Comparing the two makes it perfectly clear just how much has changed since 2001, and what we hope will come tomorrow: Flash, blogs, bigger monitors and broadband internet.
Category: General Tech
Ars: The Jailbreaking User’s Best Friend?
Look, I like Ars Technica as much as the next geek, but stuff like this has be about ready to remove it from my Google Reader ever-growing list of feeds:
For those unfamiliar with the concept, jailbreaking allows users to gain read-write access to a device’s entire file system and removes the limits set by Unix jail. Despite misunderstandings to the contrary, jailbreaking does not have to do with application theft, cracking, or warez. Jailbreaking simply opens up the device to a number of third-party applications, including Unix command-line utilities and many applications that do not meet the stocking requirements for Apple’s App Store. These applications are distributed by their developers through the open source Cydia project, which provides a GUI front end to Debian APT.
Duck Hunt Lands in App Store
Remember Duck Hunt? The game devoured hours of my childhood, and is back to rob me of time again - this time in the App Store. But the developer (whose site is devoid of any information) may have stepped over a line with his app, as iLounge speculates:
Although the game has been approved by Apple, it likely infringes on Nintendo copyrights, making it highly possible that the game will be pulled from the App Store. We are awaiting comment from Nintendo regarding the title.
Tweetie Gets Nice Batch of Updates
For a long time, Twitterific was top dog on the Mac and on the iPhone when it came to Twitter clients - and rightfully so. It’s interface is clean and simple, putting regular tweets, replies and direct messages all in the same list. This simplicity is a much-appreciated design element, especially on the iPhone’s touch screen. The Iconfactory (the makers of Twitterific and some other great apps) did one thing that was ingenious - they offered a free, ad-supported version, and a “premium” version without the ads. This model worked for them on the Mac, and they elegantly brought it to the App Store before most others had figured it out.
Intel’s Net Profits Crash and Burn
IDG:
Intel’s fourth-quarter profit plunged 90 percent from a year earlier, as the chip maker battled a worsening economy and recorded a steep loss from investments.
The company recorded net profit of $234 million for the quarter ended Dec. 27, compared to $2.27 billion in last year’s fourth quarter. The net profit also fell short of the $257.22 million consensus expectation from analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
The results included a loss of $1.1 billion from equity investments and interest, primarily due to a billion-dollar reduction in the value of Intel’s investments in Clearwire, the company said.
On Tim Cook, Apple’s COO
CNN, on the man filling Steve Jobs’ shoes for now:
Cook’s stamina is the stuff of legend at Apple. He often begins e-mailing the executives who work for him at 4:30 a.m.; worldwide conference calls can take place at any time of day. For years, Cook held a standing Sunday night staff meeting by telephone in order to prepare for yet more meetings on Monday morning.
[…]
As long as Jobs stays healthy, Cook won’t need to worry about personal visibility. He can just keep doing his thing, grinding away offstage. But if he does get tapped for the CEO job someday, Apple may not suffer from acute Stevelessness as much as the world seems to think.
Farewell, LaserDisc. (It Was Still Around?)
I love when a big company announces their product to be dead - years after the market has declared it so and moved on. Today, the retro/now-officially retro technology is the LaserDisc. Gizmodo:
Pioneer had continued to build players long after the format had been declared dead, largely because of the large LD collections that many Japanese customers had built during the years that the format’s popularity soared (comparitively) in that country.
The Future of Windows and Netbooks
The New York Times hit the nail on the head:
When designing Windows Vista, Microsoft put a lot of effort into taking advantage of sophisticated computer hardware, with fancy graphics on the surface and lots of new processing tricks inside. Microsoft says this positioned the operating system for the future, despite the complaining of many users who grumble that Vista has bogged down their computers with unneeded frills and incompatibilities.
While there is some more high-powered glitz coming in Windows 7, the real challenge for Microsoft isn’t the latest multi-core superchip, but making the operating system work well, and affordably, on stripped-down PCs, netbooks and other small devices.
Google Discusses Carbon Footprint
Google isn’t taking the latest estimates over it’s power consumption lightly. Today, Urs Hölzle, Senior Vice President of Operations at Google posted this on the company’s blog:
In terms of greenhouse gases, one Google search is equivalent to about 0.2 grams of CO2. The current EU standard for tailpipe emissions calls for 140 grams of CO2 per kilometer driven, but most cars don’t reach that level yet. Thus, the average car driven for one kilometer (0.6 miles for those in the U.S.) produces as many greenhouse gases as a thousand Google searches.
Headline Writing is an Art, People
Engadget is good at it: “iPhone nano now rumored for June, Unicorn delayed again until September.”
Oh Yes, It’s a Real Product
Microsoft has announced Songsmith, a Windows app that creates music based on what you sing into a microphone. Honestly, it sounds pretty cool, and it’s not something Apple’s Garageband can do (that I know of), but the implementation is down right sad. The interface makes my eyes bleed, but the ad is even worse:
The Pre vs. The World
Wired, on what sets the Palm Pre apart:
The iPhone’s apps are great and a big part of the phone’s appeal. But have you ever tried to listen to Pandora while you’re checking Gmail? Can’t do it. The iPhone’s limitation on running multiple apps is a serious drawback. The HTC G1 improves on that with the notifications drawer, but it’s an insufficient solution because it’s still too hard to see what’s currently running. The Palm Pre solves that problem. It treats applications as “cards” and makes it easy to flip through the deck of cards, view them at once and shuffle them. The apps are live even when minimized, and you don’t lose your place even if you move to a different one or move to a new one.