Linked List: September 11, 2012

Tuesday, 11 September 2012

WSJ: ‘Backers Tout Firefox OS as Open Mobile Option’ ★

Don Clark, writing for WSJ Digits:

The non-profit foundation hosted an event for reporters in San Francisco Thursday with one of its supporters–the Spanish telecommunications company Telefonicato give an update on plans for an operating system called Firefox OS. They see it as a more open alternative to Apple’s iOS or Google’s Android software, the dominant choices in smartphones. […]

“Rather than build things in secret, we tell the world what we are going to do and invite participation,” said Gary Kovacs, Mozilla’s CEO. “It is the exact inverse of the traditional model.” […]

Some of the first handsets using Firefox OS should appear next year, the companies said.

Allow me to append to my year-ago quip: Open beats closed, every time. Except when discussing money or ship dates.

The Difference Between Apple and Amazon in One Chart ★

Dan Frommer:

Apple and Amazon are both in the business of designing small computers - tablets, ereaders, phones, media players - and selling them to the public. But how they do it is the big difference. And that’s best depicted by the astonishing difference in the two companies’ profits.

Apple’s P/E: 15.86
Amazon’s P/E: 315.95

OS X Battery Life Analysis From Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion ★

Great analysis by Jim Tanuous at The Mac Observer, benchmarking the battery life of the last few years worth of versions of OS X. 10.8.0 was a significant regression — as noted by many — but it looks like the upcoming 10.8.2 update will set things right.

RIM’s Death Spiral ★

Analyst James Faucette, in a statement to AllThingsD:

“In terms of sell-through, we believe that current run rates are roughly one-fifth of those we saw in the United States just eight months ago. Further, we found a meaningful number of carrier retail locations which had not sold a single BlackBerry in over a month.”

That’s flop-sweat, crickets-chirping territory.

The Skeuomorphism Rift Within Apple ★

Austin Carr, reporting for Fast Company:

Inside Apple, tension has brewed for years over the issue. Apple iOS SVP Scott Forstall is said to push for skeuomorphic design, while industrial designer Jony Ive and other Apple higher-ups are said to oppose the direction. “You could tell who did the product based on how much glitz was in the UI,” says one source intimately familiar with Apple’s design process.

I’ve heard much the same. There is an internal political divide regarding these skeuomorphic interfaces.

But before Forstall, it was Steve Jobs who encouraged the skeuomorphic approach, some say. “iCal’s leather-stitching was literally based on a texture in his Gulfstream jet,” says the former senior UI designer. “There was lots of internal email among UI designers at Apple saying this was just embarrassing, just terrible.”

iCal/Calendar is perhaps the epicenter of this debate. Someone inside Apple must actually like the Calendar app for Mac and iPad. And it’s not just what it looks like — the stitched leather, torn paper remnants, etc. — it’s how it works. Then there’s the iPhone version, which doesn’t sport any of the skeuomorphic chrome — and is actually a very nice-to-use app.

It’s the difference between a fad and true style. I think Apple’s skeuomorphic designs are a fad, much like the pinstripes and brushed metal of a decade ago.

Google Releases YouTube App for iPhone and iPod Touch ★

Andrey Doronichev, head of YouTube mobile:

For all you diehard YouTube fans out there who can’t get enough YouTube on your mobile, we’ve got some great news: starting today, you can download the official YouTube app for iPhone and iPod touch from the App Store, bringing you more of the videos you love and more ways to share them with the people you care about.

The YouTube app that has been built into iOS since the original iPhone is not present in iOS 6, so this announcement was well-timed. Looks like a good app, with Google’s iOS UI style. Given that this new YouTube app from Google shows ads, and Apple’s old YouTube app did not, my hunch is that the decision to part ways was mutual.

Next up: Maps?

Peter Bright: ‘Where Oh Where Is Windows Phone 8?’ ★

Peter Bright, Ars Technica:

But what was a little surprising is that there were no handsets for the press to play with. There were some demonstration units carefully attended by PR personnel, and while we were able to get kind of close to them, the general rule was “you can look but you can’t touch.” This isn’t unprecedented, but it’s a little unusual for such a high-priority smartphone launch. Touching the phones, seeing how they feel in the hand, checking that their UI is nice and fast, these are all important parts of a smartphone launch.

The problem Nokia has appears to be not so much its hardware; it’s the software. Windows Phone 8 isn’t done yet. Not only is Windows Phone 8 not done, it’s not even public yet.

Hence the faked sample video and photos. The hell of it is, the Lumia 920 camera does seem to work remarkably well in low light situations. But the software’s not done for it to shoot video.

This seems like a disaster in the making for Nokia.

A Memory Hole ★

Kontra is a phlegmatic man.