Linked List: September 8, 2015

Tuesday, 8 September 2015

TechCrunch: ‘Periscope Is Secretly Building an Apple TV App’ ★

Two thoughts:

This sort of thing could be what’s been missing from all previous living room boxes — a way for a company that’s hustling, like Periscope, to bring something new to the game. Simply put: what the App Store did for phones, maybe it can do for the living room.
There’s a bit of irony here, given that Periscope has helped popularize vertical (portrait) video, and most people I know keep their TVs in landscape.

The Macalope takes a look at a Fortune piece headlined “Why Android Wear Will Give the Apple Watch a Run for Its Money”.

iPhone users won’t be able to download third-party apps either, though this should be less of a dealbreaker.

Sure, who likes downloading apps? Practically nobody. Most of those “billions of apps downloaded” numbers Apple likes to report come from one guy in Duluth, Minnesota.

This guy has it completely backwards. The tight integration required between today’s smartwatches and their tethered phones means that anything other than a first-party solution is going to be rough going. Apple Watch only works with iPhone, and iOS is tied down such that no other smartwatch is going to offer a competitive experience for iPhone users.

Like I wrote two weeks ago, this is why I think the stakes are higher for Apple with the new Apple TV this year than they were for Apple Watch last year. Set-top boxes aren’t integrated with your phone. An iPhone user can freely choose a Roku or Fire TV or Chromecast and have a great experience. Apple TV has to be excellent, on its own, for it to succeed.

There’s Nothing Like an Impending Apple Event to Bring the Jackasses Out of the Woodwork ★

Matt Krantz, writing for USA Today under the headline “Apple’s Latest iPhone 6S Is Already a Bore”:

Other new products including the iPad, Apple Watch and Apple Music have failed to meaningfully diversify the company’s offerings — especially profitability.

Is the iPad iPhone-like in profitability? No — but nothing else on the planet is, either. I think most companies, including Apple, would love to add a new product with iPad-sized profits their offerings.

Apple Watch has been on the market for a grand total of four months, and has yet to see its first holiday quarter. Apple Music launched two months ago and every single person using it is still within the three month trial period. Where do they find people like this guy?

‘But by Being Hit You Become Bigger, and That Makes You Feel Really Happy.’ ★

So great: Shigeru Miyamoto explains the design of level 1-1 in Super Mario Bros.

Gizmodo: ‘The Real Reason Netflix Won’t Offer Offline Downloads’ ★

Gerald Lynch, writing for Gizmodo:

Netflix however remains firm in its stance that it’s not going to offer offline downloads through its mobile applications, even in the face of competition from its rival. But why?

According to Neil Hunt, Netflix’s Chief Product Officer, Netflix users won’t be able to handle the complexity the added choice will bring.

“I still don’t think it’s a very compelling proposition,” said Hunt, speaking to Gizmodo UK at the IFA tradeshow in Berlin.

“I think it’s something that lots of people ask for. We’ll see if it’s something lots of people will use. Undoubtedly it adds considerable complexity to your life with Amazon Prime — you have to remember that you want to download this thing. It’s not going to be instant, you have to have the right storage on your device, you have to manage it, and I’m just not sure people are actually that compelled to do that, and that it’s worth providing that level of complexity.”

This amused me greatly, as I read it while flying across the continent. Without even standing up, I see at least four passengers watching movies they’d downloaded to their iPads and MacBooks. Air travel alone is a compelling use case for offline video, but I think cellular data caps are an important factor too.

Complexity isn’t the reason why Netflix doesn’t allow offline viewing. It’s just their excuse for not having it yet. It’s right out of the Steve Jobs handbook: something you don’t offer is a terrible idea, until you offer it yourself, at which point you explain why your solution is the first to get it right.

‘An Action Movie Driven Almost Exclusively by Words’ ★

Pete Hammond, writing for Deadline after the Telluride premiere of Steve Jobs:

Boyle said the script is 200 pages and it is densely filled with the kind of dialogue only Sorkin seems to specialize in these days. It’s actually thrilling to listen to, an action movie driven almost exclusively by words, a rare thing for sure in today’s visually driven cinema. Boyle told me at the 221 South Oak dinner after-party that it was unlike anything he had ever done before, and a bear to edit due to Sorkin’s precise style of writing. His direction is flawless and really keeps this thing moving, avoiding the static pace it might have been in lesser hands. The result is well worth it, and those magical words provided lots of opportunity for great acting performances led by Michael Fassbender’s spot-on and relentless portrayal of the not-very-likable computer genius.

Sounds so great.

How to Set the Size of Finder Windows, and Other Tips ★

Christopher Phin:

To have Finder windows in OS X open at a consistent size and location, open a new Finder window, resize it to how you want, then, and this is the important bit, close it again before you do anything else. Just open the window, resize and reposition it, then close it. Don’t click icons inside it. Now, subsequent new windows will be at the same size and position.

Vintage 2012 Henry Blodget Claim Chowder ★

Henry Blodget, three years ago:

Over the past few days, the latest round of purported pictures of Apple’s forthcoming iPhone 5 have hit the web. And I can’t be the only potential customer who is deflated by what they see.

In fact, I’ll go far enough to say that, if the iPhone 5 looks like the pictures that have recently appeared, Apple may be screwed.

Why? Because the “iPhone 5” looks pretty much like the iPhone 4S. Which looked exactly like the iPhone 4, a phone that is now two years old.

Those pictures looked exactly like what the iPhone 5 turned out to be. Good call, Henry.