From the iTunes description:
>Vital Signs Camera is the only App that measures your heart rate and breathing rate remotely, simply using the camera of your iPad 2!
It was $0.99 and I was bored at Starbucks so I purchased the app. Amazingly, it works. The heart rate seems pretty accurate and it was pretty fast to acquire it too.
Overall I find the app pretty useless, but amazing at the same time.
ST Holdings, LTD, a distributor for “over 200” music labels, on pulling its music from Spotify and other streaming services:
>As a distributor we have to do what is best for our labels. The majority of which do not want their music on such services. They provide poor revenue and have a detrimental affect on sales. Add to that, the feeling that their music loses its specialness by its exploitation as a low value/free commodity. Quoting one of our labels “Let’s keep the music special, fuck Spotify”
I mean, Radio is special, just not IP enabled radio. Can’t *you* see the difference?
The Wire [notes](http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/7994/) about the music that ST Holdings serves: “specialises in techno, grime, dubstep, and bass music”
Paul Roberts relaying a comment from hacker “pr0f”:
>”I’m sorry this ain’t a tale of advanced persistent threats and stuff, but frankly most compromises I’ve seen have been have been a result of gross stupidity, not incredible technical skill on the part of the attacker. Sorry to disappoint.”
Or to state it more succinctly: people are idiots.
CaptureNotes 2 is more than just a note-taking app for the iPad. It lets you record audio while you type.
While there might be other apps that let you take notes and record, CaptureNotes 2 brings an entirely new feature to the experience: Flags.
Flags are intelligent bookmarks, allowing you to place specific marks in time during a recording to follow up on in later review. For example, if you were using CaptureNotes in a class, you could mark things like test questions, text references, follow-up requests, or even make your own custom flag set. In a meeting at work, you could mark action items to follow up on.
When it comes time to study for your test or compile your to-do list, you can sort notes by flag type, taking you back to that specific piece of audio recording and notes.
Note-taking is also available on imported PDFs and email sessions. CaptureNotes lets you store your binders and notebooks on Dropbox.
CaptureNotes 2 was recently selected as app of the week at TiPB, and is sale to celebrate. Capture everything at school, work, or home with [CaptureNotes 2](http://click.syndicateads.net/2011/11/CaptureNotes/brooksreview.html).
Chris Foresman:
>Would a professional photographer replace her trusty DSLR with an iPhone 4S? No. But, might a casual snap shooter replace a pocket camera with an iPhone 4S? It’s pretty likely.
Nice comparison, though I would have liked to seen more point and shoots and less smartphones.
Wladimir Palant commenting on some things he found while digging around the Chrome browser:
>Don’t get me wrong: Google Chrome is a great browser and it is easy to get excited about it, argue about benchmarks, brand-new standards and such. But sometimes you get a reminder: this is a Google product and it has to benefit Google. It isn’t merely about making the web better, it is also about promoting Google products and giving them an advantage over competing services.
Brett Terpstra:
>The longest part of the installation was entering my wifi password using the dial, and even that was under a minute.
I am buying a house just so that I can get one of these.
Nellie Andreeva:
>Netflix has outbid an established pay cable network for the rights to new episodes of short-lived Arrested Development.
Smart move. I’d like to see Netflix do more of this.
>In this episode Shawn and Ben talk about Jeeps, the Kindle Fire, the Kindle Touch, all the hoopla surrounding Readability and paying publishers, and the Jawbone UP.
Jordan Golson:
>For dropped calls, something for which AT&T has been consistently criticized, Sprint comes out worst. Metrico claims Verizon experienced a 2.1% call failure rate while AT&T had 2.8% and Sprint was worst at 3.7%.
Also take a look at the chart for the network speeds, AT&T really comes out ahead in this test. While I don’t doubt it has issues in Manhattan and San Francisco, it overall is a pretty decent network it would seem.
From the geniuses at OmniGroup:
>We could have said “Yay, Siri and OmniFocus can work together” and gone back to our long-term projects. Instead, a couple engineers got to talking “You know, if we… and then the server… and…” “Wow, I think that would totally work!”
So damned sweet.
**UPDATED**: I just had a chance to play with this and it really does work well. Much better than other solutions I have seen. Additionally it “completes” the task that you added to the Reminders app so that you don’t get a double notification. If you work at the OmniGroup and see me on the streets of Seattle I will happily buy you a drink.
Here he is starting off his criticism:
>In fact, I will go so far as to say that this device appears to have been designed by someone who has not only never used a Kindle, but is actively working to usurp the platform from inside. Amazon, find this mole and remove them with maximum prejudice. They have ruined a device that should have been excellent.
**UPDATED**: I don’t agree with his assessment, sorry that wasn’t clear.
Bryan Gruley and Cliff Edwards writing about Sony and its CEO Stringer for Businessweek:
>Jeff Loff, a senior analyst with Macquarie Capital Securities in Tokyo, points out that Sony sells nine different 46-inch TV models in the U.S. and its mobile-phone joint venture with Ericsson offers more than 40 handsets. “Can you imagine how dilutive that is to your R&D?” he says. A Sony spokesman says the number of phones is being reduced, and notes that Samsung has 15 different 46-inch TVs.
This article does a great job to spell out what’s wrong with Sony and why Stringer should not be in charge — though the Stringer bit I don’t think is the point of the article.
I also can’t help but wonder if this isn’t the rabbit hole that Google is heading down. Both are engineer focused and create a wide range of products and in Google’s case are continuing to move farther away from their profit center.
Some phenomenal photos.
I was chatting with a friend the other day about Readability’s model. The question that he asked was (paraphrasing): “So after 12 months, what happens to the money that is unclaimed?” You see “premium” members pay a monthly fee (that they choose, mostly) and 70% of that fee is evenly distributed out amongst the sites that the person reads.
This is an incredibly noble cause, and I believe that Readability only has the best intentions, but there does lie a significant flaw in the model. In order for a site to get the money, the site actually has to sign up, as a publisher, with Readability and then they get a check every 6 months.
So after 12 months, what happens to all the money that would, *should*, have gone to a publisher that did not opt-in, or actively chose to not participate?
The obvious answer is that Readability keeps that money and its just a bonus to them for pursuing this business model.
Hmm.
I was a huge fan of Readability when it came out because of the fact that I may make more money. I’m not going to lie, I like things that impact my bottom line in a positive way. I never once had a problem collecting, and continuing to collect, a check from them every six months.
But I think they are going about this wrong. If my assumption that Readability pockets unclaimed money after 12 months, I think as both a publisher and formerly a paying member, we should be upset.
If a site doesn’t claim money after 12 months, I think the left over funds should be dispersed equally amongst the sites that actually are setup to collect the money — on a user by user basis. That is if Tom paid out $5 to 5 sites ($1 for each site) and 1 of those sites didn’t collect their money, after 12 months the 4 sites that Tom already paid each now get $0.25 more — this seems far more “noble” that taking the money and sticking it in your pocket.
This would be better, but it’s still not great. The next part, I don’t have a good solution for.
### Last Night on Twitter
You see last night on Twitter [David Chartier](https://twitter.com/#!/chartier/status/137316873887956992) tweeted:
>Readability makes it drop-dead simple for readers to thank publishers, publishers to get paid. I love it [http://tmblr.co/ZelxbyC3Y5rH](http://tmblr.co/ZelxbyC3Y5rH)
That tweet set in motion one of the most interesting discussions I have ever followed on Twitter, because Kontra (@counternotions) [responded](https://twitter.com/#!/counternotions/status/137330248252530689):
>@chartier How do you know publishers get the money?
I am going to skip ahead here, but first a short recap of the conversation. Kontra doesn’t sound like he is a Readability fan, and eventually Anil Dash (Readability advisor) and Marco Arment (Instapaper founder) chime in to the conversation. Everything is very cordial and there is some nice discussion and debate. Then Kontra sent four tweets that really blew my mind and completely changed how I think about Readability.
[Tweet 1](https://twitter.com/#!/counternotions/status/137351777023565824):
>@chartier Is it OK for a 3rd party to collect money in the name a publisher w/out its knowledge or content? (See, books, Google, courts.)
[Tweet 2](https://twitter.com/#!/counternotions/status/137370881625296897):
>@chartier For avg user, Readability is collecting money in the name of the publisher. There’s no way of getting around that.
[Tweet 3](https://twitter.com/#!/counternotions/status/137374513666080768):
>@anildash When somebody collects money in your name w/out your consent (with a cut), it’s called something else in many boroughs of NYC.
[Tweet 4](https://twitter.com/#!/counternotions/status/137377133193478144):
>@anildash Any act is not always better than no solution. Readability has no right to claim agency for publishers w/out consent.
After reading those four tweets I really started to have a problem with Readability’s business model. Because the mysterious Kontra is right — Readability has no right collecting money in my name without my consent.
Now, realistically, I have given Readability consent by signing up — but what about other publishers that have not only not signed up, but have actively chosen to *not* sign up? Is it still OK for Readability to be collecting money in their name?
I think not.
But how do you solve this problem? I don’t know, but it is a very real problem.
*(Note: I just want to reiterate that I don’t think Readability has any malicious intent. The model is complex and inherently flawed.)*
Walter Isaacson in an interview with Nick Bilton:
>He can’t be replaced by one person, but two people can replace him. Tim Cook is the business side of Steve’s brain. He’s meticulous, scientific and business-like. Jony Ive is the artistic, emotional, romantic side of Steve. The two of them together are an incredible team that will hold together very well.
James Shelley:
>To occupy such a time as this is to realize that every issue before us is bigger than any particular brand of protest or strategy. If these are indeed the greatest cultural challenges that we and our children will face, then we do not only need the direct action of demonstrators to activate our collective consciousness, we also need to coordinate some practical, actionable strategies for addressing the issues themselves.
Well said.
Marco Arment on the Fire:
>Granted, I’ve only spent two days with it, so I can’t share any long-term impressions. But I’m honestly unlikely to have any, because this isn’t a device that makes me want to use it more. And that’s fatal.
Exact same feeling that I had, though I didn’t notice the light leak issues that he did.
Ernesto at TorrentFreak:
>According to the resolution these measures need to be countered as they endanger “the integrity of the global internet and freedom of communication.”
Mike Loukides starts by talking about how much he adores Android because it is open, the ends with this:
>The price of openness may well be letting vendors break stuff. And I suppose I’m willing to pay that price. But I don’t have to be happy about it. I hope Google can figure out how to exert some control over what vendors do with Android; that would be good for the whole community. AT&T and other carriers are not helping Android, or themselves, by turning a great product into a second-rate one. And maybe I’m becoming soft in my old age, but I now understand what Apple fans hate about Android.
I’d say he still doesn’t fully understand Apple fans. To understand Apple fans, you must first understand why this statement by Loukides is so absurd to Apple fans:
>[…]at one point had a whole stack of Android phones sitting on my desk[…]
That statement right there is a better example of everything that is wrong with the Android market, it’s more than just crap UI and carrier logos. It’s about every facet of Android and the market that it has created.
You can argue all day long that:
>[…]if Apple didn’t exist to be teach us what great design was, we’d certainly be happy with Android. Way, way better than any of the feature-phones I’ve used in the past.
Sure, and I thought my Treo and BlackBerry were pretty great before iPhone. The fact isn’t that Android would be amazing if iPhone didn’t exist — it’s that Android still can’t come close to the polish of the iPhone after existing for 6 plus years. To say that an Android phone is “way, way better” than old feature phones, is setting the bar so low that it’s not even a valid comparison.