Linked List: November 24, 2009

Tuesday, 24 November 2009

PPK Follows Up on Native iPhone Apps vs. Web Apps 

Still no mention of the Cocoa Touch framework. I’m telling you, that’s the key to the popularity of native iPhone development.

Apple Is, in Fact, Attempting to Trademark Just Plain ‘Pod’ 

Which would explain the stink eye Apple Legal cast at The Little App Factory’s initial attempt to rename iPodRip to PodRip. I still say it’s crummy. (Via Nilay Patel.)

The Droid Battery Cover Problem 

Funny, I’ve never heard of any problems with the iPhone battery cover falling off.

Turley Muller on Apple and AT&T 

Fact-checking and countering a Bloomberg TV interview with analyst Brian Marshall.

Palm Profiles Suffering Major Backup Failures 

Love that cloud.

iPodRip Renamed iRip 

At the request of Apple’s attorneys, The Little App Factory has renamed their iPodRip app “iRip”. (Disclosure: The Little App Factory is a previous and future sponsor of the DF RSS feed.)

I’m sympathetic to both sides, especially with regard to The Little App Factory’s rights under Australian trademark law. (They’re not a U.S. company.) But I also understand Apple’s desire to protect and control its “iPod” trademark. I think a name change to “PodRip” would be the ideal middle ground. I asked TLAF’s John Devor about that, and he replied, “That was the original plan and we bought the domain and setup the new website. Apple’s lawyers noticed and made it clear they would go after that name as well.”

That’s crummy. “iPod” is Apple’s. “Pod” is just a word.

U.K. Retailers Suspend Sales of Sony Ericsson’s Satio After Customer Complaints 

The Telegraph:

Carphone Warehouse and Phones4U suspended sales of Sony Ericsson’s Satio after a flood of returns from angry customers citing problems with the phone. […]

Speaking at the launch of the handset in May, Nathan Vautier, managing director of Sony Ericsson UK, said the phone would “help return the company to profitability”. Sony Ericsson has made a loss for the past five consecutive quarters.

Jon Stokes on Chrome OS 

A smart take on Chrome OS from Jon Stokes:

Apple and Microsoft began decades ago with “the PC,” and they’re currently involved in a slow and painful process of trying to stretch and push “the PC” out towards the Internet and towards a more useful and integrated relationship with the cloud as a new type of server. Google, on the other hand, began with the Internet, and it presumes the cloud in everything it does. With Chrome OS, the company is now trying to push and stretch the Internet back down onto “the PC” as just one of a growing range of cloud clients.

Magic Highway USA 

“Speed, safety, and comfort will be the keynotes of tomorrow’s highways.” Awesomeness from Disney in 1958.

When Information Overwhelms Facts 

Alexander Micek on last week’s report on laptop reliability from SquareTrade:

When you only have two data points to model, however, two things happen: (1) you can easily model the two points with a linear curve that perfectly fits the data (R2=1). (2) Your model is capable of predicting nothing. So, the SquareTrade authors have formed an inappropriate model based on sloppy data to make fallacious projections.

Zeldman on Self-Promotion 

Jeffrey Zeldman:

Marketing is not bragging, and touting one’s wares is not evil. The baker in the medieval town square must holler “fresh rolls” if he hopes to feed the townfolk.

Howard Bryant on the Misguided Demand for a Salary Cap in Major League Baseball 

Howard Bryant nails it:

So the Yankees are champions, and thus begins an offseason that will be centered on money. Owners across the league this offseason will promote the creation of a salary cap, ostensibly for “competitive balance” — a way to take money from the players and take down the Yankees simultaneously. All this at a time when the owners have a golden opportunity to improve the quality of the game but won’t because they refuse to reduce their sizable profits.

Apple’s iPhone Web Apps Directory 

Just in case you’ve forgotten, Apple has a directory of iPhone web apps that predates the native App Store. Slim pickings, as you might have guessed.

(Judging by my email, one misconception many people have is that iPhone web apps only work when you have network access. That’s not necessarily true — you can write an iPhone web app that runs offline, uses local storage (via HTML5), and launches from your home screen without the MobileSafari browser chrome. My favorite example of such a web app: Neven Mrgan’s Glyphboard.

Snow Leopard’s Creator-Code Snubbing Now Official 

Apple updates the Launch Services documentation to address Snow Leopard’s abandonment of creator codes.