Linked List: June 9, 2010

Wednesday, 9 June 2010

The Washington Post on iPads Within the White House ★

Michael D. Shear:

The folks who gather early every morning in the West Wing office of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel have something new in common these days. Practically everyone has an iPad — or will have one very soon.

Derek Powazek on Safari’s Use of Justified Text in Reader ★

Derek Powazek:

Flush-left text (aka ragged-right) is demonstrably more readable, especially when the rendering engine doesn’t know how to hyphenate.

There’s a reason why most page layout programs considered “Hyphenation and Justification” to be two aspects of the same feature. I strongly agree that you should never use justification without good hyphenation — let alone without any hyphenation at all.

2010 Apple Design Award Winners ★

Great picks.

Creator of WebOS Notifications Leaves for Apple ★

Dieter Bohn:

The man who “Invented the non-intrusive banner notification system used in webOS” and also did all sorts of other work for the OS, Rich Dellinger, is leaving Palm to return to his earlier employer, Apple, as a Senior User Interface Designer.

I wouldn’t read into this with any assumption that he’ll be working on adding a similar notification system to iOS, but who knows?

Nik Fletcher: ‘On This Safari 5 Reader Hysteria’ ★

Nik Fletcher:

Perhaps instead of flamebait posts of ‘Apple are out to get us’ media companies should be asking themselves ‘how did reading content online become so sucky’?

Catch Up ★

Louis Gray:

The introduction of multi-tasking and a front-facing camera both are catch up features to the latest Android models, including the aforementioned EVO.

The existence of a front-facing camera may fairly be considered a “catch up” feature on iPhone 4. But the ability to use the front-facing camera to actually make video calls is first on the iPhone. That’s one difference between Apple and HTC. Apple isn’t going to include a hardware feature just for the sake of having it. They only include hardware for which they have compelling software to complete the experience.

MG Siegler on iPhone 4 ★

MG Siegler:

The Mac vs. PC debate has often found people using a car analogy to explain things. I keep coming back to that when thinking about iPhone vs. Android. For a long time, iPhone felt like a Lexus while Android was more like a Kia. With recent upgrades, Android has transformed into more of a Honda. But with iPhone 4, the iPhone is now an Aston Martin […].

But the crazy thing is that the iPhone is an Aston Martin with a Honda-price. Meanwhile, Android remains a Honda at a Honda-price — it’s a good deal, but it’s not an iPhone-deal.

John Battelle on Apple’s Banning Google From iOS App Ads ★

John Battelle:

I think this is shortsighted and wrong. I also think it’s classic Apple. It’s a rerun of the Us vs. The World mentality that forced the Mac into a corner back in the late 1980s. This time, Google plays the role of Microsoft, but it really doesn’t matter. Apple won’t let anyone play in their iWorld who might pose a competitive threat.

Bullshit. Google started this. It was Google that turned its sights on the iPhone. If AdMob had remained independent, they could still sell in-app ads on iOS. If AdMob had sold itself to Apple instead of Google, they could still sell in-app ads on iOS. If Google hadn’t declared war against the iPhone, AdMob could still see in-app ads on iOS. They made their bed, now they have to sleep in it.

There’s no question it’s a dick move on Apple’s part. But what’s the argument against it? That Google gets a pass for being dicks to Apple, and Apple ought to just sit there and take it?

AdMob Responds ★

AdMob founder Omar:

Let’s be clear. This change is not in the best interests of users or developers. In the history of technology and innovation, it’s clear that competition delivers the best outcome. Artificial barriers to competition hurt users and developers and, in the long run, stall technological progress.

Cry me a river. This is competition.

Apple Revises Mobile Ad Policy; Bars AdMob ★

The gist of the updated policy: third-party in-app ad networks are OK, except for Google.

HTML5 vs. Newton ★

Grant Hutchinson:

This series of screenshots shows Apple’s questionably named HTML5 and web standards showcase pages displayed on a Newton MessagePad 2100.

I love it.

Marco Tabini on Safari Extensions ★

Seems like a really well-done system, but no one knows much about how Apple’s upcoming extension gallery is going to work.