Linked List: July 17, 2013

Wednesday, 17 July 2013

PourOver for App.net 

New from App.net: a super-simple service for publishing an RSS feed. If you’re using App.net, you can now use it to follow Daring Fireball.

(Unlike the @daringfireball Twitter feed, the App.net one points at the link destination, not the entry on Daring Fireball. That’s the downside of using an automated service like PourOver. I’m not sure there are enough people using App.net to make it worth my while to work around this.)

Update: App.net has added a new “Linked List” advanced setting that makes PourOver work properly for a feed like DF’s. Nice work. They’ve also set up this code that lets anyone sign up for a free App.net account that auto-follows @daringfireball.

What Netflix Does 

Tumblr dedicated to movies on Netflix that have been cropped, in some cases severely.

Glass, Home, and Solipsism 

Benedict Evans:

When I was watching the launch event for Facebook Home, a loud alarm bell started ringing for me when Mark Zuckerberg said words to the effect that “phones should be about more than apps - they should be about people” — by which of course he meant “about Facebook”. The problem with this is that actually, we’ve spent the last 6 years making phones about more than just people. People use Facebook on their phones a LOT, yes, but they do a lot of other things as well. If all I wanted was a phone about people I’d be using a $20 Nokia with a battery that lasts a month.

The same point, I think, applies to Google Glass. If you spend all day in the Googleplex, thinking googly thoughts about data ingestion and Now and the interest graph, then having ‘Google’ hovering in front of your eyes instead of rubbing on a phone seems like a really obvious progression.

What a great connection. Corporate solipsism is exactly right.

Farhad Manjoo Tries Switching to Android 

Farhad Manjoo, after trying the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One, both with the default carrier software and their $600 “Pure Google” versions:

But you shouldn’t have to delete stuff just to get your phone looking like you want it. Plus, I suspect that many users probably don’t even know how to delete these apps, so they just sit there, clogging up the home screen.

The worst thing about Android phones isn’t the crapware, though. It’s the “skins” — the modifications that phone companies make to Android’s most basic features, including the dialing app, contacts, email, the calendar, the notification system, and the layout of the home screen. If you get the Play edition of these phones, you’ll see Google’s version of each of these apps, and you’ll come away impressed by Google’s tasteful, restrained, utilitarian design sense. But if, like most people, you get your phone for $199 from a carrier, you’ll find everything in it is a frightful mess.

In short, the best Android phones are ones that few people buy.

Apple’s Answer on Upgrade Pricing 

David Smith:

Logic Pro X is a Major (with a capital M) update to their professional audio editing suite. It appears to represent a significant investment in both time and resources. So how is it being sold, especially to people who already paid $200 for the previous version (Logic Pro 9)? It is a separate app download with a full cost purchase. No upgrades, no introductory pricing, just straight forward sale.

I’d say that this is the best indication of Apple’s intentions and expectations for the App Stores going forward.