It’s an echo chamber. They make a product, they market the product on Amazon.com, they sell the product to Amazon.com customers, they get a false sense of success, the customer puts the product in a drawer and never uses it, and then Amazon moves on to the next product. Finally, with the Fire Phone, customers have been pushing back. You can’t buy a phone and put it in a lonely drawer, never to use it again, like you would with a Fire Tablet. You can’t dupe your customers by selling them a shitty phone, because a phone becomes a part of its user’s identity.

It’s kind of uncanny how Amazon can be so good at retail, and so bad at consumer electronics, especially considering that both industries start off with a very similar premise: that success lies in the answer to the question, “what do people want?”

Max Rive:

Explanation: Raise your arms if you see an aurora. With those instructions, two nights went by with, well, clouds – mostly. On the third night of returning to same peaks, though, the sky not only cleared up but lit up with a spectacular auroral display. Arms went high in the air, patience and experience paid off, and the amazing featured image was captured.

Wow.

This is easily one of the most incredible pictures I’ve ever seen. I believe I just found my next iPad wallpaper.

Gorgeous time-lapse video by Yann Muncy, depicting Paris after the Sun sets:

Via Laughing Squid.

Fantastic essay by Richard J. Anderson:

Instead of success stories, I want to hear from people who failed, especially if they failed by doing the “right” thing. We have more to learn from those who lost the lottery than we do from those who won.

I’m also playing the lottery here. I like to think that every day I show up is like purchasing a new ticket and the more tickets I get, the better my chances of eventually winning. I’ve found this helps me a great deal in overcoming the uncertainty of not knowing if/when things will change.

Reeder’s iOS app, the excellent RSS reader by Silvio Rizzi, was updated today — hat tip to Federico Viticci — with support for the new iOS 8 Share Sheets, as well as support for the larger displays of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, among other features.

The way the iOS 8 Share Sheets work is by integrating with the new iOS 8 Extensions, which are services that 3rd-party apps can now offer to the OS, so that they become available to other apps. The way this works in practice is very simple: if you have Instapaper installed on your iOS device, for example, then you can use the Instapaper Extension to save articles from any other iOS app that supports the new Share Sheets.

Extensions are a great way to augment the capabilities of 3rd-party apps, and they were also meant to reduce redundancy. In many cases, this works very well: instead of having every 3rd-party developer implement 1Password integration in their apps, for instance, they can now use 1Password’s officially supported iOS 8 Extension. This saves every developer time and effort, and results in a better user experience, because the 1Password Extension is maintained by the developers of 1Password itself, and is therefore expected to work reliably and securely.

Previously, it was up to 3rd-party developers to implement individual in-app integration with each 3rd-party service they wanted to support in their apps. Reeder, for example, has long had built-in integration with several popular read-later services, such as Instapaper itself.

With Reeder’s iOS 8 update, this means Reeder users now have two different ways to send an article to Instapaper: they can use the app’s built-in Instapaper integration, or they can use the Instapaper Extension via the Share Sheet. This looks redundant, but there’s a catch.

In order to use the Instapaper Extension, the Instapaper app must be installed on the device. But what happens if you don’t want to have Instapaper on that particular device? What if, for instance, you browse through your RSS feeds on your iPhone but only read articles on your iPad? In order to do that using Extensions, you’d need to have Instapaper installed on both devices. Using Reeder’s built-in Instapaper integration, however, you’d only need to have it installed on the iPad, which is where you’re actually going to use it.

This is a perfectly reasonable use case, by the way. Users shouldn’t be required to install apps they don’t plan to use on an iOS device for the sole purpose of accessing their Extensions. With iOS devices becoming more and more storage-constrained at the low end, being selective about the apps you install is more important than ever.

iOS 8’s Extensions are the way iOS apps are expected to communicate with each other going forward, and all 3rd-party developers should support them. However, developers shouldn’t assume that Extensions will solve all of their needs, and as convenient as they are for certain use cases, they should not be seen as a complete replacement for in-app integration of 3rd-party services.

Aah, Glenmorangie. I’d been warned by those in the know that this would be a highlight of my journey; the first one I was likely to really enjoy. Boy, were they right. This is the first time I’ve caught myself refilling the glass with anticipation, and letting my mind wander off to some ridiculously enthralling fantasies as I drank. A very interesting single malt indeed, but let’s start at the beginning, shall we?

The Glenmorangie distillery

The Glenmorangie distillery was founded in 1843, when William Matheson bought the Morangie farm in Tain and converted its brewery into a distillery, renaming it Glenmorangie.

Photo credit: Ian Garrod

Glenmorangie is a Highland distillery, and boasts the tallest copper stills in all of Scotland. They use water from the Tarlogie Springs, which are the reason the Morangie farm was there in the first place. In order to guarantee the necessary water supply, Glenmorangie bought approximately 600 acres (2.4 km²) of land around the springs during the 1980’s, when the area started to develop and competition became more likely.

Photo credit: Olivier Carles

Since its origins, the distillation process used by Glenmorangie requires a staff of 16, known as The 16 Men of Tain, who learn the craft of distillation via hands-on experience and then personally pass on their knowledge to their successors. They work year-round with the only exception of Christmas and periods of maintenance.

Glemorangie Ten Year Old - The Original

According to their official website, Glenmorangie currently produces 15 different single malt whiskies. That’s pretty impressive and I’m sure there’s a variant in there to suit most anyone’s preferences. Their core product, however, is The Original, a ten year old single malt whisky, matured in ex-bourbon oak casks and which they describe as “soft, mellow and creamy”, as well as “perfect for enjoying at any time”. I’m usually pretty skeptical of claims made in marketing product pages but I have to say, they really nailed this one.

Knowing how to market and sell a good product is arguably as important as the product itself and here, Glenmorangie excels. Approximately ten years ago, they redesigned all of their products in an attempt to gain international recognition as a luxury brand, albeit still clearly aimed at the mass market. As a result, they now boast some really impressive designs across their product range that start with the elegant curves of the bottles and go all the way to the packaging and presentation. In the case of The Original, the design is garnished with several nice touches, such as the engraving on the cork which reads 1843, the year of the distillery’s foundation.

The Original is a light-colored single malt. I would say it’s between 0.2 (pale staw) and 0.3 (pale gold) on the Whisky Magazine color chart. Now, Glenmorangie uses caramel coloring in their whiskies, albeit “only for standardization”, according to their Head of Distilling and Whisky Creation, Bill Lumsden. Sadly, that means there’s not much we can say about this whisky by its color alone.

The nose

Here’s when things start getting interesting. My first reaction to The Original was of equal parts surprise and incredulity. I was expecting something along the lines of my previous single malt, Glenfiddich 12, where the first nosing is a bit harsh — although by no means unpleasant. Instead, I got a wonderful wave of spicy and oaky scents, with no traces of peat and no burn whatsoever. And that was even before adding a bit of water to open it up even more. As I got more acquainted with it, I slowly started to find hints of vanilla, followed by more oak and perhaps a bit of toffee. It’s certainly one I could spend hours inspecting without ever getting bored.

There’s one thing though, I’m not quite seeing: both Master of Malt and All Things Whisky describe this one as fruity, but I’m not really finding lemons or peaches anywhere here. Of course, my nosing abilities still have a long way to go, so take this with the customary football-sized grain of salt. As a novice though, I’m quite fond of The Original already, and I’m sure I’ll continue to enjoy it for a very long time.

The palate

Vanilla clearly dominates, but not overwhelmingly so. It’s like a pleasant landscape that sets the tone for the individual flavors to follow. Toffee is more apparent here than in the nose, and melds with the vanilla in a very harmonious way. I almost sense the fruit here, with some notes of peach in the back of my mouth. Or perhaps I’m just conditioning myself. In any case, it’s subtle and well-balanced. Very interesting, indeed.

The Original is smooth, creamy and full-bodied, with almost no bite, particularly compared to the Glenfiddich 12. I could drink this one straight out of the bottle, but adding a splash of water makes it even better.

The finish

There’s a discrepancy between Master of Malt and All Things Whisky when it comes to the finish of The Original. Curt, from All Things Whisky, criticizes it for being a tad too short, saying that “it doesn’t linger as long as I would hope for”, while Master of Malt rates it as “quite long”. I’m leaning more towards Curt’s opinion here. The finish seems a bit shorter than that of Glenfiddich 12, and I did notice I was sipping more frequently to maintain the taste — not that that’s a bad thing.

Perfect for

The Original is a sweet, mellow single malt that is best enjoyed while relaxing and pondering the ways of the world. At the end of a hard day, what could be better than pouring yourself a nice glass and kicking back in a comfortable chair listening to some Coltrane?

Why, having two, of course.

Indeed, as good as The Original is when you’re by yourself, when it really shines — as most good things in life — is when you’re in good company. So find yourself a close friend, uncork the bottle and get ready to forget about the rest of the world for a while. Trust me, you’ll be on your third dram before you know it.

Conveniently — and there’s something to be said here for Glenmorangie’s marketing prowess — The Original comes in a set with two nice tumbler glasses decorated with the Glenmorangie logo. It’s a really nice set, a perfect gift for the whisky aficionado.

Final words

This bottle of Glenmorangie The Original found its way into my liquor cabinet by pure chance. It was left behind — unopened and glasses included — by a friend at another friend’s house, and I happily rescued it a couple months later. By the way, thanks for sponsoring this tasting, Olivia!

Having a well-maintained liquor cabinet has always been an interest of mine, and these days the competition for the two whisky slots in it is fierce. After just a few drams, though, I think The Original has already earned its place, at least until something better replaces it. I’m really looking forward to revisiting it in a few weeks and seeing how my appreciation of it holds up.

Glenmorangie has been the best-selling single malt in Scotland almost every year since 1983. I can’t really think of a higher compliment than that. Apparently, these Scots really know their whisky. If they love Glenmorangie, who am I to argue?

Daniel Schaefer has a great article on the differences between the three main classes of lenses: Scene, Subject and Detail. He outlines their strengths and weaknesses, and provides some beautiful examples of each. I particularly like his conclusion:

The beauty of the tools we use as photographers is the range that they offer, and the way that we can take advantage of our equipment working both in and outside of the box. For every example I’ve put above, there will always be artists who use their gear in ways far beyond the traditional, making work that contradicts what has come before it, keeping the artistry of our craft fresh and alive.

In the end, no matter the glass, camera, film or file, photography will always be about the final image.

Exactly.

Fascinating book by photographer Doug Menuez:

Doug Menuez was invited by Steve Jobs and other leading innovators of the Digital Revolution to record their stories of struggle, failure, sacrifice and success. From 1985-2000 he photographed the people who created more jobs and wealth than at any time in human history. Now he’s sharing his rare photos and eyewitness stories through the FEARLESS GENIUS project.

The book looks amazing. It’s available on Amazon, but if you’d like to take a peek, Menuez has been sharing excerpts from the book as amazing galleries in Storehouse.

Sounds like a nice upgrade, with a few caveats:

The Kindle Voyage is a premium reader at a premium price, targeting people who love their Kindles so much that they won’t hesitate to spend $200 for the best Kindle they can buy. It’s a smart decision, I think, and the Voyage is an excellent product.

That all said, I have to admit that of all the Kindle upgrades I’ve done over the years, this one felt the least significant. The screen is better, but the Paperwhite screen was already quite good. It’s good to have buttons again, but the accidental touches I make on the screen adjacent to the buttons somewhat reduce my enthusiasm for that feature. The typography is unchanged and mediocre.

Shawn Blanc and the rest of the Tools & Toys team have put together an excellent selection of articles for the Tools & Toys Christmas Catalog. This is holiday shopping at its best:

We at Tools & Toys don’t believe we should buy stuff just for the sake of buying stuff. We believe gift-giving should genuinely benefit the recipient and increase the quality of their life. One way to do this is to give carefully-considered, quality items. We have done our best to make sure everything in our Tools & Toys Gift Guide meets that standard.

I personally own several of the items in the catalog, and I can totally vouch for their quality. Really, really great stuff. Besides, they will be donating 10% of all affiliate earnings for the next two months to St. Jude Children’s Hospital, Operation Christmas Child and App Camp for Girls:

At Tools & Toys we have always donated 10% of our gross income to charity. If you click this link before you do your shopping on Amazon, we’ll be donating 10% of our affiliate earnings for the months of November and December specifically to these three charities.

That’s a really classy move. If you were on the fence about any of those items, think no more.