Linked List: December 17, 2008

Wednesday, 17 December 2008

Big Announcements From Apple at Venues Other Than Macworld Expo ★

Faruk Ateş takes issue with Andy Ihnatko’s assertion that “Every important and game-changing product Apple has introduced in the past ten years (beginning with the first iMac) started on the Tuesday morning keynote address at Macworld Expo.”

Actually, even the original iMac didn’t debut at Macworld — it was announced at a special event in May 1998 and started shipping three months later.

Andy Ihnatko on Apple and Macworld Expo ★

Andy Ihnatko:

Macworld has always been a real freak on the tech-show calendar. All big trade shows are a combination the flamboyance of Burning Man, the crowds of any mall on the day after Thanksgiving, and the sensory overload of a symphony orchestra being dropped from a great height. […] But as I say, Macworld Expo is unique. It’s all that, with a few drops of Extract Of Sci-Fi Convention thrown in.

Arik Hesseldahl Asks: ‘Might Apple Be Ditching Macworld for CES?’ ★

No.

Gizmodo’s Coast-to-Coast 3G Data Test ★

Sprint wins for download speed, AT&T wins for upload.

How Tom Preston-Werner Turned Down $300,000 From Microsoft to Go Full-Time on GitHub ★

Great story from one of the founders of GitHub.

PopPhoto Reviews the Canon EOS 5D Mark II ★

Philip Ryan:

Let’s cut to the chase — the Canon EOS 5D Mark II does live up to its billing. It takes a great full-frame DSLR, the original 5D (Pop Photo’s 2005 Camera of the Year), boosts damn near everything, adds high-definition video capture, and turns in an overall performance that makes it a virtual steal (or at least as close as a steal comes in this price bracket).

Siracusa on Apple’s Expo Exit ★

John Siracusa:

Though painful and jarring in the short term, these kinds of moves are a big part of what makes Apple great. While other companies are paralyzed with indecision, or cling relentlessly to what has worked in the past, or are seduced by sentimentality, Apple is busy murdering its darlings.

Apple Expo Paris Canceled ★

Apple had already announced back in June that they wouldn’t be participating; the Expo couldn’t make it without them.

Bill Higgins: The Uncanny Valley of User Interface Design ★

A good argument against trying to build web apps that closely resemble desktop apps. Google gets this — consider that Gmail is beloved, but MobileMe’s webmail is not. (Via Jeff Atwood.)

User Interface of the Week: SonicMood ★

Our first winner from the Mac.

Google Now Serving iPhone-Optimized Search Results From MobileSafari’s Toolbar Search Field ★

Remember a few weeks ago when I complained that while Google had started serving iPhone-optimized results for searches initiated via the google.com web page, they weren’t doing so for searches initiated using the MobileSafari toolbar search field? Well, now they are.

Jason Snell on Apple and Macworld Expo ★

Snell’s is the best piece I’ve seen on today’s news:

I’m stunned that Apple has taken a 25-year-old event that has been the single best meeting place for the entire community of users and vendors of Apple-related products and treated it like a piece of garbage stuck to the bottom of its shoe. But I’m not really surprised: Apple has been leading up to this moment for a long time now.

The timing of the announcement stinks. It’s three weeks before the Expo keynote, and now Apple has decided to announced its plans not just for the keynote, but for the 2010 show? Why now?

Why Is Steve Jobs Skipping Macworld? ★

Time’s Josh Quittner on today’s Expo news:

Steve Dowling, an Apple spokesman, deflected any questions about Jobs’ health. When asked if Jobs canceled because of illness, Dowling said, “Phil is giving the keynote because this is Apple’s last year in the show, and it doesn’t make sense for us to make a major investment in a trade show we will no longer be attending.” Asked again about Jobs’ health, Dowling gave a similar answer, never using the word Jobs or anything related to his condition.

I do not think today’s news is related to Jobs’s health (and, via email, Quittner quotes me as saying so in the article). But, that said, the timing of this announcement is just weird. Update: Maybe weird isn’t the right word. Spiteful might be better.