Linked List: December 12, 2011

Monday, 12 December 2011

Brooke Crothers:

Take the blog Daring Fireball. It offers some solid analysis. But in the end it’s a fanboi site, assailing the misinformed or pointing out how wrong or disliked the Android competition is. That kind of attitude gets in the way of informed insight.

I have a serious question. Why spell it fanboi? Is that like fanboy but also gay?

Apple Preps iOS Accessory Makers for Bluetooth 4.0 ★

Nilay Patel:

We’re told that Apple wants to see a new wave of app-based accessories using the new Bluetooth Low Energy profile in Bluetooth 4.0, with a particular focus on next-generation health and fitness gadgets like the FitBit Ultra and Jawbone Up. We’re also told Apple is making it easier to for MFI accessories to connect to Wi-Fi networks by automatically pulling the appropriate configuration information from your iOS device over Bluetooth or the docking cable — all you have to do is approve the request and your accessory will hop online without any extra effort. That’ll make configuring AirPlay docks and other Wi-Fi-based iOS accessories much, much simpler in the future — right now they all involve a fair bit of effort.

If I were a betting man, I’d wager heavily on this Bluetooth accessory stuff being used heavily for Apple TV, too.

FBI Says Carrier IQ May Be Used in ‘Law Enforcement Proceedings’ ★

Andy Greenberg:

After a video surfaced that seemed to show the software logging keystrokes and monitoring data traffic on the more than 140 million phones on which it’s installed by default, Morisy had asked the Bureau for any “manuals, documents or other written guidance used to access or analyze data gathered by programs developed or deployed by Carrier IQ.”

The FBI responded that the material couldn’t be provided, and cited an exemption to the Freedom of Information law for situations in which handing over documents “could reasonably be expected to interfere with law enforcement proceedings.”

Ugh. Not sure how to see this as anything other than confirmation of our worst fears about this Carrier IQ stuff.

On The Verge, Episode 2 ★

I was a guest on the second episode of On The Verge, the talk show hosted by Josh Topolsky. I had a good time, and I think it was a damn good show. The tour of the new Apple Store in Grand Central Terminal is the best coverage of the store I’ve seen, and Topolsky’s remote piece on campus at Microsoft was hilarious.

Not a Good Sign When a Product Is Compared to the Edsel ★

David Streitfeld, reporting for the NYT on customer reaction to the Kindle Fire:

The Kindle Fire, Amazon’s heavily promoted tablet, is less than a blazing success with many of its early users. The most disgruntled are packing the device up and firing it back to the retailer. […]

“In less than two weeks, we’re rolling out an over-the-air update to Kindle Fire,” said Drew Herdener, a company spokesman.

There will be improvements in performance and multitouch navigation, and customers will have the option of editing the list of items that show what they have recently been doing. No more will wives wonder why their husbands were looking at a dating site when they said they were playing Angry Birds.

The whole article is pretty damning. Does anyone love the Kindle Fire? I got to play with one over the weekend and was not impressed. The sleep/wake button is horrendously placed, everything felt slow and laggy, and the whole home screen concept seems poorly designed.

Google’s Android Revenue ★

Google announced during their third quarter conference call that they’re generating $2.5 billion in mobile revenue. The Macalope, on this being reported as Android generating $2.5 billion in revenue for Google:

“Mobile” does not equal “Android.” Some Android fan sites also got this wrong, but “mobile” means ad revenue from all mobile operating systems. Further, because we know that about two thirds of Google’s mobile ad revenue comes from the iPhone we can figure that Android is generating at most $833 million in ad revenue a year for Mountain View. That is, of course, chump change compared to what Apple makes on the iPhone. Still, Android’s winning. Somehow.

How Do People Use Apple TV? ★

Strategy Analytics issued a report on the “connected TV market”, predicting 4 million Apple TV sales for 2012. What caught my eye was this:

This report also found that Apple TV users are spending more money on movies and TV shows: 30 percent of Apple TV owners rented movies or TV shows, compared to 20 percent of users of other devices. “Apple is leading this nascent market, which it still considers a ‘hobby’.” says Jia Wu, Senior Analyst at the Connected Home Devices (CHD) service.

Only 30 percent? That seems crazy to me. 70 percent of Apple TV owners don’t rent any movies or TV shows? Update: I’m not disputing it. I’m just surprised. And lots of DF readers on Twitter are telling me they use Apple TV just for AirPlay and Netflix streaming.

Louis CK: Live at the Beacon Theater ★

Louis CK — for my money, the funniest comic working today — produced and is hosting his own concert video. “No DRM, no regional restrictions, no crap.” For $5, you download it and it’s yours. Five bucks! The future is disintermediated.