512 Pixels

I love The Oatmeal.

I love webOS, and it looks great on the Touchpad. I wouldn’t mind getting one to play with one bit.

Jim Dalrymple:

While I was attending WWDC last week, CNN said the PlayBook was the “herpes of tablets.” Apparently the news organization was trying to return the PlayBook to RIM and got no response.

CNN thought so little of the PlayBook that they would pull it out when really bad products were sent to them and say, “But at least it’s not as bad as the PlayBook!”

Here is the world’s second richest man, in a fantastic interview with Mail Online:

Legacy is a stupid thing! I don’t want a legacy. If people look and see that childhood deaths dropped from nine million a year to four million because of our investment, then wow! I liken what I’m doing now to my old job. I worked with a lot of smart people; some things went well, some didn’t go so well. But when you see how what we did ended up empowering people, it’s a very cool thing.

I want a malaria vaccine. If we get one then we’ll have to find the money to give it to everyone, but the impact would be so huge we would find a way. Understanding science and pushing the boundaries of science is what makes me immensely satisfied. What I’m doing now involves understanding maths, risk-taking. The first half of my life was good preparation for the second half.

The work the Gates Foundation is doing in unbelievable. I wish more wealthy people would do this sort of thing.

Marco, on Apple checking things off the list people keep when comparing phones:

Very few major items are still on that list that I think Apple would actually change. But it’s usually unwise to say that Apple will “never” do something. And it looks like they’re willing to do quite a lot to get more iPhone customers, even if a change require temporarily suspending some of their usual priorities.

When speculating on what Apple will or won’t do, a change that gets them more iPhone customers is probably worth considering even if you think they’d “never” do it. iPhone customer acquisition is a higher priority than almost everything else.

This is a must-read from Brian Stelter who covered the Joplin tornado with an iPhone.

From the blog that publicized the photos that led to a Mac Genius being fired:

I have already been asked multiple times if I feel guilty that this young man had lost his job, which is a ridiculous question. Of course I do. Do I feel completely responsible, from the talks I have had with him, no not at all. It just seemed as if that picture was the final nail in the coffin and it seems as if he is even happier now.

The truth of the matter is, working for Apple in a ‘high skilled’ position, aka a Genius or Creative is legitimately like working for a secret government agency where you fear for your well-being if you compromise anything. There IS no outlet or venting that’s acceptable in these positions. If you vent your frustrations, you’re met with disappointment from your kool-aid chugging co-workers and superiors, usually the ones that are NOT a Genius or Creative and have NO idea what it’s like. Mostly by managers that come in as a result of being poached by Apple from Banana Republic, Pac Sun or Nike Stores(which is hilarious because Apple has a strict ‘No poaching’ policy) and have no experience in THIS type of technical-based customer service.

It’s truly a shame that this company, while so ‘fun-loving’ and ‘open’ on the outside allows such dark, malicious and gestapo-like strangulation of free will and thought behind it’s safe-like silver doors leading to BOH areas.

My disappointment and disdain for Apple has grown to an unfathomable degree.

The Macalope, on Apple backtracking on its in-app purchase restrictions:

APPLE: Hey! We’d like 30 percent of all Kindle sales!

AMAZON: No.

APPLE: Please?

AMAZON: No.

APPLE: Come on.

AMAZON: No.

APPLE: Pleeeeeeeeeaze?

AMAZON: No.

APPLE: Yes.

AMAZON: No.

APPLE: Do it.

AMAZON: No.

APPLE: DO. IT.

AMAZON: No.

APPLE: DOOOOOOOO IIIIIIIIIT!

AMAZON: No.

APPLE: ARRGH.

Gary Allen at ifoAppleStore:

The recent outbreak of in-store “planking” by Apple retail employees has led to the firing today of a midwest U.S. employee, highlighting how closely Apple monitors the Web in general and employee blogs in particular, where personal or incriminating information might be posted.

[…]

Today’s termination came after a Store Leader noticed an employee planking photo on the Web and recognized the employee. In an email to IFO, the employee said the Store Leader then somehow located the employee’s personal blog, “wherein they found a post talking about myself and a coworker allegedly drinking during last month’s store meeting.”

“I suppose it’s my fault for what happened, but I can’t help feeling a little perturbed that a harmless planking picture and hearsay were enough to warrant termination,” the employee said to ifoAppleStore.

No kidding it was his fault. It is no secret that Apple Retail is Big Brotherish — he should have known it would have ended up this way eventually.

I’m in no way defending Apple Retail here — I think the company takes the whole thing way too seriously most of the time.

Stu Maschwitz:

But when you share files via Dropbox, you’re sharing what many people consider to be their most personal living space. Dropbox is wonderful, but there’s a slippery slope from collaboration Utopia to file frat house. Be a good Dropbox roommate.

Patrick Rhone:

This is the new world that Apple is creating. Where your data resides, the device you use to access it, how it is saved, where it is saved, how to manipulate it, how to back it up, how to recover if you make changes to it that you did not intend, all will be things you don’t have to think about.

Your data will be available to you on any device you own. It will be left exactly as you last left it. You can open it in any application that it is able to open it. Should your computer crash, do not fear, your data is safe. And when you get a new machine, simply log into it and all of your data will be there in short order. Buy a new Mac, a new iPhone, and new iPad, simply log in and the data will be there too.

This is indeed a radical shift. One so big I don’t think any of us really understand it at this point. In some ways, Apple’s using iCloud to make thin clients. But thin clients with excellent, rich native applications.

Someone clearly spent some time on these sidebar icons from Finder in Lion. Impressive work:

Click here for a larger version.