The Brooks Review

Category: Links

  • iCloud Tabs

    I hope this features makes it to the release version — it’s also the kinda feature that creates a lot of browser lock-in.

  • Best iPhone Battery Case

    Not named Mophie…

  • How Apple.com Will Serve Retina Images to New iPads

    Jason Grigsby researching how Apple serves high quality images to Retina screen iPads:
    >As far as I can tell, there is no attempt to prevent duplicate downloads of images. New iPad users are going to download both a full desktop size image and a retina version as well.

  • Cook and Oppenheimer on Dividend and Buyback

    Tim Cook responding to an analyst during the Q&A:
    >We actually do love to announce new products, we just don’t do it in conference calls.

    I like Cook.

  • ‘New iPad Feature ‘Dictation’ sends/stores Private Data to Apple Servers’

    Stephen Chapman pens a rather long post about the privacy concerns he sees with the dictation feature on the iPad. I am just as paranoid as the next guy (nope, probably more) and even I don’t see the problem here.

    Chapman is trying to paint Apple has being shady about this, when that is far from the case.

    Apple warns you that contacts and user data *will be stored* on their servers when you turn on the feature. That’s about as much as you can hope for.

    The one shady part that Chapman unearthed was that Apple says it will delete the information from its servers when you disable the feature, but in the Privacy Policy it states that the information may be retained for an unspecified period.

    This may sound hypocritical, and perhaps my feelings towards Apple in general are clouding my judgment, but I think Chapman is making a mountain out of a mole hill here. The two statements clearly conflict and need to be clarified, but I think it is pretty clear what Apple is doing with the information: improve the accuracy of dictation (at least according to what Apple says in the Privacy Policy).

    At the very least, this is a feature you can easily turn off.

  • Retina iPad Wallpaper Pack

    Fantastic work, as always from John Carey.

  • Mountain Lion Now Protects Your Contacts

    Dustin Curtis:

    >Before Mountain Lion Developer Preview 2, Mac apps could access your contacts at any time, without asking for permission. You wouldn’t even know it was happening. This policy is the same as the one on iOS, which recently got a lot of attention. Today’s release of DP 2 removes that ability by default.

    That’s awesome.

  • The Magic of Doing One Thing at a Time

    Tony Schwartz on multitasking:
    >The biggest cost — assuming you don’t crash — is to your productivity. In part, that’s a simple consequence of splitting your attention, so that you’re partially engaged in multiple activities but rarely fully engaged in any one. In part, it’s because when you switch away from a primary task to do something else, you’re increasing the time it takes to finish that task by an average of 25 per cent.

  • Introducing Instapaper 4.1 for iPhone, iPad

    Marco Arment:

    >Now, Automatic Dark Mode has a new Twilight Sepia option that gradually tints the screen with a slight sepia tone during the early evening hours before switching to Dark Mode (and during the early morning hours after switching to Light Mode).

    That’s a sweet feature. Arment also added new fonts. I had a chance to beta test them — they are exceptionally nice (and of course FF Meta is the best option). A great update.

  • This American Life Retracts Hugely Popular Episode on Apple and China

    Nate Anderson:
    >Well-loved radio show This American Life—spawned from station WBEZ right here in Chicago—has some “difficult news” about one its most popular shows, an episode on Apple and labor conditions in China. The episode “contained significant fabrications,” writes TAL host Ira Glass today on the show’s blog. He is devoting this week’s entire episode, called “Retraction,” to the story.

    Can’t wait to listen to that episode.

  • Oink’s Data Privacy Breach: Download the Data of Any User With Their Own Export Tool

    Cristina Cordova:
    >So, curiously, I tried replacing my username with Kevin Rose’s: http://oink-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/kevinrose-export.zip (go ahead, click it). You’ll get a zip file of every item he has ever added, rated or reviewed. You’ll also get every photo he has ever uploaded to Oink.

    It’s like these companies don’t care or something, oh wait, they don’t.

  • The Verizon iPad Has an Unlocked Micro-SIM Slot That Can Be Used With AT&T 3G Networks

    Matthew Panzarino:
    >This is a pretty cool development, as it would have been easy for the Verizon edition to be locked down so that it wouldn’t be able to use AT&T’s GSM networks here in the states. The device will only work on the standard 3G, HSPA+ and EDGE networks because Verizon and AT&T’s LTE networks are not compatible.

    Sweet.

  • Airports, With New Law, Are Freer to Split From T.S.A.

    Ron Nixon:
    >Sixteen of the nation’s 450 airports use private contractors, including larger ones like San Francisco International Airport as well as smaller ones like Jackson Hole Airport in Wyoming.

    SFO is really great to go through compared to the TSA playground that is SeaTac. But I am confused by this bit:

    >Those that want to leave the agency’s screening program must prove to the federal government that contractors are more cost-effective and would not be detrimental to security. The private screeners have to follow T.S.A. guidelines and fall under its supervision, although the agency will not conduct private screeners’ training. The T.S.A. will pay for the private screeners.

    Here’s what I don’t get: if an airport opts for private contractors, the TSA still pays for them? If that’s not the case, then why do the private contractors need to be more “cost-effective”? Shouldn’t all that matter be if private contractors are as effective as TSA screeners? (Truthfully it’s hard to imagine a monkey not being more effective than a TSA screener.)

    [via read Bill T.]

  • Confessions of a Former TSA Agent

    George Hobica interviewing a former TSA agent:

    >Q: What was one of the least enjoyable parts of your job?

    >A: Having to take away bottled drinks, expensive perfumes and lotions, homemade food items, and other personal belongings and throw them in the trash (usually in front of the passenger) while they wondered what it was all about. The liquid ban really consumes much of our screening activity, and perhaps sometimes, to the detriment of our efforts to search for other dangerous items.

    [via reader Bill T.]

  • LTE on the iPad

    MG Siegler:
    >But I will absolutely get an LTE iPad. Again, it’s faster than most WiFi networks I usually connect to.

    That’s going to make working from coffee shops that much better. The speeds he was seeing are faster than what I get at work (not at home though). Can’t wait for the LTE.

  • The B&B Podcast #52: You’re Recording This, Right?

    Shawn and I talk about iPad storage space, iPad bags, Byword, Writer, and Sparrow. We end with some talk about standing in line for the iPad.

  • Introducing PayPal Here

    PayPal launches their Square competitor, and underwhelms us all. Why does one of the triangle bits droop down when it is plugged in?

    That already bugs me and I haven’t even seen one in person.

  • Sparrow for iPhone

    Nice review from Viticci. I will say that the UI looks kind of interesting, but I just don’t see the benefit over using the native Mail app — there are some nice touches, but that’s about it.

    Why, this is why:

    >It’s also worth noting that, because this is a third-party client, iOS apps that embed mail views will still fall back to Apple’s Mail — the same that happens with third-party browsers.

    Until I can change the default email app, it’s not worth using a different email app.

  • Why “More Bars in More Places” Means Shit for Nothing Now

    Matt Galligan:
    >Signal will always be high, and you’ll always be connected to the “4G” network, so then the only thing that actually matters is how GOOD the network actually is.

    And if you are around too many people on the same network, enjoy the ‘5 bars of 4G’ service that won’t load a single web page. It’s interesting that we have reached a point in network distribution that it is almost assumed you are connected, what is still wildly unknown is your connection speed — at least until you try using your device.

  • Verizon Extends LTE Reach to 200 Markets, Will Hit 400 by Year End

    Feeling better and better about my decision to go with Verizon this time around.