The Brooks Review

Month: March 2012

  • ‘Hardware Defects So Long’

    Paul “Supersite” Thurrott amuses me greatly, so I always like to read his takes on Apple “issues”. Today he posted about the iPad heat hubbub (which I have not personally noticed):

    >In the scope of things that could go wrong with a consumer electronics device, this is probably on the mild side.

    Wow, right there in agreement with you Supersite.

    >After all, Apple’s iPhone 4 shipped with a list of hardware defects so long, just covering them all accurately was difficult.

    Say what now? The only actual “hardware defect” I can think of that he could be referencing is the antenna issue. I searched about and the only other issues that popped up were a the couple of reported battery explosions (not to minimize that danger) and home button inconsistencies. To say that the list was “so long” that they cannot be covered seems to me like the biggest jackass statement of the week.

    The nerds on Twitter remember the following issues:

    – Antenna.
    – Battery explosions.
    – The white ones being delayed forever and discoloring (I don’t recall the latter bit).
    – Color issues with the screen (I thought that was resolved as a glue drying thing. Wherein once the glue dried it looked fine, perhaps I am mistaken.).
    – Easily scratched (Don’t recall that, but searches did pop up complaints).
    – Shattering the glass taking on and off cases That doesn’t seem like a hardware defect to me, but OK).
    – Home button not feeling right on some units.
    – Home button not being responsive, but was later fixed (in most cases) with software updates — meaning it was not a hardware defect in most cases.

    That’s 8 issues, many of which I don’t think are fair to classify as hardware defects as much as manufacturing defects — but either way a list that is not too long to recite. Oh, Supersite.

    Then Supersite just pulls me back in with this comment:

    >Consumer Reports, more famous for not recommending the iPhone 4 than for its decades of consumer advocacy, is reportedly investigating. We await their ruling from on high.

    LOL. Oh Supersite, you are so hit and miss.

  • The Smack Down

    John Gruber writing about Mike “Theatrical Performance” Daisey:
    >There is no larger truth here. This is not a mistake. This is simply a lie, a lie that was told to draw attention and create sympathy at the expense of the actual truth.

  • ‘In-App Ads Consume Mucho Battery Life’

    And cue the deletion of any apps that display ads (unless I can pay to remove them).

  • 20% Off iTunes eGift Cards

    Last time a deal like this came around I bought $300 worth for $240. I get no kickback here, just buy these up because they are a great deal (works not just for Music/Movies, but for Apps too).

    Again you are essentially getting 20% off of every app in the App Store.

  • Australian Federal Police Airport Teams Are Just ‘For Show’

    Robyn Ironside reporting on the Australian equivalent (or I assume) of the TSA
    >One senior executive said in his experience, the officers were expensive window-dressing.

    >”When you add the body scanners, the ritual humiliation of old ladies with knitting needles and the farcical air marshals, it all adds up to billions of dollars to prevent what? A politician being called soft on terror, that’s what,” he said.

    Sounds about right.

  • iCloud Tabs

    I hope this features makes it to the release version — it’s also the kinda feature that creates a lot of browser lock-in.

  • Dictating to Your Mac

    Here’s a neat trick that I am sure many of you have figured out, but that I just discovered Friday night. If you have [TouchPad](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/touchpad/id297623931?mt=8) on your iOS device (probably other apps allow this as well) you can use the `dictation` key in iOS to dictate text into your Mac.

    If that sounds really easy, that’s because it is. I use this now when I am trying to type things out on our “media center” Mac mini that is hooked up to a TV without a keyboard — works surprisingly well. I for one am pretty happy with this little trick.

  • Best iPhone Battery Case

    Not named Mophie…

  • How Apple.com Will Serve Retina Images to New iPads

    Jason Grigsby researching how Apple serves high quality images to Retina screen iPads:
    >As far as I can tell, there is no attempt to prevent duplicate downloads of images. New iPad users are going to download both a full desktop size image and a retina version as well.

  • Cook and Oppenheimer on Dividend and Buyback

    Tim Cook responding to an analyst during the Q&A:
    >We actually do love to announce new products, we just don’t do it in conference calls.

    I like Cook.

  • TextExpander [Sponsor]

    *Note from Ben: This is actually a great deal from Smile because you can get 20% off software in their store — be sure to use that code before it expires though. That really means you have no excuse not to own PDFpen or TextExpander — both apps that I use daily, hell minute-ly for TE.*

    TextExpander can be as simple or as geeky as you want. Whatever your level of experience, there’s a TextExpander tip for you:

    **Getting Started:** Make a snippet for your email address. You’ll be amazed at the keystrokes you’ll save not having to type that over and over.

    **Intermediate:** Add one of the Predefined Groups, like HTML/CSS snippets or instant URL shorteners. There’s even an AutoCorrect group to fix your typos.

    **Advanced:** Try fill-in snippets, which have multiple variable fields. For example, you could have a form letter with blanks for name, product, company, etc. Type your abbreviation, fill in the fields and you’re done.

    **Even More Advanced:** Create your own AppleScript and shell script snippets.

    Get the [free demo](http://click.syndicateads.net/2012/03/TextExpander-2/brooksreview.html). Don’t miss the 20% off special discount. Use the coupon code SYN0312 in the [Smile store](http://sites.fastspring.com/smile/product/te?coupon=SYN0312) (Expires March 31, 2012).

  • ‘New iPad Feature ‘Dictation’ sends/stores Private Data to Apple Servers’

    Stephen Chapman pens a rather long post about the privacy concerns he sees with the dictation feature on the iPad. I am just as paranoid as the next guy (nope, probably more) and even I don’t see the problem here.

    Chapman is trying to paint Apple has being shady about this, when that is far from the case.

    Apple warns you that contacts and user data *will be stored* on their servers when you turn on the feature. That’s about as much as you can hope for.

    The one shady part that Chapman unearthed was that Apple says it will delete the information from its servers when you disable the feature, but in the Privacy Policy it states that the information may be retained for an unspecified period.

    This may sound hypocritical, and perhaps my feelings towards Apple in general are clouding my judgment, but I think Chapman is making a mountain out of a mole hill here. The two statements clearly conflict and need to be clarified, but I think it is pretty clear what Apple is doing with the information: improve the accuracy of dictation (at least according to what Apple says in the Privacy Policy).

    At the very least, this is a feature you can easily turn off.

  • Retina iPad Wallpaper Pack

    Fantastic work, as always from John Carey.

  • Mountain Lion Now Protects Your Contacts

    Dustin Curtis:

    >Before Mountain Lion Developer Preview 2, Mac apps could access your contacts at any time, without asking for permission. You wouldn’t even know it was happening. This policy is the same as the one on iOS, which recently got a lot of attention. Today’s release of DP 2 removes that ability by default.

    That’s awesome.

  • The Magic of Doing One Thing at a Time

    Tony Schwartz on multitasking:
    >The biggest cost — assuming you don’t crash — is to your productivity. In part, that’s a simple consequence of splitting your attention, so that you’re partially engaged in multiple activities but rarely fully engaged in any one. In part, it’s because when you switch away from a primary task to do something else, you’re increasing the time it takes to finish that task by an average of 25 per cent.

  • Introducing Instapaper 4.1 for iPhone, iPad

    Marco Arment:

    >Now, Automatic Dark Mode has a new Twilight Sepia option that gradually tints the screen with a slight sepia tone during the early evening hours before switching to Dark Mode (and during the early morning hours after switching to Light Mode).

    That’s a sweet feature. Arment also added new fonts. I had a chance to beta test them — they are exceptionally nice (and of course FF Meta is the best option). A great update.

  • Shit, Meet Fan

    This Mike Daisey stuff is only getting started, but it’s important enough that I feel it warrants more than just more linked list posts. It’s important not because it paints Apple in a better light, but it’s important because of the trust we (myself included) thought we could place in publications like NPR Chicago Public Radio (syndicated to PRI, apologies) and The New York Times.

    John Gruber is doing a great job digging into this:

    – [The New York Times reporting on the incident, and retraction](http://daringfireball.net/linked/2012/03/16/nyt-daisey).
    – [CBS News](http://daringfireball.net/linked/2012/03/16/the-dark-side)
    – [MSNBC and Daisey’s Blog](http://daringfireball.net/linked/2012/03/16/dramatic-license)
    – [The fire starter: This American Life](http://daringfireball.net/linked/2012/03/16/this-american-life-mike-daisey) Who, credit where credit is due, is doing a full retraction show.

    Update: [Dave Caolo has a great quote too.](http://52tiger.net/i-wouldnt-express-it-that-way/)

  • This American Life Retracts Hugely Popular Episode on Apple and China

    Nate Anderson:
    >Well-loved radio show This American Life—spawned from station WBEZ right here in Chicago—has some “difficult news” about one its most popular shows, an episode on Apple and labor conditions in China. The episode “contained significant fabrications,” writes TAL host Ira Glass today on the show’s blog. He is devoting this week’s entire episode, called “Retraction,” to the story.

    Can’t wait to listen to that episode.

  • Oink’s Data Privacy Breach: Download the Data of Any User With Their Own Export Tool

    Cristina Cordova:
    >So, curiously, I tried replacing my username with Kevin Rose’s: http://oink-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/kevinrose-export.zip (go ahead, click it). You’ll get a zip file of every item he has ever added, rated or reviewed. You’ll also get every photo he has ever uploaded to Oink.

    It’s like these companies don’t care or something, oh wait, they don’t.

  • The Verizon iPad Has an Unlocked Micro-SIM Slot That Can Be Used With AT&T 3G Networks

    Matthew Panzarino:
    >This is a pretty cool development, as it would have been easy for the Verizon edition to be locked down so that it wouldn’t be able to use AT&T’s GSM networks here in the states. The device will only work on the standard 3G, HSPA+ and EDGE networks because Verizon and AT&T’s LTE networks are not compatible.

    Sweet.