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Linked List: January 5, 2007

Friday, 5 January 2007

I don’t personally feel the need for a full-screen writing mode, but many people do, and WriteRoom 2.0 looks like a great implementation of the idea. It’s a tricky problem to solve: How do you make an app that feels Mac-like but which hides the entire Mac user interface? WriteRoom 2 feels like the answer.

WriteRoom 1 was (and remains) freeware; version 2 costs $25. Unsurprisingly, the cheapskates popped out of the woodwork to complain about the price, and WriteRoom developer Jesse Grosjean seems at least somewhat disappointed by their criticism. This sort of thing is inevitable for indie developers: if your price is high enough for you to be successful, some people will complain, sometimes harshly, that it’s too high. But if no one is complaining about your price, it isn’t high enough.

Is That a Phone in His Pocket? No, Something Bigger ★

Nicely written Valleywag piece by Paul Boutin on Steve Jobs’s Macworld Expo keynote. He’s got a good point: the teaser image on Apple.com hints that something big is going to be announced. That makes everyone think it’s a phone. But everyone expects a phone, and the biggest keynote announcement are usually very surprising.

The Hivelogic Podcast ★

The good news is that my friend Dan Benjamin has finally started The Hivelogic Podcast. The better news is that his first guest is yours truly, and we spend the whole show speculating about the possibility that Apple will announce a mobile phone at Macworld Expo next week.

Sell Daniel Jalkut Your Product ★

Daniel Jalkut, regarding the Garrett-Ball xPad dispute:

But what I can’t believe is that a relatively mature product like this sells for only $5000. And Garrett was including 50 hours of consulting with the deal. By my reckoning that means he was essentially selling 50 hours of work and throwing in the business for free.

But this got me thinking. Will anybody sell me their product for $5000? I am a good buyer. Make me an offer, and if I like what you’ve got, I’ll pay cold hard cash for it. No installment crap.

Luxpro Wins in Taiwanese Court, Then Files Countersuit Against Apple ★

A Taiwanese court has rejected Apple’s suit claiming that Luxpro’s MP3 players are infringing rip-offs of the first-generation iPod Shuffle. Luxpro is now countersuing for $100 million in damages stemming from the “valuable market opportunities” they lost as a result of Apple’s legal action.

(Thanks to Chris Pepper.)

Think Secret Reports iWork ’07 Will Include a Spreadsheet ★

They’ve even got a screenshot, albeit apparently from a development build they admit may be long out of date. Seems like something they almost have to add to the iWork suite, especially considering the demise of AppleWorks, but then again, I said the same thing last year.

Re: My Love of Vinyl Records ★

Fake Steve:

And what is it about vinyl? It friggin breathes, and I don’t know how or why. I’ve brought all my iPod engineers in here to listen and try to figure it out. We’ve got “Golden Slumbers” on right now and Paul’s voice is making the hair on my neck stand up. It’s like he’s standing here in the room with us.

Richard Dawkins: ‘Executing Saddam Hussein Was an Act of Vandalism’ ★

Richard Dawkins:

Imagine, in fancy, that some science fiction equivalent of Simon Wiesenthal built a time machine, travelled back to 1945 and returned to the present with a manacled Adolf Hitler. What should we do with him? Execute him? No, a thousand times no.

(Via Dan Benjamin.)

Rory Prior: ‘On the Ball’ ★

Rory Prior:

I’ve dealt with Brian Ball before when I had InstantGallery on macZOT last year and I’ve had a number of IM conversations with him since, my lasting impression is that he’s not someone I’d want to work with again.

Steven Frank’s Macworld Expo Predictions ★

Regarding the possibility of a tablet computer:

There is no market. Yes, it would be cool. No, nobody in any statistically significant number would buy them. Apple has been out of the business of creating products that have no identifiable customer for a decade now.

Great conjecture regarding the possibility of an Apple phone, too.

VLC 0.8.6a ★

Bug fix for the exploit released by the MOAB project three days ago.