Eric Schmidt: “Steve Jobs Is Absolutely Brilliant”
Soon-to-be-ex Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt has some nice words about Apple, iOS and Steve Jobs:
Posts in links
Eric Schmidt: “Steve Jobs Is Absolutely Brilliant”→
Epic Games: “Anything In The Apple World Is Perfect”→
Epic Games: “Anything In The Apple World Is Perfect”
The Slow Down interviews Jay Wilbur, Vice President of Epic Games, makers of Infinity Blade for iOS:
Q: What are the challenges in developing for Android? The demo there seems to be running great.
A: It runs really well and really fast. One of the problems with the Android marketplace is hardware fragmentation, that’s a really big issue. The other thing is marketplace fragmentation, there are so many different appstores out there. The Android marketplace is a little more difficult [to develop for] because there is less control. I think the Android marketplace is robust … I find it very easy to buy things on it, it’s just that Apple has very tight control. So anything in the Apple world is perfect. It’s just perfect. We like that, we like that a lot. We know that it’s just gonna work. Sometimes that’s not always the case in the Android marketplace.
Infinity Blade did great in the first weeks of App Store and slowly dropped off since then. A major update with new maps, weapons and features is expected soon, and that should bring the app back into the charts. We can’t wait to see more Unreal Engine games find their way to iOS. Read the whole interview here.
Why Should I Jailbreak My Apple TV 2nd Gen?→
Why Should I Jailbreak My Apple TV 2nd Gen?
Good rundown on Reddit. Right now the options are: XBMC, Plex, aTV Flash, BTStack – and lots of other SSH tweaks you can play with. The current Apple TV jailbreak is tethered, but it’s a better scenario than the iPhone or iPad: when the device goes to “sleep” (TV is turned off, Apple TV doesn’t do anything) there’s no need to run the jailbreak software on next relaunch. As long as the power cord is plugged, the jailbreak is on.
Personally, I’m thinking about it just for Plex.
CMD Comma, A Website To Share Your Apps’ Preferences→
CMD Comma, A Website To Share Your Apps’ Preferences
Genius: a blog that features screenshots from people’s app preferences panes. But it’s not just about the screenshots, it’s about sharing knowledge and tips otherwise buried deep into apps’ settings, tabs and menus.
Added to my favorites. [via Shawn Blanc]
“A Lot Happens In 10 Years”→
“A Lot Happens In 10 Years”
Bottom: Graphite iBook G3, circa 2001-ish.
Top: 11.6” MacBook Air, 2010
Approximately 20x the RAM, 8x the hard drive space (now SSD instead of magnetic), Bluetooth and 802.11n standard, built-in camera, no optical drive, multitouch trackpad, at least 2x the battery life. ~300 MHz to 1.4 GHz x 2 cores on a new architecture. Completely new operating system. 3 or 4 pounds lighter, and who knows how much thinner, but a heck of a lot thinner.
No matter the decade, it always feels like we’re just getting started.
The Finder’s Legendary Selections→
The Finder’s Legendary Selections
Terrific post by Mike Lee on the Finder’s selection behavior. Lots of things I didn’t know in there:
If you’re not a software engineer building apps for the Mac, none of this really matters. It’s just an interesting bit of trivia you can use to not really impress anyone.
If you are a software engineer building apps for the Mac, buckle up, because like Past Me, you have no fucking idea how these selections work, which is a real problem, because one day you are going to implement selection behavior in your app and completely fuck it up.
I say go read it no matter if you’re a software engineer or not.
iPad “Best Thing to Happen to Meetings Since the 1960s”→
iPad “Best Thing to Happen to Meetings Since the 1960s”
Ben Brooks is right about the iPad as a device for meetings:
There is an artificial barrier between you and everyone else because of those damned laptop screens.
The iPad changes all of this, it can sit slightly angled on the table and not be a a barrier to anyone, or even completely flat on the table mimicking a notepad. Further, because the screen is not staring you in the face, participants get a more open sense about how you are using it — that is people can see what you are doing on it. This is crucial to making the other meeting attendees feel like you are actually paying attention.
The real difference, though, is once again made by apps: easy-to-use yet powerful software like Screens, iFiles, Omnifocus, Dropbox and FileBrowser can turn the tablet into a killer machine for business purposes. “Apps” is where the competitors will need to catch up with.
Sparrow Email Client Is Coming To The Mac App Store→
Sparrow Email Client Is Coming To The Mac App Store
Here at MacStories, we’ve been following the development of the Sparrow email client for Mac very closely. The app first came out as public beta in October of last year, and many quickly dismissed it as a “clone of Tweetie” built for Gmail. The developers listened, improved the client and fixed bugs. The app really grew to become a full-featured Gmail client for the desktop.
With a blog post this morning, the developers announced Sparrow is coming to the Mac App Store in the next weeks, with the app already submitted to Apple for approval.
2 versions of Sparrow will be released. They’ll both be available in the Mac AppStore and on our website:
Paid: Sparrow will cost $24,99 but early birds will benefit from the $19,99 introductory price.
Free: Sparrow Lite will be ad-supported. Carbon Ads is providing the nice ads you have certainly seen in the latest Beta version. The free version will allow one-account creation only.
We can’t provide any precise release date yet as the application has to be approved by Apple.
We are looking forward to the debut of Sparrow in the Mac App Store. Also, the new application icon you see above looks pretty sweet.
Amid outcry, Apple says it monitors work conditions in China→
Amid outcry, Apple says it monitors work conditions in China
Apple restated its pledge to provide safe working conditions for workers assembling of its products after environmental groups in China released a report criticizing the tech company for failing to be transparent about its suppliers.
“Apple is committed to ensuring the highest standards of social responsibility throughout our supply base,” said Apple spokeswoman Carolyn Wu in a statement. The company requires all suppliers to sign up to Apple’s code of conduct before the contracts are made. Compliance is then monitored through factory audits and measures to correct violations.
However, Apple would not directly comment on the report, which had the backing of 36 environmental groups from China. Titled “The Other Side of Apple,” the report faulted the tech giant for failing to respond to inquiries related to the working and environmental conditions at its suppliers, while also refusing to disclose who the company’s suppliers are. The 26-page document pointed to suppliers reportedly connected to Apple that had violated environmental regulations or poisoned workers due to working conditions.
Apple came dead last in the list of 28 companies reviewed from the Institute of Environmental and Public Affairs, which included Hewlett Packard and Sony (companies at the top of the list). Apple’s products are lauded to be environmentally friendly, though the Chinese have something different to say about that.