In a rare product endorsement, Rowling proclaimed, “The MacBook Air changed my life.” She added, “I’ve written everywhere, including some very strange places.”
When’s the last time you heard anyone say, “That piece of shit Windows PC changed my life”?
The company reported third quarter net income on a GAAP basis of $597 million, or $0.45 per diluted share, and non-GAAP net income of $718 million, or $0.55 per diluted share. GAAP and non-GAAP net income were up 22% and 14%, respectively, year over year due primarily to strong top-line growth, said the company.
Great results from eBay. Congrats.
Samsung in August “confirmed that an update should be headed to your device here ‘very soon’ containing none other than Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.”
Today Samsung said it “continues its commitment to bringing the latest innovation to market with the rollout of Android 4.1, Jelly Bean, the latest version of the world’s most popular smartphone operating system, to all Galaxy S III smartphones in the U.S. in the coming months.”
So Android’s top selling device still isn’t using its latest operating system? How can that happen?
Meanwhile Apple released iOS 6 and the iPhone 5 in September. They’ve sold millions of iPhones and 100 million devices were updated to iOS 6 in the first weekend. That’s how an update is done.
People are embarrassed and ashamed to use their BlackBerry devices because they suck so bad. RIM has embraced it with a blog post from new blog manager Donny H.
For what it’s worth, Donny H. likes Pizza, cars and music.
I could not make this shit up people.
Location or time-based reminders. Really great app.
Maria Popova at Brain Pickings:
The story of New York’s iconic Chrysler Building is the story of one of history’s greatest, most ruthless architectural rivalries — one ultimately resolved when the building’s famous spear was surreptitiously erected to claim victory on October 16, 1929.
Not exactly a glowing outlook. A lot can happen in a year.
The v2.1 update features three stunning new HD amps based on the distinctive clean, crunch and overdrive tones of the Soldano SLO100, one of the most coveted premium amps of the modern era. Two custom-designed originals, Line 6 Doom and Line 6 Epic, round out the POD family’s selection of high-gain amps.
I love new amp models.
Come and get it – the legendary carnage racing game Carmageddon has been released for iOS. It’s free for today (Wednesday) only.
Chris Rawson for TUAW:
iPhones aren’t made in America because they just can’t be. The infrastructure and labor force doesn’t exist at the levels necessary to support Apple’s operations — it’s not even close.
Tim Collins writing on why RIM will make an amazing comeback. At first I thought it was a parody, but then I realized he was serious — that made it even worse.
The Seattle Times:
Seattle can’t limit distribution of yellow-pages phone books with an opt-out registry, and it can’t charge a fee to publishers who want to leave commercial directories on your porch, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday. The court ruled the city’s law is unconstitutional, saying yellow pages are protected, like other publications, by the First Amendment.
Even though more than 79,000 people wanted to opt out, Seattle, like a lot of places, can’t seem to stop the flood of various yellow pages-type directories that show up on our doors. I don’t know of anyone who likes them or anyone who uses them enough to justify not being allowed to opt out of having them tossed on our doorsteps.
Update: The Yellow Pages has its own national opt-out program.
Huffington Post:
A BBC film crew was detained after it breached the back gate of the top secret military facility known as Area 51 while filming a new documentary about UFO conspiracy theories.During the incident in the Nevada desert, a camouflage-dressed guard carrying an M-16 told a member of the British team, “We could make you disappear and your body will never be found,” according to a crew member.“Eight guards wearing combat fatigues immediately came out with their assault rifles and they grabbed us, forced us to the ground and we were all made to lie facedown in a row on the tarmac with a gun at our back.”
You intentionally ignored signage and walked onto a top secret US government base? I’d say you’re pretty luck to A) not be in jail or 2) not be in a shallow grave out in Area 51.
Los Angeles Times:
The space shuttle Endeavour made its final journey last weekend, traveling 12-miles from Los Angeles International Airport, through Inglewood, to the California Science Center in Exposition Park.
This is a very cool time lapse video of the trip. Some of the views of the neighborhoods it passed through are fascinating. Thanks to Tom Negrino for the link.
How are those FBI agents treating you guys at Google?
Lex Friedman for Macworld:
Apple has quietly extended its iMac 1TB Seagate Hard Drive Replacement Program through April 12, 2013. Last year, Apple acknowledged that certain Seagate drives in 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMacs could fail, for 1TB models sold between May 2011 and July 2011. Now, however, Apple is broadening the window of affected iMacs: Any 1TB iMacs sold between October 2009 and July 2011 could be affected, the company says.
If you’ve already paid for a hard drive replacement for an affected machine, you’re entitled to a refund. Visit Macworld for details.
So what I get from this ad is that the Surface will make a clicking sound when you connect the keyboard; I will be able to dance; other people will join me dancing; I will kiss someone; and if I throw the Surface in the air someone will catch it. But what does it actually do? I guess they forgot that part.
Not only that, Microsoft took Apple’s cool Smart Cover and completely fucked it up.
“I’m ashamed of it,” said Ms. Crosby, a Los Angeles sales representative who said she had stopped pulling out her BlackBerry at cocktail parties and conferences. In meetings, she says she hides her BlackBerry beneath her iPad for fear clients will see it and judge her.
They’ve fallen so far.
Apple on Tuesday announced a special event to be held on October 23, 2012 in San Jose. The event is scheduled to take place at 10:00 am PT.
Unlike other recent events that have been held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, Apple will hold this event at the California Theatre in San Jose .
It is widely expected that Apple will use this event to unveil a smaller form-factor iPad.
After an accidental Web site leak earlier today, Microsoft has officially announced pricing for its forthcoming Surface tablet running the Windows RT operating system. It’ll be priced starting at $499, with “a special limited-quantity pre-order” available at 12 PM Eastern, 9 AM Pacific time on Tuesday.
The Surface with Windows RT will be available in three models to start: a 32GB version for $499, a 32GB version bundled with a black “Touch Cover” (which incorporates a keyboard) for $599, and a 64GB version also bundled with a Touch cover for $699. Software pre-installed on the tablet includes a preview build of Office 2013 Home & Student Edition, which will be updated to the final version for free once it’s available.
The RT version of the tablet uses an ARM microprocessor; that’s the same architecture favored by Apple and Android tablet makers. Microsoft is still working on a version of the Surface that uses an Intel microprocessor and will run regular Windows software. The company is differentiating that as a “Pro” model and has said it will cost more than the RT version.
It’s interesting to note that this initial version of the Surface tablet will only be available directly through Microsoft – at its retail stores and through Microsoft online, but not through the vast network of physical and online retailers who normally carry Microsoft products.
Graham Spencer did a great job with this article and maps. Just go read it.
Naan Studio’s Kazuho Okui has announced in a blog post that the company is discontinuing its Echofon Twitter client for Mac, Windows and Firefox.
Okui says the apps will continue to function, but Naan Studio plans end support for them in November, and there are no plans to update the apps in the future.
Naan is focusing its efforts instead on the mobile versions of Echofon – the company produces iOS versions optimized for iPhone and iPad.
Yahoo! announced today that Henrique de Castro has been hired as chief operating officer (COO). Reporting directly to Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer, de Castro will be responsible for strategic and operational management of Yahoo!’s sales, operations, media and business development worldwide.
Esquire:
Red Bull Stratos was, by all criteria, a PR triumph. Fifty television channels covered the jump live, seven-million people watched it stream online, and @redbullstratos has 235,000 followers and counting. But beyond the dazzle, beyond the slickness and the spectacle, is Felix’s achievement really that important?
I won’t ruin the writer’s conclusion for you but what do you think? Was it “just” a corporate sponsored PR stunt? A “leap” forward to science? Something else?
io9:
New York Comic-Con is officially over, but the glorious cosplay images live on forever! We saw a whole heap of crazy innovative costumes this year such as Lady Blue Beetle, a gang of Neverending Story cosplayers, a few Korras, and a laser-eyed Superman.Here it is: the best of the best from New York Comic-Con’s Cosplay.
“Best” is obviously subjective (some of these people shouldn’t be let out of the house, let alone allowed to wear spandex) but enjoy nonetheless.
The creator of Tweetie and Twitter’s app is back on his own.
Just released today.
Harry Marks is the creator of CuriousRat.com and co-hosts the weekly technology podcast, inThirty.net.
Tell me if you’ve heard this one: “Steve Jobs never would’ve let [PRODUCT/SERVICE/INCIDENT] happen.”
That declaration has distorted the way the press writes about Apple and how it operates. The claims of his alleged perfectionism and ability to “sweat the details” didn’t just elevate the CEO to “best thing since sliced bread” status, it mutated the perception of the company for industry insiders and the public.
Perfectionism was the driving force behind the hackneyed “reality distortion field” and has only gotten worse in recent years. Shortly after his death, publications and blogs lauded the man, calling him “an ingenious perfectionist,” a “design perfectionist,” and waxed poetically on how the original Macintosh took more than three years to develop due to Jobs’s “obsession with detail.” There’s no denying the man was brilliant, but let’s take a step back.
Based on those and many other articles, we’ve been led to believe Jobs was untouchable. After all, this was the man who brought us major hits like the iPod, iMac, iPhone, and iPad. All four of those devices either brought Apple out of obscurity or pushed it to the head of the class.
When you look back at these products — all released under Jobs’s watch — you notice what set them apart from the competition: durable polycarbonate plastic, anodized aluminum, glass, chrome, superior build qualities, stellar support, and higher resale values. Apple’s products may not have been perfect, but because they were so much better than the bland junk being churned out by other companies, it began to appear as if Apple could do no wrong.
We easily forgot or forgave products like iPod Socks, the iPod Hi-Fi, the G4 Cube, and the original Apple TV, all of which were came out while Steve Jobs was CEO.
Unfortunately, it was a little too easy to overlook the flaws and we were saddled with a conundrum when Steve stepped down as CEO in August of 2011: Would Tim Cook be at least as good a CEO as Steve Jobs?
Anyone who had been watching the company for the last several years knew that answer: Yes. Cook, as COO, was the one to streamline Apple’s supply chain, thus increasing profit margins. He also steered the ship while Jobs was on medical leave in 2004 and 2009.
Now, with Cook at the helm, the company is under even more scrutiny than in years past. Every decision, every choice, and especially every mistake is currently under the world’s pettiest microscope and even worse, is amplified ten-fold thanks to the “echo chamber of suck” that is the blogosphere. “Tim Cook is no Steve Jobs” is the running theme these days, and while Cook is unlike Jobs in some cases, the sentiment also implies he is an inferior CEO compared to his predecessor.
Who else would apologize for poorly performing products, or allow vendors to go unpunished for leaking images of unreleased hardware other than Steve’s lesser replacement?
For one, component leaks are nothing new to Apple. The iPhone 4 was lost in a bar while Jobs was still in charge and the press had a field day. There were articles about how the prototype was found, the subsequent raid on a prominent blogger’s home, and how it was so unlike Apple to let this happen.
Before that, there were leaks of the iPhone 3G S’s hardware and software. This wasn’t because Apple was “slipping,” but, rather, because any mention of a new Apple product sends the public and the press into a frenzy. New iDevices mean more speculative articles, more op-eds, more money for leaked pictures, and of course, more ad revenue from page impressions.
It became the M.O. of the media to perpetuate the idea that Jobs was an obsessive, secretive perfectionist with a mean streak who ran a company against a straggling competition. However, unbeknownst to that same media, it ended up proving Apple was just like any other company. It had flaws, it made mistakes, and it even owned up to them.
For reference, below are several “-gates” of which Apple has been the subject:
Regarding that last “-gate,” several pundits saw the bungled Maps launch as another notch in the “Apple is doomed without Steve” belt, claiming “Steve Jobs never would’ve released iOS 6 like this” and “Steve never would’ve apologized,” but history has shown both of those claims to be untrue.
It’s easy to forget that a company as omnipresent and highly-regarded as Apple makes mistakes almost as often as it encounters success. Apple is an anomaly in that it’s one of the few companies users are quick to defend when things go wrong and then forget about those problems soon after. Apple’s products are well-built, well-marketed, and well-supported, and they come from a company that takes what it does very seriously.
When a product as gorgeous as the iPhone shows a defect or flaw, it’s magnified like a bloodstain on fresh snow. And when a company that consistently outperforms the rest of the industry stumbles, it’s like watching Gene Kelly in a room full of marbles. The illusion of perfection is shattered for those who believe the subject is infallible.
No company is perfect. No product is perfect. And no matter how hard he tried, Steve Jobs wasn’t perfect, either. However, unlike any other company, Apple strives for perfection in everything it produces. Apple is climbing a new mountain with several of its products, like the updated Maps app and Siri, and it’s going to encounter problems along the way. It would behoove us all to remember Apple slipped a few times on the way up several other mountains when Jobs led the way, too.
Kara Swisher:
Apple has hired major Amazon exec and prominent search technologist William Stasior to run its Siri unit, according to sources.At the online retail giant, Stasior has been in charge of A9, Amazon’s search and search advertising unit. The former AltaVista exec co-founded the independent company and has run it since Udi Manber left for Google.
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center has issued a warning alerting users about malware that targets the Android mobile operating system.
But Android is great… and open… and other stuff that Eric Schmidt says it is.