Linked List: September 25, 2013

Wednesday, 25 September 2013

Instagram for iOS 7 

Nice job overall, but I think making avatars (a.k.a. profile pictures) circular is a mistake. Sure, that’s what Apple is doing with them in Messages and Contacts, but I don’t think there’s anything inherently 7-y about circular avatars. And for Instagram in particular, it breaks a certain elegance — your avatar was the same thing as a post, a square image.

Update: For a perfect example, look no further than Instagram’s own company account avatar.

Amazon’s Kindle Fire HDX and Android 

J.R. Raphael:

Here’s what it boils down to, gang: The Amazon Kindle Fire HDX products are Amazon media devices — not Android tablets. You lose much of the power and versatility of Android but gain the simplicity of Amazon’s own Amazon-centric vision. It’s a completely different ecosystem and environment — which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, so long as that’s what you want.

Raphael is exactly right, but it’s been obvious ever since the first Kindle tablet that Amazon had no interest in the greater Android ecosystem. “Android” is just an implementation detail, from Amazon’s perspective. Amazon’s press release for the new tablets doesn’t mention “Android” even once. They call the OS “Fire OS”, and the only mention they make of Android on the Fire OS web page is this:

New Kindle Fire tablets are powered by the latest version of Fire OS — Fire OS 3.0 “Mojito”, which starts with Android and adds cloud services, a content-forward user interface, built-in media libraries, productivity apps, and low-level platform enhancements to integrate Amazon’s digital content and improve performance for Kindle Fire tablets.

Apple Denies Paying EA to Keep Plants vs. Zombies 2 an iOS Exclusive 

Patrick Klepek, reporting for Giant Bomb:

When these deals are made in the games industry, it’s often a co-marketing deal, not a briefcase full of cash. It’s possible Gibeau meant this but chose his words poorly. When asked whether Apple and EA had brokered an agreement regarding iOS exclusivity, the company would not disclose any details on its relationships.

This — an exchange of App Store promotional placement in exchange for a period of exclusivity — is almost certainly what is going on. Not sure why this has turned into a big story, though. Are people actually surprised that Apple cares about iOS exclusive titles? Are people surprised that App Store promotional placement for a game like Plants vs. Zombies is worth “a truckload of money”?

Update: Good piece by Matthew Panzarino on this kerfuffle.

‘Mayday’ – Live Tech Support for New Kindle Tablets 

Amazon:

Simply tap the “Mayday” button to be connected for free to an Amazon expert who can co-pilot you through any feature by drawing on your screen, walking you through how to do something yourself, or doing it for you — whatever works best. Mayday is available 24 × 7, 365 days a year, and it’s free. Throughout the process, you will be able to see your Amazon Tech advisor live on your screen, but they won’t see you. 15 seconds or less is the Mayday response time goal.

Simply amazing, if it works as promised. Not sure how something like this could scale for tens of millions of customers, though.

Nokia/Elop Saga Gets Even Better 

Tero Kuittinen, writing for BGR:

Tuesday night’s big drama in Finnish media circles is being driven by the Helsingin Sanomat scoop that Elop is resisting Nokia’s pleas to reduce his bonus because he is getting divorced. Apparently Mr. Elop believes he cannot make his wife accept a reduction in the $25 million severance package.

Samsung: Introducing the New Galaxy S4 Gold Edition 

Only thing surprising about this is that it took them this long.