Editorial: Apple Is Not The Company That Stands Up To The Carriers
I've noticed a frame narrative over the past few months that crawls out of the woodwork whenever Apple's dealings with the carriers is discussed. Apple is frequently held up, either explicitly or implicitly, as the company that fights the carriers. In this superhero-esque tale, Apple goes to bat for the little guy whenever they are forced to talk to the scum at Verizon or AT&T. They are the chosen one, the one that will free us from the overhanded reign of the carrier and finally turn our networks into the dumb pipes they really are. Need evidence? Look no farther than the lack of carrier branding or software. Apple really, really cares.
Editorial: Twitter Is Not A Social Network
So Twitter CEO Dick Costolo sat down for a conversation with All Things D's Peter Kafka at D: Dive Into Media on Monday night. They discuss the recent outrage against Google's 'Search plus your world.' However, in his calm response, he answers another question we've been asking: exactly how will Twitter be defined?
A Psychoanalysis of Shallow Hal
What appears to be a rather harmless Jack Black romantic comedy, teaching us the life lesson of beauty being more than skin deep, is actually some rather intriguing and deep under-currents of psychological trauma.
After watching a re-run on Sky Movies, I felt compelled to report my oh-so compelling results.
Editorial: Open Graph Apps contradict the point of Facebook
So Facebook rolled out the full launch of it's Open Graph at their keynote this week. 60 Open Graph apps have been announced to inspire developers to adopt the new platform: implementing 'verbs' to better literate what you're doing, and unique designs to individualise their presence within the realm of your timeline.
Editorial: Apple Kills The Classroom
So Apple has announced iBooks 2: the company's pledge to 'reinvent the textbook,' and the renovation of iTunes U to incorporate and entire course worth of material beyond video and audio, which will 'reinvent the curriculum.' And they're right; but maybe not in the vein they were expecting.
Editorial: Smart TV is not a smart move
So a great deal of the buzz at CES this year has surrounded the idea of 'Smart TV,' as every company fell over themselves to try and create the competition to a product that we don't even know for sure of it's existence, the real Apple TV.
The vision behind this year's movement is that of convergence. Some have gone the Google TV route, whereas others have gone for a proprietary interface (LG's gone for a Wii-style control system), all options implementing instances of the internet, the participatory nature of web 2.0, and technologies more computer-esque. Of course, if Vizio's CTO Matt McRae is to be taken at his word, the prediction is that we'll see an internet TV service provide 50-100 channels in 18 months time (interviewed by The Verge), making the 'web connected' part of my argument completely pointless.
But the idea of a TV is not due for a further 'smart' revolution, because as consumers, we (well...I) don't want it to be.
Editorial: The Android design guide is not enough. Close the OS
So the Head of design at Android, Matias Duarte, officially unveiled the Android design guide via a live Q&A session on The Verge: a set of in-depth guidelines for app developers and OEMs alike to keep within sync of the design language of Android 4.0. Instantly, this is already a much better direction, with an aim of ecosystem defragmentation in mind; but then we began to think of what we thought to be the failings of Android phones we have owned in the past.
Editorial: Why Social search may not be such a good idea
So it's probably been made abundantly clear, via multiple news stories and finding the functionality yourself as Google presents search results via it's Google+ service, that search has expanded to social, titled 'search, plus your world.'
And we also know, as the BBC reports, that Twitter isn't such a fan of this integration by Google, going so far as to say it is a "bad day for the internet." These comments have been made for the public facing reason of Twitter being a source of real-time information, which should be there for the user who wants the most relevant and up-to-date content. The more behind-the-scenes reasoning probably relates to their network not taking any precedence on the search, due to their partnership with Google ending quite a while ago.
Social networking strops aside, points have been made on both sides, and it's why I think Google's expanded social search isn't the best idea they've come up with, for both non-users and users of Google+. It's not going to benefit the people because it contradicts the foundation of such an impactful product as search. It does this in two ways.
Editorial: Apple's Post-PC vs Amazon's Post-Web computing
So Wired published an insightful interview with Amazon's Founder Jeff Bezos, discussing all things content consumption, cloud computing, consumer culture disruption and an odd side-track about his financial pledges into public space travel. The bit that formulated opinion is where he starts to discuss the Kindle Fire as more than just a competitor to the iPad.
This pushes forward the two competing concepts of how computing should be done, aforementioned in the title. The Post-PC device, as predicted by Steve Jobs and the general trend of products from Apple is to be the new "car" when Personal Computers become trucks. On it's lowest base: Post-PC devices rely on new input / output methods and allow a new population of non-expert users to use the product more cheaply and simply. There is a focus on the OS, the experience is centralised around the device, and content is downloaded to the device.
The Post-web device is something that is best demonstrated by the Kindle Fire: a culmination of the services that Jeff has accrued over his illustrious 15 years. Taking the concept of computing up into the cloud, streaming media, taking the focus off the OS and the hardware, instead forming a more literal definition of a window to your content.
This has presented two interesting concepts for the future of computing, both have a bright future for sure; but which would be of preference in a world where many only choose one?
Editorial: Google+ is not a social media game changer
So New York Times bestselling author Chris Brogan has made some pretty bold claims as to the state of Google+ via an interview with Mashable.
Google+ has an obvious advantage in search results, presents unique opportunities for brands and is backed by deep pockets, he argues. And all of these factors make it a social media platform that will stick around in a big way.
In respects, his argument for the social network succeeding make sense. Comparing it to Facebook at such an early stage in development is the equivalent of comparing the aforementioned to Myspace back in 2006: it's still rather early days, and has a lot of changes to undergo. But in it's current state, Brogan pointed out the crucial flaw with Google+ through via one of his points deemed as a positive.
Editorial: Spotify, not everything needs an app platform
Your phone has an app store, your computer has an app store, your web browser has an app store, your music streaming app (which you found in an app store) has an app store. I don't know where you would define 'the line' to be here; but I feel it has been crossed.
Editorial: Call of Duty is not respecting it's duty, calling the shots in the video game industry
I put it to you, that since the later stages of Modern Warfare onwards, Call of Duty has defecated all over the games industry, and encouraged one its biggest threats, perhaps ever.
Rant: UMD Passport? I don't want to pay for my games again!
The somewhat thorny issue of backwards compatability on the PS Vita has been solved. Users now have the opportunity to download their old games via a UMD passport, offering the titles you already have at discounted prices off the Playstation Store.
Editorial: Spotify is not winning with Facebook Open Graph
So Facebook released it's first batch of early results for the Open Graph integration into social music apps. While the numbers maybe positive (I pick on Spotify because they are absolutely crushing the competition in terms of numbers, probably because users are forced to login with Facebook), this is merely a quantitative result, whereas more qualitative data (meaning my opinion) would beg to differ.
Editorial: Stop hating, haters. Modern Warfare 3 deserves it's plaudits.
Infinity Ward has a knack for attracting controversy. Whether it’s in attracting the negative attention of the mainstream press with the unceremonious firing of ex-employees and founders Vince Zampella and Jason West, or fuelling anger with the misconceived inclusion of the now infamous ‘No Russian’ airport mass genocide. Modern Warfare 3 is no stranger to contentious issues either it seems - last week we highlighted another emotionally provocative scene in which a young girl is subject to a roadside bomb.
Editorial: How to stop the choking of mobile phone contracts
So we've all probably notice all the major phone carriers recede from unlimited data plans, opting instead to tell consumers to resort to their home wi-fi networks and use the 250mb (on average) of data they receive on their contract 'as a back-up.'
There is, however, an option to this: we take it all back to how contracts were.
Pay for what you use. Charge by the minute, by the text, by the megabyte. Sounds scary doesn't it.
Editorial: 3D retrofitting. A Sinking Ship?
This week, Avatar and Terminator 2: Judgment Day director James Cameron invited specialist press to a special 15-minute demo screening of his latest project, Titanic 3D. Cameron, who has been an advocate of the move to 3D ever since Pandora was but a whisper of an idea, follows Pixar (the Toy Story trilogy) and Disney (The Lion King 3D) in bringing the 3D treatment to his 1997 box-office juggernaut.
Editorial: 'Trusted Friends.' The ultimate Facebook rape.
Scenario: it's 3am, you're drunk and home, trying to login to Facebook. After failing too many times you're logged out and your friends each get security codes that they can all collect together to access your Facebook...Maybe I'm just hanging around with the wrong friends; but that sort of scenario would be just too irresistable.
Editorial: Don't call it a Social Graph
“As Facebook adds more and more people with more and more connections it continues growing and becomes more useful at a faster rate. We are going to use it spread information through the social graph.” Mark Zuckerberg claimed a while ago in 2007, while explaining the secret behind the social network.
Now there's always been something that's sounded a little off to me whenever I've heard the term 'Social Graph.' At first I thought it just sounded pretentious; but the search brought forward the utmost primary reason why.
Editorial: The Distraction of Technology
From the New York Times: “Slightly more than 1,000 pedestrians visited emergency rooms in 2008 because they got distracted and tripped, fell or ran into something while using a cellphone to talk or text." Walking into stuff while texting, we've all done it at some point.
Screens everywhere, absolutely unequivocably.