Linked List: April 16, 2009

Thursday, 16 April 2009

More on Short URL Auto-Discovery 

I linked to Robert Spychala’s “Short URL Auto-Discovery” proposal just 10 days ago, but there’s been a lot of discussion and momentum since then, and Spychala has updated his proposal accordingly. I really like where the proposal stands now, recommending this HTML syntax:

<link rel="shorturl" href="http://short.com/1234" />

and this HTTP header:

Link: <http://short.com/1234>; rel=shorturl
Spreadtweet 

Adobe Air Twitter client disguised as an Excel spreadsheet, by Elliott Kember. Like a built-in boss key. Brilliant. (Via Andy Baio.)

Nokia’s Net Profit Falls 90 Percent 

Marguerite Reardon, reporting for CNet:

For the first quarter, which ended March 31, Nokia said that net profits fell to 122 million euros ($161.3 million). A year earlier the company reported net profits of 1.22 billion euros. Analysts had expected the company to report net profits of about 306 million euros.

That silence you hear is the reaction from the “market share is all that matters” pundits.

Wall Street Journal Mobile Reader for iPhone 

Free iPhone app provides free access to Wall Street Journal content. It’s a very nice app — easy to browse top stories, and it includes the ability to save a story on the iPhone for offline access. One of several nice little touches I’ve noticed so far is that if you quit the app while reading a story, when you re-launch it, it goes back to that story rather than putting you back at the main screen.

Biggest ding against the app: Article text is set in Arial rather than Helvetica.

Huh? 

Mark Spoonauer interviews RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis:

Q: How do you think RIM stacks up to the competition when it comes to your Web browser?

A: I look at it this way. I say that our browser technology was developed with very different requirements. By writing our browser in Java, that provides our CIOs and wireless managers the assurances they need, to allow the browser to access internal information at the same time it accesses external information. So the overriding design criteria for our browser has been to not compromise on that experience in the enterprise phase.

Just me or is that a convoluted way of admitting their web browser blows chunks?

Craig Damrauer’s New Math 

Be prepared to lose a few minutes going through the archive. (Via Monoscope.)

John Madden Retires From Broadcasting 

He’s the best there ever was. He explained the game well and always made it seem fun.

‘Taking Your Talent to the Web’ Now a Free Download 

Jeffrey Zeldman’s excellent 2001 book Taking Your Talent to the Web is now available as a free PDF download.

Andy Baio on Category Inflation at The Webby Awards 

This year I’m starting my own Internet award contest. It’s called The Douchey Awards, and I’m very proud to announce the winners: everyone who paid to enter the Webbys.

Clay Shirky on the Failure of ‘#amazonfail’ 

Clay Shirky:

Though the #amazonfail event is important for several reasons, I can’t write about it dispassionately, because I was an enthusiastic participant in its use on Sunday. I was wrong, because I believed things that weren’t true.