Linked List: November 1, 2013

Friday, 1 November 2013

From the DF Archive: More on Google and Patents ★

Yours truly, two years ago:

And yes, there are some who will argue that there are no “worthy patents”, that the entire U.S. patent system should simply be abolished. That’s not going to happen. Google’s blog post comes across as whining that Apple and Microsoft (Microsoft especially) aren’t sitting back and allowing Android to destroy their businesses. Maybe the patent system should be killed. It certainly should be reformed. But these are the laws we have. Google’s ace in this fight: search revenue. Microsoft’s ace: its patent library. You fight with what you have.

Two thoughts.

First, the dynamite in Rockstar’s suit against Google filed yesterday is that it is going after Google’s search revenue.

Second, it’s cute how even I thought, just two years ago, that Google was pursuing a mobile patents portfolio only for “defensive” purposes.

iOS 7 and the Iconography of ‘Alien’ ★

Dave Brasgalla, The Iconfactory:

It makes me smile to think that 35-year-old designs can suddenly feel current and even trendy again. It’s tempting to say that Cobb was ahead of his time with his Semiotic Standard, but I think the larger point here is simply that good design is timeless.

Asymco: Advertising Budgets Over the Years for a Few Companies ★

Bookmark this chart for the next time someone tries to tell you that Apple’s success is just “marketing”.

JD Power Explains Why Samsung Beat Apple in Its Latest Tablet Study: Price ★

Matthew Panzarino:

So I reached out to JD Power and spoke to Kirk Parsons, senior director of telecommunications services. What he told us wasn’t too surprising, but may help clear up some of the confusion. First off, the ‘power circle’ chart that’s being widely circulated is simply a visual tool, and not representative of the actual scores given to the brands evaluated in its survey.

The power circle chart showed Apple winning handily in four categories including performance, ease of use, physical design and tablet features. Only one category showed a clear win for Samsung: cost. But most folks were a bit skeptical, considering that the JD Power report only weights cost as 16% of the overall score.

‘Every’ ★

Headline from The Verge, yesterday at 2 PM: “Android 4.4 KitKat: Google’s Simpler, Integrated Operating System Designed for Every Phone”.

Headline from The Verge, yesterday at 3:30 PM: “Google Says the Galaxy Nexus Will Not Be Upgraded to Android 4.4 KitKat”.

Lucida Grande ‘Retina-Optimized’ in OS X Mavericks ★

Apple, sweating the details.