Linked List: March 3, 2014

Monday, 3 March 2014

Om Malik:

These charts show that not only Whatsapp different, but it is exceptional and did well to capture the moment (i.e., rise of the mobile broadband) near perfectly. They are not just exceptional, they are a standout with highest rate of growth and getting to that point the fastest.

Some eye-opening numbers.

(And to think I was worried about seeing less of Om’s byline.)

iCloud Keychain Security Details ★

Rich Mogull, writing for TidBITS:

For the first time, we have extensive details on iCloud security. For security professionals like myself, this is like waking up and finding a pot of gold sitting on my keyboard. Along with some of the most impressive security I’ve ever seen, Apple has provided a way to make it impossible for agencies like the NSA to obtain your iCloud Keychain passwords.

The paper is incredibly dense, even getting to the level of detail of which flavor of particular encryption algorithms are used in which security controls. I will likely be digesting it for months, but one particular section contained an important nugget that explains why the NSA can’t snoop on your iCloud Keychain passwords.

Lukas Mathis on Windows 8 and the Microsoft Surface ★

Lukas Mathis:

A few months ago, I gave away my iPad, and replaced it with, of all things, a Microsoft Surface Pro 2.

Thoughtful and comprehensive review and analysis.

New Samsung Chromebooks Sport Faux Leather Finish, Including Fake Stitching ★

Again I say, perfect for people with no taste.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and iPhone Engineer Discuss Battery Technology ★

Speaking of Tesla, Apple, and their shared interest of battery technology.

Masters of Their Own Destiny ★

Great piece for Fast Company by Om Malik:

The strategy today is simple: In order to move fast, build what you can’t buy or risk losing control of your fate and becoming the next Palm, Motorola, or HTC. And if, in the process, you disrupt an Oracle or a Qualcomm? So be it.

The Apple-Tesla Connection ★

Fun back-of-the-envelope calculation from Jean-Louis Gassée:

It’s a rough estimate, but close enough for today’s purpose: Apple and Tesla need about the same tonnage of batteries this year.

Only ’90s Web Developers Remember This ★

Zach Holman:

1 × 1.gif should have won a fucking Grammy. Or a Pulitzer. Or Most Improved, Third Grade Gym Class or something. It’s the most important achievement in computer science since the linked list. It’s not the future we deserved, but it’s the future we needed (until the box model fucked it all up).

Nice trip down Memory Lane. For me, it was always “spacer.gif”. (Via Khoi Vinh.)

The Philadelphia Accent Fades Out ★

Great piece by Daniel Nester for the NYT:

The Philadelphia regional accent remains arguably the most distinctive, and least imitable, accent in North America. Let’s not argue about this. Ask anyone to do a Lawn Guyland accent or a charming Southern drawl and that person will approximate it. Same goes for a Texas twang or New Orleans yat, a Valley Girl totally omigod. Philly-South Jersey patois is a bit harder: No vowel escapes diphthongery, no hard consonant is safe from a mid-palate dent. Extra syllables pile up so as to avoid inconvenient tongue contact or mouth closure. If you forget to listen closely, the Philadelphia, or Filelfia, accent may sound like mumbled Mandarin without the tonal shifts.

The Very, Very Thin Wedge of Climate Change Denial ★

Phil Plait, writing for Slate:

Here’s the thing: If you listen to Fox News, or right-wing radio, or read the denier blogs, you’d have to think climate scientists were complete idiots to miss how fake global warming is. Yet despite this incredibly obvious hoax, no one ever publishes evidence exposing it. Mind you, scientists are a contrary lot. If there were solid evidence that global warming didn’t exist, or that CO2 emissions weren’t the culprit, there would be papers in the journals about it. Lots of them.

I base this on my own experience with contrary data in astronomy. In 1998, two teams of researchers found evidence that the expansion of the Universe was not slowing down, as expected, but actually speeding up. This idea is as crazy as holding a ball in your hand, letting go, and having it fall up, accelerating wildly into the sky. Yet those papers got published. They inspired lively discussion (to say the least) and motivated further observations. Careful, meticulous work was done to eliminate errors and confounding factors, until it became very clear that we were seeing an overturning of the previous paradigm. It took years, but now astronomers accept that the Universal expansion is accelerating and that dark energy is the culprit.

iOS CarPlay ★

Apple’s “iOS integrated with your car” initiative now has a name. Press release here.

The risk seems clear: Apple isn’t building the hardware in the cars. Color me skeptical that this is going to work smoothly. Also, no third-party app support — yet. Update: Actually, there are a handful of third-party apps — Beats Radio, iHeartRadio, Spotify, and Stitcher — but those are hand-picked partners. What I’m saying is there’s no way yet for any app in the App Store to present a CarPlay-specific interface.