Linked List: November 21, 2011

Monday, 21 November 2011

Available now for a limited time: Daring Fireball t-shirts, including a new no-name design.

If you’ve ever said to yourself, “Boy, I sure wish someone would dig in and write a really technical iPhone 4S review,” this is the link for you. “Comprehensive” doesn’t even begin to describe it.

MG Siegler on the Facebook Phone ★

To me the big question regarding Facebook is what they’re doing with all those A-team interface designers and developers they’ve been hiring/acquiring. Is it all about this phone, or something else?

A Conspiracy of Hogs: The McRib as Arbitrage ★

Fantastic piece on the McRib — seriously — by Willy Staley for The Awl:

The theory that the McRib’s elusiveness is a direct result of the vagaries of the cash price for hog meat in the States is simple: in this thinking, the product is only introduced when pork prices are low enough to ensure McDonald’s can turn a profit on the product. The theory is especially convincing given the McRib’s status as the only non-breakfast fast food pork item: why wouldn’t there be a pork sandwich in every chain, if it were profitable?

Andy Ihnatko Reviews the iPhone 4S ★

Andy Ihnatko:

I’ve been pondering a bunch of questions ever since seeing the iPhone 4S unveiled and then getting my hands on one. I’m not sure that any of them has puzzled me more than this one:

Has the world lost its damned mind?

Occupy Wall Street as Pong ★

As good a metaphor as any. (Via Laughing Squid.)

Viewing the UC Davis Pepper Spraying From Multiple Angles ★

Andy Baio:

I was stunned and appalled by the UC Davis Police spraying protestors, but struck by how many brave, curious people recorded the events. I took the four clearest videos and synchronized them. Citizen journalism FTW.

Batons, pepper spray, guns, and body armor on one side. Peaceful protest and cameras on the other. Fascinating dynamic. Peaceful protest can be powerful. Check out this video of UC Davis chancellor Linda Katehi — under pressure to resign in the aftermath of the pepper-spraying — walking to her car, surrounded by utterly silent protestors. Profoundly effective.

Not a Joke ★

Study shows that Fox News viewers are less informed on major stories than people who neither watch news shows nor read newspapers regularly.

‘Arrested Development’ Set to Return as a Netflix-Exclusive Show ★

Exclusive content is what makes HBO worthwhile, and Netflix is smart to follow. How long until Apple and Amazon follow?

What Is Sony Now? ★

Interesting profile of Sony by Bryan Gruley and Cliff Edwards, for BusinessWeek:

Stringer drew up a plan to streamline Sony by creating marketing, software, and other platforms common to all the businesses. Progress was slow. He finally determined it was because he wasn’t really in charge of electronics; Chubachi, the president, was. “President” can be a powerful title in Japan, connoting the day-to-day authority typically commanded by a chief operating officer in the West. “I didn’t know I wasn’t [in control],” Stringer says, a hint of sheepishness in his voice. “I just thought it was a natural part of Japanese companies to be consensus-driven and I had to spend a lot of time trying to achieve consensus.” He lost a year.

I’ll go out on a limb and say that when it takes the new CEO a year to figure out he’s not in control of the entire company, that’s a problem.

Stamped ★

New social network/recommendation engine, which, like Instagram, is debuting with but a single interface: a native iPhone app. The premise is simple and ambitious: you “stamp” things that you enjoy and recommend. There aren’t different types of stamps. There’s no rating from 0-5 or anything like that. Just stamped. What kind of things can you stamp? All sorts of things: restaurants, places, books, movies, music.

Stylish, distinctive, nice-branded UI, too.

Kindle Annotations Lost in Book Update ★

Michael Tsai:

This is, I think, the only time Amazon has failed me in the last 15 or so years.

Fray Issue 3 ★

Good writing, good design. Resize the window, and try it on your phone.