posts

On iCloud Sharing⇢

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Dan Moren:

It’s clear that Apple’s launch of iCloud has the classic idea of a filesystem squarely in its crosshairs. In the future, you’ll no longer have to create a complicated hierarchy of folders, to maintain multiple versions of the same file, or even to remember where your file is stored.

From Apple’s perspective, this is all about making things easier for the user. You no longer have to remember where you put a file on a disk; instead, all you have to remember is the app you used to create or edit it. After all, it’s easier to remember that you were editing an image in Preview than that you saved it seven folders deep on your hard drive. I’ve certainly found myself relying more and more on the Open Recent menu option in apps that have it.

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Apple Loses Appeal in UK⇢

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Eric Slivka:

Back in early July, a UK court ruled that Samsung had not infringed upon the design of the iPad with its own Galaxy Tab device, with judge Colin Birss ruling that the Galaxy Tab was simply “not as cool” as the iPad. Roughly a week later, Birss ruled that Apple must publish advertisements on its website and in newspapers acknowledging that Samsung did not copy the iPad’s design.

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Why Microsoft’s Surface Ad Might be a Miss

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Lots of words have been written about Microsoft’s new Surface ad. I think Gruber said it best:

It’s a brand ad, not a product ad — not about what Surface can do or how. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though. The ad has a clear message: Surface is an iPad-size tablet with a magnetic keyboard cover and it’s fun. That’s a pretty good message. It’s about framing the product in people’s minds.

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On Digital Journaling⇢

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Day One creator Paul Mayne, on the advantages of digital journaling:

It’s not as physical or tactile, but what is lost is more than made up in terms of what a digital journal on an iPhone is capable of. It’s always with you, it makes composing text by typing or by voice so fast and easy. And I’d say take photos of your sketches and scraps of paper using the Day One app camera. It will be preserved. I might also note that we are working towards vastly improved export features in Day One that will allow PDF creation and printing abilities of specifically chosen dates and entries, well formatted and designed to give users the ability to create a beautiful, tactile version of their journal data.

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Motorola Skinning Android at Verizon’s Command⇢

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Dieter Bohn:

One of the biggest questions surrounding the “New Motorola” after the Google acquisition is a simple one: if it’s owned by Google, why isn’t it shipping stock Android software on its new RAZR M and RAZR HD phones? We presumed the answer was a simple one: Verizon’s demands, and Motorola has essentially confirmed that assessment.

Speaking to a group of reporters last night, Motorola Senior Vice President, Product Rick Osterloh pointed out the company’s main focuses going forward, and one of them was obviously Android. Specifically, he addressed the question of shipping unaltered, stock Android software on phones.

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Verizon’s Gone Creepy⇢

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Declan McCullagh:

The company this month began offering reports to marketers showing what Verizon subscribers are doing on their phones and other mobile devices, including what iOS and Android apps are in use in which locations. Verizon says it may link the data to third-party databases with information about customers’ gender, age, and even details such as “sports enthusiast, frequent diner or pet owner.”

“We’re able to view just everything that they do,” Bill Diggins, U.S. chief for the Verizon Wireless marketing initiative, told an industry conference earlier this year. “And that’s really where data is going today. Data is the new oil.”

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