Linked List: May 20, 2011

Friday, 20 May 2011

My thanks to Remember The Milk for sponsoring this week’s DF RSS feed to promote their free iOS app, recently updated with a gesture-rich interface for the iPad inspired by Twitter’s. The app has a bunch of great features, not the least of which is online syncing with Remember The Milk’s website.

The app is free, with a slew of extra goodies for users with Pro accounts. Check out Remember The Milk for iPad on the App Store.

Last Chance to Order for This Batch of DF T-Shirts ★

Today’s the last day I’m taking orders for this round of DF T-shirts, including the popular new gray-on-black jobby:

They won’t be available again until the end of the year. Thanks to everyone who’s ordered already.

WSJ: Google Was Warned on Rogue Drug Ads ★

Thomas Catan and Amir Efrati, reporting for the WSJ:

Google Inc. was warned repeatedly by a group of state regulators and industry watchdogs that many of the online drugstores advertising on its network were violating U.S. laws, according to interviews and documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. […]

As part of the criminal investigation, undercover agents for the Food and Drug Administration contacted Google posing as representatives from rogue Internet pharmacies, according to people familiar with the matter.

Hall of Fame Claim Chowder ★

Arne Alsin for The Street, back in October 2001:

To survive, Apple has to convince Windows users to migrate to the Mac platform. But since Apple is not competitive on either price or applications, there is no compelling reason for users to switch. The game is effectively over. Dell, IBM and Hewlett Packard have a stranglehold on the PC industry that is secure, with Dell’s build-to-order model the clear winner over the long term. […]

Apple’s story now is fodder for business historians — don’t make it fodder for your portfolio.

Best part: his disclaimer says he was, at the time of writing, long on Circuit City.

Ars Technica Investigates the State of Malware on the Mac ★

Excellent reporting from Jacqui Cheng at Ars Technica, with interviews from 14 Mac support specialists. The bottom line: there’s an uptick because of Mac Defender, but it’s far from an epidemic. They have a screenshot from an internal Apple memo instructing AppleCare and Genius Bar representatives not to attempt to remove Mac Defender from affected machines, nor to confirm or deny that it’s been installed.

This paragraph, however, quoting an anonymous Genius Bar rep named “Lenny”, is bizarre (bold emphasis mine):

Lenny went on. “This always sparks a debate at the bar on whether antivirus software is necessary on the Mac. This is difficult, as the store sells several antivirus products implying that Apple supports the idea, but as many customers point out, the sales guys aren’t shy in making the claims for Mac OS X’s security. Internally, Apple’s [IT] department mandates the use of Norton Antivirus on company machines.”

This may be true for any Apple-owned machines running Windows, but it is not true for machines running any version of Mac OS X. I asked several Apple engineers whether any antivirus software was mandated or even recommended for Mac OS X, internally. All said no. Said one, “You couldn’t get me to install Norton on OS X if you slipped me the date rape drug.”

Update: Two updates from Cheng on the “Norton mandate” point suggest that Norton Antivirus has long been part of Apple’s default software image for in-store demo machines, but that not all stores keep it installed.

EFF: Apple Should Stand Up and Defend Its Developers ★

Julie Samuels, for the EFF:

We hope that going forward companies like Apple will do what’s right and stand up for their developers and help teach the patent trolls a lesson.

The Talk Show, Episode 43 ★

Topics on the show this week: Microsoft’s purchase of Skype, the HP Veer and WebOS, and the underestimated competitive value of Apple’s retail stores. Brought to you by Rackspace and Shopify.

Shifting Sand ★

Microsoft slips to third in the list of highest market caps in the tech industry — behind, of all companies, IBM.

Hype 1.0 ★

Brand-new keyframe-based animation and interactive content creation tool for Mac OS X — with pure HTML5 output. Fire up their gallery of examples on your iPad or iPhone and get a glimpse of the future.

Macho Man Randy Savage Dies in Car Accident ★

One of the greats.

Here’s his classic match against Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat at Wrestlemania III in 1987.