Linked List: August 20, 2007

Monday, 20 August 2007

Font Rendering Philosophies of Windows and Mac OS X 

Another interesting comparison of the font rendering differences between Mac OS X and Windows.

iPhone Central: The iPhone Hacking Kit, Step by Step 

Best step-by-step iPhone hacking guide I’ve seen.

First Look: iMovie ’08 

Jeff Carlson’s write-up for Macworld on iMovie ’08.

SpamSieve 2.6.4 

Michael Tsai’s amazing spam filter gets even smarter about image attachments.

Scott Gilbertson: ‘The iPhone Is Internet Explorer 4 All Over Again’ 

It’s like shooting fish in a barrel. Wired’s Scott Gilbertson writes:

And the more I’ve been thinking about that argument, the more I realize that it’s exactly how Microsoft spun the proprietary, non-standard HTML features in IE 4.

In suggesting that developers use the web to build iPhone applications, what Apple has done (perhaps inadvertently, perhaps not) is force the creation of a subset of the mobile web that only works with the iPhone’s unique features — namely the touch-screen interface.

There’s an enormous difference between “built-for-IE4” and “built-for-iPhone” web sites, and Gilbertson himself points it out: the techniques for developing web sites optimized for the iPhone are based on standards. Optimizing for iPhone is, in a way, an accessibility issue.

The Upper Limit on Third-Party iPhone Apps: Five 

Side note by Dan Moren in his write-up on Nullriver’s iPhone installer app:

One interesting note: if you install more applications than fit on the iPhone’s home screen (five, including the installer), your apps will scroll off the screen and you won’t be able to access them.

In other words, Springboard, the app that presents the iPhone home screen, doesn’t support scrolling if you install more apps than fit in the remaining four icon slots.

Braun Apple 

Erik Spiekermann suggests more Braun influences on current Apple designs. (Thanks to Aaron Swartz.)

Nickname Support in Apple Mail 

Sven-S. Porst, back in 2005, on Apple Mail’s inability to auto-complete recipient names based on the nickname field in Address Book:

Whenever I run into that problem I start thinking that the Mail team at Apple are probably orphans who are locked into their offices at all hours — so they don’t have any friends or ominous entities like ‘mum’ and ‘dad’ whom they would send e-mails to.

(Thanks to Matt Deatherage for the reminder.)

Michael Vick to Plead Guilty, Will Go to Prison 

Not only is he heading to prison (sentence length as yet unknown), but the allegation that he bankrolled gambling on the dog fights could lead to a lifetime ban from returning to the NFL:

Vick’s last two co-defendants, Phillips and Peace, pleaded guilty Friday and said he bankrolled gambling on dogfights at the quarterback’s property in rural Surry County, not far from his hometown of Newport News. One said Vick helped drown or hang dogs that didn’t do well.

What a despicable bastard.

More Raves for Vista 

Fake Steve on outgoing PC Magazine editor Jim Louderback’s “Vista sucks” farewell column.

Yeah, I’m Sure the Guys at Braun Are Furious 

Next up on Paul Thurrott’s list: the iPhone Notes app is a rip-off of Mead’s yellow legal pads.

Three New Canon Cameras 

The 40D sure looks like a nice camera.

Spolsky on Vista 

From the Tell Us What You Really Think Department:

I’ve been using Vista on my home laptop since it shipped, and can say with some conviction that nobody should be using it as their primary operating system — it simply has no redeeming merits to overcome the compatibility headaches it causes. Whenever anyone asks, my advice is to stay with Windows XP (and to purchase new systems with XP preinstalled).

iphone-sdl-mame 

“Project to port MAME to the iPhone.”

Why Cell Phones Are Still Grounded on Flights 

Mike Elgan in Computerworld:

The government’s dirty little secret is that it cultivates uncertainty about the effects of phones in airplanes as a way to maintain the existing ban without having to confront the expense and inconvenience to airlines and wireless carriers of allowing them.

Think about this: if cell phones did interfere with an airplane’s electronic systems, why would they let everyone carry them on, asking for them to be turned off, while you still can’t take more than 3 ounces of shampoo in a carry-on bag. But they may have a good point: I might go nuts if I had to sit next to some jerk loudly yakking on the phone for an entire flight.

(Via Adam Engst.)

Washington Post Story on iPhone Hacking 

Jailbreak hits the mainstream media with Mike Musgrove’s report in The Washington Post:

The work that Mac programmers and hobbyists are doing here relies on a new class of underground applications designed for the iPhone called “jailbreak” programs. These unlock the file system and give brave users access to parts of the phone’s inner workings that Apple went through some trouble to rope off.

“Underground” is a little over-the-top. “Unsanctioned”, yes, but it’s hard to see something as “underground” when it’s available for the entire world to download, like Lights Off or MobileTerminal.

Last week, an unauthorized game, called Lights Off, was released for the iPhone’s operating system.

What’s with the passive voice there? I wouldn’t write that “an article was written for The Washington Post”; I’d write that Mike Musgrove wrote it. Why not give credit to Lucas Newman and Adam Betts? Passive voice isn’t just weak writing, it’s disrespectful.

Handbrake 0.9 

Major update to the useful freeware utility for converting DVD video to other formats, including presets for use on iPhones and iPods.

Update: The Handbrake web site remains misconfigured in such a way that if you download the .dmg using Safari, it’ll be given a bogus “.dmg.bz2” file extension. To mount the .dmg, rename the file to remove the “.bz2”.