The Brooks Review

Category: Links

  • Mad At Google? The Question Is: Are You Mad Enough To Stop Using It? Can You Even Stop Using It?

    Those are three powerful questions that very clearly explain why people aren’t more pissed about the recent Net Neutrality events.

  • How neutrality locks in the web’s ‘Hyper Giants’

    Andrew Orlowski:

    When Microsoft tied up the office software business, few Lotus or WordPerfect users failed to realise the market was changing – but very few web users now notice how much it’s changed.

    Pro-neutrality campaigners are now furious at being thrown under a bus. They might be more furious to discover Google lobbying for rules it would never have to abide by itself.

  • Flexibility and power

    Brent Simmons:

    But flexibility detracts from power just as often — or more often. Flexibility is an invitation. It says, “Hey, futz with this. And this. And this. You’re not getting anything done, but at least you kind of have the illusion of doing something.”

    Spot on.

  • First Trojan for Android Phones Goes Wild

    Sarah Perez:

    The Trojan penetrates Android-based smartphones disguised as an ordinary application, says Kaspersky. Users are prompted to install a small file of around 13 KB that has the standard Android extension .APK. But once the “app” is installed on the device, the Trojan bundled with it begins texting premium rate phone numbers (those that charge). The criminals are actually the ones operating these numbers, so they end up collecting the money via charges to the victims’ accounts.

    Now they really are the Windows of the mobile world (not counting the actual Windows Mobile platform).

  • Windows 7 vs iPad [video]

    Two things are clear from this video:

    1. The iPad is slower to load web pages.
    2. Windows was not made to work with large fingers.

  • How Google Used to View Net Neutrality

    Google:

    Creativity, innovation and a free and open marketplace are all at stake in this fight.

    That is until we started selling Android devices to Verizon.

  • CineXPlayer for iPad [iTunes Link]

    Very nice and very free.

  • Using a White Board to Quit Your Job

    So damned good.

    [Updated: 8/11/10 at 6:31 AM] Turns out this is a hoax and the girl is an actress. Still though this would be a damned good way to quit your job.

  • Module Based WordPress Theme: Carrington Build

    This is worth every penny – hiring people costs a lot of money. If you are trying to setup a site and want it to be easy and look good, then this just may be the ticket (don’t forget to get Caching turned on though).

  • BBC News: Google offices raided by Korean police

    More backlash from the ‘street view wifi sniffing’ project that Google used.

  • The 2010 Mac Pro CPUs and pricing

    Marco Arment with perhaps one of the best analogies I have heard lately:

    But at such a large premium over the Core i7 iMac, it’s tough to justify or recommend. It’s like buying an SLR if you’re only ever going to use the kit lens.

  • Don’t Get Fireballed

    Great tip, I have always used caching plugins and this site as been able to survive some heavy days with no problems. I used to use HyperCache on this blog, but given some recent oddities with where it stores the files I have switched to WP Super Cache. [via of course Daring Fireball]

  • Oracle Chief Faults H.P. Board for Forcing Hurd’s Resignation

    Larry Ellison via Ashlee Vance of the New York Times:

    The H.P. board just made the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago…That decision nearly destroyed Apple and would have if Steve hadn’t come back and saved them.

    Once again reaffirming my love for Ellison.

  • Google & Verizon Propose Death of Net Neutrality

    This is like when I was a kid trying to persuade my parents that I could come up with a fitting punishment for my transgressions. Always looked out for #1, Verizon and Microsoft (oops I mean Google, mine as well be Microsoft though) are looking out for themselves. The real question is: “why do consumers think that Google will look out for them?”

  • Microsoft’s View on: PC vs Mac

    If I was Microsoft I would have made the entire site in Flash and said one thing:

    If you were on a PC right now you would not hear your CPU fans spinning…

  • Papermaster Lost Confidence of Jobs

    This is what I was talking about yesterday – Gruber speaks to why the timing was as such here. The antenna wasn’t as big of an issue as the competing corporate cultures.

  • Finder Sidebar Separators

    Killer way to spruce up your Finder sidebar.

  • Google SSL Web Search Encrypts Your Google Searches and Suggestions by Default

    Kevin Purdy:

    Google’s SSL Web Search (beta) extension provides the same kind of encrypted searches safe from third parties as you’d get by visiting encrypted.google.com. Installing this extension simply creates a new search engine in Chrome, which you can then set as the default to make all your Google searches secure, or change its keyword for a quick encryption toggle. Your searches should be safe from prying eyes, but they’re still known to Google, of course.

    What the hell are people searching for?

  • My Challenge to You: Only Speak Like a Human at Work

    This is how you succeed in business today, Daniel H. Pink:

    In a world awash in information and choices, clarity is now a source of competitive advantage, says [Jason] Fried. “The real winners in business are going to be the clear companies. Clarity is what everybody really wants and appreciates.”

    Bottom line, be open and honest. You will be amazed how favorably people will react.

  • Coffeehouses Unplugging Internet Access to Reconnect With Customers

    In college independent coffee shops were all we frequented because of the fact that they had free Wi-Fi. Since the Verizon MiFi came out I couldn’t care less what coffee shop I work out of (only on Fridays and the occasional Saturday) – that is until last month. Last month Starbucks switched to free Wi-Fi and since I usually worked out of Starbucks (the paid Wi-Fi meant more tables were available on average) it has become pretty difficult to find a coffee shop to work at.

    The coffee shop industry is undergoing another change, the small shops are starting to charge for the internet access (at least from what I am seeing in Portland and Seattle) while the big guy (Starbucks) is making it free. This just means that more people are going to be remote working out of Starbucks.

    Kudos to the independent shops for being smart enough to see the change and start reacting to it – that is how you survive against a competitor like Starbucks.