Linked List: July 20, 2009

Monday, 20 July 2009

Rich Mogull on the Security Features of the iPhone 3GS ★

Rich Mogull:

The iPhone 3GS includes a hardware encryption chip that uses the industry-standard AES 256 protocol (that’s the Advanced Encryption Standard, with a key length of 256 bits). Hardware encryption enables a device - a phone, a hard drive, or what have you - to be nearly instantly wiped by erasing the encryption key stored on the device.

PCalc 1.7 ★

A detailed review of what’s new in PCalc 1.7 for iPhone.

Apple and RIM Outsmart the Phone Market ★

Sara Silver, reporting for the WSJ:

[Apple and RIM] accounted for only 3% of all cellphones sold in the world last year but 35% of operating profits, according to Deutsche Bank analyst Brian Modoff. The disparity will become even starker this year when, he estimates, the two will take 5% of the market in unit terms but 58% of total operating profits.

The graphs are striking. This is the same route Apple has chosen with the Mac: an emphasis on profit share rather than unit sale share.

Apollo 11 Landing on TV as It Aired 40 Years Ago ★

Fabulous idea and presentation from Kottke.

Why Japanese Cell Phones Haven’t Gone Global ★

Hiroko Tabuchi reports for the NY Times:

The Japanese have a name for their problem: Galápagos syndrome. Japan’s cellphones are like the endemic species that Darwin encountered on the Galápagos Islands — fantastically evolved and divergent from their mainland cousins — explains Takeshi Natsuno, who teaches at Tokyo’s Keio University.