Evan Selleck:
The application itself went for $2.99 in the App Store, and it provided upwards of 1.8GB of US map data. However, it sounds like people didn’t have long to download it, or enjoy it for that matter, before the application itself was pulled from the App Store. And then subsequently pulled from customer’s iPhones as well. It’s also disappearing from people’s Macs and PCs, too.
No sources listed and the company is not confirming either way if this is true.
I had been waiting for some way to read Fever on the iPad. I was a hardcore Fever user but switched back to Google Reader so that I could use Netnewswire and Reeder. Sad that Ashes doesn’t live up to the hopes of Fever users. It is also sad that Shaun Inman has seemingly put Fever development on hold so that he can finish his new projects.
Damn impressive side by side video comparing the iPhone 4 and Canon 7D.
We all know what happened to Apple when Steve Jobs was forced out of the company ((Source)) by then CEO John Sculley. Apple without Steve Jobs’ direction was not the Apple that we know today. Jobs has turned Apple into a market leader, innovator, and design oriented company. The natural question then is what happens to Apple after Jobs leaves again?
As reasonable people we know that at some point in the future Jobs will not be with the company (most likely through age or retirement). At this point should we advice that everyone dumps stock and runs away scared? I think not.
If you look at the current landscape we have a pretty clear idea of what I would consider to be a worst case scenario for Apple – that scenario is Microsoft. Bill Gates left the CEO role, then left the company – handing over the reigns to those that he had been working closely with for years. ((Source))
Many see this as a terrible outcome for Apple and for Microsoft – but is it really that terrible? They are sitting on roughly $37 billion in cash and gross profits in the $46 billion range. That is not a failing company by anyones standards. ((Source))
Remember too that I said early this is a worst case scenario for Apple post Jobs. If Jobs leaves Apple and appoints a reasonably competent CEO then at the very least Apple retains profitability and produces mediocre products (such as Microsoft has been doing). As a consumer and Apple fan(boy) this is tragic – as a stock holder this is not the best news, but hardly worth jumping out of a window over.
Now of course this is all assuming that Jobs leaves Apple rudderless when he leaves. I would guess that when Jobs leaves he will be leaving with a 5 and 10 year road map already in place at the company. The product cycles may or may not slow after he leaves, but the vision that he instills in the company on the daily basis will still serve as an over arching compass for the company.
Add to all this the fact that because of Jobs every person currently with Apple (mostly the upper tier of management) knows what has driven the success of the company for the past decade and knows of that importance. Jobs has in effect instilled his personality and business belief system into all of the employees that he works closely with.
Assuming there is no mass exodus or power struggles when Jobs leaves I would suspect that Apple will be just fine without Jobs. At the very least Apple with remain profitable and viable for the short term (10 years) after Jobs leaves.
John Gruber:
I can’t vouch for the following, but a well-placed little birdie told me over the weekend that they sold a grand total of 503 Kins before they pulled the plug. 503.
Holy…
This is the question that most small business and entrepreneurs face when they are starting or running a small company. I am a one man shop (I have two business partners who step in to fill my void when I am sick or on vacation) so it is a question that I have to think about quite a bit.
The very first thing I consider when I am about to start a task that I could hire another to do is whether or not I can do that task, and (most importantly) if I can perform that task to my standards of quality. An example of this is server administration – most people are surprised to hear that I actually pay a company $50 a month (average) to administer our Windows based server. They do thing like install updates and patches and manage backups, insuring that everything is running correctly.
I could do this myself – easily – but I don’t know if there is a known bug in an update and therefore I shouldn’t install it, because I don’t follow that news. I don’t know common Windows Server problems and the quick solutions. Certainly if I have a OS X backend I could do it myself, but on a platform that I don’t know about, or care to know about I don’t want to waste me time learning about and working with it.
Likewise for Accounting. Accounting is one of the most crucial aspects of my industry and one of the most crucial parts to any business. Doing it properly is paramount, so while I understand how everything works why should I also burden myself with having to do this work? It is tedious and not a productive use of my time.
Almost as important as the first question is trying to figure out if you actually have the time to run your business and do this task at the same time. A prime example is painting – everybody thinks that they know how to paint and could re/paint their office if needed, but do you really have the time to do this? You may have the needed skills but every hour you spend painting is an hour you fall behind in your work that you get paid for.
Another example is tedious and monotonous work. I had to send out a bunch of notices (over 150) one day and they all needed a certified mail slip with them, hand written. I knew that I could do it, but I also knew that I didn’t have the time. The solution was to hire my sister to come in after school and do it for me.
I eluded to this earlier when I said that every one likens themselves a painter. The truth is that there is a difference between the quality of work that a pro painter does compared to the average person. If I say yes to both of the above I look at what people are getting paid by the hour to perform the same work, the hire the wage the stronger the deterrent should be for you going in the DIY route.
Surely we all can take a wedding picture and maybe it will even be up to our standards. There is a reason though that pro wedding photographers get paid upwards of $1500 for one days worth of work: they take pictures that an amateur simply can’t get. They know what they are doing.
No matter what anyone tells you, there is no cut and dry way to decide when to DIY and when to hire a pro. You are the only one that can make that call – but if you are even a little unsure then you need to hire the pro. Many people think it is cheaper to DIY, but the opposite is usually true when you look at the long term costs, and factor in your time.
I always wonder if the TV show spurred the idea for these inventions, or if they were just a natural progression. I would assume a combination of both.
Everyday I spend an hour and a half driving to and from work, as you can imagine I see a lot of cars and think a lot about what I drive. I have a gas guzzling Range Rover, and I see a ton of hybrid cars on my drive each day. This morning that got me to thinking about how big a failure hybrid cars have been.
They are not overly expensive to buy (often only $3,000 over the price of the same non-hybrid model car) yet they have only taken off among the ‘status conscious’ individuals – those that care about what people think of them. And why is that?
Perhaps it is because they are more expensive to own in the long run – taking about 12 years to break even. More than that though, they truly are not that impressive. Nor are fully electric cars such as Tesla’s cars. No hybrid cars are not the future, they are a stepping stone.
The future of cars has yet to be invented.
Apparently they pay for Sirius radio.
37Signals:
This is a good question. We believe there’s a strong culture, especially here in Silicon Valley, of taking investment early, and lots of it. If you don’t do this, you’re considered a “lifestyle” company, which is in most circles, a derogatory term. Starting off it just seemed like getting investment was the “normal” thing to do.
At the same time, we wanted to shape iTeleport in our own vision — a company that was about more than just profits, instead it would be a place where awesome people would work on a whole range of problems — whether for-profit, or non-profit — and also wanted to create a space for personal growth and development for each of us. We didn’t believe that the investment community would have let us get away with this — and we didn’t want to spend our time trying to explain ourselves to someone else. Most importantly though, we just didn’t need any money — we had plenty of it from our products.
This is what I was talking about.
Owen Matthews:
A law currently before the Duma would give the FSB and prosecutors the most sweeping powers they have had since the fall of the Soviet Union, from censoring Internet sites to arresting people for “obstructing investigations.” The draconian new law is in the name of fighting “extremism”—defined as anything “undermining the authority of state officials” or “insulting the honor of the Russian nation.” Internet service providers must shut down offending Web sites within three days of receiving a complaint from the FSB, and the burden of proof will be on the sites to disprove extremism charges.
China may soon be joined by Russia.
Over the holiday weekend I was on the Oregon coast with my in-laws – it was a great time and a great fireworks show – one thing that happened right away is the my Wife started showing off her iPhone 4. She immediately started by showing off FaceTime – interestingly enough this was the feature that I show off last (have you see the text on the iPhone 4?).
Much to my surprise everyone seemed enamored with FaceTime, even though they all use Skype to video chat with people right now. To most in the room FaceTime became the reason to get an iPhone. Upon thinking about it now I realize just how ‘futuristic’ having video chat on a mobile device really is – much more so than doing it on your laptop.
Of course as the weekend progressed we saw at least five commercials for FaceTime / iPhone 4 on TV and it always brought up more questions and the inevitable “I gotta get one” comment. Amazingly I think FaceTime is what is going to sell the iPhone 4.
It is not just going to sell the iPhone 4 because FaceTime is so new, or that it will soon be coming to other devices – it is going to sell the iPhone 4 because of the ease that it does video calls. Skype is a completely different interface and because of that it is not as easy for parents and grandparents to initiate a Skype call. They usually need their grandkids or kids to set it up for them – and show them how to use it.
Enter FaceTime – parents and grandparents that would love to video chat now can do it easily, all they have to do is buy the phone for the people they want to chat with. There is the key, the demographic that holds the most amount of money now has been given a reason to buy an iPhone.
Boom.
“The Internet [is] like MTV,” Prince said later in the Interview. “At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated.”
Nope – that is not true.
Chris Foresman:
First, Apple is reportedly working on a major update to the software that runs the Apple TV, which may be based on iOS. No details about the hardware are known, but it would make perfect sense for Apple to build it around an A4 variant and utilize iOS, which is already optimized for small devices and media consumption.
Perhaps but I saw the Mac mini update as the Apple TV update. You don’t make the Mac mini look like the Apple TV and give it an HDMI port for no reason – not if you are Apple that is.
Mike Cane:
Files are things. Things are on the way out.
We already have something that can be accessed by all devices and can’t be corralled by any single company. It works wonderfully and is improving all the time.
It’s called the Internet.
Zee:
Some users who have had their accounts hacked have left comments on the apps they have supposedly bought complaining that up to $200 has been spent on apps they’d never personally bought themselves. (update: we’ve now heard reports of $600+ spent on some users accounts, more details at the foot of this post)
Marco Arment:
I buy things that are great today. They’re usually things that have been great since day one. And, more often than not, they’re Apple products.
Exactly, I could not agree more with Arment he hits the nail on the head.
Samuel Axon:
While the hack was used on a variety of videos, striking music videos featuring teen pop idol Justin Bieber was the most popular activity.
Milind Alvares:
Instapaper keeps things quiet. None of the formatting from the website remains. Every article you read looks exactly the same as the other — optimised for reading.
I love Instapaper – it is one service that I would pay $20 a month for without thinking twice.
Sounds likes a good price to me if TechCrunch is right. Great pickup by Disney – forwarding looking too.