Linked List: October 29, 2013

Tuesday, 29 October 2013

Second-Gen Google Glass Looks Even Dorkier Than the Original ★: And here’s a sneak peek at a prototype of the upcoming third-gen model.
Motorola Ara: Modular Phone Design ★: Remember that Phonebloks concept design I linked to last month? Ends up Motorola has been working on something along those lines. I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for this to actually produce a competitive device, but it’s certainly an intriguing idea.
The Great Apple Lull ★: Dan Frommer:

And it’s not that Apple has stopped innovating. One particularly impressive feat — which will never get the appreciation it deserves — is that in half a decade, Apple has scaled from a company that can reliably design, produce, sell, and support 75 million gadgets in a year to one that can move that many in three months. (The first time Apple sold 9 million iPhones in a quarter was three years ago — September, 2010. This year, it shipped 9 million iPhones in a single weekend.) This despite increasing competence and competition from Google, Samsung, Amazon, and Microsoft.

But where Apple has disappointed recently is in novelty, or surprise. Perhaps this is unfair, but it’s real. Apple became the company that delivered “new”. People got used to hearing about new stuff all the time — iPod nanos, iPhones, MacBook Airs, iPads — and now it seems like it’s been a while. The more people got, the more they wanted.
No, Apple’s Not Trying to ‘Bust Your Phone’ ★: This is what the world has come to: the New York Times is printing jacktastic nonsense in its Sunday magazine, alleging that Apple purposefully sets old iPhones to slow down and lose battery life when new iPhone models hit the market; and it’s up to Gizmodo to set them straight. Cats are chasing dogs.