The Brooks Review

Category: Links

  • New York Times Overhauls Comment System

    Jeff Sonderman:
    >The Times will invite any reader whose comments are consistently approved over a certain time period to become a “trusted commenter,” whose future comments go public immediately. Everyone else’s comments will be held for review by a Times moderator, as they are now.

    That sounds like a great move and I fully understand why people comment. What I don’t understand is who reads these comments and what they expect to gain from reading the comments.

    Does seeing a “trusted” commenter make a reader more likely to read the comments of that person? Doubtful.

    I still just see comments as a way for writers to allow “discussion” without ever having to pay attention to that discussion.

  • Kindle Fire to Ship 3.9 Million Units

    Laura Hazard Owen:
    >Amazon’s Kindle Fire is the second most popular tablet after the iPad and will ship 3.9 million units in the last quarter of this year, projects research firm iHS iSuppli.

    Keep in mind that this is tablet is based off the same hardware specs as the Playbook — the same Playbook that RIM [failed to sell even a quarter that amount of](http://www.splatf.com/2011/12/playbook-inventory/).

    That’s why software is so important — and I guess having a native email client. ((Idiots.))

  • $16 Billion in Bonds?

    Florian Mueller talks about the bonds that Motorola might have to post for its lawsuit against Apple in Germany. Staggering amounts of money. Now Apple’s cash hoard is looking more and more reasonable. They don’t need the money to pay attorneys — they need it so they can put up the big blind ((That’s a poker term, don’t email me.)) and play their hand.

  • Delete a Gowalla User Account

    Yeah, I’m all over this one.

    [via DF]

  • Facebook Acquires Gowalla to Boost Timeline Team

    All I know is this: I am done with Gowalla.

  • Apparent

    My thanks to Apparent for sponsoring the RSS feed this week to promote their new Doxie Go scanner. This scanner is truly fantastic and you can check out my full review of it [here](https://brooksreview.net/2011/11/doxie-go-review/).

    I think for the price you pay this is one hell of a scanner. I don’t have anything else to add, so just [read the review](https://brooksreview.net/2011/11/doxie-go-review/) and then [buy one](http://www.getdoxie.com/a/tbr_nov11-2.php).

  • The B&B Podcast – Episode 36: People to See, Places to Go

    >Shawn and Ben talk about making videos and Shawn’s dislike of iMovie. The help you get from a GorrilaPod and a Glif. Ben’s troubles with shooting product photos with the iPhone 4S. The Fitbit and Jawbone UP. They also rave about Doxie Go, while lamenting the case. Lastly it is all about the monitor that Ben cheaped out on.

    Special thanks to our sponsor: [Instacast HD](http://vemedio.com/products/instacast-hd).

  • Microsoft to Drop Desktop App From Windows 8 ARM Tablets?

    Mary Jo Foley reports that Microsoft just may drop the ‘Desktop Mode’ from Windows 8 on ARM tablets (they would be smart to drop it) and notes:
    >If Microsoft does do away with the Desktop App on ARM, it also would mean — unless Microsoft also changes its strategy for x86/x64-based Windows 8 tablets — that Windows 8 will be different on different hardware.

    *Shocking*.

  • Apple: Carrier IQ Still on iPhone 4

    Jon Brodkin with a nice bit of information on which Apple product still uses Carrier IQ:
    >But we were a bit curious about what “most of our products” means in that context. In response to our question, Apple tells us there is only one device running iOS 5 that still runs Carrier IQ, and it’s the iPhone 4.

  • Knife Steels

    A nice resource explaining what the difference is between the knife steel used — in a manner that I understand.

  • A Letter to Carrier IQ

    From Senator Al Franken.

  • Apple’s Statement on Carrier IQ

    John Paczkowski on a statement from Apple about Carrier IQ:
    >We never recorded keystrokes, messages or any other personal information for diagnostic data and have no plans to ever do so.

    They will be removing all references to Carrier IQ also. This is the best statement I have seen on the matter because it is plain, direct, and clear.

    What’s interesting though is that they also said:

    >We stopped supporting Carrier IQ with iOS 5 in most of our products and will remove it completely in a future software update.

    Which products do they still support Carrier IQ in?

  • How to Perfectly Reheat Pizza

    Genius.

  • Verizon: No CarrierIQ, No Way

    Kevin Fitchard reporting for GigaOM:
    >“Any report that Verizon Wireless uses Carrier IQ is patently false,” Verizon Wireless spokesperson Jeffrey Nelson said in an email.

    Verizon could come out looking pretty good over this Carrier IQ hubbub if:

    – They actually don’t use it.
    – AT&T does use it.

    When you customers generally don’t trust you (I’d say most people don’t trust wireless carriers in the U.S.) it is always good to be the lesser of the evils.

  • Carrier IQ May Have Violated Wiretap Law

    Andy Greenberg:
    >Ohm [Paul Ohm, a former Justice Department prosecutor and law professor at the University of Colorado Law School] argues that even when the phone is connected to the cellular network, only carriers are protected by contracts they make with users, not an intermediate software company of which most users are unaware. And carriers themselves typically don’t spell out in their contracts the kind of surveillance that Eckhart has shown Carrier IQ to be performing.

    The potential for a lawsuit is very high and should be pushed. I say it should be pushed because a lawsuit may very will be the only way the public finds out exactly what is being monitored.

  • Carrier IQ Is on iOS

    Grant “chpwn” Paul on how to disable Carrier IQ on iOS:
    >However, it does appears to be disabled along with diagnostics enabled on iOS 5; older versions may send back information in more cases. Because of that, if you want to disable Carrier IQ on your iOS 5 device, turning off “Diagnostics and Usage” in Settings appears to be enough.

    This is going to get a lot more interesting.

  • Amazon Item of the Week: A Shredder that is still working for me.

    At my office we go through paper shredders like crazy. If the mechanism itself doesn’t break then it ends up getting busted by vacuums and other things that shouldn’t break them, but do. I had a shredder at my house for a long time that I hated to use. I mean I hated the shredder so much that I hit it a couple of times with a hammer when I finally threw it out.

    Seriously.

    I went on Amazon and read about all sorts of shredders under $100 (my price threshold of laziness versus privacy) and it seems every shredder has mixed reviews. This shredder had more good than bad so I went for it.

    Now my first shredder broke after a week of use — keep in mind I only shredded a few things with it before it broke.

    This shredder is still working after a month. That’s like amazing to me. It is even working so well that I tend to actually enjoy shredding things instead of loathing the eventual repairs that my old shredder insisted upon.

    12 sheets at a time? Sure. Really that means you can shred credit card offers without opening the envelope.

    Is this super secure shredding? Nope, but not everyone shreds stuff — so why would a person waste their time trying to reassemble my bank statements instead of walking to the next can of garbage?

    Is this shredder never going to break? No it will. But for $67 and change I can afford to replace it when it does.

    So, if like me, you hate these little bastard shredders and the identity thieves that make them necessary — hey this Royal 112MX ain’t so bad.

  • Media Alert!!! from Carrier IQ

    Carrier IQ via a PDF “Media Alert”:
    >While we look at many aspects of a device’s performance, we are counting and summarizing performance, not recording keystrokes or providing tracking tools. The metrics and tools we derive are not designed to deliver such information, nor do we have any intention of developing such tools. The information gathered by Carrier IQ is done so for the exclusive use of that customer, and Carrier IQ does not sell personal subscriber information to 3rd parties.

    I don’t know about you, but *WHEW*. Close call.

  • Gradient in the Mac App Store

    A great little tool for creating CSS gradients. Special launch sale of $4.99 right now.

  • ‘Ubiquity Lost’

    David Sparks on the importance of getting Microsoft Office on iOS and Android tablets:
    >To corral Office to just some future Microsoft tablet would be a mistake. That is, essentially betting Office’s future relevance on the possibility that Microsoft will become a dominant player in future mobile computing.

    A great post, you should read his full thoughts.