Linked List: March 21, 2013

Thursday, 21 March 2013

Google Keep 

Trust your thoughts and ideas to the makers of Google Reader. Good luck with that.

Google Now Not Submitted to App Store 

Another shocker. (Via Jim Dalrymple.)

Update to Apple’s Podcasts App 

RIP skeuomorphic reel-to-reel tape deck.

Engadget: ‘J.D. Power: Average Smartphone Satisfaction Is Up, Fights Are Fierce for Second Place’ 

Further sign that Apple is in trouble: the iPhone topped JD Power’s smartphone satisfaction survey for the ninth consecutive time, but they couldn’t even warrant a mention in Engadget’s headline.

Apple Introduces Two-Step Verification for Apple ID and iCloud Accounts 

Finally.

Microsoft Backs Away From Flash Ban in IE 10 

Skating to where the puck used to be.

Journamalism at Its Best 

BBC News, “Apple Brand Less ‘Inspiring’, Survey Says”:

Smartphone rival Samsung is now seen as equally “inspiring” in the US, says the survey by consultancy Added Value.

Added Value is a subsidiary of WPP. WPP is Samsung’s ad agency. No mention of this in the story. Just reported as a legitimate unbiased survey. Stay classy, BBC News.

Update: The BBC subsequently added the following paragraph, but otherwise left the article as it stood:

AV is part of Sir Martin Sorrell’s marketing group WPP, whose clients include Samsung, Google and eBay.

The Case for a True Mac Pro Successor 

Another one from Siracusa:

Let’s talk about the Lexus LFA, a halo car developed by Toyota over the course of ten years. (Lexus is Toyota’s luxury nameplate.) When the LFA was finally released in 2010, it sold for around $400,000. A year later, only 90 LFAs had been sold. At the end of 2012, production stopped, as planned, after 500 cars. […]

The explanation for the apparent insanity of this product is actually very simple. Akio Toyoda, the CEO of Toyota, loves fast cars. He fucking loves them! That’s it.

Self-Reliance 

John Siracusa scores the mobile industry:

So who’s winning? When pondering this, I find myself thinking about dependencies. What is each company doing for itself, and in what ways does each company rely on others? I think this balance, much more than profits or market share, is what will determine long-term success. Let’s see how the players stack up.