Linked List: December 19, 2011

Monday, 19 December 2011

Engadget Reviews the Galaxy Nexus 

Tim Stevens:

And then there’s the battery life. It’s well known that LTE can put a real hurting on phone longevity and that appears to be the case here as well, our Nexus struggling to hold on to a charge in day-to-day use with all antennas firing. We’ve as of yet had very limited time with the thing, but in our 24 hours of intensive testing we had to reach for the charger multiple times. Using Google Navigation with LTE enabled? The battery drained so fast our in-car charger couldn’t keep up, leaving us unsure of which exit to take off the 101.

I wonder why there’s no LTE iPhone yet?

Search Results You Can Trust 

Search Amazon for “iPad” and the top result is this “Compare iPad 2 vs. Kindle Fire” promotional page.

John Martellaro: Apple Is Now Forced to Build a 7-Inch Tablet 

Noted for future claim chowder.

(Apple’s business has never been about capturing the entirety — or even a unit-share majority — of any market. They just make cool things and sell them for a profit. That’s it.)

Getting Fed Up With Google 

Another difference between Apple and Google: as Apple grows more successful, they make their users happier, with better-designed products; as Google grows more successful, they annoy their users with ever more intrusive advertising.

Kindle Fire and the Open Web 

Any request for Google’s Android Market — even in the web browser — is redirected to the Amazon Appstore on the Kindle Fire. More proof that Android is open and Apple is too controlling.

Could RIM’s Survival Mean Abandoning the BlackBerry? 

Alastair Sharp and Pav Jordan, reporting for Reuters:

Just before those numbers were released, activist shareholder Jaguar Financial called on the company to sell its handset business and monetize its patent portfolio while retaining the high-margin services business. “Jaguar believes that the road map to value restoration lies in a sale of RIM whether as a whole or in separate parts,” it said.

This is a terrible idea. RIM’s “high-margin services business” is entirely predicated on its handset business. But this is what happens when profits decline — you’re forced to entertain even worse advice from jackass investors. Cf. calls for Apple to abandon its hardware business and license Mac OS for PCs, or, for Apple to abandon Mac OS and make Windows PCs, circa 1995–96.

Free Galaxy Nexus Phones for Google Employees 

What a tasteful design.

‘Next Year’ 

Chris Davis, Slashgear:

“In the next six months we plan to market a tablet of the highest quality” Schmidt told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, while also confirming that Google plans to leverage its voice recognition technology to better challenge Apple’s Siri.

In the PC era, “next year” was going to be the year of desktop Linux. In the post-PC era, “next year” is the year that Android isn’t crappy.

Circling the Toilet 

Ian Austen, reporting for the NYT:

Research in Motion said on Thursday that a new line of BlackBerry smartphones that it hoped would turn around its flagging fortunes will not come to market until late next year.

It was the latest, and perhaps most significant, setback in a string of product delays and missteps from the company.

In the meantime, profits are down 70 percent. I love to say “I told you so”, so: I told you so.

Remember Google’s Android Update Alliance? 

“Over the next few weeks, we’ll figure it out.”

Dear Congress, It’s No Longer OK to Not Know How the Internet Works 

Joshua Kopstein:

When the security issue was brought up, Rep. Mel Watt of North Carolina seemed particularly comfortable about his own lack of understanding. Grinningly admitting “I’m not a nerd” before the committee, he nevertheless went on to dismiss without facts or justification the very evidence he didn’t understand and then downplay the need for a panel of experts. Rep. Maxine Waters of California followed up by saying that any discussion of security concerns is “wasting time” and that the bill should move forward without question, busted internets be damned.

Bipartisan willful ignorance.

There Is a Flip Side 

Dave Winer, on trying to convince Joe Hewitt to switch to Android:

Anyway, he thinks the iPhone is great. He doesn’t want to use Android. But I want him to use it, for the same reason I use it. Which is the title of this piece.

Right now it’s the only open source mobile OS that has a chance against iOS. If there is no alternative to iOS then Apple will have exclusive control over what makes it to market. That is a future none of us should want to live in.

The better iOS is relative to Android, the more you have to worry about.

I enjoyed this piece a lot. To me, this is an honest and reasonable perspective.

But, to quote Neil McCauley, there is a flip side to that coin. Winer’s perspective is that Apple is the bigger threat. A different perspective would be that Google is the bigger threat, and that using Apple products is a way to better protect our privacy and personal information.

Fear of Apple is about losing control over the software on our computers. Fear of Google is about losing control over our privacy.

Me, I use an iPhone simply because I think it’s the best. But it fits with which company I’m more worried about, too.