- The Rise and Fall of the Independent Developer – “My fear is that It’s only a matter of time before developers find the risks and expenses prohibitive and retreat to the safety of a larger organization. We’ll be going back to square one.”
- The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s choice is beyond belief – “But what these cases illustrate is that in certain areas compromise is not possible because the rights of different minorities are mutually exclusive. When one group refuses to fulfil its job description because it disapproves of another group, there is no middle ground, no give and take.”
- Turnabout is fair play – “This is so wonderfully, evilly devious. Superficially, it seems to support creationist methods—but what it actually is is a grand reductio ad absurdam.”
- Google’s Business Model – Who is the customer and what is the product? (via @daringfireball)
- Björk: ‘Manchester is the prototype’ – “Biophilia is the Icelandic singer’s new project – the word means ’love of living things’ – and promises to push the envelope so far you’ll need the Hubble telescope to see it.”
Rumour has it that Yahoo! are looking for a new CEO. Some people have been putting their name forward for the role, or at least offering suggestions for Carol Bartz’s successor. This post is in response to Joe Stumps list of ideas.
To be clear, I know that list is not completely serious. I know that he’s not really angling for the CEO role and I understand that many of the options would not be achievable even if they were the best thing for Yahoo! That’s not the point I’m trying to make.
Welcome to the British Summer. Taken on my iPhone on Regent Street, just outside the Apple Store, this morning on my way to work.
- Apple Engineer Fashions Computer Out of Legos – I never quite got this advanced with technical lego…
- United Kingdom and Ireland as seen from ISS – Wow.
- 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.”
The cartoon1 for today’s Dilbert Day to Day Desk Calendar
If you’ve not been following events — shame on you — then you can read all about it here. In summary, a number of small developers have been sued by a “patent troll,” that is a company that does not develop or make anything but demands royalties for the use of “intellectual property” it bought.
I’ve photographed a few weddings before, but this one was different. The others have all been for friends. This one was for a friend of a friend, someone I’d never met before. In the end I don’t think that made any difference, but I was much more conscious that I mustn’t get in the way.
- iCloud’s real purpose is to kill Windows – “What this requires from Apple is a bold move that Microsoft would never make: Jobs is going to sacrifice the Macintosh in order to kill Windows. He isn’t beating Windows, he’s making Windows inconsequential.”
- Microsoft joins pre-emptive patent protection program – Software patents are not really popular, even with companies that (in theory) should benefit from them…
Today the Daily Mail is complaining about a joke that was broadcast on the News Quiz in October last year. (Is it still considered news six months after the event?)
I wouldn’t necessarily recommend reading the article, so, to summarise:
- Broadcasting a joke that implies, but doesn’t use, a swear word is bad
- But printing the same joke in a newspaper is okay
- Broadcasting scantily clad women dancing is bad
- But printing pictures of the same is okay
- Putting quotes around a word to indicate disdain is good writing
- A single complaint represents The Silent Majority
- Mob rule would be a good thing
- Potentially causing offence is grounds for severe sanctions
- (But see bullets two and four for exceptions)
- Knee-jerk liberals — whatever they are — are a wide-spread problem
- Knee-jerk tabloids are okay
- Personal responsibility is good
- (Unless we have to exercise it ourselves)
- Your opinion is wrong
- Mine is right
- Banning stuff that we don’t like represents freedom
- Stating things as fact makes them true
- Black is white
- We’ve always been at war with Eastasia
I may have veered off target a little at the end but I think that’s pretty close to the core of the article. Did I miss anything?