This post was originally shared on Medium in 2016. With all the anti-trust action currently happening in both the US and Europe, it’s still quite relevant. In some ways, things have not progressed very much at all!

Given the things that Google *didn’*t say in their response, I wonder if they agree? Contrary to some commentators, I think what they do goes beyond playing hardball. I’ve no idea whether that’s illegal but they’re certainly not being nice to their “partners.”

The flood of new so-called smart watches continues. Some people seem to love theirs, others remain to be convinced.

Count me in with the unconvinced, though only because the current ones seem to be poorly conceived.

Marco Arment says:

Portability is critical to modern device usefulness, and there are only two classes that matter anymore: always with you, and not… Smartphones dominate always with you.

I think this gets to the heart of why the current range of devices — both those for sale and also those just announced at CES — just are not very compelling.

If you follow any iOS technology blogs you might have seen this recent scandal:

If you bought the app on Google Play (even if you cancelled the order) I have your email address, your suburb, and in many instances your full name.

This, they say, is bad because this is not what happens with Apple’s App Store.

However, I don’t think Google are doing anything weird here, and I say this as someone who is not a fan of Android. The commercial relationship between developers and Apple is different from the relationship between Google and developers¹.

• Why are software development task estimations regularly off by a factor of 2-3? – Great answer. Very, very familiar…
• The Lego ZX81 – As per title. Very cool!
• Why I Hate Android – “When you think about it in the context of this election season we’re entering, it’s a brilliant political maneuver that Google has pulled off with Android. They’ve taken something they’ve done that’s actually bad for us and spun it in such a way that most people actually buy into it being good for us.”

• Android Orphans: Visualizing a Sad History of Support – I think this is one of Androids biggest failings.
• John McCarthy — Father of AI and Lisp — Dies at 84 – Really not a good month for IT or Computer Science.
• The original iPod, 10 years later: a re-review – The original iPod is ten years old and, actually, stands up pretty well.

• Enough Is Enough – “The whole [Lodsys] thing is nuts. I can’t understand why our goverment allows this shit to go on. "
• Android App Removals Cast Doubt on Google’s ‘Openness’ – “It’s certainly more open than Apple’s platform. But really, that’s like being a taller midget.”

• Mobile Multitasking – “The new way is to rethink the fundamental deal for processes. In the old model, processes that have already been launched get priority — once running, they stay running. In the new model, the user’s intentions get priority. You press the home button, you’re going to see the home screen in a moment, whether the app that was running was ready to be closed or not. If you want to open another app, it’s going to open immediately, even if the system has to pull the plug on an app in the background to free enough RAM.”
• Please Make the iPhone Weather Application Location Aware – As per subject line…
• iPhone OS 4 and Multitasking – What multitasking on the iPhone really means. It’s all kind of moot for me anyway since I can’t run OS4 on my first generation iPhone!

• On Apple suing HTC – Like many people, I just don’t see Apple’s actions here being very constructive. Seems like a waste of money and good will.
• Curiosity – “Curiosity is one of the most underrated phenomena in the world. It’s ironic that people aren’t more curious about curiosity. It’s a powerful thing.”

• Google Android Personal Thoughts – “Uniformity is not a word you’ll find in Android’s dictionary. How about the fact that the application icons aren’t the same size. Uh, why? Since there’s no transparent padding around the icons … there’s no uniformity in the touch areas when you go to tap on an icon.” These things probably don’t seem important to Google but the attention to detail is what makes the iPhone (usually) a pleasure to use. I’ve not used an Android handset but these things would bug me pretty quickly.
• Japanese Photographer Bends Electricity to His Will – Beautiful.
• The Cost of Care – Nice graphic showing the relationship between the cost of healthcare and life-expectancy.