posts

Eric DeFriez:

Designed to let you easily deliver Gmail-enabled features, this new API is a standard Google API, which gives RESTful access to a user’s mailbox under OAuth 2.0 authorization. It supports CRUD operations on true Gmail datatypes such as messages, threads, labels and drafts.

As a standard Google API, you make simple HTTPS calls and get your responses in JSON, XML or Google Protobuf formats. You can also make these calls from standard web languages like Java and Python without using a TCP socket, which means the API is accessible from many cloud environments that couldn’t support IMAP.

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Steven Aquino, over on MacStories:

Without any tinge of hyperbole, I often marvel at how truly Accessibility reflects Apple’s ethos of designing products for everyone, regardless of cognitive or physical impairment. (A sentiment I have expressed numerous times elsewhere.) Again, these are signs of real innovation, although they (unfortunately) go largely unheralded. It’s my strong opinion that Apple is leading the industry in this regard, and iOS 8 takes another step forward in extending their lead.

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Sigh.

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Sigh.

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Earlier this summer, my brother, brother-in-law and a couple of close friends left Memphis, flew to South Sudan and filmed what will be the first multi-camera documentary filmed in the war-torn country.

This fall, Lost Generation of Sudan will tell the story of a new generation of lost boys, victims of the on-going devastation brought on a helpless population.

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Editorially was an excellent online collaboration tool for teams of writers. Until it closed, it was our primary tool for working together on The Sweet Setup.

Vox says that Editorially won’t re-open, and that the core team they’ve hired will be working on Chorus, the CMS that powers all of Vox’s site. While that makes a ton of sense for the company, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I am a little sad such a great service is going away.

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Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s new SVP of Retail, in a blog post on LinkedIn:

My father used to always say, “Ask questions, don’t make assumptions." Questions invite conversations, stimulate thinking, break down barriers, create positive energy and show your willingness to understand and learn. Questions show humility, acknowledgement and respect for the past, and give you greater insights into both the business and individuals. And don’t be afraid to ask personal questions or share a few of your personal details. Talking about weekend interests, family and friends can give you a more complete view of your peers and partners, their passion and compassion. Building a relationship is also the first step in building trust, which quickly leads towards alignment and unity.

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Walt Hickey at FiveThirtyEight:

FiveThirtyEight and SurveyMonkey Audience ran a poll from June 3 to 5 asking 1,129 Americans which camp they fell into, and wouldn’t you believe it? We’re split on that comma.

We asked respondents which sentence was, in their opinion, more grammatically correct: “It’s important for a person to be honest, kind and loyal.” Or: “It’s important for a person to be honest, kind, and loyal.” The latter has an Oxford comma, the former none.

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Over at Quartz:

As Apple’s product line matures and growth slows, it is easy—perhaps too easy—to criticize Apple CEO Tim Cook for not being enough like Steve Jobs, his legendary predecessor. But that misses the real story: Since taking over as CEO, Cook has made several key moves—including some Jobs might never have considered—to set Apple up for its next big thing.

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Stewart Wolpin at Mashable:

First unveiled at the Tokyo MacWorld Expo on February 17, 1994, the QuickTake 100 went on sale 20 years ago from yesterday — June 20, 1994. It was priced at $749 and initiated the age of consumer digital photography.

One reason why the QuickTake 100 is not often mentioned as an Apple breakthrough — other than the fact that Jobs’ himself had nothing to do with it — was that it’s one of the few non-computer products Apple produced and one Apple itself didn’t design.

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Ars’ 26-page look at Google’s mobile operating system is pretty great. It’s come a heck of a long way in six years.

Don’t miss the behind the scenes piece.

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Scot Finnie:

On June 23, we will publish the last print issue of Computerworld.

It was 47 years ago, almost to the day, that Computerworld’s very first issue rolled off the presses: June 21, 1967. The newspaper’s first publisher was the late Patrick J. McGovern, who was the founder and chairman of International Data Group (IDG), Computerworld’s parent company.

It’s sad to lose anything that has endured so long. But we are merely taking part in the natural evolution of the media industry, like so many great publications before us. Trains, after all, were once powered by coal and steam; Computerworld is moving from paper to electrons.

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