Linked List: July 22, 2013

Monday, 22 July 2013

Comic Books and iPads 

Gregory Schmidt, reporting for the NYT:

ComiXology, which has become one of the biggest distributors of digital comic books, hit a milestone in June when it reached 180 million unique comic book downloads since it started business in 2009, said David Steinberger, the company’s chief executive, and a co-founder. Of those downloads, 80 million were in the last six months.

Great app, and such a great fit for the retina iPads.

Victory Lap for Ask Patents 

Joel Spolsky:

My dream is that when big companies hear about how friggin’ easy it is to block a patent application, they’ll use Ask Patents to start messing with their competitors. How cool would it be if Apple, Samsung, Oracle and Google got into a Mexican Standoff on Ask Patents? If each of those companies had three or four engineers dedicating a few hours every day to picking off their competitors’ applications, the number of granted patents to those companies would grind to a halt. Wouldn’t that be something!

‘Nate Silver Went Against the Grain for Some at the Times’ 

NYT Public Editor Margaret Sullivan:

I don’t think Nate Silver ever really fit into the Times culture and I think he was aware of that. He was, in a word, disruptive. Much like the Brad Pitt character in the movie “Moneyball” disrupted the old model of how to scout baseball players, Nate disrupted the traditional model of how to cover politics.

Traditional model: mostly bullshit.

Nate Silver: facts.

That there was this much resistance to Silver within the Times is a bad sign. Also a bad sign: that so many within the Times see such a difference between print and online.

Verizon iPhone Growth 

Yoni Heisler, TUAW:

But then a funny thing happened. Last week, Verizon reported its earnings results from Q2 2013 and the results were better than what most analysts were expecting. Last quarter, Verizon activated 7.5 million smartphones, of which 3.8 million units were iPhones. Put differently, nearly 51% of all smartphones Verizon activated last quarter were iPhones.

That’s pretty impressive, but the folks on Wall St. don’t care so much about product share as they do about overall growth.

To that end, the 3.8 million iPhones Verizon activated this past quarter far eclipsed the 2.7 million units it sold during Q2 of 2012. Year over year, iPhone activations on Verizon grew by 40.7%.

Not a big story because it doesn’t fit the narrative of the “slowing smartphone market.” What I think is happening: the more people understand smartphones, the more likely they are to choose an iPhone.

Dubai Pardons Norwegian Woman Jailed for Being Raped 

Good news, but it’s sick that this ever got so far.

Google Buys Stake in Glass Hardware Maker 

Ingrid Lunden, AOL/TechCrunch:

Google’s stake is a sign that Glass production is ramping up: the company says that the investment is being made to “fund production upgrades, expand capacity and further enhance production capabilities.”

Andy Rubin, back in 2009:

“We’re not making hardware. We’re enabling other people to build hardware.”

Remember that idea that Google has been getting better at what Apple does best (native app user experience) faster than Apple is getting better at what Google does best (online services)? There’s some truth to that when you only consider software; but when it comes to hardware, no way. I’ve seen Glass, and whatever you think of the concept, build-quality-wise, it’s not even in the same ballpark as an Apple product, especially considering the price. Google has a long road ahead if hardware is central to their future plans.

Ibrahim Balic, the Security Researcher Who Claims Responsibility for Dev Center Breach 

Good news if he’s as scrupulous as he claims, but it’s absurd that he’s offended that Apple is treating this as a breach. Someone from outside Apple accessed and downloaded information from 100,000 Dev Center accounts — that’s a breach.

Microsoft Misses, Takes a $900 Million Charge on Surface RT Stock 

John Paczkowski:

A stumbling miss that includes a $900 million charge thanks to Surface RT inventory adjustments. That write-down, which is evidently driven by the Surface RT price reduction Microsoft announced earlier this week is worth $0.07 per share. Accounting for that, earnings per share are 66 cents, which is still far below expectations.

Bad news, for which Microsoft is already paying dearly. The company’s shares are trading down 4 percent as I write this.

My big question: Do they double down with a Surface RT 2, or abandon ship?