Linked List: July 25, 2011

Monday, 25 July 2011

Why Google Cares if You Use Your Real Name 

Dave Winer:

There’s a very simple business reason why Google cares if they have your real name. It means it’s possible to cross-relate your account with your buying behavior with their partners, who might be banks, retailers, supermarkets, hospitals, airlines. To connect with your use of cell phones that might be running their mobile operating system. To provide identity in a commerce-ready way. And to give them information about what you do on the Internet, without obfuscation of pseudonyms.

Simply put, a real name is worth more than a fake one.  

I’ve Got It 

Robert Cyran and Martin Hutchinson:

Microsoft needs to concentrate on a different kind of search: finding a buyer for Bing, its online search business. Bing is the industry’s distant No. 2 after Google. It has become a distraction for the software giant — one that costs shareholders dearly. The division that houses Bing lost $2.6 billion in the latest fiscal year. Facebook, or even Apple, might make a better home for Bing. A sale would be a boon for Microsoft’s investors.

This gives me an idea that could put Bing in the black for Microsoft. They charge pay-per-view admission to listen live to the phone call as Steve Ballmer calls Steve Jobs and pitches him on Apple buying Bing.

Adobe Shuts Down Its App Stores 

Sarah Perez:

Adobe is shutting down two of its app stores dedicated to mobile and desktop application distribution, Adobe InMarket and the Adobe AIR Marketplace.

Adobe had app stores?

Gary Hustwit’s Ten Westerns 

It’s not my very favorite, but as I look at these lists, the one that’s in everyone’s top ten is John Ford’s The Searchers.

‘Look at That, You Son of a Bitch’ 

Perspective, from Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell.

How Amazon Brought Their iOS Kindle App Into Compliance With Apple’s New Terms 

The Amazon Kindle Team:

In order to comply with recent policy changes by Apple, we’ve also removed the “Kindle Store” link from within the app that opened Safari and took you to the Kindle Store. You can still shop as you always have - just open Safari and go to www.amazon.com/kindlestore. If you want, you can bookmark that URL. Your Kindle books will be delivered automatically to your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch, just as before.

There you go. This is the result of Apple putting its own interests ahead of those of its users. It’s certainly not drastic (as it would be if Amazon had pulled the app from the store entirely), but in no way can it be argued that this is an improvement for users.

Don’t Hold Your Breath 

Cory Doctorow calls the new Samsung Galaxy Tab “meh”:

Ever since the iPad shipped, I’ve been waiting impatiently for a comparable Android device to emerge — something of like shape, size and capacity, but from a more open ecosystem than the one Apple offers.

I love these sort of reviews. I want an Apple-quality product without the Apple, and I’m sure I’ll get one soon.

Update: Doctorow also writes:

Samsung really doesn’t seem to have its head around the notion of Android’s strength being its non-proprietary, open nature.

As Lessien quipped, how much does this matter to “people who don’t eat ZealotFlakes for breakfast”?

This American Life: When Patents Attack 

Fantastic hour-long exposé on Nathan Myhrvold’s Intellectual Ventures, which comes out looking like the root of all evil in the U.S. software patent protection racket. Lodsys, of course, is one of their shell company fronts.

Kudos to Chris Sacca for having the stones to go on the record, calling Intellectual Ventures out for what it really is:

A mafia style shakedown, where someone comes in the front door of your building and says, “It would be a shame if this place burnt down. I know the neighborhood really well and I can make sure that doesn’t happen.” And saying, “Pay us up.” Now here’s, here’s what’s funny. If you talk to ... when I’ve seen Nathan speak publicly about this and when I’ve seen spokespeople from Intellectual Ventures, they constantly remind us that they themselves don’t bring lawsuits, that they themselves are not litigators, that they’re a defensive player. But the truth is that the threat of their patent arsenal can’t actually be realized, that it can’t be taken seriously unless they have that offensive posture, unless they’re willing to assert those patents. And so it’s this very delicate balancing act that is quite reminiscent of scenes you see in movies when the mafia comes to visit your butcher shop and they say to you, “Hey, it would be a real shame if somebody else came and sued you. Tell you what, pay us an exorbitant membership fee into our collective and we’ll keep you protected that way.” A protection scheme isn’t that credible unless some butcher shops burn down now and then.

The Chart That Should Accompany All Discussions of the Debt Ceiling 

James Fallows:

It’s based on data from the Congressional Budget Office and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Its significance is not partisan (who’s “to blame” for the deficit) but intellectual. It demonstrates the utter incoherence of being very concerned about a structural federal deficit but ruling out of consideration the policy that was largest single contributor to that deficit, namely the Bush-era tax cuts.

Yeah, That’s the Ticket 

Matt Burns, writing for AOL/TechCrunch:

Honeycomb tabs are living a life of obscurity, unable to get a footing in the general consumer mindset, and are generally as unlikable as an unloved middle sister. Why? Marketing. Apple is good at it and Honeycomb tab makers are bad at it. It’s that simple.

First rule of marketing: have a great product or service to sell.

Larry Tesler on the History of Scrolling Direction on the Mac 

Larry Tesler:

The original Lisa and Mac vertical scroll arrows were at the top and bottom of the vertical scroll bar, and the up-pointing arrow moved the content down. I ran a user study in the early days of Lisa development that informed that design.

Most (but not all) study participants expected to position the mouse near the top of the window to bring the content hidden above the top of the window into view. One reason was that they were looking at the top of the window at the time. Another reason was that they were more likely, as their next action, to select content in the upper half of the window than in the lower half. Consequently, we made the upper member of the arrow pair move the content down. With apologies to computer architects, I’ll call the majority whose expectations were met by this decision the “top-endians”.

McDonald’s Wi-Fi Setup Instructions, Windows vs. Mac 

There is no step four.

More Evidence of Low Sales of Android Tablets  

Breakdown by Google of Android devices in use by screen size. “Xlarge” is defined as any screen 7 inches or larger. By Google’s count, only 0.9% of activated in-use devices are tablets. Multiply that by the 135 million total Android “devices” that Larry Page announced last week during Google’s quarterly analyst call, and you get 1.21 million tablets. Compare that to the 28.73 million iPads Apple sold through the end of June.

(Thanks to DF reader Thomas Scrace.)

Apple’s Strength in the College Market 

The University of Texas publishes an annual report on its campus computer network, including breakdowns of usage by OS. iOS accounts for 83 percent of mobile devices; Android a distant second at 12. For “traditional wireless devices”, Mac OS X accounts for 52 percent; all versions of Windows combined: 47.

I’m linking to my own hosted screenshot of page 15; here’s the original 3.3 MB PDF document. (Thanks to DF reader Don Nunley for the link.)

What About the Price of Tea in China? 

Brier Dudley:

Don’t be surprised if you walk into the corner minimart one day soon and find that the corn dogs cost $1.50, instead of 99 cents. This will have nothing to do with spiraling health-care costs, fuel prices or the federal debt.

Blame Steve Jobs instead.

Microsoft-centric writers are losing their minds.