“Mr. Blurrycam takes new iPhone’s features for a test drive?”

Please tell me those are fake and Apple isn’t gonna add yet another silly application we can’t remove from the home screen — we don’t need a separate compass app; the fucking magnetometer is for Maps.

“Microsoft drops 3-app limit from Windows 7 Starter Edition”

I know people enjoyed screaming at that limitation, but it made sense — everything’s in the browser nowadays, and you don’t very often really need to run more than three apps at a time on an entry-level system, especially a netbook.

I find the inability to set a custom desktop background much more grating. And stupid, as system-tray utilities will obviously come out to add a custom image to your desktop.

“Call sign - Wikipedia”

Broadcast stations in North America generally use call letters in the international series. There are some common conventions followed in each country. In the United States, the first letter generally is K for stations west of the Mississippi River and W for those east of the Mississippi.

I always wondered.

“A glimpse at Snow Leopard’s more subtle refinements”

Many good things.

“Did Palm License the iTunes API for Palm Media Sync?”

Still, they certainly are talking like they didn’t run this by Apple first. That raises all sorts of other questions: Will Apple break this functionality?  Will they sue?  Does Palm have so many powerful patents to hold over Apple that they’re effectively not afraid of Apple’s wrath?

First cogent analysis I’ve read since it’s been announced that the Pre would sync with iTunes. If they had waited to ask for a license, be denied, sue for monopolistic practices, and win, Palm would never have been able to launch with that functionality.

Chances are Apple will block it in an iTunes update, but then they will be the bad guy.

“D7 Interview: Jon Rubinstein and Roger McNamee”

If anything, the Pre and webOS will have allowed Rubinstein to ditch his status as “the bozo who didn’t want the iPhone to use OS X” and become instead a potential Jobsian figure, coming out of retirement to turn Palm around in a year and a half.

Now, as to whether that will be a success or a failure…

“To Bing or not to Bing? Hands on with Microsoft’s new search”

Microsoft has finally taken the wraps off the new branding for Live Search, and the final name is Bing. We’ve known since March that a rebrand was coming, and we’ve been saying for even longer that Live Search is in dire need of one (among other improvements of course), but only recently did it become clear that Kumo was just the codename.

Microsoft Bing.

Jesus Motherfucking Christ.

“ Short matters. Being able to verb up can be helpful. We wanted something that unambiguously says search.”

Huh.

“Introducing Typekit « The Typekit Blog”

We’ve been working with foundries to develop a consistent web-only font linking license. We’ve built a technology platform that lets us to host both free and commercial fonts in a way that is incredibly fast, smoothes out differences in how browsers handle type, and offers the level of protection that type designers need without resorting to annoying and ineffective DRM.

As a Typekit user, you’ll have access to our library of high-quality fonts. Just add a line of JavaScript—

Oops, you just lost me there.

In order to address the legal licensing problems inherent to linking to font files in CSS, you want to add… JavaScript? Does not compute.

“Google’s browser forges ahead as Chrome 3 hits dev channel”

Chrome 3?! I guess they’re so used to being in everlasting beta that they’ve never had the opportunity to develop a sensible strategy about version numbers.

“Android 2.0 "Donut" features demoed at Google I/O”

Universal search, of course, but:

We also got a brief glimpse of handwriting gestures used for searching through list – the live example was drawing the letter ’e’ and going to that specific point in a list of songs.

YES!

“Google Latitude On The iPhone — But It’s Not A Native App”

The reason Google has been waiting for the 3.0 software is because it’s not actually creating a native iPhone app for Latitude — as all other location-based services on the iPhone are — instead it’s using the Safari web browser to run Latitude. Thanks to HTML 5, Safari will be able to access a user’s location information.

So, as soon as OS 3.0 is out, I can have geolocation on Web is Pink without a dedicated app. That’s good, since they don’t seem likely to ever approve the app, but it doesn’t exactly give the same exposure.

Have to look into it, though, if only for Android phones.

“Add a reminder to your contacts, get reminded when in contact”

If you have an important message or a question for a contact, you can enter a reminder right on your phone. The next time you and the contact are in touch—whether by phone call, email, or text message/IM—the reminder pops up as a notification.

I don’t know if they’re the first to do that (the unified contacts list helps), but that is just awesome.

“Twitter Might Start Adding Comments & Location-Based Information to Each Tweet”

Every service should have “like” and geolocation, but I’m not sure about comments — it’s something you think you want, but it ends up breaking the whole paradigm of Twitter, killing the whole (unintended) conversational aspect that its users have initiated.

“Zune HD is official, heading your way this Fall”

Basically an iPod touch minus the successful platform, but I like the design. They’ve finally found a style that looks cool while steering away from the iPod-cloneness. Quite PC-ish, and that’s the way it should be.

“DIY ’giant trackball’ is the perfect controller for Katamari Damacy”

Screw Katamari. I want that for my computer!

“Samsung goes square with U.S. Cellular”

Square phones like the LG Lotus may look rather peculiar, but it appears the trend is beginning to catch on.

Right. I already have 50% chances to pick up my iPhone the wrong side up, so why wouldn’t you want to make all four sides the same size?

“Sprint’s Pre business launch guide leaked in its entirety”

Remote wipe ("kill pill") capability will be available at launch; users simply need to log into their Palm Profile web page to initiate the wipe. Doesn’t change the fact that your phone was stolen, though, you poor thing.

How many users with insecure passwords will have to see their Pre wiped out before they limit that functionality?

Videos from the Palm Pre SDK’s emulator

Of course, the guy making the videos was so boring and slow that I couldn’t watch a single one until the end, but the point is — damn if that thing doesn’t make the iPhone look like it’s been designed in the USSR.

There are small inconsistencies (sometimes labels are on the left and values on the right, sometimes the other way around; and the “Menu” button on the Maps interface is pretty stupid) but it feels so much more fun and we’ve all managed to forget so quickly how revolutionary the iPhone was when it was launched.

Ah, and judging from the Parallels Desktop-like icons at the bottom of the window, I’d bet Palm did think of letting you disable the network for the purpose of testing your app. Apparently it’s Sun’s Virtual Box, but I can’t tell whether it’s embedded in the SDK, or just used for this video by a Mac user.

via engadget.com

“Apple said building $1 billion server farm”

The deal would give the tax breaks to companies with a minority market share in North Carolina, but with a disproportionately large amount of property and staff located in the region. Apple would stand to save as much as $46 million in the space of 10 years but, in return, would have to invest $1 billion within nine years and locate itself in one of the state’s poorer counties.

Now that’s a good use of the billions Apple has in the bank (unlike most web 2.0 acquisition rumors). Just a little something so MobileMe can finally graduate to functioning beta.

“Google tweaks logos, embraces lowercase text”

I had to zoom in and check that the additional text’s baseline was correctly aligned. Because of the embossing and shadow of the main Google logo, it just feels very, very wrong to the eye.

“CSS3 Exciting Functions and Features”

I didn’t know you could do multiple text-shadows; never heard about box-sizing (which is cool although I’m not sure of what use it can be), and I’m gonna lift those pure-CSS buttons.

“Developers invited to test iPhone 3.0 push notifications with Associated Press app”

If you’re a developer running the iPhone 3.0 beta, you may have gotten a special note in your email today. […] Apple is testing the long-awaited push notification feature of the 3.0 software (and the back-end servers that provide the updates) with a build of the Associated Press news update app.

Ooh, that means Apple is actually going to launch those push notifications, this time. (Unless the beta test shows it’s fubar, of course.)

“Adium releases 1.4 beta with IRC and Twitter support”

As nice as it is to get stable updates to Adium, 1.3.4 is overshadowed by the release of 1.4 beta, which includes support for Twitter and IRC.

1.4b also has a ton of other improvements and fixes, especially in the area of group chats. […] Why do group chats matter so much? Well, for one thing, Twitter for Adium runs in a group chat window, so the devs likely had to get that part of the interface running smoothly to roll out Twitter support.

Oh, that makes sense. I’m suddenly a little less annoyed that Twitter support in a stable release of Adium is so far away. (Also, I don’t give a fuck anymore because there are usable Twitter clients on the Mac again.)

“Facebook Developers | Facebook Developers News”

Now, users can register for Facebook using their Gmail accounts. This is a quicker, more streamlined way for new users to register for the site, find their friends, and start exploring.

Existing and new users can now link their Facebook accounts with their Gmail accounts or with accounts from [other] OpenID providers that support automatic login. Once a user links his or her account with a Gmail address or an OpenID URL, logs in to that account, then goes to Facebook, that user will already be logged in to Facebook.

Doesn’t cost them anything, but I’m still surprised they’re doing it. Interesting that the Google confirmation prompt mentions they want access to your Google Contacts.

“Shoving scraps into Shovebox. Desktop and iPhone reviewed”

I’m interested, but not for $30 and a desktop application that doesn’t offer a three-pane interface. Still waiting for someone to deign develop the file-based GTD / notes / stuff management application I’ve got in my head.

“Google Product Search For Android Phones Now Features Barcode Scanning”

Ouch. Well, it would be a big ‘ouch’ for retailers if people actually used Android phones. Also: how? Was Google clever enough, unlike Apple, to add Javascript access to the camera in the web browser?

“’Verified apps’ coming soon to Facebook”

This is ridiculous. Not only does it make it look like Facebook allows “verified” and “unverified, dangerous, scammy phishy” applications in the listing, but the whole conceit of verifying applications is entirely moot since those are externally-hosted web apps.

“Mac OSX 10.5.7: Better for Hackintoshed Netbooks?”

Early reports from MSI forums claim boosts from 3 hours 45 minutes to 5 hours 5 minutes on a six-cell MSI Wind after upgrading to 10.5.7, which just became available Wednesday. The update doesn’t claim battery life improvements as a feature […] maybe these improvements only show up on Atom processors.

Atom-powered full-OS X Apple netbook confirmed?

Macworld reviews Ego for iPhone

The thing about Ego — the reason why I bought it even though it’s useless and I don’t care much about my stats — isn’t functionality or even design. It’s the name, and the icon: buying Ego is like giving your ego a gift of golden recognition.

Now, how do I apply that marketing lesson to something I could make?

“Apple lands OLPC security whiz – more secure products on the way?”

Bitfrost [had] five primary goals, all of which [were] targeted at making the OLPC one of the most secure platforms available.

Seems like a bright guy. Wanna bet he quits within twelve months? Hiring one guy who groks security isn’t enough to change the careless orientation of a whole company.

“Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Introducing Rich Snippets”

Rich Snippets give users convenient summary information about their search results at a glance. We are currently supporting data about reviews and people. When searching for a product or service, users can easily see reviews and ratings, and when searching for a person, they’ll get help distinguishing between people with the same name.

Point one: what’s the point of ignoring <meta> for years if you’re going to add new bogus information for webmasters to put in? Point two: when I see a star rating on a Google result, I expect that to be rating the search result, not to be the “item”’s rating pulled directly from the site. Whoever approved that?

“Google Launches Search Options, Declares Real-Time Search Biggest Challenge”

When you click on “Search options” you can filter your search by different types of results (videos, forums, and reviews), by time (recent, past 24 hours, past week, past year), as well as seeing related searches, a “wonder wheel” view, or a timeline view.

About time.

“Mulligan! Twitter backtracks on unpopular change”

For now, Twitter’s team is bringing the feature back in a limited form (you’ll see all @-replies, except for ones created using the "reply" button in Twitter’s interface, which is a tad convoluted)

I am at a loss to imagine how they’ve architectured their data so that this would be the only possible way to get out of the crisis — because “convoluted” doesn’t begin to cover it: that distinction doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.

“We’ve started designing a new feature which will give folks far more control over what they see from the accounts they follow. This will be a per-user setting.”

Per-user? I don’t see how that’s better for the servers, but more importantly it’s worse for the user (that follows more than ten people). Unless… it’s per-group, rather than per-user.

“Palm files for automatic call filter patent”

Essentially, the way it works is that for certain contacts you give them a call priority rating (one for the boss, wife, and kids; two for your mother; three for your mother-in-law; and four for Mary down the hall). Then, when you have an important calendar appointment, you enter a call priority rating and only phone calls from that rating or higher will get through, lower rated callers will go straight to voicemail.

Urgh. Goddamn software patents.

“D-Link CAPTCHA-enabled Router”

The new firmware also works great with current models, where the familiar distorted letters and numbers combination are added to common router settings pages.

WHAT?

What’s next, captchas on cars to deter illiterate thieves?

“Why is Vin Diesel So Popular on Facebook?”

A typical update from Diesel features about a paragraph of text – sometimes on edgy subjects like race – as well as personal photos as opposed to staged photo opps. And the results are fairly overwhelming – many of his posts have more than 10,000 “likes” in addition to thousands of comments. When your friends take these actions, it pushes Diesel into Facebook’s new “Highlights” area, which is helping fuel the massive growth of his Facebook Page.

Now that is a good thing for Facebook to push forward in the race against Twitter.

“What happens to data when a Web start-up dies?”

Pogoplug has put the source code for its servers in escrow. If the company goes bankrupt, the terms of the escrow dictate that the code be released to SourceForge as an open-source library.

I’m not sure what I think of that.

Zune phone all but announced

Huh. Are they sure it’s a legit Twitter account, though? Because “Office 2010 will include Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks integrated right into Word” doesn’t make that much sense either.

P.S.: Toldja. How do several fucking “professional” blogs post that story without ever checking in with Microsoft PR?!

Twitshirt

Twitshirt lets you buy t-shirts with your favorite tweets printed on them. $20 per shirt, and $1 goes to the author of the tweet. […] They listened to the criticism, thought about how to address it, and boom, now they’re back with a redesigned system that is now opt-in.

I understand the complaints, but the only way the service made sense was if it was opt-out for the authors. If you’re going to actively get people to print out your tweets (which takes some hubris in the first place), you’ll set up a Cafepress shop and get more than $1 per tee.

via daringfireball.net

“iPhone Temperature Warning Needs Autodestruction Countdown”

I thought this temperature warning screen—which says "iPhone needs to cool down before you can use it"—was a funny fake. Turns out it’s completely real.

“Twitter Inventor About To Launch His Next Project”

An acorn-shaped iPhone peripheral that lets any small-time merchant take credit cards? I hope the source was completely wrong, because that’s an insane idea. Would you let any random stranger swipe your credit card with their phone?

“Twitterrific 2.0 iPhone Easter Eggs”

Like the desktop version of Twitterrific, the iPhone version now also now features “The vocal stylings of Jonathan ‘Wolf’ Rentzsch inform you when a posted tweet is exactly 140 characters long.”

I like the “Twoosh!” graphic; I’m gonna try to go for it (with one of my secondary accounts, because unlike some other cheap whores I try not to spam my followers).

“Samsung’s Alias 2 dynamic E-Ink keypad in action”

That’s what the “iPhone Pro” needs. Too bad I don’t think Apple has ever demonstrated an interest in e-ink.

“[New Hampshire] Police Launch iPod Registry to Curb Thefts | Cult of Mac”

That sounds like a good idea. (Since Steve Jobs lives too sheltered a life to bother about implementing anti-theft functionality. Even iPhone remote wipe had to be demanded by business users.)

“First look: Twitterrific 2 for iPhone”

Meh. I’m sure I’ll try it, but this doesn’t look to me like a Tweetie-killer.

“Hard Times With Ze Frank: Free iPhone App”

“Adopt or Die: All New iPhone Apps Must Be Compatible with OS 3.0”

Beginning today, all submissions to the App Store will be reviewed on the latest beta of iPhone OS 3.0. If your app submission is not compatible with iPhone OS 3.0, it will not be approved.

Yay, new reasons for Apple to reject our apps! (I don’t have enough spare computers or iPhones — or even drive space — to start installing the beta SDK.)

“Spreadtweet - it’s Twitter disguised as a spreadsheet”

Basically it’s a boss key for Twitter allowing you to receive and view updates while you work, displaying them in a faux Excel (2003 or 2007) or iWork Numbers (OS X) spreadsheet.

“Seesmic CEO on the business of Twitter”

After Le Meur bought Twhirl and saw that app get more traction than Seesmic itself, he realized, he told me, that his business lay not in building a new community of people sharing videos, but rather in enabling users to participate in any community they want to.

It learns!

“Apple iPhone OS 3.0 beta 5 released: MMS hole closed”

Early feedback suggests that the new release may be more about locking down security than it is adding features or increasing stability: one of the more obvious changes is that MMS can no longer be activated.

I find it odd that they’d waste time on locking down the beta so close to release but, hey, it’s Apple.

John Siracusa: “Hypercritical”

I’d pull a quote, but it would be a disservice to an all-around great piece. Someday it will be a fight to the death between Siracusa and me for Jobs’s succession. (No, I don’t consider Gruber to be qualified.) And, yeah, judging by the current quality and success of our respective blogs, of course I will lose.

“Twitter Follower Notifications: Now With More Cowbell”

Today marks a milestone achievement then, because what you’ll notice if you check your inbox is that your Twitter new follower emails have gotten a major makeover. Okay, so maybe we’re exaggerating the importance of this news, but hey, getting a better glimpse at new followers is a welcome new feature we’ve wanted since the beginning.

Gee, no kidding.