January 2011
65 posts
3 tags
Lanyrd raises YCombinator Funding →
Huge, huge congratulations to my good friends Nat and Simon, who publicly announced today that Lanyrd - their awesome social conference directory - has been funded by YCombinator and SV Angel (whose new VC deal was announced just last week).
If you’ve not taken a look at Lanyrd, you should - you sign in with your Twitter credentials, and take it from there to mark yourself as tracking or...
Linkbait Headline of the Day, BBC News Edition:... →
In case you’re wondering just how over-hyped this headline is:
The films are not the latest Hollywood blockbusters
They’re Russian archive films that are still in copyright
The films aren’t actually available as films on the iTunes Films section
The films are actually paid-for apps from an unauthorised developer.
But that’s hardly very interesting for a headline, is...
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Weekly App Review: Outside
Earlier in the month, weather app Outside received a hefty update with Free push notifications for weather alerts, and retina graphics. I’ve looked at Outside before, but with the app being so graphic heavy and not yet iPhone 4 friendly I’d held off. The new update is, quite frankly, astounding.
Style-wise, it’s hard to fault. The entirely customised UI looks the part but also...
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From the Archives: Steve Jobs' Interview at D8 →
I spent some of this evening going through and tidying my iTunes library when this podcast popped up. Whilst I don’t typically keep Apple keynotes around, this one remains on my laptop. Jobs is a fascinating person to hear speak about Apple, and this video is no exception.
Some great insight - and interesting questions from the audience too.
Apple Calls Android Tablets 'Vapor' - and It Isn't... →
Smart piece from PCMag on the problems Google and its Android tablet partners are facing. As far as iPad “killers” go, there’s the Galaxy Tab and that’s it - almost a year to the day since the iPad launched.
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Why I Just Dumped the iPad →
For the gloriously-link-baited title, Kevin C Tofel offers one of the most rational reviews of an iPad “killer”.
Though given Android’s less-than-stellar track record with software updates I sure hope he’s happy with the OS that shipped on the device.
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RIM: PlayBook battery life will be 'equal or... →
RIM aren’t wasting a moment to build expectations for their forthcoming tablet, and the bar they’ll have to jump with regards to battery life is pretty high as a result.
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Macworld Daily Reader for iPad →
Slick new app from Macworld (US), it’s free to download.
James Murdoch On The Daily, Paywalls, Google And... →
TechCrunch has notes on James Murdoch’s talk at DLD this morning - nothing too revelatory regarding The Daily, except to confirm that pricing will be 99¢ a week (not the per-day pricing that was being touted a week or so back).
The Daily is supposed to launch ‘in the next few weeks’, much like it has been due to since - oooh - November?
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“Microsoft: Users want choice.
Google: Users want open.
Apple: Users want...”
– Mike Lee, via Twitter
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“A centerpiece to Microsoft’s Windows 7 slate campaign is the issue of...”
– Microsoft’s iPad battle plan for partners
Microsoft should figure out a form factor, and damn-well ship something. Right now, the idea of “customer choice in Windows 7 slates” is akin to choosing whether you want a unicorn with a gold, silver or sparkling white horn.
The iPad...
Tim Cook Is Running Apple, but Not Imitating Steve... →
Great profile of Apple’s COO/Stand-In CEO.
Cracking The Credit Card Code →
Interesting post from Mint about what exactly the numbers on your credit card mean. Even more interesting is that you can (with a little maths) figure out if a credit card number is (mathematically) valid through the numbers on the front alone.
The Oatmeal: "This is the web right now" →
I wouldn’t normally link to The Oatmeal, but this is hilariously close-to-the-truth at times (particularly regarding Facebook profile layouts).
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The Macalope Weekly: Executive business →
Macworld’s anonymous columnist skewers the week’s Apple Executive news, especially Valleywag’s entirely ridiculous Tim Cook profile.
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O2 Now Allowing Free iPhone 4 Unlocks to Contract... →
After a tweet from Steve Marshall this morning, I took another read through my guide to enabling PAYG data on an iPhone in the US. In the process of checking the links, it now appears that O2 will allow contract customers to unlock their iPhone 4. Previously, O2 didn’t allow iPhone 4 unlocks during their launch period (at first, iPhone 4 handsets were only available to existing O2 customers)...
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“If Evernote’s desktop clients were written in Adobe AIR, I’d be worried right...”
– Music to my ears from Evernote CEO Phil Libin, talking to TechCrunch
Music Labels Finally Figure Out How to Get People... →
Two of the UK’s largest labels are planning to start an “on air, on sale” policy next month - where songs are available to buy as soon as they start airing on the radio.
Finally the media companies have realised they can beat the pirates by ensuring that it’s more convenient to buy a song / album / movie than it is to pirate it. There’s more to it than just...
Engadget scoops the webOS tablets →
It may look like a all-plastic iPad (with a whacking-great HP logo on the back), but I have high hopes that this will finally be the iPad competitor we’ve been longing for. I’m a huge fan of webOS (hell, I’ve got a Palm Pre and a Palm Pre Plus sat here) and can’t wait to see what 2.0 and more brings to the tablet market.
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“160m iOS devices sure is a lot of people who’ll only spend a buck on...”
– Fraser, via Twitter
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Apple's Holiday Quarter Results →
Astronomical - the most notable result to my eyes is the iPad which, since its launch in April last year is already a $20 billion business, and bigger than the Mac business.
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Weekly App Review: Nike+ GPS
Two weeks ago, my first app review was Couch to 5K - a terrific running program app that builds you up to running 5KM non-stop over a nine week period. Today’s app, the Nike+ GPS app, also got a mention as a great complement to Couch to 5K - but it’s also an excellent app in its own right.
Readers will be quick to point out that the iPhone has shipped with Nike+ built-in since the...
Roll Your Own Linkbait Tech Headline →
Absolutely brilliant.
Why Apple Will Be OK Without Steve Jobs →
Leander Kahney has a smart piece on why Apple is far from doomed. People seem to forget that, over the last 14 years, Jobs has surrounded himself with people who are supremely brilliant in their own right.
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A Simpler Page - A List Apart →
A fascinating look at the make-up of digital books.
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Facebook is a Ponzi Scheme →
Interesting look at the woeful Facebook ad impressions I’ve seen people comment on.
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Nokia shuts down Ovi Music Unlimited service in... →
Reuters has this shocker:
The use of DRM to lock down content to less-than-cutting-edge devices was a major stumbling block in the rollout of what was originally supposed to be a major iTunes competitor.
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“The PlayBook, in its current incarnation, does not include the kinds of personal...”
– Forbes talks about the RIM PlayBook.
Apple is frequently criticised for its “intergrated” model serving those who buy more Apple kit. But RIM’s ploy with the PlayBook takes this to a new extreme of “integration” and pre-requisite product purchases.
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Dan Lyons: Why We Should All Leave Steve Jobs... →
Well put.
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AppCrush Extracts Images from iOS Apps →
If you’ve every tried to poke around the internals of an iOS application, this Ruby script might come in handy. All PNG images in iOS apps are crushed and optimised - as a result they’re un-openable on the desktop.
This script (when pointed at an .ipa file) will extract all the images from an application, and de-optimise them to a folder on your desktop for your perusal.
“RSS didn’t catch on as a consumer proposition for a very simple reason. It...”
– The Guardian’s Martin Belam discusses RSS at the Guardian, whilst addressing why RSS isn’t a technology used by the masses.
Blu-Ray Blues →
Great article by Khoi Vinh on the woes of Blu-Ray.
iDev Recipes →
If you’re relatively new to iOS development, and looking for answers to questions like “How does Twitter animate between tabs?” or “How do apps offer custom title bars?”, iDev Recipes looks to be a great resource.
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“Nobody uses AIR because it delivers better-quality desktop apps. Companies build...”
– Alex Payne
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Engadget on the iPad 2, iPhone 5 and Apple TV →
I’m not normally one to post rumour links and the like, but as I’m eagerly awaiting the iPad 2 (having skipped the original) this piqued my interest.
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Betteridge's Law of Headlines →
This simple rule makes digesting tech news (particularly RSS) so much quicker:
Any headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word ‘no’.
Despite being coined in 2009, it remains alarmingly accurate.
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"Verizon Deal May Expose iPhone Flaws" →
There’s a line-up of 2007-vintage broken record quips in this piece: the iPhone’s battery life is terrible, the keyboard terrible for email1 to name two. But Nocera falls into the trap of being surprised that Android has overtaken iOS marketshare:
According to Gartner, in the second quarter of 2009, Android sales constituted 1.8 percent of all smartphones sold, compared with...
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“Video publishers need the VIDEO tag for one purpose only: to support Apple’s...”
– Adobe’s John Dowdell is high as a kite. Via Gruber
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“Google seems to use “open” like a Smurf uses “smurf”: to...”
– Robb Irrgang, via Twitter
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Sam Mendes Officially Directing Daniel Craig in... →
Due for worldwide release on November 9th 2012, let’s hope it’s more convincing than Quantum of Solace.
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Weekly App Review: Push the Page
Last summer, Google announced that Android would get some handy integration with Chrome on the desktop - namely, the ability to push whatever page you’re visiting to your Android handset.
Push the Page - a free app for iOS - brings this to your iDevices. It’s a free app (for both iPhone and iPad), and is both ridiculously simple and useful. You download the app to your phone, sign in...
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“If Google is dropping H.264 because their “goal is to enable open...”
– Gruber, via Twitter
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“Did Google decide to make Chrome the browser for neckbeards, or are they coming...”
– Mike Lee, via Twitter
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Google Ditching H.264 Support in Chrome →
Google removing H.264 from Chrome.
Though H.264 plays an important role in video, as our goal is to enable open innovation, support for the codec will be removed and our resources directed towards completely open codec technologies.
It’s all well and good Google throwing the word “Open” around, the question is: how on earth does this help consumers, and where is the...
“Looking at the end product it’s impossible to know the journey that the designer...”
– 37 Signals: There is no place for just sh*tting all over other people’s work
I couldn’t agree more.
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“The human mind is generally far more eager to praise and dispraise than to...”
– C.S. Lewis, via Keegan Jones
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Not Content with iPad content →
Terrific piece by John-Henry Barac about the current issues with iPad magazine apps.
The iPad is not just another print format. You are building software, not [a] digital version of your print product.
If you don’t know, Barac designed much of the Guardian Newspaper’s iPhone app, of which I’m a huge fan.
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Fraser Speirs: An iPad for every child →
I’ve been following Fraser’s progress in deploying an iPad to every pupil at the school where he teaches. Today’s guest piece for Macworld is a great overview of his work so far.
In a 1972 paper entitled “A Personal Computer for Children of All Ages”, Alan Kay imagined a world in which children would use “personal, portable information manipulators” to read books, create art,...
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Manton Reece: App Store 30% cut →
A great piece on the current App Store setup.
Apple provides a unique service and it’s their right to charge whatever they want. Developers can choose to pay it or restrict development to more open platforms. I’m inclined to think the 30% is high but not unreasonable for everything Apple hopes to provide.
But here’s where everything breaks down: for $3000 I expect...
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Andy Ihnatko on the CES Slate Parade →
Absolutely brilliant piece about the tablets on show at CES.
Honestly. It’s a small exaggeration to say that I could board a flight to China tomorrow, be in Shenzhen by the next morning, plunk down about 1800 Yuan for a working Tegra 2-based 10.1-inch Android slate, draw my own logo on it with a white Sharpie on the flight home, and then after a quick 15-minute press conference at the airport...