by Conrad MacIntyre
By Conrad MacIntyre
Jason Grigsby, using data from Akamai, posits that the disparity in web browser usage between iOS and Android is almost entirely Wi-Fi traffic...
That tells me that people are only using Android when there is no other option available to them.
Not sure how to square the disparity here other than to assume that an awful lot of Android smartphones don’t really get used as smartphones.
"An awful lot" equals 63.18% of Android users are not using their phones to access the internet via browser.
John Gruber reiterates many people's view of iPad content creation:
iPad is unsuitable for content creation for anyone unless it’s suitable for them.
Well put.
I think what Daisey really believes is that he deserves the attention his lies have brought him, and so he has no intention to stop telling them.
Read this.
[W]hen a new iPad is connected via LTE, it says “LTE” up in the status bar, not “4G”, so it’s not like Apple is pretending “4G” and “LTE” are the same thing.
Good point. I suppose Apple could be allowing marketing consistency between what carriers say and what their phones say. I still think it comes across as dishonest and/or misleading.
MG Siegler agrees with me that Safari 5.2 beta’s full-window-width tabs are ungainly. (Here’s what they look like with one tab, and with two.)
The full-width tabs are clearly made to complement the design choice made for Safari on the iPad. I agree with both Seigler and Gruber that they look terrible. I'm not so sure that Gruber's suggested compromise would be good, unless his 'sane maximum' clause was also implemented.
On the whole, though, I think Safari 5.2 is awesome. I can't wait until it's stable enough (library issues on my 10.7 Mac) to use full-time.
My recommendation would have been for Apple to suggest to Godin that he change the links to point to iBookstore versions of the books, but if Godin didn’t want to, to let it slide.
I have never understood why online retailers are expected to be as open as the web ideally is. If these are the rules for selling content through Apple, then these are the rules for selling content through Apple. Simple.
@gruber I don’t buy the iBookstore/B&N equivalency. Apple is asking for books to be changed b/c content doesn’t accord w/commercial policy.
Seriously? No. Apple has no problems with the content. This is with a commercial link to an alternate store. This is like Montana's buying steaks from a guy who includes directions to and a menu for The Keg. There's no problem with the beef, it's the push to a rival company that is the problem.
The iPad is better, bigger, has more apps and better apps, and is cheaper.
Apple's gear has been better for years. But it's never had the advantage in price and developer support. Amazing.
John Gruber on Dell moving from PCs to IT:
I say just shut the company down and give the money back to the shareholders.
Zing!
John Gruber on Apple purportedly ditching the Dock Connector:
The 30-pin dock connector is big, relatively speaking, and it isn’t very elegant. Why not switch to wireless charging?
I switched to Apple starting with the iPhone 3G in 2008. I wondered how long it would take until I got Apple'd.
At one point this week, two of the top ten paid iPhone apps were outright scams. Phill Ryu has a good set of suggestions for Apple should address this. Being able to get a refund within a short window after first installing the app, for example.
I can't speak to scam apps, but I trust the source. I do, however, strongly feel that Apple needs to allow a return policy. Even 24 hours would be enough. A try-it-before-you-buy-it approach would be awesome. I have blown money on apps I'll never use again because I couldn't test it out first.
So much great stuff from this post by John Gruber
There is a feature from the iPhone that I would love to see ported to the Mac, but which is not present in Mountain Lion: Siri. There’s either a strategic reason to keep Siri iPhone 4S-exclusive, or it’s a card Apple is holding to play at a later date.
Put my money down on the latter.
My favorite Mountain Lion feature, though, is one that hardly even has a visible interface. Apple is calling it “Gatekeeper”. It’s a system whereby developers can sign up for free-of-charge Apple developer IDs which they can then use to cryptographically sign their applications. If an app is found to be malware, Apple can revoke that developer’s certificate, rendering the app (along with any others from the same developer) inert on any Mac where it’s been installed. In effect, it offers all the security benefits of the App Store, except for the process of approving apps by Apple. Users have three choices which type of apps can run on Mountain Lion:
- Only those from the App Store
- Only those from the App Store or which are signed by a developer ID
- Any app, whether signed or unsigned
The default for this setting is, I say, exactly right: the one in the middle, disallowing only unsigned apps. This default setting benefits users by increasing practical security, and also benefits developers, preserving the freedom to ship whatever software they want for the Mac, with no approval process.
Call me nuts, but that’s one feature I hope will someday go in the other direction — from OS X to iOS.
This is an amazing idea! I have my fingers crossed for iOS 6 this summer!
But there was one ad that struck me as the most honest, most riveting and most compelling of all. You see, the game had just ended, and Colts great Raymond Berry ran the Giant gantlet with the Lombardi Trophy. Suddenly it seemed like every other Giant pulled out an Apple iPhone to snap pictures of the moment. One after another after another. And I said to myself, there it is, not some pet dangling a bag of chips or some headlights killing vampires or King Elton getting trapdoored. Nope, there was an ad worthy of Steve Jobs and the company he built.
(via Daring Fireball)
Amazon’s margins are so slim that Facebook, which just filed to go public today, recorded nearly double the profit of Amazon last year
Amazing to me that a company as large and ubiquitous as Amazon isn't making more money. They offer a good product and have great customer service.
(via Daring Fireball)
$5 video-editing iPad app from Avid. No word on an Android version.
I laughed out loud. It doesn't happen that often on the internet, so I had to re-blog.
John Gruber, discussing the decline in popularity of point-and-shoot cameras:
Sony should no more abandon the point-and-shoot camera market than Apple should abandon the music-playing iPod market, but Sony has to recognize that it’s a business in decline and that the future is in putting better cameras into phones.
Yup.
[G]rowth like what we have been witness to will not continue at the same rate. This stall is coming, it is closer than most people think, and what we were just witness to is likely the peak in this growth cycle.
Apple's been peaking for a long time now. I don't fully understand why people take so much joy in predicting Apple's downfall.
(Via Daring Fireball)