Linked List: September 15, 2010

Wednesday, 15 September 2010

Interesting WSJ Interview With IBM CEO Samuel Palmisano ★

Spencer E. Ante, for the WSJ:

In a rare public broadside, IBM Chief Executive Samuel J. Palmisano said he doesn’t worry about companies such as H-P that have slashed their investments in core technologies and need to make expensive acquisitions to keep up.

“H-P used to be a very inventive company,” Mr. Palmisano said in an interview at a Wall Street Journal event on Tuesday. IBM would never have paid what H-P did to buy data-storage provider 3PAR Inc., he said. “[H-P] had no choice,” said Mr. Palmisano. “Hurd cut out all the research and development.” […]

The executive said he worries about software giant Oracle and believes it will become the biggest threat to IBM over the long term. “Oracle invests,” said Mr. Palmisano, who praised Oracle CEO Larry Ellison.

Lost World’s Fairs ★

Lovely web design work from some top designers, commissioned by Microsoft to celebrate IE9’s support for web fonts. More here from Jason Santa Maria on how the project came to be.

Bill Hill on the iPad and Kindle ★

He much prefers the iPad as a device, but his favorite reading app is the Kindle app. Regarding the displays:

When the history of reading on screens is written, it might well be seen as a series of footnotes to the iPad. Yes, we’ve had other eBook devices before now. And yes, the Kindle broke new ground with long battery life using the eInk technology. But as I said in an earlier post, eInk is essentially a backward-looking technology, too slavishly bound to emulating paper, and it’s an evolutionary dead-end.

The iPad, with a crisp, bright high-resolution screen capable of handling color and video, yet with acceptable battery life, has moved us out of the Dark Ages. It’s the first eBook device I’ve seen that really feels like it’s changed the world. I vastly prefer it to paper.

As for his fondness for the Kindle app, here’s what I wrote back on January 28:

As for Amazon, they might wind up delighted with this thing. Apple’s in the business of selling devices first, content second. I think Amazon is in the content business first, the device business second. A world where Kindle hardware sales pale in comparison to the iPad but where there’s a very popular Kindle app for iPad that competes against iBooks is not a bad situation for Amazon. Apple is only selling e-books for use on their own devices; Amazon is willing to sell e-books anywhere they can.

MG Siegler on the New Twitter.com ★

Good rundown of some of the subtle new features of the new Twitter web interface.

‘Just As Much, If Not More, Evidence’ ★

One more gem from Delaware’s Republican Senate nominee, Christine O’Donnell, this time on evolution vs. creationism:

“Well, creationism, in essence, is believing that the world began as the Bible in Genesis says, that God created the Earth in six days, six 24-hour periods. And there is just as much, if not more, evidence supporting that.”

Steve Martin Is Now on Twitter ★

“My publicist is nervous about my becoming a Tweeter. He says celebrities tend to make such monumental gaffes. He’s such a typical Wop!”

Charles P. Pierce on Christine O’Donnell ★

Charles P. Pierce:

She is what politics produces when you divorce politics from government. She is what you get when you sell to the country that nothing government can do will help, and that the government is an alien thing, and that politics is nothing more than the active public display of impotent grievance.

iOS 4.2 Goes Beta; Apple Announces AirPrint ★

Apple PR:

Apple today announced that it is releasing a beta version of its AirPrint wireless printing for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch to members of Apple’s iOS developer program today, and that AirPrint will be included in the free iOS 4.2 software update in November. AirPrint automatically finds printers on local networks and can print text, photos and graphics to them wirelessly over Wi-Fi without the need to install drivers or download software. HP’s existing and upcoming ePrint enabled printers will be the first to support printing direct from iOS devices.

Ed Bott Reviews Internet Explorer 9 ★

The new UI removes most of the junk from the UI. Kind of interesting how web browsers have evolved to expose fewer UI elements. Most apps go the other way over time.

The Billionaire Koch Brothers’ War Against Obama ★

Fascinating reporting by Jane Mayer in The New Yorker on David and Charles Koch, billionaire oil magnates who’ve spent over $100 million funding far-right political groups.

Update: The Kochs’ response.

Climbing to the Top of a 1,700-Foot Transmission Tower ★

Crazy.

Douglas Trumbull Says Warner Bros. Has Pulled the Plug on ‘2001’ Documentary ★

A shame.

Chase Jarvis Road Tests the New Nikon D7000 ★

Chase Jarvis:

When an automaker rolls a new car off the assembly line, the first thing they do is call in a professional driver to “road test” that car. They’re armed with the basic tech specs, but the drivers aren’t overly saddled with capturing data and providing computer-style analysis. In reality they don’t care about that stuff. The care how the car feels.

In the very same way, I got to “road test” the Nikon D7000. This behind the scenes video (above), this short film Benevolent Mischief I got to make with the new 1080p HD video (below), and the still photos I shot after the jump tell my story of getting to play with this cool new camera.

In short, they gave him the camera and some money and told him to make something cool.