512 Pixels

Great, another fitness gadget to review.

Sarcasm aside, this thing looks pretty good. Hopefully, it brings the brains of the FitBit to a package as convenient as the FuelBand.

Don Melton has published a little piece on how Apple’s web browser is now a decade old:

Ten years ago today, which was actually a Tuesday, Steve Jobs introduced Safari to the public at MacWorld in San Francisco.

He links to Macworld 2003 keynote address, in which Steve Jobs demos the browser for the first time.

I remember the announcement — and being stoked about it. Remember, January 2003 is years before Google Chrome, and almost two years before Firefox shipped.

It was a dark world. One in which Internet Explorer was the only real option when it came to browsing on the Mac.

Six months after the beta shipped at Macworld, Apple shipped Safari 1.0. The browser only ran on Mac OS X 10.2. When 10.3 shipped later that year, Safari was bundled with the upgrade — as the default browser.

Safari shipped in the nick of time, it turns out. On June 16, 2003, Microsoft shipped version 5.2.3, the final update for Internet Explorer on OS X. On July 11, it shipped the final version for Mac OS 8 and 9.

Version 1 was supported on 10.2 until August 2004, with 10.3 supported until January 2006.

Safari 2.0 shipped in April 2005, with Acid2 support complete by version 2.0.2. It was the only browser installed on Tiger-based Macs, but users who upgraded from previous versions of Mac OS X could still use Internet Explorer 5. When 10.4.4 shipped to customers in January 2006, Safari was updated to version 2.0.4.

On January 9, 2007, at Macworld, Apple announced MobileSafari as a core component of the iPhone. Six months later at WWDC, Steve Jobs announced Safari 3 for Mac OS X v10.5, Windows XP, and Windows Vista. The Windows version shipped as a rather rocky beta, but served as an aide to developers who were building webapps for the iPhone (remember, this is pre-App Store.) The final version of Safari 3 is 3.2.3, released on May 12, 2009. It included advanced anti-fishing resources and better support for Extended Validation Certificates.

Safari 4 boasted a new JavaScript engine, named SquirrelFish (thankfully re-named Nitro by the time of the public release). SquirrelFish was released to developers at WWDC in June 2008, with the browser entering beta on February 2009.

The Safari 4 beta made news for several new UI elements, Top Sites, Cover Flow for history and the Chome-like tabs-on-top design.

When is shipped in the late summer of 2009, the tabs were slightly less insane, and the 64-bit version ran JavaScript even faster. The Windows version got standard Windows UI controls, and the same crash protection Mac OS X users enjoyed.

At WWDC 2010, Apple released Safari 5. In addition to more UI and JavaScript enhancements, the company added Reading List, a way to save articles for later. Safari 5.0.1 enabled Extensions, a way for users to add plug-ins and other tweaks to the browser, not unlike what Firefox users had enjoyed for some time. Safari 5.1 shipped with WebKit2, a new version of the underlying rendering engine.

The current version of Safari is 6.0.2. For the browser’s sixth release, Apple waited until Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion was ready to go, even though it runs on OS X 10.7 Lion, as well. (Safari for Windows is still on version 5.)

Safari 6 has lots of Mountain Lion-only features, including the ability to share tabs between devices with iCloud, local notifications and easy sharing.

Today, Safari faces stiff competition. Chrome and Firefox both enjoy wider usage on the desktop, with Internet Explorer still holding the majority of users hostage. MobileSafari, however, is responsible for sixty percent of mobile browsing.

Without a doubt, Safari has been a major player when it comes to influencing the web over the last decade. With excellent JavaScript performance, deep CSS support and a handsome UI, it’s become the way many Mac users experience the Internet. While not as important as it once was, it still hold a special place in many people’s hearts, and I think Safari still has a bright future, especially when it comes to mobile usage.

This guy sucks at safety.

Richard Saintvilus, at Forbes.com:

However, for the company to truly move forward as a tech power, Apple should hang-up on the iPhone after one more iteration – presumably the iPhone 6. You might disagree. Granted, the phone is still selling well. However, aside from a different chip and larger screen, the change from the 4S to iPhone 5 was not that significant.

Where should Apple go, after killing off one of the most profitable products in modern history?

Instead, Apple needs to focus on its TV ambitions, which I’ve said should include the Facebook “like” button. The company should start focusing on ways to dominate the smarthome and the smartcar – perhaps making a bid for a company such as Sirius XM or Pandora. The smartphone market has become too saturated, especially with Research In Motion’s resurgence and Amazon’s expected entry into the market.

Also, for quite some time, the company has hinted on wearable technology. “It’s time” for the iWatch or its iWear line of devices. This is an area in which Google has already shown interest. And for Apple, this will be the answer to that chronic “what’s next” question. And the company will finally be able to put to rest that other annoying question – can it still innovate?

A better question: did no one at Forbes read this thing before Saintvilus published it? Sirius Xm is a good investment? RIM’s resurgence? If I just put “catchy phrases” in quotes will Forbes pay me hundreds of dollars to throw something together without thinking about what makes sense?

via @chartier

If you have a bunch of Markdown documents floating around your Mac, you should look at this plugin for Finder’s QuickLook feature.

via Matt Gemmell

Arnold Kim:

The 1TB Fusion Drive add-on is a $250 option and was previously only offered on the high end 21.5“ iMac, high end Mac mini and 27” iMacs.

While I can’t shake the feeling that Fusion Drive is a stopgap until pure SSD setups are reasonable for most people, I’m glad to see Apple expanding the options across the product matrix.

Now, Apple, give that 21.5" machine a RAM door, and we’ll be in business.

Jonathan Chait takes a look at The Hill Valley Telegraph. Thanks, Tim!

At Vulture:

We’re not gonna please everyone, we’re not gonna please everyone … This is what I keep telling myself so I can sleep at night.

I recently re-watched the entire show, and man, I can’t wait to see where it goes in these last episodes.

This is a nice trip down memory lane, provided by Apple itself.

via @classiccomputin

Simplenote:

Our newer Simperium service uses Amazon Web Services (AWS), and is built to be much more resilient to failure. DashNote and ResophNotes are on this new API already. We know that many of you rely on Simplenote to run your lives, so even a few minutes of downtime is a major pain. We’re committed to dealing more gracefully with unexpected failures, bugs, limitations, and communicating better with you when there is a problem.

In this, the first episode of 2013, Myke and I re-visit the topic of awesome Lego sets, then move on to discuss how as we nerds align ourselves with companies and trends.

Show Notes:

- Lego Death Star Photo Update

- Lego Dinosaur

- Lego Space Shuttle Expedition

- Lego Dino

- Airfix DB5

- Macsales

- Stephen’s MacBook Pro

- Retina MacBook Pro

- Hypercritical #100: Metacritical

- Sandwich Video: Jambox

- Jambox

- Marco.org: The Big Jambox

- Techcrunch: Big Jambox Review

- Marco’s Tweet

- The Dogcow Shrine

- Stephen’s Dogcow Tattoo Direct Download

Sponsors:

This episode is brought to you by: Squarespace, the secret behind exceptional websites. Go to squarespace.com/70decibels to start your free trial and use the offer code ‘70decibels1’ at checkout to get 10% off your first order.

Patrick Rhone:

That 2013 will be the year of opt-out. That disconnection will become hipster cool. More and more people will be replacing smart phones with dumb ones, digital with analog, social with solitude, sharing with journaling, etc.

Nick Heer, in response:

Technology is like food: have everything in moderation, and don’t go overboard too often. Fad diets don’t work, and neither will unplugging. When Paul Miller of The Verge comes back to the internet, and when Stephen Hackett gets his iPhone back, both will probably resume their usual habits. There’s nothing wrong with that, provided that you moderate your own usage.

I’ve been thinking a lot over the last few days about what life will be like when I have an iPhone in my pocket again, actually. While it won’t be nearly as shocking to my systems as the change Paul is in for in a few months when he takes his iPad out of Airplane Mode, I’d like to think that returning to my iPhone after a year away will result in a change.

The “fad diet” of turning off my iPhone was extreme, yes, but I did so because it was the only thing I could think of that would break the habit, and break it all the way. Hopefully I’ll prove Nick wrong, and form new habits when I return to the iPhone in November.