Linked List: June 1, 2010

Tuesday, 1 June 2010

Steve Jobs Live From the D8 Conference 

Interviewed by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. Josh Topolsky has live coverage at Engadget, too. Update: Video highlights.

Kaleidoscope 1.0 

New file comparison tool from Sofa; shows differences not just between text files but also images. Worth a look; it’s very attractive (as is the website).

Deconstruction of the Wired iPad App 

Speaking of the Wired iPad app, Layton Duncan has a good analysis of how it’s built:

At its core the app is a simple XML driven layout engine. Content is split into “stacks”, each horizontal swipe in the app loads a new stack. Each stack has associated meta data such as title, description, tags etc. Each stack has an ordered list of “assets” which are essentially 1024 × 768 pixel static images of the pages which are displayed while browsing.

That explains why text isn’t selectable. (I wonder if they could switch to PDF for the stacks?)

Adobe Digital Viewer for Magazines 

Adobe

Adobe Systems Incorporated has unveiled a new digital viewer technology that enables print publishers to bring stunning digital versions of their magazines to life. This new publishing software was developed with input from Condé Nast’s Wired magazine, a publication that recently debuted a digital edition for Apple iPad, utilizing the new digital viewer technology. Wired’s June issue Reader application, now available through the Apple iTunes App Store, is built using Adobe’s digital viewer software.

Speaking of Guys for Whom Apple’s Success Does Not Compute 

Rob Enderle:

Is it possible that all the bungling that took place in Microsoft’s entertainment and hardware division was actually sabotage? In World War II, Germany sent a secret “fifth column” behind enemy lines to disrupt defenses during its invasions. Corporations have engaged in similar activities, and a series of “mistakes” that were beneficial to Apple has me wondering who’s really been calling the shots in Redmond.

He also suspects Apple saboteurs of having sunk Palm’s WebOS and HP’s media players. Also:

However the one saying I’ve made famous is that “perception is 100 percent of reality.”

That actually explains a lot about Rob Enderle.

Woot’s Shirt of the Day 

Funny.

Paul Thurrott: ‘Understanding iPad’ 

Paul Thurrott, yesterday:

Flaws and all, the iPad is indeed in a class all by itself. It’s a new kind of computing device.

Thurrott, back on April 3:

Anyone who believes this thing is a game changer is a tool.

I guess you can argue he was correct both times.

A few more bits from this latest piece:

When you go out and about with just an iPad, you’re sending a message that you’re not going to contribute. You’re just there to consume. This is why the iPad is, to my mind, uniquely unsuitable in the workplace.

The old “it’s for mindless consumption, not creation” angle.

And if you present the iPad as the next generation of a category of devices that previously included the Tablet PC and Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC), someone will point out the iPad’s lack of pen input, handwriting recognition capabilities, and general PC usage. (And of course most Apple people don’t even know that Microsoft and its partners had been innovating in this market for a decade already anyway.)

Microsoft led the way to the iPad, they just happen to have nothing on the market or even on the horizon that competes with it.

Jim Ray: ‘Understanding Paul Thurrott’ 

Whenever I post claim chowder against Paul Thurrott, I get a few emails from readers wondering how the hell he could be so wrong so often. Jim Ray’s theory: that Thurrott is a “full time huckster as blogger”.

I’m going to disagree. I think it’s that he’d rather be wrong repeatedly in the short term than admit that his entire technology industry world view is wrong. His big picture perspective has remained very consistent since the ’90s: Microsoft is the undisputed king of the industry, and Apple makes some nice but trivial niche products.