Linked List: January 16, 2009

Friday, 16 January 2009

App Store Hits 500 Million Downloads ★

From Peter Burrows’s story for BusinessWeek on the App Store’s 500 millionth download, which includes quotes from several “mobile” developers who are switching to iPhone-only developers:

Indeed, analysts think iPhone sales fell significantly in the fourth quarter from the previous one, when the economy was healthier and consumers were snapping up the brand new iPhone 3G.

My understanding is that these analysts are wrong, and that holiday-quarter iPhone sales were good. How good, exactly, I don’t know, but I would bet heavily against sales having “fallen significantly” quarter-over-quarter. And, if you’re talking about the strength of the App Store market, not just iPhone sales specifically, I’m almost certain that iPod Touch sales were somewhere in the range between outstanding and unfuckingbelievable.

The New York Times’s Interactive Graphic for Flight 1549 ★

The Times does these so well.

A New Reality Distortion Field ★

Dan Miller:

You’d think they’d add a clause to the Hippocratic Oath — “First, do no diagnoses of patients you’ve never seen.”

MDJ’s Weekly Attitudinal: Write Your Own Steve Jobs Story ★

It would be funnier if this weren’t exactly what so many news publications are doing.

I’ll Show You a Clown ★

Rob Enderle will not be ignored in the race to say the stupidest possible thing regarding the Steve Jobs medical leave hoopla:

“Steve Jobs is the Ronald McDonald of Apple, he is the face,” said Rob Enderle of Silicon Valley research company Enderle Group. “They either need to redefine the company so his role is divided among different people or they need to find somebody that can clone Steve Jobs.”

So Enderle either (a) believes that McDonald’s was founded by a man named Ronald McDonald; or (b) believes that Jobs’s role at Apple is equivalent to that of a fictional clown.

Lego Hoth Diorama ★

Four years in the making, 60,000 Lego pieces. Outstanding. (Via Michele Seiler.)

Balloon Animals Getting It On ★

Possible NSFW. Definitely awesome.

(Via Mikey-san.)

Gizmodo’s Brian Lam Comes Unhinged ★

Gizmodo editorial director Brian Lam:

Professionally, I think we did what we were supposed to do, and let me be clear, I am proud of the work I did with Jesús Diaz on this series.

But then:

THESE STORIES ARE NOT ABOUT TRAFFIC! WE DON’T EVEN GET TRAFFIC BONUSES ANYMORE! Sure this post is tacky, I don’t care. At this very moment, I am very self aware that I’m being a tacky, angry, crazy person. I just can’t listen to another person miss the point of why it’s shitty to cover Steve’s health like we, the press, have.

Writing about a man’s health, trying to figure out if he’s dying or not by talking to third-party expert doctors, checking statistics for Whipple procedure survival rates and timelines, checking in with sources who know people who know people who have heard that he’s dying—they’re all basically indecent things to do.

I want to apologize to everyone who knows Steve, everyone who’s known anyone who’s been sick that’s been covered in the press, and my parents, who are probably ashamed I’m tracking a man’s health so rabidly at work, and raised me to be better than some journalist/vulture dickhead.

Here’s a hint: When you’re actually proud of your work, rather than just telling yourself you’re proud of it, you sleep well at night.

Why Hulu Is Great ★

Honest, open communication from Hulu CEO Jason Kilar. This is how you do it, folks.

(Also, “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” is a great show. Daring Fireball Seal of Approval winner.)

‘Why Are You Still Here?’ ★

I linked to Adam Lashinsky’s profile of Apple COO Tim Cook for Fortune back in November, but it’s worth another link this week:

One day back then, he convened a meeting with his team, and the discussion turned to a particular problem in Asia. “This is really bad,” Cook told the group. “Someone should be in China driving this.” Thirty minutes into that meeting Cook looked at Sabih Khan, a key operations executive, and abruptly asked, without a trace of emotion, “Why are you still here?”

Khan, who remains one of Cook’s top lieutenants to this day, immediately stood up, drove to San Francisco International Airport, and, without a change of clothes, booked a flight to China with no return date, according to people familiar with the episode. The story is vintage Cook: demanding and unemotional.

Hoefler & Frere-Jones ★

My thanks to Hoefler & Frere-Jones, typographers extraordinaire, for sponsoring this week’s DF RSS feed. H&FJ are the makers of some of the world’s best and most popular typefaces, including an enormous number of my own personal favorites. Gotham, Archer, Mercury, Verlag, Knockout — man, I don’t even know where to start. And consider the craftsmanship put into Chronicle Text, which is supplied in four different “grades” for different combinations of ink and paper.

(If you’re using a Mac, you almost certainly already have some of H&FJ’s work on your system. Hoefler Text, an excellent serif text face, has been included with the Mac OS since System 7.5.)

Tweetie 1.2, Now With App Store Popularity EnhancEr (PEE) ★

Loren Brichter:

Why buy a dedicated fart app AND a flashlight, when you can have BOTH, and get a TWITTER CLIENT along with it!

Hard to argue with that.