Just when you think you’re in the groove for the new iPhone 3G S, Apple goes and starts changing the game. The 3G S is, figuratively speaking, no more. Apple has quietly been changing all references on it site from 3G S to 3GS. The space between the G and the S has been removed.
I kinda liked the space, but what if we started using iPhone ///GS?
Yesterday, I discussed all that I was going to say about the Jobs liver transplant thing, but Twitter user @alysdrake brought up an interesting point:
@ismh great commentary…however, people would have little to obsess about if Apple would directly address the issue.
Let’s say Apple did tip the WSJ. In a way, that means Apple could control the story. But if Apple had sent out a press release, they would have much more control.
As everyone who has an Internet connection has read, Steve Jobs more than likely had a liver transplant about two months ago at a hospital more than likely here in Memphis, Tenn. The original story by the Wall Street Journal that set all this off was sparse on details and did not name any sources.
Neither of those things mattered, as the Internet, TV and print media exploded with the story. It’s everywhere - even my mom emailed me a link to the story.
Remember that TUAW post about 1st-generation iPhone users getting screwed over when it came to push notifications that turned out to be incorrect?
TUAW’s bloggers and editors strive to provide accurate information and to clearly distinguish conjecture or rumor from fact. In this instance, we got it wrong.
We are truly sorry for this situation. We understand that it reflects poorly on us as a site, to readers and to the community at large. As a result, we have strengthened our editorial resolve to do more vigorous checking of the technical details of posts, so that this sort of misinformation does not get published in the future.
One of the most awaited features, push notifications, requires a constant data connection. While the iPhone 3G can handle data and voice simultaneously when using a 3G/HSDPA connection, on EDGE (the cellular data service that the original iPhone uses) you are unable to take calls and maintain a persistent data connection. As a result, if you turn on the push notification service, you may be unable to receive voice calls.
For newspaper delivery via the Kindle to have appeal, I do not want a rehash of the print edition or the Web version. Instead, I want flexibility and customization that matches my preferences. I want to be able to customize the types of stories I see and the frequency with which they’re sent. I want to be able to clip and save stories for posterity-both on the device and in the cloud so I can re-download them to another Kindle (or my Kindle iPhone app) or access them via the Web.
Journalism Online, a new LLC focused on (obviously) online journalism. Here’s a bit from their homepage:
“We have formed Journalism Online because we think this is a special moment in time when there is an urgent need for a business model that allows quality journalism to be the beneficiary of the Internet’s efficient delivery mechanism rather than its victim,” said co-founder Steven Brill. “We believe we have developed a strategy and a set of services that will establish that model by restoring a stream of circulation revenue to supplement advertising revenue, while taking advantage of the savings to be gained from producing and delivering content electronically.”
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TechCrunch has a great piece up about online news. Here’s a taste:
So how powerful is Google when it comes to parceling out traffic to news sites? If you are talking about Google News
, the answer is that it is not quite as powerful as you might think. In the U.S., Google News is overshadowed by both Yahoo News and even the sites controlled by the New York Times (which includes NYTimes.com, Boston.com, HeraldTribune.com, and several other newspaper sites). According to comScore, Google News attracted 16.2 million unique visitors in the U.S. in February, compared to 42.3 million for Yahoo News and 46.2 million for the sites operated by New York Times Digital.
The company said it would continue to operate its newspapers and online sites while it focuses on further improving its cost structure and stabilizing operations. The company has retained Rothschild to commence a process for the sale of asset, the company said. The bankruptcy petition was filed in Delaware.
[…]
While the Sun-Times has taken several steps to reduce costs, “the significant downturn in the print advertising environment that has affected newspapers across the country has continued to severely impact us,” the chairman, Jeremy L. Halbreich, said. “Unfortunately, this deteriorating economic climate, coupled with a significant, pending I.R.S. tax liability dating back to previous management, has led us to today’s difficult action.”
At least 120 newspapers in the U.S. have shut down since January 2008, according to Paper Cuts, a Web site tracking the newspaper industry. More than 21,000 jobs at 67 newspapers have vaporized in that time, according to the site.
Representatives of the four largest newspapers of Tennessee – Nashville’s Tennessean, Memphis’ Commercial Appeal, Chattanooga Times-Free Press and Knoxville’s News Sentinel – met Feb. 4, 2009, to explore opportunities to cooperate to leverage their resources. During the discussion, all agreed that readers would be best served if the papers found ways to eliminate duplicate effort and share content of interest throughout the state.
Hit that link for more details - it’s fascinating.