Linked List: June 2, 2011

Thursday, 2 June 2011

Does the Phone Market Forgive Failure? ★

Horace Dediu, regarding yesterday’s announcement by Nokia that handset sales would fall short of previous expectations:

One of the details of Nokia’s warning which did not get a lot of attention was the mention that profitability for the current quarter could not be guaranteed. That is to say that Nokia may make a loss, perhaps for the first time in more than a decade.

This may not be that newsworthy except for the strange fact that as far as I’ve been able to observe, any company in the mobile phone market that ended up losing money has never recovered its standing in terms of share or profit (i.e. AMP index value has never recovered).

The #4A525Aholes Flickr Group ★

Best thing you can do with a brand-new DF T-shirt? Add a picture to the best-dressed group on Flickr.

New Airport Extreme and Time Capsule? ★

Seth Weintraub:

Our sources noted that Airport Express has been plentiful but supplies of TimeCapsule and Airport Extreme have been tightening globally the way products usually do before a refresh.

What we do know is that Apple has been internally testing Time Capsules to cache Software Updates for both Mac and iOS devices. The way we’ve heard it works is that the new Time Capsule learns which devices connect to it via Wi-Fi. It then goes out to Apple’s servers and downloads Software Updates for those products.

There might be something to this.

What if this is a way for iOS devices to do software updates without being tethered to a Mac or PC — including device backups, synced when the device is charging?

Chris Clark’s Month With the Nexus S ★

Speaking of iPhone users who tried the Nexus S and documented their experience, Chris Clark spent a month with the Nexus S and wrote about it back in March. I had it in my to-link-to queue but somehow never got around to actually linking it — I think because at the time I still planned to write about my own month spent using a Nexus S.

The truth is, my experience and thoughts almost exactly mirror Clark’s. (The only difference is that Clark likes Android 2.3’s UI for placing the insertion point in text; I do not.) I can’t emphasize enough how closely Clark’s thoughts on the Nexus S and Android match my own.

Ryan Heise’s Dinner With Android ★

Ryan Heise, who describes his iPhone as “the best computer I’ve ever owned”, has switched to a Nexus S and is documenting his experience:

So what’s the point? To try to understand the legitimate differences between iOS and Android without the inane fanboyish screaming from either side, and to do this firsthand. I like gadgets, and I’ve spent a decent amount of time with iOS, BlackBerry OS, WP7, and WebOS. But very little with the biggest player in the smartphone market. Now, for better or worse, that will change.

Motorola CEO Says Open Android Store Leads to Quality Issues ★

Nancy Gohring, IDG News:

Motorola’s CEO blamed the open Android app store for performance issues on some phones.

Of all the Motorola Android devices that are returned, 70 percent come back because applications affect performance, Sanjay Jha, CEO of Motorola Mobility, said during a webcast presentation at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Technology conference on Thursday.

Unlike most other mobile app stores, the Android Market is totally open, meaning anyone can upload an application to the store. While Google removes applications that are found to be malicious, there is no mechanism for ensuring that applications perform efficiently.

“For power consumption and CPU use, those apps are not tested. We’re beginning to understand the impact that has,” Jha said.

Take your time.

Secret Horse-Doping Lab ★

Episode 45 of The Talk Show, and it’s a good one:

John Gruber and Dan Benjamin discuss Amazon’s music downloads, Bill Gates and Microsoft, Eric Schmidt, the ASUS Padfone, Logical Punctuation, Apple’s cash, their WWDC predictions, iOS Twitter integration, and A View to a Kill.

WWDC 2011 App ★

Includes the full schedule and more. Love that the icon is Moscone West. (Note: The app is free but you need to be a WWDC attendee to sign in to the app.) Here’s my favorite search.

‘Barry Lyndon’ Blu-ray ★

Gary Tooze on the just-released Blu-ray edition of Barry Lyndon:

SD was problematic with this title but Blu-ray has ‘turned the corner’ returning the visuals to the painterly luster of their theatrical roots. This is dual-layered with a modest bitrate for the over 3-hour film framed for this release in 1.78:1. Colors seem brighter and truer than SD could relate and there is softness in the scenes that were shot in that manner. This Blu-ray probably looks as close to Barry Lyndon as we have seen from the digital medium. Kubrick fans should rejoice.

It’s gorgeous. I mean, look at this. Just $13.99 at Amazon.