There’s no reason to not sign this and even less of a reason not to take the time to sign it. This is important. This isn’t about the TSA being stupid, it’s about them defying a court order.
Category: Free
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‘Sitting for More Than Three Hours a Day Cuts Life Expectancy’
Andrew Seidman:
>Sitting down for more than three hours a day can shave a person’s life expectancy by two years, even if he or she is physically active and refrains from dangerous habits like smoking, according to a study to be published on Tuesday in the online journal BMJ Open.Converting to a standing desk is really tough for the first two weeks, but if you can get past that it really does feel great. I had some lower back problems completely disappear once I made the switch — and I was sitting in one of the best chairs money can buy. Do note that researchers relied on self reported data, and believe that many respondents lied about how much they actually sit, meaning the numbers are probably worse than they look.
The other advantage to standing, if you work in an office with others, people that come to your desk are forced to stand if they want to talk to you. This means they tend to linger less since they are probably not comfortable just standing at a desk. This was a great fringe benefit for me.
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Today, in RIM
Lots of good stuff floating around the web today about RIM, no doubt because they held their annual shareholders meeting. There are four specific articles that I think need to be called out for their interconnectedness alone.
### MarketWatch
Dan Gallagher for MarketWatch posts a short snippet titled: “[RIM board kicks off meeting with support for execs](http://www.marketwatch.com/story/rim-board-kicks-off-meeting-with-support-for-execs-2012-07-10).” Which is great all by itself, but his quote from RIM is great too:
>The statement said the board believes the current team — led by CEO Thorsten Heins — is “well positioned to lead the company forward.”
Keep that in mind for the next article about RIM.
### VentureBeat
[Devindra Hardawar reports on VentureBeat that](http://venturebeat.com/2012/07/10/rim-hires-a-search-firm-to-find-more-tech-experience-for-its-board/):
>Today at its annual shareholder meeting, RIM chairwoman Barbara Stymiest confirmed that the company is indeed seeking out new board members with technical experience with the help of a search firm.
So just to get you on the same page as I am: RIM’s Board has complete faith in the executives running the company, **but** RIM’s board does **not** have complete faith in themselves.
See the problem here?
### e27
Shifting gears, [RIM announced that they will be bribing developers with a $100 million pool](http://e27.sg/2012/07/10/research-in-motion-announces-us100m-investment-to-grow-developer-community-for-blackberry-platform/) to get them to develop apps for BlackBerry 10. Joash Wee reports:
>One of such programs incentivizes developers to build apps for BlackBerry 10 by guaranteeing the developers US$10,000 in revenues from the app.
This is actually consistent with the arrogant and oblivious nature in which RIM conducts itself, but even more interesting is the implication of this. Are the best developers, the ones that actually make fantastic apps on other platforms, motivated by $10k in guaranteed revenue? Isn’t this likely to attract the second-tier developers, the ones who have solid apps, but not apps that motivate users to switch platforms?
Paying developers to make apps for your platform is not inherently a bad a idea, but it has yet to prove effective ( `*cough*` Microsoft `*cough*` ).
### Bits Blog
Lastly, as if to perfectly sum up everything that RIM has become, [Ian Austen has this to say about the annual meeting](http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/10/at-rims-annual-meeting-some-unpleasant-questions/):
>So much new software was integrated into BlackBerry 10 over “the last few weeks and months” that the system had become “destabilized,” he said. He added that finishing BlackBerry 10 promptly is simply a matter of time — a process that cannot be accelerated by spending more money or hiring more developers.
Austen is quoting RIM’s CEO, and there’s two phrases in that paragraph that sum up RIM nicely:
1. “The system had become destabilized.”
2. “A process that cannot be accelerated by spending more money.”RIM doesn’t seem to realize that it is RIM itself that is “destabilized” and yet (perhaps because of that) they are trying to right the ship by spending more money.
Crazy.
Ok, I can’t leave this post alone because this is another laugh out loud moment in it:
>He said many wireless carriers were pleased with the delay because they won’t be unveiling higher speed networks that can fully exploit BlackBerry 10 until next year.
*Riiiight.*
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Is Retina a Pro Only Feature?
With rumors going around [today of a 13″ MacBook Pro — retina — circling](http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/12/07/10/purported_13_retina_macbook_pro_benchmarks_appear_launch_rumored_before_oct.html) I thought about why Apple keeps that stupid 13″ MacBook Pro around — I mean the 13″ Air is almost better in every way. Then it occurred to me: what if in Apple’s eyes a retina screen is really just a “pro” feature for now?
The rumor is that the iPhone 3GS will live another year — and the 3GS is the entry level iPhone. The entry level iPad is the iPad 2 — again, non-retina. The entry level laptop is the 11″ Air — non-retina.
The 15″ MacBook Pro is the workhorse laptop for Pro Mac users, it is *the* machine and likely that is the reason it got the retina display first among Macs. The 13″ MacBook Pro is the entry level pro Mac laptop — just as the iPhone 4 (with its retina screen) is the entry level “pro” iPhone.
So what if then, Apple sees retina screens as “pro only” while they wait for economies of scale to bring the price of the screens down?
Well, that would mean that the MacBook Airs won’t be getting a retina screen any time soon — which is really too bad.
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Quote of the Day: Dave Pell
“All reality shows only feature the people pathetic and desperate enough to publicly humiliate themselves in exchange for 15 minutes of looking like an idiot.” -
Soulver – the Notepad Calculator
[This tweet from Marco Arment](http://twitter.com/marcoarment/status/222755117840089089), reminded me just how much I love and use Soulver. Without any exaggeration I use Soulver everyday that I am at my Mac. It is so good that I bought a second copy from the Mac App Store when I setup the retina MacBook Pro.
Surprisingly the app is only $11.99 on the app store — it’s worth at least twice that. If you [buy the iOS version (and you should) for $2.99](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/soulver-notepad-calculator/id348142037?mt=8) then iCloud will sync your calculations back and forth.
Soulver is a bit more than your normal calculator, it’s almost like having an Excel scratchpad handy — without all the Microsoft junk that comes with excel.
If you are reading this, you know I don’t normally gush about apps, but I *love* this app.
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.Mail by Tobias Van Schneider
An interesting conceptual email client, that has some good ideas going for it. The design itself is not all that compelling to me, but a few of the ideas behind it are very compelling. Mainly:
– Focusing on readability. Why is this overlooked in current email clients?
– The ability to show all your received attachments seems really neat to me.
– Actions. While I personally would never use them, I know it would improve my life because most everyone I email with would use this feature.I think the biggest problem with email is that the market is far too niche to be profitable for most companies. While most users could and should have a better email client, not many would be willing to pay for one. I really do hope we see more people working on email clients though and I hope they can make money at it.
[via @hrbrt] -
‘Apple Wins Patent for NFC-Enabled ‘iTravel’ Transportation Ticketing App’
This is really interesting to me, an old patent application from 2008 for a travel app for what looks to be an iPhone. As MacRumors points out this is particularly interesting given the Apple Passbook app in iOS 6.
To me, paperless travel and booking is a much more desirable tool than paying for things with my iPhone, but it’s also much harder to accomplish in the U.S. The main reason travel is so much harder: both Airlines and the TSA don’t particularly give a crap about what is easiest for travelers. Actually I always feel like both kinda hate their customers.
Passbook will work because small stores and big stores are all looking for ways to make it easier for you to hand over your money, so they are naturally inclined to adopt any such tool that helps with that. Prime examples: Square and Credit Cards.
This travel app will have a much harder fight, because after they convince airlines (shouldn’t be hard) they will have to convince the TSA. That may be the most futile fight.
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Apple’s Disruption
Horace Dediu answering a question during an interview with John Cox, has the following to say about Apple and how it approaches the business of selling hardware:
>Apple changed the basis of competition from hardware as the primary value consumers paid for to a combination of hardware, software and services. Being competitive changed from having good hardware to having good hardware, good software and services — made usable through integration.The “made usable through integration” bit is perhaps the most notable change of Apple in recent years and I think the reason that iOS has really taken off. We all like to hate on the mess known as iTunes, but the fact remains that iTunes made syncing the first iPhone relatively painless for Mac users. Fast forward to today and you have iCloud, which from my own use, has been even better than iTunes — and that’s before you take into account the fact that iCloud requires no cable.
Apple is in the process of taking everything that makes using multiple devices a pain in the ass, and removing that pain from your ass — so to speak. Cables: gone. Contact/Email/Calendar syncing: done. Moving photos from your device to computer: done. Backups: check. If you stop and remember where we were before 2007, then you can truly appreciate all the advancement that Apple has had a hand in bringing forth.
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Quote of the Day: Micah Baldwin
“We have been cursed by a belief that being anything other than bullshit is helpful to whomever we are speaking with.” -
“Most Pro of Tips”
I never could reason a use case for the blinking of the flash light for notifications, but I like this reasoning.
The only wish I have with this tip, is that it was easier or faster to turn this on and off so that I could quickly set it on. Perhaps even just turning it on when the phone is switched into silent — that would be pretty useful.
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‘AT&T to Start Blocking Stolen Cellphones This Week’
I love this little bit of news from Brian X. Chen about AT&T:
>The company said that its database would initially prevent reactivation of stolen devices on its own network. Later this year it plans to expand the database to work with other carriers.I am sure the meeting for this went something like: “Hey boss! I’ve a great idea: let’s track phones that have be stolen and block them. This will make current customers happy, and force more users to buy our subsidized phones!” Then the boss slowly turns with a glimmer in his eye and replies: “Genius, what a great, brand new, never heard before, idea. (With a subtle undertone of ‘that’s why I hired you — I’m so smart.’)”
In other words: why hasn’t AT&T been doing this all along?
If that was all that was in the story I wouldn’t have linked to it, but that’s not all in the story, the best bit comes right now:
>Verizon Wireless, the No. 1 carrier, said that unlike AT&T, it has had its own database for disabling stolen cellphones on its network for years.
That sentence is so perfect, on so many levels.
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‘Dear Internet: Please Stop ‘Reviewing’ Microsoft Surface Until You’ve Actually Used One’
Craig Grannell making the point with a comparison to early iPad coverage:
>I still like my iPad a lot and I don’t regret buying it, but it certainly doesn’t live up to the initial coverage online—and that’s something you only realise and can only tell after extended use, not through seeing a couple of pictures online and a keynote video.Doesn’t matter who the person is, or what the device is — you cannot and should not review something that you have never used. Likewise I don’t recommend things that I haven’t used first. So the “Amazon Items of the Week” posts, yeah all those items are things I own, like, and therefore can recommend to you.
I have no problem with speculating on announced products, but calling such speculation a “review” or “buyers guide” is basically out right lying to your readership.
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HTC Defeats Apple in swipe-to-unlock Patent
I’m actually really glad Apple lost this patent because it’s something that just seems silly to not have on touchscreen devices.
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The Amazon Smartphone
Chuck Skoda, [responding to the rumors that Amazon will release a smartphone](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-06/amazon-said-to-plan-smartphone-to-vie-with-apple.html), speculates that the Internet browsing and apps are what makes the iPhone a success, a component that Amazon hasn’t shown it can be good at, so Skoda asks:
>How many books, movies, and tv shows are you consuming on your phone?
When I look at most everything Amazon does it is very clear to me that the strategy is consistently: sell more. The Kindle sells more ebooks, the a Fire is trying to do the same with media, so what the hell would a smartphone sell for Amazon?
Do people really need an Amazon device to buy from Amazon? No.
If this rumor holds it seems very much like a break in strategy and a ‘me-too’ move from Amazon, which is not how they got to where they are today.
*Side note: am I the only one that wants Amazon to release a product named ‘Amazin’? I can’t be alone in this wish.*
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‘Web Designers: You Need a Retina MacBook Pro’
Marco Arment makes a great argument for every web designer needing a retina MacBook Pro and I agree. The last design of this site I did was tailored first and foremost for the iPad. Now I am torn whether to tailor for the iPad or the retina MacBook Pro, because now I can’t decide which device I like reading on more.
A couple of people wrote me to tell me that I should stop throwing out complaints about magazines and start offering solutions: step one is making all digital publications look great on retina screens.
Oh and in case you were wondering about designing a site only on a retina screen, [Tim Van Damme has you covered](http://maxvoltar.com/archive/web-designers-you-need-a-retina-macbook-pro):
>I think right now the perfect setup is a Retina MacBook Pro, and a non-retina external monitor.
Just be warned, you won’t use that second screen for anything other than testing.
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Retina MacBook Pro vs. Mac Pro: Aperture and Motion
Rob for Bare Feats:
>If apps like Aperture and Motion are your “bread and butter,” you can conclude from this test session that the 2012 MacBook Pro (Retina and ‘normal’) performs on par with the best Mac Pro with the best graphics cards.
Aperture has always been a dog in terms of performance and thus I have usually preferred Lightroom. However since getting the retina MacBook Pro I have switched back to Aperture and haven’t noticed that dog slow performance in Aperture. Maybe the hardware has finally caught up, maybe Apple got around to optimizing Aperture.
I do get some good satisfaction from how favorably the retina MacBook Pro and MacBook Pro compare to Mac Pros.
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‘Apple’s Fix for Corrupt Binaries’
Marco Arment on Apple’s solution for the corrupt binaries:
>By republishing “updates” to these apps, Apple is helping users avoid deleting them and losing their data.As Marco points out this is a smart move by Apple — because as a user I’d be pissed if I lost a bunch of data in an app. I also think it was a clever way of avoiding the deletion of comments, which would have likely caused outrage among idiots.
Sidebar: If your app stores all the user data locally, ‘just’ enable iCloud so that users can delete your app and later reinstall it without losing their progress/data. Or sync that data somewhere so that deleting an app doesn’t delete the data.
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The Elusive iPad ‘mini’
I don’t know about you guys, but I can’t wait for the iPad nano, with it’s 3.5″ retina screen.
While we wait for those rumors, let’s take a look at what is going around this time.
We’ll just blame this flare up on [MacRumors](http://www.macrumors.com/2012/07/03/apple-planning-for-7-85-inch-ipad-mini-with-igzo-display-later-this-year/), [Bloomberg](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-03/here-comes-nexus-7-nightmare-the-ipad-mini.html), and the [Wall Street Journal](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304141204577506471913819412.html) all together. Since the reports are all similar we can break it down as such:
– 7-8 inch screened iPad.
– 1024 x 768 Resolution.
– Before the end of 2012.
– Sources “close to the matter”.This is nothing new, since “sources close to the matter” have been reporting an iPad mini, and Apple Television for well over a year now. The discussions are largely the same “yay” or “nay” depending on how you view the future of a smaller tablet, but I have a few thoughts about such a device.
There’s been a [strong argument made by Joel Bernstein](http://castirony.com/post/26466421254/the-case-for-a-7-8-ipad) on why a 7.8″ screen would mesh well with the rumored resolution. His strongest point, I believe, is this one:
>The iOS Human Interface Guidelines say “The screen size of iOS-based devices might vary, but the average size of a fingertip does not. Regardless of the device your app runs on, following these guidelines ensures that people can comfortably use your app. Give tappable elements in your application a target area of about 44 x 44 points.”
So let’s just make it a given that Apple could/can/would produce a ~7″ tablet with little to no harm to the current crop of iPad apps. With that, then the question becomes: should they make one?
In the “for” camp this argument from [Rene Ritchie strikes me as the strongest](http://www.imore.com/apple-release-7-inch-ipad):
>The reasons Apple was planning this, we heard, was the same reason they planned and executed on the lower price point iPod mini and iPod nano — to take the oxygen out of the market. In this case, to leave no room for discount competitors like Amazon and Google.
The reason this bit is so compelling to me is a two part answer. First, it is generally believed that Steve Jobs had a large hand in the product road map for at least the next 5 years at Apple. Part two, [is this quote (curiously the only source I could find for it is *Daring Fireball*) from Steve Jobs](http://daringfireball.net/2010/08/n92):
>Once a company devises a great product, he says, it has a monopoly in that realm, and concentrates less on innovation than protecting its turf. “The Mac user interface was a 10-year monopoly,” says Jobs. “Who ended up running the company? Sales guys. At the critical juncture in the late ’80s, when they should have gone for market share, they went for profits. They made obscene profits for several years. And their products became mediocre. And then their monopoly ended with Windows 95. They behaved like a monopoly, and it came back to bite them, which always happens.”
I think it is pretty certain that Apple knows they have a hit with the iPad. So now do they rest on their laurels or go for market share?
For that we look at the iPhone — and yep, just checked, Apple still sells the 3GS. Why? Because they are going for market share.
With the iPad it isn’t so simple because there are no carrier subsidies to drastically cut the price, but they have already started going for market share by keeping the iPad 2 around. With a smaller, cheaper, iPad they could aggressively pursue market share.
That’s why *I* like the 7 inch iPad rumors right now, but there’s a problem with these rumors.
The problem is: I don’t know where the hell a 7 inch iPad would fit for Apple users. The iPhone, iPad, and Mac all complement each other, but I have a hard time seeing where the 7 inch iPad would fit in.
To me the 7 inch iPad would be a bit like the iPod touch, not likely something you would buy if you already have an iPhone. Again though the iPod touch does sell well, so perhaps I am just not the target market for the 7 inch iPad?
So let’s just assume I am not the target market for such a device, that there actually is a group of buyers that is the target market, and that a smaller iPad would be cheaper — given all that I still have one question: how does Apple market it?
Apple doesn’t like to market things as being cheap. You don’t see commercials for the iPad 2 floating around, because the only reason Apple keeps it around is because it is cheaper. You don’t see Apple engaging in marketing price wars.
Right now Apple sells and markets devices by showing users why they need/want such a device. The amazing screen on the retina MacBook Pro. The amazing form factor of the MacBook Air. The intimate web and portability of the iPad. The amazing do everything, go everywhere iPhone. 10,000 songs in your pocket iPod.
How does Apple market a seven inch iPad if they are only making it because it would be cheaper to buy? What is demonstrably better about a 7 inch tablet?
Those are two questions I would expect Apple to have a firm answer to before they launch a tablet.
I like carrying a seven inch tablet around because it is small and easy to hold, but I hate using them because they are too small to actually use.
This should be a very interesting move if Apple makes it.
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Apple to Remove One-star Reviews?
Lex Friedman:
>Sources told Macworld that Apple will be removing one-star app reviews developers earned unfairly because of the company’s server issue.
I’m actually pretty surprised by this, but I hope it’s true.