The Brooks Review

Category: Links

  • Digital Magazines Still Have Adverts Non-Shock

    Craig Grannell offers his opinion, refuting [Marco’s claim](http://www.marco.org/2011/10/27/double-dipping-ads-in-ipad-magazines), on magazines that you pay for and still get ads in.

    I get where Grannell is coming from and he is right that ads in magazines (digital or other) are not *that* intrusive and act as a subsidy for the magazine. However, that’s only an explanation and not an excuse.

    I subscribe to a great many magazines because it is often cheaper to subscribe (usually about $19 a year) than it is to buy them à la carte as I want them. I am not paying $4.99 for one issue when $19 gets me a years worth — makes no sense — and that is exactly why the pricing is the way it is: publishers want people to be subscribers because that is what ad rates are based on.

    So, yes, I do want magazines to make money and pay writers — but it shouldn’t come at the expense of the readers. You either strip the ads and ask the readers to support you, or remove the price of admission and get the ads to support you. Anything in between annoys the crap out of me.

    Grannell asks in response to Marco asking what he paid for:

    >How about the content, and the wages of the people who write the content, and who design the app?

    This is all true, but it is also true then that he paid for: the ads. It is also true that the advertisers paid for the wages, and designers. That’s the problem. ((Speaking solely for myself here.))

  • HP Announces It Is Keeping Personal Systems Group

    Matthew Panzarino on The Next Web:
    >“It’s clear after our analysis that keeping PSG within HP is right for customers and partners, right for shareholders, and right for employees,” Whitman said. “HP is committed to PSG, and together we are stronger.”

    So, what changed? That is, unless, no “analysis” was done when the decision to shit-can the PC division was made.

    HP and Netflix have a lot in common.

  • Siri Powered TV

    Nick Bilton speculates (guess? has heard from unknown sources?) that the Apple TV (an actual TV) will be Siri driven. Which would be great if you knew what you wanted to watch, but not so great for channel surfing.

    Seems logical, but at the same time hard to envision without a more full picture of how the system would work.

  • Bloomberg TV+ for iPad

    Live TV on your iPad, for free. For. Free. This is another, in a long line, of examples of Bloomberg getting “it”. Who cares if you don’t like Bloomberg TV, or the industry they serve — the precedent of this move is very big.

    More like this please.

  • Amazon Item of the Week: Belkin Mini Surge Protector

    I have been wanting one of these little guys for a long time, but ~$29 — come on. For $11.60? Hells yeah.

    So I bought one about a month back, it was great move. Here are some of the scenarios that I have used or for, or are planning on using it for:

    – Taking to a coffee shop when I know I will need to charge my MacBook Air (helps to split the outlet to share the love).
    – Every time I travel. Doubles as my iPhone charger and to help with the general lack of power outlets everywhere I go.
    – Conferences. (see: Coffee Shops)

    It’s a handy thing to have, doesn’t weigh much, and is decently compact (when in your bag, quite bulky on the outlet). Again, I would have kept living life without it but at $11.60 it is hard to go wrong.

    **UPDATED**: You can only charge one iPhone at a time (I am told), and you cannot charge an iPad, off the USB ports.

  • iPod nano Remote Controls

    Shawn Blanc is dreaming:
    >I think the idea of a product like this — a touchscreen watch that plays music and also has phone-like capabilities and an ability to connect to and control our other devices — is a no-brainer.

    I see the limited appeal of such a device, but I think it would be a horrible failure. The iPod nano as a watch is poor. The reasons:

    1. It is too big.
    2. It cannot be operated without looking (yeah, I’ll get to Siri in a moment).
    3. Redundant

    If you already carry your iPhone in your pocket, what’s the actual benefit to controlling it from an iPod nano? It saves you from pulling out your phone? Your iPhone is likely already in your hand.

    Add to this that such a watch would need a loud enough speaker that you could hear the feedback and a directional microphone to cut ambient noise for commands — well I just don’t think it works very well. I don’t think you could create a watch-like device that is more convenient to control the phone that is already in your pocket, than just pulling out your phone to control it.

    Besides, the iPhone (in my mind) already has such a controller: bluetooth headsets.

    Siri has a place on iPods, but it don’t think using an iPod to control an iPhone when the two are only ~30 inches apart is Siri’s place on iPods. I think Apple would be better served with another go at creating a sleek bluetooth headset, which already can control your iPhone.

    Think of it this way, what’s easier: holding a watch close to your mouth to send commands, or just keeping a (tacky) bluetooth headset in your ear?

  • Dropbox Announces ‘Team’ Service

    Will Knight:
    >The new service, Dropbox for Teams, which has been in beta for the past year, is aimed at companies. It will provide a terabyte of storage for five users, along with administration tools and support, for $795 per year. Additional user licenses cost $125 per year and come with 200 gigabytes of additional storage.

    First I had heard of this, but seems like a no-brainer. You can read more about Teams [here at their FAQ](https://www.dropbox.com/help/category/Teams).

  • Paul Thurrott on the iPhone 4S Camera

    Paul Thurrott:

    >But the iPhone 4S camera is the best phone-based camera I’ve used so far, and that was obvious after just a few snapshots. This is a great reason to consider upgrading.

    That’s from the guy that runs the “Supersite for Windows”, so you would be hard pressed to call him a “fanboi”. So compare and contrast his statement to the one [posted earlier from Elgan](https://brooksreview.net/2011/10/elgan-hes-an-idiot/).

  • Sending a Message

    Marco Arment:

    >Even though there weren’t a lot of them sold, cutting off support less than two years after its launch (and even less time after it stopped being sold) sends a message to the other manufacturers that it’s acceptable not to care about the long-term usage of Android devices.

    As a nerd I would be pissed. I have to wonder though just how many Android users even know what version of Android they are on and if there is even a new version out — let alone what features are *in* the new version.

    So yes, for nerds this probably is a huge negative — for most users? Well I doubt that most users know and care, all they know is that their phone isn’t evil. ((Clearly))

  • Patents and Stealing

    Timothy B. Lee talking about patent lawsuits between Apple and Android handset companies:

    >The important question isn’t whether such “stealing” occurred, it’s whether we want to live in a world where it’s illegal. Do you want to live in a world where only Apple is allowed to make phones with pinch-to-zoom capability (and dozens of other features) until 2027? I sure don’t.

    I can’t say that I disagree with him here. In fact I was just about to write a similar post. While I don’t think Apple is wrong for patenting these things and for using them in lawsuits, it’s the modus operandi for this industry right now, I think we as a society need to question what should be patentable.

    I don’t have the answer here, but perhaps we should think about what the answer *should* be.

  • Google Puts a Price on Privacy

    Sean Sperte [reflecting on the recent changes to Google searches](http://searchengineland.com/google-puts-a-price-on-privacy-98029):

    >It means, though, that Google’s privacy policies are being dictated by money. That can’t be a good thing.

    It was a matter of time.

  • Nokia Lumia 800

    I can’t speak much to the new version of Windows Phone 7, but the Lumia 800 looks like a phone that I would want to hold. And I can’t think of a better compliment to an iPhone competitor than that.

  • iMessengers Be Warned

    Chuck Skoda:
    >If you send a text to multiple iMessage users, anyone who responds inline will have their message sent to everyone. I previously thought this was an issue with people having “Group Messaging” enabled in Settings→Messages, but apparently this functionality comes standard with iMessage.

    He brings up a couple of good reasons why this is a less that ideal situation. I haven’t noticed this personally, but that likely has to do with the fact that I never am involved in multi-party messages like this.

    The second point he brings up on privacy though is something that I have never thought of, and is in the same vein of why I hate people that send mass emails with the recipients all in the “to” field instead of BCC’d.

  • Gems Revisited: Fantastical 1.1 and Moom 2.3.1

    Dan Frakes does a nice job detailing some of the new features to two of my favorite and daily used little apps: Fantastical and Moom.

    The big addition to Fantastical is the ability to edit events in the app. Moom also has a big update: you can now have a little grid pop-up and you can draw the size of the window, neat stuff.

    Both have a bunch of other adds and worth checking out if you were holding out for some odd reason.

    Frakes on one of the great new features in Moom:

    >The other big new feature is multi-window-layout snapshots. If you’ve got a favorite setup, with each program’s windows meticulously organized, you can take a snapshot of that layout and then use Moom to restore it at any time. This feature can be helpful for restoring order, but it’s also quite useful if, for example, you’ve got a Mac laptop and you regularly switch between using one display (just the laptop’s) and multiple displays (the laptop’s and an external display while at the office).

  • The $8 HBO

    Peter Kafka on the plans to turn around Netflix:

    >So Hastings is trying to build an $8-a-month version of HBO — a network you pay for in addition to your regular TV package, not one that replaces it. And to make that work, he doesn’t have to have everything — but he has to have stuff you can’t get anywhere else.

    That’s a great way to frame what Netflix is trying to do, the question now is can they do it? ((On a side note: I worry for a company with a [CEO sporting a goatee](http://allthingsd.com/files/2011/06/reed-hastings.jpeg).))

  • Apple’s Latest Patent

    James Kendrick:
    >Apple filed for the slide to unlock patent before the original iPhone was released, and just received confirmation of the patent. That puts every Android device ever made firmly in the infringing category, should Apple choose to get nasty.

    Or should Apple choose defend itself against those that choose to steal from them, or sue them. At the end of the day, I don’t think this patent should have been granted.

  • Netflix Market Value Shrivels

    Nick Wingfield:
    >In July, Netflix’s market value was over $16 billion. On Tuesday, after a bruising response to the financial results the company released late Monday, the Internet movie company lost more than $2 billion in value, bringing its total market capitalization to just over $4 billion.

    Clear, decisive, communication has a lot more value than people think.

  • iPads Change Economics, and Speed, of Hotel Wi-Fi

    [Speaking of crappy hotel WiFi](https://brooksreview.net/2011/10/3g-macbooks/), Joe Sharkey asks why it sucks:

    >Largely because of the broad use of iPads and other mobile tablets, which are heavy users of video streaming, the guest room Wi-Fi networks that most hotels thought they had brought up to standard just a few years ago are now often groaning under user demands.

    and:

    >The iPad represents the “final nail in the coffin” for the idea that all Internet is free, Mr. Garrison said.

    then, later:

    >“It’s about managing that bandwidth,” Mr. Garrison added. “We’re not saying that free Internet as you know it today is dead. We’re saying that a hotel owner will have to decide what free should be. I could have a free option, for a limited level of service, but charge for higher levels of demand.”

    Sounds a lot like blaming the iPad for hotels not being prepared to meet the demand. “Sir I am sorry your shower was cold, we just didn’t think everyone would be showering in the morning.”

  • Focus v. Focus

    Chase Jarvis, pro-photographer living in a great city, breaks down the difference between two types of ‘focus’ in photography — specifically in regards to the new Lytro camera.

  • OWS’s Beef: Wall Street Isn’t Winning It’s Cheating

    Matt Taibbi wrote a great story about all the Occupy Wall Street complaints, what I find interesting is the confusion of the OWS message that he leads off the story with — [as I have said](https://brooksreview.net/2011/10/occupy-this/) this is the biggest problem of the movement, vague goals and messages. Beyond this, I love this passage by Taibbi:

    >It is virtually impossible to not make money in banking when you have unlimited access to free money, especially when the government keeps buying its own cash back from you at market rates.

    >Your average chimpanzee couldn’t fuck up that business plan, which makes it all the more incredible that most of the too-big-to-fail banks are nonetheless still functionally insolvent, and dependent upon bailouts and phony accounting to stay above water.

    Nice summation of the recession we find ourselves in.