Linked List: August 16, 2010

Monday, 16 August 2010

James Gosling:

It’s a sad comment on the morality of large modern software companies that Microsoft, while I don’t think they’ve gotten any better since Sun sued them, probably has the high ground.

Goldman Sachs Calls BlackBerry Torch Launch ‘Underwhelming’ ★

Street Insider:

The firm noted that nearly all of the stores they called did not sell out of the device. Also the checks showed that the vast majority of Torch sales were driven by upgrades from existing BlackBerry subscribers.

Shocking.

Zagat Survey Names Five Guys America’s Best Fast-Food Burger ★

Five Guys is really great. I love In-N-Out, too, but I’m happy I live on the coast with Five Guys. (Plus: Five Guys’s fries are really good, too.)

Update: Several readers point out that Five Guys has started opening restaurants on the West Coast; In-N-Out should watch their backs.

Daring Fireball T-Shirts ★

I’m happy to announce that DF t-shirts are available again. I’ll be taking orders for the next week or two, then we’ll get them printed and ship them out in early September. Two designs, both available in men’s and women’s sizes.

Is Google Discouraging Paid Android Apps? ★

Royal Pingdom:

You can only pay for apps in 13 out of the 46 or so countries where Android phones are available. For those of you who like stats, 13 in 46 works out to less than 30%. Contrast this with Apple’s App Store, which supports paid apps in 90 countries. This is a huge advantage iPhone developers currently have over Android developers.

The cynical view: Google prefers free Android apps over paid ones, because free apps try to make money through ads, and Google serves nearly all the in-app ads for Android apps.

Git for the Lazy ★

Nice intro/cheatsheet for Git.

Adobe Comes to Typekit ★

Bryan Mason at Typekit:

Adobe and Typekit are teaming up to bring some of the world’s most popular, recognizable, and respected fonts to the web. Starting today, you’ll be able to use classics like Adobe Garamond, News Gothic, Myriad, and Minion plus many more on your website — all of them newly optimized and hinted for the screen.

Oh hell yes.

Slow Start for iAds ★

Yukari Iwatani Kane and Emily Steel, reporting for the WSJ:

Part of the reason some marketers are experiencing delays in getting their iAds to market is that Apple has kept tight control on the creative aspects of ad-making, something advertisers aren’t used to, according to several ad executives involved with creating iAds.

Better get used to it.

WSJ Reports From Behind-the-Scenes of the HP/Mark Hurd Imbroglio ★

Ben Worthen and Joann S. Lublin, reporting for the WSJ, have sources from both sides:

According to the person familiar with the board’s thinking, before the Hurd-Fisher settlement, H-P had seen enough evidence of misconduct by Mr. Hurd for there to be a sense among directors that he was no longer fit to serve as CEO. The alleged misconduct was said to include failing to disclose a personal relationship with an H-P contractor—something H-P defines as a conflict of interest—and filing expense reports the company determined were intended to conceal the relationship.

A person close to Mr. Hurd said that he didn’t conceal a relationship, he didn’t fill out expense accounts himself, and Ms. Fisher’s name was on some of them.

And the board apparently searched Hurd’s computer:

As the investigation evolved, said a person close to it, the board came to believe that the CEO had a personal relationship with Ms. Fisher, even if not sexual. For instance, the investigation found that Mr. Hurd had looked at clips from racy films featuring Ms. Fisher, a former actress, this person said. Someone familiar with Mr. Hurd’s thinking said he just did a Google search of 10 minutes or so.

Engadget: ‘Philips’ Android-Powered GoGear Connect PMP Seemingly on Sale Overseas’ ★

Would-be iPod Touch competitor from Philips. But no one’s sure if it’s actually on sale yet, it hasn’t been announced for the US, is marked at costing $340, and may not have access to the Android Market.

‘Eye of the Tiger’ Remix, Played Entirely Using iPad Apps ★

We need reprints of that memo about the iPad being for consumption, not creation.

NYT Reports Hulu Preparing for IPO ★

Seems a little (a lot) premature, if you ask me. They have no profits, and their content comes from companies that may well choose to create their own online publishing services. Hulu is a brand new middleman in a world where middlemen are going away.

‘Hallowed Ground’ ★

Daryl Lang:

Look at the photos. This neighborhood is not hallowed. The people who live and work here are not obsessed with 9/11. The blocks around Ground Zero are like every other hard-working neighborhood in New York, where Muslims are just another thread of the city fabric.