Linked List: April 29, 2012

Sunday, 29 April 2012

The Phony Sony Parallel 

It amuses me to no end that Jean-Louis Gassée — the man who might’ve kept Steve Jobs from returning to Apple — is today one of the most consistently insightful Apple observers in the world.

Air France Flight 447: ‘Damn It, We’re Going to Crash’ 

Gripping, heartbreaking reporting by Nick Ross and Neil Tweedie for The Telegraph:

As forward thrust was lost, downward momentum was gathering. Instead of the wings slicing neatly through the air, their increasing angle of attack meant they were in effect damming it. In the next 40 seconds AF447 fell 3,000 feet, losing more and more speed as the angle of attack increased to 40 degrees. The wings were now like bulldozer blades against the sky. Bonin failed to grasp this fact, and though angle of attack readings are sent to onboard computers, there are no displays in modern jets to convey this critical information to the crews. One of the provisional recommendations of the BEA inquiry has been to challenge this absence.

User-interface design is, in some cases, life or death.

The Illusion of Value 

Nick Bilton:

“It serves the interest of the investors who can come up with whatever valuation they want when there are no revenues,” explained Paul Kedrosky, a venture investor and entrepreneur. “Once there is no revenue, there is no science, and it all just becomes finger in the wind valuations.”

When small start-ups I’ve spoken with do make money, they often find it difficult to recruit additional investment because most venture capitalists — and often the entrepreneurs they finance — are not interested in building viable long-term businesses. Rather, they’re interested in pumping up enough hype and valuation to find a quick exit through an acquisition at an eye-popping premium.

Apple Retail Stores Replace iMacs With iPads for Kids 

You can’t fool kids — they know what’s cool.

‘The Escalators Only Go One Way’ 

For your weekend listening enjoyment, this week’s episode of The Talk Show. Topics include the nearly-instant WWDC sellout, analyst estimates and Apple’s earnings, Google Drive, and more. Brought to you by Squarespace and Sourcebits.