Thord D. Hedengren

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Month: November 2014

  • GT and Apple

    Apple didn’t end up using sapphire for anything other than the TouchID and camera lens on the iPhone 6 models, as was rumored. One reason the rumor existed was the deal with GT, whom are filing for bankruptcy due to not being able to reach the milestones required by Apple, and thus not making any money on the investments. The whole thing smells of tough negotiations, and there’s no doubt that Apple has had stern demands, but the whole thing is out of control.

    Recode:

    [COO Daniel] Squiller called GT’s contract with Apple “onerous and massively one-sided.” It would allow Apple to buy sapphire — a durable, scratch-resistant substance that already is used to cover the camera lens and touch ID sensor on some iPhones — at below market prices, he said.

    GT would only make money if Apple’s sapphire orders exceeded the amount Apple already advanced under the loan, Squiller said.

    If the contract was so bad, why did GT sign it? No wonder they’re facing a lawsuit from its shareholders. Tough break, really, but according to the report, Apple did try to help GT out. What more can you expect when conducting a serious business?

  • Google and Microsoft just made the iPad a better choice

    Vlad Savov, writing for The Verge, argues that the disappointing Nexus 9 and Microsoft making Office free for iOS has made the iPad an even better choice today than it was a few days ago. It’s both true and silly, if you ask me, but the piece makes a valid point. I especially enjoyed this paragraph:

    The iPad still doesn’t have a clearly defined reason for its existence. Apple never bothered to give it one, focusing instead on the engineering and trusting that users will figure out ways to adapt it to their lives. As Apple design chief Jony Ive puts it, “I don’t have to change myself to fit the product; it fits me.” Time has proven this philosophy correct, as the iPad has risen above its physical limitations and secured itself a niche in hundreds of millions of homes.

  • Fantasy doubt

    Sam Sykes, writing at Chuck Wendig’s digital house of horrible horrors:

    What was the first fantasy book you got hooked on?

    Go ahead. Think back on it. I’ll wait.

    I see your fingers hovering over the keyboard, trembling like they did the first time you ever touched a high school crush. They’re probably all sweaty, too. Gross, but understandable, because I bet each and every one of you had a thought that you might be embarrassed by what you’re about to type.

    Maybe you were about to type The Belgariad by David Eddings. Maybe you were about to type Legend by David Gemmell. Maybe you were about to type Dragons of Spring Dawning by Weis & Hickman.

    And just maybe you were a little bit embarrassed by it.

    Pop over and read it all, I’ll wait.

    Nice piece, isn’t it? Frequent readers’ll no doubt nod their heads, since I totally agree with Sam here. I wrote my fantasy confession in January, and I’m still struggling. I’m also writing a fantasy novel, so there’s that.

  • Disqus ads are coming

    Disqus, the hosted comment solution that’s the choice of personal blogs and big media properties alike, will get ads soon:

    Disqus is working with Xaxis, WPP’s automated ad platform, to let brands buy ads against the Disqus comments, which will be shown at the top of the discussion threads and marked sponsored. It will be up to publishers if they want to show the new ads from Disqus, and they could share in the revenue.

    Emphasis by me. I don’t see major properties being interested in this. Disqus ads will either die quickly, or they’ll kill the platform. Either way, this is a bad idea.

  • Nintendo's Steam moment

    Nintendo of America’s Reggie Fils-Aime, in a Q&A with Recode:

    The fact of the matter is this: We know that our consumers are walking around with a smart device, with access to the Internet on other devices. And we’ve recognized that in a variety of different ways. Our website has a responsive design; we just launched an initiative where through your smartphone or tablet you can buy games and push them right to your device. We’re looking to take advantage of all of those connected consumers. And we’re going to continue to do a variety of experiments, but at the core we believe that, for example, playing Mario Kart — that the Mario Kart experience they get on Wii U or the Mario Kart experience they get on their 3DS is something that, at least today, we don’t see that we can deliver on a Web-enabled smart device. It’s a different type of game.

    This sounds exactly like what Valve is doing with Steam and their mobile apps. It also sound pretty reasonable.

  • The GoPro is for porn, obviously

    For some reason, GoPro didn’t want to comment on Fast Company’s story on porn usecases…

    If anything, amateur porn-makers have been even more enthusiastic in adopting the GoPro. Men tend to go the head-mounted route, offering an even more realistic version of the porn genre’s ever-popular point-of-view shoots. Some canny homemade porn creators have exploited the GoPro’s slow-mo capability to share excruciatingly detailed ejaculation shots. Many videos, with titles like, “Multiple uses for a GoPro…,” take obvious delight in appropriating this mainstream technology for naughty purposes. And, indeed, why else explicitly advertise the name of the camera?

    The story’s your typical “look, I’m on a porn set”, but it’s always interesting to hear how technology’s being used in ways you wouldn’t expect.

  • Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens

    The new Star Wars movie is wrapping up, and Disney announced its title.

    I can only assume that “The Force Awakens” points to the midi-chlorians, who’ve obviously been sleeping since the prequel trilogy, but are now ready for prime time again. What could possibly go wrong?

  • Tiny cracks in the wall

    Molly Crabapple:

    I’ve never had a big break. I’ve just had tiny cracks in this wall of indifference until finally the wall wasn’t there any more.

  • Apple on the wirelurker

    Apple statement regarding the wirelurker thing, via The Loop:

    We are aware of malicious software available from a download site aimed at users in China, and we’ve blocked the identified apps to prevent them from launching. As always, we recommend that users download and install software from trusted sources.

  • Telia har börjat med iCloud-adresser

    Se nedan, väldigt modernt och hippt av Telia att slopa telia.se och köra med Apples icloud.com för sina e-postadresser istället.

    Telia kör iCloud (spam)

    Och ja, det här är självfallet klumpig spam. Gå inte på den, kolla alltid vem som mejlat, och använd sunt förnuft när du får konstigheter i din inkorg.

  • The price of being the industry leader

    Malware target Macs and iOS devices, delivered through a Chinese Mac app store:

    Palo Alto Network explains that the malware has so far infected 467 applications designed for Apple’s Mac OS X operating system. It’s done that via a third-party Chinese Mac application store called the Maiyadi App Store. Over the last six months, those applications have been downloaded over 356,104 times—possibly infecting the Macs of hundreds of thousands of users.

    But the malware also appears to infect iOS devices when they’re plugged into a Mac via USB.“WireLurker monitors any iOS device connected via USB with an infected OS X computer and installs downloaded third-party applications or automatically generated malicious applications onto the device, regardless of whether it is jailbroken,” explains Palo Alto Networks. “This is the reason we call it ‘wire lurker.’”

    Read more at Gizmodo.

    This is the price of being the industry leader, being targeted by these sorts of things. The Mac has been more or less malware and virus free for so long, it was bound to change. As for iOS, it’s obviously less sensitive for malware and viruses since they’d have to get into the App Store first, but it both can and will happen. Then there’s workarounds such as the one mentioned above, and if you jailbreak you need to take additional measures.

  • Kindle Voyage, premium reader at a premium price

    Speaking of Kindle Voyage, here’s Jason Snell:

    The Kindle Voyage is a premium reader at a premium price, targeting people who love their Kindles so much that they won’t hesitate to spend $200 for the best Kindle they can buy. It’s a smart decision, I think, and the Voyage is an excellent product.

    That all said, I have to admit that of all the Kindle upgrades I’ve done over the years, this one felt the least significant. The screen is better, but the Paperwhite screen was already quite good. It’s good to have buttons again, but the accidental touches I make on the screen adjacent to the buttons somewhat reduce my enthusiasm for that feature. The typography is unchanged and mediocre.

    Jason’s not too sure about the worth of the upgrade from Paperwhite. I’ll hold off, $199 is pretty steep and, already owning the Paperwhite, I fail to see the immediate need.

  • Scathing Kindle Voyage review

    Marco Arment on Amazon’s new Kindle Voyage:

    I suspect this will be my last Kindle. Amazon doesn’t care about e-ink Kindles anymore. Why should we?

    Scathing. I can see where he’s coming from here, but truth be told I’m pretty happy with my Kindle Paperwhite, the previous version so to speak. Yes, it’s even worse than dumb glass, but it works in sunlight, and that’s a killer feature for a few months every year.

  • Indiegogo enables Apple Pay

    Indiegogo is the first crowdfunding platform to implement Apple Pay, making it easier for you to fund projects on a whim.

    We’re always looking for ways to help people find and fund what matters to them—in the simplest way possible. As the only crowdfunding partner to join the Apple Pay launch, we’ve made supporting campaigns and bringing dreams to life even easier. The single-touch payment feature also comes with an additional built-in security layer through Apple’s ‎Touch ID™ system, which encrypts and remotely stores credit card data. We take pride in our unprecedented trust and safety measures, which protect contributors and campaign owners, alike.

    Our Apple Pay integration is the latest of recent Indiegogo product improvements, including the introduction of our iPhone app, which allows contributors to discover and support campaigns on the go, and provides campaign owners with mobile management tools.

    Great news for crowdfunders all around, or at least the ones in the regions where Apple Pay is currently available. If you’re looking for something to sink your money into, Daily Crowdfunder picks one greatcampaign – from all platforms – every day and feature it.

  • Dropbox

    Dropbox and Microsoft announce partnership focusing on Office integration. Big news, and surprising since Microsoft’s cloud service OneDrive will definitely take a hit from this. The new Microsoft definitely is more agile in their decisions. All that said, I can’t help but wonder if this is all about getting a Dropbox app for Windows Phone, a possible deal-breaker for some potential customers. Because yes, that’s part of the deal.