512 Pixels

On the Difference Between Apple and Google

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John Gruber:

Fear of Apple is about losing control over the software on our computers. Fear of Google is about losing control over our privacy.

I think Gruber nailed this one right on the head.

There’s an element of irony here, though. In 1984, Apple painted IBM as Big Brother, the all-knowing, all-powerful overlord that turned citizen into mindless drones.

Today, IBM is a shadow of the empire it once was. Instead, Google now holds that position of power, with all of our data being used to serve ads. A quick scan of my Address Book shows that over 75% of my contacts have a Gmail account listed.1 To say that Google is an Internet powerhouse is a massive understatement.

I’d much rather use Apple’s “closed” services than see ads based on keywords in my email.

If Apple were to remake that ad, I don’t think IBM would be who that sledgehammer was hurled at.

  1. In reality, more of them probably do, as I have a lot of corporate contacts in there. ↩︎

Flash Ships for ICS

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Daniel Ionescu, PCWorld:

The latest Android Flash player has a few known issues, however. StageVideo using On2 and Sorenson does not work on ICS devices, and Seeking while video is paused will not update the frame on ICS device. Also, the OS does not prioritize incoming calls, so audio remains playing before and after call is received, and the enter key does not work on the multi-line text input field.

Sounds great.

via Daring Fireball

Dr. Drang, on Type2Phone

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Dr. Drang, on the little app that allows users to type on their iOS devices via the Mac:

What isn’t wonderful, at least not initially, is what goes on in the Type2Phone window as you type. Every keystroke shows up in a little white chiclet which scrolls from right to left as you type. It’s really distracting.

[…]

So what you see on your Mac is not what appears on your iPhone; it’s more like the output of a keylogger program. Weird.

I understated how weird the UI is in my original post, but I agree with Dr. Drang — ignore the Mac’s screen, and this thing is a serious efficiency booster. I’m still using it quite often, especially with my iPhone.

The Macalope, on CNet

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The Horny One:

Clearly, CNet has no bias. Well, other than the bias for conventional wisdom.

Crothers, it should be noted, famously declared that the iPad had “met its match in the [HP] TouchPad”. If this is the analysis that a supposed lack of bias brings, give the Macalope bias every time.

18 Ways to ~/Library

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Dan Frakes over at Macworld:

While I understand Apple’s motives here—I’ve had to troubleshoot more than a few Macs on which an inexperienced user had munged the contents of ~/Library—there are plenty of valid reasons a user might need to access their personal Library folder.

Thankfully, there are tons of ways to get it back.

Paul Thurrott: RIP, RIM

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On the SuperSite for Windows:

RIM stands as a warning for any tech industry Goliath that once owned a market only to watch it get snatched away by smaller, faster moving rivals with better products and better strategies. This is a fate that could befall any company–Microsoft, Apple, Google, whatever. Though I have a hard time imagining any of them being as poorly run as is RIM.

RIM is dead. I’m glad I never wasted time covering this junk.