Adam Lisagor on AirPlay:
Because what AirPlay promises is that I can touch media here, and then weightlessly move it there.
The entire post is pretty interesting, I had never thought about the response gadgets invoke, the ability to ‘touch’ and ‘thumb through’ your media is a pretty powerful thing.
It would be even cooler if the original server still powered it. Though it was a NeXT computer, so that is cool enough.
The executive, Susan Wojcicki, does not say Google is unhealthy, I do. She does effectively say that Google buys companies because it is easier to do so than it would be to start from scratch. Which is pathetic if you ask me. The iPhone was made from scratch and it is pretty damn great.
I have previously written about this topic before.
A fascinating article from CNN’s Mark Milian about a tour he took with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. Of note is that Woz carries way too many cell phones (up to 10 sometimes), which is all forgiven by the fact that he apparently has a white iPhone 4 (jealous). Worth the time to read the entire article.
[Updated: 12/8/10 at 12:50 PM]
Stephen Hackett reports that the white iPhone Woz has is fake. Which bums me out a bit.
Chris Foresman on how iOS is affecting devices like Sony’s PSP:
That point is underscored by the fact that nearly a quarter of those that use a mobile phone exclusively for gaming have a DS or PSP but never use it.
That seems pretty logical to me. For instance: before my iPhone the last mobile gaming device I owned was a Sega Game Gear (that thing rocked back in the day).
Notice the Motorola branding right smack on the front of the device. Even Samsung had the good sense to not do this on the Samsung Galaxy Tab.
Ian has put together an exhaustive guide on how you move from Tumblr to WordPress while keeping all of your posts and those posts’ URLs working. This looks like a simple process, but a very tedious one. I recommend though, that if you rely on your blog for anything you get off of Tumblr soon.
I put together this quick wallpaper/background image last week for myself, thought I would share it with everyone. I am not big on decorations so it is very subtle.
Enjoy.
Marc A. Thiessen:
WikiLeaks represents a new and unprecedented cyber threat that cannot be ignored or wished away. Just as terrorism allows small groups of individuals to wreak destruction on a scale that was once the province of nation-states, information technology allows small actors such as Julian Assange to wreak previously unimagined destruction on U.S. national security through cyberspace. This is a threat that requires aU.S. response. Hillary Clinton is right – WikiLeaks has attacked America.
A piss-poor analysis. I don’t like Assange, and I don’t agree with the way he is conducting WikiLeaks. That said I don’t think that it should be attacked and shut down, this is freedom in its rawest form. I don’t know where I am really on this issue, but I do know that I can’t agree with Thiessen on this.
I want this, I really want this.
Nilay Patel:
Overall, Chrome OS is very much a modern riff on the “thin client” idea from the 90s — an idea that Eric Schmidt himself pioneered while at Sun. Indeed, Schmidt took the stage at the event to explicitly draw the connection, saying that “our instincts were right 20 years ago, but we didn’t have the tools or technology.” That’s a pretty wild statement — and now Google has to deliver.
I don’t get it. Can some please, in no uncertain terms, explain to me why you would want this over an iPad or Android Tablet?
Cameron Moll:
While we don’t pay services such as Tumblr and Twitter in monetary means, we do pay them in usage, not to mention attention given to any revenue-generating services (i.e. ads or sponsored items). This usage and attention is what attracts the huge sums of investment dollars these kinds of companies acquire. In the end, if our attention and usage cannot be “paid” to these free services, it’s likely we’ll pay them elsewhere.
A great way to look at the relationship Tumblr has with its users.
Jaroslav Stekl:
Additionally, Engadget, whose editor-in-chief was sitting at the event, noticed that the tablet has no buttons at all, for better or for worse.
I don’t know about the no buttons route, there needs to be at least one button that performs the action to get back to the home screen, or you could call it ESC if you prefer.
David Karp on the Tumblr staff blog:
While you might feel like you’ve gotten used to seeing errors on Tumblr recently, know that this is absolutely unacceptable to our team, and unacceptable for a platform determined to be the best place in the world for your creative expression.
Might and feel are two words that I would not have used. Perhaps he should have phrased it: “I know we have been down a lot lately.” Don’t push off the blame on your customers, they “feel” like Tumblr has been down a lot lately because it HAS been down a lot lately.
Secondly there really is no explanation here and that is truly disappointing, dive into the details and show some transparency, because frankly your product is not good enough to give Apple explanations for problems.
If you agree reblog this post from Patrick Rhone.
This is an extension that makes Google Reader look more like Reeder, and it is mighty pretty.
From the web site:
Then your life just got better: we’ve just released Appointment Reminder, a new service which makes automatic phone, text message, and email appointment reminders to your clients on your behalf.
Basically it calls your clients to remind them of an appointment thus conveying to your clients that you otherwise would expect them to not be competent enough to show without a reminder.
2010 is not over, so it bugs me that they are saying no better photos can be made before the year is out, that said these are some great shots (journalistic shots mostly).
Dan Sabbagh on the iPad as a newspaper savior:
This is a seductive looking number – as long, that is, as people spend their time using their iPads for reading. It’s well in excess, say, of the combined average daily sale of the upmarket press – just over 2 million Monday to Saturday. But the problem is – for those who dare take their iPad out on the way to work – is that an iPad is not newspaper with moving words. Screen Digest, again, reckon that the average owner downloads about 60 apps a year, of which all but six are free. That certainly leaves room to buy an iPad newspaper, but will it leave time to read it when there is all that other stuff to play with?
People only pay for 6 apps a year on average, how do they practice such restraint?
Stacey Armato:
I then begged him to read the TSA rules I had printed out. He read the first form which stated that medical liquids can have alternate screening (no x-ray). He was quick to say “well this isn’t a medical liquid!” So I had him read the second form which says breast milk is to be treated like a medical liquid. He then says, “well, not today.” I started balling all over again once he said that.
This needs to stop, what ridiculous behavior.
It was funny at hour 3 for me, then I started feeling bad for its users from hours 5-10. Now though this is getting funny-sad again. Where is Marco Arment when Tumblr needs him…