Linked List: October 1, 2012

Monday, 1 October 2012

Consumer Reports Compares Maps Navigation on iOS 6 and Android ★

Consumer Reports:

Having put it through the paces we subject each portable navigator to in our test program, our original criticisms remain. But having more thoroughly tested Apple Maps alongside a Samsung Galaxy S3 running Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) with Google Maps, we have a more favorable opinion — certainly more favorable than comments and articles that we’ve been reading online.

Motorola Reneges on Ice Cream Sandwich Software Update ★

Shocker.

Google Passes Microsoft’s Market Cap ★

Another milestone for the post-PC era.

Jackass of the Week: Peter Cohan ★

Peter Cohan, writing for Forbes, questions whether Tim Cook is capable of leading Apple (“After $30 Billion Mistake, Can Tim Cook Manage Apple?”):

You might think that Tim Cook is doing a spectacular job. After all, since taking over as CEO on August 24, 2011, Apple stock has risen 74%, and its revenues and profits have soared 66% and 85% in the last year.

But since the Apple Maps fiasco, Apple has lost $30 billion in stock market value, reports The Guardian.

Cohan’s sleight of hand trick here is almost beyond clumsy. He’s like a stage magician doing a card trick who asks the audience, “Hey, everyone close your eyes for a second.” In the first paragraph, he acknowledges that Apple’s stock value has risen 74 percent under Cook. In the second, he switches from percentages to dollars, simply because $30 billion sounds like an awful lot of dough. With a market cap over $600 billion, any change in stock price, even just a few percentage points, is going to amount to a change in market cap of tens of billions of dollars.

The actual percentage loss in the few days post-Mapgate? 4.5 percent. Not sure where Cohan pulled his numbers from, but according to Wolfram Alpha, Apple’s stock price rose not 74 percent but 77 percent from closing on 24 August 2011 through last Friday. Cohan concludes that because of the Maps mistake and — yes — ongoing labor problems at Foxconn:

While those worker issues do not cost Apple shareholders money or seem to trouble its customers enough for them to stop buying its products, they are a further indictment of the problems with Tim Cook’s management approach.

He should solve them. If not, Apple’s board should find someone who will.

77 percent gain in stock price, 85 percent gain in profits. Shitcan him. What exactly is it about Apple that makes people lose their minds?

Apple Releases Carrier Settings Update for Verizon iPhone 5 ★

Apple:

This carrier settings update resolves an issue in which, under certain circumstances, iPhone 5 may use Verizon cellular data while the phone is connected to a Wi-Fi network.

According to a Verizon statement to The Loop, customers will not be charged for any data that was consumed due to the bug in the previous carrier settings.

New Apple Developer Guideline Bans Apps That Promote Other Apps ★

Darrell Etherington, writing for AOL/TechCrunch:

Apple has changed its iOS developer guidelines, adding a clause (on September 12, a source tells me) that reads: “Apps that display Apps other than your own for purchase or promotion in a manner similar to or confusing with the App Store will be rejected.” That’s a change that could have wide-reaching effects, especially on promotion models that offer developers a paid top slot on app recommendation offerings like FreeAppADay, Daily App Dream and more.

I’m not sure I see any problem that Apple is solving here with this ban. Whereas some of these apps, like TouchArcade, solve a real problem with the App Store: they provide expertly curated and community-driven recommendations that are far more relevant and accurate than the top-selling lists in the App Store itself. The App Store mostly presents you with what’s popular; an app/service like TouchArcade tries to present you with what’s good.

This is a case where these services should be able to survive outside the App Store as mobile websites, but I simply don’t see what problem Apple is solving by keeping them out of the store. See more in this report by Keith Andrew at PocketGamer.

Samsung Android Hole Also Leaves SIM Cards Vulnerable ★

Lucian Constantin, IDG:

Several Samsung Android devices, including Samsung Galaxy S III, Galaxy S II, Galaxy Beam, S Advance, and Galaxy Ace were reported to be vulnerable because they supported the special factory reset code.

Borgaonkar showed that a device can be forced to automatically open a link to such a page by touching a NFC-enabled phone to a rogue NFC tag, by scanning a QR code or by including the link in a special service message. However, an attacker can also include the link in a Twitter feed, SMS or an e-mail message and trick the victim to manually click on it.

Any evidence yet that this exploit is being used in the wild?