The Brooks Review

Year: 2010

  • World’s Biggest Supercomputing Superpowers

    Wow.

  • Can the Eee Pad Compete With the iPad? – Digits – WSJ

    Not as it currently stands.

  • When Companies Respond to Online Criticism With Lawsuits

    DAn Frosch

    Outraged at having to pay $118 to get his car back, Mr. Kurtz created a Facebook page called “Kalamazoo Residents against T&J Towing.” Within two days, 800 people had joined the group, some posting comments about their own maddening experiences with the company.

    T&J filed a defamation suit against Mr. Kurtz, claiming the site was hurting business and seeking $750,000 in damages.

    In my opinion it is never a good idea to get mad at 800 people instead of listening to thier compaints.

  • What your email address says about your computer skills

    The definition of an @yahoo user is very true.

  • Apple Sells Two Million iPads in Less Than 60 Days

    Apple PR:

    Apple® today announced that iPad™ sales have topped two million in less than 60 days since its launch on April 3.

    Wow. Faster than any Apple product that I know of to reach the 2 million mark.

  • Security firm discovers spyware in Mac software

    David Chartier:

    Intego, makers of security and privacy apps for the Mac, warned on Tuesday that some Mac software include a new piece of invasive spyware. Macworld has obtained a preliminary list of the applications with the spyware.

    Go to the link, look at the list and delete them if they are on your computer.

  • Judiciary Committee Wants Answers from Facebook

    Zuckerberg pissed them off too.

  • Google ditches Windows on security concerns

    The Financial Times:

    Google is phasing out the internal use of Microsoft’s ubiquitous Windows operating system because of security concerns, according to several Google employees.

    Bound to happen, the question is not who will follow suit but when, and how long it will take Microsoft to respond. I don’t think companies should or will abandon en-masse but I do suspect that companies, like Google, that have built out around multiple platforms will do so with great ease. Microsoft you should have Ballmer and Schmidt in the same room to fix this before you really start to lose.

  • Are Questions The “Future Of Facebook”?

    Erick Schonfeld:

    The advantage Facebook could have in the Q&A space is that to the extent that you find answers from your extended social network, questions can become the start of deeper conversations and spur new relationships. But breaking it out as a separate feature raises some new questions. Will every major type of status update now become its own feature on Facebook (like Photo and Event updates do)? And, if so, what’s next?

    I see this as a move to counter the growing popularity of sites like Formspring.me who are very popular among younger students (middle school to high school).

  • Another Take on the Wired App

    Aegir Hallmundur:

    No, I think most on-screen magazines will be dominated by long articles of fairly plain text interrupted with advertising, just as print ones are now. I’d like to see some better means of delivering advertising on-screen than we have now though — I find flickering and flashing adverts unbearably distracting and can’t imagine paying for any magazine that uses them in its articles, so I’d hope for something more respectful and dignified.

    Whatever happens, and whatever conventions we end up with, I suspect that the reality will be at once quite wonderful if you stop to think about it, but disappointingly dull and prosaic on first impressions. I doubt we’ll have a wow moment from it, which is, I think, kind of the point.

  • Department of Justice Inquires Into Apple’s Adobe Flash Policy

    Samuel Axon:

    The U.S. Department of Justice is talking to industry figures about Apple’s decision not to support Adobe Flash on the iPad, The New York Post reports. An anonymous “Hollywood” source told the Post that the DoJ is “doing outreach” because “the Adobe thing is just inviting the wrath of everybody.” The Post already predicted this inquiry several weeks ago.

    Don’t read too much into this, not supporting another companies proprietary stuff on your proprietary stuff is not monopolistic practices. Further, Adobe has yet to show they can actually run it on the iPhone, so all Apple has to say is that it is not technically possible right now.

  • Adobe’s Digital Publishing Roadmap (PDF)

    Interesting that Adobe seems to be differentiating between the iPad and the iPhone. The iPad being a platform in Adobe’s eyes, and the iPhone being a mobile reader. I see them both as one in the same.

  • A VC: I Prefer Safari to Content Apps On The iPad

    Fred Wilson:

    understand why content companies are so interested in iPad apps. It is a familiar model to them. But as currently configured most content apps do not take advantage of the power of the digital medium. And so they are mostly useless to me.

    I agree with most of his assessments, apps such as the Wired App need a lot of work before they become really useful.

  • Skype Over 3G Comes to the iPhone. It’s Not All Good News

    John C Abell:

    Skype on Saturday released an upgrade to its iPhone app that allows calls to be made and received under AT&T’s 3G network, but there’s a catch — they won’t be free for very long, even for Skype-to-Skype calls or for people who have all-you-can-eat calling plans with the internet telephony company.

    Just extended to the end of 2010 for free calls over 3G.

  • Harry McCracken On the Facebook Privacy Changes

    Harry McCracken:

    Bottom line: Managing your Facebook privacy is still a remarkably convoluted process which isn’t explained clearly enough.

  • Chris Saad: “Facebook’s Claims About Data Portability Are False”

    Chris Saad:

    In the face of this, however, Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook continue to (deliberately?) confuse the idea of open technologies with “sharing in public.” The attempt to correlate the two things is at best misinformed and at worst dishonest.

  • Air Force X-51A Waverider: faster than Superman

    Peter Grier:

    The first mission for its technology likely would be use in a weapon. The X-51A could morph into a hypersonic cruise missile by as soon as 2015. That would provide the Air Force a long-sought Prompt Global Strike capability, defined as the ability to target any spot on earth with a conventional warhead within 60 minutes.

    Wow.

  • I’ve Changed My Mind About The iPad

    Fred Wilson:

    So I’ve changed my mind about the iPad and tablet computers. In my initial review, I focused on capabilities. And tablets are stuck between the power and utility of the notebook and the size and features of a smartphone. But they also create a middle place in terms of usability. And that is what I missed in my first day with the iPad. It feels less like a computer than any computing device I’ve owned. It’s easy on me in a way that the other devices are not. So I’m now convinced that tablets will have an important place in our homes and our lives.

  • The top seven iPad knockoffs

    God these are ugly.

  • WIRED on iPad: Just like a Paper Tiger…

    Excellent analysis. I like the Wired app, but it still needs improvements, such as: copy & paste, zooming, tweeting & sharing. iA is all about posting controversial thoughts, but this is not without solid logic and analysis.