Chris Ziegler knocks this one out of the park.
Category: General Tech
Apple, Adobe & Section 3.3.1
Since the introduction of the iPhone in January 2007, the platform hasn’t allowed Flash content to play in the browser — or anywhere else for that matter. Apple has always cited Flash’s performance as the problem. True, it’s performance is abysmal. Additionally, Flash is not an open standard, as it requires property software to both create and view content.
But Flash’s penetration on the desktop is virtually 100%. It’s a huge thing to ignore, and Apple has taken a lot of flack for it. Some of the flack is a bit unfair, since many other mobile handsets cannot play Flash content at this time. It’s only in beta for Android and WebOS, while Windows Phone 7 devices will lack Flash support once it hits shelves later this year.
9:42
Apple’s Scott Forstall, on the how the time displayed on promo shots of Apple products is set:
We design the (product launch) keynotes so that the big reveal of the product happens around 40 minutes into the presentation. When the big image of the product appears on screen, we want the time shown to be close to the actual time on the audience’s watches. But we know we won’t hit 40 minutes exactly.
On Priorities
Craig Hockenberry, back in 2008:
But on the iPhone, you have a limited area and associated mechanisms for getting the user’s attention. In effect, it creates a notification bottleneck.
This notification bottleneck forces the user to work when figuring out who needs attention. First they have to recognize the notification by sound, feel or sight (or a combination of those senses.) Then they have to navigate to the recognized application, which may not be easy given the phone’s current state. Finally they need to deal with the source of the notification. Now imagine doing all this frequently: the network will end up being a constant source of distraction.
FCC Loses in Net Neutrality Case
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the FCC lacks the authority to require broadband providers to give equal treatment to all Internet traffic flowing over their networks. That was a big victory for Comcast Corp., the nation’s largest cable company, which had challenged the FCC’s authority to impose such “Net neutrality” obligations on broadband providers.
The ruling marks a serious setback for the FCC, which is trying to adopt official net neutrality regulations. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, a Democrat, argues that such rules are needed to prevent phone and cable companies from using their control over Internet access to favor some online content and services over others.
Smart Thinking on the iPad
My buddy Kevin Lipe nails it again:
Nobody needs to progam a Mac to enjoy using it, except it’s the ability to run whatever software I want that makes a computer a useful tool to me. Nobody needs a computer that comes with schematics (like the original Apple II and II+) except the people who make expansion cards (like synthesizer cards, Z-80 cards, you know, the things that let you use an Apple II for whatever you want to use it for). Nobody needs to make an airplane out of bicycle parts, except the Wright brothers. […]
‘The Anti-Internet’
GigaOM’s Paul Sweeting, talking with NPR about the iPad:
With the iPad, you have the anti-Internet in your hands. This is not an open platform where you can create a lot of content … that you can then access and use and incorporate into what you’re doing.
I agree. My iPad is really, really slick, but it won’t replace my Macs when it comes to getting real work done.
On the iPad’s Default Wallpaper
When Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad in a breathless, globally-broadcast event yesterday afternoon, few people were as bowled over as the man who took the photo displayed on the sleek product’s desktop, veteran photographer Richard Misrach.
“I was in bed watching Inglorious Bastards when I got a call from Jeffrey FraenkeL, my dealer in San Francisco, and he said, ‘Do you know what’s going on live here?’” Misrach told ARTINFO. “I was totally shocked. Naturally my other galleries started calling and my family was all atwitter, because it’s a whole different world.”
Windows SuperSite on the iPad
More later in the review, I guess. Is this thing even worth reviewing?
[…]
It’s an Apple product through and through. You don’t need it. But I get that you might want it. Apple does have that effect on people.
What a team player.
Newspaper iPad Apps Not Selling Well?
One big trend that’s apparent: big media and entertainment companies are doing very well in top free apps, but are barely present in top paid apps, whether by number of apps downloaded, or by the gross revenues from their apps.
Of course, the iPad has only been out since yesterday, but this doesn’t bode well.
I Shall Call Him ‘Smudgy’
Google Sync and the iPad
If you’re like me, you spent way too much time trying to figure out why only your primary Google Calendar would get pushed to your fancy new iPad. It seems to be a bug with Google Sync, but one crafty user discovered a work-around:
On your desktop Mac enable the safari debug menu, set the user agent to iPhone, go to m.google.com/sync
While in preferences, turn off Javascript - this is what is preventing us from selecting multiple calendars!