Linked List: March 8, 2010

Monday, 8 March 2010

The Panic Status Board 

If I didn’t love these guys I would hate them.

Steve Jobs at the 2010 Oscars 

Great photo by Zadi Diaz. (Via Dave Winer.)

Jim Dalrymple: iPhone, iPad Operating System to Unify With OS 4.1 

Jim Dalrymple:

However, it doesn’t make sense for Apple to unify the two operating systems for 4.0 with the timeline they are working with. Rather, I expect Apple to release OS 4.1 in September or October. It will not only address issues with the 4.0 release, but also unify the operating systems.

Jim’s expectations tend to be pretty good, to say the least.

Download Squad: ‘Microsoft Set to Destroy Apple in Every Games Market’ 

Oh, you thought the gaming news was all sunshine and roses for Apple today? Not so, reports Sebastian Anthony at Download Squad:

Apple, with its locked-down, isolated sandbox is in trouble. Do game developers have any reason to continue working on games for the iPhone or iPad now that Microsoft is offering so much more? […]

Can Apple really see themselves competing, with a minuscule desktop market share and 25% of the smartphone sector? Steve Jobs has announced Apple’s intent to move into mobile gaming, but can you really see developers siding with the iPhone when Windows Phone 7 is just around the corner?

Nice Presentation From Cameron Daigle on iPad UI Design 

Answering the question, “Is the iPad just a big iPhone?” in the negative. Love this bit about the lack of hovering:

Here’s why this section is about Controls: every day, your cursor protects you from unclear UI. It helpfully turns into a text cursor as you hover over textboxes, or a hand as you hover over a link or action item.

iPad has no such thing. Bad UI will stick out like a sore thumb, both in apps and on websites. Your tappable areas had better look tappable. Your controls had better look controllable.

AT&T’s Crummy Android Phone 

AT&T’s first Android phone, the Motorola Backflip, ships with an outdated version of the OS (1.5; current version is 2.1) and comes with a bunch of AT&T-added apps that can’t be deleted. They’d do the same with the iPhone if it were up to them.

New Promo Video From HP and Adobe on Upcoming ‘Slate Device’ 

HP is banking heavily on the inclusion of Flash to be a selling point vs. the iPad. My gut feeling is that Flash will prove irrelevant, and that this thing will go nowhere simply because Windows 7 is terribly suited to a touchscreen tablet.

(And what in the world is the deal with the crazy server name in HP’s weblog URLs?)

Mediagazer 

New site from Gabe Rivera: “Mediagazer is to media as Techmeme is to tech.”

GDC Summit Devoted Entirely to iPhone OS Gaming 

Speaking of game-related Apple news.

Valve Announces That Its Games and Steam Service Are Coming to the Mac 

Big news for the Mac as a game platform:

If players already own the PC versions of Valve games, they’ll get Mac versions at no extra charge through a feature called Steam Play. […] By using the Steam Cloud feature that the company introduced in 2008, players can save in-progress games online, then call up those saved games no matter which version they’re playing. If you’re playing Half-Life 2 on your home PC but then head out on the road with your MacBook, you can continue your game-in-progress.

The David Foster Wallace Audio Project 

Interviews, readings, and more, “lovingly collected by Ryan Walsh in early 2009”. It’s a gold mine.

Carmi Levy’s Conspiracy Theory Regarding Apple’s Removal of Wi-Fi Scanning Apps from the App Store 

He thinks it’s a scam to make it harder for iPhone (and soon, iPad) owners to use Wi-Fi, so that they instead use 3G and run up service charges. This is nutty. The carriers — AT&T especially — really do want iPhone owners to use Wi-Fi. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson is practically begging iPad users to use Wi-Fi.

Plus, the iPhone has built-in features for finding open Wi-Fi networks, right there in the Settings app. By default it even lets you know when it finds an open network. It boggles the mind that anyone would think there’s something fishy about these apps being removed.

Cameron Moll on His Weblog Redesign 

He’s very kind to state that DF was an inspiration. I stole the intermingled short-links-and-longer-articles format from Kottke, though.

New York Times Profile on Pandora and Founder Tim Westergren 

Saved, perhaps, by the iPhone. They turned a profit last year and expect $100 million in revenue this year.

‘Logorama’ 

Winner of the Oscar for Best Short Film. If you love profanity, ultra violence, and logos, you’re going to enjoy this as much as I did. (Via Kottke.)

‘The Hurt Locker’ Wins Best Picture; Kathryn Bigelow First Woman to Win Best Director 

Roger Ebert:

Bigelow did it, I believe, because she quite simply made the best film: The tension generated by the film was extraordinary. Yes, situations involving defusing bombs are common enough, but somehow Bigelow made the bomb scenes human, not technical. Perhaps that was the woman in her?

I’d say they pretty much got it right with the winners this year. The tribute to John Hughes was very nice.

(The Hurt Locker was shot on 16mm film; when was the last Best Picture winner (or even nominee?) that was shot on 16mm? Update: Leaving Las Vegas?)

Edward Tufte Presidential Appointment 

President Obama has appointed Edward Tufte to the Recovery Independent Advisory Panel, “whose job is to track and explain $787 billion in recovery stimulus funds”. Outstanding.

Apple’s iPad Commercial From the Oscars 

Just like with Apple’s iPhone commercials, the ad focuses on how the device actually looks and works and what it can do. So good.