Linked List: August 21, 2008

Thursday, 21 August 2008

Gawker on Microsoft’s Decision to Hire Jerry Seinfeld as a Spokesman for Vista ★

Ryan Tate:

Yes, because if there’s one surefire way to convince everyone Vista is cool, cutting edge and not liable to get frazzled by life’s minor complications, it’s hiring a 1990s sitcom star and professional kvetcher! Who, um, very visibly owned a series of Macs on his show.

Mobile Computer Compares Web Browsing Speed Between BlackBerry Bold and iPhone ★

Julian Prokaza:

Unfortunately, as excellent as it is in delivering a desktop-like web browsing experience on a small screen, the BlackBerry Bold’s web browser is just far too slow to be a serious alternative to the iPhone. The Bold is the first BlackBerry with 3G support, but even over a more reliable Wi-Fi connection, our iPhone 2G repeatedly finished downloading a web page several seconds before the Bold had even got past a blank screen and a “Requesting…” message. Even with just its 3G connection active, the Bold still lagged behind the iPhone 2G with its EDGE connection. Either Apple is doing something right or RIM is doing something wrong with their respective web browsers, but whatever the case, it’s a pretty poor show for the Bold.

Scroll down and watch the side-by-side video shootout. It’s painful.

Update: Prokaza has updated the article, stating that the comparison was flawed because the BlackBerry was using the cellular network rather than Wi-Fi. The bottom line remains that web browsing performance on the Bold seems poor.

Great Olympic Moments on YouTube ★

Jason Kottke:

One of the best ways to watch the Olympics is to chase down all the references made by NBC’s commentators on YouTube and watch them in addition to (or instead of) the regular telecast. Here are some of the ones I’ve found.

Design and Branding of the Olympic Games ★

Colour Lovers has an excellent collection of posters from each summer Olympics since 1896. My favorite is from the Tokyo games in 1964, with Mexico 1968 and Moscow 1980 right behind. Don’t get me started again on the upcoming London 2012 branding.

Palm Treo Pro ★

The new Palm Treo Pro is only available in the U.S. unlocked. It costs $549 and runs a version of Windows Mobile. Good luck with that, Palm.

Scott Stevenson’s Kodak Zi6 Review ★

Looks like Kodak is shipping the Zi6, their Flip-esque $180 HD video camera. Scott Stevenson:

The hardest thing to explain is how satisfying the overall experience of using the thing is. If you just glanced at the product site, you might think it’s a somewhat awkward, bulky device. But that’s not the impression I’m left with. It completely gets out of the way and just delivers great-looking video with minimal fuss and super-simple import.