The wrong specs

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Ben Brooks talking about an article written by Tim Moynihan:

I don’t give a damn about this camera, but I think it offers an interesting glimpse at the market. That is: consumers are looking at the wrong specs. Traditionally in this segment it was all about megapixels, but now it seems to be all about: optical zoom and Wi-Fi. Both are horrible features to care about, let alone to base a decision on.

Ben’s right. Consumers tend to focus on specs far too often when making a decision, but when you focus on the wrong specs, you can’t possibly make an informed choice. Things like Wi-Fi are just part of what you expect to be there — those are features you say “oh, and it has Wi-Fi, right?” when you are ready to buy. That’s after you’ve already investigated all of the important things.

Some more products for Samsung Galaxy Note users

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Since Samsung decided to go retro and include a stylus with its newest products, I thought I’d be nice and hunt down a few other products Galaxy Note users may be interested in. […]

Final Cut Pro X named PCMag’s Editor’s Choice

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PCMag:

Apple has built a completely new, faster, cleaner, and more intuitive digital video editing package. While some professionals are still kicking and screaming about the changes it brings, we predict they’ll eventually be won over by Final Cut Pro X’s significant speed and usability advances. Meanwhile, prosumer video enthusiasts get a less daunting upgrade path to a pro-level Mac editor.

FCPX has come a long way.

[Via AI]

Picture: Galaxy Note next to iPhone 4S

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Samsung includes a stylus with its newest smartphones, what’s it going to include with this beast, a wagon to carry it in?

Thanks to @abdophoto for sending the photo of Leo Laporte holding the devices.

Apple had the best Super Bowl ad of all

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Jim Cramer talking about how all of the football players pulled out their iPhones to capture the moments at the end of the game.

But what matters to me is that when everyone else is paying $3 million per commercial, Apple paid nothing and easily had the best ad of all.

[Via DF]

Apple claimed 80% of mobile profit in Q4

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BGR:

Impressive data points from Apple’s record-setting holiday quarter continue to trickle out, and new estimates suggest that the company accounted for a staggering share of mobile profits in the fourth quarter of 2011. Morgan Keegan analyst Tavis McCourt wrote in a research note on Tuesday that Apple took in approximately 50% of all mobile industry revenues last quarter. Even more impressive, the analyst says Apple’s high-margin iPhone lineup accounted for more than 80% of all mobile phone profits. Read on for more.

How can this be if Android is winning?

High-DPI resources in OS X

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John Gruber:

Have you noticed that Safari’s hovering-over-a-link pointing-finger cursor looks a little different in Mac OS X 10.7.3? It’s not just that the finger is at a slightly different angle — it’s a new UI resource that scales gracefully to larger sizes.

He’s right, I hadn’t noticed.

Apple is the top selling smartphone maker

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NPD’s smartphone report:

Apple leaped past Samsung and LG to become the best-selling U.S. handset brand in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2011. In a quarter that featured the launch of the iPhone 4S and the addition of Sprint, Apple’s three available models combined to capture 43 percent of the U.S. smartphone market in Q4.

[…]

Apple doesn’t need to advertise during the Super Bowl

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John Gruber responding to a misguided article by Lance Ulanoff:

Apple doesn’t need to pay for Super Bowl ads to get high-profile attention for major announcements.

Why is it that the PC-focused press continues to pretend they know Apple? Ulanoff’s comments show he doesn’t understand how Apple works and perhaps never will.

Apple doesn’t do what other companies do. They don’t have to.

Apple could partner with cable companies for iTV content, says analyst

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Neil Hughes:

By potentially partnering with carriers and cable operators, Apple could enter the market on a level playing field with everyone else for content. With access to a variety of content through existing providers, as well as the content already available on the iTunes Store, Misek believes that Apple could package everything with a “superior user interface and ecosystem” and beat out the competition.

There are a lot of variables to consider, but many have hoped that Apple could bring some type of subscription service to Apple TV.

Best Buy leaks Apple iTV details

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BGR:

42-inch 1080 LED display; Runs iOS; App Store functionality; iCloud for access to all your music, TV shows, movies, photos, and videos; iPhone and iPad as a remote control with AirPlay to push content from your devices to the TV; Built-in FaceTime camera and microphone (we’d imagine Siri, as well); Netflix, YouTube, Flickr support; and $1,499 price.

I have a hard time buying this, unless Apple is a lot further along than we thought it was.

SlotZ Racer for iPhone and iPad [Sponsor]

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Strange Flavour are back with a new spin on their hit slot car racing game SlotZ Racer!SlotZ Racer Caterham Special is a free special version of the game for fans of Caterham’s legendary sports cars. Compete in single races or in four Caterham championships in one of five versions of the Caterham Seven car, varying from the Caterham 7 Roadsport to the Caterham 7 R500 Superlight.

Twitter harder to resist than cigarettes and alcohol

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The Guardian:

Tweeting or checking emails may be harder to resist than cigarettes and alcohol, according to researchers who tried to measure how well people could resist their desires.They even claim that while sleep and sex may be stronger urges, people are more likely to give in to longings or cravings to use social and other media.

Priorities people.

Jobs: Make the ‘first phone that people would fall in love with’

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Former Apple employee Bob Borchers:

“What’s interesting is that the challenge Steve laid out for us when we created the iPhone wasn’t to make a touch-screen device that would play apps and do all of this stuff,” Borchers told students. “His [charge] was simple. He wanted to create the first phone that people would fall in love with. That’s what he told us.”

And that is why Apple is so successful.