How To Build An iPad Competitor

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Jason Kottke, at Kottke.org:

Set aside for now that Surface does look genuinely interesting, that the price hasn't been set, and the thing isn't even out yet. For a piece of portable networking technology like a smartphone or tablet to be successful on the scale at which Apple operates, you need to have an ecosystem, a network of interacting devices, software, products, and services that work together...hardware + software is not enough. Apple, Google (and partners), Amazon, and possibly Microsoft are the only companies with the expertise and pockets deep enough to build their own ecosystems. Ok, maybe Facebook in a couple years or if Nokia can dig themselves out of their current hole, but that's really about it. Jason Kottke lays out all of the things Microsoft needs to do to make the surface successful, if their goal is to directly compete with the iPad.

Apple Bets It All On Siri And iCloud

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Kyle Baxter, at TightWind:

If you want to know whether Apple’s going to continue its remarkable growth in the next five or more years, there’s two things you need to look at: Siri and iCloud. Kyle makes a very good case for why iCloud and Siri are so crucial to the future of Apple, as a company, and will be key anchor points on all of their flagship products for the foreseeable future.

Readability Calls It Quits On Its Flawed Business Model

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CEO of Readability, Richard Ziade, at the Readability Blog:

And the great majority of those publishers never registered. Out of the millions—yes, millions—of domains that flowed through Readability, just over 2,000 registered to claim their money. As a result, most of the money we collected—over 90%—has gone unclaimed. As of today there’s nearly $150,000 in earmarked money sitting in a separate, untouched bank account. Good riddance. I never consented for Readability to collect fees on my behalf. Readability is finally admitting that 90% of the publishers their users read, never signed up for their opt-in service despite the fact that, for years, they used this justification to collect money from users on their behalf. Sleaze. Oh and what are they doing with that $150,000? They're giving it to two charities of their choice, without refunding it to users. Because, you know, Readability knows best…and by giving it to charities of their choice, they prevent you from criticizing that they're too lazy to refund it all individually back to the users who paid them the money in the first place. Sleaze.

WWDC 2012 Rumor Roundup: iOS 6, Mountain Lion, iCloud and Macs

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Arnold Kim, at Macrumors:

With Apple appearing to have a full slate of announcements lined up for its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) keynote on Monday, we're offering this roundup to summarize a number of the high-profile rumors that have been circulating ahead of the event. Arnold has done an excellent job of compiling together all of the rumors that have been floating around over the last several months. He does a good job laying out the more or less credible ones too. I for one am hoping for new Mac Pros, and an iOS 6 Beta… Happy Keynote Day everyone.

At 92, A Bandit To Hollywood But a Hero To Soldiers

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Alan Schwarz, at The New York Times:

“Big Hy” — his handle among many loyal customers — would almost certainly be cast as Hollywood Enemy No. 1 but for a few details. He is actually Hyman Strachman, a 92-year-old, 5-foot-5 World War II veteran trying to stay busy after the death of his wife. And he has sent every one of his copied DVDs, almost 4,000 boxes of them to date, free to American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Awesome.

Facebook and Instagram: When Your Favorite App Sells Out

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Paul Ford, at New York Magazine:

Facebook, a company with a potential market cap worth five or six moon landings, is spending one of its many billions of dollars to buy Instagram, a tiny company dedicated to helping Thai beauty queens share photos of their fingernails. Many people have critical opinions on this subject, ranging from “this will ruin Instagram” to “$1 billion is too much.” And for many Instagram users it’s discomfiting to see a giant company they distrust purchase a tiny company they adore — like if Coldplay acquired Dirty Projectors, or a Gang of Four reunion was sponsored by Foxconn. Paul's take on this is excellent.

How To Install Instagram On Your Android Phone In 23 Easy Steps

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Sarah Pavis, at Buzzfeed:

Step 3. Try to download Instagram from the Google Play app. Find that it is compatible with anything at or above 2.2 (Froyo, 2 major releases behind current). If you have an older Android phone like the HTC Nexus One (not to be confused with the Samsung Galaxy Nexus or the HTC One) that has limited internal memory then odds are you many not have enough internal storage space available because the Instagram app is 16MB (which is large for an Android app). Comically sad.

Technology & Related Concepts That Need To Die

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Joel's Technology Hit List

Monday Morning Rant, 26 March, 2012
  1. Skeumorphism in design
  2. Adobe Flash
  3. Adobe Air
  4. The concept of "write once, deploy everywhere" code (web standards being the exception, of course)
  5. QR codes
  6. Comic Sans and Marker Felt
  7. WPTouch WordPress plugin. Just don't.
  8. Websites serving up a "get our app!" splash page to iOS users prior to serving the requested page
  9. Websites refusing to serve page requests and insisting you get their app
  10. Websites who serve up a mobile version, but when you switch to the "full version" it forwards you to the homepage
  11. Websites serving up mobile versions only to iPads
  12. Using Powerpoint to make documents that should have been made in Word/Pages/Plain Text.
  13. Using Powerpoint to send images as if it were a zip file.
  14. Having www. in front of your domain name. I will add to this list over time. If you have any further suggestions, please let me know.