Linked List: November 23, 2011

Wednesday, 23 November 2011

Apple Removed Subscription-Based Game App From App Store 

Follow-up report from Adam Satariano for Bloomberg:

Apple Inc. removed Big Fish Games Inc.’s subscription service from its App Store, reversing a move that would have given iPad users access to dozens of video games for a monthly fee.

“We were notified that the app was removed,” said Paul Thelen, founder of Big Fish, a game publisher in Seattle. The app had been available since Nov. 18, he said. “We’re trying to follow up with Apple to try to figure out what happened.”

I suspect the headline on this report is incorrect: “Apple Removes Game Subscription Plan”, and that there was no such plan to allow for subscription games. The app was there earlier today, but I think whoever at Apple approved it did so incorrectly.

Patent Office Highlights Steve Jobs’s Innovations 

Brian X. Chen, who I only just now noticed is reporting for the NYT Bits Blog:

The United States Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Va., recently unveiled an exhibit of 30 giant iPhone-like models honoring the inventions of the late Steve Jobs.

Each iPhone model displays patents that list Mr. Jobs as inventor or co-inventor. Altogether about 300 patents are on display, giving exhibit attendees a visual tour through Apple’s history of design and innovation.

Nice.

Microsoft Says Windows Phones Have Had Siri-Like Functionality for Over a Year 

Mikey Campbell, AppleInsider:

In an interview last week with Forbes, Microsoft Chief Research and Strategy Officer Craig Mundie said that Siri’s capabilities are not Apple-specific, and notes that Windows Phone’s similar “Tellme” technology has been functional for over a year.

“The Tellme facility’s been in the Windows 7 phone for more than a year,” Mundie said. “So I mean I just think people are infatuated with Apple announcing [Siri].”

That’s a curious thing to say. As Jean-Louis Gassée notes on Twitter:

If true: We’re imbeciles
If false: We’re imbeciles.

I’ve played with Tellme on Windows Phone 7 and I’d say it’s a lot like Voice Control on iOS. Similar in scope, and at least as accurate, if not better. Not bad at all — but not Siri.

About Those Subscription Games in the App Store 

I’ve been thinking about this since that Bloomberg story broke yesterday. Does anyone else find it unusual that Apple hasn’t issued a statement about this? Haven’t all previous changes to App Store policy been announced by Apple? Not a single report on this story has a statement from Apple, and as far as I can tell, the subscription-based app from Big Fish isn’t yet available in the App Store.

Update: The app was available for download from the App Store earlier today, but no longer is. Curiouser and curiouser. (My theory: the app was approved by an App Store reviewer who didn’t realize it was contrary to the App Store guidelines.)

The Formosa Plastics Group 

Christian Zibreg, writing for 9to5 Mac, on the relationship between HTC and VIA Technologies, the current owner of S3 Graphics:

Both VIA and HTC share the same owner, Formosa Plastics Group, a Taiwanese conglomerate whose diverse interests include biotechnology, petrochemical processing and production of electronics components. The entity is owned by the Wang family. The wife of VIA Technologies’ CEO is Ms. Cher Wang, chairperson and co-founder of HTC. In July, VIA Technologies, the original owner of S3 Graphics, won a lawsuit against Apple over infringement of two of S3 Graphics’ patents in Mac products.

So an acquisition of S3 by HTC would really just be moving it from one part of the parent company to another.

HTC to Conduct ‘Holistic Re-Evaluation’ of Its Planned Acquisition of S3 Graphics 

Embarrassing.

The Pummeling Pages 

Brent Simmons, bemoaning the horrendous-and-only-getting-worse reading experience of many websites:

I worked on TapLynx for about two years, and this meant working closely with a variety of publishers. And most had these things in common:

  1. No money.

  2. No idea where the money’s going to come from.

  3. An unswerving faith in the supreme value of analytics.

  4. A willingness to try anything as long as it’s cheap or free and has analytics. Unless they’re paranoid and afraid for their jobs, which they almost always are, given #1 and #2.

I’ve heard the same story from others, particularly last year, in the aftermath of my piece “Tynt, the Copy/Paste Jerks”. That’s the thing where, when you copy text from a website, Tynt’s JavaScript code appends a bunch of unwanted junk. Why do publishers use stuff like Tynt? After publishing that piece, I got a few emails from rank-and-file staffers at some websites that use Tynt. They all told the same story: everyone hates it except the executives, who don’t care about the user experience and who, like Brent says, will try anything that comes with “analytics”.

‘The Next Steve Jobs Will Totally Be a Chick’ 

Louis C.K., talking to Fast Company:

The next Steve Jobs will totally be a chick, because girls are No. 2 — and No. 2 always wins in America. Apple was a No. 2 company for years, and Apple embodies a lot of what have been defined as feminine traits: an emphasis on intuitive design, intellect, a strong sense of creativity, and that striving to always make the greatest version of something. Traditionally, men are more like Microsoft, where they’ll just make a fake version of what that chick made, then beat the shit out of her and try to intimidate everybody into using their product.

(Via Peter Cohen.)

Samsung Galaxy S Ad Goes After iPhone 

It’s a tacit admission that they’re (at best) number two, but this isn’t all that different from the sort of humor Apple used for years in the Hodgman/Long “Get a Mac” campaign. The deft touch in Apple’s campaign is that it was the PC that was a buffoon, not PC users. A fine line, and many PC users felt Apple was mocking them, not their machines, but Apple wasn’t trying to convince all PC users to get a Mac — just the ones who were on the fence. This one from Samsung is more “people who buy iPhones are image-conscious fad-following idiots”.

Headline of the Day 

From Gizmodo’s Sam Biddle, a piece headlined: “Apple’s Pro-Censorship Software Alliance Backs Down”:

The Business Software Association, which includes tech giants like Apple, Microsoft, and Intel, has reversed its stance on the controversial (and awful!) Stop Online Piracy Act: now it doesn’t like it. Good.

Is it fair to call the BSA “Apple’s”? No, of course not. But this is what happens when you’re the new sheriff in town. The BSA used to be “Microsoft’s” when it supported something stupid or wrong, now it’s “Apple’s”.

Apple to Allow Subscription-Based Gaming on App Store 

Adam Satariano, reporting for Bloomberg:

Big Fish Games, a Seattle-based game publisher, won approval from Apple to become the first to offer users access to dozens of titles for $6.99 a month. Until now, games have only been available one at a time, requiring users to download individual applications.

You download one Big Fish app, and the games are all available within that app. Like what the Netflix app is for movies, the Big Fish app is for games. This is an interesting change in policy from Apple, to say the least.