Haribo gummy bears have been a favorite of mine since I was a kid. Smithsonian Magazine has an article with more than you ever needed to know about the candy and the brand.

Scott Kelby, writing on Lightroom Killer Tips, has an article titled “Why I Don’t Convert My Raw Images To DNG”.

In my case, I’d mostly stopped converting raw images to DNG, after a short time of converting everything. However, I have been converting Sony images to DNG recently, mostly for the storage size benefits. I’m not worried about losing the ability to use first-party converters/editors, as I don’t use them in my workflow, but the lack of losslessly compressed raw files for Sony means that converting to DNG can be a big space saver, on the order of 20%. When you’re talking about hundreds of gigabytes, it can add up quickly, and there’s not really much of a downside from my perspective.

Why I Don’t Convert My Raw Images To DNG - Lightroom Killer Tips

Before, before we take this Genie out of the bottle, just a quick heads up: I am super excited to be one of the speakers again at the 8th Annual B&H Photo OPTIC conference (called OPTIC 2022 – It’s a conference for outdoor, wildlife, travel photography, and post-processing), and after a couple of years of doing it virtually, this year they are doing a hybrid event where it’s your choice – you can go and be there live in person as it happens at the New Yorker Hotel in Manhattan, or you can catch…

lightroomkillertips.com

Once again, Google has parodied Apple only to become a parody itself the following year.

Inevitable.

We’ve asked Google why it is dropping the headphone jack for the Pixel 6 A. But it’s possible the company wants to make a more convincing case to sell you wireless headphones — and wouldn’t you know it, Google revealed the new Pixel Buds Pro at Google I/O as well.

After roasting Apple about headphone jacks, Google quietly dumps it from Pixel 6A

The Pixel 6A doesn’t have a headphone jack.

www.theverge.com

Written by Young Justice: Phantoms showrunner Greg Weisman with art by storyboard artist Christopher Jones, Young Justice: Targets will be available in comic shops on July 26. DCUNIVERSEINFINITE subscribers will have early access to the digital first comic, as Young Justice: Targets #1 will debut on the premium digital subscription service on June 14. Plus, each issue includes a bonus story detailing previously unseen adventures from past seasons of Young Justice!

Nice to see some new Young Justice comics that are official canon with the animated series.

“Young Justice: Targets” Mini-Series Coming June 2022 From DC Comics, Artwork - The World’s Finest

DC Comics has announced a new comic series, Young Justice: Targets, based on the fan-favorite Young Justice animated series. The show is currently in its fourth season, titled Young Justice: Phantoms. The first issue of the six-issue mini-series, written by Young Justice: Phantoms showrunner Greg Weisman with art by Young Justice alum Christopher Jones, will

dcanimated.com

Jason Snell, at Six Colors:

My judgment is: It’s a good app. In redesigning 1Password, AgileBits has made it feel lighter and more modern. It feels more like a modern Mac app than the old version did.

I was one of the people who thought that making 1Password a Catalyst app was a bad idea, but they appear to have pulled it off. I agree with the article that the “Quick Access” functionality introduced in 1Password 8 is nice, as is its integration with macOS’s Accessibility.

Overall, I’d say that 1Password 8 is a good Mac app, even though it’s not what we have traditionally considered a native one.

1Password 8 for Mac: An upgrade, after all

Last summer 1Password maker AgileBits made the wrong kind of news, when it announced that it was killing its traditional Mac app and replacing it with a new one built with Electron, a development s…

sixcolors.com

Pérez’s work on The New Teen Titans is the work that stands out in my memory. The seminal run, The Judas Contract took the title to the A-list in my opinion, and is the canonical Titans story. His work on Wonder Woman and Crisis on Infinite Earths also stand out in my mind. He was among the best in the business, and I was sad to learn about his prognosis, and now, his passing. RIP.

George Pérez, Influential and Dynamic Comic Book Artist, Dead at 67

George Pérez, the influential comic book artist known for his work on ‘Wonder Woman’ and ‘The New Teen Titans,’ has died at the age of 67.

www.rollingstone.com

In addition to the new Doctor, I’m looking forward to seeing Whittaker’s finale, featuring former companions Ace and Tegan.

Ncuti Gatwa: BBC names actor as next Doctor Who star

The star of Netflix’s Sex Education will replace Jodie Whittaker in the BBC science fiction show.

www.bbc.com

This is a sobering photoessay on the crisis in Ukraine, from the indefatigable James Natchwey.

James Nachtwey, now seventy-four, is among those keeping their eyes trained on the realities. Influenced by the photography that emerged from the civil-rights movement and Vietnam, he began his career at the Boston bureau of Time and then took a job at the Albuquerque Journal. When he read about the hunger strike in Northern Ireland, in 1981, he headed for Belfast. Four decades of covering conflict ensued, bringing him to El Salvador, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Balkans, Rwanda, Chechnya, and many other places. He has been injured in the field, lost colleagues and friends; his hair was once parted by a bullet. Nachtwey calls himself an “antiwar photographer.”

The Costs of the Russian Onslaught in Ukraine

Destruction, brutality, and terrible loss in Bucha, Kharkiv, Irpin, and elsewhere.

www.newyorker.com

I got a link to this, and I’m shocked at how lazy it is. They could make a really cool grill to represent a partnership between these two brands, and instead they slapped an Airstream sticker on a regular Weber model. Lame.

The Airstream Weber Traveler® Portable Gas Grill

Grilling and Airstreaming go hand in hand. There’s nothing like firing up the grill after a day of hiking, cycling, exploring, and living the ’stream dream. That’s why we’ve teamed up again with the grillmasters at Weber to deliver the perfect portable grill solution for your Airstreaming life. The Airstream Weber Trav

airstreamsupplycompany.com

Wonderful video. Nice car, too!

I’m a fan of Young Justice and missed that it started back up, so here’s your PSA: The second half of Young Justice: Phantoms is now airing on HBO Max, after a mid-season hiatus.

‘Young Justice’ showrunners tease the climactic second half of ‘Phantoms’

Co-creators Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti tease that ‘actions have consequences’ in the second half of season 4.

ew.com

TIL that, not only does the MagSafe Battery Pack get firmware updates, but there’s a new one to upgrade it from 5w charging to 7.5w:

In order to get 7.5 W charging on the go, update your MagSafe Battery Pack to the latest firmware. The firmware update begins automatically after you attach your battery pack to your iPhone. The firmware update can take about one week.

To update the firmware using a Mac or iPad, plug one end of a Lightning to USB cable into the Lightning connector on your battery pack, and the other end into your Mac or iPad. The firmware update will take about 5 minutes.

You can check that the update is complete on your iPhone in Settings > General > About > MagSafe Battery Pack. The Firmware Version will be 2.7.

Update April 21, 2022

I tried this with my Mac, and even after leaving the pack connected to the Mac overnight, it was still not updated. I unplugged/plugged it a few times, to no avail. I tried it with the iPad, and it didn’t work the first time—this is one of those times where Apple’s tendency to make these things happen invisibly is a drag—but it did the second time, and now I have the right firmware.

Devin Nealy, writing at Boing Boing:

“Hopefully, when WB decides to banish the DCEU into the Phantom Zone, they’ll send Zack Synder with it. Maybe after that, the world will know peace.”

Amen.

However, the linked Variety article says something that indicates that they will still have their heads up their asses:

“Zaslav has pledged to find $3 billion in synergies in the newly merged company, a signal of how important cost cutting will be to Warners” new owners. Mining DC’s library of characters could help control spending as Warner Bros. Discovery owns the underlying intellectual property, insiders say.”

Yeah, that’s just what all the fans are hoping for: cost cutting and corporate synergy.

tl;dr: It used to be motor vehicle accidents; it’s now guns. Vehicles, well-regulated, have gotten safer and safer over the years, and there are ever-increasing numbers of guns and related accidents. And those are just the gun-related injuries we know about—there is less data available than there would were it not for the Dickey amendment, which limits federal spending on any form of gun control.

I missed this earlier, but am sad to find that the new redesign of the 2-Series has dropped the manual transmission. I bought the earlier M235i because I was worried that the straight-six, six-speed classic layout might go away, as it has in the other BMW models, and here we have it. The rumor is that there will be a new M2 that will have a manual option, but it does seem that the time is limited to get a manual transmission.

Aside: We were just shopping for a car for my wife, and she wanted a manual, but none of the cars that met her other criteria were offered in a manual. The closest was a Subaru Crosstrek, but it was only offered in the lower-spec models, and that’s not what she wanted. #savethemanuals

2026 BMW 2-Series Review, Pricing, and Specs

The small and nimble 2026 BMW 2-Series coupe punches above its weight.

www.caranddriver.com