Year: 2012

On iCloud Sharing →

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Dan Moren:

It’s clear that Apple’s launch of iCloud has the classic idea of a filesystem squarely in its crosshairs. In the future, you’ll no longer have to create a complicated hierarchy of folders, to maintain multiple versions of the same file, or even to remember where your file is stored.

From Apple’s perspective, this is all about making things easier for the user. You no longer have to remember where you put a file on a disk; instead, all you have to remember is the app you used to create or edit it. After all, it’s easier to remember that you were editing an image in Preview than that you saved it seven folders deep on your hard drive. I’ve certainly found myself relying more and more on the Open Recent menu option in apps that have it.

Tying files to apps has its advantages, to be sure. But Apple’s way of implementing has a cost: Sharing files between applications is more difficult and unwieldy now than it was before.

I have exactly two Keynote documents in iCloud. I often share them when I’m out and about in meetings, so it’s nice have them on my iPad. Past that, I find iCloud to be way to restrictive for my tastes.

Apple Loses Appeal in UK →

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Eric Slivka:

Back in early July, a UK court ruled that Samsung had not infringed upon the design of the iPad with its own Galaxy Tab device, with judge Colin Birss ruling that the Galaxy Tab was simply “not as cool” as the iPad. Roughly a week later, Birss ruled that Apple must publish advertisements on its website and in newspapers acknowledging that Samsung did not copy the iPad’s design.

Apple quickly appealed the ruling and was granted a stay until that appeal could be heard.

[…]

The appeals judges ruled that Apple could satisfy the posting requirement for its own website by including a small link entitled “Samsung/Apple judgement” on the site for a period of one month.

That July ruling sure seemed like a joke. Glad that the appeals court ruled something a little less juvenile.

Why Microsoft’s Surface Ad Might be a Miss

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Lots of words have been written about Microsoft’s new Surface ad. I think Gruber said it best:

It’s a brand ad, not a product ad — not about what Surface can do or how. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though. The ad has a clear message: Surface is an iPad-size tablet with a magnetic keyboard cover and it’s fun. That’s a pretty good message. It’s about framing the product in people’s minds.

The spot immediately reminded me of Apple’s iPod ads from several years back. There are some obvious similarities: people are dancing around, enthralled with the product in their hands. Very little information about that product is actually shared, and we really don’t even get a great look at what is being sold.

As Gruber said, it’s about selling a brand.

(Insert Marco’s “braaaaand” voice.)

I don’t think the Surface ad is as effective as Apple’s were, however. It’s not because the spot is bad — I actually think it’s pretty damn clever. But Apple went with the brand building after it had introduced the world to the iPod. People knew what white headphones meant in 2007. I’m not sure people know what a keyboard case is about in 2012 quite yet.

Just look at the very first iPod ad Apple aired. It showed a guy dancing around with his white earbuds, but only after he had the thing hooked up to his iBook to transfer music to it.

That’s where Microsoft messed up on this ad. It’s fine to have a fun brand-oriented ad that frames the product for people, but doing so before people know what the hell the thing is seems like a misstep to me.

On Digital Journaling →

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Day One creator Paul Mayne, on the advantages of digital journaling:

It’s not as physical or tactile, but what is lost is more than made up in terms of what a digital journal on an iPhone is capable of. It’s always with you, it makes composing text by typing or by voice so fast and easy. And I’d say take photos of your sketches and scraps of paper using the Day One app camera. It will be preserved. I might also note that we are working towards vastly improved export features in Day One that will allow PDF creation and printing abilities of specifically chosen dates and entries, well formatted and designed to give users the ability to create a beautiful, tactile version of their journal data.

I’ve written about Day One before, and I can’t really remember a time without it being on my iPhone’s home screen. I open it to toss a photo or a few sentences at least a couple of times most days. If you aren’t using it yet, shame on you.

Motorola Skinning Android at Verizon’s Command →

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Dieter Bohn:

One of the biggest questions surrounding the “New Motorola” after the Google acquisition is a simple one: if it’s owned by Google, why isn’t it shipping stock Android software on its new RAZR M and RAZR HD phones? We presumed the answer was a simple one: Verizon’s demands, and Motorola has essentially confirmed that assessment.

Speaking to a group of reporters last night, Motorola Senior Vice President, Product Rick Osterloh pointed out the company’s main focuses going forward, and one of them was obviously Android. Specifically, he addressed the question of shipping unaltered, stock Android software on phones.

Going forward, we’re going to try to be as close to the base as we can be, because we think that’s the right thing for users. We think users also want fast upgrades and upgrades for their phones over the long haul, so we’re going to be focus on that as well. It’s a little bit different than what a lot of OEMs are doing and certainly what Motorola did in the past, but going forward that’s going to be our strategy.

Verizon’s Gone Creepy →

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Declan McCullagh:

The company this month began offering reports to marketers showing what Verizon subscribers are doing on their phones and other mobile devices, including what iOS and Android apps are in use in which locations. Verizon says it may link the data to third-party databases with information about customers’ gender, age, and even details such as “sports enthusiast, frequent diner or pet owner.”

“We’re able to view just everything that they do,” Bill Diggins, U.S. chief for the Verizon Wireless marketing initiative, told an industry conference earlier this year. “And that’s really where data is going today. Data is the new oil.”

Thankfully, oil companies would never do anything to screw anyone over.

On the iPad and Surface RT →

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Craig Grannell, on people comparing the Surface RT and iPad:

It’ll be interesting to see if this is how others weigh up the pros and cons of the two systems. But to me, an extra 16 GB of storage space doesn’t cancel out a vastly better display—the thing that you spend all your time looking at and interacting with.

It’s about far more than a screen, however — the iPad has a huge ecosystem of apps, and bump in storage can make up for that. Windows RT is Microsoft starting over, and it’s important not to forget that.