- On this day in 1996, Apple acquired NeXT – Fifteen years ago today Apple effectively started its upward trajectory.
- Why big companies can’t change – "At the polar opposite position from big industrial companies sit startups, nearly every one of which begins with an effortless expression of why? Big companies ask What? then How? but almost never Why?"
- Christopher Hitchens, 1949-2011 – "I’m not going to say R.I.P. I don’t think Christopher Hitchens is at rest. I don’t think there is anything left of him to rest. I think he is dead. But tonight, I’ll be raising a glass of Scotch in his honor. The world is a better place because he was in it, and it is a sadder, less interesting place now that he’s not."
- The Rise and Fall of the Independent Developer – "My fear is that It’s only a matter of time before developers find the risks and expenses prohibitive and retreat to the safety of a larger organization. We’ll be going back to square one."
- The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s choice is beyond belief – "But what these cases illustrate is that in certain areas compromise is not possible because the rights of different minorities are mutually exclusive. When one group refuses to fulfil its job description because it disapproves of another group, there is no middle ground, no give and take."
- Turnabout is fair play – "This is so wonderfully, evilly devious. Superficially, it seems to support creationist methods—but what it actually is is a grand reductio ad absurdam."
- Google’s Business Model – Who is the customer and what is the product? (via @daringfireball)
- Björk: ‘Manchester is the prototype’ – "Biophilia is the Icelandic singer's new project – the word means 'love of living things' – and promises to push the envelope so far you'll need the Hubble telescope to see it."
- ‘should be cheaper than free’ – "I’m angry at the customers who send me nasty emails or reviews, threatening me with ‘telling Apple to remove it’ or rating it 1 star with a ’should be cheaper than free’ remark because after paying the ridiculously exorbitant 99c, they found it didn’t live up to expectations. "
- Hurdie Ho! – Maybe you had to be there and read the copy of Your Sinclair that this was originally published in, but this still makes me laugh.
- Museum looks at 2000-year history of the computer – The Computer History Museum was excellent even before this new exhibit. Recommended.
- iPad App Pricing – Nice analysis of iPad and iPhone application pricing.
- The Value of Ideas – "Ideas are worthless. Execution is everything." Or actions speak louder than words.
- The IBM Muppet Show – "IBM. The Muppets. Two venerable institutions-but not ones we tend to associate with each other. Yet in the late 1960s, before most people had ever seen a computer in person or could identify a Muppet on sight, the two teamed up when IBM contracted with Jim Henson for a series of short films designed to help its sales staff."
- Tits and Apps – About most of the 'sexy' iPhone apps being pulled last weekend: "What developers see is that the App Store is a shaky foundation upon which to build a business. One day you’re prospering, the next day your app is gone. There are awesome iPhone OS apps that aren’t being built because developers don’t trust Apple not to yank the carpet out from underneath them."
- Infer.NET – Seen at the BCS/IET Turing Lecture by Chris Bishop. Looks interesting.
- Sources offer peek at Adobe Creative Suite 5 for Mac – PhotoShop CS5: what do you do to the app that has everything? Not a lot, visually at least…
- Senior City-zens: The World's 10 Oldest Still-Inhabited Cities – "I grew up in Europe, where the history comes from." Maybe Eddie Izzard should have gone with "I was born in the middle east, where the really old history comes from."
- Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule – If you can't actually avoid meetings, then at least try to schedule them so you can maximise your productivity. Rings true…
- There’s a pretty significant problem in the new… – I'm starting to expect Graham Chapman to burst in at any second and announce that this is getting far too silly. Apparently any iPhone app that allows "unfiltered internet access," everything from web browsers to Twitter clients to, presumably, delicious.com clients, now requires a 17+ rating.