Linked List: April 13, 2011

Wednesday, 13 April 2011

Apple Adds Do-Not-Track Tool to Safari 

Nick Wingfield, reporting for the WSJ:

Apple Inc. has added a do-not-track privacy tool to a test version of its latest Web browser for keeping customers’ online activities from being monitored by marketers. [...]

The move by the Cupertino, Calif., company leaves Google Inc. as the only major browser provider that hasn’t yet committed to supporting a do-not-track capability in its browser, called Chrome. Microsoft Corp. and Mozilla Corp. both offer do-not-track features in their latest browsers.

No idea why Google wouldn’t be leading the way on this.

John Carmack on Android Gaming 

Interview with NowGamer:

Q: With Rage HD on iOS do you see yourself ever working on Android?

A: Every six months I’d take a look at the scope of the Android, and decide if it was time to start really looking at it. At the last Quakecon I took a show of hands poll, and it was interesting to see how almost as many people there had an Android device as an iOS device. But when I asked how many peple had spent 20 bucks on a game in the Android store, there was a big difference. You’re just not making money in the Android space as you are in the iOS space.

Update: Here’s an audio recording of the moment Carmack polled the audience. Skip to 8:40. (Thanks to Andy Baio.)

Showyou 

New free iPhone and iPad app for watching videos from and sharing videos with your friends. Nice design (love the Futura), and it really shines on the iPad. Guess they didn’t take development advice from Fred Wilson.

The Android Multitouch Story Gets Even Murkier 

Nilay Patel:

There’s been a lot of chatter these past few weeks about Steven Levy’s new Google book In the Plex, and particularly some revelations in the book about Steve Jobs — specifically, that Larry Page and Sergey Brin wanted him to be the first CEO of Google, and that Jobs mentored the two founders until he later saw pinch-to-zoom in Android and everything went to hell. The acrimony was so deep, we’re told, that Jobs kept the iPad a secret from Eric Schmidt even though Schmidt was still on Apple’s board of directors while it was being developed.

The Flip Is Dead, Long Live Portable Video 

Christopher Breen on the demise of The Flip. He nails it.

Final Cut Pro X 

Announced last night at NAB in Vegas: a long-awaited major new version of Apple’s professional video editing software. A ground-up rewrite with 64-bit support, Grand Central Dispatch support (for multi-core processing, which in turn allows most rendering to take place in the background), better color management, and a lot more. Ships in June for just $299, from, of course, the Mac App Store.

Photography Bay has video clips of the announcement presentation.

Update: MacRumors has decent-quality video of the event, too.

15 Slides, Three Writers, Three Ways 

Jim Coudal, Michael Lopp, and yours truly, speaking together at SXSW last month about writing:

In this presentation, you will see the same set of 15 slides — three times. Three different writers will walk through the same set of slides and explain their approaches to getting started, editing ideas, figuring out how to get unstuck, and understanding when they’re done. Part improv and part preparation, this presentation will give you three totally different and unexpected perspectives regarding the art of writing.

Here’s a direct link to the MP3 recording of the presentation, and here’s a PDF edition of our 15 12 slides. I really like how this turned out.

Update: Geoffrey Wiseman created a video from the slides and the audio recording. Nice.