The Brooks Review

Month: May 2012

  • The Mac App Store: Falling in Love Again

    Andy Ihnatko:
    >But damn, yes, the Store makes life so much easier for every user.

    I can’t tell you how many hours I have spent trying to dig through old emails and guess at old passwords to get registration credentials for old software. That used to be the sole reason that I never deleted software from my Mac.

    Just before the Mac App Store I started to store this data in Yojimbo so that I could delete apps, but the Mac App Store just makes deleting apps you don’t want anymore a no-brainer. So what if I have to pay for upgrades, at least I have a full, working, archive of every app I bought.

  • ‘Buying Adobe Photoshop CS6’

    Pat Dryburgh on his experience trying to upgrade to Adobe’s cloud program so that he can finish important client work (like mine, geez):

    >I asked the support person when I should expect my serial number. Expecting an answer somewhere in the neighbourhood of 5-10 minutes, you can imagine my surprise when I was told “in the next 24–48 hours.”

    It’s been over 48 hours and he still didn’t get his serial numbers so he cancelled and received his refund. Contrast this to Amazon where I can order a physical good that is sent to my doorstep in less than 24 hours. Good job Adobe.

    **Update:** [Turns out](http://patdryburgh.com/blog/no-serial-number-needed/), Pat didn’t need a serial number for the “cloud” version of Photoshop. Funny thing is: Pat spoke to four Adobe customer service reps and not a single one told him this. So the question now is: is it the user’s fault for not being able to figure out how to register your software, or the UX designers fault. ((Hint: It’s never the user’s fault.))

  • Become vs. Stay

    Nick Bilton reporting on the long rumored Facebook phone:

    >“Mark is worried that if he doesn’t create a mobile phone in the near future that Facebook will simply become an app on other mobile platforms,” a Facebook employee said.

    News flash: Facebook is already just an app on other mobile platforms. Facebook’s real challenge is to not *stay* just an app, because that’s all they currently are on mobile.

  • ‘Please Refer to the Matrix’

    John Moltz talking about the difference between Metro Windows 8 apps and desktop apps:
    >This is the pig of Windows 8 that resists any attempts at applying all forms of lipstick. There’s simply no getting around the fact that this is a confusing dichotomy.

    Great post that outlines why Windows 8 is a step forward, but a step that is very close the the ledge.

  • ‘Force YouTube Links to Open in Mobile Website on iOS’

    Mac OS X Hints:
    >This will make all YouTube links open the mobile website and will also hide the native YouTube app on the device. If you decide you want to revert these changes, simply go to the Restrictions settings and toggle YouTube back on.

    So, wait, not only do I get to watch the YouTube videos on the better mobile site, but I also get the benefit of not having to see the YouTube app on my iPhone? Sign me up.

  • Warren Buffett’s Letter to Publishers and Editors

    Warren Buffett:

    >We must rethink the industry’s initial response to the Internet. The original instinct of newspapers then was to offer free in digital form what they were charging for in print. This is an unsustainable model and certain of our papers are already making progress in moving to something that makes more sense.

    *Nailed it.*

  • The Dark Sky Company

    A big thanks to this week’s sponsor: [Dark Sky](http://darkskyapp.com/?ref=brooksreview). They really do make a different kind of weather app, one that I find not only useful, but supremely beautiful. I use Dark Sky just about everyday, multiple times, it’s on my iPhone home screen and in my iPad’s dock.

    Quite literally the only problem that I have with Dark Sky is that I like it too much. The guys behind the service have gone through such great lengths to make the data fast to get out of the app that you need not spend much time in the app — yet it is so interesting to see the weather maps and look at the graph that I often find myself, very rudely, staring at the app for no reason.

    If rain is something that you want to know about (really everyone on in the Pacific Northwest with an iOS device should own this), then I really do urge you to check out Dark Sky.

  • Apple Responds to the DoJ

    Jacqui Cheng:
    >”Without Apple’s entry, eBook distribution would essentially be ceded to a single distributor (Amazon), who would then possess virtually unlimited power in the eBook business,” Apple wrote. “Apple provided all publishers, large or small, similar opportunities to utilize Apple as an agent to sell eBooks directly to consumers through the iBookstore on non-discriminatory terms.”

    This response has to make Amazon feel a tad bit uneasy.

  • Degreees

    A very nice weather website that shows the current temp (weather status by background color), your location, the high for today and tomorrow. It’s dead simple and nice looking.

    Bonus tip: open it in iOS and save it to your home screen for a fullscreen view and a nice looking icon.

  • Where I Get an Arc90 Employee to Call me Dumb and Fox News in One Tweet

    I am now, officially, opted-out of Readlists ((You should do the same by emailing them.)) and after rejoicing on Twitter, Arc90 employee and Readability lead developer, Philip Forget, responded with a series of tweets. Since so many tweets were wrapped up in the conversation let me show you the series between just me and Forget:

    Here’s my [first tweet](https://twitter.com/benjaminbrooks/status/206051792935600128):

    >*Finally* Opted-out.

    [To which my pal Jonathan Christopher responded](https://twitter.com/benjaminbrooks/status/206052315558453248):

    >@BenjaminBrooks have you paved the highway to getting that done? I’d like to follow suit.

    [I then quipped](https://twitter.com/philipforget/status/206052683906424832):

    >@jchristopher just email them at their feedback link. If you aren’t me it should only take minutes. If you are me, expect a week.

    Now that was not nice of me, but it *is* kinda funny if you ask me — and if you follow me on Twitter I am a pretty sarcastic guy. [But here’s where Philip Forget chimed in](https://twitter.com/benjaminbrooks/status/206053225034551296):

    >@BenjaminBrooks @jchristopher We have only been out 2 days

    Good way to defuse me by clearly showing I was wrong. That was a great response, and [then I responded (again by being a dick)](https://twitter.com/philipforget/status/206053550210560003):

    >@philipforget @jchristopher I stand corrected. Me: 48 hours. Rest of the world: 5 minutes.

    Ok I was a bit mean with that one, but hey I feel burned by these guys. [Forget then responds](https://twitter.com/benjaminbrooks/status/206053959201333249):

    >@BenjaminBrooks @jchristopher You as well as the “Rest of the world”: 1 minute after asking once the functionality was added by me

    Now this is the meat on the bone. Forget seems to be admitting that Readlists did not account for the fact that people would not want to be included in this service. Fine, but then why not just tell an annoying ass, like me, that you are working on implementing it and to sit tight. Believe it or not that would have shut me up while I waited for them to add it, [so I asked this question](https://twitter.com/philipforget/status/206054437364572161):

    >@philipforget @jchristopher so why not respond to my earlier emails with “we are working on it” instead of silence. Honestly…

    I added the “honestly” to try and show that it was a sincere ask and not me being a dick (that doesn’t always work, but I try). That’s pretty reasonable of me to ask, [but here is Forget’s response](https://twitter.com/benjaminbrooks/status/206054675680735233):

    >@BenjaminBrooks We tried talking you on _your_ radio show. Are you really this dumb or are you trying to be a human fox news?

    Now *that* is a dickheaded response. The “radio show” he is talking about is the live broadcast of the B&B Podcast that Shawn and I do. He tweeted to me offering to have Rich Ziade call in when we were already 55+ minutes into the show. Now, most of you know podcasts don’t go much longer than that — especially not ours. We said on the air that we would love to do that, but that we wanted to talk offline and prepare to have that done on another show — not the one we were just wrapping up.

    Anyways, without further comment here is the rest of the Twitter conversation after an Arc90 employee called me “dumb”:

    [Me](https://twitter.com/philipforget/status/206054936604184576):

    >@philipforget and I told you we would be happy, but aren’t interrupting an in progress show. Still why not answer my earlier emails?

    [Forget](https://twitter.com/benjaminbrooks/status/206055259569786880):

    >@BenjaminBrooks Your show was talking _about_ realists and you gave a copout excuse about not knowing how to add us in

    [Me](https://twitter.com/benjaminbrooks/status/206056060614750209):

    >@philipforget Either way we run a professional show that we wanted to wait until we could have a a discussion that we both knew boundaries.

    One last thing: my question was never answered.

  • An Important Update About Readlists

    [Jonathan Poritsky got a small interview with Richard Ziade](http://www.candlerblog.com/2012/05/25/richard-ziade-on-readlists/) (the CEO of Readability/Arc90/Readlists) and asked about whether the service crosses a line. Ziade didn’t answer, so Poritsky (and this made me happy) pressed the question again and this time Ziade tried to frame it against the web in general — which has been the response I get (if I get one). That’s a bullshit answer, the question was directly asked about your service, not the web and as a CEO you need to answer that clearly for your service. Here’s what Ziade told Poritsky as part of the interview:
    >Now, we’re not sure how this plays out. Keep in mind, Readlists is an experiment. It’s free. We’d love to talk to publishers and writers about how we can tweak it so they can derive value from it. That’s ultimately what we want to do because the tools we build come out of a love for writing.

    He’d love to talk to publishers? I’ve emailed them three times now asking my site be “opted-out” as they call it. I have emailed Ziade several times before. I pinged Ziade, Chris Dary, and Arc90 COO, Bobby Ziade on this matter.

    No response.

    Bobby Ziade even followed me Wednesday and I DM’d him asking to be opted-out.

    Screenshot of my DM to Bobby Ziade

    Again, no response.

    This isn’t a matter of me being impatient because I have copies of emails they have sent to other writers that have asked to be opted-out — at this point it is them actively ignoring my takedown requests.

    So it sounds like Ziade is either lying to Poritsky when he said “We’d love to talk to publishers and writers”, or he really means any writer and/or publisher that doesn’t publicly call foul — which is exactly the people they *should* be talking to.

    **Update:** I now have confirmation that I have been “opted-out” of Readlists. You should ask for the same (using the feedback link at the bottom of their site, just say “please opt-out [domain name]”).

  • Facebook Releases a Photocentric App for Apple Devices

    It seems to me that Facebook finally realized the same thing that I did years ago: people like Facebook because they like to stalk 1) former “lovers” and 2) former high school rivals. ((Often I refer to this as my: “any new photos of that girl I used to know on a bikini possible vacation?” theory.)) So a photo app seems like the perfect tool to do just that, makes sense.

  • ‘Google Subsidiary Motorola’

    This is the opening statement by Florian Mueller on his latest report of a Microsoft victory over Motorola in a German lawsuit:
    >The Munich I Regional Court today ordered a German patent injunction against wholly-owned Google subsidiary Motorola Mobility because the Android operating system infringes EP1304891 on “communicating multi-part messages between cellular devices using a standardized interface”.

    Emphasis is mine. I emphasize that part because this is a PR problem that Google now has to deal with. Prior to acquiring Motorola Mobility, Google was only defending itself against the, non-consumer facing, Oracle ((To the best of my knowledge.)). Now though, every lawsuit against Motorola Mobility is essentially a lawsuit against Google — because Google owns Motorola Mobility.

    That may not be an immediate problem, but the more lawsuits that Motorola Mobility loses, the darker Google’s black eye gets.

    Take for example Mueller’s closing paragraph in this same post:

    >Most Android devices sold in the United States already have an Android (and Chrome) patent license from Microsoft. Major device makers like Samsung, HTC and LG have opted for legal certainty, and every ruling that Motorola loses against Microsoft validates their decisions to prefer licensing over litigation.

    With Motorola Mobility now owned by Google, could they even license a patent without significant repercussions? Think about it, because in my eyes, Motorola Mobility licensing a patent, from anyone, is admitting that Google itself needs to also license that patent for Android as a whole. Oops.

  • ‘Kickstarter Hides Failure’

    Dan Misener scraped the Kickstarter website, only to find out that there are in fact no readily visible failed projects. Misener brings up the interesting point that it is hard for new project creators to learn from the failure of others if they can’t see those failures. I understand why Kickstarter hides failures, I would too, but a bigger point that Misener didn’t touch on is the projects that were funded that *still* failed.

    This is not uncommon, but it’s rarely (if ever) talked about. It’s going to take a major failure for a change to be made. Imagine if the runaway success project for the Pebble watch fails to ever see the light of day. Kickstarter can rebound from that, but they need to have much better communication than they currently have with backers. Right now all I ever hear from Kickstarter is what new projects they think I should back.

    What about the projects that are massively behind schedule? What responsibility should Kickstarter have to backers over those failures?

    Both questions are going to need to be answered, clearly, sooner rather than later.

  • Diet Coda

    Hot on the heels of Coda 2 is Diet Coda, which just became the best code editor with built in FTP by a large margin on the iPad. Seems like a bargain at, the soon to change price of, $9.99.

  • Coda 2

    Amazing update. I have always been a TextMate user for code, but Coda 2 converted me last night with its AirPreview feature to the iPad alone.

    AirPreview is a bit magical.

  • The B&B Podcast #62: iSniper

    Shawn and I talk about smoking meat, those damned bigger screened iPhone rumors and, of course, Readlist.

    Brought to you by the fine folks at Hover.

  • 1136 x 640

    John Gruber explaining how Apple could keep a 4″ iPhone under wraps while still getting developers ready for the larger screen before hand:
    >If Apple introduced something like this in iOS 6, they could encourage iOS developers to adopt the recommended APIs to be responsive to changes in available vertical screen space. For now, they could pitch this in the context of *shrinking* screen space in response to on-screen notification banners, but, come October, apps that do the right thing would automatically be responsive to, say, a new device with 176 more pixels.

    That would be clever and answers one of the biggest doubts that I have/had about the rumored ‘tall-skinny’ iPhone.

  • Business Speak

    HP Press Release:
    >HP (HPQ) today outlined plans for a multi-year productivity initiative designed to simplify business processes, advance innovation and deliver better results for customers, employees and shareholders.

    That’s business speak for: “We are firing 27,000 employees.”

  • ‘Over-Promise and Under-Deliver’

    Paul Kafasis tried to reenact the Samuel L. Jackson Siri commercial and it sounds like Apple needs a “results may vary” disclaimer.

    There’s no doubt in my mind that I am better off with Siri than without, but she can be a very frustrating woman. What makes Siri even more frustrating (at least to me) is that Apple is always changing things on the back end. People often comment that Siri has gotten worse or better, but what’s really happened is Apple has tuned Siri to *be* more accurate and thus we notice the changes on the user end.

    This would be a good thing, if as humans we didn’t adapt, but we do adapt. When I tell Siri: “Call my Wife.” I get back a prompt that says something like: “Sorry, I don’t have a number for ‘My Wife’.” Which is stupid. So I put my Wife’s contact as my spouse on my contact info, aaaaannnndd Siri still couldn’t figure it out.

    I even told Siri to remember that “My wife is Erin Brooks” — to which she said “OK” — no go.

    Then I added “Wife” as the nickname to my Wife’s contact and tried that. No dice. What does work for me: “Call Wife.” It took me all of 20 minutes to get that working when Siri came out, now it’s my default behavior.

    That’s just one thing, but there are tons of corrections that *I* have made to the way that I talk to Siri to make her work better for me. Now, when Apple tweaks Siri on the back end, sometimes they fix the workarounds I was using and the end result is that my workarounds don’t work as well.

    I don’t see this changing because Apple *must* make Siri more accurate and in the process Apple is going to (unintentionally) break things periodically that we, as users, adapted to.