centre construction began in July 2008 and finished in July 2011:

It forms part of the gateway to the Olympic Park — more than two-thirds of spectators will enter the Park at the south-east corner via a bridge that forms part of the venue’s roof.

And, of course, someone built a sweet Lego version of the Aquatic Centre’s diving pool.

And so long as we’re on the subject of Oliver Reichenstein, he has a great article on Mountain Lion and the iCloud file system.

Stacey Higginbotham writing on why the pricing of Google’s internet and TV services are so low. Spoiler: it’s not because the service is a loss leader.