Archive | February, 2011
The Rumor About the Rumor About iPad/iPhone Delays
Jim Dalrymple–one of the few truly reliable sources in Apple journalism–says that rumors that Apple has been forced to delay the next iPad and next iPhone are false. Of course, he also points out that nobody knows for sure when Apple was planning to ship them in the first place…
Amazon Prime Now Includes Free Streaming Videos
22. February 2011
Amazon’s protracted battle against Netflix has begun. Starting today, Amazon Prime customers can stream a library of 5,000 movies and television shows at no extra charge.
Prime will continue to cost $79 per year, and still includes unlimited two-day shipping and $3.99 one-day shipping on retail orders. Even if you never buy a single item from Amazon, the Prime video service will save you $17 over Netflix streaming on a yearly basis.
That’s not to say Amazon and Netflix are comparable. Amazon streaming is missing from a few key set-top boxes, including video game consoles and TiVo (TiVo supports Amazon video on demand but not the streaming service, for now at least). As for the iPhone and iPad, Prime support seems unlikely, especially with Apple’s new policy towards subscription services. On the bright side, the service should work on Roku, Google TV and nearly 200 connected Blu-ray players and TVs. Engadget’s Tim Stevens even got some videos running through the Flash player on his first-generation Droid phone.
That’s Zeldatainment!
21. February 2011
What’s that? You say we haven’t celebrated today’s Legend of Zelda anniversary sufficiently yet? Oh, okay, watch this commercial:
(Thanks to Andrew Leal for finding this.)
Mobile Flash: Always Exciting, Always Not Quite Here Yet
21. February 2011
Motorola’s Xoom tablet–the first one to run Google’s Android 3.0 Honeycomb–goes on sale on Thursday. It packs more features than any other tablet from a major company to date. But for the moment, one of them apparently won’t be support for Flash. As Engadget is reporting, Verizon’s Xoom site says that the gizmo is “fully Flash-enabled,” but then it says that Flash is “expected spring 2011.”
(Why the gap between Xoom’s debut and the debut of Flash on the Xoom? I don’t know the specifics, but I assume it’s because Motorola has yet to, well, fully enable it for Flash.)
I got a hint that Flash for Honeycomb was still a work in progress back on February 2nd, when I attended Google’s Honeycomb event and saw a demo of a third-party app that requires Flash–but which was presented on a Xoom that didn’t have Flash installed, rendering the demo meaningless.
Spring 2011 starts on March 20th, so it’s possible that the wait for Flash on the Xoom will be brief. But the fact that the tablet is shipping without Flash is entirely in keeping with the history of Flash on mobile devices to date. Hardware makers keep arguing that Flash is exciting and essential–and they raise the issue of its absence on Apple devices, either explicitly or by implication.
Here, for instance, is Motorola using Flash as a selling point back at CES in January:
Adobe hasn’t been shy about promoting Flash for mobile gadgets before it was ready, either: At the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona, it showed off versions of Flash Player for BlackBerry, Web OS, and Windows Mobile that aren’t still yet available on any devices. And I’m not talking about the Mobile World Congress held last week–I’m referring to the 2010 edition of the show.
Now Readability is in Trouble With Apple
21. February 2011
Readability, the cool minimalist reading interface for Web content, is built into Apple’s Safari. And its creators were planning to bring a version to the iPhone and iPad. But Apple has rejected the iOS version on the grounds that that it uses a system other than Apple’s In-App Purchases to obtain content. Even though Readability isn’t selling content–it’s a subscription service that lets you read free content provided by others. Bottom line: It looks like Apple expects anyone with an iPhone/iPad app that involves ongoing fees to (A) offer In-App Purchases; and (B) turn 30 percent of revenue from In-App Purchases over to Apple.
It’s increasingly clear that we really don’t know yet what the upshot of Apple’s new 30-percent-fee will be: There are many cases where the math just doesn’t work. Maybe Apple will reduce or rescind the fee, at least in certain cases. Maybe third-party developers will radically rework their business models, or somehow convince book publishers and music companies to take a much smaller cut. But something big is going to happen in between now and June 30th, the deadline for amending apps to follow the new rules.
25 Weird, Wonderful Years of The Legend of Zelda
21. February 2011
The Legend of Zelda is…well, legendary–it’s one of the most famous game franchises of all time, and the second most famous Nintendo one after a certain series involving a plumber. And Zelda turns 25 today, having been launched on February 21st, 1986 in Japan with the release of the original Legend of Zelda in Japan.
As is his wont, tech historian Benj Edwards is celebrating the anniversary by remembering some of the stranger Zelda sidelights of the past quarter century, from versions in odd formats (an edition broadcast by satellite!) to the inside story on where the game got its name. Come along and explore its history with him in this slideshow.
The Legend of Zelda Oddities
21. February 2011
Hold up your Triforce and sound the ocarina! The Legend of Zelda is 25 years old. On February 21st, 1986, Nintendo released the seminal game for the Famicom (the Japanese version of the NES). It arrived in the States 18 months later.
Zelda spawned a lucrative franchise that spans over 15 releases for nearly every one of Nintendo’s consoles. It also defined a genre of action-adventure RPGs that are popular to this day. I dove headfirst into the shady corners and back-alleys of the Zelda universe to pull out various oddities for your entertainment. You’ll encounter them as you adventure through the slides ahead.
Spy Comes to Google Books (Speaking of Which: We Need a Google Magazines)
20. February 2011
In a shocking instance of dereliction of duty, I’ve failed until now to mention the best tech-related news of 2011 (so far): Last week, Google added Spy magazine–”The New York Monthly”–to the ever-growing collection of magazines available for free in Google Books. (According to Spy co-founder Kurt Andersen, half the issues are up now and the rest are on their way.)
When Spy debuted in 1986, its quirky, snarky, endlessly inventive sensibility was unique. It soon influenced just about every other magazine on the planet, and you can still spot traces of its attitude everywhere. In fact, the entire blogosphere has a Spy-like feel, including reams of stuff written by people who have never read the magazine and might not even be aware of its existence.
Spy made an indelible impression on me: In fact, browsing through Google’s archive, I immediately identified the first issue–October 1987–which I ever encountered, and remembered perusing it at my desk during lunch.
Facebook: Your Newsfeeds Weren’t Changed
18. February 2011
The issue over the changes to Facebook newsfeeds got a bit more interesting on Friday. While I had surmised on Wednesday that the changes were part of a broader rejiggering of the site (as apparently had Inside Facebook about a week earlier), that’s apparently not the case.
We contacted Facebook to understand more about the changes, and have received an interesting response. “We did not ‘change’ the settings,” spokeperson Jaime Schopflin told Technologizer. “We’ve simplified the News Feed settings that we’ve had in place for over a year. No default behavior has changed.”
The Return of UberMedia’s Twitter Apps
18. February 2011
UberMedia has released a statement saying that it’s responded to Twitter’s concerns about its apps and this morning’s blockade against them is over:
Early Friday morning, Twitter shut off access to its service by several of our Twitter client applications: UberTwitter, Twidroyd, and UberCurrent. Twitter then notified us that they believed we were in violation of several provisions of their terms of service.
We were immediately in touch with Twitter, and the changes they asked us to make were very small. As a result, we have completed the changes, and new apps are currently being posted to their respective stores. Twitter has assured us that as soon as those changes were complete, they would reactivate our applications.
Twitter also asked us to modify the name of UberTwitter. We began a process of changing the name three weeks ago by polling our users, and we’ve decided based on their input to change the product name to UberSocial, which we completed today.
To our millions of loyal users, we appreciate your patience during this temporary period. We look forward to continuing our innovations on the Twitter platform.
Bill Gross, CEO
UberMedia, Inc.
Google Docs Viewer Adds More Formats
18. February 2011
One of Gmail’s best, least high-profile features is the Google Docs Viewer, which does a very solid job of displaying the contents of file attachments without requiring you to download them or have the appropriate application installed. (Its PDF support is so nicely done that I rarely download Acrobat files anymore.) And now Google is adding support for a dozen more formats, from the essential (Excel) to the surprisingly arcane (fonts in TTF format).
iPhone Nano Rumor Becomes Journalistic Slapfight
18. February 2011
The general cycle of Apple rumors tends to be pretty predictable. One mainstream publication breaks a story, and over time, the other big publications follow with slight variations on the same rumor, roughly approximating the product that Apple will announce a few months later.
But the current back-and-forth over a rumored iPhone Nano is rare. You don’t often see the New York Times directly refuting Apple rumors that appear in the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. And you definitely don’t see the kind of confrontational undertone that the Times exuded in its scoop.
Twitter Blocks UberTwitter and Twidroyd
18. February 2011
Are you a user of UberTwitter (a popular BlackBerry Twitter client) or Twidroyd (a major Twitter client for Android)? If so, you need a backup plan: Twitter began blocking both apps today for violating its rules. (Both are owned by UberMedia, which seems to be intent on cornering the market on third-party Twitter apps–earlier this week, it acquired TweetDeck.)
Twitter is releasing a statement to various sites saying that the offending apps (and sister app UberCurrent) are guilty of “violations [that] include, but aren’t limited to, a privacy issue with private Direct Messages longer than 140 characters, trademark infringement, and changing the content of users’ Tweets in order to make money.” It also says it’s been trying to resolve concerns with UberMedia for months. Even if Twitter’s gripes are entirely legit–and they may well be–it’s a fascinating question of conflict of interest given that UberMedia’s apps all compete with official ones from Twitter itself. Ones which Twitter plugged in its message to UberTwitter and Twidroyd users.
Any users of UberMedia’s apps out there? If so, what are you doing today?
YouTube for Game Consoles? Sounds Good
18. February 2011
As Sony and Microsoft beef up the streaming video selections on their respective video game consoles, Google’s YouTube has been conspicuously absent.
But now, a Google job posting, spotted by Gamasutra, seeks an engineer to “build the next generation game-console-based TV experience with You Tube video content” and “integrate and optimize with distribution channels and devices including all major game platforms.”
In other words, we might someday see a native YouTube app for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and maybe even Nintendo’s Wii.
So Help Me, I’m a Blu-ray Player Owner
18. February 2011
Back in October of 2009, I wrote that I found Blu-ray boring and that I hoped to avoid it by segueing directly from DVD to a 100% digital approach to home video that didn’t involve shiny discs. The post sparked a lively debate, with some commenters seeing my point and others defending Blu-ray.
So I feel obligated to provide an update: As of yesterday evening, there’s a Blu-ray player in my living room.
To be precise, it’s a PlayStation 3. Rather than buying a box with the principal purpose of watching Blu-ray movies–although I’ll admit I’d recently flirted with that idea–I bought the PS3 because it’s a significant piece of general-purpose consumer electronics. I figured I needed ready access to it so I could write about it…just as I own a Windows PC, a Mac, an iPhone, an iPad, an Android phone, and various other major platforms.
Silly Old PC Ads
17. February 2011
Yesterday, I visited 410 Townsend, a building in San Francisco’s SOMA district, and was startled to discover that its lobby is festooned with large framed computer advertisements–really old. amusing ones from the 1980s. The building is home to a bevy of tech-related companies: Sony, Playdom, TechCrunch, Yammer, and others. I don’t know whether one of them put these up, or if they’re part of the landlord’s decor, but I loved them…and I snapped bad iPhone photos of three of them to share with you, including a sort of proto-”Think Different” ad in which Ben Franklin endorses the Apple II, a TRS-80 ad with Issac Asimov, and one for Atari’s Stacy (a portable computer that took 12 C cells and drained them in 15 minutes).
They’re after the jump for your enjoyment.
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22. February 2011
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