July 31, 2013
Taylor’s new mahogany guitars ∞
I usually go for the lighter woods, but these look nice.
PR Protip: How to handle criticism in a review ∞
Love the review, Danielle. It’s a fair assessment and completely factual. I’m truly thankful that it was you who wrote it, and wouldn’t even think of requesting you change a single letter.
The comments from the game’s supporters are definitely disheartening. It’s ok to not like a game based on an art style, and Polygon is allowed to score the game however they feel necessary. It goes through multiple levels of editing before it’s fully approved, and they’re entitled to their own, informed opinion of the game.
I urge you to please respect the Danielle’s/Polygon’s opinion and then form your own instead of trying to force your opinion on them.
Atlus PR handled some criticism of their new game like pros, admonishing their fans to dial it back after they went a bit rabid on the reviewer.
JCPenney is having credit problems ∞
Insiders speculated that CIT got skittish after getting a peek at Penney’s financials, which have been deteriorating as the department store scrambles to recover from a botched turnaround bid under former CEO Ron Johnson.
I was thinking about leading an investor buyout, but we’re waiting for the company to send us a 70% coupon first.
Via Mark Gurman
Amplified: Six Hours and It’s Dead ∞
Jim and Dan discuss the relationship between consumer and content, the Chromecast, the rumored September 6 iPhone announcement, new Nexus 7, waterproof Samsung phones, why Bob Mansfield left the Apple Executive Team, and Microsoft’s 900 million dollar Surface RT loss.
Sponsored by Shopify and Shutterstock (use code DANSENTME7 for 30% off).
Obama should veto the ITC iPhone, iPad ban
We have less than a week before an order from the International Trade Commission takes effect, banning the sale of iPhone 4 and iPad 2 in the United States. President Obama can veto the order, but he has to do so this week, before the August 5 ban begins.
The ITC is banning the Apple devices because of a patent suit brought, and won, by Samsung. Unlike federal courts that can levy hefty fines against companies that infringe patents, the ITC basically has one weapon at its disposal—bans on importation and sales.
In theory, I have no issue with products that infringe on patents being banned, but this case is different—it’s more than just a simple patent. Samsung won the case using a standards essential patent, an industry-type patent that I believe shouldn’t be recognized as the basis for a sales or importation ban.
Fortune Senior Editor, Roger Parloff, does a good job of explaining the standards essential patent:
To ensure interoperability among technological devices made by different companies, standards making bodies — like the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, or ETSI, which is the one pertinent to this particular dispute — decide to solve certain technical challenges in certain ways. While they try to use the best engineering solution available, often the competing approaches are equally good, and the final decision is a bit arbitrary.
To have one’s patented solution selected is obviously a great boon to the patent-holder — a windfall, really — since all manufacturers now have no choice but to license that rights-holder’s patent if they want their products to be interoperable within the pertinent technological ecosystem. That much is unavoidable. But once the standard is set, there’s a danger that a greedy rights holder can go on to seek a second windfall, too. Since he now has manufacturers over a barrel, he may be tempted to demand outrageous prices for licensing his SEPs, all out of proportion to what their worth would have been in the absence of their having been incorporated into an industry standard.
There should also be clear guidelines moving forward on when the President should veto an ITC exclusionary ruling. Here’s a good list from Randal Milch, executive vice president of public policy and general counsel of Verizon Communications:
When the patent holder isn’t practicing the technology itself. Courts have routinely found shutdown relief inappropriate for non-practicing entities. Patent trolls shouldn’t be permitted to exclude products from our shores.
When the patent holder has already agreed to license the patent on reasonable terms as part of standards setting. If the patent holder has previously agreed that a reasonable licensing fee is all it needs to be made whole, it shouldn’t get shutdown relief at the ITC.
When the infringing piece of the product isn’t that important to the overall product, and doesn’t drive consumer demand for the product at issue. There are more than 250,000 patents relevant to today’s smartphones. It makes no sense that exclusion could occur for infringement of the most minor patent.
There’s a lot of talk that Obama shouldn’t veto the ban because a president hasn’t stepped in to veto an ITC decision since 1987. However, it’s also important to recognize that this is the first time the ITC has issued a ban based on a standards essential patent.
Apple and Samsung will continue to argue if the other is negotiating in good faith over the patents, but that’s not an issue for the ITC when the fight includes standards essential patents. There has to be a different remedy for that.
At this point, it seems clear that President Obama has to do the right thing and veto the ban.
FileMaker discontinues Bento ∞
FileMaker, Inc. is increasing its focus on FileMaker Product Line software. Thanks to the ease of creating iPad and iPhone solutions, our customers’ use of FileMaker on iOS is growing rapidly. Our increased focus will create an even better experience for these customers.
As part of our sharpened focus, we will stop further development of the Bento consumer products.
Bad news for Bento customers. Bento’s been around since 2007.
The Wii U is the Surface of game consoles ∞
Nintendo’s Wii U console sold only 160,000 units worldwide during the past three months, with the company blaming a lack of first-party releases for the poor performance. Software sales for the system were just 1.3 million units.
It enrages me that we live in a world where Nintendo makes game consoles and Sega doesn’t.
Yes, I’m a Dreamcast fanboi for life. Sue me.
Zynga sues “Bang with Friends” ∞
The company “selected the name ‘Bang With Friends’ for its casual sex matchmaking app with Zynga’s game trademarks fully in mind,” according to the complaint. The application’s name infringes Zynga’s trademark covering games such as “Words With Friends” and “Chess With Friends,” according to the filing.
I do not think of Zynga when I see “Bang with Friends.” Case dismissed.
Engineer Kevin Churko on getting a great guitar sound ∞
Kevin has done some great guitar recordings in the past including some Ozzy records. He also talks about using the Sonnox plug-ins, which I’m a big fan of too.
July 30, 2013
MIT could have done more to help Aaron Swartz ∞
Reviewers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said on Tuesday the school could have taken steps that would have reduced pressure on Internet activist Aaron Swartz such as taking a public stand against his controversial prosecution.
It’s too bad it takes such a tragedy for people to realize that.
Microsoft sells 1.7 million Surface tablets… in 8 months
Microsoft made $853 million in revenue from the Surface and sold an estimated 1.7 million devices in eight months, according to GeekWire. That’s less than the $900 write-off the company took on the Surface two weeks ago.
Let’s put this in perspective:
- Apple sold 3 million iPads in three days last November
- Apple sold 14.6 million iPads in the last quarter
- Apple sold 57 million iPads since Microsoft began selling the Surface
Sucks to be Microsoft.
Nexus 7 did not outsell the iPad in Japan ∞
Using BCN’s bogus research, Google claimed the Nexus 7 took a higher percentage of the Japanese market than the iPad. Except BCN forgot to count one important source—it’s too good for me to ruin the surprise.
Video ads coming to Facebook ∞
Zuckerberg said last week that he’s sensitive to how users react to advertising in general. He plans to limit the amount of ads people see to about one for every 20 updates. That would comprise about 5 percent of a user’s news feed.
Why do I think people won’t like these.
Bungie founder wants to reinvent shooters for iPad ∞
These days, [Alex] Seropian is losing a lot of sleep. He founded Industrial Toys with the idea that tablets were the future of video games.
He believes your iPad is the perfect venue for shooters like Halo: the style of game his team perfected on PCs, then rebuilt for consoles. And he’s making a game he hopes will prove it.
If there’s anyone that can do it, it’s Alex Seropian.
And this is what’s wrong with Forbes ∞
“The fact is that Forbes, as a corporate communication enterprise, is now consumed by a mathematical game of just generating ‘hits,’ he writes. His base pay of $200 month worked out to less than $3 an hour for the 40 hours he spent on writing his agreed-upon four posts, Monagan says.
Clearly the writer made a mistake in this case, but the way Forbes and others do business is leading to more of this happening.
BlackBerry exec: “BlackBerry is not in trouble” ∞
BlackBerry is definitely not in trouble, not at all. The world is full of rainbows and unicorns.
Learn Eddie Van Halen’s solo for “You Really Got Me” ∞
I’m going to try this one.
Petition to make Logic Pro more accessible for blind users ∞
I don’t usually post about petitions trying to get Apple—or any company—to do something, but I can get behind this one. With all of the articles that have been published in The Loop Magazine over the last few issues on accessibility, I believe this is an important issue that should be addressed.
Samsung caught cooking the benchmark books ∞
Anand Lal Shimpi & Brian Klug for AnandTech:
What this does mean however is that you should be careful about comparing Exynos 5 Octa based Galaxy S 4s using any of the affected benchmarks to other devices and drawing conclusions based on that. This seems to be purely an optimization to produce repeatable (and high) results in CPU tests, and deliver the highest possible GPU performance benchmarks.
Oh Samsung.
July 29, 2013
Responsive navigation trends ∞
I just want the navigation on a responsive design big enough so my fingers don’t hit two or three buttons at a time.
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Apple still leads mobile profits ∞
Daniel Eran Dilger for AppleInsider:
Strategy Analytics is attempting to estimate mobile handset profit shares for both companies. While it generated a lot of coverage for its report, the numbers not only don’t reflect reality, but they were further mangled by sloppy reporting from a variety of major tech websites.
I’m shocked. It’s a great article.
An Apple lover selling his iPad ∞
A lot of people sent me this article by Steve Kovach where he sold his iPad because he no longer used it. I think some expected me to lash out or something, but I don’t have a problem with someone selling their device because it no longer fits into their lifestyle. We all use devices differently and when one of them no longer fits, it’s time to cut it loose.
From LA to San Francisco in 30 minutes on the Hyperloop ∞
Some of the world’s brightest minds have speculated that a vacuum tube is the only way to do it — but before that idea could even get off the ground, Musk said that the Hyperloop is not based on an evacuated tunnel. With that possibility ruled out, there aren’t actually that many ways of safely and economically propelling carriages at 700 mph (1126 kph). Furthermore, when you factor in Musk’s comments that the Hyperloop “can never crash,” has no need for rails, and is “immune to weather,” the architecture of the system becomes a real head-scratcher. Oh, did I mention that Musk envisions the entire system being self-powered by solar panels, and that it somehow stores energy inside the system itself, without the need for batteries?
The Hyperloop is from Tesla founder, Elon Musk. He is set to unveil the plan on August 12—I’ll be interested to see what it is.
Samsung’s waterproof S4 is not so waterproof ∞
An AT&T employee sealed up the Samsung phone, took it in the water and it leaked like a sieve. Oh, and the warranty doesn’t cover water damage.
Apple’s Mansfield no longer on Executive Team ∞
“Bob is no longer going to be on Apple’s executive team, but will remain at Apple working on special projects reporting to [CEO] Tim [Cook],” company spokesman Steve Dowling told AllThingsD. He declined any further explanation, refusing to comment on the reasons behind Mansfield’s surprising move, whether he remains Apple’s SVP of Technologies or whether the company plans to appoint a new executive to that role.
Bizarre.
Eric Clapton
This is why Eric is one of the best players ever.
July 27, 2013
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