August 8, 2012
Bullshit ∞
It’s been a long time since I’ve read such complete and utter shit.
HP’s brand ∞
A brutal assessment.
Verizon’s new 20GB shared data plan ∞
Verizon Wireless Tuesday revealed that there are five additional data tiers over and above the six tiers announced with its Share Everything plans earlier this summer.
Square to process Starbucks credit, debit card transactions ∞
Peter Ha for TechCrunch:
Beginning this fall, Square will begin processing all U.S. credit and debit card transactions at participating Starbucks stores across their 7,000 locations. Pay with Square users will be able to find a nearby Starbucks in the Square Directory from their iPhone or Android smartphone. Additionally, Starbucks will be investing $25 million in Square for the company’s Series D financing round, which clocks in at a $3.25 billion valuation. (Just shy of the $4 billion valuation we’d been hearing about.) Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, will also be joining Square’s Board of Directors.
Square enables anyone to process credit or debit card transactions using a small square dongle that attaches to the headphone jack of your mobile device, and accompanying software. The company currently counts 2 million merchants and about $6 billion in annual sales.
The addition of “Pay with Square” support for Starbucks means customers won’t have to swipe credit cards at all to purchase their venti latte – instead they can use the Pay with Square app on their iPhone or Android phone just as they do with other “Pay with Square” merchants – an alternative to the “Mobile Pay” feature on the Starbucks iPhone app.
Square’s made leaps and bounds since its introduction, but Starbucks is by far the highest-profile organization to adopt Square as a payment method – it’s a move that’s almost certain to propel the company into mainstream acceptance in a very significant way.
Dumb and Dumber: Samsung meet RIM
I would love to be in a strategy meeting with these two companies. Sit back with a keg of Heineken and just watch them fumble their way through a day of meetings.
Actually, you better make that two kegs.
Let’s not forget this little gem of how Samsung doesn’t rip off Apple ∞
Consider the wall of apps in this photo of the company’s new shop-in-a-shop in Italy’s Centro Sicilia, which appears to feature not only the iOS icon for Apple’s mobile Safari browser, but the icon for the company’s iOS App Store — three instances of it.
Oopsie.
August 7, 2012
Conan: Samsung Denies Apple’s Charges Of Copying ∞
Samsung’s Vice President of Electronics has released a video defending his company. C’mon, the Galaxy phone bears no similarity whatsoever to the iPhone. Absolutely none at all!
Just go watch the video. I actually laughed out loud. Great job Conan and team.
Samsung shoots itself in the foot… again ∞
John Paczkowski and Ina Fried:
In short, the document makes the case that the Galaxy (identified as the “S1″ in this document) would be better if it behaved more like the iPhone and featured a similar user interface.
Apple just must love going to court against Samsung.
Apple’s new iPad ad: All on iPad
I like it.
Twitter’s future platform ∞
David Chartier:
Twitter can get the consistency it wants and the revenue it needs by changing the direction of its platform, but there is more than one way to adjust a ship’s course. There’s still time to try less turbulent tactics.
Breakdown of Apple’s claim against Samsung by device ∞
We’ve already learned that Apple is seeking more than $2.5 billion in damages from Samsung, but newly-released court filings have revealed exactly how much Apple feels it is owed on a per device basis.
Full Metal Jacket Diary for iPad ∞
Matthew Modine:
“In 1985, Stanley Kubrick encouraged me to take photos and keep a journal while playing the lead role of Pvt. Joker on the set of FULL METAL JACKET. In 2005, I published a limited edition book of my photos and diary. This app is based on that book; enriched and reimagined as an interactive, audiovisual experience. I hope you enjoy it!”
I was a big fan of Full Metal Jacket when it was released. Great movie. The app includes:
- Modine’s complete diary text from his out-of-print, award-winning, metal-bound book
- Five chapters chronicling the filmmaking process – Private Life, Vietnam, Boot Camp, On Leave, and Boot Camp Redux
- A nearly four hour audio experience with Modine’s own absorbing narration, produced with immersive sound effects and original music
- Over 400 high-res photos and personal documents scanned from original negatives and source material
- Detailed information on photos including dates, locations, and all-new remembrances written by Modine
- Three bonus galleries featuring select photo restoration comparisons
- Interactive “favorites” gallery designed to simulate Matthew’s original contact sheets used in compiling his book
- Store your favorite photos and audio clips for later reference
- Share your favorite photos with your friends via Twitter
- Links to related articles, videos, content, and much more
Apple’s motivation for suing Samsung
Reading the press from the Apple vs Samsung trial lead me to believe that most people don’t understand Apple’s motives for suing Samsung. This lawsuit isn’t about getting compensation for products that were released in 2007 or even 2011, it’s about protecting the products that will be released in 2013 and 2015 and beyond.
In a column on The New York Times last weekend, Nick Bilton wrote that Apple is doing itself more harm than good in suing Samsung.
“By showing the public how it designs products that twice radically changed the electronics industry, Apple could risk losing some of its magic,” said Bilton.
I’m not going to say that Apple doesn’t care at all about keeping its secrets, but this is a case of dealing with the lesser of two evils. Sue Samsung now and show some old prototype photos, but stop them from copying future products or let them continue copying.
Bilton clearly doesn’t understand what Apple has to gain here.
Apple has a purpose for everything it does, including this lawsuit. There can be no doubt that Apple has some clever, perhaps industry changing products in the pipeline over the next few years.
Although none us know for sure what those products are, if they are truly disruptive, like the iPhone and iPad, it’s in Apple’s best interests to stop Samsung now. This will effectively cut off the worst offender of companies copying its products in their tracks.
Of course, winning the lawsuit will also stop all of the other competitors from copying their designs.
Apple’s latest two industry changing products, the iPhone and iPad, have been shamelessly copied for years. Yes, it’s true that the company has lost a significant amount of revenue — estimated at $2.5 billion in the trial — but let’s face it, that’s pocket change for Apple who has $100 billion or so in the bank.
I believe that Apple’s future products are going to change the industry so much, Apple has to put a stop to Samsung now.
That’s Apple’s motive for suing Samsung.
Samsung corruption and lies ∞
Mic Wright on his trip to Korea to meet Samsung in 2007:
We were told early in the trip that mentioning Cupertino, Steve Jobs or the iPhone was a no-no. So, showing the due deference you can expect from the British press, we asked every executive wheeled out to lecture us what they thought about the iPhone and how Samsung intended to counter it.
I love that the Brits enjoy causing shit.
iPhone caused ‘crisis of design’ at Samsung ∞
It’s a memo that Samsung didn’t want admitted into the trial, and until now had kept it out. But this morning, when Samsung legal counsel John Quinn mentioned the “crisis of design” moment in a question to Samsung strategist Justin Denison, all bets were off, and the memo was in.“Influential figures outside the company come across the iPhone, and they point out that ‘Samsung is dozing off.’ All this time we’ve been paying all our attention to Nokia, and concentrated our efforts on things like Folder, Bar, Slide,” Shin wrote. “Yet when our UX is compared to the unexpected competitor Apple’s iPhone, the difference is truly that of Heaven and Earth. It’s a crisis of design.”
Oopsie.
[Via DF]
Acer begs Microsoft to rethink Surface tablet ∞
Acer CEO JT Wang:
“We have said think it over. Think twice,” Wang is quoted as saying. “It will create a huge negative impact for the ecosystem and other brands may take a negative reaction. It is not something you are good at so please think twice.”
There’s trouble in them there hills.
Two-factor authentication ∞
Google’s Matt Cutts on the myths and realities of enabling two-factor authentication.
No Samsung, you don’t steal, these are totally unique designs ∞
How can there ever be any doubt about how much Samsung rips off its competition.
Samsung Galaxy tablets returned to Best Buy because they suck ∞
Device malfunction was cited nearly three times more than a desire to exchange for one of Apple’s tablets, according to a study conducted by Samsung at Best Buy Stores in 2011.
That must make Samsung feel better.
Usain Bolt vs Sarah the cheetah ∞
Be sure to scroll down and watch the video of Sarah’s run. Such a beautiful animal.
August 6, 2012
Apple, Google bid for Kodak patents ∞
Eastman Kodak, which is planning to auction 1,100 digital patents, received two bids from investor groups including Apple Inc and Google Inc of between $150 million and $250 million, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
Samsung’s ‘cash-for-clunkers’ program ∞
Samsung wants consumers to buy its Galaxy S III so badly that it’s willing to pay them for their old smartphones.
Priceless.
Samsung even stole Apple’s icons ∞
I bet Samsung stole the forks and knives from the lunch room too.
Apple removes YouTube app from iOS 6 ∞
Apple said in a statement on Monday that its license to include the YouTube app in the iOS operating system “has ended.” Apple noted that “customers can use YouTube in the Safari browser and Google is working on a new YouTube app to be on the app store.”
Seems odd for Apple to issues a statement for an operating system that’s in beta and under NDA.
Sex, drugs and rock and roll: The Mars rover engineering lead ∞
NPR:
His father told him he’d never amount to anything but a ditch digger, a remark he still carries with him years later.“I was sort of studying sex, drugs and rock and roll in high school,” says Steltzner. It wasn’t just the long hair. “I liked to wear this strange Air Force jump suit. And my first car was a ’69 Cadillac hearse. I put a bed in the back.”
Great story.
Managing email realistically ∞
A no-nonsense look at managing email from Matt Gemmell.
Remember, Macs can’t do real work, they’re only for useless artsy stuff like landing on Mars ∞
Classic.
Gibson admits to importing illegal woods ∞
Federal prosecutors on Monday announced a deal to drop a criminal case against Gibson Guitar Corp. after the instrument maker acknowledged its importations of exotic wood violated environmental laws.
Access iCloud files from the Finder ∞
iCloud documents are cached on your local machine so that you can open them even if you don’t have Internet access. The files can be accessed in the Finder in addition to the Apple application dialog boxes.
Great tip.
Harvest [Sponsor] ∞
We’re more than halfway through 2012. You can’t buy that time back, but you can start tracking it wisely. Use Harvest to log your billable hours, and see where your business spends its time. Start a timer effortlessly from your desktop, web browser, or iPhone. Get insight into your projects with powerful, visual time reports. Turn your hours into a professional invoice in seconds. Try Harvest absolutely free for 30 days, and get back on track towards a productive finish to the year.