The Brooks Review

Year: 2011

  • Justin Williams on Magazines and the iPad

    Here’s Justin Williams’ advice to magazines on the iPad:
    >The iPad is a great opportunity to reach beyond traditional paradigms. Explore them and see what works.

    There isn’t a single iPad magazine that takes true advantage of the iPad in way that many other apps do. Williams’ criticism of *GQ*, *Esquire* and *Sports Illustrated* are spot on and I agree with every point he makes.

    Moreover I have been at the airport and purchased a paper issue of Esquire before because I knew that I wouldn’t have time to download the issue before I had to jump on the plane. That’s just pathetic to think about — especially so compared to how fast I can download (likely) more articles in Instapaper.

    So much of the bad magazine experience can be directly tied to the advertising shoved into the magazines.

    Fix it.

  • Let’s Stop With the Siri Baiting

    Adam C. Engst:
    >Siri can be useful, and is a whole lot of fun to demo, but it’s unreasonable to read anything more — certainly not Apple corporate policy — into Siri’s successes, failures, and little asides.

    This entire drama over Siri is so stupid I can’t believe people got mad about it. ((Well I can believe it, but what happened to common sense?))

  • Congressman Barney Frank’s Best Insults

    My favorite:

    >What the hell is wrong with you?

  • EA Relaunches Tetris on iOS With a $30/Year Subscription

    When you read the above title you probably are thinking: “that’s nuts.”

    Actually EA sells Tetris for $0.99 and then using an in-app purchase you can become a member of the T-Club, this gets you random crap you likely don’t want, for the $30/yr price.

    What’s really interesting is how much they have messed up the look of Tetris. Just look at the [screenshots](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tetris/id479943969?mt=8) — looks hideous.

  • Apple Licensed iOS Scrolling Patent

    Nilay Patel reporting on the licensing of an iOS scrolling patent claims that the following has been licensed in the past:
    >The patent in question is #7,469,381, which covers the distinctive “scrollback” behavior of iOS that displays a background texture when you scroll beyond the edge of a document of webpage.

    Apparently Nokia and IBM licensed this patent. Interesting given Jobs’ comments in his biography.

  • Quote of the Day: Marco Arment

    “Because if anyone’s willing to throw massive piles of money at gaining marketshare that isn’t worth anywhere near what they spent to gain it, it’s Microsoft.”

  • New York Times Overhauls Comment System

    Jeff Sonderman:
    >The Times will invite any reader whose comments are consistently approved over a certain time period to become a “trusted commenter,” whose future comments go public immediately. Everyone else’s comments will be held for review by a Times moderator, as they are now.

    That sounds like a great move and I fully understand why people comment. What I don’t understand is who reads these comments and what they expect to gain from reading the comments.

    Does seeing a “trusted” commenter make a reader more likely to read the comments of that person? Doubtful.

    I still just see comments as a way for writers to allow “discussion” without ever having to pay attention to that discussion.

  • Kindle Fire to Ship 3.9 Million Units

    Laura Hazard Owen:
    >Amazon’s Kindle Fire is the second most popular tablet after the iPad and will ship 3.9 million units in the last quarter of this year, projects research firm iHS iSuppli.

    Keep in mind that this is tablet is based off the same hardware specs as the Playbook — the same Playbook that RIM [failed to sell even a quarter that amount of](http://www.splatf.com/2011/12/playbook-inventory/).

    That’s why software is so important — and I guess having a native email client. ((Idiots.))

  • $16 Billion in Bonds?

    Florian Mueller talks about the bonds that Motorola might have to post for its lawsuit against Apple in Germany. Staggering amounts of money. Now Apple’s cash hoard is looking more and more reasonable. They don’t need the money to pay attorneys — they need it so they can put up the big blind ((That’s a poker term, don’t email me.)) and play their hand.

  • Delete a Gowalla User Account

    Yeah, I’m all over this one.

    [via DF]

  • Facebook Acquires Gowalla to Boost Timeline Team

    All I know is this: I am done with Gowalla.

  • Apparent

    My thanks to Apparent for sponsoring the RSS feed this week to promote their new Doxie Go scanner. This scanner is truly fantastic and you can check out my full review of it [here](https://brooksreview.net/2011/11/doxie-go-review/).

    I think for the price you pay this is one hell of a scanner. I don’t have anything else to add, so just [read the review](https://brooksreview.net/2011/11/doxie-go-review/) and then [buy one](http://www.getdoxie.com/a/tbr_nov11-2.php).

  • The B&B Podcast – Episode 36: People to See, Places to Go

    >Shawn and Ben talk about making videos and Shawn’s dislike of iMovie. The help you get from a GorrilaPod and a Glif. Ben’s troubles with shooting product photos with the iPhone 4S. The Fitbit and Jawbone UP. They also rave about Doxie Go, while lamenting the case. Lastly it is all about the monitor that Ben cheaped out on.

    Special thanks to our sponsor: [Instacast HD](http://vemedio.com/products/instacast-hd).

  • Some Knife Follow-Up

    After posting the [review](https://brooksreview.net/2011/11/fielder/) of the SOG Fielder I have gotten a few questions that all seem to be the same. So I wanted to take a quick moment to answer these.

    ### Why don’t you have a cooler knife?

    A lot of you have shared your favorite knives with me and I love that — thank you. I do have a lot of knives already, but I chose to review the Fielder because it was my latest addition.

    Some have asked about spring assisted knives. I have never had one of these (at least the type I assume most are talking about), but I do have some knives that have the [SOG assisted technology](http://sogknives.com/store/assisted.html) on them. That assisted technology is fantastic without being dangerous and I really recommend it.

    ### What is your every day carry knife?

    I carry an [SOG Flash I partially serrated](http://sogknives.com/store/FSA-97.html) knife everyday. It has the assisted technology that I love and is very lightweight while being cheap enough to replace if I lose/break it.

    One thing that I want to point out is the partially serrated blade. I normally would’t choose this, but did so because a lot of the time I cut twine and zip ties during the day. The serration really helps slice through those with ease.

    For most people I would go with a standard, non-serrated, blade.

    ### What do you carry camping?

    Unfortunately I don’t have a very straightforward answer for you on this one. So instead here’s how I decide:

    – **Day Hikes**: For simple day hikes I will typically carry just a large folding pocket knife. The [SOG Trident](http://sogknives.com/store/TF-3.html) to be specific. This is true unless I know the particular area I will be hiking in is very remote. If I know the hike with be very remote (as in I can’t walk back to civilization in a few hours time) then I will add in a light weight fixed blade knife. Typically that will be the [SOG Field Pup](http://sogknives.com/store/FP3.html).
    – **Camping**: If I am just going car camping, or camping not too far from civilization, then it will be the same kit as above with the Field Pup. Typically if my wife is with me she will take my everyday carry knife as her knife. This is more for my peace of mind than for her to use.
    – **Backpacking**: When I go backpacking (i.e. I strap a heavy backpack on my back and really get away) I will take the Trident and the [SOG NW Ranger](http://sogknives.com/store/S240.html) with me. ((I have an older model that has a partially serrated blade, but I much prefer the new model.)) This is my go to survival knife right now, but I am getting a new knife that may replace it.

    The one knife I have that I really never use or take with me is the [SOG Fixation Bowie](http://sogknives.com/store/FX-01.html). It’s just too damned big and heavy.

    I hope this answered your question.

    #### Buy the Knives ####

    Buying the knives mentioned in this post from any of these links will help to support TBR:

    – [SOG Trident](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00020BNW2/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=brooksreview-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00020BNW2)
    – [SOG NW Ranger](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00468FBAG/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=brooksreview-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00468FBAG)
    – [SOG Field Pup](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00007E1LZ/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=brooksreview-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00007E1LZ)
    – [SOG Fixation Bowie](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0017212JS/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=brooksreview-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0017212JS)
    – [SOG Flash I](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AQABOY/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=brooksreview-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000AQABOY)

  • Microsoft to Drop Desktop App From Windows 8 ARM Tablets?

    Mary Jo Foley reports that Microsoft just may drop the ‘Desktop Mode’ from Windows 8 on ARM tablets (they would be smart to drop it) and notes:
    >If Microsoft does do away with the Desktop App on ARM, it also would mean — unless Microsoft also changes its strategy for x86/x64-based Windows 8 tablets — that Windows 8 will be different on different hardware.

    *Shocking*.

  • Apple: Carrier IQ Still on iPhone 4

    Jon Brodkin with a nice bit of information on which Apple product still uses Carrier IQ:
    >But we were a bit curious about what “most of our products” means in that context. In response to our question, Apple tells us there is only one device running iOS 5 that still runs Carrier IQ, and it’s the iPhone 4.

  • Knife Steels

    A nice resource explaining what the difference is between the knife steel used — in a manner that I understand.

  • A Letter to Carrier IQ

    From Senator Al Franken.

  • Apple’s Statement on Carrier IQ

    John Paczkowski on a statement from Apple about Carrier IQ:
    >We never recorded keystrokes, messages or any other personal information for diagnostic data and have no plans to ever do so.

    They will be removing all references to Carrier IQ also. This is the best statement I have seen on the matter because it is plain, direct, and clear.

    What’s interesting though is that they also said:

    >We stopped supporting Carrier IQ with iOS 5 in most of our products and will remove it completely in a future software update.

    Which products do they still support Carrier IQ in?

  • How to Perfectly Reheat Pizza

    Genius.