Linked List: February 24, 2014

Monday, 24 February 2014

A Thousand No’s for Every Yes 

Worth a re-link, in the wake of that last item — and for anyone who thinks Facebook buying WhatsApp or any other distraction implies some sort of missed opportunity on Apple’s part.

This short film, first shown at the opening of the WWDC 2013 keynote, is not empty marketing rhetoric or pap. It’s one of the most honest pieces of communication I’ve ever seen from Apple. This is what the company believes. And insofar as it is about feeling as much as thinking, it requires more than prose to express. It requires cinema.

And also insofar as it is about feeling as much as thinking, it sails right over the heads of the Vulcans who populate much of the tech and investor commentariat.

Microsoft Is Wrapping Mobile Websites and Calling Them Apps 

Blair Hanley Frank, reporting for GeekWire:

The new Redfin app for Microsoft’s Windows Phone promises to deliver the core features of the online real estate service, including the ability to search for homes to rent or buy, research neighborhoods, and find an agent. But unlike Redfin’s 4.5-star apps for iPhone and Android, this app gets a 2.5-star rating, and a string of negative reviews.

“Mediocre experience at best,” says one reviewer. “Please get the real app.”

As it turns out, this isn’t a native Windows Phone app — and it wasn’t made by Redfin. It was developed by Microsoft, by packaging up Redfin’s mobile website in the form of an installable app. In fact, the existence of the Redfin app for Windows Phone was a surprise to Redfin.

Just embarrassing.

Samsung Unveils Galaxy S5 

The perfect phone for people with no taste. Garish design — both hardware and software. The gold version (shocker) is exactly what made people cringe when the gold iPhone was first rumored.

Water-resistance is a legitimate step forward in the state of the art, though. I know there’ve been other water-resistant phones, but none that will sell as well as the S5. This is one area where Apple is behind. A good solution to this problem, though, has got to involve something better than a flap over the USB port.

Claim chowder-wise, so much for the reports a few weeks ago that it would sport a 560 ppi display.

Harold Ramis Dies at 69 

So many great movies — both as a writer and director. Among my favorites, the ones that hold up the best: Caddyshack, Animal House, and National Lampoon’s Vacation. But his masterpiece was Groundhog Day, which I consider one of the most underrated movies ever made.

Worth Waiting 

Speaking of Steve Jobs’s birthday, Tim Cook tweets:

Remembering Steve on his birthday: “Details matter, it’s worth waiting to get it right.”

That’s Apple in a nut.

Begging for App Ratings 

Speaking of The Loop magazine, I agree almost entirely with this piece from Wil Shipley, on “Rate This App” prompts in apps:

So good sense is required here. Part of the problem is that Apple hasn’t provided developers with any APIs to tell if users have rated our apps, or to make it possible for users to rate apps inside the app itself. This would obviously make it less intrusive for users.

Since Apple resets apps’ ratings with every tiny release, developers find themselves wanting to ask users over and over for ratings, since they get wiped out all the time. But no customer should be asked to rate an app twice — it’s like that clueless waiter asking a customer to tip twice.

After months of debate on this, my stance is mostly unchanged. But it’s worth clarifying what the problem is. The problem isn’t asking for a review (although it is a little uncouth, even once). The problem is asking repeatedly, with every single new version of the app. The correct solution is to put a “Rate This App” button or link next to your contact and support links, and but if you do prompt the user for the review with a dialog box, do it once and only once.

And as Shipley ably describes, the root problem is with Apple’s App Store design. It’s the App Store that resets an app’s ratings with each and every release. And it’s the App Store that makes ratings so essential to success. They’ve created a system that is easily gamed, and so, inevitably, some developers are gaming the system.

The Loop Magazine: Memories of Steve Jobs 

Jim Dalrymple:

I have a tremendous amount of respect for Steve Jobs and everything he did in his life, so I wanted to put together an issue of The Loop Magazine dedicated to Steve and his accomplishments. What better day to publish it than on Steve’s birthday.

Worth it for the stories from Don Melton alone, but the whole issue is good.

John Dingell to Retire After Nearly 60 Years in Congress 

Ashley Parker, reporting for The New York Times:

Representative John D. Dingell, Democrat of Michigan and the longest-serving member of Congress in history, announced on Monday that he would not seek re-election at the end of his current term.

Mr. Dingell’s retirement, first announced by Detroit newspapers and confirmed by Democratic leadership aides, will come at the end of this year — the end of his 29th full term — and represents the end of a historic tenure in the House that began in 1955. That year, Mr. Dingell, at the age of 29, succeeded his father after he died.

Think about that career: he started in Congress during the first term of the Eisenhower administration. This short video interview is good too, albeit rather depressing regarding his views on the ever-growing influence of money in politics.

Update: Philip Klein on the span of Dingell’s career:

Dingell was elected in the year Marty McFly visited his parents and final term ends in the year McFly travels to the future to save his kids.

Flappy Bird for Commodore 64 

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