Category: Apple
It’s About People, not Devices
Developer Craig Hockenberry, on testing software on iPhone OS devices:
Apple currently lets each iPhone developer, whether a company or an individual account, assign 100 devices for testing purposes. A large chunk of those available devices get used by employees with multiple devices. We also have a valuable group of external testers that we use for Ad Hoc beta testing. Many of these individuals buy the latest and greatest hardware, so each time there is a new product introduced, we use up more devices from our list.
Flip-flop
Gruber has posted two snippets from Windows guru Paul Thurrott, regarding copy and paste on mobile devices:
Unreal, indeed.
Boom; roasted.
Speaking of Looking Back...
I just ran across a link to Jacqui Cheng’s 15-page review on Ars Techinca of the original iPhone, and it feels like that thing was released a lifetime ago
Apple Remembers Jerry York
“Jerry joined Apple’s Board in 1997 when most doubted the company’s future. He has been a pillar of financial and business expertise and insight on our Board for over a dozen years,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “It’s been a privilege to know and work with Jerry, and I’m going to miss him a lot.”
It’s rare that Apple ever looks back, especially to the late 1990s, when the company was in pretty bad shape. Most people — including me — hadn’t really ever heard much about York or his contributions to the company, but it would seem he was instrumental in bringing Apple back from the brink.
The Price of 3G
Jason Snell, in his defense of the 3G-equipped iPad:
Let’s face it: One of the things that stinks about the American cellular industry is that it’s been built around a subsidy-and-contract business model. When you buy a phone, it’s generally discounted in exchange for your agreement to pay a monthly fee for a couple of years. Non-subsidized devices generally still pay high prices for service, and it’s still a pain to cancel. The iPad’s 3G service has none of these drawbacks: It can be set to auto-cancel and requires no commitment.
The Kindle, the iPad, and the Discussion of Devices vs. Services
Amazon just released an application that gives Kindle users the ability read their content on the Mac. This adds the Mac to a long list of otehr devices taht can be used to access Amazon’s Kindle services.
More importantly, it is another step in what they company has slowly been doing over the last year — turning the Kindle from a device into a service. It’s gone from a device-only service to something that doesn’t Kindle to use it. The Mac, Windows and mobile applications can be used directly with each other, without any Kindle hardware in the middle.
My Problem with Macworld’s Website
Nine out of the latest 20 stories on Macworld’s front page aren’t related to Apple.
Most of those nine are cross-posted from other IDG sites. I understand that Macword is a sister publication of non-Apple sites, but I think the ratio is a little bit off. Even more annoying is seeing the same items in Macworld’s and PCWorld’s RSS feeds. I’ve unsubscribed to both.
Don’t get me wrong — I really like Macworld’s Apple coverage. I just wish their site wasn’t bogged down with stories about Twitter and Google.
The iPhone and NYC
AT&T has apparently found a workable solution to the reported data congestion in New York City. They’ve quietly stopped selling the iPhone to customers in the New York metropolitan area, at least from their web site.
iSlate
With rumors of the Apple tablet reaching new highs, MacRumors has found evidence that Apple acquired the domain name iSlate.com presumably in preparation for the new device.
It’s not a great name, but it sure sounds like something the company that named a notebook computer the “MacBook Pro” would use.
NYT Says Apple Tablet is Coming
But the icing on the cake comes from a current senior employee inside Apple. When one of my colleagues here asked if the rumors of the Apple tablet were true, and when we could expect such a device, the response from his source was, “I can’t really say anything, but, let’s just say Steve is extremely happy with the new tablet.”
Yet another recently departed Apple employee tipped me: “You will be very surprised how you interact with the new tablet.”
Firewire or USB?
From our speed tests, it’s safe to say that Apple made the right choice switching to FireWire 800 from FireWire 400 on many Mac models. Although FireWire 400 is faster at most tasks than USB 2.0 (even though FireWire 400’s theoretical bandwidth is lower than USB 2.0’s) it isn’t always, or by much. If you’re looking for speed, FireWire 800 crushes USB on both systems in all four tests we ran. FireWire 400 is a pretty good choice too in most cases, but it’s modest speed advantage might not be enough to warrant paying extra for.