The Brooks Review

Year: 2011

  • Microsoft’s iOS Apps

    I haven’t been posting links to all the apps for iOS that Microsoft has been releasing lately. I am sure these are decent apps and from what I hear there isn’t much complaining about their quality.

    This alone is incredibly interesting to me — it should be to you too — but what’s more interesting is Microsoft iOS Apps in general.

    So interesting that I wonder how someone got Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to approve of the move — especially at the level of commitment they seem to have towards churning out iOS apps.

    It really is dumbfounding if you think about it.

    Remember [Ballmer is the man that famously said in 2007](http://www.electronista.com/articles/07/04/30/ballmer.on.iphone/):

    >There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance. It’s a $500 subsidized item. They may make a lot of money.

    It would seem Microsoft would avoid such a platform, but the next sentence from Ballmer is even more interesting in retrospect:

    >But if you actually take a look at the 1.3 billion phones that get sold, I’d prefer to have our software in 60% or 70% or 80% of them, than I would to have 2% or 3%, which is what Apple might get.

    And here in 2011 his company is putting a real effort into creating quality apps for this platform that he thought would only have 2% or 3%. Perhaps having their software in 60-80% of smartphones really means not having Windows in those phones, but Microsoft apps?

    That’s likely not what Ballmer was thinking when he made the statement, but it may well turn out to be the reality of Microsoft’s future.

    All Microsoft needs is some better Android offerings.

    If we go by a favorite saying of the tech web, that Office is far more important to Microsoft than Windows, would it not make sense then that 10 years from now Microsoft is just a really good “app” company?

    That is, instead of making platforms (like Windows) they are just producing applications that run on the best platforms out there — regardless of who controls these platforms?

    With Ballmer this won’t happen, but with fresh eyes this seems to be a pretty interesting strategy for a company that is struggling to get a foothold in the ever important mobile industry.

    Of course this minimizes the sheer size of Windows itself, but then again I have to wonder just how important the traditional PC will be to the average consumer in a decade’s time.

  • The Seattle Police Department’s Epic Crash

    A nice run down of the crazy things the Seattle Police have been doing by Curtis Cartier. A series of events, mind you, that led to a DOJ investigation and finding of:

    >Among the findings are that SPD violates the constitution in one out of every five times that officers use force, that “discriminatory policing practices” are used on minorities, and that citizen complaints are routinely ignored.

    Even if you aren’t from the area the sheer stupidity of some of the actions are worth the read. [This article](http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2011/12/iphones-vs-the-police.html) makes more and more sense everyday.

  • Apple Patents Using Apps During Calls

    Erik Sherman for CBS:
    >But the company keeps getting broad and fundamental patents on basic smartphone features. And its latest, granted today, is another doozy: the ability to swap to an app while maintaining a phone call.

    Seems like something that shouldn’t be patented. Curious though, before the iPhone did any other phone allow this?

    Thinking back I don’t recall ever trying to do this on another phone before the iPhone.

  • Quote of the Day: Stephen Hackett

    “Don’t let fighting the distractions become a distraction”

  • Freemium’s Popularity

    Sarah Perez:
    >Half of the revenue of the 200 top grossing apps are now freemium apps in the iPhone App Store, says Distimo. In the Android Market, that figure is even higher: 65% are freemium.

    I hate freemium apps.

  • The North American Car and Truck of the Year Award Is Still a Joke

    This is a good analysis of why so many awards are just stupid. Moreover it gets at the heart of what I have been talking about these past few days with regards to writing and *The Verge*.

    [via reader Elliot]

  • Tim Chesney’s Response to My Verge Post

    Tim Chesney:
    >Imagine if Ben Brooks wrote for The Verge. It wouldn’t take many Android-is shit-and-so-is-this-phone reviews before you just wouldn’t bother reading it. That’s why someone like Ben probably isn’t suited to a site like The Verge. It takes a special kind of person to really take each gadget at face value and actually get excited by the possibilities and weigh each of its merits.

    Essentially the argument being made is that I am not suited for *The Verge* because I *have* an (admittedly strong) opinion?

    The lack of opinion on *The Verge* **is** the problem with *The Verge*.

    Now Chesney may argue that he likes *The Verge* the way it is now, but that simply doesn’t jive with the majority of the responses I am seeing to my post.

  • [Sponsor] OmniFocus

    We’re hoping you decided to check out the trial of OmniFocus after their sponsorship earlier this month. Here’s a quick 5-step jumpstart.

    1. Capture everything. Take 15 minutes to move things out of your head and in to OmniFocus. Anything from long-term goals (earn pilots license) to quick errands (card for mother).
    2. Define next actions. “Earn pilots license” deserves its own project. Move it to your library and decide what to do next.
    3. Organize actions with contexts. “Research area flight schools” might be assigned to a Mac context for googling, “card for mother” to Walgreen’s.
    4. Now we do stuff. If you’re at the office, focus on work projects to get stuff done!
    5. Review mode. Take time to consider each active project. Does it need some work?

    Find out more about OmniFocus [here](http://click.syndicateads.net/2011/12/Omni-3/brooksreview.html), and don’t hesitate to [ask questions](mailto:omnifocus@omnigroup.com).

  • Amazon Updates the Fire

    Color me skeptical. I sold my Fire so I can’t test this — I’ll wait for Marco to chime in. Having said that — I don’t think a perfectly working Fire is worth the money or time wasted trying to use it.

  • An ‘Outspoken Organ of Opinion’

    The title of this post is from *The Atlantic* co-founder Francis H. Underwood. This is an interesting article about how the publication turned itself around, but I thought this bit by Lauren Indvik was particularly relevant today:
    >It’s The Atlantic‘s tradition as a “platform for voices” that makes it a natural fit for the web, says Bennet, who became editor-in-chief of the magazine at the age of 39. “We’ve never had a coherent ideology or a consistent sound the way a lot of publications do,” he says. “To some people’s minds that’s been a weakness in print. But strong individual voices get heard on the web.”

  • Comments from Readers of ‘The Verge’

    I don’t have comments here, but there is an interesting thread of comments going on in *The Verge* forums on a post someone made [agreeing with my post](https://brooksreview.net/2011/12/failure/) about *The Verge*. I wouldn’t normally link to this type of thing here as I find it a bit too “me” centric.

    However, I find some of the comments to be very interesting. A couple even say that they basically like *The Verge* for the very reasons that I dislike it — that’s something I certainly can understand.

    One thing to be careful of is the “fanboy” slinging and using words like “objective”. I don’t know that I can articulate why I dislike those words as well as [John Gruber did on the latest episode of The Talk Show.](http://5by5.tv/talkshow/71)

    I’d just say that fanboy is an unneccessary term and objective news coverage *can* contain opinion.

  • ‘It Feels Like Trust’

    Randy Murray on buying goods at the Apple Store without interacting with an employee:
    >I’m sure they have all of the technology necessary to make sure that people aren’t walking out of the store without paying, but I couldn’t see any of that. There was no one checking for receipts at the door. No one eyed me suspiciously when I put the adapter in my pocket. I just scanned it and walked out. That’s not what happens at Best Buy or even Costco.

    I have yet to try it — mostly because the idea seems so foreign to me — but Murray makes some great observations about the larger scale impact this type of trust has.

  • The Other Side of the Coin

    Christina Warren offers some good thoughts on why many of the larger sites “temper” their opinions in product reviews. I can see where she is coming from, but — and this is something I didn’t specifically mention — a larger problem is a general lack of solid, strong, op-ed articles and opinions on what are essentially re-written press releases.

    I’m not just saying we need more opinion in tech reviews — I’m saying we need more opinion in writing period. There’s always a spot for the “unbaised” opinion-less news reporting, but that spot only needs a few people to fill it and that spot is just reporting.

  • Modifying Your Footnote CSS

    Not all advice I give is perfect, or so Dr. Drang found out.

    A lot of blogs that use footnotes don’t correct for a line-height issue in thier CSS — leading to footnoted lines having a greater top margin and thus looking bad. I forget who told me this, but I did not figure it out myself — so thanks to that person.

    Drang implemented my fix and found that it didn’t play well with iOS, so he has a modified fix. For what its worth, I haven’t seen the issues that he has on iOS — but it his fix does appear to work.

  • Two Senators Get ‘It’… Maybe

    In a letter to FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz from Sen. Herb Kohl the panel’s chairman, and Mike Lee, the ranking member they urge an anti-trust probe of Google. That’s par for the course and really not that interesting — what’s more interesting is this statement near the end of the letter:

    >Rather, our interest is to enure robust competition in this vital market. We recognize that the Internet is fast evolving and subject to rapid technological change. We are motivated by a strong desire to protect the Internet’s openness, competitiveness, and capacity for innovation.

    Apparently these Senators are not aware that we have [much bigger problems than Google](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act). ((One would think that SOPA is more damanging than Google.))

  • The Marco Arment Amazon Kindle Fire vs. iPad 2 Comparison Tablet

    I am glad I didn’t read this until this morning, because now I started off the day by laughing.

  • Amazon Item of the Week: Trollhunter

    All joking aside: this was my favorite movie of the year. It is a mockumentary based in Norway about a man that hunts Trolls for a living. It is a very well done movie and I enjoyed the crap out of it. The movie is in Norwegian, which I don’t speak, so do be prepared to flip on subtitles — still worth it.

    This would also make a great last minute gift for someone awesome.

    **Update:** Movie also on [Amazon](http://d.pr/9fvn) streaming and Netflix streaming I am told.

  • Create a .Com Button for Your Mac

    Michael Schechter wanted to help me out when I wished upon a star for a `.com` button on my Mac like we get in iOS. He created the button (of sorts) two ways, one with Keyboard Maestro and another with TextExpander. I’d further modify the Keybaord Maestro version by putting it in a group that makes it only work in Safari — that’s one of the best abilities of Keyboard Maestro.

  • Limited Edition JAMBOX

    Looks great ((I really mean that. The coloring is the only reason I am linking to this — I like it that much.)) and $50 go towards charity: water.

  • AT&T Ends Bid to Add Network Capacity Through T-Mobile USA Purchase

    AT&T:
    >To reflect the break-up considerations due Deutsche Telekom, AT&T will recognize a pretax accounting charge of $4 billion in the 4th quarter of 2011. Additionally, AT&T will enter a mutually beneficial roaming agreement with Deutsche Telekom.

    I think I heard all of Bellevue, WA cheering just a moment ago. ((What a huge win for T-Mobile and Deutsche Telekom. I still contend that this is actually *not* a good thing for consumers in the end. Typically I would argue that not consolidating is better for consumers, but in this case I really think AT&T could have susbstantially improved its network if it had acquired T-Mobile.))