512 Pixels

Photo Stream Pitfalls

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Chuck Skoda get his list right, but he left out a few things, in my opinion. All in all, I like Photo Stream — mainly as a way to quickly see photos I’ve already sorted into albums that might not be on my iPhone. That said, I think the system needs some clarification:

  • In iPhoto (and I assume Aperture), the Photo Stream is one endless set of photos. It is impossible to tell what’s been imported to iPhoto’s local library already. I would love for iPhoto to offer to delete images from the stream once they’ve been imported — just like it does when I import straight from my iPhone.

  • iPhoto doesn’t make it clear that the Photo Stream is a temporary storage location. iCloud will only keep 30 days worth of photos (or 1,000 images). After that, they’re gone. Even though they looked like they were in iPhoto. I imagine some people will lose some images before they figure this out.

  • Thirdly, there’s no way to view these images online. Why is there not a simple photo app at icloud.com?

Update: Go read this. Sorry!

Ars Re-Reviews the Original iPod

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Jacqui Cheng:

The original iPod set the stage for a decade’s worth of Apple devices, and although we don’t expect the modern replica of the iPod (the iPod classic) to stay around forever, Apple will undoubtedly continue to use the iPod as an influence when creating newer, even more popular gadgets.

Oh, and if you still have one of these original ones lying around, find a FireWire cable and plug it in. You might be surprised at how well it still works.

Memphis Flyer Backhandedly Implies Jobs Cheated Way to New Liver

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John Branston, senior editor at The Memphis Flyer, on Steve Jobs:

As Eason and officials at Methodist Hospital have maintained all along, Isaacson says that Jobs did not “jump the line” to get a transplant. He did, however, register in both California and Tennessee to improve his chances. The donor was a car-accident victim in his mid–20s. As the Flyer reported, Apple attorney George Riley, a former Memphian, made the connection and helped Jobs settle into the house he bought on Morningside Place.

[…]

Jobs’ wife took responsibility for getting him a liver transplant and monitored his position in the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease system (MELD). While the book insists that Jobs did not buy his way to the top of the list, the “60 Minutes” segment has Isaacson recounting how Jobs drove a Mercedes sports car with no license plate and “felt like the normal rules just didn’t apply to him.”

On the liver transplant, at least, this authorized biography may not be the last word.

Implying that Jobs paid his way into a new liver is a pretty shitty thing to do. Writing it this poorly is even worse.

I really expected more of the Flyer.