Linked List: October 22, 2012

Monday, 22 October 2012

Where Does Apple Go From Here? 

Michael Gartenberg:

So, as Jed Bartlet might say, the question for Apple is: What’s next?

If you’re screaming “television sets!”, calm down. Yes, even you, Wall Street Analyst Who Shall Not Be Named. The entire television-set business is worth about $30 billion dollars. That’s it. Even assuming Apple takes all of that, it’s hardly the type of revenue that Apple needs to fuel the future. That’s the kind of money the company keeps under the mattress for a rainy day purchase or two.

Seems pretty likely that tomorrow is not going to be a “here’s the next big thing” event, but it’s worth pondering. What’s the next $100 billion idea, and what would Apple need to do to set it up?

Learnable Programming 

Astoundingly insightful and inspiring essay by Bret Victor. One of the most thought-provoking pieces I’ve read in a long time.

Amazon Cloud Service Outage 

Not a good day for Amazon so far.

Apple, ARM, and Intel 

Jean-Louis Gassée:

Intel will argue, rightly, that they’ll always be one technological step ahead of the competition, but is one step enough for x86 chips to beat ARM microprocessors?

‘Outlawed by Amazon DRM’ 

Martin Bekkelund:

A couple of days ago, my friend Linn sent me an e-mail, being very frustrated: Amazon just closed her account and wiped her Kindle. Without notice. Without explanation.

Interesting timing, given that many of us expect a heavy dose of iBooks tomorrow.

Back From Yet Another Globetrotting Adventure, Indiana Jones Checks His Mail and Discovers That His Bid for Tenure Has Been Denied 

Andy Bryan, writing for McSweeney’s Internet Tendency:

In his nine years with the department, Dr. Jones has failed to complete even one uninterrupted semester of instruction. In fact, he hasn’t been in attendance for more than four consecutive weeks since he was hired. Departmental records indicate Dr. Jones has taken more sabbaticals, sick time, personal days, conference allotments, and temporary leaves than all the other members of the department combined.

BusyCal 2.0 

Major update to one of my favorite Mac apps. On sale for a limited time for just $30 in the Mac App Store.