- The Mac App Store: It’s an honor thing – “Apple’s approach is simple. It’s an honor thing. The company believes that, given the choice, people will do the right thing. It also understands that anti-piracy techniques don’t stop pirates, but they do get in the way of honest users.”
- Nokia’s 15-year tango to avoid Microsoft – “[PC manufacturers] found it wasn’t worth the effort to differentiate their PCs from the competition, in what had become a commodity business.” The reason’s behind Nokia’s original decision not to licence code from Microsoft in the nineties hasn’t really changed, which makes today a sad day.
- Doctor Who Infographic – Everything you ever wanted to know about Dr Who but were too afraid to ask…
- The rise and rise of the cognitive elite – “It seems unfair that footballers, bankers and tycoons earn more money than they know what to do with whereas jobless folk and single parents struggle to pay the rent, notes Mr Saunders. Yet it also seems unfair to take money from those who have worked hard and give it to those who have not, or to take away the profits of those who have risked their life savings to bring a new invention to market in order to help those who have risked nothing.”
- Jaguar E-Type turns 50 – Some designs can stand the test of time. The Jaguar E-Type is one of them.
- iOS Debugging Magic – Some great iOS debugging hints.
- How the iPhone mail app decides when to show you new mail – This is a really cool, very subtle detail seen in the Mail app on the iPhone.
- The end of the net as we know it – “ISPs are threatening to cripple websites that don’t pay them first.” ISP’s want to be considered common carriers (i.e., not responsible for the content on their network) when it suits them and also charge more for some data. Surely they have to pick one?
It’s hard to explain to someone who is not already a programmer the kinds of things that you have to do when building an application. The thing you’re trying to explain is often very abstract and the answer frequently would involve lots of code.
That’s why I thought this particular problem might make an interesting discussion. In talking about this very simple problem we can talk about the things that developers deal with every day and, hopefully, the process can be followed by most people who have used an iPhone (or, actually, any computer). You won’t be a programmer at the end but you might have a greater appreciation for what happens behind the scenes.
- ‘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.
- Bull’s-Eyes and Crosshairs – “She’s not responsible for what happened. Jared Loughner is. But she is responsible for her own words and campaign material.”
The short version of this post is: congratulation to the happy couple! Enjoy your honeymoon and see you when you get back. The longer version follows…
A month ago I drove up to the midlands for a wedding where I had been asked to be the photographer. It’s not the first time that this has happened but it is the first time that I’ve been the “official” photographer and it’s also the first time where the wedding has been in a church, white dress, limo and all.
A few people asked me what I wanted for Christmas. As ever I couldn’t think of anything and facetiously suggested a Ferrari. Apparently even toy models are more expensive than you’d think but a red Lego car is within range for a joke gift, and that’s absolutely fine by me! I loved Lego as a kid, and I still do!
But if one toy is good then two are better. So I had to play with my new Lego and my new flash together.
- Republicans: good at theatre, dreadful at governing – as we’ll see tomorrow – “In that time Republicans have been screaming about the budget deficit. So what did they actually do to fix it? … On the whole, Reagan lost America $81bn. Think that’s a lot? George HW Bush cost the country $135bn. Think that’s a lot? His son cost us – get ready – $632bn. Bill Clinton, meanwhile, made us $526bn.”
- The inhumane conditions of Bradley Manning’s detention – Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com – “But ultimately, what one thinks of Manning’s alleged acts is irrelevant to the issue here. The U.S. ought at least to abide by minimal standards of humane treatment in how it detains him.”
- BT Content Connect service faces ‘two-tier net’ claims – “BT supports the concept of net neutrality, but believes that service providers should also be free to strike commercial deals, should content owners want a higher quality or assured service delivery.” I’m not sure I can parse this. BT both supports net neutrality… and also doesn’t?
- Demolition of the Paris Metro – Great images of the Paris Metro.