An awesome photoessay by Time Magazine.
The neat part is that the press had only about 30 seconds to shoot. After that, it was a private discussion.
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NetNewsWire to Support Google Reader
From today’s NewsGator press release:
You spoke and we listened: in response to customer demand, NewsGator’s best-of-breed consumer RSS applications now work with Google Reader. Google Reader will become the online companion to and the synchronization platform for our award-winning RSS reader applications – FeedDemon and NetNewsWire.
In conjunction with this announcement, NewsGator is making changes to several of its consumer RSS Readers. NewsGator will continue to support all its individual end-user applications for enterprise customers. However, NewsGator will continue to develop and support only a sub-set of these applications for free consumer use. FeedDemon and NetNewsWire have new versions for consumers that we encourage you to download as soon as possible. NewsGator’s other individual end-user applications will not continue to be supported for free consumer users after August 31, 2009. Again, all of NewsGator’s individual end-user applications will continue to be supported for paying Enterprise customers.
Apple Warns Against Jailbreaking
As designed by Apple, the iPhone OS ensures that the iPhone and iPod touch operate reliably. Some customers have not understood the risks of installing software that makes unauthorized modifications to the iPhone OS (“jailbreaking”) on their iPhone or iPod touch. Customers who have installed software that makes these modifications have encountered numerous problems in the operation of their hacked iPhone or iPod touch.
Examples of issues caused by these unauthorized modifications to the iPhone OS have included the following:
Apple at CES? [Update: No]
The Wall Street Journal is reporting Apple will attend the 2010 Consumer Electronic Show. 2010 of course, is the first year that Apple won’t be at the Macworld Expo:
Apple plans to attend the show’s 2010 version, marking the first time in memory the Cupertino, Calif., consumer-electronics giant will be there.
No news on a Jobs keynote, however:
At a dinner with journalists this week in San Francisco, CEA’s Shapiro was asked whether he’s invited Jobs, who recently returned from medical leave, to keynote the show. Yes, Jobs has been asked, but nobody from Apple has gotten back to him, Shapiro said.
Microsoft and Yahoo Ink Deal
The terms of the agreement – which covers search only – is 10 years, in which Microsoft will have an exclusive license to Yahoo’s core search technologies as well as the ability to integrate them into Bing, the companies said.
Bing will be the exclusive algorithmic search and paid search platform for Yahoo sites, but Yahoo will continue to use its technology and data in other areas of its business, in particular its display advertising. In fact, each company will continue to maintain its own separate display ad business and sales force, they said.
So That’s What They’ll Be Selling
Apple Insider, on Microsoft’s retail plans:
The retail locations will sell Microsoft software and first-party hardware, such as Zunes and Xbox 360 consoles. Third-party Windows software and Xbox games will also be available.
[…]
Last week, Microsoft’s tentative plans for its retail locations leaked online. It exposed that the company intends to imitate Apple stores, down to their layouts and even the presence of a dedicated “Guru Bar” for help.
Retrospect Adds PowerPC Support
Yes, you read that correctly, according to Macworld:
EMC Corp. on Tuesday announced that EMC Retrospect 8.1 is now available through its distribution channels. The new release of the venerable Mac backup and archival software application adds back support for PowerPC-based Macs and also improves performance on Intel-based Macs.
A curious development, considering 10.6 is dropping PPC support.
Apple Tablet to Re-Invent the Album?
The “Cocktail” project would see a further evolution of such ideas. “It’s all about recreating the heyday of the album when you would sit around with your friends looking at the artwork, while you listened to the music,” one executive familiar with the plans told Financial Times. The problem is that most of today’s digital music audience has little or no recollection of the album’s heyday.
“It’s not just a bunch of PDFs,” said one executive. “There’s real engagement with the ancillary stuff.” One reported feature is that songs can be played directly from these interactive booklets without going into iTunes to play the tracks—though it’s not clear if iTunes must be running for the magic to work.
On the Mythical Apple Tablet
AppleInsider has once again stirred up the rumors surrounding the Apple tablet:
It seems like a long time coming. Nearly two years have past since AppleInsider exclusively reported in September of 2007 that Apple’s next big product initiative would be a modern day reincarnation of its beloved-but-defunct Newton MessagePad. And it’s believed the device had been slowly evolving as an R&D project for at least a year prior.
The 10-inch, 3G-enabled tablet, akin to a jumbo iPod touch, is the latest brainchild of chief executive Steve Jobs. That distinction, as insiders will tell you, carries its share of baggage. Under the critical eye of Jobs, contours must be precise, each pixel of the interface has to match a particular vision, and there can be no fault — no matter how slight — or it’s back to the drawing board.
App Store Promo Code Issue Rectified
TUAW:
Recently, we reported that developers were not able to request promo codes for their iPhone apps if the app had received a 17+ rating due to having an embedded web browser, unfiltered 3rd party content, or contained excessive violence or sexual content. This restriction severely limited the ability of the developers to distribute promotional copies of their software to generate publicity and awareness of the app.
Several other outlets picked up on the story, and developers sounded off as well. Luckily, it seems that Apple has been listening: over the past few days, we have received word from a number of developers stating that they are now able to request promo codes for their 17+ apps. While Apple has not made any official comment on the issue, it appears that they have quietly conceded this battle to the developers, once again enabling them to distribute promo codes as needed for all of their apps.
The Death of Handwriting
Time:
Cursive started to lose its clout back in the 1920s, when educators theorized that because children learned to read by looking at books printed in manuscript rather than cursive, they should learn to write the same way. By World War II, manuscript, or print writing, was in standard use across the U.S. Today schoolchildren typically learn print in kindergarten, cursive in third grade. But they don’t master either one. Over the decades, daily handwriting lessons have decreased from an average of 30 minutes to 15.
On Pay Walls
But I say he’s very much wrong that charging readers for access to news is a credible solution. It would just make things worse. If the Times and/or Post were to erect a pay wall, I see things playing out as follows: they lose most of their readers; ad revenue declines accordingly; the revenue they make from readers who do pay won’t even make up for the lost ad revenue; and so by switching from free to paid access they’d actually sink further into the red.