The Brooks Review

Author: Ben Brooks

  • Dismissing iWeb

    I asked aloud on Twitter a few days ago (last week?) if anyone had confirmation of Apple planning to do away with the iWeb hosting they have been providing to MobileMe users. Today it seems I am one step closer to confirmation of this thought, with the [publication of a purported email from Steve Jobs](http://www.macrumors.com/2011/06/12/steve-jobs-confirms-discontinuation-of-iweb-in-icloud-transition/).

    This email (if authentic) confirms that iWeb and the MobileMe hosting service is soon to be no more (one would guess in June of 2012 when MobileMe is said to be ending).

    Most of you reading this will probably be surprised to know that I always thought iWeb + MobileMe hosting was a great offering. Apple basically gave everyone a dead simple way to host their own website, with little to no knowledge of webservers needed.

    It is still one of the only tools that you can use that will allow someone who doesn’t know a lick of html to make a decent to good looking website. ((Not good in the sense that the code is pretty, or that it renders perfectly on every device. Good in the sense that it doesn’t look like utter crap in the way that GeoCities [RIP] did.))

    I know plenty of “web developers” who use iWeb as their only tool and I am glad they will be going away, but for the average Mac user this is not a *good* thing.

    The dismissal of iWeb and the subsequent hosted MobileMe websites is bad news for families that have little desire to hire people to create a full scale site, and even less desire to learn how to do it themselves (right or wrong for better or worse). It is one of the few things that Apple is doing that isn’t very user friendly.

    This is also an interesting philosophical change for Apple, and truly represents what they are trying to create with iCloud. Everything about MobileMe was pushed based — most certainly iWeb was — what though will replace this functionality when we get iCloud?

    I think in part Apple is deciding that it doesn’t want to be the “sharing” hub for it’s users — rather it wants to be the creation platform and force opportunities for people to fill the easy web-hosting needs that MobileMe will be creating.

    The problem though: there is no other easy solution for users that mimics what you can do with iWeb and MobileMe and that is precisely because of the deep integration Apple created. Every other option takes away some control from the user, or adds in a layer of pre-requisite knowledge that most users don’t have.

    (e.g. Have you seen how dead simple it is to add a dynamic Google Map in an iWeb based site? Try telling a user how to do that on say, SquareSpace or WordPress.com.)

    ### It’s the Future, Baby

    There isn’t much we can do about this change. Most people simply won’t care, or more likely, will quickly get over the fact that they can’t make pre-designed websites fast and cheap anymore.

    The problem though is that this is not the right future we should be pursuing. From the sound of it Apple will be willing to host all your media files, mobile backups, and emails — but if you want to build something that others can see, well, you are S.O.L.

    That is the crux of the issue for me: I want people to be encouraged to share what they do — which is exactly what Apple did with MobileMe galleries and websites. Apple seems to be moving away from that.

    Apple is seemingly not wanting to do this anymore — this at the exact time I think they should be moving towards such services.

  • Apple’s Next MacBook Air Will Be the New Flagship Mac

    Darrell Etherington:
    >In two years time, if not less, when you think “Mac,” you’ll think about the MacBook Air first and foremost.

    I’d argue that it is already the “flagship” Mac and that by the end of this year it will be the computer that people think of as a Mac. Replacing the iMac, of course.

    [via Cody Fink]

  • An Interview with Bill Gates

    Caroline Graham in an interview with Bill Gates:
    >I ask him whether this is it now – is Microsoft history to him, replaced in his heart by his philanthropy? He retired from the day-to-day running of Microsoft in 2008, with many believing it has since lost its edge to companies like Apple and Google.
    >He says, ‘My full-time work for the rest of my life is this foundation.’
    >Will he ever return to helm Microsoft?
    >‘No. I’m part-time involved. But this is my job now.’

  • Facebook Sees Big Traffic Drops in US and Canada

    Eric Eldon:
    >Most prominently, the United States lost nearly 6 million users, falling from 155.2 million at the start of May to 149.4 million at the end of it. This is the first time the country has lost users in the past year.

    So proud of my country for ‘wising’ up on this Facebook problem.

  • iTunes Now Costs $1.3 billion/yr to Run

    Horace Dediu on the expense of running the iTunes store and offerings:
    >It implies over $1.3 billion per year.

    Imagine how expensive it will be to run both iTunes and iCloud.

  • Quote of the Day: Seth Godin

    “The goal isn’t to get money from a VC, just as the goal isn’t to get into Harvard.”

  • More on the iOS 5 Twitter Integration

    MG Siegler:
    >Once you install an app with Twitter integration in iOS 5, you’ll see a single dialog box pop-up asking you if you’d like to connect the app to Twitter. This will look a lot like the pop-up that asks if you’d like an app to be able to use your location, Sarver said. Click, “OK” and you’re good to go. You’ll never be asked to enter a login/password or anything else. Nor will you see the pop-up box in that app ever again.

    That is going to be huge.

  • Hoban Cards

    I want to thank Hoban Cards for sponsoring this weeks RSS feed. Hoban Cards makes top-notch letterpress calling cards right here in Washington State. You get 100 of these bad ass cards for just $75 — ask anyone who has ever planned a wedding and they will tell you that you can’t touch letterpress samples for less than $50.

    Hoban sent me over a box of calling cards to check out, and I can assure you: these things are excellent. There are six pre-made designs that you can plug your name and phone number/email into (I went with #6) — all of them look great.

    Listen, first impressions mean everything and I can’t think of a better way to make a lasting first impression — well a lasting *good* first impression.

  • Promoted Trends on Twitter now cost only $120,000 per day!

    Stephen Chapman:
    >Yes, you read that correctly. The current cost of a Promoted Trend for a day is a whopping $120,000.

    Well out of reach for most small businesses, which also happen to make up the lions share of businesses in the U.S. This is the problem I have had with Twitter’s strategy all along, you want it to be cheap enough that app developers and, well anyone, can advertise with you. There are only so many Googles and Microsofts that can drop $120k for one day of advertising.

  • The Motion to Intervene Heard Round the World

    FOSS Patents:
    >In its motion, Apple states explicitly that the sued app developers are “are individuals or small entities with far fewer resources than Apple and […] lack the technical information, ability, and incentive to adequately protect Apple’s rights under its license agreement.”

    Good news for developers, now let’s hope Apple wins.

  • Some Compelling iOS 5 Features You May Have Overlooked

    Chris Foresman:
    >If for some reason you don’t already have some kind of WiFi router in your home, you can buy an AirPort Extreme, AirPort Express, or Time Capsule and configure it right from your iOS device.

    I honestly didn’t know this existed, but that is awesome.

  • ‘Lofty Promises’

    Chris De Jabet gets [it](https://brooksreview.net/2011/06/apple-mag-opus/):
    >It became too difficult to maintain the illusion of these multiple devices working simply and with little maintenance. The digital hub became the digital burden.

  • Apple’s Magnum Opus

    It’s been a few days now since Apple’s epic WWDC keynote, I have been sick everyday since that keynote so I have been passively following all the reactions from my RSS reader.

    Here’s two things going on right now:

    1. Apple’s keynote message was loud and clear: iOS 5, Lion, and iCloud are **not** feature bumps — they are revolutions in how consumers are to think and use computing devices. They are game changers. This is very clearly the message Apple wanted to send, and it seems that many people received this message, but some missed it.
    2. The tech media’s response has been to talk about what these new things are “killing” (e.g. text messages, Instapaper, et al.), while completely ignoring what looks like a bigger issue.

    What Apple may or may not kill isn’t *the* big news. What is *the* big news is how Apple is cleverly shifting the consumer mindset — all without asking the consumer to lift a finger. Ok, maybe only asking them to lift one finger.

    It is about more than things that ‘just work’ or things that ‘push’ or “clouds” — it is about a culmination of a vision finally starting to come together. That vision is, I believe, called magic.

    I think the entire tale is summed up with the iWork suite of apps, where [Apple states](http://www.apple.com/icloud/features/apps-books-documents-backup.html) that with iWork and iCloud:

    >Documents you’ve written, presentations you’ve prepared, spreadsheets you’ve made — your iWork apps can store them in iCloud. Which means you can view and edit the same document, in its latest state, on all your devices. And since iCloud automatically updates any changes you make, you don’t even have to remember to save your work.

    Don’t read the above from the mindset of the savvy geek that you are — read that and think of how it will change computing for your mom or grandparents.

    I don’t know of a single other way to take a document I am working on with my iPad and jump to my Mac having the document up-to-date and the cursor in the same position without pressing an extra button — to me, that *is* magic. It’s magic because logically that is how everything should have always worked, but in reality it is how nothing works.

    You need to press this, turn this sideways, move two feet that way, reboot that router, no wait the modem first — what was I doing?

    Apple introduced a lot of little nice features: notifications, camera volume shutter, wireless syncing and so forth — but the biggest thing they introduced was a magical system.

    Not a magic OS, or magic device, but magic interconnectedness. This is something that will change computing for not just geeks or moms, but for everyone.

    What Apple has done here is to sit down and say: “what bugs me and ideally how should it work”, then they turned that into WWDC’s announcement. These changes don’t feel like bug fixes or feature upgrades, they feel like a rethinking of computing.

    A look at the way things should have always been done, but weren’t for one reason or another. That starts with all devices (PCs, Macs, Phones, Tablets) being seen as equal — what it ends with I have no clue.

    I’m not saying that this is all bug free — that it is all perfectly implemented — but the idea, the core premise, is all there neatly in place. It feels like Apple just penned their magnum opus and iOS 5, Lion and iCloud are phase I of implementation.

    Can you imagine what phase II will be?

    Apple can still fall flat on their face with all of this, it could all fail miserably and never take off. At least they are trying…

  • And the Award for Best Description of Windows 8 Goes to…

    Ed Oswald:
    >[…] somewhat-tablet-centric Windows 8 operating system.

    So damned accurate.

  • “Who will be left standing?”

    Dr. Drang makes a great point about what can happen when Apple moves into your territory (using the recent WWDC announcements and Instapaper as examples). His point is not that these apps have things to fear, but that they should fear Apple putting effort into these categories. If Apple puts a modicum of effort into the reading list offering then there most likely is reason to be concerned for services like Instapaper.

    Great points.

  • Creatiplicity a New Podcast

    Enticing:
    >Discussing the intersection of simplicity and the creative process through conversation with the creative publishers and customers associated with the Fusion Ads network. Co-hosted by Chris Bowler and Shawn Blanc.

    *Never* heard of these guys before ((That’s a lie.)) but they sound nice.

  • “A newer version of this app is already installed on this computer”

    Craig Grannell solving a problem that I used to face daily with the Mac App Store:
    >Then it struck me: I have a back-up hard-drive attached to the Mac, which is a clone taken by SuperDuper!, and, sure enough, the Mac App Store seemingly cannot tell the difference between the active volume and the back-up—at least in this case. And so if the Mac App Store tells you that you can’t install an app and you’re using cloning software, try temporarily unmounting the clone and see if that helps.

    As Craig’s reader comments, this will also happen if any volume connected to the Mac has this application on it, whether or not it is properly placed in an ‘Applications’ folder. I constantly had this problem with Lion and Snow Leopard being on my machine in two different partitions. The solution I came up with is copying the app file manually so that it is on both — once that is done it works with no problems, odd.

  • Apple Reverses Course On In-App Subscriptions

    Jordan Golson:
    >Apple has quietly changed its guidelines on the pricing of In-App Subscriptions on the App Store. There are no longer any requirements that a subscription be the “same price or less than it is offered outside the app”. There are no longer any guidelines about price at all. Apple also removed the requirement that external subscriptions must be also offered as an in-app purchase.

    This is actually a pretty big deal because it means:

    1. Netflix can continue to operate as they are without adding a method of subscribing in-app.
    2. If they wanted, a service could charge a premium to cover Apple’s 30% when selling things through the app store versus their online offering.
    3. I am pretty sure this means that Amazon can keep the Kindle app the way it is — they may just need to remove the link to the online Kindle store from the app. Though I am not 100% on this just yet.

    Big stuff and a welcome change I am sure, by both consumers and developers.

  • “The Google Approach”

    MG Siegler:
    >But it’s the Google approach. It’s files, and uploading, and syncing. Some of it is automatic, some is not. It requires some thought. It sort of just works — as long as you know what you’re doing.

    “Sort of just works” is the core of Google’s adoption problem with its “cloud” offerings. ((I use cloud in quotes because it is an entirely stupid marketing word. And though at times I may forget to use quotes, know that I always vomit a little in my mouth when I use the term.))

  • How Apple Can Make Money From Higher-Quality Songs

    Nick Bilton makes the argument that the higher-quality, larger file size, iTunes Match MP3s was a move by Apple to sell larger capacity devices. Meaning that most users will be pushed towards a 32GB phone over a 16GB phone so that they can hold the same amount of music. I hadn’t thought about it in this way, but I think he is wrong.

    I think most consumers *are* cheap asses.

    Cheap asses tend to see spots where they can save money, and iTunes Match does just that, by allowing them to get all their music at anytime, from the cloud. Meaning you don’t need extra storage because you can swap out music on the fly at any time you want.

    If the rumored streaming does come to the service then I think the argument is furthered that most consumers don’t need a larger capacity device. Personally, I decide storage size based not on what I want to keep on my device, but on how much I can *add* to the device through downloads, recording video and taking photos.