The Brooks Review

Category: Links

  • 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.

  • Introducing The New Sharpie Liquid Pencil

    I am a huge Sharpie fan – so two quick things about this:

    1. Looks amazing.
    2. Why did no one tell me there was a Sharpie Blog?

  • Apple says it has patch for remote attack on iPhone, iPad

    Byron Acohido:

    The patch is completed, Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris said in an interview. But Kerris said on Friday that she was not able to give a time frame for its public release.

    I would expect it sooner rather than later.

  • Executive Leaves Apple After iPhone Antenna Troubles

    A lot of people are saying he was fired, and that it probably was over the iPhone 4 antenna issue. Though I am leaning towards thinking that it may have been over the white iPhone 4’s lack of availability – that probably pisses Jobs off more.

  • Don’t bank on KMart’s $150 Augen tablet getting Android Market access

    Brad Linder:

    But when I actually moseyed on down to my local KMart to pick up an Augen GenTouch78, I was surprised to discover that it really did have the Android Market installed. There’s just one catch — it doesn’t work properly. You can browse the market or search for apps. But when you actually try to download apps, nothing happens.

    I had no idea that was the case with the Android Marketplace – I have a feel g Gruber might be working on a post about this. [via @gruber]

  • Why Apple’s cash is worth more than Microsoft’s cash

    Love it, great analysis.

  • John Siracusa Weighs In: Apple and the war for the mobile market

    John Siracusa:

    Apple doesn’t need to license iOS to other handset makers. Yes, Android is starting to look a lot like the Windows of the mobile era, but not because it’s licensed to third parties. The contexts and uses for handheld devices like music players and cell phones are far more limited than for PCs; hardware diversity is not driving Android sales. The magic formula is simple: quality + availability. Android is ascending in the market because it’s good, it’s available where people want to buy it, and it runs on the networks people want to use.

  • Engadget’s BlackBerry Torch review

    I can’t decide which of these lines sums up the review from Joshua Topolsky better:

    …instead the company is just treading water with its offerings.

    …since RIM is keeping up with the Joneses.

    Both work.

  • Why I Miss The Blinking Red Light

    Mike from Wad City:

    On the iPhone, the taskbar does not include any such information. Instead, I need to unlock it to see what’s come in, unless I pay for an extra app to prod me with pop up notification windows that still require effort to parse.

    Except for you know that blue box that pops up to tell you about all the missed calls and text messages – semantics.

    I used to have a Blackberry (8100?)the first thing I did was turn off that light. To me Blackberries are kind of like PCs they both have a bunch of blinking crap that is completely unnecessary.

  • On How Google Wave Surprisingly Changed My Life

    Max Klein:

    But in general, if you are collaborating with people and you have not tried Google Wave, then you are perhaps missing the greatest thing to happen to small web based businesses since Dropbox.

    This may be the only instance where I have heard of someone actually using Wave in a productive manner. I thought from day one that Google was in trouble for the simple reason: I knew no one on Wave. Klein should check out Basecamp and Campfire though, they may fill the role nicely.

  • WikiLeaks must be stopped

    Marc A. Thiessen:

    With his unprecedented release of more than 76,000 secret documents last week, he may have achieved this. The Post found that the documents exposed at least one U.S. intelligence operative and identified about 100 Afghan informants — often including the names of their villages and family members. A Taliban spokesman said the group is scouring the WikiLeaks Web site for information to find and “punish” these informers.

    I honestly can’t say that I disagree with the sentiments in this article – it is walking a fine line between freedom of the press and national security. I doubt though that many view WikiLeaks as ‘the press’ especially when it’s leader says things like this:

    He recently told the New Yorker he understands that innocent people may be hurt by his disclosures (“collateral damage” he called them) and that WikiLeaks might get “blood on our hands.”

  • T-Mobile USA loses 93,000 customers in 2nd quarter

    Peter Svensson:

    In total, T-Mobile lost 93,000 customers, ending the quarter with 33.6 million.

    Ouch. They may not last long as a U.S. carrier – I can’t think of the last time they did anything relevant.

  • Maybe? – Google and Verizon Near Deal on Pay Tiers for Web

    Last night The New York Times reported the above story – I didn’t have time to read it so I had not posted it. A migraine set me off to a slow day today and with 5 hours of meetings I could only follow along on Twitter. So here is the story, last night The New York Times said:

    Google and Verizon, two leading players in Internet service and content, are nearing an agreement that could allow Verizon to speed some online content to Internet users more quickly if the content’s creators are willing to pay for the privilege.

    Which is so very clearly against Google’s Net Neutrality stance, and their mission statement of ‘Doing no Evil”, which by Google’s own admission such a thing would be, and should be viewed as ‘evil’. Google’s public policy Twitter account then tweeted:

    @NYTimes is wrong. We’ve not had any convos with VZN about paying for carriage of our traffic. We remain committed to an open internet.

    At which point it would seem the whole thing should be over, but Google was apparently offended, as was Verizon because TechCrunch got a couple of quotes from them both denying the story.

    Everyone seems to be stuck on the fact that Google is denying, and should they be trusted and yadda yadda yadda, but who gives a crap about that. The bigger question here is where the hell did The New York Times get this information, why was it not vetted, and where does this leave the Times’ integrity?

  • Android Predicted To Surpass iPhone By 2012

    If you want to know why I think this estimate is bull, take a listen to the recent episode of The Talk Show where John Gruber explains why all this market share data is irrelevant.

  • AP struggles to define what AOL does

    The AP via NYTimes.com:

    The Internet company AOL reported a loss of more than $1 billion for the second quarter on Wednesday because of charges for a decline in its share price and the sale of properties like the social networking site Bebo and the instant messaging service ICQ.

    If you ever have to describe a company as an “Internet company” then you know said company is doomed.

  • Simplifying the experience

    Minimal:

    Apple makes it easy for people like my mother to buy a computer without feeling stupid. They make it easy by having fewer products (quality vs quantity), having products names that are easily recognizable and easy to remember (do you know what the Dell Latitude E5400N is?) and finally they have a website that makes it easy for your to understand the differences between the models and pick the one that is best for you.

    Marketing departments take note.

  • In Japan, Living Large In Really Tiny Houses

    Some very cool design and thoughts. I have been to Japan twice now, and each time I am amazed by how small everything is, yet I never feel cramped. Each time I come home from Japan I felt like I needed to purge some stuff because I have too much clutter in my home that is twice the size that a family of four would live in. Be sure to check out the slide show (it is flash though).

  • Wave Goodbye To Google Wave

    Michael Arrington:

    And while the service has many, or at least some, passionate users (including TechCrunchers), it “has not seen the user adoption we would have liked,” says Google.

    Not surprising.

  • Dish to kind of stream live TV on iPad, other devices

    Sounds really cool until you start reading the details. Basically they are tying in with a SlingBox (or similar device) to allow the streaming, meaning someone changes the channel at home your channel is changed as well. In addition to buying the device for your TV you have to pay another $10/mo for ‘multiple DVR service’. Lame.

  • Feds admit storing checkpoint body scan images

    Note that this is not airport scans, but scans at a courthouse in Florida store by the U.S. Marshals. What is interesting is that the TSA said there was no way to store the images and now are saying that the machines can store the data but that they “usually” turn it off when they are installed in airports. What a crock of…