Uncategorized – Page 2

Time for a new CEO in Redmond

From Electronista: Developing a Windows-based alternative to the iPad is a “job one urgency” at Microsoft, company chief Steve Ballmer said today during the annual Financial Analysts Meeting. “Apple has done an interesting job,” he said. “They’ve sold more than I’d like them to sell. We think about that. So it’s our job to say: … Continue reading “Time for a new CEO in Redmond”

From Electronista:

Developing a Windows-based alternative to the iPad is a “job one urgency” at Microsoft, company chief Steve Ballmer said today during the annual Financial Analysts Meeting.

“Apple has done an interesting job,” he said. “They’ve sold more than I’d like them to sell. We think about that. So it’s our job to say: we have got to make things happen. Just like we made things happen with netbooks, we have to do that with slates. […] Not one size fits all. Been to too many meetings with journalists struggling to set up iPads for notes.”

Excuse me? What the hell did you do for netbooks? Netbooks were all Linux and your response to that was cutting your OS to bits and just reacting to it. And now Netbook sales are tanking. Taking the credit for Netbooks shows a dangerous level of delusion about your reactions to market churn.

Time for a new CEO.

Books

Today I retrieved four massive bags and two boxes of books from my parents house and unpacked them onto shelves. They’ve been living in those bags and boxes for as long as I can remember. Most of them since my first house. And still plenty of space on the shelves. Still got a good amount … Continue reading “Books”

And still plenty of space on the shelves. Still got a good amount to come though – but I can always build more bookcases.

#oldme

Yesterday, Ian Sayers of Giant Associates posted a picture of himself aged 13. After the entire Internet had stopped laughing, he posted this tweet: and so, without further ado, I present some horrific photos from my misbegotten youth. So, don’t just sit there, scan an old photo and get it up on the web. Post … Continue reading “#oldme”

Yesterday, Ian Sayers of Giant Associates posted a picture of himself aged 13. After the entire Internet had stopped laughing, he posted this tweet:

Giant Associates: Northern Ireland Digital Media Training

and so, without further ado, I present some horrific photos from my misbegotten youth.

On the plane to Bulgaria for Skiiing, Christmas 1983

At Six Flags in Georgia in 1986 (aged 14)

So, don’t just sit there, scan an old photo and get it up on the web. Post in the comments with the address or tweet at me!

Apple needs to man-up if they’re going after Games

While we wait with bated breath for the release of Game Center which will undoubtedly hurt early AppStore pioneers in social gaming (like OpenFeint or Plus+), I believe that Apple needs to grow up a little more and provide a little more of a sense of ‘game‘ rather than ‘app‘. This morning I spent a … Continue reading “Apple needs to man-up if they’re going after Games”

This morning I spent a little time trying to track down a clone of Gauntlet on the AppStore that might run on iPad or multiplayer across multiple iPhones. The only one which seemed to come close was “The Relic” by Chillingo which is coming up on a year late. There are other games out there like Dark Raider, Catacombs or Shadow Edge but I can’t tell which of these games are going to be truly multiplayer – at least not in the way I want.

I think Apple need to look at how they present information for games. This, for instance, is simply not enough:

and this is also pitiful:

So we see the icon, the name, price, size, a vague-ish rating for the game content (which, if you remember the dawn of the AppStore, didn’t exist) and basic requirements for the hardware.

Compare this to Nintendo:

and Sony do even better:

You can see if this is a multiplayer game on the device, multiplayer over the internet, the specifications, the rating, the size. And they do it in a consistent way across all their games. And the multiplayer icons are the first things I look for in games – considering how irritating it is to have a good game and it not be multiplayer (though some games like Super Mario Galaxy have such a stunted second player option, you have to wonder if it was worthwhile).

Come on Apple, sort it out.

Oklahoma State University and the iPad pilot

Oklahoma State University’s School of Media and Strategic Communication and Spears School of Business will provide approximately 125 students across five courses with Apple’s iPad. (Source – Macsimumnews.com) Original Press Release: OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY TO LAUNCH APPLE IPAD STUDENT PILOT INITIATIVE Written by Oklahoma State University Saturday, 19 June 2010 14:39 Oklahoma State University will … Continue reading “Oklahoma State University and the iPad pilot”

Original Press Release:

OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY TO LAUNCH APPLE IPAD STUDENT PILOT INITIATIVE
Written by Oklahoma State University
Saturday, 19 June 2010 14:39
Oklahoma State University will pilot an Apple iPad initiative during the Fall 2010 semester with select courses in the School of Media and Strategic Communications and the Spears School of Business at both the Stillwater and Tulsa campuses, announced OSU President Burns Hargis.

“This pilot initiative will provide valuable insight into the research benefits of the Apple iPad in the classroom,” said Hargis. “The iPad has had an amazing impact since it was introduced last April and we are excited to be able to put this powerful and creative tool in the hands of students and faculty and see what happens.”

Bill Handy, visiting assistant professor in the School of Media and Strategic Communications, and Tracy Suter, associate professor of marketing in the Spears School of Business, will lead the initiative. Each class will integrate the iPad differently but will focus on specific measurable outcomes.

The iPad pilot will be launched this fall with approximately 125 students in five different courses.

“This limited pilot will be focused on fields of study where we believe we can best determine the higher education value of the iPad,” said Handy. “We will evaluate the academic enhancement to the courses, how the iPad and its specific apps and web-based tools can be integrated in this capacity, and perhaps most importantly, how the integration of these mobile tools can expand the tactical abilities of students as they enter the workforce.”

The iPad and other mobile tools are already integrated into daily business use. In both schools, the iPad will be used for academic purposes and to explore innovative uses and tactical uses specific to each school’s industry needs.

“In addition to mobility, the iPad will allow us to work in real-time,” said Suter. “For example, data collection and analysis in a research context can be a multi-day to multi-week process. By using the iPad, we can replace paper-and-pencil research with the immediate process of data collection, review and summary over a Web interface.

“I certainly have ideas of how I would like to use an iPad.” Suter said. “But collectively we will discover new uses a single individual might not have conceived independently. Putting the newest technology in the hands of students allows them to stretch the limits of how it can be used.”

Cost savings for students will also be evaluated. In one case, students using the iPad in a single course will save more than $100 on a single textbook, which can be downloaded in an ePub format.

OSU is leading the way in the integration of technology in the classroom. It is already using a variety of tools such as iTunesU and YouTube, along with other collaborative tools. OSU is also exploring the development of mobile applications to integrate current publications into an online and app platform, offering expense savings and enhanced distribution.

One of the conversations had at WWDC this year talked about the will to put together a similar pilot at the University of Ulster.

When I hold the Nokia phone, service drops off…

With the release of the iPhone 4, the web is abuzz with people talking about how it’s the phone which “doesn’t work” or the one with the “antenna problems”. At the moment I’ve seen about 8 iPhone 4s (though I do not own one yet) and none of the owners have described the problem as … Continue reading “When I hold the Nokia phone, service drops off…”

With the release of the iPhone 4, the web is abuzz with people talking about how it’s the phone which “doesn’t work” or the one with the “antenna problems”. At the moment I’ve seen about 8 iPhone 4s (though I do not own one yet) and none of the owners have described the problem as a problem. One, yesterday, stated that the new iPhone 4 antenna is sensitive enough to receive a 3G signal at his house where the iPhone 3GS never received that signal.

Apple reckons the issue is software related and I am inclined to agree – a misrepresentation of the signal strength would be misleading as would a software algorithm which would choose a very weak 3G signal over a strong 2G signal.

Anyway – this is immaterial though Nokia, in their wisdom, decided to poke fun at Apple in their official blog with a “How do you hold your Nokia?” posting.

Of course, feel free to ignore all of the above because realistically, you’re free to hold your Nokia device any way you like. And you won’t suffer any signal loss. Cool, huh?

Except that isn’t true.

Nokia don’t have the same excuses as Apple. They’ve been in the mobile business since the start. They hold buckets of patents on antenna design and spout endlessly about their innovation and expertise. But this video shows the truth:

Which is why Nokia needs to shut up and get some class. I could do a much better job at managing the Nokia product and developer strategy than anyone they evidently have working for them and they’re wasting their advantages.

They need to stop pre-announcing stuff which is years away. They need to settle on one strategy rather than stopping and starting. They just killed Maemo and orphaned the 770, the N800, the N810 and the N900 (described as developer devices for technology enthusiasts).

Here’s a hint, Nokia, developers buy your devices with their own money and when you orphan them it means they’re pissed at you.

They need to bring out some decent hardware and a single instance of a consumer-ready device with forward-looking software.

Here’s a hint, Nokia, stop pushing Symbian as a modern OS. Keep it for the low end. And stop talking about absolute mobile market share. No-one cares about the S40 low end. No-one.

They need to stop re-organising and worrying about administrivia and hiring figureheads and start making things that people can love again. With a company this size, you’ve got the resources to remake mobile in your image.

Here’s a hint, Nokia, settle the lawsuits amicably, get them off the table and start making great products. Stop poking fun when you’ve obviously got your own manufacturing issues. It’s making you look weak and stupid.

Google, Microsoft ‘should pay for Ireland’s broadband…

(Catching up on posts I didn’t get a chance to comment on in June). Adrian Weckler, a tech journalist for the Sunday Business Post writes: Last Friday evening, a senior Eircom executive (John McKeon, director of Eircom Wholesale) made an audacious pitch. Speaking at the annual Ibec telecoms ball, he told the crowd of telecoms … Continue reading “Google, Microsoft ‘should pay for Ireland’s broadband…”

(Catching up on posts I didn’t get a chance to comment on in June).

Adrian Weckler, a tech journalist for the Sunday Business Post writes:

Last Friday evening, a senior Eircom executive (John McKeon, director of Eircom Wholesale) made an audacious pitch. Speaking at the annual Ibec telecoms ball, he told the crowd of telecoms bosses that it was time to look again at how Ireland’s broadband roll-out was funded.

His proposal: that Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook and other large web content providers should co-pay for infrastructure costs.

The pitch is not a new one. For many years, the US telecoms and cable giants have been calling for some form of “contribution” from content-providers toward their costs. The most oft-used rationale is that Google and Yahoo are getting a “free ride” off their infrastructure.

Whether it’s landline providers or wireless providers, these companies are going to need to get it through their thick skulls that no-one wants their services to just maintain an empty pipe. The reason we pay for our landline broadband and mobile broadband is to access the content that Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and others are producing or syndicating. Eircom (and other carriers) want to double-dip – they want the customers to pay for the lines and for content companies to pay for the content to be delivered. Here’s a big fucking clue you morons, if Google et al refuse to pay (as they should), then the customers will not want to pay for your lines and you’re double-fucked.

I can understand a politician not understanding the vagaries here but for the Eircom executive to fail to understand the economics of the world smacks of greed, of stupidity and of outright incompetence. And that goes double for O2, Three, BT, Orange, Virgin and other internet service provisioners.

Oil and Music

I think the oil spill puts everything in perspective. Related posts: Microsoft to start manufacturing phones? “Music: an aperitif for the maw of Digital” Don’t get used to cheap gasoline Snake Oil

LimeWire owes $1B, but BP is only on the hook for $69M. Music sharing is 14.5x more damaging than a catastrophic oil spill.

I think the oil spill puts everything in perspective.

Northern Ireland culture does not include Creationism

The BBC: The culture minister has asked museums to give more prominence to Ulster-Scots, the Orange Order and alternative views on the origin of the universe. … He said that he wanted the views of creationists – the concept of God creating the universe in contrast to the scientific theory of evolution – to be … Continue reading “Northern Ireland culture does not include Creationism”

The BBC:

The culture minister has asked museums to give more prominence to Ulster-Scots, the Orange Order and alternative views on the origin of the universe.
…
He said that he wanted the views of creationists – the concept of God creating the universe in contrast to the scientific theory of evolution – to be represented in the exhibitions.
Without specifically mentioning creationism, Mr McCausland’s letter includes a request for the trustees to consider how alternative views of the origin of the universe can be recognised and accomodated.

I am 100% behind Culture Minister’s proposals to recognise the contribution of the Ulster-Scots to Northern Ireland’s modern society. Northern Ireland is composed of many cultures and therefore it’s only proper that we do not exclude any society

I am 100% opposed to any introduction of creationist fairy tales into our museums and would be 100% in favour of striking off from the teaching register any educator who taught creationism as anything more than a fable.

I had the misfortune of meeting some Militant Christian Biology and Zoology undergraduates in my degree class who were active Creationists and sat sniggering through the Evolutionary Biology lectures and declared that they were going to get a PGCE and teach their beliefs as Science Teachers.

Google: I don’t trust them.

I’ve been very disappointed in Google recently. Google, the undisputed king of the search engine and online advertising world. The first disappointment was Google’s criticism of Apple’s ‘private’ APIs. “We use the same tools we expect our third-party developers to,” Mr. Rubin said. “We have an SDK we give to developers. and when we write … Continue reading “Google: I don’t trust them.”

I’ve been very disappointed in Google recently. Google, the undisputed king of the search engine and online advertising world.

The first disappointment was Google’s criticism of Apple’s ‘private’ APIs.

“We use the same tools we expect our third-party developers to,” Mr. Rubin said. “We have an SDK we give to developers. and when we write our Gmail app, we use the same SDK. A lot of guys have private APIs. We don’t. That’s on policy and on technology. If there’s a secret API to hook into billing system we open up that billing system to third parties. If there’s a secret API to allow application multitasking, we open it up. There are no secret APIs. That is important to highlight for Android sake. Open is open and we live by our own implementations.”

Private APIs are a list of APIs which Apple has asked developers not to use. The reason is that they are undocumented and sometimes in a state of transition.

Now Android has undocumented APIs as found on DaringFireBall

Transcript of slide 34 from the “Beginner’s Guide to Android” session at Google I/O today:

• Don’t use undocumented APIs
• Seriously. Don’t use undocumented APIs

so in essence, Google can criticise but doesn’t see the same problems in their own software. And Android isn’t really as open as they might say.

The Android governance model consists of an elaborate set of control points that allows Google to bundle its own services and control the exact software and hardware make-up on every handset. All this while touting the openness rhetoric that is founded on the Apache permissive license used in the Android SDK.

Whereas Android is completely open for the software developer ecosystem, it’s completely closed for the handset OEM (pre-load) ecosystem.

which is from Is Android Evil. They continue:

There are multiple, private codelines available to selected partners (typically the OEM working on an Android project) on a need-to-know basis only.
…
All code reviewers work for Google, meaning that Google is the only authority that can accept or reject a code submission from the community.
…
OEMs wanting to build on Android have no choice but to stay close to Google so as not to lose on new features/bug fixes released.
…
Little is known about the anti-fragmentation agreement signed by OHA members
…
The visibility offered into Android’s roadmap is pathetic. At the time of writing, the roadmap published publicly is a year out of date (Q1 2009)
…
The Open Handset Alliance is another myth; since Google managed to attract sufficient industry interest in 2008, the OHA is simply a set of signatures with membership serving only as a VIP Club badge.

and this is not to say that Google is worse than Apple or Microsoft. But Apple and Microsoft do not pretend that they are open. What you get is what you pay for. They’re not promising everything you could ever want and cake as well and all for the price of free. But the lie certainly tells me that Google is not open, they are not our friends and they certainly have a liberal interpretation of “Don’t Be Evil”.

And this, when you add to the complete hash that is the hardware revision cycle for Android phones (and subsequent platform fragmentation), is the reason I don’t have an Android phone – even though I want one.

Another classic was Matt Drance pointing out the blatant lie from Vic Gundotra, Google’s VP of Engineering. Google have said at IO that they developed Android because they did not want a future where mobile was controlled by one man, one company, one carrier. Of course this is a sly dig at Steve Jobs, Apple and AT&T (and who else could it have been aimed at?). But it’s also a complete lie.

The iPhone was not revealed to the public until January 2007 and yet Google bought Android in 2005. Now it’s entirely possible that Eric Schmidt, while still serving on Apple’s board (which he continued to do for several years), was working in 2005 to undermine Apple’s nascent and unannounced product; a product that wouldn’t even be announced for another 18 months. My opinion is that Gundotra has simply re-engineered the past to make it sound like Android is going to save everyone from evil Apple. Remember this is Apple who have been working hard on the best, most standard-compliant web browser engine on the market. They have a huge amount invested in HTML5, the open standard, and they seem to be putting a great amount of effort into it. Google, on the other hand, have embraced Flash (one of the media bastions of the last decade) in a cynical move to get Adobe’s attention (and the attention of their fans and Flash developers) to again point out the evils of Apple. What’s absolutely incredible is that people are buying their story.

Again, they have an extremely liberal definition of Evil when it obviously doesn’t include niceties such as ‘honesty’.

Again, I’m not saying any company is perfect but at least you know what you’re getting with Microsoft and Apple. Even Adobe, whose flagging fortunes really need the CS5 release to be amazing, can be excused their recent lies (Oh! Apple abandoned us!) because there is a clear and present danger to their business. But Google is not in decline. They don’t have that excuse.

This is a company that knows more about you than you do. They only rival FaceBook for their invasive methods of divining information and they do so to provide you with advertisements. Your time, your attention, pays for the Googleplex. And frankly, after their recent performance, I don’t trust them. Their ‘open’ rhetoric stinks.

It’s not whether or not Google is evil. It’s all about ‘how evil’