Linked List: October 14, 2010

Thursday, 14 October 2010

The Talk Show, Episode 12 

On this week’s episode of my and Dan Benjamin’s podcast, we talk about the new Windows Phone 7 commercial, the Palm Pre 2, and some ideas about what might be coming at next week’s Back to the Mac event on Apple’s campus. Sponsored by the .tv top-level domain name, and Alarm Clock Connect (a beautiful alarm clock app for iOS).

John Sculley on Steve Jobs 

A lengthy, fascinating, interview with Sculley by Leander Kahney. Tons of good stuff to quote, but I love this passage the most:

The one that Steve admired was Sony. We used to go visit Akio Morita and he had really the same kind of high-end standards that Steve did and respect for beautiful products. I remember Akio Morita gave Steve and me each one of the first Sony Walkmans. None of us had ever seen anything like that before because there had never been a product like that. This is 25 years ago and Steve was fascinated by it. The first thing he did with his was take it apart and he looked at every single part. How the fit and finish was done, how it was built.

Fascinating, considering the iPod’s central role in Apple’s renaissance.

How Much Does It Cost to Develop a Good iPhone Application? 

Craig Hockenberry makes the case that it can run at least a few hundred thousand dollars.

New MobileMe Calendar Web App Now Out of Beta 

Prediction: Mac OS X Mail and iCal get makeovers in 10.7 to look like the new MobileMe versions — which, in turn, are clearly inspired by their iPad counterparts.

Verizon and AT&T Stores to Sell iPad Starting October 28 

So it begins. Not with a CDMA iPad, but instead:

Verizon Wireless will offer three bundles, all featuring an iPad Wi-Fi model and a Verizon MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot. The iPad Wi-Fi 16GB + MiFi costs $629.99, the iPad Wi-Fi 32GB + MiFi is $729.99, and the iPad Wi-Fi 64GB + MiFi costs $829.99.

Seems like a good deal. And it’s the symbolism that matters most. Apple and Verizon Wireless are now working together.

Horace Dediu on What Happens to Gartner’s Worldwide PC Market Share Numbers If You Count the iPad 

Apple’s slice of “PC market share” is growing nicely, counting only Macs. But if you include the iPad, it’s unbelievable. Gartner is free to dismiss the iPad as a “media tablet” rather than a “PC”, but Apple reaps the profits from each of these $500-800 computing devices the same way other hardware makers reap the profits from their $500-800 computing devices.

SecondConf 

Another new conference that looks good — this one in Chicago, for both Mac and iOS developers. Short notice, but it looks like they still have a few spots open, and I have a coupon code to save you 10 percent off registration: “DARING”.

The Rise of the Tower Graphic 

Interesting piece by Max Gadney on the rise of large format infographics on the web. He’s got a bunch of examples, but I’m especially enamored of this one by Karl Russel for the NYT. (Thanks to Joe Clark.)