Web design, technology, music and sarcasm by Jack Gutteridge
2 February 2012
Pretty impressive numbers considering how crap Android tablets still are. I’m beginning to hate this blog already though. Another bat-shit statement on Amazon and Android. It’s wrong. For example, Angry Birds on the Kindle Fire is probably the exact same binary file as Angry Birds on the Android Market. Can you run Facebook for the iPad natively on Mac OS X? Of course you fucking can’t. My Mac’s screen just smudges when you touch it for a start.
My mate has a Samsung 8.9, and it’s beautiful, until the screen comes on. Honeycomb just looks like a bag of turd. Then Samsung goes and draws over the interface with crayons. I’ll hold out for now.
19 January 2012
Apple have release iBooks 2, attempting to replace tradition tree-killing educational textbooks with iPads.
So for weeks we hear the likes of many Apple sites ridicule the dullness of CES in Las Vegas, only for Apple to come out with this?
I’m being purposely harsh. Making education better is a good thing to aim for. Apple certainly has an edge with it’s trendy gizmos, but is the world really benefiting from all of this in a heavily guarded proprietary format? Surely the open web would be a better place for such resources?
Still, Apple has shook hands with many publishing partners already, so it’s got an edge. I just can’t help but think it’ll suck if in the future, kids have to learn on only one fairly expensive device.
And surely a Kindle is a better device for this? Cheaper to produce, easier to carry, more power efficient? Or publishers teaming up with the OLPC project would yield far greater benefits to the world.
We’ll see. I can only hope this isn’t Apple’s next huge thing, unless they’re willing to open it up for everyone.
18 January 2012
To me, the most heart wrenching image of this catastrophic disaster. The Concordia cruise ship, operated by Costa Cruises, ran aground on 13 January, listing before the ship was fully evacuated.
Captain Francesco Schettino is under arrest on suspicion of manslaughter. It sounds like he was getting close to the island to show off to locals, as had been done times before. Only this time, it had consequences.
Looking at this photo, it seems unreal. We don’t anticipate this to happen in this day and age, with machines programmed to keep us safe. But it can, and it does, and it did.
The only time Android 4 will gain a majority share is when older devices are replaced by their owners. It’s a sad truth about owning an Android device today.
This means nothing to me at all. SOPA is a proposed act in the USA aimed at stopping piracy whilst greatly increasing the control that the government has over the internet. There has been some big publicity around it with Wikipedia blacking out for the day, amongst other sites such as Reddit. Many American sites are jumping on this bandwagon.
I don’t care because I’m English for a start. I believe that nothing could stop the global community of geeks and hackers from maintaining an open network. But in the remote and minuscule possibility that it’ll ever pass, we as free internet users would be in the dark for a few months at least.
On the other side of the argument, Rupert Murdoch has recently joined the twittersphere, albeit in a very novice capacity. There, he’s arguing for an end to piracy, and particularly aiming his criticism at Google for collecting revenue when pointing to such material. That’s a fairly valid point, but it’d be hard for Google to keep track of everything. But surely taking The Pirate Bay from it’s indexes would be a prompt and effective start? An openly malicious site that wouldn’t be missed from our search queries (unless we’re up to no good).
Of course there’s the bigger point about copyright and free speech. I’m not touching on that today.
17 January 2012
This insight from Apple follower Jim Dalrymple:
Kayne West is a moron if he thinks that he is anything like Steve Jobs. His name shouldn’t even be used in the same sentence as Steve Jobs. Idiot.
Bit harsh. I imagine the guy running to his bed and sobbing in his pillow after writing that. I’m not sure how anyone can really take offence. It’s not like he interrupted him receiving an award.
But yeah it is a bit far-fetched to say the least. I wouldn’t get worked up about it, I love free speech. After all, I’d be happy if Kanye turned out to be the next big thing in consumer electronics. Ha.
7 January 2012
There has been a lot of stupidity written about the relationship between Amazon and Google in relation to Android. Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet is likely to be a big hit, and the small start of something massive.
MG Siegler paints a poor picture for Google in his post called “The Other Side Of Open” (notice the “Open Wound” URL):
Back in May, I wondered what would happen when it’s Google/Android versus Amazon/Android? That was before Amazon’s hardware ambitions were fully revealed. But it seemed obvious this battle was coming. And now it’s here.
Amazon are competing with Google. It’s not totally direct. The Kindle Fire is a consumption device, very focused on media content. Google touts it’s vision of Android as more of an “all in one”, geared towards consuming it’s services and the open web, and the Android Market apps.
But a competitive brand of Android is a much better thing for Google.
I must be mad, because according to these guys, Google is hurt by this. John Gruber linked to an article by Michael Mace called “Amazon vs. Apple? No, it’s Amazon and Apple vs. Everyone Else” that makes a few interesting but ultimately hyperbolic claims:
The problem is that Amazon is using Android as just an OS, not using the Google-branded services and application store that Google layers on top of the OS. Although Google touted the openness of Android when it was first launched, the reality is that Google is using it as a Trojan horse to force its services onto hardware. What Amazon did with Android is very threatening to Google, and so you’re not likely to hear a lot of supportive words from them.
Now I don’t care who you are, Google’s services will never be a trojan horse. Google’s services are second to none and a huge selling point for any device. The fact that Amazon feels it can create products without them shows how confident Amazon is for creating a it’s own focused experience.
So what is the primary angle these morons are missing? The apps.
Imagine a world with many Android ecosystems. If you’re a developer releasing an app for Amazon, you’ve essentially created one for the Android market. The overhead to release your app to both systems would be minuscule. You’d be potentially doubling your audience. Assuming the deal you’re getting is a good one regardless, why wouldn’t you?
So Google is fleshing out it’s services. Google’s Android Market will grow as a direct result of Amazon releasing the Kindle Fire. The Kindle Fire has no direct input from Google, it is a result of Google releasing it’s code for Android.
By reserving it’s services, Google can assure some control and quality. You can’t download the Android Market source code (it isn’t part of the Android Open Source Project). This means carriers, or other manufactures (possibly even Amazon) can’t tarnish Google’s core services by releasing them with modifications.
The fact that Android itself can be modified and released by others means it can grow without Google’s input. Google can sit back and watch people work for them. Google gives away it’s source code, Google gets back a huge app catalogue. Win-win.
I hope not. Android framework engineer Adam Powell writes that they’ve “made the inclusion of the unmodified Holo theme family a compatibility requirement” for all Android 4 devices by manufacturers wanting to use Google apps, including the Android Market.
The Holo theme is beautiful. It’s clear, fast and really easy to use. This is a good move, but Google should be using it’s power to sway the mainstream Android manufacturers a lot more. There should be an approval process or something, to prevent the waves of crap devices branded with Google’s apps.
And if manufacturers don’t want to work with Google that’s great. Let the forks do their own things. Amazon certainly aren’t complaining.
28 December 2011
By Vlad Savov of The Verge, picking up on supplier rumours that we should be ready to see 2,880 by 1,800 pixel resolution displays on MacBook Pros by mid-2012, from the current 1,440 by 900.
Bumping up resolution is the next logical step for Apple, but the factor seems too high to be practical. Sure, it would make logical sense, and doubling the resolution would save effort on rebuilding raster graphics which could be bumped up exactly twice, much like the iPhone 4′s display. Although it does still look shit and noticeable, but nobody told the Apple fans that.
But 2,880 by 1,800 is a silly size. My fag packet maths call it at 255 DPI, which is more than my phone. I hold that thing to my face! And still can’t see the pixels!
Mac’s look crap at lower resolutions. Windows gets past this with sharp aliasing, which isn’t as arty but easier to read. When switching to a Windows 7 VM on my 13 inch 1,440 by 900 MacBook, it seems as if the resolution/DPI has shot up just because of this. OS X would look better at a larger DPI, but I can’t see how doubling would work. Personally I think OS X would look better at a smaller scale (on laptops), everything seems slightly bulky. But again, it’s not a problem because I can do some magical finger gesture on the glass pad and the windows explode so I can pick one without getting irritated that the screen is too full.
I’m currently using XP on a 24 inch monitor where I’m working (I know, decade old software, blah blah), and the DPI is just over a hundred. I’m about a foot away. I can see pixels, but they’re not noticeable. But I do have shit eye sight. On laptops, you are closer, so a higher DPI should be expected.
But 250 plus DPI?
My imagination isn’t good enough to see if that would work. I doubt it would be worth it.
Amar Toor for Engadget picking up this little marketing gem from Samsung’s recent tablet campaign.
This quote makes me smile:
The spot, which ran in the Sun-Herald this week, came just a few days before Samsung Australia’s mobile head openly credited Cupertino for making the Galaxy Tab a “household name.”
One huge blight on the Apple brand is their use of the law and associated hypocrisy. I say it a lot but Apple aren’t an original company. They didn’t invent music, telecommunication, the computer, the tablet or fruit so I can’t understand why they try to prevent others from taking their approach to consumer electronics. That’s a good thing, as getting there first, years past the competition, means they’ll always have an advantage. Competitor efforts should look pathetic in comparison.
And maybe they do. But I’m glad marketing departments are picking Apple up on this very ugly trait.
15 December 2011
Joshua Topolsky, AKA the man, sticking up for integrity.
We know Apple is great. We know that no-one touches them. We don’t fucking care. Apple’s Mac marketing focused around being different, but how can that be the case if everyone and their dog has an iPiece-of-crap?
Gruber, Siegler, and other Apple reporters are getting really defensive around the launch of what is an amazing phone in it’s own right. Who cares if it’s an iPhone rip-off? Grow a pair. Nothing Jobs ever release was slightly original. It was the way he did it that blew the competition back to 1986.
There’s just no respect from these guys. It’s not nice to be attacked.
Having your activities posted automatically is not going to be very popular. If I cared enough I’d turn it off. I don’t know what’s worse, seeing every shitty tune some of my acquaintances listen to every time they put their headphones in, or giving away my Pocket God habit.