512 Pixels

Arnold Kim at Mac Rumors:

What wasn’t clear before is the fact that music can be either streamed or downloaded locally to any of your computers or devices. While the video only shows the service on a Mac, we’ve confirmed it works the same way on iOS devices. So, essentially, you will have instant access to your entire music library from all of your Macs, iPhones, iPads, or iPod touches for only $25/year. This ability on your iOS devices means your music library won’t need to take up valuable space on the device itself, as long as you have some sort of internet connection.

It really sounds like Apple is setting this service up to be a real competitor to something like Spotify or Rdio, just for people who already own a ton of music. It would be a lie to say I wasn’t excited about this.

Update: It seems this is wrong.

Mark Millan, CNN:

Apple was slow to act against the booming counterfeit industry in China and other Asian countries, according to cables obtained by WikiLeaks.

The technology giant eventually organized a team in March 2008 to curtail the explosion of knockoff iPods and iPhones, according to an electronic memo from the Beijing embassy dated September 2008.

When I was behind the Genius Bar, it was surprising to me how often someone brought in an “iPod from eBay,” wondering why it didn’t work.

Telling a customer they had been duped was always awkward.

It is like Shawn wants me to go broke.

Hilarious, but probably wildly inaccurate.

Looking for some weekend reading? This 155-page PDF of Jef Raskin’s documentation for the original Macintosh project should hit the spot.

Joe Brown:

There is a photo floating around the Internet of Steve Jobs looking very ill. It’s shocking. You won’t find it here. I’m not posting it. Instead, I’m posting a picture of myself that was also snapped unexpectedly. See above.

This isn’t about journalism or ethics or taste. We have violated those precepts before to bring you a story, and we’d do it again. But this time it just feels gross.

When Gizmodo — of all sites — refuses to post something, it’s a sign you probably should steer clear.

Earlier today, Cult of Mac writer Nicole Martinelli linked to a TMZ piece showing a photo of what appeared to be a very weak, very sick Steve Jobs. The photo looks doctored to me, but TMZ is reporting them as factual photographs.

In her article, Martinelli wrote:

We’re holding out hope that they are fakes.

After the post went live and gained a few dozen comments, Cult of Mac editors replaced Martinelli’s byline with one reading “Staff Writer.”

A few moments later, the story was updated with this editor’s note:

We have pulled the TMZ photo.

We had posted it because we felt it had clear news value, but we understand they are upsetting pictures.

Apologies if we offended anyone.

This isn’t the first time Apple-centric sites¹ have published stories about Steve Jobs’ health.

This issue last came up in February, when I wrote:

Writing about rumors concerning Steve Jobs’ health is not only unprofessional, but it is disrespectful.

In my post, I called out Cult of Mac for this story, in which the site re-posted the “Jobs has weeks to live” rumor that was circulating at the time. In it, Leander Kahney wrote:

We don’t know whether the information is correct, but we certainly hope not. Best wishes Steve.

In February, I wrote that websites that publish such stories shouldn’t, out of respect for Steve Jobs and his family. I still believe that, but something new came to mind today:

Writers who post such stories doesn’t seem to care if what they publish is accurate or not.

Accuracy — truth in reporting — is the foundation on which all good journalism is based. If reporters do not share the truth, they are not truthfully sharing facts² with their readers.

The fact that the site retracted the photo is good, but the bit saying they believed it had “clear news value” goes to my point — Cult of Mac’s writing staff isn’t made up of people who care about doing real journalism. Everything about how the staff has behaved about Jobs’ health points to something else entirely — that traffic-grabbing is more important than respectful, accurate journalism.

As much as this type of things rubs me the wrong way, the way Cult of Mac disguised it really disgusts me.

While pulling the photo and the writer’s name is cowardly, the bit at the end — “We’re holding out hope that they are fakes” — is just revolting. It’s almost as if Martinelli was apologizing for writing the story in the first place. Of course, there’s another solution to that problem — passing on the damn story.

I really think that writers who pull the trigger on such stories don’t give a crap if what they are writing is accurate. I don’t care to read that sort of reporting, especially when the topic is so tasteless.

Cult of Mac has the same problem now as it did in February. I don’t regret removing the site from my RSS feed reader. I trust I’m not missing much.

Ryan Paul at Ars Technica:

Although Linux hasn’t been a slam-dunk success in every market—it remains a dud on the desktop—the operating system has had a profound impact on the technology industry and on enterprise computing. Columbia University professor Eben Moglen, one of the original authors of the GPL, took a moment at LinuxCon to discuss his views about the role Linux plays in society. He described Linux as the steel and coal of a 21st century industrial revolution. Linux and the Internet, he said, have together changed human civilization more than any other pair of inventions.

Linux runs a majority of the world’s super computers, many of the most popular websites, and a large number of mainstream consumer electronics products. If you search the Web with Google, interact with your friends on Facebook, look up a fact on Wikipedia, read a book on a Kindle, watch Netflix on a Boxee Box, or make a call with an Android phone, you are relying on Linux.

This is about the single most annoying thing that an app developer can do. I know that the iOS ecosystem revolves around positive reviews, but there has to be a better way to request reviews and ratings than this.

Jodi Enda:

“Use of social media and electronic media obviously means that anybody with a laptop, anybody with a PDA, is a journalist,” says Roger Simon, Politico’s chief political columnist and another newcomer to news-by-tweet.

It means anyone can be a witness, not a journalist.

Linda Holmes for NPR:

Apple isn’t going to stop making iPads or close up shop because Steve Jobs is leaving. But they may be showing a different face to the public and speaking to the public in a different voice. And if that happens, the cultural Apple may change substantially more than the technical Apple or the business Apple.

I disagree. I think Jobs has probably spent more time spreading his ideas on Apple’s culture and values than anything else.

Tim Cook, in an email to Apple employees:

I want you to be confident that Apple is not going to change. I cherish and celebrate Apple’s unique principles and values. Steve built a company and culture that is unlike any other in the world and we are going to stay true to that—it is in our DNA. We are going to continue to make the best products in the world that delight our customers and make our employees incredibly proud of what they do.