Linked List: September 17, 2009

Thursday, 17 September 2009

Music Publishers Want Apple to Pay for iTunes Store’s 30-Second Previews 

This is about one step away from demanding money for when you have a song stuck in your head.

Philadelphia Avoids Massive Layoffs With State Senate Vote 

I think this means we get to keep our libraries.

Finer Things in Mac 

From their about page:

This is not the place to find news or even analysis. We like to celebrate the surprise features and UI gems that developers slave to add to the software and websites we use every day. We are obsessed with productivity and polish.

Chock full of Snow Leopard details. Instant bookmark.

Rare Centuple Play Ends Mets’ Season 

The Mets were officially eliminated from playoff contention this week by the world champion Phillies, but those of us who follow the sport closely knew their season was over a few weeks ago.

Craigslist Re-Imagined 

Khoi Vinh, Anh Dang, and Paul Lau redesign Craigslist for Wired. I understand why Craigslist sticks with the design they have — “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is a powerful mantra, and Craigslist, as-is, clearly isn’t broken. But this proposed redesign isn’t just nice in the abstract, it’s nice and yet still very Craigslist-y.

Incredible, Amazing, Awesome Apple 

Incredible, amazing, awesome supercut of the onstage superlatives in last week’s Apple event. (Via Jesper.)

Andy Ihnatko: ‘Zune HD Is a Nifty Media Player’ 

He likes it:

Inevitably, you have to set the Zune next to the iPod Touch — no, let’s set it on the table between the Touch and the iPod Nano — and ponder its place in the grand scheme of things. And that alone is a hell of a compliment, considering the Zune’s horrible pedigree. Previously, a Zune would at best be wedged underneath this table’s short leg to keep it from wobbling.

Zune HD Apps Launch With Commercials 

Nate Anderson on the Zune HD’s apps, which are free downloads but show ads:

The ads show up during app launch, which takes an astonishingly long time. Booting Chess took 30 seconds. [...] Launching the weather app takes about 8 seconds, the calculator about 9. Goo Splat, which has been showing a static ad this morning for the Soul, launches in about 17 seconds.

Update: To be clear, these ads aren’t just little banner ads or something like that. We’re talking full-screen videos, like TV commercials. Here’s a video from Ars showing what happens when you launch the chess app.