Month: September 2011
Member Content:
Newsletter:
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The B&B Podcast – Episode 29: Kindles, Coffee, and Popcorn
>This week Shawn and Ben are joined by our pal Marco Arment to talk about the new Amazon Kindles and home coffee roasting and AeroPressin’. It’s good one, thanks to Marco for joining us.
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How Much Time America Wastes in Line at Starbucks
Michael Pusateri breaks it down, I won’t reveal the answer here. But, he does estimate this: >Doing the math: 11,131 stores * 449 visits per store = 4,997,819 visits per day by Americans. That’s just America… [via Twitter]
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‘It’s More Likely That I Was Doing 911km/H’
A letter from Justin Lee to the New Zealand Police on Letters of Note: >For me to have traveled from Porirua to the foot of the Bombay Hills just out of Auckland by six thirty, I would had to have crawled into the first car in the hospital parking lot and headed for Auckland at…
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iOS, a Bigger Business Than Microsoft
Horace Dediu: >iOS powered devices generate more revenue than all of Microsoft’s products put together That’s almost unbelievable, not to mention [IBM surpassing Microsoft](http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2016361398_ibmmicrosoft30.html?syndication) as the second largest tech company by market cap. I bet Ballmer is sweating.
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Amazon and Apple Have Mirror Opposite Tablet Content Strategies
Mark Mulligan: >Put simply, Apple is in the business of selling content to help sell devices whereas Amazon is in the business of selling devices to help sell content. That’s about as clear as you can state it.
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‘What Are We Supposed to Do With Google+?’
Garrett Murray has a great onslaught of questions about Google+, my favorite of them is this bit: >And if it’s an experiment, what is it trying to test? Whether or not people want a different social network? And also, if the experiment proves people do want an alternative, is Google+ the best one? Will that…
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Amazon’s Repositioning
A great post by Chris Ziegler that touches on a few really important concepts behind the Kindle Fire: 1. Amazon turning Android back against Google. 2. The idea that Amazon is now, in fact, a hardware competitor. I really like this line from Ziegler: >After all, it wasn’t long ago that we thought it was…
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‘Pure Fiction’
Alastair Sharp reporting: >”Rumors suggesting that the BlackBerry PlayBook is being discontinued are pure fiction,” RIM spokeswoman Marisa Conway said in an emailed statement. “RIM remains highly committed to the tablet market and the future of QNX in its platform.” I would guess there are a lot of things analysts/investors and RIM Co-CEOs could label…
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Amazon Kindle Press Conference Video on YouTube
You can now watch a low resolution video of the Kindle presentation on YouTube. I haven’t checked it out yet, but I have been told it was a well done presentation.
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HP TouchPad Go Details Galore
Derek Kessler has a nice run down of the 7″ version of the HP TouchPad, one that we will probably never see. Of note is this bit from Kessler: >The IPS screen retains the 1024×768 pixel count, but scales it down from 9.7 inches to 6.95 inches. I’d think that would have made for an…
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Amazon and Apple
There are two huge differences between Apple and most other companies that it “competes with”: Apple has a knack for understanding what the consumer wants — even if the consumer is still not quite sure what they want. To illustrate this point I think it best to recall a story I grew up hearing about…
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T-Mobile Also Files Brief in Support of Samsung Against Apple
Florian Mueller: >T-Mobile just submitted an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief in support of Samsung against Apple with respect to a possible US-wide preliminary injunction […] Good luck getting the iPhone.
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Quote of the Day: Tim Cook
“It’s people who deliver innovation.” — Tim Cook
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‘Purpose-Built’
Paul Stamatiou on the Kindle Fire: >The original Kindle was purpose-built: create an amazing digital reading experience. The Kindle Fire’s MO seems to be create an okay experience for apps, the web, books, movies, music and of course Angry Birds. It’s an interesting question that I don’t think any one short of MG Siegler can…
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Amazon Silk
Amazon Silk Team on the new browser that will be running on the Amazon Kindle Fire: >Each time you load a web page, Silk makes a dynamic decision about which of these subsystems will run locally and which will execute remotely. It’s damned clever and might just be *the* thing that we remember five years…
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Kindle Fire
7″ tablet with WiFi for $199. Pre-order now and ships on November 15th ((I’ve got my pre-order in.)) but what is most interesting is this bit of marketing text from Amazon: >Kindle Fire uses IPS (in-plane switching) technology – similar technology to that used on the iPad – for an extra-wide viewing angle, perfect for…
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Samsung Takes Android Patent License From Microsoft Rather Than Wait for Motorola
Florian Mueller: >By taking a royalty-bearing license, Samsung recognizes that Android has intellectual property problems that must be resolved with license fees, and reduces to absurdity the idea that Google is going to be able to protect Android after the acquisition of Motorola Mobility. Mueller also notes that Samsung has over 100,000 patents worldwide, a…
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Let Us Pay
Marco Arment: >If the free-update offer still stands when TextMate 2 ships, I will not take you up on it. I’m buying TextMate 2 as a new customer at full price. [I am right there with him](http://brooksreview.net/2011/03/fragility-free/).
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Instagram 2.0 Filters
John Gruber on the dulling of Instagram’s filters in the 2.0 release: >That’s the bottom line: they made Instagram less fun. I agree, the most obvious change (to my eyes) is with the ‘Kelvin’ filter which used to make the picture hideously orange. I’d welcome back the mandatory borders if it meant we were granted…
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The Small Monitor Experiment
Last week [I wrote a post](http://brooksreview.net/2011/09/meticulous/) that was a response to [Trent Walton’s post](http://trentwalton.com/2011/09/20/unitasking/) titled “Unitasking”. I hypothesized that my productivity and general computing happiness would rise if I stuck with only using the screen attached to my 13″ MacBook Air, thus forgoing using my spacious 24″ Apple Cinema Display. I committed to do this…