This Week's Sponsor:

1Blocker

A Cleaner, Faster, and More Private Web Experience

Posts in links

To The Future! Apple Granted Liquid Metal Patent For Fuel Cell Casing→

To The Future! Apple Granted Liquid Metal Patent For Fuel Cell Casing

Apple’s new patent describes “amorphous alloy” collector plates for fuel cells, an electrochemical battery that uses hydrogen to generate electricity. Although the patent doesn’t reference the Liquidmetal trademark, the material is an amorphous alloy or “ metallic glass.”

Last year, Apple signed an exclusive agreement to use the Liquidmetal Technologies’ IP in consumer electronic products. But of course, the ever-secretive company hasn’t hinted at its plans for the material. The possibilites are endless. Liquidmetal is a super lightweight, high-strength, scratch-proof metal that NASA says is “poised to redefine materials science as we know it in the 21st century.”

I don’t think we’ll see anything like this our next iPhone, but the prospect of having a fuel cell iPhone is intriguing. If you thought battery life was excellent now, just imagine not having to charge your iPhone for an entire month. The collector plates enable the chemical reaction that generates power - liquid metal is preferred because of it’s strong qualities as being durable and anti-corrosive.

Permalink

Monetizing The iPhone’s Photo Apps→

Monetizing The iPhone’s Photo Apps

The Wall Street Journal has a piece on the difficulties faced by developers when trying to make apps like Instagram, Hipstamatic and PicPlz profitable. Speaking of Hipstamatic:

Since Hipstamatic’s launch in December 2009, the $1.99 app has been downloaded more than 1.7 million times. The app allows users to choose different lenses, films and flashes. The firm charges 99 cents for a package of add-ons such as infrared.

The company generates a third of its revenue from those extras, says CEO Lucas Buick, and is profitable. In September, it launched a service where users can send in photos and pay a fee for printed copies.

The app has been named “iPhone App of the Year” by Apple and it’s got lots of additional stuff and features to unlock with in-app purchase. The app is a one-time $1.99 purchase, but developers can keep the money coming in with updates and new items to buy. So far, it seems like this business model is working.

Permalink

In 2007, RIM Thought The iPhone Was “Impossible”→

In 2007, RIM Thought The iPhone Was “Impossible”

According to a former RIM employee:

RIM had a complete internal panic when Apple unveiled the iPhone in 2007, a former employee revealed this weekend. The BlackBerry maker is now known to have held multiple all-hands meetings on January 10 that year, a day after the iPhone was on stage, and to have made outlandish claims about its features. Apple was effectively accused of lying as it was supposedly impossible that a device could have such a large touchscreen but still get a usable lifespan away from a power outlet.

So that’s why they got left behind: they spent months making fun of something they thought wouldn’t be possible. They came out with their touchscreen smartphone eventually, the Storm, but it didn’t have all the features of the iPhone and, more importantly, it was already too late. Now RIM is struggling to catch up.

Also:

Imagine their surprise [at RIM] when they disassembled an iPhone for the first time and found that the phone was battery with a tiny logic board strapped to it.

Imagine their surprise when they disassembled an iPad.

Permalink

2011 Isn’t 1995 For Apple→

2011 Isn’t 1995 For Apple

But I look at who is making money. Back in 1995 developers were mostly making money from DOS. Remember, this caused WordPerfect and Borland to make bad bets. They bet on DOS for too long, while Bill Gates went and built some of the first and best Macintosh apps. The lesson, though, doesn’t pass from 1995 to 2011. Today where are most of the developers making their money? iOS (according to Sephora, Starbucks, OpenTable, eBay, and many other developers). So, Android has to convince developers to switch, or do both platforms at same time. That’s quite different.

I guess the social cycle theory doesn’t really apply to technology. Maybe because the factors that influence tech progress change at a faster rate than human ones.

Permalink

Financial Times: Steve Jobs ‘Person of the Year’→

Financial Times: Steve Jobs ‘Person of the Year’

When Steven Paul Jobs first hit the headlines, he was younger even than Mark Zuckerberg is now. Long before it was cool to be a nerd, his formative role in popularising the personal computer, and Apple’s initial public offering on Wall Street – which came when Mr Jobs was still only 25 – made him the tech industry’s first rock star.

Now, three decades on, he has secured his place in the foremost ranks of the West Coast tech titans who have done so much to shape the world around the turn of the millennium.

And here’s why: “The worst thing that could possibly happen as we get big and a get a little more influence in the world is if we change our core values and start letting it slide. I can’t do that. I’d rather quit.”

Permalink

Well Things Just Got Interesting→

Well Things Just Got Interesting

Inspiration and imitation are a natural part of competition, especially in a market as tight as news readers.  But in this case, I personally felt that MobileRSS went too far.  As a solo developer, I rely on app sales to support myself.  A lot of other iOS developers do the same, including Reeder.  We simply don’t do things like this to each other.

As a result, I have decided to disable MobileRSS’s API key for the time being.  This is not an app that I would like ReadItLater to be a part of in its current form.

Nate Weiner of Read It Later condemns MobileRSS because they’ve blatanently ripped off Reeder’s unique user interface, but at the same time offers his apologies to his customers who use MobileRSS as their utility of choice. While he regrets disabling a major function of MobileRSS, Nate honorably offers to offset the cost of this inconvenience if his customers feel their service has been disrupted. It’s a shame that a developer in our own community has had to take such a stance thanks to the actions of another, but good on Read It Later for stepping up and simply saying, “No.”

Update:

After speaking with a number of other developers, including Silvio from Reeder, I’ve decided that the best thing to do is re-enable MobileRSS’s API key.  The developers who made MobileRSS have a number of other apps with Read it Later support (on Twitter, iPhone and iPad).  I’ve discovered that all of these apps use the same API key so disabling it unfairly affects an enormous number of innocent Read It Later users using the developer’s other apps.

While the intentions were good morally, business is business. Ultimately I agree that it’s up to the end user to decide whether or not to support an application that has unfairly (and blatantly) copied the user interface of a competitor, though I applaud Read It Later for bringing awareness to the situation. I find it interesting that Silvio Rizzi of Reeder understood the financial implications and felt that such a damaging proposition was unfair. Undoubtedly the developers of MobileRSS have enough to deal with considering this afternoon’s lash out against the company.

Permalink

“Designed by Apple in California”→

“Designed by Apple in California”

Designed by Apple in California is usually presented dramatically and in isolation. Often you see it after opening a flap or unfolding a panel. It stands alone as a single line of type on a solid field. There is never anything that distracts from it. The early cube-shaped iPod packages were the best at this. You’d remove the sleeve, unfold two panels, and there it was. The next fold revealed the device. That I still remember this sequence says a lot about how powerful the experience was.

I remember unboxing my first iPod to find that line. I’m pretty sure Apple thinks it’s magical.

Permalink

iPhone Apps and Custom Tab Bars→

iPhone Apps and Custom Tab Bars

There’s been a new trend with iPhone apps to use more sophisticated custom tab bars. In case you don’t know what a “tab bar” is, it’s historically been the black bar at the bottom of the screen, which provides the main navigation for the iPhone app.

A trend started by Instagram (the first popular app to place an action button in the tab bar, not a view selector) is quickly expanding to other apps like Gowalla and Path. While I recognize this isn’t exactly ideal from a UI ecosystem standpoint (it break several of Apple’s interface guidelines), I do think that sometimes disruption is necessary as it leads to innovation. The problem is, many developers just wait for Apple to innovate.

Permalink

WordLens Founder On The Limitations Of Augmented Reality Apps→

WordLens Founder On The Limitations Of AR Apps for iPhone

Interesting interview with Robert Scoble. Turns out on-the-fly video translations are a tricky thing to accomplish, the technology underlying the app is all custom and, hopefully, more European languages will be released in early 2011.

I’ve tested the app and it’s not perfect, but it sure looks impressive. I can’t wait for this to gain more languages and, as the founder says in the interview, the possibility to give “context” to words recognized by the camera.

That would be magical.

Permalink