Linked List: June 29, 2011

Wednesday, 29 June 2011

This week’s episode of The Talk Show, recorded earlier today:

Filmmaker and Timothy Dalton-lookalike Adam Lisagor joins the show to discuss Apple’s tumultuous introduction of Final Cut Pro X and Licence to Kill.

Brought to you by Field Notes and iStockphoto.

But Not All Walks of Life, I Guess ★

Nick Bilton on the growing secrecy in Silicon Valley:

At Google, a company that prides itself on openness, some buildings were on “lockdown” to ensure that upcoming products don’t leak. Later, a Google employee, who of course asked not to be named for fear of repercussions from their employer, told me the heightened secrecy was something new for the company.

“It’s a very delicate time in technology right now. Google is competing with everyone: Facebook and Twitter on a social level, Apple with mobile, Microsoft with search,” explained the Google employee. “Google has started to realize that they have to protect upcoming products and adopting secrecy has become necessary within the organization.”

Google senior vice president Jonathan Rosenberg in December 2009, on “The Meaning of Open”:

Open will win. It will win on the Internet and will then cascade across many walks of life: The future of government is transparency. The future of commerce is information symmetry. The future of culture is freedom. The future of science and medicine is collaboration. The future of entertainment is participation. Each of these futures depends on an open Internet.

(For what it’s worth, though, Larry Page showed Rosenberg the door when he took the CEO helm.)

Tech Industry Organizational Charts ★

Brilliant.

Update: Fireballed WordPress site. Cached here.

XKCD on Google+ ★

Does anyone not agree that it’s Google’s version of Facebook?

Sandwich on Final Cut Pro X ★

Adam Lisagor:

Final Cut Pro is like a soap opera and Apple is the network. You’ve had a character, let’s say Luke and Laura, who’ve been around, developing their storyline and their romance for a decade. The show’s viewers are heavily invested in Luke and Laura. But the network decides that Luke and Laura represent an old, outmoded character type, and that the new way is young, hip, lean…

Adam is our very special guest star on this week’s The Talk Show, recording this afternoon.

Joke ★

Robert X. Cringely on Apple’s massive North Carolina data center:

But before leaving town I was determined to scope out that $1 billion Apple data center in Maiden, NC. So I drove over, took some pictures, and talked to folks at the convenience store down the road. My conclusions from this unscientific research is that the giant Apple facility is mainly empty. It’s a huge building filled more or less with nothing and why Apple built it that way frankly escapes me. Maybe it’s just a shot across the bow of Google and its $650 million data center in South Carolina.

Rich Miller at Data Center Knowledge, disputing Cringely’s analysis:

Wow. Did a well-known tech columnist just allege that Apple built an enormous fake data center? And, in essence, accuse Steve Jobs of modeling data center vaporware when he showed off pictures of server rooms filled with gear at the recent WWDC?

Yes.

Cringely’s been half-nuts for years. Now I think he’s full-nuts.

Dave Winer on Google+ ★

Dave Winer:

So if you’re Microsoft in 1999, you bake it into Windows.

If you’re Google in 2011, you bake it into search.

Apple Responds on Final Cut Pro X ★

Apple:

Final Cut Pro X is a breakthrough in nonlinear video editing. The application has impressed many pro editors, and it has also generated a lot of discussion in the pro video community. We know people have questions about the new features in Final Cut Pro X and how it compares with previous versions of Final Cut Pro. Here are the answers to the most common questions we’ve heard.

Evolving the Google Design and Experience ★

Chris Wiggins:

The new Google experience that we’ve begun working toward is founded on three key design principles: focus, elasticity and effortlessness.

This is good work.