512 Pixels

You may think Laserdiscs were just the giant things people used before DVDs came along. And you’d be dead wrong.

On TUAW:

There’s a lot of buzz about the pressure on Apple these days to follow up in the reader world with better markets, platforms, and tools — I’ve been writing quite a bit about that topic this month, and there’s rumors flying about what we might see announced soon. But I can’t exactly see how a 7" tablet would help Apple respond to those issues, although I know I’d certainly buy one for myself.

For me this comes down to a split between yes, I’d love one personally, and no, I don’t think it would be in Apple’s best interest to go there. Did Apple get “caught with its pants down at Christmas” as it lacked a 7-inch model? I don’t think so.

I don’t see Apple doing this. This is still valid.

This piece in the New York Times on Stephen Colbert gives me an all-new respect for one of the funniest men on television.

Chris Ziegler, from an interview with Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha:

We also talked about OEMs’ perennial press to skin the operating system — a trend that looks poised to continue in Android 4.0 — which developed into a full-blown conversation about the conflict between the mythical “stock Android device” and the realities of business between manufacturers like Motorola and carriers. “Verizon and AT&T don’t want seven stock ICS devices on their shelves,” he said, insisting that he “has to make money” and that there simply isn’t a way to profit on a device that isn’t differentiated. “The vast majority of the changes we make to the OS are to meet the requirements that carriers have.”

Clearly, carriers want the illusion that they are offering more choice than they really are. We shouldn’t be surprised.

Congrats to Pat and Myke for making it to episode 100 of the Enough podcast. If you don’t listen to this show, shame on you.

Jacob Schulman:

Version 2.0 finally brings a native mail client to the BlackBerry tablet, along with calendar and contact apps. RIM also made some general aesthetic changes, and added a bulked-up version of BlackBerry Bridge and an eerily familiar “reading view” feature in the browser.

Thank goodness. RIM is saved!

Steve Ballmer, at CES last night:

There’s nothing more important at Microsoft than Windows. You saw Metro in the phone, you saw Metro in Xbox. It’s everywhere. And you’ll experience more and more natural user interface in Metro. Together, all of us in this industry, in thousands of new ways, will use the software and services to invent new things. Metro will drive the new magic across all of our experiences.

Our math is that 1+1 really does equal 3. So what’s next? Metro Metro Metro! And Windows, Windows, Windows!

Microsoft keeps using the phrase “No compromises” when talking about Windows 8. Thing is, Windows 8 seems full of compromises. Let’s look at the big one: the user interface itself.

In short, Windows 8 promises to bring the Metro UI to the desktop, as well as notebooks and tablets.

In the current beta builds, Windows 8 boots in to the Metro environment by default. The “classic” Windows interface lives in a layer below the one filled with little apps living in little rectangles.

Now, I like Metro. I think Windows Phone 7 is pretty decent, and I can’t wait to see it on tablets, where I bet it will be better received (and easier to use) than the “classic” Windows environment we’re all used to now. That said, Microsoft will still have the classic UI under Metro on tablets ¹, while notebooks and desktop users will be stuck with Metro.

Can you imagine running Lion on an iPad, or booting a MacBook Air and seeing Launchpad instead of the Finder? Apple allows its hardware to help dictate what software is best suited for it. The company is willing to compromise on software features for a better user experience.

In short, Microsoft doesn’t seem willing to compromise on its vision for Windows 8. Metro is hard to use with a mouse, and Windows is hard to use on a tablet. Microsoft is compromising where it matters the most — the user experience.

Apple is willing to compromise with what features it offers on what platform, for the good of its users.

To Microsoft, the product comes first. Apple puts the customer first.

I prefer Apple’s philosophy.

Thanks to HelpSot for sponsoring the 512 Pixels RSS feed this week.

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It’s hard to breathe during this 20-minute interview of David Steel, Executive Vice President of Strategy for Samsung North America due to all the bullshit in the air.

Roland Greenfellow at Scoopertino:

For starters, Sir Jony Ive himself will redesign Big Ben to reflect Apple’s superior aesthetic sensibilities. The stodgy 153-year-old landmark will soon be covered by a shroud —and when that shroud is removed on June 1, 2012, Big Ben will display time, date, weather and battery status.

Yes, battery status. Once the aging guts of Big Ben have been removed, there will be ample room for Apple to install a large lithium-ion battery. In the event of a power outage, Apple promises that renovated landmark will continue to function for up to seven days.

Ryan Seacrest, “hugging” Ballmer. Is this happening, or am I dying? d.pr/kWhk

— 512pixels.net (@512px) January 10, 2012

I’m live-tweeting tonight’s keynote over at @512px. Come join the fun.

From Apple’s 2012 Proxy SEC filing Statement:

In 2011, Mr. Jobs’s compensation consisted of a $1 annual salary. As of the end of 2011, Mr. Jobs owned approximately 5.5 million shares of the Company’s common stock. Since rejoining the Company in 1997, Mr. Jobs had not sold any of his shares of the Company’s stock. Mr. Jobs held no unvested equity awards. The Company recognized that Mr. Jobs’s level of stock ownership significantly aligned his interests with shareholders’ interests.

As Dustin Curtis points out, Jobs really did believe in what Apple was doing, and was willing to bet on it, big time.

via MG Siegler