The Brooks Review

Month: August 2011

  • “Market’s Expectations”

    Yenting Chen and Joseph Tsai responding to iPhone 5 rumors:
    >[…] however, the sources believe that the leaked specifications are rather the market’s expectations for iPhone 5.

    Shocking.

  • The New ‘HP Way’

    Al Lewis on how you kill HP in one years time:

    >Raise your financial estimates, twice. Then miss them, twice.

    He has a ton more examples of the mis-management of HP, but his penultimate paragraph really sums it all up: this is the new HP way.

  • Some Apps I’m Playing With

    I haven’t talked about iOS apps in a bit, but I have been doing my duty and playing with a bunch of them. I wanted to talk (briefly) about a few of those apps.

    ### Glassboard

    [Just launched “private group sharing” client](http://glassboard.com/). It is mobile only, which is interesting. Personally I don’t much care for it, you must invite users using email — which sucks because you don’t know if those users are already using the service yet or not. This also means you risk annoying users and flooding their inbox — not good and will keep me from inviting people.

    I am beginning to think that I am just not the target market for these private group messaging apps, because I have yet to find one to be useful. There are a great many UI niggles that are bugging me — though in fairness I am running a beta OS so I don’t know what is a result of the beta OS and what is an actual bug (which is also why my iOS app reviews have waned of late).

    ### Elements

    There’s a [new version out](http://www.secondgearsoftware.com/elements/) and the icon is vastly improved, meaning that I can finally give it serious consideration. Unfortunately there are a bunch of bugs that are, again, likely iOS 5 only bugs.

    That said I still much prefer Notesy on both the iPad and iPhone.

    Though both apps need a lot of work on their iPad counterparts so those versions don’t look like scaled up versions of the iPhone app.

    ### Tempus

    This is a [new calendar app](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/event-calendar-tempus/id456838001?mt=8) for iOS that is from the guys that brought us Calvetica. Guess what? It is a lot like the former versions of Calvetica — a stripped down and lightweight calendar app.

    Having said that this app isn’t bad by any means — its just not as good as Calvetica and about on par with Agenda in my book. Which is to say that it is a good app, bested by its older sibling.

    ### Diacarta

    [Diacarta](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/diacarta-planner/id377198326?mt=8) is a very interesting calendar app — one that looks like nothing else. My biggest problem with Diacarta has always been that there wasn’t support for multiple calendars — with this new version, there now is.

    I gave it a spin for a day, but I have to say that I just don’t find it to be that useful from a utility standpoint. I like the look and “feel” of the app, but that isn’t enough to get me to use the app full time. I like the idea of seeing your schedule more visually, but I am too set in the ways of “regular” calendar apps to get used to this app.

    *That’s it for now.*

  • Apple Removes TV Rentals From iTunes

    So consumers get the peace of mind of “owning” the shows and studios get the higher per-episode-price that they want. Win-win?

  • The B&B Podcast – Episode 24: Weed Whackers

    Shawn and I spend way too much time talking about the design of this site and blog design in general. Luckily we find time to talk about application launchers and the review of one that Shawn is working on, as well as talking about Steve Jobs’ resignation.

    Many thanks to our sponsor: [Paste Interactive](http://pasteinteractive.com/)

  • Hunter Research and Technology

    My thanks to Hunter Research and Technology for sponsoring the RSS feed this week. They specifically wanted to promote their Wx app that is one of the nerdiest weather apps out there.

    I recommend that you check out [Wx for Mac](http://hrtapps.com/wxmac/index.html) especially with the storms that are brewing on the east coast of the U.S. — it’s an app that is packed full of information. It’s easy to find a ton of apps for iOS, Mac apps that go beyond the current weather though — those are much more rare.

  • Thoughts on a Kindle Tablet

    Dan Provost on the rumored Amazon Tablet:
    >For the life of me, I can not think of one good reason why Amazon would ditch all of the benefits of their e-ink display in favor of competing directly with Apple with a full-fledged tablet device. It would seem destined to suffer the same fate as all other iPad competitors.

    He has a nice proposal of what he would like to see — a device that I could see owning *in addition to* an iPad. That would be a win for Amazon if you ask me.

  • “The Post-Personal iPad”

    Khoi Vinh:
    >So our phones are the devices reflect us as individuals, while iPads seem to be the devices reflect our closest relationships. This is where I think it’s more accurate to think of the iPad as not just a post-PC device, but as harbinger of a post-personal flavor of computing, one that is more perhaps cooperative, and more open as a user experience.

    I get what Vinh is saying and I even slightly agree with it, but I think as time moves on that the iPad will not take the “post-personal” route. I think that it is far more likely that the iPad follows the same path as the phone. The phone started by being rare, then one per household, then one per room (or a few cordless models), the one cellphone per family, then per car, now one (or more) per person.

    If the iPad is the new computing paradigm it would seem far more logical — to me — that it would follow a similar path.

  • Hurricane Irene to Challenge Cell Phone Networks

    It’s interesting watching and listening about the preparation for Hurricane Irene from afar. I have seen tweets from Comcast and several other infrastructure providers reporting on getting crews ready to keep services up and running.

    There is no doubt in my mind that cell networks will be overloaded — they always seem like they are at capacity on any given day, in most major cities. What will be far more interesting if what prevails as the best way to get news — so often it has been Twitter, but will people be able to get access to it?

  • Court Orders Google to Return ‘Immediately’ a Damning Email Previously Withdrawn From Evidence in Oracle Case

    Florian Mueller:
    >Google will keep fighting, but realistically, the jury will get to see the Lindholm email. As a result, there’s a fairly high risk for Google that it could be found to have infringed Oracle’s Java-related intellectual property rights willfully, which in turn would result in triple damages and, even more importantly, an injunction — the maximum leverage Oracle could possibly get in order to dictate the terms of a license deal.

    Yikes, sounds like even a settlement is really going to hurt the pocket book at this point.

  • WWSD?

    James Allworth, Max Wessel, and Rob Wheeler for the Harvard Business Review:
    >Now, the culture has coalesced to such a point that every time someone at Apple makes a decision — from the color of metal panelling in the retail stores to the animations on the iPhone’s interface — that Apple employee has one overriding thought:

    >**What would Steve do?**

    *(Emphasis theirs, not mine.)*

    They conclude that this question will only be more pervasive as Jobs’ role is lessened. I agree.

  • Mr. Chairman

    Steve Jobs has [resigned](http://www.finanznachrichten.de/21166402) from Apple.

    I don’t care to speculate on the health of people, but I would guess that Jobs did not want to step down at this point — rather he *needed* to step down.

    There is about to be rampant speculation and rumors running amok about this: ignore them all.

    Here’s what you really need to know:

    With Tim Cook presumably taking the role of CEO (it has yet to be made official) and Jobs moving to Chairman of the Board, Director, and Apple Employee — what really changes?

    Not much, mostly titles would be my guess. The unfortunate truth of the situation is that Jobs has had a very diminished role in Apple for the past several years while he battled various health issues. Cook has been Jobs’ go to guy doing this entire period — Cook has been running Apple a lot lately.

    That’s what you need to know.

    Jobs will still be heard when he needs to be.

    And Cook? Cook has already shown himself more than capable for the job.

    Life will go on, Apple will be fine.

    *Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.*

  • Letter From Steve Jobs

    Steve Jobs in his resignation letter:
    >As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

    Very sad, but very interesting to know that (as rumored) the plan was to appoint Cook all along.

  • “Big, Beautiful Displays”

    Mike Gikas:
    >Phones running the Android operating system dominate our newest cell-phone Ratings, thanks to incredibly sharp displays that often measure 4 inches or more and exclusive access to 4G networks, now available on all four major carriers.

    If you [click on the chart](http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/electronics-computers/phones-mobile-devices/cell-phones-services/cell-phone-ratings/ratings-overview.htm?INTKEY=I95BEE0) (which you have to be a member to see the full chart) you will see that the highest priced phone is $200, ranging down to $30. I’m sure that has nothing to do with the high rankings. I am *sure* it is all about those “Big, Beautiful Displays”.

  • Google’s $500 Million Fine for Being Evil

    Claire Cain Miller for NYT:
    >The fine, which the Justice Department said is one of the largest such penalties ever, covers revenue that Google earned from the illegal advertisers and revenue that the Canadian pharmacies received from United States customers.

  • Lenovo Unveils the ThinkPad Tablet With Android

    Paul Eng:
    >The Lenovo tablet’s touchscreen, for example, can accept input from a digital pen, which will allow users to draw and annotate documents and pictures. An optional portfolio case contains a built-in wireless keyboard, complete with Lenovo’s TrackPoint—an eraser-like nub that moves the on-screen pointer.

    Prices start at $500. I bet RIM is scared now, Lenovo/ThinkPads are *the* corporate machine — and this tablet has email capabilities.

    It may not sound great to iPad users, but I bet CTOs stuck with Exchange are going to love this — if only to shut up C-level execs who want tablets.

  • GAget

    The difference between this Dashboard widget for Google Analytics users and the others that I have tried? This one actually works.

    *(Side note: Please don’t email me about other analytics systems, I have tried them all. Also Mint is the best, but unfortunately it overruns my server for an unknown reason if I even allow access to the directory you install it in, so that’s out.)*

  • Enable HiDPI Mode for Higher Resolution Displays

    Another tip from Mac OS X Hints, this time about how with Xcode 4.1 you can enable HiDPI. I tried it out and was able put my Cinema Display into `960 x 600` HiDPI resolution. Things look amazingly huge, yet the text was crystal clear.

    This should be cool once we get full software and hardware support (you know, so that we can have higher resolutions that what I tried out).

  • Monitor Your Wi-Fi With Wi-Fi Diagnostics

    A very cool built-in tool with Lion that I had no clue existed until I saw this. This will help quite a bit the next time I need to position and set up a WiFi network.

  • Mac Pro Fast

    Robert X. Cringely responding to reports of “new Macs” and “radical” changes, theorizes on Apple killing the Mac Pro and instead [doing this](http://www.cringely.com/2011/08/is-the-mac-pro-dead/):

    >I expect Apple to move to a modular architecture where the building blocks for high performance computers are generally Mac Minis. Start with a new Mini or with a Thunderbolt iMac and expand both storage and processing by adding a stack of up to five more Thunderbolt-connected Minis. A maxed-out system would have six I7 processors with 24 cores, 24 gigabytes of DDR RAM (expandable to 96 GB!) and at least six terabytes of storage. And at $6000, it would be half the price of an equivalently tricked-out Mac Pro.

    The geek in me is all sorts of excited about such a prospect. Nothing says cool like daisy chaining a bunch of Macs to make a fully supported (by Apple) home grown super computer — people have been doing [this for years with Mac Pros](http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/07/24/virginia_techs_mac_pro_supercomputer_to_crack_29_teraflops.html).

    *Sorry, had to wipe drool off my chin.*

    While the geek in me would love to see such a scenario — as Cringely lays out — would such a play be in Apple’s best interest, or even “fit” with Apple’s philosophy on computing?

    ### Philosophy

    I think it is safe to say that Apple has an outward goal of making their lineup of products as simple as possible. So the argument, as Cringely states it, for such a move would be that eliminating the Mac Pro makes things all the more ‘simple’ for buyers. But does it?

    I think not.

    As it is the Mac Pro is the least confusing product — the most straight forward — that Apple sells. It is the high-end-price-is-no-object-geek-badge-of-bad-ass-ness-computer.

    That is: no consumer is ever torn between buying a Mac Pro and any other computer Apple sells. High-end buyers buy them and they already know that’s what they need/want. Even I know that a Mac Pro is vast overkill for everything that I do — even if I could do it all at once. The average consumer knows by price alone that such a computer is not for them.

    So by eliminating the Mac Pro and adding in the ability to chain Mac minis into mini-super computers — you would now be adding a layer of complexity to a process Apple has spent the better part of 10 years honing: the setup.

    Whether you buy a $699 Mac mini or a $10,000+ Mac Pro, the setup will always be the same: plug in the monitor/mouse/keyboard and plug everything into the wall, press the power button. For there you get one of the most highly polished and thought through setup procedures in computing.

    *Done*.

    Could you imagine how messed up the streamlined Apple setup process would be if you wanted to setup two, three, ten Mac minis — so that they were working together — as one? I think no matter how hard Apple would try such a process would be a nightmare for both the user *and* Apple.

    Not to mention: what does one do when the system isn’t working? Take the entire setup to the Apple store? Sure taking in a Mac Pro is a chore, but taking in a series of interconnected computers and their related power adapters?

    That’s down right “un-Apple”.

    ### Sensibility

    Then you have to take into account whether such a move would even make sense for Apple as a company. I am not certain, but I would guess the margin on the Mac Pro is much higher than on the Mac mini, especially when you start talking RAM upgrades.

    Even if that isn’t true, even if the Mac mini is a higher margin machine, is it worth not having a computer that you can dangle in front of every geeks face as the Mac Pro?

    If Apple ditched the Mac Pro, what then would Pixar use? What would they say is *the* machine that you should use if you are:

    1. A pro-photographer?
    2. Pro-videographer?
    3. Graphic design studio?
    4. Gamer?

    The same iMac you bought your Mom?

    There would no longer be a *the* machine, now it would be *the* machine*s* — and how many of you think that such an array would be feasible for the normal pro in the above list to setup stress free?

    As much as we want such a neat setup, how many actually believe that Apple could carry over the “Mac experience” to such a setup?

    I don’t.

    ### But Macs Are Fast

    Yes, the iMac is lightening fast. Yes, so is every other Mac. But they aren’t *Mac Pro* fast and that’s the problem.

    Even *if* Apple had such an idea in their head — why not keep the Mac Pro and allow users to chain them together, natively, out of the box, right now? If you think chaining Mac minis together would be sweet, imagine even the idea of doing the same with Mac Pros?

    *Crap, drool, again.*

    I just don’t see Apple doing this. The complexity of such a system is something that Apple is quickly moving away from. I have no doubt that they are not happy with the Mac Pro as it currently stands, but the answer isn’t killing it — the answer is just making a touch smaller *and* faster.

    Apple isn’t about to try and teach/support users on chaining Macs together, no matter how much they want to drop the Mac Pro from the line up.