Linked List: July 6, 2012

Friday, 6 July 2012

Peter-Paul Koch:

It pleases me to inform you that most browsers implement window.devicePixelRatio correctly. The property contains the ratio between physical pixels and dips, and even though some values appear strange at first, they actually make sense.

Super-useful for delivering retina-caliber web designs conditionally. Don’t miss his follow-up, either.

Judge Richard Posner: ‘It’s Not Clear That We Really Need Patents in Most Industries’ ★

Reuters:

The U.S. judge who tossed out one of the biggest court cases in Apple Inc.’s smartphone technology battle is questioning whether patents should cover software or most other industries at all.

Richard Posner, a prolific jurist who sits on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, told Reuters this week that the technology industry’s high profits and volatility made patent litigation attractive for companies looking to wound competitors.

Exactly right. Posner has some good observations on the U.S. political climate, too.

‘Like Giving Natalie Portman a Trucker Cap’ ★

Merlin Mann joins me for a quick two-hour holiday-week chat on America’s favorite two-star podcast.

Brought to you by two excellent sponsors: Launch Center Pro, a super-clever action launcher for the iPhone; and Tapstream, an x-ray for iOS sales data.

Apple’s Fix for Corrupt Binaries ★

Speaking of Marco Arment, he’s got a follow-up to his scoop yesterday on the App Store hiccup that was sending out corrupt app binaries.

Web Designers: You Need a Retina MacBook Pro ★

Marco Arment:

Even though it’s a small market today (although don’t forget about the iPad 3), it’s inevitably going to increase substantially in the near future. Don’t you want to get ahead of that? Do you want your site to be ready the first time someone views it on a Retina screen, or are you OK with it looking like garbage for a few years until you happen to buy high-DPI hardware?

One more thing: it’s just plain fun to design for the retina display.