Linked List: August 24, 2012

Friday, 24 August 2012

‘I Saw That Headline and My Nervous System Took a Jolt.’ 

One year ago today, Steve Jobs resigned as Apple CEO.

‘You’re Not Gonna Name Him Fuzzbutt’ 

Special guest star Craig Hockenberry joins yours truly on this week’s episode of The Talk Show. We discuss the escalating tensions between Twitter and its third-party developers, along with Twitter’s relationship with other networks, like Tumblr and Instagram. Other topics include App.net and developing a retina-display version of xScope for the Mac.

Brought to you by two excellent sponsors:

  • Tweet Keeper: a new iPhone app that lets you easily — I mean really easily — create searchable archives of tweets from any Twitter user.

  • Appsfire: A tool for finding not just the most popular apps in the App Store, but the best apps.

Branch Thread on HTML5 vs. Native Apps for Mobile 

Interesting discussion. Bottom line, though, is that we should not view HTML5 and native apps as being pitted against each other. There are places for both. What we’re seeing with Facebook’s iOS app is not a sign that Facebook is turning against HTML5, but rather a shift in their priorities for a native app — that the optimal mix for their app is more native, less HTML5.

Under the Hood: Rebuilding Facebook for iOS 

Long story short: native code is faster and feels better.

Republican Lawmaker Claims It Is ‘Virtually Impossible’ to Get AIDS Through Heterosexual Sex 

I’m going to go out on a wild limb here and guess that this guy is also staunchly in favor of “abstinence-only” sex education.

‘Nation Celebrates Full Week Without Deadly Mass Shooting’ 

Brutal.

Pre-Holiday-Quarter Product Announcement Season Is Upon Us 

Samsung event next week. Microsoft/Nokia announcement event September 5 in New York. Google/Motorola event later that same day, across town. And a purportedly “big announcement” from Amazon in Santa Monica the next day.

Marissa Mayer, iPhone, and Android 

Kara Swisher:

Most interesting, though, was a question about being able to use Apple products, especially its famous iPhone. Until now, Yahoo has largely been a BlackBerry work world, which might go a long way to explaining why it has lagged in the mobile arena.

Ya think?

While many Yahoos carry a second cell — usually an iPhone or a Google Android smartphone — it is not corporate policy.

Yet! Because, according to sources, Mayer declared in a recent exec staff meeting that iPhones (and also Android devices) for all was a distinct possibility.

My theory remains that Mayer personally uses and prefers the iPhone. I think she has good taste, especially by the standards of Google and Yahoo executives. Her influence fell at Google as Android’s rose.

Is a Federated Twitter Even Possible? 

Dan Wineman:

The moral of the story is that the qualities that make Twitter interesting — its mix of conversation, discovery, and one-to-many communication — are direct consequences of its centralized architecture. Without the centralization you can still have something interesting, but it’s a different thing.