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I’m not a Yankees fan, but you’d be [hard pressed to find a baseball fan that doesn’t enjoy](http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/poll-the-most-respected-athlete-of-all-time/) watching Rivera work, just look at his stats as reported by Dave Cameron: >Among relievers with at least 500 career innings, Rivera’s 2.05 ERA is easily the best ever. Let’s hope this isn’t the end of a…
I’m not a Yankees fan, but you’d be [hard pressed to find a baseball fan that doesn’t enjoy](http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/poll-the-most-respected-athlete-of-all-time/) watching Rivera work, just look at his stats as reported by Dave Cameron:
>Among relievers with at least 500 career innings, Rivera’s 2.05 ERA is easily the best ever.
Let’s hope this isn’t the end of a spectacular career.
This video has been making the rounds. It shows an *improved* method for selecting text on the iPad. I think it looks really neat, but the call for Apple to add it as a feature is pretty misguided if you ask me. If you think about iOS — this would be a very poor feature…
This video has been making the rounds. It shows an *improved* method for selecting text on the iPad. I think it looks really neat, but the call for Apple to add it as a feature is pretty misguided if you ask me.
If you think about iOS — this would be a very poor feature for the general iOS user base. The reasons are the same as why Apple doesn’t make the multi-touch app switching gestures readily public, it’s not discoverable or memorable for normal users.
Imagine what would happen if a user slid two fingers along the keyboard accidentally and then started typing. Oops. While this system is certainly better than what is currently on iOS, it would also lead to much user confusion. That alone is reason enough to not add it in iOS.
[When I purchased and reviewed the Panasonic GX1](https://brooksreview.net/2012/03/gx1/), I left out one crucial reason behind my decision for buying this particular camera: I knew I had a baby girl on the way. I wanted a camera that was small enough to hold in one hand and snap a picture ((Yes I can shoot my Canon…
[When I purchased and reviewed the Panasonic GX1](https://brooksreview.net/2012/03/gx1/), I left out one crucial reason behind my decision for buying this particular camera: I knew I had a baby girl on the way. I wanted a camera that was small enough to hold in one hand and snap a picture ((Yes I can shoot my Canon 5D one handed, but it’s less than ideal to do so.)) , yet high enough quality to not make me regret leaving behind my dSLR.
I also wanted a camera that could take excellent pictures at high ISO, relatively quietly, so that I could snap those precious “sleeping baby” photos.
That was a huge factor in my choosing the GX1.
Even without a baby, I have found the GX1 to be a phenomenal camera, one that has seriously made me consider selling off my Canon 5D and the lenses that go along with it — just maybe not quite yet.
When my daughter was born I almost immediately started snapping images with the GX1, my wife uses it too. It’s been a fantastic camera for us.
I was worried that the 20mm might be too limiting for indoor shots of a baby, but it’s turned out to be perfect — and thank goodness it is an f/1.7 lens, because low-light shooting is all I seem to do any more.
Which brings me to ISO and noise. I don’t think I have shot many pictures below ISO 1600 with the GX1 since Sloane came along. In fact I have gone up to 6400 and beyond more than a few times. While 6400 isn’t as clean as I dream that it should be, it’s still a good enough picture that I can be happy looking at it.
Also a quick noise reduction in Lightroom yields very satisfactory results ((The noise reduction engine in Lightroom is the primary reason I use Lightroom over Aperture.)) .
I simply cannot say enough good things about the GX1. It has been rock solid. Battery life has been fantastic. The quality is excellent. The noise control is very good.
I truly love this camera.
I did notice right away that with a baby around, I needed a strap on the camera so that I can attend to her when she needs me, without trying to find a good spot to set the camera down at.
At [Justin Blanton’s recommendation](http://hypertext.net/2012/04/dsptch) I ordered both the [wrist strap](http://www.dsptch.com/collections/wrist/products/camera-wrist-strap-black) and [sling strap](http://www.dsptch.com/collections/sling/products/camera-sling-strap-black) from DSPTCH and have been quite happy with them. The way that both clip on to the camera makes it really easy to switch to the wrist strap when at home and the sling strap when out and about.
My wife and I tend to leave the GX1 on the coffee table in the living room, and even though it is a longer reach than our iPhones, we tend to go for the GX1 first when we want to shoot a photo. And that right there perfectly sums up why I am so happy with the GX1: I choose it over the more readily available iPhone camera every chance I get.
There’s something about this footage, especially the night footage, that looks so much like CG to me. I don’t know if that is the styling applied in this video, or a credit to how far CG has come, but it is bugging me.
There’s something about this footage, especially the night footage, that looks so much like CG to me. I don’t know if that is the styling applied in this video, or a credit to how far CG has come, but it is bugging me.
Shawn talks about a new Samsung phone that was announced and that will be outdated by the time it ships, we “debate” about the Paul Miller leaving the internet “sensation”, and lastly we talk about when and how to link to KickStarter projects.
Shawn talks about a new Samsung phone that was announced and that will be outdated by the time it ships, we “debate” about the Paul Miller leaving the internet “sensation”, and lastly we talk about when and how to link to KickStarter projects.
“The answer is simple, young one – because common sense doesn’t get page views.” — Harry Marks
So Draw Something’s usage has fallen off a cliff and Zynga looks to have over paid for the company. But it should also be noted that Zynga took a gamble on this acquisition. Had Draw Something continued to grow then Draw Something would be worth considerably more — and Zynga would have bought it at…
So Draw Something’s usage has fallen off a cliff and Zynga looks to have over paid for the company. But it should also be noted that Zynga took a gamble on this acquisition.
Had Draw Something continued to grow then Draw Something would be worth considerably more — and Zynga would have bought it at a bargain. But Zynga knew this *could* happen, they likely just thought it wouldn’t happen this fast.
On a personal note: it’s hard to feel bad for the company that gave the world FarmVille.
A simply amazing story about the power that the blind are finding with the iPhone and third-party apps. While I read this story I had one thought that kept popping in my head: how the hell do they keep their phones charged? I often use Google maps to drive from point to point and doing…
A simply amazing story about the power that the blind are finding with the iPhone and third-party apps. While I read this story I had one thought that kept popping in my head: how the hell do they keep their phones charged?
I often use Google maps to drive from point to point and doing that eats the battery, now imagine you have to keep it on all the time otherwise you might get lost, that’s just scary to think about.
A while back I posted about how I didn’t like the concept of indoor mapping using shoppers with WiFi, but I hadn’t thought of the power of such technology for the blind, luckily some one has:
>”One of the biggest concerns of the blind community is finding their way around independently,” he says. “You can find an address, but what if you get someplace and you have nobody to help you find your way around the building?” His solution, still in the works, will attempt to sketch a map of the building based on previous routes taken within, and the strength of the wireless signals bouncing from the different sources. It’ll also take into consideration the pace and number of steps a person takes from one point to the next. If a blind person were to arrive to a hotel, he’d only need to be shown to his room once. The iPhone will remember the way for him, and navigate him back and forth from the room to the lobby.
That’s fantastic.
Farhad Manjoo: >I’ve long trusted and admired Google. I use its services to store and organize my most personal data, including my email, contacts, bookmarks, Web history, and calendar. The Street View scandal hasn’t destroyed my trust in the company, but after reading the report, I no longer trust it implicitly. In my mind that…
Farhad Manjoo:
>I’ve long trusted and admired Google. I use its services to store and organize my most personal data, including my email, contacts, bookmarks, Web history, and calendar. The Street View scandal hasn’t destroyed my trust in the company, but after reading the report, I no longer trust it implicitly.
In my mind that is the worst statement someone can make about a company like Google. For users to use Google services they simply must trust the company — you just end up storing too much data there to not trust a cloud company of Google’s reach.
Manjoo continues:
>Even in the best-case scenario, someone at Google thought it would be a good idea to insert code that spies on the world, and no one else noticed. It doesn’t inspire my confidence that, a far as anyone from the outside can tell, anything has happened to the people who perpetrated this.
>How do we know some similar rogue program isn’t operating in Gmail, Chrome, or Android?
Great question.
Fantastic little app, I had been using SmushIt before — this is way easier. [via Gruber]
Fantastic little app, I had been using SmushIt before — this is way easier.
*The Week*: > MIT researchers have unveiled a new technique that “virtually eliminates reflections, producing glass that is almost unrecognizable because of its absence of glare. I’ve heard about this project before and it really seems like something that Ive should be all over — and not just for iOS devices, for all Apple devices.…
*The Week*:
> MIT researchers have unveiled a new technique that “virtually eliminates reflections, producing glass that is almost unrecognizable because of its absence of glare.
I’ve heard about this project before and it really seems like something that Ive should be all over — and not just for iOS devices, for all Apple devices. Glare is about the nastiest, ugliest, reality that plagues Apple devices today so it seems very likely that Apple would be all over this type of product.
I like where Michael Schechter is going with this tip, setting Keyboard Maestro to open OmniFocus every 90 minutes, because I too often forget to check what’s in there until it is too late. What I don’t like is the forced nature of the tip — I don’t want a window popping up if I…
I like where Michael Schechter is going with this tip, setting Keyboard Maestro to open OmniFocus every 90 minutes, because I too often forget to check what’s in there until it is too late.
What I don’t like is the forced nature of the tip — I don’t want a window popping up if I am in the middle of something that I truly don’t want to interrupt. So I fixed it: my version of his KM macro just pops a Growl notification on my screen every 90 minutes that reminds me (gently) to check OmniFocus.
I just created this so I am not sure how it will work long term, but I really like the idea.
Love the title of his post and he covers quite the lot of iPad cases. Me, I’m still a Smart Cover guy.
Love the title of his post and he covers quite the lot of iPad cases. Me, I’m still a Smart Cover guy.
Last night we saw a story break about (gasp!) Apple no longer approving apps that use the Dropbox SDK. The reason: if a user digs around enough they could find a link on Dropbox’s site that allows them to sign up and (double gasp!) pay for Dropbox. Shocking, I know. Of course, as [Federico Viticci…
Last night we saw a story break about (gasp!) Apple no longer approving apps that use the Dropbox SDK. The reason: if a user digs around enough they could find a link on Dropbox’s site that allows them to sign up and (double gasp!) pay for Dropbox.
Shocking, I know.
Of course, as [Federico Viticci explains](http://www.macstories.net/stories/11-13-and-the-dropbox-sdk/), this is not only blown out of proportion, but nothing new:
>Apple’s 11.13 rule isn’t new, and before we dabble in speculation about Apple wanting to “kill Dropbox”, I suggest we wait.
I, for one, am not particularly concerned about this fiasco, but it did raise and interesting thought about Apple’s insistence on taking their cut of everything they can: is what Apple is doing good for anyone other than Apple?
There’s a few sides to this: developers, Apple, bloggers/media, and consumers. Let’s tackle each separately.
### Developers
For developers, whose service does not rely on iOS, this is quite an annoying and often deal-breaking restriction. Dropbox likely can’t be profitable giving Apple a 30% cut of their paid plans and we know Amazon can’t sell Kindle books profitable this way (though do they even sell Kindle books profitably?).
However, other apps that rely solely on the App Store likely can make this profitable — they just raise all their prices and hope that the sheer reach of iOS gives them the returns they need.
When looking at Apple’s cut from the perspective of a developer, it is fairly easy to make the argument either way — depending on what you are trying to seek and where the bulk of your customers are. Most would assume that Apple’s cut is too big, but they offer quite a bit in reach and exposure — also the most willing group of consumers to spend money on software. Good and bad.
### Apple
It seems pretty clear now that Apple is heavily benefiting from demanding the 30% cut, but let’s not forget that it was and *is* a huge risk for the company. There are only two reasons this is playing out well for Apple right now:
– Apple has a ton of leverage given the popularity of iOS among developers.
– iOS users have shown a much higher willingness to spend money than users of any other mobile platform.
If the former reason wasn’t true, this likely wouldn’t work as developers would just hold off until Apple started paying them (like Microsoft is having to do with Windows Phone). If the latter reason wasn’t true, then this would be a non-issue because developers would be on another platform, and you can argue with me here, but I don’t see that many compelling paid apps for Android that haven’t first been an iOS only app for a while.
It’s clear today, that for Apple, this 30% cut of everything is a fantastic strategy. It’s hard to argue with their pile of cash.
### Bloggers / Media
Though bloggers like to complain (a lot) about Apple taking its cut, what would we talk about otherwise? It may be odd that I include bloggers in this break down, but they/we play an important role in informing consumers. Therefore, how this policy affects bloggers will directly effect most of the other categories (to some extent). ((No way to make that statement without sounding completely jackasstic.))
As I said above, Apple’s supposed ”greed” gives a lot of fuel for the writing fire, but it also pits many bloggers in an awkward position. On the one hand bloggers like to promote products other than Apple’s and end up establishing friendships with various developers. So bloggers can sit on either side if the coin.
On the one hand shaming Apple for rejecting universally loved Dropbox compatible apps, while on the other eyeing with amazement all that Apple has done to change their lives with the tools they use.
Rock and a hard place. Bloggers should be fair and unbiased in the issue, but because “we” use these vary tools all day, we simply cannot be. It’s both good and bad for bloggers and that really creates a problem when trying to look at this object fully because there are mounds of citations supporting either side.
### Consumers
Ultimately this is the most important group.
Apple is a for profit company, and consumers vote with their wallets. Thus, if consumers don’t like Apple taking a 30% cut *and* they stop buying Apple products because of it — well that’s how you get Apple to change its mind.
So does Apple taking a cut effect consumers?
I say yes, massively so. In fact I think Apple taking a 30% cut is a large part of the reason so many consumers are willing to spend money for software. For the first time consumers have one, easy to use, place where they can buy digital goods from a company they trust. And trust really is the real issue here.
Going back to Dropbox for a moment. As a consumer, not a blogger, I would feel far more comfortable paying for Dropbox via an in-app purchase than I do through Dropbox — and increasingly I would guess that the first interaction that many users have with Dropbox is via iOS.
Apple is a known quantity, third-party app developers (for the most part) are not known. Consumers don’t know who is behind [Instapaper, LLC](http://www.instapaper.com), [App Cubby](http://appcubby.com/about/), [Sky Balloon](http://skyballoonstudio.com/) and others. As bloggers we know the people behind the companies, as developers you know or know how to check, as Apple you know, but consumers? They probably don’t even look at who the app is from, they just trust that *everything* they do within the realm of that app has been OK’d by Apple.
This is the heart of the issue. Consumers don’t, can’t, and shouldn’t have to know the people and motives behind purchases in apps — all consumers should need to do is trust that Apple has done their job vetting all of this.
Apple failed to do that with [Path](https://brooksreview.net/2012/02/arment-privacy/) and [other apps](https://brooksreview.net/2012/02/hipster-too/) that uploaded user contacts, but I have yet to see a scenario where in-app purchases turned out to be a scam. Apple vets the in-app purchases closely because they know that consumers trust them to do just that — and because Apple must spend the time and resources to vet these goods, Apple feels they are entitled to their cut.
I think Apple is entitled to their cut too — just so long as they continue to do an excellent job vetting the apps.
Murray: >You’re going to have all the same problems you had before, only now they’re going to be even more annoying to other people. Paul doesn’t need to quit the internet for a year, Paul needs to control himself and reduce his use to reasonable limits, get some creative hobbies, and spend more time with…
Murray:
>You’re going to have all the same problems you had before, only now they’re going to be even more annoying to other people. Paul doesn’t need to quit the internet for a year, Paul needs to control himself and reduce his use to reasonable limits, get some creative hobbies, and spend more time with his friends.
Murray is spot on, if Miller is really leaving the internet because he can’t control himself. I think that is certainly part of the issue, but I have to wonder if he doesn’t have something like a book deal hinging on this…
Marco Arment on the kill apps from the multi-tasking bar myth: >It’s one thing to hear this myth from the idiots at AT&T and Verizon stores, but it’s just embarrassing for Apple’s own retail employees to be peddling placebos that imply that iOS can’t multitask without constant babysitting and manual maintenance.
Marco Arment on the kill apps from the multi-tasking bar myth:
>It’s one thing to hear this myth from the idiots at AT&T and Verizon stores, but it’s just embarrassing for Apple’s own retail employees to be peddling placebos that imply that iOS can’t multitask without constant babysitting and manual maintenance.
John Sides: >The question we can then answer is this: Based on the historical relationship between presidential approval and the economy as well as these other factors, is Mr. Obama more or less popular than the model would predict, given the economy and other circumstances during his first three years in office? What a fascinating…
John Sides:
>The question we can then answer is this: Based on the historical relationship between presidential approval and the economy as well as these other factors, is Mr. Obama more or less popular than the model would predict, given the economy and other circumstances during his first three years in office?
What a fascinating model and I am glad he showed it for other presidents too.
When I saw [Justin Blanton post about this](http://hypertext.net/2012/04/qlocktwo-watch) I was all set to make fun of him, then I clicked the link — oh man is this a great looking watch. *Want.*
When I saw [Justin Blanton post about this](http://hypertext.net/2012/04/qlocktwo-watch) I was all set to make fun of him, then I clicked the link — oh man is this a great looking watch. *Want.*
Kinda makes you realize how good iPhone users had it even *before* iCloud backups. [via Ed Bott, who actually seemed impressed with this method.]
Kinda makes you realize how good iPhone users had it even *before* iCloud backups.
Wil Wheaton on Google shoving Google Plus down people’s throats: >Where the thumbs up and thumbs down used to be, there is now a big G+ Like button. When you go anywhere near it, you get a little popup that tells you to “upgrade to Google plus” for some reason that I don’t remember, because…
Wil Wheaton on Google shoving Google Plus down people’s throats:
>Where the thumbs up and thumbs down used to be, there is now a big G+ Like button. When you go anywhere near it, you get a little popup that tells you to “upgrade to Google plus” for some reason that I don’t remember, because the instant I saw it, I made a rageface.
Good post ((Good post that could have been great if Wheaton didn’t pull the dick-ish move of traditional media by not linking to the sources of two quotes he cites in his post, what is this 1991?)) .