Liz Gannes:
Perhaps most interestingly, he said that Twitter does not plan to release official desktop clients, which had been a major concern for some third-party developers.
So this pretty much seals Tweetie for Macs fate right? Worst news from Twitter to date.
Verizon is the largest U.S. carrier of mobile telecommunications, we all know that – why then don’t they have the iPhone, they aren’t getting the first crack at Windows Mobile 7, they didn’t get Android first, they aren’t getting the Samsung Galaxy Tab first either. So what the hell is going on at Verizon, surely they want some stuff first, right?
I have no inside info, nor do I still know anyone who currently works for Verizon, but the logical guess is that they must be dicks to try and work with. Think about it, it would be a huge win for Microsoft to sell through Verizon first as it takes the iPhone as a direct competitor (in so far as the iphone is AT&T only) out of the picture, it would also be a great win for Verizon (more choices that aren’t on AT&T). So surely Microsoft went to them first and there was something that kept it from happening, yet they were able to get a deal done with AT&T. Now there is no exclusivity, just the normal delay before everyone gets the phone, but that delay is a lucrative thing.
So goes the tale for the other devices I mentioned, Verizon appears to be winding up in second place across the board with device makers. I have to say that at this point it must have something to do with the archaic views held by the senior executives at Verizon. What else could it be?
That is, what else could be stopping all these hardware makers from working with the biggest and arguably the best mobile company in the U.S.? Egos that’s what. Ego is stopping Verizon from making huge profits and if you are a shareholder you damn well better be pissed.
Egos are putting Verizon in the mindset that they are king pin and they can dictate what others should do – which Apple has proven with the iPhone – is something that consumers don’t want. Verizon is getting beaten by the competition they are beating themselves. If Verizon wants to succeed they need to open their eyes are start being amicable – or maybe the hardware makers are really the stupid ones – actually now that I think about it, probably both are given the recent lack of profits that lead to the LG and Nokia CEOs losing their jobs.
The sound in question is the robot voice that you hear say “droid” in the commercials. I am on my iPad so I can’t try it right now, but no doubt this works. Funny suggestions as to what you should type as well.
Claire Cain Miller:
He and other Google executives were not shy about needling Facebook for making it difficult for Google to import social information. Upon signing up for Facebook, people can import their Google contacts, but it does not work the other way around, Jonathan Rosenberg, senior vice president of product management, noted.
“The best thing that would happen is Facebook would open up its network and we’d use that information to improve our ads and our search,” Mr. Schmidt said. “Failing that, there are other ways in which we can get that information, which is what we’re working on.”
What ‘other ways’ do they have, what the hell.
No surprise, the iPad is grabbing up to 50% of laptop sales at Best Buy. I have heard from a couple of people that Best Bu is hard selling the iPad over laptops, which one would think would hurt their profitability with regards to the Geek Squad guys. Interesting none the less.
This beta was enough for me to decide to renew my Dev account and put on my iPad. Two things I wanted were the folders for apps and the unified inbox in mail. As I said the other day this update keeps everything that was great about the iPad and adds to it.
It is like spending most of your life sitting in really great seats at a baseball game, but those seats are still cramped and plastic. Then one day your seats get uograded (for free) to slightly wider and fully padded seats. That is the difference between 3.2 and 4.2 on the iPad – life just gets a little better with it and you begin to think ‘this is the life’.
Dan Frommer:
All's fair in business, we suppose. But Google is now basically acting like heyday-era Microsoft here, throwing its weight around and screwing over small companies for its own gain. Google Android boss Andy Rubin went as far as to call Motorola co-CEO Sanjay Jha “multiple times” to impose a “stop ship” order on the company's phones, according to Skyhook's complaint.
If Google is the new evil then how do we feel about Microsoft? I feel pity for them. Also this evil Google is only going to get worse I suspect – for the greed has taken over.
Look for this app to hit the app store soon. Looks awesome, perhaps a real Simplenote challenger?
I have no real reason for posting this other than to say I wish Yojimbo and Ulysses has mobile versions of their apps. That would be really nice.
This looks like a great idea, but what if your password has a space in it? That seems like it may cause a problem, not to mention it would eliminate usernames with spaces (though most sites don’t allow that, and why not?).
That seems to be the question on many pundits minds over the past few days, now that I have the update (iOS developer program) I can tell you that 4.2 still keeps the iPad user just as focused. Even more it keeps the user more productive.
I saw quite a few posts where people were concerned that the focused environment the iPad forces upon you will all be lost once it gains multitasking support. Well that is all just a load of crap, yes you can switch apps quickly with multitasking, but that is all that really changes – you still only see one app (fullscreen) at a time.
I think that is perhaps the key to the single-tasking, focused work environment that the iPad offers – one app on your screen at a time. You are so easily distracted on your computer because you can see all the incoming email notifications, the growl popups, the Twitter replies – you can even have all these things on the same screen at once if you want to pretend you are in hell.
The iPad though is different, it is zen. You launch Simplenote, pop it into full screen mode and you can’t see anything else. That is focus, that is single tasking, that is then what everyone loves about the iPad. Multitasking (at least in iOS 4.2 beta 1) changes none of this. Sure I have only had the beta running for one night, but I can tell you that without a doubt it does not change the focus you can achieve from using an iPad. Multitasking does not make a device into a computer (at least not the way that Apple has implemented it), all multitasking does is makes the device a little easier to use.
The real change with iOS 4.2? Being able to use folders to organize apps – now that is useful.
Shawn Blanc:
Inbox Zero means I care more about this moment than I do about my narcissistic tendencies of knowing who’s talking to me on Twitter. It means I care more about doing my best creative work than about keeping up with the real-time web and being instantly accessible via email.
I stopped caring about staying on top of my email inbox a few months ago, but Twitter I am finding harder to let go of – perfect timing on this post.
I will try the printing tomorrow in the office (no printer at home except an expensive photo printer). For now if you want to know what is new read through this.
Peter Svensson for the AP (via the Seattle Times):
It took competitors a couple of years to start catching up to the iPhone in a serious way. The gap will probably be shorter for tablet computers, but by getting the iPad right on its first try, Apple has real head start. Maybe I’m trying to justify my purchase here, but I have a strong feeling there isn’t a lot to be gained by waiting for the others to catch up.
This is a pretty wild account of what is going on, of course only one side is shown here. What is shown is pretty damning evidence against Fusion Garage. The thing is though (and Gruber said something to this affect a while back) what are they fighting over? This product is not making money, what can they hope to gain?
Fantastic read, Bill Hill:
When the history of reading on screens is written, it might well be seen as a series of footnotes to the iPad. Yes, we’ve had other eBook devices before now. And yes, the Kindle broke new ground with long battery life using the eInk technology. But as I said in an earlier post, eInk is essentially a backward-looking technology, too slavishly bound to emulating paper, and it’s an evolutionary dead-end.
Peter Bright does a great job covering all of IE 9. One thing that I think is pretty nice is the way tabs are handled, they take up no extra vertical space. They are not on the top or bottom of the URL bar (Chrome is top, Safari is bottom right now) rather they are inline with the URL bar. This looks nice and like I said takes up no extra vertical space (which on our widescreen computers is precious), though the major downfall is how many tabs you can realistically deal with before they become too small.
Just take a look at that picture – the new boxed wine is a comin. I bet this makes true wine lovers die a little on the inside, and college students everywhere get really excited about the possibilities.
Live in the Dev center right now, I just renewed my iOS developers account so that I can get it (I have been waiting for a iOS 4 beta for iPad to hit to renew). Sweet!
