May 2010
33 posts
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An Observation
For the last few months, I’ve seen so many group reviews of a certain iDevice point out a ‘lack of Flash’ as a negative point. Besides the small matter that I never consider ‘a lack of Flash’ to be a bad thing, I genuinely believed (at least until the Google I/O announcement) that the lack of Flash was deemed a Bad Thing because Flash was already on other competing...
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Dan Lyons ditches iPhone, jumps to Android →
Dan Lyons is fickle for the latest and greatest. Prediction: he’ll be back on iPhone in the summer.
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Google: The Next 6 Months of Android Will "Blow... →
Gizmodo interviews Andy Rubin, father of Android. It’s an interesting read, however some of his answer continue to baffle me:
Gizmodo: But if you’re not running 2.1, for instance, you can’t get the official Twitter app.
Andy: I mean there are apps written for Vista, just like Photoshop CS5 does not run on Windows 3.1
Adobe Photoshop CS5 shipped earlier this month, and...
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“A bigger feature list does not constitute leap-frogging, no matter how much...”
– Mike Lee on the recent Android hysteria. Be sure to read it all.
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“The Internet is an open range where anyone can compete in any way they like. But...”
– The Macalope
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WatchThis is incredible:
A raw clip from Camera E-8 on the launch umbilical tower/mobile launch program of Apollo 11, July 16, 1969. This is an HD transfer from the 16mm original.
The camera is running at 500 fps, making the total clip of over 8 minutes represent just 30 seconds of actual time
Thanks to Keith for sending this over.
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Why I went back to the iPhone from the HTC Desire →
Fascinating piece on the current-favourite Android hardware. With that in mind, this observation makes an absolute joke out of the cheap jabs Google made at the absent-until-4.0 iPhone background tasking in today’s Android keynote:
Auto memory management is poor at best. The OS can start closing apps (like the actual Sense UI) that you need, whilst keeping apps (like Footprints)...
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Gizmodo's gushing coverage of today's I/O keynote →
First there’s the gushingly sycophantic piece about Microsoft Windows Phone 7 back in February, and now this. It’s as though it’s written by Google PR, and painful to read.
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Adobe®: We Love Choice →
valhallaisland:
The $600 Flash authoring tool is the only way to produce Flash applications.
The free Mac OS X Developer tools (that require an $800+ Mac computer) are the only way to produce iPhone and iPad applications.
Both systems are as closed as each other.
Adobe claims Flash is open.
Apple makes no such claims. If you want to make iPhone or iPad apps you use Mac OS...
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dConstruct 2010 →
The folks from Clearleft have just announced speakers for this year’s very excellent dConstruct conference. It’s £125 (plus tax), with Merlin Mann and John Gruber just two of the folks talking. See you there.
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“Jobs not only built and then rebuilt his company around some very strong...”
– The preface to Gawker writer Ryan Tate’s email exchange with Steve Jobs
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“How screwed would we be if the WebKit team weren’t so god damn competent?”
– Joe Hewitt, The State Of Web Development Ripped Apart In 25 Tweets By One Man (via webkitbits)
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“Approximate development costs range from $2,000 to $10,000, depending on the...”
– Nintendo’s Developer Agreement makes the $99 Apple Developer Programme a no-brainer (via Dave Chartier).
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“Our very alert regulators were apparently on a smoking break when the banking...”
– The Macalope hits the nail on the head about Adobe’s anti-trust complaint to the FTC.
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“The FCC staffers who wrote this memo are either the most credulous yokels that...”
– Cory Doctorow, FCC hands Hollywood the keys to your PC, home theater and future (via foresmac)
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U.S. Lets Hollywood Disable Home TV Outputs to... →
With goodwill towards the MPAA at a perpetual all-time low, this seems utterly ridiculous.
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Apple announces iPad pricing for the UK →
My predictions of £399/£499/£599 for the WiFi models (with another £100 on top for the 3G) wasn’t far off: they’re priced at £429/£499/£599 - with 3G being another £100. I’m personally holding out on the iPad, and instead getting myself an iPhone HD on launch day.
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Pictos Vector Icons →
Another stunning set of vector icons - 324 icons for just $29. I’ll be picking up a copy of these.
“Flash as a video container makes very little sense for CPU, WiFi battery usage...”
– Opera joins in Jobs v Flash argument — Two Adobe smackdowns in one day. Ouch.
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“We thought [smartbooks] would be launched by now, but they’re not. I think...”
– Smartbooks have been delayed by Flash issues, says ARM — ARM takes a pot-shot at Adobe.
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Yours Truly on First & 20 →
First and 20 is “a collection of iPhone Home Screens from some very talented designers, developers and tech writers”, and I’m flattered to have my home screen included.
Anonymous asked: What would you suggest to a Cocoa programmer/designer that is just starting out?
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“I don’t care about “open” half as much as I care about...”
– Wilson Miner, via Twitter
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HTML5 for Web Designers →
Speaking of new books, congratulations to Jeremy on the announcement of HTML5 for Web Designers. Here’s the gist of the book:
The HTML5 spec is 900 pages and hard to read. HTML5 for Web Designers is 85 pages and fun to read. Easy choice.
I’m sold, and will be pre-ordering my own copy shortly.
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iPhone App Development: The Missing Manual →
If you’re looking for a new book to kickstart your iPhone development urges, this one from Iconfactory’s Craig Hockenberry is now available to pre-order from Amazon.
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That Song from the John Lewis Advert →
Remember the stunning John Lewis “Never Knowingly Undersold” ad from last week? The cover of “She’s Always a Woman” is now available on iTunes
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“[Apple is] a big company, and it’s now wildly successful. It assumes that it can...”
– Mark Bernstein