Linked List: August 27, 2010

Friday, 27 August 2010

Paul Allen, Patent Troll 

Are these ex-Microsoft guys the worst patent trolls, or what?

Pictures of Upcoming ViewSonic Android Tablet 

Reminds me of something, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.

Dowling Duncan Redesign of U.S. Currency 

I kind of love it. (Via Jonathan Hoefler, who doesn’t like the choice of Helvetica.)

BBC iPlayer Usage, iOS vs. Android 2.2 Devices 

From a Freedom of Information request in the UK:

In July 2010 6,400 programmes were streamed  from the BBC iPlayer to Android devices. […]

In July 2010 there were 5,272,464 programmes requested via the BBC iPlayer from Apple iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad devices.

Why so striking a difference? Because Android users can only access iPlayer using Flash, Flash is only available on Android 2.2, and the overwhelming majority of Android handsets — even brand-new ones — are still running older versions of the OS.

But, of course, there are no iOS users with Flash installed. That’s what I see as the main problem with Android’s official support for Flash: it gives providers like the BBC an easy way out. Would there exist a dedicated iPlayer app for the iPhone if iOS had supported Flash all along? Does Android’s support for Flash make it less likely that the BBC will develop a native iPlayer app for Android?

(And wouldn’t you like to see a battery life comparison between iPlayer on an iPhone 4 and a few Android phones running the Flash version?)

Update: My bad: ends up the BBC iPlayer for iOS devices is not a native app — it’s a web app that serves H.264 video streams. But then why can’t Android phones use that, too?

Dell’s Relationship With Intel 

Andrew Orlowski, on the bizarre financial scheme between Intel and Dell:

Intel’s rebates amounted to 38 per cent of Dell’s operating profit in the fiscal year 2006, and rose to 76 per cent (or $720m) in one quarter alone, Q1 2007. While almost all of the Intel funds were incorporated into Dell’s component costs, Dell did not disclose the existence, much less the magnitude, of the Intel exclusivity payments.

Effectively, Intel bribed Dell not to use chips from AMD, and, eventually, Dell grew financially dependent upon those bribes.

Creating ePub Files With Pages 

Interesting: a new iWork ’09 update adds ePub exporting to Pages. (ePub is the standard file format used by iBooks.)