Beginning Oct. 24, the WSJ Mobile Reader application, currently available on BlackBerry smartphones and Apple iPhone and iPod touch devices, will require a separate mobile subscription for full access to Journal subscription content. The application itself will remain free to download and contain both free and subscription content, emulating the experience found on WSJ.com.
WSJ, you’re doing this all wrong.
As for Verizon? The company has the popular but critically panned BlackBerry Storm and the rather staid and Wi-Fi–less BlackBerry Tour. The carrier known for the best network now has the least attractive lineup of smart phones.
It’s a puzzling situation for Verizon. The wireless carrier has had the most customers of any cellular operator in the country since its 2008 acquisition of Alltel, and it’s widely regarded as having the largest network coverage area. So the fact that it can’t offer its customers better smartphones is a bit of a mystery.
Verizon’s extremely conservative approach to new handsets, the company’s long and rigorous testing procedures, and its emphasis on the network rather than the phone have created a portfolio that’s a complete buzzkill, say experts.
[…]
Not surprisingly, Verizon spokesperson Brenda Raney says the carrier would rather focus on its network than on the gadgets that use it.
“Keep in mind that for Verizon Wireless, it isn’t so much about the device as it is about the delivery,” she says. “We have the nation’s largest 3G network so when we offer devices on our network, customers can be assured that they will deliver as promised.”
From Engadget’s in-depth Zune HD review:
Perhaps the most compelling reason to buy a Zune HD right now isn’t the gorgeous screen or forthcoming apps, HD radio, or slick design. Make no mistake about it – this is a fine, fine device, and no one would fault you for buying one – but it’s not the device itself that is the most attractive part of this package. To us, it seems like the single most compelling reason to choose this device over something like the iPod touch can be boiled down to one thing: Zune Pass.
I’m not sold on subscription music, but I know a lot of people who love it.
At the two week mark, OS X Snow Leopard—despite having few user recognizable features—has sold more than twice the number of copies that Leopard did, and four times the number of copies that Tiger did. That makes sense given the $29 price and Apple’s higher percentage in the market these days.
Surely the $29 price — a full $100 less than most OS X upgrades — is helping drive sales, but I also think users see Snow Leopard as less dangerous of an upgrade.
Speaking of photos, Time has posted a collection of the ‘Top 10 Doctored Photos’ of all time. The first few are quite old.
iLounge has posted a photo over on Flickr of the entire iPod and iPhone family, from 2001 until today. Pretty cool.
Nate Anderson over at Ars Technica, on the Zune HD:
Can it succeed? That depends on whether users buy into the Microsoft way of doing things—a way that includes paying for a monthly music subscription. Those who take the bait will find themselves hooked (in both senses) by one of the best portable music discovery experiences yet created. The full subscription experience on the Zune is now unbelievably compelling, offering something that feels like more than the sum of its parts—but consumers have so far shown little interest in subscription music services.
For everyone else, the new Zune HD is “merely” an excellent media player with a gorgeous screen, HD radio, and 720p output over an HDMI connection.
It’s the best looking piece of hardware Microsoft has produced in a long time, if not ever. It’s gorgeous.
SimpleNote is a wonderful $2 app that syncs text notes back and forth between the iPhone and the web. As a web app, it can be run in Fluid very easily, but has always looked… wrong.
John Hicks has released a stylesheet that cleans up the look of SimpleNote-in-Fluid, making it much easier to use.
To complete the package, you can grab a high-res copy of the SimepleNote icon to use for the app icon. Brilliant.
Democrats hold considerably more positive views than Republicans of CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times and the news operations of the broadcast networks, and their views of National Public Radio are somewhat more favorable than those of Republicans. By contrast, views of Fox News – and to a lesser extent The Wall Street Journal – are more positive among Republicans than Democrats.
Webdesigner Depot, on Apple and Microsoft’s websites:
Which site is the winner? If you’re looking at usability alone, Apple comes out ahead. They have a better designed homepage that offers less choice, which means the user needs to think less.
They have consistent navigation across all of their pages. They use a lot of white space and sub-headings to make everything more readable, yet they keep things simple by not overusing too many different text treatments.
The Apple site is generally more user friendly and offers a much better experience to consumers who use it to check out Apple’s latest products.
Having said this, the Apple website is much smaller in scale than Microsoft’s site. Unlike Apple, Microsoft hosts many different sites and sections under the Microsoft.com brand, creating a whole ecosystem of sub-sites. Each site is packed with information and the Live powered search that Microsoft offers tends to yield good results. The biggest problem for Microsoft is consistency.
Microsoft just doesn’t have a consistent, coherent and unified brand. Every section looks and feels different. There is no global navigation and there are not many visual clues that tell the user that this is a Microsoft site — unlike Apple, where the whole site shares one unique aesthetic that mirrors that of their hardware and software, thus creating a powerful brand.
Of all the cars he could have picked to convert, why did Leitschuh choose the mongrel offspring of a Chevrolet Caprice and a pickup truck? Simple. He needs to haul stuff. Besides, why not convert an El Camino?
“The Civic would have a bit more range,” he said. “But which would you rather drive?”
That question answered, Leitschuh, an electronics controls engineer and owner of TDL Electronics, got to work. The project went pretty quickly, taking about 200 hours of his time over the course of six weeks. He got some help with donations from QuickCable and some hired hands to help with welding and fabrication. The tab came to roughly $30,000, which included the cost of the car and a transmission rebuild. The lion’s share of the bill went to the 46 lithium-ferrite phosphate batteries that cost him $18,000. They’re located over the front and rear axles. Because Leitschuh yanked the engine, radiator and other archaic equipment, the weight penalty for the batteries is just 750 pounds. Total output is 33 kilowatt-hours.
Awesome.
