Linked List: July 24, 2013

Wednesday, 24 July 2013

Not much green at the moment.

Jake Hebert, writing for the Institute for Creation Research:

ICR, together with the rest of the creation science movement, has made great strides in the last 40 years. In many areas, the superiority of the creation worldview has been clearly demonstrated. Even now, ICR is making exciting discoveries in the fields of biology and geology, and we have started new research initiatives in the field of astronomy. However, there is much work that still needs to be done, and this work is hindered by a lack of trained scientists.

Real shocker that trained scientists aren’t working for these guys. Shocker.

The Rebirth of Windows Mobile ★

Jean-Louis Gassée, writing a fictional memo from Steve Ballmer:

Our own unsuccessful attempts to enter the tablet market (Widows for Pen Computing in 1991, and the Tablet PC in 2002) lured us into thinking there was “no there there”. Because of this, we downplayed the impact of a new wave of devices from Apple and Android licensees.

Neither our PR campaign to negate the advent of a Post-PC era nor Frank Shaw’s valiant efforts to position the new devices as “PC Companions” has had any effect on the market. We even leveraged our long and cosy relationship with IDC and Gartner and got these to firms to create a dismissive category label for these new machines: media-consumption tablets — with the clear implication that they were unsuitable for business uses. All these exertions were for naught. For five consecutive quarters, we’ve watched PC sales decrease and tablet shipments skyrocket.

Jump, Edge, or Next: Which Mobile Carrier’s Early Upgrade Plan Screws You the Least? ★

The Verge:

The bottom line, then? If you’re going to upgrade your phone twice a year, every year, you could save money using T-Mobile Jump or Verizon Edge. (AT&T Next limits you to upgrading only once every year, and is a bad deal any way you slice it.) But buying new phones at that clip is a very expensive hobby and new top-tier devices don’t even come out that often. With the more likely scenario — one phone per year — you stand to save little to nothing by opting for any of these carriers’ new upgrade plans when you consider the resale value of your old phone. And if you don’t upgrade every 12 months you’ll be racking up huge charges for no reason.

Google Announces 70 Million Tablet Activations, Claims 1 in Every 2 Tablets Sold in 2013 Runs Android ★

I’m curious how Google squares these claims with all the usage share numbers that show Android tablets at far below 50 percent. Either the usage share numbers are wrong, or people just don’t use the Android tablets they buy.

Chromecast: $35 Streaming TV Dongle From Google ★

The “no remote control” aspect sounds annoying — I like that I can use an app on my phone to control Apple TV, but I only do so when I have to type a password or when I can’t find the actual remote. $35 is pretty damn cheap — the whole thing is a complete reversal of last year’s Nexus Q.

The Second-Generation Nexus 7 ★

323 pixels-per-inch display, and intriguingly multi-user support in Android. I know a lot of people who share family iPads who would love some sort of user accounts in iOS.

Twitter Fakes Tweets From Real Users to Promote Ad Platform ★

Jeff Elder, writing for SF Gate:

The users were not pleased when they saw these bogus tweets attributed to them for the first time – after the post went up.

“It’s disturbing and has no place,” says Neil Gottlieb, who was unaware the Twitter blog post featured a tweet with him saying, “What is the song in the new @barristabar commercial? I love it!!” Gottlieb who runs the medical animation company 3FX in Philadelphia said, “To use my image and fake a tweet is wrong and needs to be addressed.”

William Mazeo of Brazil was also unaware his profile pic was placed in the blog post with a phony tweet. The bogus tweet attributed to him read: “I wish I could make fancy lattes like in the @barristabar commercial.” When he saw the blog post for the first time he was surprised and angry.

Why didn’t they just find real users who were so excited about these ads that they honestly tweeted about them? Oh, wait.

Chitika: iPad Usage Share Surpasses 84 Percent ★

Chitika:

While there are a number of players in the tablet marketplace, Apple clearly dominates the market, further evidenced by analyst shipment estimates. As seen in the graph above, the iPad’s usage share advantage over its closest competitors is now nearly 80%. Most other players in the market exhibited month-over-month declines, with one notable exception being Barnes & Noble’s Nook.

When the only other tablet showing any growth at all is the Nook, that’s pretty good. (Those Surface numbers — ouch.)

Update: Worth noting that Chikita’s numbers are U.S.-only.

Beer Labels in Motion ★

Just what it says on the tin.