Year: 2012

Apple Wins Samsung Trial →

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Nilay Patel:

Perhaps most importantly, the jury ruled that many of Samsung’s infringements were “willful” — that is, the company deliberately copied Apple’s patents. That’s how they got to that $1.051 billion damage award; they punished Samsung for doing it on purpose.

10.8.1 Released →

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Here are the fixes:

  • Resolve an issue that may cause Migration Assistant to unexpectedly quit
  • Improve compatibility when connecting to a Microsoft Exchange server in Mail
  • Address an issue playing audio through a Thunderbolt display
  • Resolve an issue that could prevent iMessages from being sent
  • Address an issue that could cause the system to become unresponsive when using Pinyin input
  • Resolve an issue when connecting to SMB servers with long names
  • Address a issue that may prevent Safari from launching when using a Proxy Automatic Configuration (PAC) file
  • Improve 802.1X authentication with Active Directory credentials

Drafts 2.0 — and 1.0 for iPad — Released →

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Drafts 2.0 for iPhone and Drafts for iPad are out.

Building on the excellent 1.0, the new version of Drafts adds features like more font selection, more output options and a neat full-screen mode.

The most interesting feature is syncing, though. Using the Simperium engine, Drafts for iPad and iPhone can share text via the cloud. It’s crazy fast.

If you’re a Drafts user, buying the iPad version is a no-brainer. If you’re not using Drafts yet at all, shame on you. You really are missing out on a great little app.

On Writing and Tools

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Justin Blanton, in a piece about moving away from WordPress:

Frankly, I’m just tired of having to upgrade WordPress (and then make all of my little one-off modifications each time I upgrade), tired of having to manage memory on the web server, tired of having to think about whether something I do is going to break the site in some fatal way that I simply don’t have the time these days to fix. The list goes on and on and on. I just want to write.

Chris Bowler, on writing tools:

But tools can only go so far. In the end, it comes down the writer. In writing, the friction that has to be dealt with the most is that which takes place in your head. Not from your tools. A good writer can change thoughts, opinions and even worlds, regardless of the tool or platform used.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this over the last few weeks, but not just about blogging platforms specifically.

Take notebooks, for example. Over the last year, I’ve filled nine Field Notes notebooks. Before Field Notes, I had failed at journaling over and over.

So, does having a little notebook in my pocket make me more prone to journal? Sure, but it’s still up to me to get it out and write. I still have to find the time and energy and will and patience to do it.

The fact is, that most of those nine notebooks aren’t filled with “journaling,” but rather meeting notes, outlines for article ideas, diagrams for network closets and other miscellaneous things. In fact, Day One has recently become the hub of my journaling, not my Field Notes.

I’m not sure what my point is here, but the relationship between writing and tools for writing is endlessly fascinating to me. Surely having a good workflow with minimal friction makes writing easier, but does easier writing equal better writing?

How To Cure Cancer →

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Patrick Rhone:

As a species, we have proven that there is nothing we can’t do if we set out to do so. We have cured the incurable countless times before. I fervently believe that, if we can send robots to Mars and fix elections with money, we can cure cancer. All it takes is the same thing it always has for every one of those challenges…

Care.