Ten Years of iPod

⌘ Permalink

Johnny Davis at The Guardian:

Apple’s iPod would hold 1,000 songs, could be recharged within an hour and would cost $399. “Do you remember what it was like when you got your first Walkman?” asked the singer Seal, who alongside other musicians appeared behind Jobs on a giant video screen. “‘Wow! I want to carry this wherever I go.'” Others were less convinced. Apple’s MP3 player was neither the first nor the cheapest nor the largest capacity device on the market. At that point it was only compatible with Macs – the majority of people used PCs. What’s more, it had a silly name. Technology bloggers soon decided iPod must stand for “Idiots Price Our Devices”, “I Pretend It’s An Original Device” or “I’d Prefer Owning Disks”. But within five years, via its iTunes Store, Apple would go on to become the number one music provider in the world – all but taking over the music business. After the introduction of iTunes video in 2007, it would quickly become the world’s most popular video store. Now, in 2011, Apple is set to become the world’s most valuable company full stop, overtaking the current leader, oil multinational ExxonMobil.

What a crazy ten years.

House Cuts NPR Funding

⌘ Permalink

Susan Ferrechio:

The House on Thursday voted to strip National Public Radio’s federal funding, a move that followed the release of a “sting” video showing an NPR executive criticizing the Republican Party and saying the station didn’t need millions of dollars in federal money.
The measure passed 228-192, mostly along party lines, after a vigorous debate over the merits of public radio and the need for the government to reduce spending in the wake of a $1.3 trillion debt and $14 trillion deficit that threaten the economy.

“The object of this bill is to get NPR out of the taxpayer’s pocket,” said Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. “It is time for us to be good stewards and save the money of the American taxpayer.”

NPR receives about $90 million in federal funding annually, but the Congressional Budget Office calculated that the net savings from defunding the network would be zero.

Good job, GOP.

Japan and iPad 2

⌘ Permalink

Reuters:

Apple Inc may face shortages of key components for its newly-released iPad 2 as a result of the earthquake in Japan, according to a report released on Thursday.

Several key components in the new version of Apple’s popular iPad tablet PC come from Japan, including the battery and the flash memory used to store music and video on the device, according to research firm IHS iSuppli.

In the face of such suffering, does anyone even care?

On Instapaper and the NYT Paywalls

⌘ Permalink

Marco:

Most people add NYT pages from the “Read Later” bookmarklet or the new in-app browser. Pages added from both of these sources are unaffacted by paywalls and login requirements since they both save copies of the page as the viewer sees it.

In other words, if you can see it, Instapaper can save it for you with the bookmarklet or in-app browser. So you’ll still need to pay for a NYT membership if you exceed their monthly thresholds for viewing.

Garrison Keillor Announces Retirement

⌘ Permalink

Carol Kaufmann at the AARP Bulletin:

Radio host Garrison Keillor, 68, told the AARP Bulletin that he’s planning to retire in the spring of 2013. But the host of A Prairie Home Companion says that he must find his replacement first. Keillor created his show in 1974 in Minnesota. It is now broadcast on 590 public radio stations across the country and is heard by over 4 million people each week.

Keillor is an icon of public radio. I will miss his voice on Sunday afternoon, when our family enjoys A Prairie Home Companion.

[via @Slate]

New York Times Announces Metered Paywall

⌘ Permalink

David Folkenflik at NPR:

The Times has embraced what’s called a metered approach — readers can click on as many as 20 different articles, slideshows, or videos a month without paying a cent. A page click through a Google search or a friend’s referral via Facebook or Twitter won’t count against you.

But as of March 28, the paper will charge digital readers who view more than 20 pages per month $15 dollars each month for web access and an iPhone application; $20 for access on the web, iPad and other tablets; or $35 for access on all three platforms. The model does not yet incorporate e-readers such as the Kindle, for which the Times has ongoing subscription plans.

It’s obvious that newspapers have to be able to make money online to survive. As print continues to die, the web will become the main outlet for journalistic content.

The reality is that journalism costs money.

I think the Times model is pretty great. It doesn’t penalize or discourage users who just show up every once in a while. People who use the site as a main news source, however, will have to pay. That seems totally fair.

Update: Be sure to check Federico’s post at MacStories for more info on what the Times is doing with iOS subscriptions.

iOS WordPress App Updated

⌘ Permalink

Dan Roundhill:

The main focus of this release is to improve the app’s performance and reliability. The app has been moved to Core Data, which is a much improved way of managing information locally on the device. Also, the methods used to communicate over XML-RPC have been updated to better handle communication issues and increase reliability of the app. In total there have been 117 changes in this release.

We’ve cleaned up the Post Editor interface to make it easier to write and edit posts and pages. Simply select the icons along the bottom of the post editor to edit post settings, view attachments and add media. You can also now upload multiple media objects at once!

One big reason I ditched my iPad was because posting to a WordPress-powered site was such a pain. For me, writing on a computer is just a far better solution.

While I’m anxious to test the new app, I’d love to see something like MarsEdit come to iOS. Lots of people rely on things like custom fields that this app just doesn’t deal with.

[via MacStories]

Yours Truly, on The Bro Show

⌘ Permalink

I was lucky enough to be asked to join Myke and Terry on episode 49 of The Bro Show.[1. And yes, the joke on my last name has been done a thousand times.] We chatted about Apple stores, Twitter, iPad 2 and the iPhone 5.

I had a ton of fun recording this, and recommend you toss their feed into your favorite podcast catcher. Every episode is just great.