Linked List: May 28, 2008

Wednesday, 28 May 2008

Steven Musil on Blockbuster’s new idea:

Applying that Hollywood approach, the latest idea from Blockbuster can best be described as “Netflix meets YouTube, without the convenience.” That’s basically the pitch Blockbuster Chairman and CEO James Keyes made at his first annual shareholders meeting on Wednesday when he unveiled an in-store kiosk he hopes consumers will use to download movies.

At least you don’t have to drive back to return them three days later. (Via Rands.)

Bug Tracking ★

The guys at Panic are looking for a new bug tracking system:

Simplicity and speed, first and foremost. Our bug records are extremely simple. Bugs have an ID number, a one-line summary, a description, a creation/modification/close date, a status (open or closed), a severity (only 4 levels), an owner, the version filed against, the version targeted for resolution, and that’s pretty much it.

A lot of trackers go way, waaay too overboard with the fields. We need to work on bugs, not placate a needy database.

Uh-Huh ★

Thomas Ricker at Engadget:

Yup, you read that right. We’re not talking about just any WebKit-based browser, Samsung’s long-rumored L870 slider features Apple’s WebKit-based, Mobile Safari browser. A first outside of the iPhone.

Sure, I’ll bet they just copied the binary over and it runs no problem, even though it’s a different OS (Symbian), doesn’t have the Cocoa Touch runtime, and the phone doesn’t have a touch screen.

Adriaan Tijsseling Sells Ecto to IllumineX ★

In a forum post, the author of the weblog editor Ecto writes:

The official announcement will be made soon (once we’ve moved and set up the infrastructure), but yes, I’ve sold ecto to illumineX for a variety of reasons I will explain in a blog post accompanying the official announcement. It’s a move that’s definitely for the best. I’m also still involved with ecto on a consultation basis.

Illuminex is the company that bought Freshly Squeezed Software from Brad Miller and Erik Barzeski and then did nothing with it, including even letting the domain name lapse.

Update: More from Barzeski, including a gracious comment from MarsEdit developer Daniel Jalkut. Update 2: Illuminex CEO Gary Longsine comments on the acquisition at Will Benton’s weblog.

Monkeys Control a Robot Arm With Their Thoughts ★

I can’t resist linking to any article with both monkeys and robots in the headline.

New Google Android Touchscreen Demo ★

Looking good. The home screen is far more like a Mac/Windows-style “desktop”. I love the gesture-based screen unlock feature — both cooler and more convenient than the iPhone’s number combination lock. Some interesting browser zooming features, too.

10.5.3 Address Book Now Syncs With Google Contacts ★

Turn it on in Address Book’s preferences window. Update: Here’s the curious thing: the feature is only available for iPhone and iPod Touch users. I don’t understand why either Apple or Google would want this limitation.

Preserving Kubrick ★

Insightful essay by Jamie Stuart on the differences watching 2001 on different formats (e.g. 70mm and 35mm film prints, laserdisc, DVD):

Of course, this all changed when I watched the DVD for the first time, because as soon as the picture faded out on the Star Child, on came The Blue Danube to accompany the end credits. This completely changed my perception; all of a sudden, this mythic work of art became Earthborn. That transition is probably my favorite moment of 2001 now: it’s Kubrick deflating the hot air balloon.

(Via, who else?, Jim Coudal.)

Why Apple Will Sell 10 Million iPhones in 2008 ★

Jason Snell on the analysts who think Apple is not on pace to sell 10 million iPhones in 2008. Spot on.

WhatTheFont ★

“Upload a scanned image of the font and instantly find the closest matches in our database.” I’ve been using this site for years, but I don’t think I’ve ever linked to it. Works surprisingly well.

Mac OS X 10.5.3 ★

Slightly overdue; still haven’t heard anything about why it took so long for this to come out.

Update: At 420 MB for the standard update and 536 MB for the Combo update, I think this might be the largest single update ever. Word on the street is that the reason for the delay is related to the fact that today’s new beta 6 release of the iPhone SDK depends on 10.5.3.

From the Dept. of No Fucking Shit ★

Book of the week:

President Bush “convinces himself to believe what suits his needs at the moment,” and has engaged in “self-deception” to justify his political ends, Scott McClellan, the former White House press secretary, writes in a critical new memoir about his years in the West Wing.

In addition, Mr. McClellan writes, the decision to invade Iraq was a “serious strategic blunder,” and yet, in his view, it was not the biggest mistake the Bush White House made. That, he says, was “a decision to turn away from candor and honesty when those qualities were most needed.”

Update: Save money and time, and read Matthew Baldwin’s detailed summary of the book.

iPhone Doubters Ramping Back Up ★

From John Markoff’s roundup of current iPhone rumors:

It sold just 1.7 million phones in the first three months of this year, meaning it must sell more than 8 million phones to reach Mr. Jobs’s publicly stated goal of selling 10 million iPhones in 2008.

“They’re going to have a difficult time” hitting that number, said Edward Snyder, an analyst at Charter Equity Research. He said that Nokia, the world’s largest maker of cellphones, sells more phones every week than Apple has sold since the iPhone’s introduction.

I’ll bet McDonald’s sells more hamburgers per week than Nokia does phones, though.