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Since the introduction of the 2.0 version of the iPhone software, Apple, users and developers have enjoyed the App Store - the mechanism that allows customers to purchase third-party applications for their devices anytime, anywhere. It has generated millions of dollars for developers and for Apple, who gets 30% of each purchase.

Naturally, other mobile phone companies have wanted a piece of the pie, and now almost every major player - RIM, Windows Mobile, Android and Palm - have a mobile application store in one stage or another of deployment. Gizmodo takes a look:

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Matt Haughey, via John Gruber:

I mention this entire story because there are thousands of people all over twitter and blogs that think throwing thousands of dollars at people that describe themselves as a “marketing guru” is the way to increase their company sales. I’m here to say I think that may very well be a waste of money, time, and energy. The Rainbow company makes awesome stuff, has a great website (pretty damn slick all-CSS one at that), and helpful catalog materials (both online and off). They got on my radar when a friend dug up their details for a blog post, in a way no marketing budget could influence.

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Boing Boing:

The 22nd Annual Rube Goldberg machine contest saw many fun attempts at comical inefficiency this year, including this Super Mario machine entry from engineers at Penn State.

This makes me happy on so many levels.

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It’s pretty cool.

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An Overview and A Realization:

Back in October, I wrote about how I manage tasks on a daily basis:

After puttering around with Notes on the iPhone, OmniFocus, Evernote and a few more, I just gave up… until a friend showed me Remember The Milk (RTM), an on-line task management system that is easy to use, and has an iPhone-friendly web version (for a fee).

[…]

Then, I read about a iPhone app called (simply) Todo, by a company named Appigo. (Here’s the iTunes link.) It’s a simple, powerful GTD application that syncs with RTM.

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Gizmodo:

iPhoto’s face detection isn’t perfect, but we can’t blame the software for spotting a face in this unbaked batch of cookies.

I mean, c’mon, it looks like just a teddy bear! And maybe a teddy bear face doesn’t constitute a human face to some of you in the audience, but I like to think that our world has grown beyond such prejudices. I like to believe that we live in a world in which any face can be considered a face.

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CNET, on Google’s server hardware:

Typical data centers rely on large, centralized machines called uninterruptible power supplies (UPS)–essentially giant batteries that kick in when the main supply fails and before generators have time to kick in. Building the power supply into the server is cheaper and means costs are matched directly to the number of servers, Jai said.

“This is much cheaper than huge centralized UPS,” he said. “Therefore no wasted capacity.”

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Starting sometime before the launch of the iPhone 3G in July, the Apple rumor mill keeps churning up guesses about the ‘iPhone nano.’

The rumor consists of a few main points:

Apple will release a phone that is physically smaller. This iPhone will be cheaper because Apple will leave out features found on “regular” iPhones.

Let’s look at these points one by one:

1. A Physically Smaller iPhone: The iPhone now sports a 3.5-inch LCD (measured diagonally). The case is in-line with other smartphones - 4.5 by 2.4 by 0.48 inches. It’s comfortable to hold with one hand and big enough to cradle with your palm and type with your thumb. Anything smaller would be difficult to cradle.

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Scott Bourne, on his new glossy MacBook Pro and Cinema Display:

It doesn’t make sense to me to have a glossy main monitor for editing photos but a matte finish on the smaller laptop. I wanted them to match. I only do serious editing on my large monitor. I use the small laptop monitor only for looking at images downloaded while in the field and I do that in my nice, dark hotel room, so no worries.

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The New York Times:

The company said it would continue to operate its newspapers and online sites while it focuses on further improving its cost structure and stabilizing operations. The company has retained Rothschild to commence a process for the sale of asset, the company said. The bankruptcy petition was filed in Delaware.

[…]

While the Sun-Times has taken several steps to reduce costs, “the significant downturn in the print advertising environment that has affected newspapers across the country has continued to severely impact us,” the chairman, Jeremy L. Halbreich, said. “Unfortunately, this deteriorating economic climate, coupled with a significant, pending I.R.S. tax liability dating back to previous management, has led us to today’s difficult action.”

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Zlok has  a brief piece up about Rob Janoff, who invented the Apple logo. Here’s some direct quotes:

For inspiration, the first thing I did was go to the supermarket, buy a bag of apples and slice them up. I just stared at the wedges for hours.

At first the Apple logo was black to save on printing costs - remember, this was 1977 - but Jobs wasn’t happy about that:

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A nice collection of photos during Earth Hour.

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