Year: 2013

RSS Sponsor: DesignScene ⇢

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

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Sponsorship by The Syndicate.

CNET Editor Speaks Out ⇢

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Lindsey Turrentine, Editor-in-Chief at CNET:

We were in an impossible situation as journalists. The conflict of interest was real — a legal case can impact the bottom line of our company and introduce the possibility of bias — but the circumstances demanded more transparency and not hurried policy.

I could have quit right then. Maybe I should have. I decided that the best thing for my team was to get through the day as best we could and to fight the fight from the other side. Every single member of the CNET Reviews team is a dedicated, ethical, passionate technology critic. If I abandoned them now, I would be abandoning the ship.

Shawn King at The Loop:

Anyone else want to join me in calling bullshit on her statement? She didn’t do “everything within my power” to stop it this time. What makes us believe that she will next time?

While I’m not sure Shawn is in a position to say if Turrentine did everything she could, I agree with her statement that she was in an impossible situation.

Journalism only works when its free of restrictions like the ones CBS put on CNET last week. What the tech blog did by recalling its award to the Dish Hopper sucks, and puts its journalistic integrity on the line. That said, Turrentine is being open about what happened.

Here she is again:

Later that evening, we were alerted to the legal conflict for CBS. All night and through to morning, my managers up and down CNET and I fought for two things: To honor the original vote and — when it became clear that CBS Corporate did not accept that answer — to issue a transparent statement regarding the original vote.

That bit about issuing “a transparent statement” is key here, and why I think Shawn’s comment might be unfair. By passing along the official CBS statement, Turrentine exposed CBS to be a censor, turning their own words against them. In an impossible situation, I think she made the best choice she could. Quitting would not change the policy, and ignoring it would just lead to her losing her job. Painting CBS in to a corner on this was the best call any editor in her position could have made.

Aperture X Coming? ⇢

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This isn’t the first time a book has popped up leaking a software announcement from Apple. I used Aperture 3 for ages, but last year started storing all my photos on Dropbox. While time will tell if I ever go back to Aperture, there’s no denying the current app is feeling forgotten.

iPhoneless: The Wedding

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This weekend, my wife and I drove to Little Rock for a wedding.

As I mentioned on Twitter last night, the groom is one of my oldest friends. In fact, we met in second grade and have been close ever since. It was a blast seeing him marry an awesome woman.

Being in any wedding is an honor, and it usually means a lot of work before, during and after the ceremony itself. I ran errands, moved cars and packed bags, all while spending time with old and new friends.

Mushy stuff aside, it was the first time I’ve really been at a disadvantage not having a smartphone.

The chapel and hotel were 45 minutes apart from each other, in a city I’ve only visited a handful of times. I had to call and text people whose contact information I was given just the weekend. I wanted to take high-quality photos of all the happenings.

All of these things would have been much easier with an iPhone in my pocket.

Instead, I had to make sure I followed someone in traffic, or ride with a buddy with a smartphone. I had to manually enter contact data, which is a real bummer on my flip phone. I carried my Canon S100 around as much as I could, and probably took fewer photos than I would have otherwise.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. Stephen, you put yourself in this position. You can’t really complain about it.

You’re right, and this weekend is a great example as to why I decided to turn off my iPhone. I was able to spend quality time with friends without tweets, emails and iMessages interrupting. However, the lack of modern conveniences was a stress all weekend.

If this weekend has taught me anything about this experiment, it’s that the balance between my iPhone being a distraction and a tool is a fine one, but a goal worth attaining.

It’s a goal I believe I can hit, but man, 10 months sure seems like a long time to go.

CBS Forbids CNET From Covering Dish Products ⇢

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CNET, on the “Best of CES” finalists page:

The Dish Hopper with Sling was removed from consideration due to active litigation involving our parent company CBS Corp. We will no longer be reviewing products manufactured by companies with which we are in litigation with respect to such product.

According to this note, Dish might not be the only company that will be denied coverage in the future.

Sure seems like censorship to me. This is what happens when media outlets are owned by larger corporations.

iPhoneless: The Connections ⇢

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Ian Kerner at CNN:

Technology allows us to be constantly connected to the world, but it can also make us even more disconnected from each other.

In fact, two recent studies show that cell phones can have a negative impact on close relationships.

Researchers from the University of Essex found that people who engaged in personal discussions when a cell phone was nearby — even if neither was actually using it — reported lower relationship quality and less trust for their partner. They also felt their partner was less empathetic to their concerns.

Other studies suggest that cell phones can distract our attention from the present moment. And that’s a problem, considering the results of the Mobile Mindset Study, a recent survey that found three out of five U.S. smartphone users don’t go more than hour without checking their gadgets.

The two studies are here and here. Interesting stuff.

Sadly, Kerner closes his article with this:

Use your smartphone to send your partner a sexy e-mail, voicemail message, or “sext” describing a fantasy or your plans with him or her for the evening. Engage in a little Skype or FaceTime flirtation, especially if one of you is out of town. Just a word of caution: Be sure to use personal, not company accounts.

Sigh.

Not Season Four ⇢

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Jenna Mullins, on the return of Arrested Development:

Jason Bateman doesn’t want fans to call this season four, but it should be referred to as an “act one” that will lead to a feature film. “These are episodes that set that up.” However, if the feature film doesn’t happen, the new episodes won’t leave viewers hanging. “It is certainly a satisfying conclusion to these episodes if for some reason a movie doesn’t happen, but they are all meant to work within one another as a hybrid package of Arrested Development stuff,” Bateman insisted.

Related.