Linked List: July 23, 2013

Tuesday, 23 July 2013

Google Hosts Fundraiser for Climate Change Denying US Senator ★

Don’t be evil.

Apple’s No-Growth Q3 2013 in Charts ★

Speaking of Dan Frommer, here’s his graphical take on Apple’s quarterly results.

New episode of my podcast, The Talk Show, with special guest Dan Frommer. Topics include the future of television, our experiences as iOS app developers, App Store strategies, and crazy top-level domains.

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Apple Reports Q3 2013 Results ★

Revenue flat, profits down on lower margins:

The Company sold 31.2 million iPhones, a record for the June quarter, compared to 26 million in the year-ago quarter. Apple also sold 14.6 million iPads during the quarter, compared to 17 million in the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 3.8 million Macs, compared to 4 million in the year-ago quarter.

Remember that last year, the iPad 3 was brand-new in Q3. I wonder though, if we’ve reached the peak for Mac sales.

Virginia Governor GOP Candidate Ken Cuccinelli Launches Website That Pushes for Reinstatement of State’s Anti-Sodomy Law ★

Speaking of religious nutjobs in government seeking to criminalize sexual behavior, this guy in Virginia is proudly touting his support for criminalizing oral and anal sex.

90 Ads on a Web Page ★

Brian Morrissey, writing for Digiday:

Kristina Tipton, VP of marketing at CafeMom, called the page and those like it “a very small part of our business. We’re always looking for new ways to monetize our business.” And one way to monetize is to load a page with an ad for every five words of editorial content.

The best part: Digiday itself runs scummy Taboola ads.

Update: Morrissey, via Twitter, says Digiday only uses Taboola for internal links, not ads.

Behind the Headlines of the Marte Deborah Dalelv Dubai Sex Case ★

What a bizarre story.

Update: Maybe take the whole “facts” thing here with a grain of salt — The National newspaper is owned by the United Arab Emirites government. And even if all true, there’s a bizarre “well, if it wasn’t rape, of course she was sentenced to a prison term” angle to the story. Dubai should not be seen as a tourist destination.

Al Qaeda Militants Flee Iraq Jail in Violent Mass Break-Out ★

Kareem Raheem and Ziad al-Sinjary, reporting for Reuters:

Hundreds of convicts, including senior members of al Qaeda, broke out of Iraq’s Abu Ghraib jail as comrades launched a military-style assault to free them, authorities said on Monday.

The deadly raid on the high-security jail happened as Sunni Muslim militants are gaining momentum in their insurgency against the Shi’ite-led government that came to power after the U.S. invasion to oust Saddam Hussein.

Like something out of a Jerry Bruckheimer movie. Seems like this should be a bigger news story.

MLB Suspends Ryan Braun for Rest of Year ★

ESPN:

After MLB’s original meeting with Braun on June 29, at which he refused to answer questions about Biogenesis, he requested a second meeting, a source familiar with the discussions told T.J. Quinn of ESPN’s “Outside The Lines.” Braun, after realizing the significance of the evidence against him from questions in the first meeting, decided to meet again to strike a deal that would limit his suspension to this season, according to the source.

It is because of that deal that Braun’s suspension was announced Monday, the source told Quinn. The plan remains for the rest of the suspensions stemming from the investigation to be announced all at once.

Those suspensions will include injured New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez, with the source saying the evidence against Rodriguez is “far beyond” what MLB had on Braun. The length of Rodriguez’s suspension is expected to be affected by MLB’s belief that he interfered with the investigation.

Disgraceful.

National Geographic’s Cartographic Typefaces ★

Distinctive and timeless.

The Prototypical Pre-Apple-Earnings News Story ★

This piece from the AP is just a perfect encapsulation of the current media narrative for Apple. It’s like a paint-by-numbers story, right down to the question mark in the headline:

The report, due out after the stock market closes Tuesday, is expected to show that Apple Inc. is making less money as more customers buy its lower-priced iPhones and iPads instead of the top-of-the-line models. Other consumers increasingly are bypassing Apple products altogether as smartphones and tablet computers running Google’s Android software win more fans.

The first sentence in that paragraph is true: Apple’s profits are down because their margins are down. The second sentence fits the narrative but not the facts; the fact is, Apple is selling more iPhones and iPads than ever.

Android phone and tablet sales are growing, but in conjunction with iPhone and iPad growth, not at their expense.