An Interview with an Active (!!) Newton Developer

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From The Gadgeteer’s interview with Marisa Giancarla, who is developing an e-book reader for the Newton OS:

I have not seen the iPhone SDK so I don’t know how it compares development-wise to the Newton, but the lack of pen and ink support and handwriting recognition still haven’t been reached on the iPhone. There is a natural draw to try and compare the two, both being handheld computing devices from the same company, but they are still quite different. I would love to see a tablet device from Apple, then at least the hardware features would be comparable.

I find it awesome someone is still writing new code for a platform that has been dead for a decade. This really shows how awesome the Newton was.

New Android Phone Features Software Keyboard

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Gizmodo:

On this first touch, the keyboard felt cramped, probably a result of the screen size, which is smaller than the iPhone’s—which is the obvious soft keyboard reference, since it was the first one to implement a finger-touch software keyboard.

It’s going to be hard to beat the virtual keyboard on the iPhone.

Facebook Pulls Foot From Mouth

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CNN:

Thousands of indignant members either canceled their accounts or created online petitions. Among them were more than 64,000 who joined a group called “The People Against the new Terms of Service.”

On Monday, Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg tried to quell the controversy by saying the company’s philosophy is that “people own their information and control who they share it with.”

But members were not appeased because the site did not fix its Terms of Use. The company, in its post Wednesday, said it was returning to its previous Terms of Use because of the “feedback” it had received.

“As Mark expressed in his blog post on Monday, it was never our intention to confuse people or make them uneasy about sharing on Facebook,” company spokesman Barry Schnitt said in a blog post. “I also want to be very clear that Facebook does not, nor have we ever, claimed ownership over people’s content. Your content belongs to you.”

Good news for Facebook users. Hopefully this mess is over.

‘Problem with Mail Clients’

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Alex Payne:

The problem with desktop email clients is that they’ve gone nowhere, and appear to be going nowhere fast. While Google has delivered solutions that make email less excruciating, Apple, Mozilla, Microsoft, and now Postbox are twiddling their thumbs and staring at the ceiling. The primary recommendation for a desktop email client is that you end up with a copy of your messages on your hard drive, and even that argument is moot.

I agree. Having recently switched from MobileMe+OS X apps to all online, Google-based services, I like doing mail online.

Putting it in Perspective

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iPhone and Mac developer Craig Hockenberry:

I’ll pass on a small reminder that an Apple employee gave me during Macworld: the App Store has only been live for a little over six months. Last month’s 25 year anniversary of the Mac should also remind us that this new market for our products is still in its infancy. Yes, it’s a wild ride at the moment, but if you think about your costs, customers and revenue streams, I think you’ll enjoy a very long journey.

Facebook Owns Us All, and All Our Stuff

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Facebook’s new Terms of Agreement include this little jewel:

You hereby grant Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers), any User Content you (i) Post on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof subject only to your privacy settings or (ii) enable a user to Post, including by offering a Share Link on your website and (b) to use your name, likeness and image for any purpose, including commercial or advertising, each of (a) and (b) on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof.

These lines are no longer there:

You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content.

Meaning they can keep anything anyone posts on Facebook and use it for anything they want. Awesome.

[via the Consumerist]

MobileMe Gets File Sharing

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Apple’s MobileMe service has several limitations, but one got removed this week: iDisk file sharing:

We’re pleased to announce that you can now use your MobileMe iDisk to share files with others simply and easily. Instead of attaching a large document to an email and hoping it’s not too big to be received, you can place the file in your iDisk and use the new Share File command in the iDisk web app. It lets you send your friends, family, or colleagues a link they can click to download the file directly. You can password protect the link if you choose to and even set how long it will be available.

The limitation that makes something like Dropbox a more useful option:

The process is a simple matter of going to iDisk on me.com, selecting the file you want to share, and clicking the Share File button.

You can’t setup a share from Finder.

Safari140 Brings Tweeting and Browsing Together

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Safari140 – a Safari plugin that adds simple tweeting to Apple’s browser – was released last night. It’s activated using Control+T and automatically fills in the title of the current page and a shortened URL, using the is.gd service.

After using it this morning, I do like how much smoother SAfari140 makess sharing a link, but I don’t see this replacing Twitterrific on my Macs. Go check it out – the price is right, at least – $0.

Bipartisanship is Dead

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New York Times:

The vote was 246 to 183, reflecting the Democrats’ considerable majority in the House and the Republicans’ deep dissatisfaction with the measure, whose estimated price tag has fluctuated daily and was finally placed at $787 billion on Friday. Not a single Republican voted in favor of the bill.

Ummm… Microsoft Stores?

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Macworld looks at what is in store* for Microsoft Store customers:

The store will have six different entrances: Starter, Basic, Premium, Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate. While all six doors will lead into the same store, the Ultimate door requires a fee of US$100 for no apparent reason.

The whole list had me laughing.

 

*Haha. Puns are awesome. Right?

Apple Stores to Shift Focus to Software?

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ifoAppleStore:

According to plans still being rolled out, hardware will become a secondary focus of the stores’ marketing efforts, making way for a spotlight on applications and the digital features of Apple products. The front section of the store will promote, “Why You’ll Love a Mac,” catching visitors when they first enter the store. The section will have signage and brochures pointing out the advantages of a Mac over a Windows PC. The next section of the store will focus on the iLife suite of software applications, and will provide information how they can contribute to a Mac user’s digital lifestyle. And in the third section of the reorganized interior, Apple will highlight theiWork software applications.

This kinda makes sense. What sets the Mac apart is the software – yes, the hardware is pretty and shiny – but OS X and the built-in apps that come on new Macs are what draw people to the platform.