Year: 2012

Missing the Surprise

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In the world of 24-hour news, Twitter accounts and blurrycam photos, it’s hard to be surprised by much anymore.

Sure, Apple pulls it off every once in a while — most recently with Mountain Lion — but usually, when an Apple event is about to be held, just about everyone has a good guess at what is under that black cloth.

This time around, every nerd I know is talking about the iPad 3’s Retina Display, its LTE chipset and the fact that the case is 0.8 mm thicker.

Apple, of course, hasn’t said a word on any of this. Until next Wednesday, the iPad 3 doesn’t exist.

It seems that I’m in the minority, though, judging form the number and size of sites that cover Apple rumors. Without these stories, the Apple new cycle would be much slower, and many sites would have far fewer page views.

But the events would be a lot more fun.

TinyLetter [Sponsor]

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Thanks to TinyLetter for sponsoring the 512 Pixels RSS feed this week!

TinyLetter is the simplest way to send email newsletters. Creating signup forms is a breeze, and TinyLetter even makes it easy to reply to your readers individually. It’s also free.

TinyLetter doesn’t have all the features most email services offer. It’s built for people, not business. Just compose your message, send it to your readers, and find out what they think. That’s all there is to it.

The Problem with Android

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Nilay Patel:

[Google’s Android boss man Andy] Rubin said that the biggest problem for Android on tablets is “there’s no organized way for consumers to recognize it as a viable platform,” and that Google wants consumers to see its tablets as part of the broader Android ecosystem. “The educated consumer realizes it now that they’re either picking the Apple ecosystem or the Microsoft ecosystem or the Google ecosystem… we’re going to do a better job at making people understand what ecosystem they’re buying into.”

I’ve got to hand it to Rubin, he seems to understand some of the problems Android — and not just the tablet end of things — is facing. But then, just then, he blows it. Again, Patel:

Of course, one of Android’s biggest challenges in the tablet market is the lack of high-quality apps designed for the larger screen, but Rubin was somewhat dismissive of those concerns.

Android’s fragmentation is a bad thing, and the lack of a cohesive consumer-facing strategy is bad, too. While Google may claim that Android is one ecosystem, walking in to a Best Buy doesn’t really portray that. In fact, it feels like the PC wars — OEMS facing off against each other, despite the mass similarities between their products.

But those things would matter far less if there were decent apps out there for Android.

Apple Launches Developer ID Program

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Apple:

The Mac App Store is the safest place for users to get software for their Mac, but we also want to protect users when they download applications from other places. Developer ID is a new way to help prevent users from installing malware on their Mac. Along with Gatekeeper, a new feature in Mountain Lion, signing applications with your Developer ID certificate provides users with the confidence that your application is not known malware and has not been tampered with.

Get your applications ready for Gatekeeper today. It’s easy to get started with Developer ID using the automated certificate request tools in Xcode 4.3 or the Developer Certificate Utility.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.