Linked List: August 2, 2007

Thursday, 2 August 2007

Freedom to Tinker: ‘DRM for Chargers: Possibly Good for Users’ ★

Ed Felten on Apple’s patent application for a method of tying gadgets to chargers:

Whether this is good for consumers depends on how a device comes to be authorized. If “authorized” just means “sold or licensed by Apple” then consumers won’t benefit — the only effect will be to give Apple control of the aftermarket for replacement chargers.

But if the iPod’s owner decides which chargers are authorized, then this might be a useful anti-theft measure — there’s little point in stealing an iPod if you won’t be able to recharge it.

Elton John May Be an Idiot ★

What a great idea:

“I do think it would be an incredible experiment to shut down the whole Internet for five years and see what sort of art is produced over that span,” he said.

(Thanks to DF reader Tim French.)

More Shocking News From Dateline ★

Jim Ray on Dateline’s next startling exposé.

Apple: iTunes 7.3.2 for Mac ★

Note to Apple: Thank you for the detailed release notes.

Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Delayed Until January ★

Jim Dalrymple:

Microsoft will delay the release of Office 2008 for Mac until mid-January 2008, representatives of the company’s Macintosh Business Unit announced Thursday. […]

“We made the decision to do this so we could give users the type of quality that they deserve,” said Craig Eisler, general manager of the Macintosh Business Unit. “This is a quality-driven decision.”

Translation: It’s not done yet.

Macworld: ‘iPhone Fixes We Want to See’ ★

Consensus iPhone feature requests from the editors of Macworld. Some of these are obvious and most are reasonable, but some of them glide right past the effect the feature might have on battery life. E.g. support for Flash in MobileSafari. Everyone says they want Flash on the iPhone, but what they really want is Flash support on the iPhone that doesn’t suck your battery dry, and Flash for Macs is a CPU hog. Likewise, I suspect, for video support from the built-in camera.

Charlie Rose on News Corp.’s Acquisition of The Wall Street Journal ★

Terrific 20-minute Charlie Rose interview with The New Yorker’s Ken Auletta and The New York Times’s Andrew Ross Sorkin, regarding Rupert Murdoch’s purchase of The Wall Street Journal. (Auletta’s piece in The New Yorker earlier this month is great, too.)

TheStreet.com’s Scott Moritz Is an Enormous Jackass ★

Scott Moritz:

Citing sources at Taiwan-based component makers, a report Thursday in Taipei’s Digitimes says that “iPhone shipments schedules are still on track.”

The report seems to refute rumors that circulated earlier this week that iPhone production had been cut in half. Apple shares fell sharply on Tuesday as the speculative chatter spread through the market.

It wasn’t “rumors”. It was one rumor, which was published by Moritz himself, and which the sourcing for was utterly false. How does this guy still have a job?

Cyndicate 1.0 ★

Cleverly-named new $30 feedreader from the original development team behind PulpFiction.

CNN: Video Footage of Minnesota Bridge Collapse ★

Just poof — gone.

Cheesesteak War in Philly ★

Joseph A. Slobodzian, reporting for The Philadelphia Inquirer:

This morning, Rick Olivieri kept his word and started cooking steaks, despite a possible eviction threat.

Yesterday, he left his corner of the Reading Terminal Market without a lease, at times fighting tears, and promising to be behind the grill at Rick’s Philly Steaks today.

Olivieri’s family has been at this location in Reading Terminal for 25 years, and, in my expert opinion, Rick’s makes the best cheesesteaks in town. They lost their lease not because they can’t pay, but because Olivieri is the president of the Reading Terminal Market merchants association, and the board offered a lease for his space to cross-town archrival Tony Luke’s.

Tony Luke’s makes a good sandwich, but this is despicable.

XRAY — Cross-Browser JavaScript Inspector for Web Developers ★

Pretty nifty DOM inspector from Western Civilisation.

‘Spook Country’ ★

Were you aware that William Gibson has a new novel coming out next week? Sounds very clever, as usual. (Pre-order via this link to Amazon to make me rich.)

Wired News Story on Faceball ★

Robert Andrews:

Is Faceball dangerous? Critics compare it to happy slapping.