Linked List: November 11, 2010

Thursday, 11 November 2010

The Talk Show, Episode 16 

You might hear the opening and think, “What the hell kind of way is that to start a podcast?” But it’ll all make sense when you get to the end.

Two great sponsors for this week’s show: Friends, a handsome new iPhone client for Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn; and the .tv top-level domain.

Engadget Uncovers ‘Nexus S’ — Purported Nexus One Sequel From Samsung 

Nice bit of detective work throughout the day. And, amazingly, without stealing a phone.

“Helping your child understand why he may pose a threat to National Security.”

Silicon Alley Insider: Jack Dorsey Back at Twitter 

Nicholas Carlson:

Dorsey is working on “fixing” Twitter’s product, sources say.

Interesting. When Ev himself got pushed out of the CEO slot in October, Twitter PR told everyone it was because he wanted to focus more on product.

Some sources say Jack is back on new Twitter CEO Dick Costolo’s request, and that Ev isn’t thrilled about it.

That “Ev stepped aside as CEO voluntarily” story smelled fishy to me all along.

Can Carriers Block Windows Phone 7 OS Updates? 

Peter Bright is skeptical of Ed Bott’s report that Microsoft is in full control of Windows Phone 7 updates:

As long as we’ll get our updates without carrier or OEM interference, even if only through USB, that’s still good enough; we’ll still get new features and bug fixes on our existing phones.

Sadly, it looks as if that too many not come to pass: carriers will, in fact, be able to hold back updates to some extent. Worse, it seems that Microsoft is doing everything in its power to avoid giving a straight answer about the situation.

Jamie Thomson Reviews Windows Phone 7 

Thoughtful, detailed Windows Phone 7 review.

Movie Rentals and Purchases Come to Japanese iTunes Store 

Dan Moren:

As in other countries’ stores, rentals are valid for 30 days, though Japan also gets the longer 48-hour watching period that’s available in every store except the U.S., which remains limited to 24 hours.

Why is the U.S., and only the U.S., stuck with this 24-hour limit?

TSA Outrage of the Day 

Free Talk Live:

The TSA chose Meg McLain for special screening. They wanted her to go through the new porno-scanners. When she opted out, TSA agents raised an enormous ruckus. When she asked some question about what they planned to do to her, they flipped out. TSA agents yelled at her, handcuffed her to a chair, ripped up her ticket, called in 12 local Miami cops and finally escorted her out of the airport.

So their policy is that you can opt out of the porno scanners (perfect name, I say), but if you do, you’ll be detained, physically molested. Most of us have a natural and deep-seated inclination to avoid being treated as a “troublemaker” by law enforcement agents, and they’re taking advantage of this to coerce people into submitting to these scans.

Update: The TSA has posted security camera footage of the incident. It’s hard to see much detail, but at the very least it proves she was detained for about 20 minutes and then led away by five officers.

Lucius Kwok on Mac App Store Submission Hassles 

Not exactly a streamlined process, yet:

If the “Build & Archive” menu item is dimmed out or disabled, you’ll need to download and install the Xcode 3.2.5 GM that is on the Mac Dev Center page, and not the one with the iOS SDK that’s on the iOS Dev Center page. Why this makes a difference, even though the version and build numbers are the same in the About Xcode box, I don’t know.

‘Ram, This Is Steve.’ 

iPad developer gets phone call from Steve Jobs regarding his use of private API calls to work around a bug in iOS.

Fox Joins ABC, NBC, CBS in Blocking Google TV Devices 

I get the feeling Google didn’t anticipate this, considering that finding and watching network TV shows is a big part of the Google TV pitch.

Is Windows Phone 7 Too Late? 

Harry McCracken on whether Windows Phone 7 is simply too late to the game:

I’m not saying it’s a winning gameplan, or that Windows Phone 7 is the mobile OS that will finally win smartphone unbelievers over. But this much I’m confident of: A couple of decades from now, we’ll look back at 2010 as being really early in the history of smartphones, before most of the interesting stuff happened.

Agreed. Most people have yet to buy their first smartphone — and pretty soon, all cell phones are going to be smartphones.

RIP JooJoo 

Wong Joon Ian:

Fusion Garage told us yesterday that its Joojoo tablet is at “its end of life” and that it is working on several new devices to be released next year.

When, exactly, was it alive in the first place?

Ping Hooks Up With Twitter 

Remember, Ping was originally slated to ship with Facebook integration, but Apple didn’t like the “onerous terms”.

(Interesting, perhaps, that Twitter doesn’t mention “Apple” at all; they describe Ping as “iTunes’ new social network for music”.)

Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano, and Mark Teixeira Win Gold Gloves 

Alex Rodriguez needs to get his act together.

Flash Player and Security Updates 

A data point regarding Apple’s official stance regarding its decision to no longer bundle Flash Player with Mac OS X. Here’s the statement I got from Apple last month:

“We’re happy to continue to support Flash on the Mac, and the best way for users to always have the most up to date and secure version is to download it directly from Adobe.”

Yesterday, Apple released Mac OS X 10.6.5. The security-related release notes for this update list 134 CVE IDs for fixed vulnerabilities. 55 of those vulnerabilities are for Flash Player alone.

David Pogue’s Galaxy Tab Review 

He likes it:

Samsung sweated the details on this thing. The screen is gorgeous. The touch response is immediate and reliable. The whole thing is superfast and a pleasure to use. […]

But the Galaxy doesn’t feel like a cramped iPad. It feels like an extra-spacious Android phone. And the payoff is huge. The Galaxy is much lighter than the iPad (13 ounces vs. 1.5 pounds), which makes a huge difference when you have to hold it to watch a movie on the plane. And it’s so small you can carry it in a blazer pocket.

I can’t recall a device where the reviews have been so divided. Some are saying it’s good, and a credible iPad rival. Others are saying it’s garbage.

(Curious, too, that The Times copy desk let “superfast” through.)

Walt Mossberg’s Galaxy Tab Review 

Positive review overall, but:

I found the Web browser to be a bit jerky in zooming into text and scrolling through long pages. I tested several Adobe Flash videos and websites written in Flash. Sometimes they played and sometimes they didn’t. In all cases, they slowed the browser down. On one site written in Flash, I got a warning saying I might want to “abort” lest the computer become “unresponsive.” In another case, the Tab crashed. So I conclude that while the Tab does play Flash, it needs work on that score.

Seems like Flash Player support is a feature that sounds good — “the Galaxy Tab supports Flash, the iPad doesn’t” — but actually makes the product worse in practice.