The Brooks Review

Category: Links

  • Smoking Apples Review Twitter for iPad

    Milind Alvares really nails it in the Smoking Apples review of Twitter’s official iPad app. I love the app and think it is the best for the iPad, but it is not without its flaws.

  • iOS App Sales are through the roof insane

    Asymco (I wish they attributed by real names so I could reference that):

    If the current download rate is maintained (17 million apps/day) and if the pricing of $0.29/app is preserved, then $1.8 billion will have been spent on iOS apps this year.

    If you want to know the precise reason everybody and their mom wants to have their own app store, take a look at the graph they posted. Insane growth.

  • MG Siegler on the new Apple TV

    Siegler:

    All that said, let’s be clear: this Apple TV is not the killer device in the living room. This will be more popular than the current Apple TV, but it will not be iPod/iPhone/iPad-big. And Apple seems to know that, which is why they’re still talking cautiously about it.

  • Why is everyone always writing off Netflix?

    If I think about it I see so many people quick to praise Redbox and TiVo all the while they turn their nose up at Netflix. Netflix is smart and I think they will be around longer than either company that I mentioned above.

  • Internet as Social Movement

    The Editors at N+1:

    And then the internet came for the print media. This process has been longer, more intricate, and more emotionally fraught than the interaction of the internet with any other media.

    What a great read and I love watching all the change that we have seen these past 5+ years with the Internet pushing into every nook and cranny of our lives.

  • There is a Horse in the Apple Store

    Frank Chimero on the realization that came from seeing a horse in the Apple Store:

    Since then, John and I have a term called a “tiny pony.” It is a thing that is exceptional that no one, for whatever reason, notices. Or, conversely, it is an exceptional thing that everyone notices, but quickly grows acclimated to despite the brilliance of it all.

    Read the entire thing, it is gold.

  • My Biggest Chrome Gripe Solved

    I have always wanted to give Chrome a fair shake and use it for a while but for a long time I wouldn’t do it because 1Passsword wasn’t supported, then they supported it. Chrome never supported keyboard shortcuts for launching links stored in the bookmarks bar and that was enough to give me reason not to use Chrome, until I found this extension. This solves a lot, and I have switched to Chrome for the time being.

    [via and huge thanks to Shawn Blanc who found it from Stuart Maxwell]

  • iPod Touch Made Up 37.7 Percent of All iOS Devices Sold So Far

    Asymco’s estimate of iPod touch’s sold to date:

    If we assume about 8 million iPhones and 4 million iPads were sold during August and July, the total number of iPod touch sold is 45.2 million.

    This is of a course a guess, but it sounds pretty reasonable to me.

  • AP Interview: UN telecoms chief urges data sharing

    Boy RIM really can’t catch a break, everyone seems to want a peek up their skirts.

    Raphael G. Satter:

    Hamadoun Toure, secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union, said officials fighting terrorism had the right to demand access to users’ information from the maker of the BlackBerry – Research in Motion Ltd.

    I thought people outside (and many inside) the U.S. looked down at the Patriot Act, isn’t this essentially doing the same thing?

  • CoRD: Remote Desktop for Mac OS X

    I used to use Microsoft’s Remote Desktop for the Mac to connect to the Windows server we have to use at our office (our Yardi Property Management software only runs on Windows). However the other day Justin Pennington linked to CoRD and after using it for a bit I have found it t be far better than the offering from Microsoft, be sure to check it out if you use RDP.

  • Samsung Unveils iPad Rival in Galaxy Tab

    One of the killer features of the iPad is the 10 hour battery life, ask any iPad owner how often they charge during the day, the answer most likely is 0-times. That being said I have no clue what the battery life will be, but they better test it with Flash turned off if they want to be competitive.

    Roger Cheng shows how stupid Samsung is:

    The company plans to spend less promoting the Galaxy Tab, because it feels the product appeals to more of a niche audience than the more mainstream smartphone, said Samsung mobile marketing executive Younghee Lee.

    You know that same niche audience that will probably buy 22 million iPads next year, but you know, niche.

  • Poor Expectations

    The post Shawn Blanc links to is good, and you should read it, but this comment from Blanc really stood out to me:

    A lot of this has to do with the (sometimes false and sometimes real) expectations that if we do not look and act incredibly frazzled our peers and supervisors will assume we are not working hard. So we are rigid on ourselves, we live with the fear of man, and we tell ourselves to stay there. Because if not, we’re clearly wasting precious time.

    I know this is the way life is for a great many people, I am lucky enough that I run my own company, and my company really is just me. That means I am my own judge, no one else can tell me to work harder, or look busy. However I do share an office with two other companies and I am often told by those employees that ‘it must be nice’ referring to the fact that I never look too busy, or get too stressed out.

    The fact is though, I just get my work done and don’t let it get to me. In fact it is not that I never have any work to do, rather that my end goal is not completing work so much as it is creating free time for me to do other things (like blogging). I hope that makes sense, my end goal each day is to have the free time I need to do what ever I want to do.

  • Living Room Nightmare Seen by Khoi Vinh

    Vinh:

    So imagine how my child’s babysitter feels when she wants to watch TV after putting the baby to sleep: it’s so bad that she’s often actually has to read a book instead.

    and a little later:

    The problem is that every company out there that’s addressing this opportunity, from Sony to Samsung to even Apple, is actually trying to solve the wrong problem. None of them are really asking how they can fix the living room problem. Rather, they’re focusing on establishing their brand in the living room, positing completely unrealistic scenarios in which a consumer buys only, say, Samsung-branded components (e.g., its absurdly useless WiseLink protocol) without acknowledging the reality that the components of most home theaters make for a decidedly heterogeneous world.

    Does he ever hit the nail on the head with this analysis. As much as I would hate to see this happen, and really hate to have to pay for the cost of this, I think to solve the cluster-f*ck that is the living room we need something like an iMac for the living room. Meaning we need someone like Apple to build in all in one TV-Reciever-Speakers-DVD Player-Apple TV solution that requires just one cord (for power) and that is it. 42-inch excellence. That would give the home theater guys the kick in the ass that they need to get going.

    Then again what do I know, I actually know how to use all six remotes that we have.

    [via Shawn Blanc]

  • Presenting the MiFi of Your Dreams

    David Pogue on the Virgin Mobile MiFi:

    Second, Virgin requires no contract. You can sign up for service only when you need it. In other words, it’s totally O.K. with Virgin if you leave the thing in your drawer all year, and activate it only for, say, the two summer months when you’ll be away. That’s a huge, huge deal in this era when every flavor of Internet service, portable or not, requires a two-year commitment.

    I am really jealous, I don’t know much about Sprint’s coverage in the Seattle area but it can’t be that bad. This is a great option for, well for everyone.

  • WSDOT for iPhone [iTunes link]

    Nice to see the Washington State Department of Transportation getting into the app business (free app). Shows the traffic, alerts, and travel times. Very nice start.

  • Twitter for iPad

    The app that I have been waiting for since April is now available: Twitter for iPad. I haven’t had enough time with it to do a review yet, but here is a couple things that I am thinking about:

    • I like the icon, I think.
    • The horizontal scrolling you can do is pretty neat.
    • I love the glowing blue dots on the edge of the screen.
    • Why doesn’t it sync the position with the iPhone client?
    • Best Twitter client on the iPad so far.

    Also it really is beautifully designed.

  • iTunes B&W Now Availible for Download

    If you haven’t already grabbed the latest copy of iTunes, you mine as well now as Apple will require it at some point. Couple things to note: Ping is odd and I don’t get it, the icon is better but not great, the app appears to be in black and white (not really but it is very close to it), and one thing I really like is the volume slider.

  • One Bucket to Rule Them All

    Chris Bowler on OmniFocus:

    But I don’t believe that’s the target audience in question here. Folks who work on a Mac all day, do just that — work. And since you have to manage tasks and information, OmniFocus is a great option. In my mind, it’s the best option and it’s already here.

  • Flash on Android

    Ryan Lawler reviewing Flash on a Nexus One:

    Shockingly bad.

    I think a lot of people assumed Apple was lying when they said that these devices won’t run Flash.

  • How Google’s lack of control affects their value chain

    Asymco:

    Google today is faced with the prospect that not only the devices (which sit on its OS) but also services and apps on top would choose to remain on old versions of Android. There is nothing to stop them from doing just that. Unlike Microsoft, Google does not enforce licensing terms for Android. It is at the mercy of the value chain.

    In other words Google shot themselves in the foot by not writing their licensing in a way that would allow them to force vendors to use the latest and greatest in a timely manner. Oops.