Linked List: June 18, 2012

Monday, 18 June 2012

Sam Grobart, jumping through hoops to justify his sensational “Microsoft’s new Surface tablet computer is not an iPad competitor” lead sentence:

There’s a significant population out there, people who look at an iPad and say, “I like it, but can I get one to replace my laptop? Even for just some of the time?” And the honest answer has always been, “No.” The iPad has plenty of accessories, but it’s not a productivity device.

I love how the link is to another piece by — wait for it — Grobart himself, explaining why he needs something more than an iPad. The best refutation: today’s new iPad TV commercial from Apple.

Idea of the Day: Shutdown Requires PIN ★

Fantastic idea by Cabel Sasser:

When my phone was stolen in SF last year, they immediately powered it down to stop Find My iPhone. Settings idea: “Shutdown Requires PIN”?

I worry that iPhone thieves have caught on to Find My iPhone and now know to shut them down as soon as they have a stolen iPhone in hand. Cabel’s idea might keep them on the grid longer.

The Verge Live-Blog Coverage of Microsoft’s New Surface Tablet ★

Built-in “kickstand”, and the magnetically-attached cover cleverly doubles as a keyboard and trackpad. But confusingly, they’re doing versions both with ARM and Intel CPUs. The ARM one is thinner and lighter, of course. And no word on pricing or availability.

Update: Michael Gartenberg tweets:

This is a total flip of MSFTs business model of software licensing.

Indeed; they’re competing directly against Windows licensees.

WWDC Youth Contingent ★

Jessica Vascellaro, reporting for the WSJ:

Paul Dunahoo went on a business trip to San Francisco last week, where he attended technical sessions at Apple Inc.’s developer conference, networked with other programmers and received feedback from Apple engineers on his six productivity apps.

Then, Mr. Dunahoo, chief executive of Bread and Butter Software LLC, returned to Connecticut to get ready for the eighth grade.

(Via Peter Cohen.)

Why Apple Is Going ‘Containment’ Not ‘Thermonuclear’ Against Google in iOS 6 ★

Danny Sullivan:

When Siri launched on the iPhone 4S, it’s one of the few times I know of — perhaps the only time — where Apple shipped a “beta” product to consumers (as it still remains today). But it was a smart move, because it allowed Apple to begin containing Google in search on Apple’s own devices. Siri would decide where a search should go, and it didn’t always go to Google (side note: Google’s deal with Apple clearly didn’t anticipate or require Google be the default for voice search, only for Safari search).

That containment wasn’t something average consumers widely understood, I’d say. To them, Siri was just some cool new tool that let you ask your iPhone for stuff. It was a subtle way to dump Google without consumers ever realizing that Apple dumped Google.

Smart analysis. My favorite little “containment” detail in iOS 6: the web search field in Mobile Safari now reads “Search”, not “Google” (or “Bing” or “Yahoo”).

‘It’s Called Progress, Folks’ ★

Garrett Murray deconstructs iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens’s diatribe condemning the integrated design of the new MacBook Pro:

The MacBook Air was not a market experiment. The MacBook Air was a revolution. Every single other company has been trying to replicate its success. Do you think Dell and Sony and Asus and Lenovo are all coincidentally performing the same “market experiment”? Apple designed and built the world’s thinnest, lightest computer and then year-after-year they made it better. The MacBook Air is the future–everyone knows it. People don’t want huge, heavy “robust and rugged” laptops. They want ultra-thin, ultra-light, insanely fast computers that are affordable. Apple delivered.

Progress, Visualized ★

Apt comparison by Ole Begemann.

Busting the iOS 6 Transit Map Myths ★

Andy Baio:

There’s a ridiculous amount of misinformation spreading online about the new maps in iOS 6, compounded by incorrect press reports, vague statements by Apple, and the developer NDAs. I’m even guilty of spreading it myself, based on reports I’d seen on the blogs.

Using information provided to me by an anonymous Apple developer, I’ve pieced together the facts.

Public Transit in iOS 6 ★

Cocoanetics:

Even worse, nobody knows the extent of the secret deals that were made to keep Google out of certain markets. Those same deals would probably also make it impossible for Apple to get at this data. In a way Apple has to be thankful to Google for testing the waters and uncovering how difficult it is to get worldwide coverage on a voluntary (and free) basis.

Because of this Apple does the only smart thing: let the companies do it themselves.

But users don’t care about the problems Apple would face to handle worldwide public transit information. They just want convenience. iOS 6 requiring third-party apps for public transit information seems like a step backwards, convenience-wise.

Upcoming Changes to the Netflix API Program ★

If I’m reading this right, this is a huge shit sandwich, both for developers who’ve built software that reads data from Netflix and for Netflix users who ever hope to export their account data.