Andy Williams, whose soothing baritone and relaxed performing style made him one of America's top pop vocalists and a popular TV variety-show host in the 1960s when he recorded hits such as "Moon River" and "Days of Wine and Roses," has died. He was 84.

My mom is a big Andy Williams fan. She plays a Christmas DVD of his every year for what seems like a month straight. I’m sure in the recesses of my brain I know a few words to a few of his songs.

I always wanted to know why they broke up. I figure it was relationships within the group that broke down. They did end on a high note, I suppose.

The bottom line: John Gruber makes an estimated $500,000 a year from his blog Daring Fireball. But his relationship with Apple is priceless.

I enjoy John Gruber’s writing, about Apple, design, technology in general, and baseball. I’ve given up on his podcasting though.

With these simple tips and tricks, you’ll learn all the things your intelligent assistant, your remarkable camera, and your amazing iPhone 4S can do.

I know most of these tricks, but do you?

The Wanda Group, a Chinese conglomerate with extensive interests in the entertainment business, has agreed to acquire AMC Entertainment, North America’s second-largest movie theater owner, in a deal that is valued at $2.6 billion, including roughly $2 billion in assumed debt, the companies said Sunday.

A friend of mine wonders if this means the Chinese will help in curbing piracy in China. Who knows. Pirates will be pirates.

I just lowered my Netflix account to streaming only. I’ll only rent DVDs - which I don’t often do - from Redbox now.

Warner Bros.' deal with Redbox has expired with the two companies still at odds over how long consumers should wait to rent DVDs for $1.20 a night.

As a result, kiosk rental company Redbox will have to buy Warner DVDs from retailers like Wal-Mart at a higher price but will no longer make customers wait 28 days after discs go on sale to rent them, as it did under a previous agreement with the studio.

...Warner Brothers are now imposing additional stipulations for its DVD movie new releases. Starting Feb. 1, the company has decided to restrict Netflix users from adding any new DVD releases to their queue until 28 days after the DVD goes on sale in retail stores, according to an LA Times report.

We only rent a few DVDs now from Netflix. We’ll probably switch to streaming only next month. But if we were to continue, I’d find this inconvenient.

Anything can use a little redesign. It’s all about presentation.

How Hokschirr came up with idea: “I started thinking about which products I use on a daily basis, and which ones I wished had better packaging,” she tells Co.Design. “I settled on tampons when I spied an orange box decorated with swirls that was obnoxious and pastel at the same time. In my re-branding I focused on making packaging that was less whimsical, more geometric, and more elegant--packaging that I personally would like to have in my bathroom, instead of trying to find creative ways to hide.”

Paula Deen having diabetes was previously a rumor but now has turned into fact. She’s known for three years.

We can look forward to People or Us magazine running the cover story, "I'm back" usual rehab story private hell. Clearly, this has been coming for a while. She's been looking for ways to position herself. Is she really going to be selling the cure now? Or will she back off for a decent interval? I take no pleasure in it. There ain't nothing funny about Diabetes.

Yes, I expect this issue will be on newsstands soon.

If you’re a Dr. Who fan and have $250 laying around, you might consider getting a new purse - a TARDIS handbag.

All of this backstory knowledge fuels my rage. When I see Google talk about how “open” the platform is, setting it up as the foil to the “closed” (and framed as “evil”) iPhone, I want to scream and rip someone’s head off. It’s not only the most extreme example of being disingenuous that I can ever recall seeing — it’s nuclear bullshit.

Good read on MG Siegler’s tumblr page. I personally haven’t used an Android phone. But I think I would get frustrated with the lack of official updates to the phone, knowing updates could and should be available. fff

I enjoyed season one a lot. Season two was a snooze-fest. But reading this little story in Entertainment Weekly online (and the link to AICN) makes me see that season two could have been so much more. What got in the way? Money.