Linked List: July 18, 2008

Friday, 18 July 2008

From the DF Archives: A Wee Bit More on AAC, Ogg, and MP3 ★

One of the Free Software Foundation’s complaints regarding the iPhone (and Apple in general) is the lack of support for “free” media file formats such as Ogg Vorbis. Here’s what I wrote last year:

With regard to Ogg Vorbis, or the idea of “free” codecs in general, the consensus seems to be that this is an ugly patent lawsuit waiting to happen. Yes, the creators of Ogg Vorbis have released the format (and source code for encoding and playback) openly, but the holders of the patents behind MP3 (and other patented codecs) very likely consider part of Ogg Vorbis to violate their patents. If Apple, or any other company with a serious amount of money behind it, were to use Ogg Vorbis in a mainstream widely-used product, it could lead to an expensive lawsuit.

Do software patents suck? Yes. Is it possible that Ogg Vorbis does not actually infringe on anyone’s patent, but that some patent holder could sue and win even though they shouldn’t? Yes. The point is, Ogg Vorbis is intended to be free, and it would be great if it were free, but no one with deep pockets has yet tested the water to see whether it really is. Worse, there are some experts who do believe that Ogg violates at least one significant patent.

Perhaps the same goes for why Apple chose to create the Apple Lossless format rather than use FLAC. For Apple to support Ogg Vorbis would be to take a potentially large risk (a lawsuit, by, say, Fraunhofer, an MP3 patent holder) for an utterly minuscule financial upside (whatever handful of people exist who won’t buy an iPod or iPhone now but would if Apple supported Ogg Vorbis).

In short, Apple supporting Ogg Vorbis makes wonderful political sense, but no business sense whatsoever.

iPhone Development NDA Holding Up Books and Screencasts ★

Dave Thomas on how the NDA surrounding the iPhone SDK is preventing Pragmatic Programmers from publishing books and screencasts on iPhone Development:

So, to write a book about the iPhone SDK, you have to download it. In order to download it, you have to accept the agreement. And the agreement says that the download will contain confidential information that you can’t pass on to third parties. That makes it hard to publish the book. And, if that wasn’t enough, it also appears that you can’t even use the word “iPhone” (for example, in a book title).

The secrecy was frustrating but understandable while the SDK was in beta. Now it’s just frustrating.

Charlie Sorrel Interviews Brent Simmons Regarding iPhone Development ★

Brent Simmons:

The secrecy makes it difficult. For Mac programming, there are all kinds of resources — mailing lists, bits of code posted on the web, wikis, other developers — to help out. It makes a difference. For iPhone programming, no. We’re not supposed to discuss actually programming on the iPhone with anybody — even though that would raise the quality of the apps.

What’s With the Irrational Preoccupation of Apple’s Guidance? ★

One of the smartest investor-oriented pieces about Apple I’ve seen, from Andy M. Zaky.

Tap Tap Tap ★

My thanks to Tap Tap Tap for sponsoring this week’s DF RSS feed. Tap Tap Tap makes “tasty bits for your iPhone”, and their first two apps are very well done: Where To, a $3 app for finding nearby restaurants, stores, services, and more; and Tipulator, a $1 tip calculator.

A year ago I was dismissive of the idea of a dedicated “tip calculator”, but I got a bunch of emails about that from DF readers who clearly didn’t enjoy math class as much as I did. There are a bunch of tip calculators in the App Store already, and eventually I’m sure there will be dozens — but what Tipulator has going for it is that it looks and feels like the tip calculator that Apple would make if Apple were to make one. A few simple features with a very detailed UI.

Counterpoint ★

Darby Lines sees it otherwise.

Point ★

Gina Trapani on the Free Software Foundation’s iPhone screed.

iPhone 3Gs in Short Supply ★

Only one out of four Apple Stores has any in stock, and the black 16 GB model is even harder to find.