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Linked List: April 25, 2007

Wednesday, 25 April 2007

Open source color gradient panel for Mac OS X, from Jason Jobe and Graham Cox:

Our offer aims to provide both a standardised interface for editing gradients, and a standardised data type for exchanging gradient data between elements of the same or different applications. In attempting this, we have been inspired by the standard NSColorPanel user interface and by the NSColor standard data type.

Interesting Tidbits From Apple’s Analyst Call ★

The Macalope culls a few salient points from Apple’s conference call today with analysts, particularly this nugget regarding how they’re going to account for iPhone sales:

Because Apple is going to keep introducing new software features for free, it’s going to account for sales and earnings from the iPhone on a subscription basis for 24 months after the sale of a handset.

Remember the silly little $2 charge for the 802.11n AirPort enabler? The idea is that accounting regulations require companies to charge money for features added to a product after it was sold. By accounting for iPhone handset sales over 24 months, Apple is free to provide feature upgrades free of charge.

VBA for Macintosh Goes Away ★

Joel Spolsky on Microsoft’s decision to drop VBA from the upcoming Office 2008 for Mac:

But what’s really interesting about this story is how Microsoft has managed to hoist itself by its own petard. By locking in users and then not supporting their own lock-in features, they’re effectively making it very hard for many Mac Office 2004 users to upgrade to Office 2008, forcing a lot of their customers to reevaluate which desktop applications to use.

Apple Reports Second Quarter Results ★

The numbers compared to the same quarter one year ago:

Profits up 88 percent to $770 million
Revenue up 21 percent to $5.26 billion
1.5 million Macs sold, up 36 percent
10.5 million iPods, up 24 percent

Most profitable second quarter in Apple history.

Apple Board Supports Jobs, Disputes Fred Anderson’s Claims ★

Translation into plain English of the statement released by Apple board members Bill Campbell, Millard Drexler, Albert Gore Jr., Arthur D. Levinson, Eric Schmidt, and Jerry York, just ahead of the release of Apple’s quarterly numbers:

No, Fred, fuck you.

Roger Parloff: ‘SEC Sees Apple Backdating as One-Woman Fraud Spree’ ★

Roger Parloff read the SEC’s 20-page civil complaint against Nancy Heinen and Fred Anderson and has written a good overview and timeline of the story. It’s worth emphasizing that the backdating of options wasn’t itself illegal; it’s the accounting of the backdated options that was improper.

HMBlkAppKit ★

Open source framework for dark transparent HUD-style windows, from the Shiira project.

Vonnegut Day ★

Can we make this happen?

Wired Reporter Fred Vogelstein Refuses to Conduct Interviews Via Email ★

Jason Calacanis:

Frankly, you need to adapt. Journalists have misquoted people for so long — and quoted them out of context that many people like to have their words on record.

I don’t want someone taking half a sentence or paraphrasing me… Just too much risk.

Email is my preferred medium for conducting interviews. I’m not interested in playing “gotcha” by getting someone to say something they’ll later regret, or which can be misconstrued by taking it out of context. I think that in email, interview subjects are more relaxed and more thoughtful, because they don’t feel like they have to be on guard against saying something wrong or stupid.

Same thing with the same reporter with Dave Winer, and Winer then points to this ridiculous weblog entry on Wired.com where Dylan Tweney calls Calacanis “cowardly” for refusing to be interviewed on the phone. (And it’s Valleywag that outed the reporter in question as Fred Vogelstein.)

New Shirts at CARS ★

I’ve already called my attorneys, where by “attorneys” I mean “bat-wielding thugs in the Russian mafia”.