October 3, 2012
Written by Peter Cohen
Forbes:
[First, some rambling crap about what the writer calls “Mapplegate;” that neologism alone angers me enough to want to put my fist through a wall. Then…]
Steve Jobs set the bar so ridiculously high that it’s almost unfair to criticize what happens on Cook’s watch. It’s like ridiculing David Lee Roth for not being able to successfully replace Howard Stern in morning drive radio. Roth was out of his league.
But let’s not stop you from suggesting that Tim Cook should be fired over “Mapplegate.”
What absolutely arrogant, stupid bullshit.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
I’m loving these articles that Dave Caolo is putting together. This one is on how to use the Do Not Disturb feature on the iPhone.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Initiated already back in 1977 by Prof. Rido Busse, the negative award “Plagiarius” serves to inform the public about the problem of fakes and plagiarisms and the negative impacts they have on not only the economy as a whole, but also on small companies and designers.
Samsung could win this hands down.
They say that those in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Good advice.
Nokia’s recent attempt to get people to buy their phones is to make fun of Apple’s lack of color in the iPhone. Keep in mind that the iPhone 5 had 2 million pre-orders in 24 hours and sold 5 million in the first couple of days.
Let’s take a quick look at Nokia’s latest numbers posted on July 19:
- Nokia Devices & Services Q2 net sales decreased 5% quarter-on-quarter
- Lumia Q2 volumes increased quarter-on-quarter to 4 million units
Now, let’s look at Apple’s, posted July 24:
- net profit of $8.8 billion
- sold 26.0 million iPhones
You’ll notice that Apple sold more iPhone 5s in the first weekend than Nokia sold Lumias in an entire quarter (90 days).
And here is Nokia’s ad making fun of the iPhone.
Since Nokia seems to be circling the drain and may even have to sell its headquarters, I thought I’d help out. How does this one look?
Nejc Žorga Dulmin sent me this picture of his grandfather (89), his wife and him with three generations of the iPad. He said his grandfather has been reading the newspaper on the iPad for a year because it’s easier to handle and he can pinch and zoom.
Much respect to his Grandfather.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
“We are evaluating different options for non-core parts, such as real estate holdings, and that includes the headquarters,” spokeswoman Maija Taimi told Reuters.
Nokia makes fun of the iPhone 5 and it can’t even sell enough phones to keep its headquarters.
Written by Peter Cohen
Writing for Fortune, Philip Elmer-DeWitt outlines how Samsung is going after the foreman of the jury in the patent trial that resulted in a $1 billion ruling in Apple’s favor. Samsung claims he’s guilty of misconduct, but DeWitt isn’t buying it.
October 2, 2012
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Anthony Stauffer is a great blues player and teacher. I thoroughly enjoy watching his guitar lesson videos.
Written by Shawn King
Slate:
Pagination is one of the worst design and usability sins on the Web, the kind of obvious no-no that should have gone out with blinky text, dancing cat animations, and autoplaying music. It shows constant, quiet contempt for people who should be any news site’s highest priority—folks who want to read articles all the way to the end.Splitting articles and photo galleries into multiple pages is evil. It should stop.
It’s not “evil” but it is incredibly annoying and definitely should be stopped.
Written by Shawn King
Terminal U:
Overpackers take note: this could be the invention that changes your life forever. Or it could also be the most gimmicky travel accessory you’ve ever seen.The “Hop” as it’s been called, is a suitcase that you don’t have to lug through the airport. You don’t even need to pick it up, as it follows you wherever you go – a bit like a lost puppy.
This is one of those things that, when you read about it you think, “Hey – that could be kinda cool!” Then you watch the video and think a bit more about it you realize, “oh yeah…this is a really stupid idea.”
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Great numbers for Apple. Everyone else looks flat or down. Keep in mind these numbers are before the iPhone 5 was released.
Written by Shawn King
The Weather Channel:
During the upcoming 2012-13 winter season The Weather Channel will name noteworthy winter storms. Our goal is to better communicate the threat and the timing of the significant impacts that accompany these events. The fact is, a storm with a name is easier to follow, which will mean fewer surprises and more preparation.
Winter is coming.
Hurricanes have been given individual names for years and those fancy pants Europeans have been naming winter storms since the 1950’s. The list of names is interesting too – I can’t wait for that storm with the K name so we can all look skyward and scream, “KHHAAAANNNN!!!”
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Om Malik talking about Color and Airtime:
I added up all those random quotes from Gannes’ post so you can see what he is saying: absolutely nothing. Airtime really is a house of cards standing on a handful of matchsticks.
I love it when smart writers get angry and say what they are thinking.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
I love reading stories about Steve.
Feral Interactive is bringing Batman: Arkham City Game of the Year Edition to the Mac this November. The game includes all previously released downloadable content including the Harley Quinn’s Revenge Pack. Pricing and system requirements were not announced.
You once again inhabit the role of the Dark Knight as Batman must fight Gotham’s worst collection of thugs and villains in a sprawling setting five times larger than the one found in Feral’s previous Batman release, “Batman: Arkham Asylum.”
The game features side missions, secrets and puzzles that you need to work through in order to succeed. You’ll go toe-to-toe with Batman’s famous foes, including The Joker, The Riddler, Two-Face, Harley Quinn, The Penguin and Mr. Freeze.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system is gaining on Research In Motion, a new study says, but it still has a long way to go before catching Android and iOS.
It’s one thing to lose ground to iOS and Android, but when Windows Phone OS catches you, you’re done.
The Pew Research Center reports that tablet ownership among American adults has doubled in the past year, from 11 percent to 22 percent. An additional three percent regularly use a tablet owned by someone else, meaning a full quarter of American adults now have access to a tablet.
Among them, more than half – 52 percent – use an iPad, while 48 percent use some variation of an Android-based tablet, including 21 percent who use a Kindle Fire. That’s a marked downturn in overall marketshare for Apple, which owned 81 percent of the market in 2011. Apple’s still moving quite a large number of iPads, but the market has grown and lower-priced Android tablet makers have sought to fill the gap.
The study suggests that there is some brand loyalty among tablet owners, too – 57 percent of iPad users also use an iPhone, while 66 percent of Android tablet users also have an Android-based phone.
It’ll be interesting to see how this trend is affected if and when Apple introduces the oft-rumored iPad mini.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
I love the fact that many of the things we used to rely on scripts to do can now be done with HTML5 and CSS3.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
The second-generation Nest Learning Thermostat is 20 percent thinner and has a new all-stainless steel ring that mirrors your wall color or pattern to create a chameleon effect and blend into any décor even more effectively
It’s those small details that matter so much.
[Via GigaOM]
Written by Peter Cohen
Bryan Bishop for The Verge:
Samsung has been pushing for the preliminary injunction on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 to be lifted ever since Apple won its $1.049 billion victory, and today it got its wish: Judge Lucy Koh has dissolved the US sales ban on the tablet.
Koh ruled that Samsung had indeed violated Apple patents, but the hardware design patent Apple alleged Samsung infringed in making the Galaxy Tab 10.1 wasn’t included.
Bishop also notes that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 could still end up banned after another hearing in December, so it’s still a long slog for Samsung.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
It is a measure of just how much criticism AT&T got not long ago about service in and around San Francisco that the communications giant is now running a Bay Area-wide campaign touting a 35 percent decrease in dropped calls.
I still have problems in large cities, including those in the Bay area, but maybe it’s getting better.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Rian van der Merwe looks at ways developers can make confusing behavior in their apps easier for users to understand.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Google rose 1 percent to $761.78 at the close in New York, gaining a market capitalization of about $249.9 billion. Microsoft, the world’s biggest software maker, fell less than 1 percent to $29.49, for a valuation of $247.2 billion.
I bet Microsoft never thought this would happen.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
A new book from David Sparks and Brett Terpstra that includes 1.5 hours of video showing you how to do everything.
Haul out the Software Update system preference to check for a new update to iPhoto. The new version, 9.4.1, dropped on Monday afternoon.
Apple says changes to the new version include:
- Improves the reliability of syncing to iOS devices via iTunes
- Fixes an issue that could cause iPhoto to quit unexpectedly when using the Export command
- Addresses an issue that could cause iPhoto to quit unexpectedly when upgrading multiple books, cards, and calendars
- Resolves an issue with downloading and viewing photos synced from Facebook albums
Apple Maps has been getting its share of negative attention since being released, but some new research shines a bright spot on the comparison between Apple’s and Google’s mapping apps.
According to Onavo, a company that specializes in helping customers get the most out of their smartphone data plans, there are some big differences between the apps. The company ran tests on the two apps to see which was the most efficient in its data usage. After running a number of scenarios, the tests showed that Apple Maps was up to five times more data efficient than Google Maps.
For instance, when you search for a new location the mapping app has to download the street data you see on the screen — panning and zooming means even more data downloaded.
“On Google Maps, the average data loaded from the cellular network for each step was 1.3MB, the company wrote on its Web site. “Apple Maps came in at 271KB – that’s approximately 80% less data! On some actions, such as zooming in to see a particular intersection, Apple Maps’ efficiency advantage edged close to 7X.”
Results for the satellite view in Maps showed Apple’s app used about half of Google’s mapping application.
