Well, that article is mostly a "duh". Of course people come in wanting one of two things- #1 Android or #2 iPhone. It is going to take a LOT of work on Microsoft's part to try and get visibility now.
Nokia ditched perfectly good Linux based mobile OS's for their high-end phones and now they will have another uphill battle.
Given, as you rightly said, people come in wanting either Android or iPhone, Nokia would probably still have had the same problem even if their platform ran Linux - and the integration with Windows PC's may not have been as good,
Primarily it's format agnosticism and skin capabilities. 99% of my library is in MKV format, which WMC does not care for
Not quite. If you install Media Browser and the Shark007 codec pack then MKVs - as well as a number of other formats and containers - will play just fine in Windows 7 Media Center.
Both are free and Media Browser is released under the GPL.
You fund 1,000 projects, in the hope that 1 of them will return more then the other 999 consume. What Google is doing, is what most US companies are failing to do to get ahead of the rest of the world.
Whilst I agree with you, the problem that Google has is that some of their projects are so poorly defined and then poorly executed that it's patently obvious that they're going to be a disaster before they even launch.
Google TV is one example. A device with a remote control with that many buttons and a non-existent ecosystem of content is going to fail, however hard you try.
An interesting article originally posted by OKCupid (until they were bought and it was pulled down) explaining why you should never pay for online dating:
Marketing is far more than people sitting around designing posters or television adverts. Doesn't anyone here actually work with a Product Manager?
You know, those people that own the product, build the roadmaps, speak to clients and internal departments to get their requirements, prioritise those requirements and flesh them out into something a little more useful that can be fed into the technical teams for them to produce low level documentation (as well, as be used for feedback on edge cases and ambiguity).
Or do you think that the business requirements and direction for a product just get made up by someone in the technical team with no consideration to anyone or anything else?
So I read the description of the story and thought to myself "this makes no sense, if you posted photos as private or friends only, how on earth did Channel Seven get hold of them?"
So, shockingly, I read the story and it turns out the description is completely wrong. Here are the key parts (bold mine for emphasis):
Australia's communications regulator has ruled that television networks are not breaking the industry's code of practice when publishing photos lifted from a public Facebook profile.
[...]
"The ACMA found that due to the open nature of the tribute page, the absence of privacy settings and the non-sensitive nature of the photographs, Seven did not breach the privacy provisions of the code," the ACMA noted in a press statement.
In short, they lifted photos tagged as public on a public tribute page, littlekorea completely twisted the truth (by mixing up "public" and "private") when submitting the story and timothy didn't do any basic editing.
It'll be interesting to sit back with the popcorn and watch the comments from outraged slashdotters who didn't bother to read the story and the upvotes from those with moderator points who equally didn't bother to read the story...
Nice troll, but the vanilla Android devices (Nexus line) don't ship with the CarrierIQ software, which means that either the handset manufacturers or, much more likely given the US-centric focus, the carriers are responsible for installing it.
By "responsible" you need to mean that the carriers asked the manufacturer to install, enable and configure (to a carrier defined list of settings) Carrier IQ on a device and that the manufacturer agreed to do so.
I know it's not as exciting as thinking carriers just went off and sneakily installed it themselves (despite them having no access to the source code or, generally, phone OS development experience) but for those of us who have worked in that area, this sadly common misconception is more at home on CSI.
This is Michael O'Leary just drumming up some free PR by proposing something completely outrageous so that it gets mentioned in all the papers. Last time it was suggesting that they'd charge people to go to the toilet.
That proposal (like this one) will never actually happen.
It already supported it. You set it up as an exchange account with the server m.hotmail.com.
And this is the reason why it didn't get much traction until iOS5. Prior to it, you had to know:
What exchange was.
That hotmail supported exchange.
That you needed to get a server name to put into that field.
Personally I think Apple should scrap their current method of configuration and go with a wizard style interface. You plug in your email address, it trundles off the the Apple server, works out how to configure you email accounts and then asks for any other information it needs to finish the process (bearing in mind that some services use your email address as the username so you don't need to ask for that).
Then Apple could just update the server with new email providers based on the popular ones available today. No software update on the phones needed.
They are working to get the app fixed and are going to have the new one ready soon.
It's not really what any self-respecting developer would call an app though. It's a sloppy and lazy thing which is just a wrapper around the mobile web interface. To quote The Verge:
The app is basically just the Gmail web app with a wrapper around it and offline functionality, though it does have some nice tweaks like a left-side drawer that slides out to show labels and an easy way to attach photos from your camera roll. Of course, the bugs handily outnumber the features - you can't save an attachment from the app itself, it's often unresponsive, and the app doesn't yet index your device's address book.
In short, just continue using the native iOS version as this isn't a remotely worthy alternative.
By "modified N9" they mean the N9 but running WP7 bundled with Nokia's navigation application and a streaming music service.
By "modified N9" they also mean the different chipset (Qualcomm MSM vs TI OMAP), the different screen size (3.7 inch vs 3.9 inch), different bands (quad band vs pentaband), different WiFi channels (b/g/n vs a/b/g/n), different NFC capability (none vs something), different RAM (512MB vs 1GB) and different storage (16GB vs option of 16GB or 64GB).
But yeah, apart from all that, they are the same device!
Create a proper mobile site for those of us who read Slashdot on our phones.
I created AvantSlash in 2001 because the Slashdot site sucked when you tried to read it on a Palm Vx with AvantGo, Nine years later and it still sucks reading it on a HTC Desire HD.
I would expect a site for geeks and run by geeks to have the best mobile version in the world. Obviously not.
It looks like the iPhone 4S isn't a bad revision of a phone after all if Samsung are scared enough to not to think they can compete with it unless they resort to legal measures...
... or is that line of reasoning only reserved for when it is Apple doing the suing?
I use Buzy. It's free, works perfectly (for me), can either set the phone to vibrate or be completely silent during the busy period in the calendar and - best of all - can monitor one or more calendars.
This means that I can set it to monitor my work calendar (and toggle silent on and off for meetings in that one) but ignore my personal calendar (so meaning that the phone doesn't flip to silent at the weekend because I've got a "Birthday drinks" calendar entry).
My next phone will probably be in iPhone because the overall experience is far nicer than Android, but damn, I'm going to miss this useful app (as well as Google Maps/Navigate).
But playing people, much more fun (and aggravation) than any computer opponent, they learn and adapt, conversation is possible and the greatest blast of all, a pub game where your human team actually works together.
I'm obviously playing the wrong multiplayer games.
Normally it starts, my entire team scatter in opposite directions (never to be seen again), I potter around for a bit before getting either shot by some sniper (who I never saw) or by someone coming up behind me (also, who I never saw).
I then re-spawn surrounded by a couple of team members, who promptly scatter in opposite directions and so on and so on...
I dug up CoD 2 recently and the computer AI actually makes me feel more like I'm in a team far more than any of the multi-player games ever have.
It's like I'm being scammed at purchase, and scammed again at upgrade time.
Out of interest, if you know that $200 will get you a certain set of specifications, you decide those are the specifications you want, you buy it on the expectation that you will get those specifications and when you put it into your computer you find that you do actually get those specifications...
... why do you think you're being scammed at purchase?
Linux, and open source in general, will never be that popular, simply because of cognitive load. It's software designed by engineers, with no clear understanding of style or ergonomics.
Linux had its shot at the desktop in 2007 with netbooks. However thanks to the manufacturers using shonky unknown distributions (seriously, why was it not possible to use Ubuntu? Or Fedora?) customers were only too happy to abandon them for Windows based versions even though they were significantly more expensive.
There was a phenomenal opportunity for Linux on the desktop and, sadly, those manufacturers involved managed to spectacularly cock it up.
I doubt manufacturers will ever get that kind of chance again and, even if they were, I see no proof that they would learn from their previous mistakes.
No offense, but I can't stand the "it just works" cop-out. I have heard it so many times, it sounds like it was ripped straight from an Apple commercial. Of course "it just works"-- even Androids "just work," if you mean they can do all the basic functions, like making calls, storing contacts, showing the time, accessing webpages, etc., in some fashion or another without a ton of modification.
The problem is that "just works" implies a level of polish that a lot of geeks don't seem to care about. Doing basic functions is all very fine and well but it's not a very high goal to achieve - the difference between a good product and a great product is much much more than just that.
For example, I can find at least one bug and/or annoyance in every single one of the basic applications that came with my Android phone - even the damn calculator!* Sure, it does all the basic functions and none of these issues affect my ability to do what the application was intended for - but I'd expect that as a bare minimum. It is the thought and polish that moves it from just being "good" to "great" is missing and that is what would earn it the "just works" moniker.
(* 1: Even with haptic feedback turned off, the buttons still vibrate when pressed. 2: Missing the MC, MR and M+ buttons. 3: Cannot run the calculator whilst a call is in progress)
If I disclose my real identity complete with full name and postal address:
- it will not improve the quality of my posts; facebook is a perfect example on non-anonymous people incapable, on average, to produce any useful content
Simply put: with the previous system, roughly half of the comments were more or less useless.
With the Facebook system, the most popular posts are only touching around 100 or so comments (obviously, the ones about the commenting system have more). But of those 50 to 100 comments, many of them are actually coherent thoughts in response to the post itself â" you know, what a comment is supposed to be.
Take a look at the comment section of Engadget to see how anonymous commenting can cause chaos to discussions.
They are not doing it for "Better behavior".... They are doing it to better sell your data. They can't sell your data if it is anonymous.
The other, equally valid, reason is that a social networking site is designed to allow people to find others and connect. If everyone uses a pseudonym then the entire service would fail on account of the fact that you wouldn't be able to easily find anyone.
It's quite easy to find "Chris Smith" who I went to school with on Facebook, but if he's decided to call him self "LazerMan42" then I've got no chance.
I've been largely assembling circles these past couple days and was undecided about uploading an actual picture of me because there's no way to suppress that from being visible to people outside my circles. Sure, Google's put out an informative privacy center but I'm pretty sure in Facebook there is a way to hide nearly everything from people searching for you on the site.
From here you can see exactly how people see your profile, right down to what invidual friends can and cannot see. Extremely helpful in working out what information you do and do not want to share with other users.
I only publically show my picture, my home town and my current location. Just enough information for people who are trying to find me to know whether or not I'm the person they want - without giving away my life history to anyone who comes knocking.
Slashdot Mirror
Given, as you rightly said, people come in wanting either Android or iPhone, Nokia would probably still have had the same problem even if their platform ran Linux - and the integration with Windows PC's may not have been as good,
Not quite. If you install Media Browser and the Shark007 codec pack then MKVs - as well as a number of other formats and containers - will play just fine in Windows 7 Media Center.
Both are free and Media Browser is released under the GPL.
Whilst I agree with you, the problem that Google has is that some of their projects are so poorly defined and then poorly executed that it's patently obvious that they're going to be a disaster before they even launch.
Google TV is one example. A device with a remote control with that many buttons and a non-existent ecosystem of content is going to fail, however hard you try.
Have you tried Avantslash?
There isn't a template specifically for the iPad 2 (make one!), but the desktop or classic templates should work just fine.
An interesting article originally posted by OKCupid (until they were bought and it was pulled down) explaining why you should never pay for online dating:
http://interestingreads.posterous.com/why-you-should-never-pay-for-online-dating-ok
Worth a read.
Marketing is far more than people sitting around designing posters or television adverts. Doesn't anyone here actually work with a Product Manager?
You know, those people that own the product, build the roadmaps, speak to clients and internal departments to get their requirements, prioritise those requirements and flesh them out into something a little more useful that can be fed into the technical teams for them to produce low level documentation (as well, as be used for feedback on edge cases and ambiguity).
Or do you think that the business requirements and direction for a product just get made up by someone in the technical team with no consideration to anyone or anything else?
So I read the description of the story and thought to myself "this makes no sense, if you posted photos as private or friends only, how on earth did Channel Seven get hold of them?"
So, shockingly, I read the story and it turns out the description is completely wrong. Here are the key parts (bold mine for emphasis):
In short, they lifted photos tagged as public on a public tribute page, littlekorea completely twisted the truth (by mixing up "public" and "private") when submitting the story and timothy didn't do any basic editing.
It'll be interesting to sit back with the popcorn and watch the comments from outraged slashdotters who didn't bother to read the story and the upvotes from those with moderator points who equally didn't bother to read the story ...
By "responsible" you need to mean that the carriers asked the manufacturer to install, enable and configure (to a carrier defined list of settings) Carrier IQ on a device and that the manufacturer agreed to do so.
I know it's not as exciting as thinking carriers just went off and sneakily installed it themselves (despite them having no access to the source code or, generally, phone OS development experience) but for those of us who have worked in that area, this sadly common misconception is more at home on CSI.
This is Michael O'Leary just drumming up some free PR by proposing something completely outrageous so that it gets mentioned in all the papers. Last time it was suggesting that they'd charge people to go to the toilet.
That proposal (like this one) will never actually happen.
And this is the reason why it didn't get much traction until iOS5. Prior to it, you had to know:
Personally I think Apple should scrap their current method of configuration and go with a wizard style interface. You plug in your email address, it trundles off the the Apple server, works out how to configure you email accounts and then asks for any other information it needs to finish the process (bearing in mind that some services use your email address as the username so you don't need to ask for that).
Then Apple could just update the server with new email providers based on the popular ones available today. No software update on the phones needed.
It's not really what any self-respecting developer would call an app though. It's a sloppy and lazy thing which is just a wrapper around the mobile web interface. To quote The Verge:
In short, just continue using the native iOS version as this isn't a remotely worthy alternative.
If you're talking about the Apple vs Samsung spat then it's more than just about shape. It's about hardware design, interface icons and package design.
Plenty of other manufacturers manage to not slavishly copy Apple. Hell, Samsung even managed to use an iPhone screenshot on their own website.
By "modified N9" they also mean the different chipset (Qualcomm MSM vs TI OMAP), the different screen size (3.7 inch vs 3.9 inch), different bands (quad band vs pentaband), different WiFi channels (b/g/n vs a/b/g/n), different NFC capability (none vs something), different RAM (512MB vs 1GB) and different storage (16GB vs option of 16GB or 64GB).
But yeah, apart from all that, they are the same device!
Create a proper mobile site for those of us who read Slashdot on our phones.
I created AvantSlash in 2001 because the Slashdot site sucked when you tried to read it on a Palm Vx with AvantGo, Nine years later and it still sucks reading it on a HTC Desire HD.
I would expect a site for geeks and run by geeks to have the best mobile version in the world. Obviously not.
It looks like the iPhone 4S isn't a bad revision of a phone after all if Samsung are scared enough to not to think they can compete with it unless they resort to legal measures...
... or is that line of reasoning only reserved for when it is Apple doing the suing?
I use Buzy. It's free, works perfectly (for me), can either set the phone to vibrate or be completely silent during the busy period in the calendar and - best of all - can monitor one or more calendars.
This means that I can set it to monitor my work calendar (and toggle silent on and off for meetings in that one) but ignore my personal calendar (so meaning that the phone doesn't flip to silent at the weekend because I've got a "Birthday drinks" calendar entry).
My next phone will probably be in iPhone because the overall experience is far nicer than Android, but damn, I'm going to miss this useful app (as well as Google Maps/Navigate).
Well, the Google TV team thought they didn't need "big media" and look what a rip-roaring success that product has been...
Maybe they don't want to use Google+ because they don't consider a service superior if it doesn't have their friends on it?
I'm obviously playing the wrong multiplayer games.
Normally it starts, my entire team scatter in opposite directions (never to be seen again), I potter around for a bit before getting either shot by some sniper (who I never saw) or by someone coming up behind me (also, who I never saw).
I then re-spawn surrounded by a couple of team members, who promptly scatter in opposite directions and so on and so on...
I dug up CoD 2 recently and the computer AI actually makes me feel more like I'm in a team far more than any of the multi-player games ever have.
Out of interest, if you know that $200 will get you a certain set of specifications, you decide those are the specifications you want, you buy it on the expectation that you will get those specifications and when you put it into your computer you find that you do actually get those specifications ...
... why do you think you're being scammed at purchase?
Linux had its shot at the desktop in 2007 with netbooks. However thanks to the manufacturers using shonky unknown distributions (seriously, why was it not possible to use Ubuntu? Or Fedora?) customers were only too happy to abandon them for Windows based versions even though they were significantly more expensive.
There was a phenomenal opportunity for Linux on the desktop and, sadly, those manufacturers involved managed to spectacularly cock it up.
I doubt manufacturers will ever get that kind of chance again and, even if they were, I see no proof that they would learn from their previous mistakes.
The problem is that "just works" implies a level of polish that a lot of geeks don't seem to care about. Doing basic functions is all very fine and well but it's not a very high goal to achieve - the difference between a good product and a great product is much much more than just that.
For example, I can find at least one bug and/or annoyance in every single one of the basic applications that came with my Android phone - even the damn calculator!* Sure, it does all the basic functions and none of these issues affect my ability to do what the application was intended for - but I'd expect that as a bare minimum. It is the thought and polish that moves it from just being "good" to "great" is missing and that is what would earn it the "just works" moniker.
(* 1: Even with haptic feedback turned off, the buttons still vibrate when pressed. 2: Missing the MC, MR and M+ buttons. 3: Cannot run the calculator whilst a call is in progress)
TechCrunch would beg to differ with your assertion:
Take a look at the comment section of Engadget to see how anonymous commenting can cause chaos to discussions.
The other, equally valid, reason is that a social networking site is designed to allow people to find others and connect. If everyone uses a pseudonym then the entire service would fail on account of the fact that you wouldn't be able to easily find anyone.
It's quite easy to find "Chris Smith" who I went to school with on Facebook, but if he's decided to call him self "LazerMan42" then I've got no chance.
One of the nice features of Facebook is that if you go to Account > Privacy Settings > Customise Settings then you can find a button labelled "Preview my Profile".
From here you can see exactly how people see your profile, right down to what invidual friends can and cannot see. Extremely helpful in working out what information you do and do not want to share with other users.
I only publically show my picture, my home town and my current location. Just enough information for people who are trying to find me to know whether or not I'm the person they want - without giving away my life history to anyone who comes knocking.