Currently viewing the category: "Platform Flames"

WHEREABOUTS

On April 26, 2011 By admin

Much has been written and said following the revelation that Apple’s devices maintain a database (to use the term loosely) with entries, that, properly parsed, can be used to demonstrate more or less where the iPhone has been geographically over the course of it’s little iLife.

So: Is this a problem, and if so, how [...]

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Applications are dead, long live apps.

On December 2, 2010 By admin

Presented for your consideration today, a brief examination of what makes an app an app, and distinctly not a desktop application, nor a mobile website for that matter (and this is by far a more compelling examination).

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Design Matters

On November 30, 2010 By admin

When it comes to software “design”, the ability to be precise is critical. As with any human creative pursuit, the software designer is entitled to assurances that their labors will be reflected to those who consume them precisely as the creator intended.

The general public doesn’t regard software as something to be appreciated in the [...]

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Jailbreaks and iHeartaches

On July 29, 2010 By admin

The internet is abuzz this week with the U.S. Copyright Office’s ruling that consumers in the United States have the legal right to over-ride software that ships on their mobile devices, this to the objection of many manufacturers including Apple. While much has been said about the ruling, I’ve read very little in the way [...]

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Go App Yourself

On July 12, 2010 By admin

Google announced over the weekend that its new Android application development tool (“Google App Inventor”) would be available this morning. It’s a move that adds an interesting and potentially very significant layer to the bloomin’ onion of mobile application development. It solidifies the notion that Google is betting long-term that their open development model, which [...]

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Publish this, immediately.

On June 3, 2010 By admin

Given my long-standing and more-than-just-professional-though-still-fairly-tangential ties to the publishing industry, I’ve read with interest a number of articles that attempt to deconstruct the challenges and opportunities facing the sector in the post-Kindle paper book market.

Of note is that very few of these articles strive for a measure of journalistic objectivity, though I suppose in [...]

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A Letter from Steve

On June 3, 2010 By admin

Perhaps you are already familiar with my thoughts on the state of closed vs. open platforms. Despite thinking that there’s not necessarily anything wrong with the persistence of closed platforms (iPhone or otherwise) in 2010, I do have concerns about Apple’s position as gatekeeper in what has become a [...]

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My closed-source heart.

On June 3, 2010 By admin

Let’s review concepts: A closed platform, for the purposes of our conversation, is one in which a product developer limits the ability of a user/owner of that product to do literally anything and everything the owner might wish to. If an iPhone was a house, and you bought that house, there are certain rooms that [...]

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