Linked List: December 12, 2014

Friday, 12 December 2014

‘Holiday Johns’ 

I made a special guest appearance on Turning This Car Around, with my pals John Moltz and Jon Armstrong (listed in order of who spells their first name the better way).

The Financial Times Person of the Year: Tim Cook 

Tim Bradshaw and Richard Waters, writing for the FT:

More than an hour into Apple’s annual shareholder meeting in February, Tim Cook had patiently fielded questions ranging from its plans for the television market to what he thought of Google Glass. But when one audience member tried to push Apple’s chief executive on the profitability of Apple’s various environmental initiatives, such as its solar-powered data centre, Mr Cook snapped.

“We do things for other reasons than a profit motive, we do things because they are right and just,” Mr Cook growled. Whether in human rights, renewable energy or accessibility for people with special needs, “I don’t think about the bloody ROI,” Mr Cook said, in the same stern, uncompromising tone that Apple employees hope they never have to hear. “Just to be very straightforward with you, if that’s a hard line for you … then you should get out of the stock.”

That’s the lead of their article, and I think it’s a great choice — the most telling impromptu public moment of Tim Cook’s year.

Top 10 Things to Love About Letterman’s Top Ten Lists 

Great piece by Ben Blatt for Slate:

In May, when Letterman steps down and hand the reigns of the Late Show to Stephen Colbert, the Top Ten List will likely retire with him. Before Letterman counts down for the last time, I wanted to commemorate one of the longest running comedy routines in late-night history by trying to learn more about its inner workings: how it’s crafted, how it comments on our culture and politics, and how it’s evolved since the mid-1980s. How do Letterman’s writers start a list, and how do they end one? What kind of jokes work best in the Top Ten format? What kind of jokes don’t work at all? Which political figures have found their way onto the list most often? And what’s with all the Regis references?

To answer these questions, I performed a statistical analysis of every Top Ten List ever read on the air by Letterman.

The Wrist Business 

Joe Cieplinski, on why he’s decided against developing WatchKit extensions:

  • Third, I’m talking about right now. Does it make sense to build a Watch app today, given what we know and what we have at our disposal? All of this could change in a few months, years, etc. What I want to know is what I should be doing right now to benefit my bottom line.

Me, I find it difficult to imagine what it’s like to actually wear and use an Apple Watch. If I designed software for it now, I expect that after the watches come out and I actually use one, I’d want to redesign/rewrite whatever I’d already done. I’m sure there will be some cool third-party extensions available on day one, but I don’t think developers will lose anything in the long run by taking a wait-and-see stance at this point.