posts
Samsung Cites ’2001’ in Lawsuit
File this story under “Crap you can’t make up.”
‘A Trusted System’
I couldn’t decide what to block quote, since this whole thing is so damn good.
Turning Screws
I’m getting ready to expire.
Well, not me. Let me rephrase that.
I’m about to let my ACMT expire. This is the certification Apple requires technicians to have to work on in-warranty Macs. I will be an “Apple-Certified Macintosh Technician” for just a few more days.
I’ve carried this certification for years. All Mac Geniuses have it (although it is named differently for Apple employees), as do any techs working at third-party Apple Authorized Service Providers. Both are line items on my resume.
‘A Bicycle for our Minds’
I get chills every time I come across this quote.
On the LED Cinema Display’s Guts
Ever wonder why Apple’s displays are so pricey? Wonder no more.
‘iTunes 10.4.1 Fixes Problems’
Peter Cohen wins the for headline for the day. I love it.
Evernote 4.1 for iOS Released
Evernote’s biggest change on iOS is the possibility of creating and editing notes with rich text styles. Whereas previous versions of the mobile app forced users to always edit notes in plain text — thus breaking styles coming from the desktop app — Evernote 4.1 allows basic creation of numbered and bulleted lists, as well as sections, paragraphs and blockquotes straight from an iPhone or iPad. Obviously, users can now also select text to make it bold, italic or underlined, with more options such as strikethrough and highlight available in a new formatting bar.
The $99 Touchpad
This morning, the HP Touchpad’s price was slashed to $99 at most resellers.
Within hours, most resellers had sold out of the ill-fated device.
This is a pretty crazy situation. This week, HP announced it would no longer be shipping any webOS-powered hardware, including the Touchpad, which is less than 2 months old. And yet, at $99, most nerds I know seriously considered pulling the trigger on one.
So, would the Touchpad have succeeded at a lower price, or was today’s rush simply a scramble at what is probably the best — and last, at least for now — webOS device?
Meta
Writing with the Newton
Thomas Brand, in an interview with Shawn Blanc:
I carry my MessagePad and keyboard separated in two large jacket pockets, or sandwiched together in the Newton keyboard case. When I am writing I position my MessagePad in a landscape orientation with the keyboard in front, and my wallet underneath to give my Newton the desired viewing angle. My MessagePad can only display ten lines of text at a time so I tend to write in small paragraphs correcting my prose with the stylus as I go.
On webOS and Failure
Given the stiff competition webOS faced in the marketplace, it’s tempting to just say that webOS has failed. The truth is that we don’t really know if webOS could have succeeded given HP’s utter inability to execute on the basics of making smartphones and tablets.
I think it’s better to say this: HP failed webOS.
I agree. HP didn’t push the webOS team to build anything besides a mediocre tablet, really. By pushing to get it out the door in a year, HP showed as little concern about the product as I think some Android tablet builders show.