Linked List: October 4, 2014

Saturday, 4 October 2014

Tim Cook Issues Memo Marking the Third Anniversary of Steve Jobs’s Death ★

Tim Cook, in a company-wide memo (italics added):

Steve’s vision extended far beyond the years he was alive, and the values on which he built Apple will always be with us. Many of the ideas and projects we’re working on today got started after he died, but his influence on them — and on all of us — is unmistakeable.

I can’t help but think that bit is more a message to the outside world.

Intel Issues Statement on Gamasutra Advertising ★

Intel PR:

We take feedback from customers seriously. For the time being, Intel has decided not to continue with our current ad campaign on the gaming site Gamasutra. However, we recognize that our action inadvertently created a perception that we are somehow taking sides in an increasingly bitter debate in the gaming community. That was not our intent, and that is not the case.

As John Siracusa put it, that’s exactly the problem.

‘A Kind of Secure Golden Key’ ★

The Washington Post editorial board:

How to resolve this? A police “back door” for all smartphones is undesirable — a back door can and will be exploited by bad guys, too. However, with all their wizardry, perhaps Apple and Google could invent a kind of secure golden key they would retain and use only when a court has approved a search warrant.

Just use their magic to help the good guys. Maybe if Apple and Google can’t figure this out, they can get help from the computer science department at Hogwarts.