Linked List: October 16, 2007

Tuesday, 16 October 2007

Some iPhones Have Sound Icons on the Silent Switch 

Jeff Croft’s iPhone has a sound icon on the silent switch — just the sort of indication it needs, I think, to help keep people from thinking theirs is broken when it’s engaged and stops ringing. Croft (via email), told me he bought his back on June 29 in Lawrence, Kansas, so it’s not a recent addition.

Piracy 

This is why it’s a mistake, a huge mistake, to call copyright infringement and bootlegging “piracy”.

Apple Says iPhone Complies With Ecological Standards 

Sure, it would be nice if iPhones were made using no objectionable materials whatsoever, but yesterday’s Greenpeace announcement strikes me as sensational attention-grabbing bullshit. Their main gripe is that the earphone wiring contains a material that the city of San Francisco and EU have banned in “young children’s toys” — last I checked, the iPhone is not a young child’s toy.

The Cannonball Run 

Great story in Wired by Charles Graeber, on Alex Roy’s attempt to break the 22-year-old “totally illegal” record for driving from Manhattan to Santa Monica: an insane 32 hours, 7 minutes.

This License Key Rated R for Strong Coarse Language 

Rogue Amoeba’s Mike Ash, on application serial numbers that contain random profanity:

It turns out that one day in the not-too-distant future, our random number generator gets filthy. On that day, one out of every 128 licenses generated will start with the F-bomb.

Apple: Mac OS X Leopard 

Apple.com has updated their Mac OS X section with highlights of what’s new in Leopard. Definitely worth checking out for the feature highlights — especially the “300+ New Features” list.

The Karelia iMedia Browser 

Karelia:

Do you like the media browser that Apple includes in some of its applications, but wish you could use it from any application? Now you can.

Looks like an outstanding contribution to the indie dev community.

Jobs Confirms iTunes Plus Price Drop to Wall Street Journal 

Still no word on whether upgrading old non-Plus tracks will cost additional money.

The iPhone Ringer Switch 

Dave Winer thought his iPhone was broken because it stopped ringing; ends up he had the ringer switch turned off. It’s easy to laugh at, but I think it’s actually a non-obvious design. There’s no icon or visual indication as to what that switch does. You do get a small jolt of vibration when it’s engaged, but that doesn’t naturally imply “silent mode” to me. (Update: Yes, there’s also an on-screen icon, but that only helps if you toggle it while the screen is on.)

It’s a great feature once you know about it, but it’s potentially dangerous if you don’t. Its intuitiveness is further hurt by the fact that most mobile phones don’t offer a switch like this, even though they should.

Correction From Robert Strohmeyer 

He really does seem chastened:

I deeply regret these errors, and I offer my sincere apologies to all of the readers of Networking Know-How and PCWorld.com.

TextExpander 2.0 

A bunch of new features to one of my favorite utilities, including snippet groups and snippet synching via .Mac, and AppleScript snippets that expand to the result of the script. Free upgrade for registers users, $30 for new licenses.

China Warns U.S. on Dalai Lama Trip 

The New York Times:

“We are furious,” [Tibet’s Communist Party boss, Zhang Qingli] said. “If the Dalai Lama can receive such an award, there must be no justice or good people in the world.”

Where by “no justice or good people”, Zhang means “justice and good people”.

Ars Technica: iTunes Plus DRM-Free Tracks Expanding, Dropping to 99 Cents 

Jacqui Cheng reports that Apple is set to announce indie music labels participating in iTunes Plus, and a price cut to $.99 for all iTunes Plus singles.

I’ve bought a few at $1.29; I’m calling my lawyer in the morning and plan to sue.