Posts by Liminality

App Store II: Steve Jobs sucks Mac's soul

Give me a break

What a pointless FUD-laden article. The entire article rests on the premise that we can ignore the clear statement that 'this will not be the only place to get apps'. I.e. If you want to install AIM or whatever other IM client or 'whimsy app' you want, you can do it like you normally would. Which completely undermines any argument about market forces and consumer choice. Which in turn leaves this article as nothing more than the usual Reg anti-apple windbagging.

And I'd have thought anyone trying to make a point these days would do well to avoid appealing to the law of the market- surely we've seen where unregulated markets get us to over the past few years? I'm quite happy for an element of regulation to protect the unwashed masses, even if that means we only get 20 fart apps on the app store instead of the 120 that might exist in an un-curated world...

Dell Streak causes user fury

To be fair to the author

This IS a Google/Android problem- it's not their fault for sure, but it's their problem. Each different implementation by each different manufacturer with each of their own user interface layers sandwiched on top of Android means the onus is pushed increasingly onto those manufacturers to support and test upgrades in a timely fashion to ensure their particular implementation of Android still functions under the latest release by Google. When one of those manufacturers (Dell in this case) fails to hold up their end of the bargain, the Android brand as a whole suffers. That's the downside of co-marketing handsets as "The XYZ with Android"- when an upgrade of the operating system fails the 'average user' thinks both Product X AND Android are rubbish.

The problem is exacerbated with upgrade paths that come at different speeds for different handsets. How frustrating is it going to be for User A when User B's manufacturer has released Android 2.8, but User A is missing out on dozens of features because their handset manufacturer hasn't pulled finger and got round to testing and releasing it, and is still stuck on Android 2.1?

Google needs to have a serious word in the ear of the handset big boys and get them to put their houses in order before they kill the Android brand (and Google's future prosperity) by doing this kind of cr@p...

Jobs moves to the heavens with Apple TV

Jobs is part of the way there...

I'm going to be a fanboi and probably annoy the legions of Jobs-hating looneys that frequent these boards when I say that I think Jobs is quite correct, and disagree that his view suggests an underestimation of his customers' collective intelligence. I have somewhere in the region of 500 DVDs, currently taking up multiple 2tb drives on my windows home server. Managing that storage is something I'd really rather not worry about. What's missing however is the crutch for those of us who are a bit old fashioned and still like the visceral physicality of a DVD collection you can flick through, with the added convenience of easy accessibility on the go.

My ideal model? (and one that we're years away from if it's even feasible given licensing and Apple's need to take a cut) Buying a physical DVD would also grant you a portable license redeemable in your streaming service of choice (iTunes, Hulu, netflix or whatever) allowing you to either rip your DVD for home usage if that's your preference, view it directly from the DVD or stream it (hell, even put a 5 stream limit on it if you like) if you're out and about, on the bus, in the gym etc. We'd need 4g mobile broadband for that to be workable, but that would really give the customer all the options they need to view the content they've paid for...

Adobe man to Apple: 'Go screw yourself'

Ridiculous own goal

Honestly, could the guy have shot himself in the foot any more? First version: "Apple are the evil empire, censoring their employees and preventing them from expressing their view, whereas Adobe are wonderful champions of free speech, freeing the creative community from the shackles of oppression". Second Version: "[Redacted at Adobe's request] Adobe are wonderful (my own opinion) [Redacted at Adobe's request], freeing the creative community..." If one of the central pillars of your argument is that Adobe will allow you to go off-message if you want as opposed to Apple, you'd better be damn sure they will...

And I find it hard to be sympathetic to Adobe- I run a small tech company and I've wanted to get Creative Suite for a while now to build a company website and have a play with Flash, but £1,500 for the suite is a barrier to 'casual' entry and seems to exist only so that Adobe can regularly fleece the creative community (that they're apparently an enabler for) every 18 months by adding 4 or 5 features to each component of the suite, and mandating that you spend several hundred pounds to upgrade- even Microsoft don't have such a bare-facedly greedy approach these days.

It's also quite ironic for Adobe to position Apple as the bad guys who are trying to lock the internet down and control everything when their defence of Flash amounts to "Ha ha, you HAVE to use us 'cause we've got the internet video market sown up"- they're hardly an Open Source, Open Standards champion...

Olympus PEN E-P1 Micro Four-Thirds camera

E-P1 User

I have an existing DSLR and use my E-P1 as a 'street camera' to supplement, not supplant it's bigger brother. I also do a lot of hiking, and as an out-and-about camera this is compact enough to fit in a jacket pocket and produces great landscape results with the 17mm pancake. Creatively I've enjoyed using it's filter modes (the 'toy camera' mode is particularly pleasing in a retro-aesthetic kind of way) and effects like multiple exposure in-camera are also fun to play around with.

The lack of VF is an annoyance, I'll grant you (the newly announced EP-2 has an electronic VF addon), as is the lack of flash, and I agree that it does seem to fall in a gap between the two ends of the market (point 'n shoot vs DSLR) and as such might be overlooked. As I say though, I look at this camera as an about-town street shooter kit to supplement my 'proper camera'. It's just a little too pricey for most folks to buy in addition to a DSLR...