Linked List: June 4, 2009

Thursday, 4 June 2009

WSJ: Jobs Ready to Return to Apple Helm 

(I’m linking to Google’s search results to get around the Journal’s stupid pay wall — non-subscribers can read WSJ articles for free when you click through via Google). Yukari Iwatani Kane and Joann S. Lublin, reporting for The Wall Street Journal:

While Mr. Jobs has been on sick leave, some Apple directors have gotten weekly updates about his medical condition from the CEO’s physician, according to a person familiar with the matter. Mr. Jobs’s recovery “is coming along” and he is on schedule to return to work later this month, said this person, who has seen Mr. Jobs in recent weeks.

And:

Speculation is mounting among Apple’s business partners and analysts about whether Mr. Jobs will make an appearance at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference next week — particularly because he is known for making surprise announcements at events.

It’s great to hear that Jobs is doing well and is on track to return to full-time duty, but I don’t expect to see him at WWDC. Sure, it’d be a surprise, the audience (yours truly included) would go into conniptions, and the stock would jump five or ten points. But then what happens the next time there’s a keynote address where Jobs is not the scheduled speaker? Everyone will expect Jobs to show up as a “surprise”. I’d love to be proven wrong on this one, though.

Meet the Command Line 

Dan Benjamin:

Meet the Command Line is a 70 minute screencast geared for people who have never used the UNIX command line, or are learning it for the first time. It teaches the basic assumptions of UNIX, how to look for help, and how to manage files, directories, and programs in a way that even more experienced UNIX users will benefit from. We’re also including a bonus 60 page PDF reference guide for good measure.

I suspect there are a lot of smart DF readers out there who know nothing about the Unix-y aspects of Mac OS X, would like to, but never found a good way to get started. This screencast is it.

Also: Dan is selling some nice t-shirts.

Dieter Bohn’s Palm Pre Review for PreCentral 

One more really good mega-review of the Pre: Dieter Bohn’s at PreCentral. He’s got the best run-down I’ve seen of the Pre’s various gesture shortcuts, and his 10-minute introduction video offers a great overview of what the Pre user experience is like.

That’s a Tough One to Spin, But I Give Them Points for Trying 

Matt Richtel:

A Palm spokeswoman, Lynn Fox, said that people who equate success with packed stores may be disappointed, because the company will take time to generate buzz with the new phone. “We’re not like Apple,” she said.

And Mark Elliott, a spokesman for Sprint, said the company not only didn’t expect long lines for the Pre at its 1,100 stores — it didn’t want them. “We’re actually trying to manage the exact opposite,” Mr. Elliott said.

I don’t think anyone expected iPhone-style day one lines for the Pre, but it’s an inevitable point of comparison. The Pre is and will continue to be compared to the iPhone in every regard, because it’s the only other phone in the iPhone’s league.

(Also worth noting: Lynn Fox used to work for Apple as director of Mac PR.)

PreCentral’s Browser Shootout Between Palm Pre, iPhone 3G, and Android G1 

Good video from Dieter Bohn of PreCentral showing side-by-side browser loading tests over Wi-Fi between the Pre, an iPhone 3G, and an HTC Android G1. The Pre renders pages slightly faster, and its extra RAM (256 MB vs. the iPhone’s 128) lets it keep the full content of background browser tabs in memory.

Good news for Palm that the Pre is faster and that the overall web browsing experience is very good. But, I don’t think it bodes well for the Pre that it’s only slightly faster than the iPhone 3G. I expect the next-generation iPhone 3GS that Apple is set to announce next week to render web pages significantly faster than the iPhone 3G.

Jon Lech Johansen Confirms That Palm Pre Uses ‘Apple’ USB Vendor ID 

Jon Lech Johansen:

As I speculated in my previous blog post on Palm Pre Sync and now confirmed by the image above, when the Pre is in “Media Sync” mode it identifies itself as an Apple iPod. However, it’s only the Mass Storage interface that identifies itself as an iPod. The root USB node (IOUSBDevice) still identifies the device as a Palm Pre (not visible in the image above). This means that Apple can very easily update iTunes to block the Pre.

This means Apple could modify iTunes to discern a Pre from the actual fifth-generation iPod it is masquerading as. So Apple could update iTunes to block the Pre without disrupting the experience of actual iPod owners. (Update: The Pre is compatible with this week’s iTunes 8.2.0 release.)

Jason Chen’s Palm Pre Review for Gizmodo 

Another very thoughtful, detailed Pre review. Jason Chen really likes the WebOS applications, software, and UI design — but he does not like the Pre hardware, other than the display. He goes so far as to describe the bottom edge of the phone, when the keyboard is open, as being painfully sharp, and even made a video showing how it’s sharp enough to slice a block of cheese.

New $999 White MacBook Is Slightly Faster Than More Expensive Aluminum MacBook 

Almost makes you think that Apple is going to announce a refreshed lineup of aluminum MacBooks, with the 13-inch one gaining the “Pro” designation, at WWDC next week.

Andy Ihnatko on Google Wave 

Best piece on Wave’s potential I’ve seen yet:

I imagine that there are as many pitfalls to defining and explaining Wave as Westinghouse and Edison found when trying explaining the concept of the electrical grid to the masses. You plug a light bulb into the socket and the crowd oohs and aahs and assumes that Electricity is all about illumination; it’s a marvelous way of producing light without the open flames or soot of candles and oil lamps. Technically that’s true, but it misses the point.

Joshua Topolsky’s Palm Pre Review for Engadget 

Epic-length, wonderfully detailed review of the Pre by Joshua Topolsky, including substantial looks at all of the Pre’s major built-in apps. He gives the web browser high marks, both for speed and for UI, and says it’s slightly faster than the iPhone 3G’s.

WebOS background tasking doesn’t magically solve the problems of limited RAM, though:

PDF View also seemed to buckle under a 3.9MB file, essentially freezing the phone, then giving us a memory warning that we needed to close cards (we only had two others open).

Bottom line, though, Topolsky’s review makes a strong case that the Pre moves the state of the art forward in several ways.

Palm Pre First Run Video 

Very nice.