And the Galaxy Tab does have some nice features that are generally overlooked. Judge for yourself.
To add more heat, there’s a rumor that Barnes & Noble is coming out with yet another new version of its Nook tablet. As I’ve said before, competitors are going to keep driving a truck through Apple’s open barn door with a plan to make money and gain a larger foothold in the tablet market. And the market analysis people love to show how these eReaders, um, tablets, are stealing market share from Apple. How long can those good times last?
If you’ve ever had to go back and do research on the Mac OS X releases, their dates, and release notes, here’s a handy page: “A useless analysis of OS X release dates.” Of course, it’s not so useless at all, especially for someone like me.
It’s no secret that I love Firefox, now at version 10. I gave up on Safari back in the summer of 2011. Have you ever wondered where Mozilla gets the money to support Firefox development? It turns out they have an agreement to make Google the default search engine. This isn’t really recent news; it’s from December 2011. But I found it interesting, given my interest in Firefox. “Mozilla and Google Sign New Agreement for Default Search in Firefox” Hey guys! I would pay good money for Firefox if it weren’t supported this way. But then, I know, everyone would just lapse into Chrome. I continue my valiant resistance to Chrome.
If you don’t like Apple’s EULA for iBooks Author, which was just revised, rest assured Apple is not the only company who’s annoying authors. “Elsevier Publishing Boycott Gathers Steam Among Academics.”
R-rated Stuff follows.
Jim Dalrymple pointed me to this, and I was ROTFL. I sent a tweet to Craig Ferguson (@CraigyFerg) just in case he missed it. If anyone can do a plain English translation in the comments, I know we’d all appreciate it. “Apple Scotland – iPhone commercial for Siri”
End of R-rated Stuff
For a while, it looked like Apple would have to wrestle with how it might handle 3D if the company were to release an Apple HDTV. Then, quite sensibly, the customers told the TV industry that 3D is possible opt-in feature, not the next generation of television. So then the industry switched to 4K because 3D chews up half the screen resolution. So with higher resolution, 3D looks better. And now 4K is waning because customers realize that with most TV sizes and viewing distances they can’t see the difference in 2D. So 4K is starting to lose its luster. Plus, there’s no 4K content, and while a TV standard is being worked on, 4K content is many years away. “What Happened to 4K TV?” I wonder what the industry will throw against the wall next? And, in the middle, is Apple, possibly trying to make sense of it all for its customers and buy components from certain competitors.
Many of us have wondered how Microsoft would leverage its acquisition of Skype. Here’s a story that describes the plans for Windows Phone 8. “Leak: Microsoft Planning NFC Support, Skype Integration In Windows Phone 8.” Tom Krazit asks, “It will be very interesting to see how carriers react to that feature.” Another tightrope.
Finally, there is an emerging meme, maybe not even so recent, that the business of creating value through scarcity and DRM is a discredited idea that some content holders can’t seem to leave behind. The modern approach is that if you make content incredibly easy to find and reasonably priced, people will pay rather than pirate. In fact, Steve Jobs proved that with iTunes. Along those lines, here’s additional color and background from John Biggs. “Good DRM Makes Bad Neighbors: This Is The Content Protection Tipping Point.” If only Apple could convince its book publisher partners.
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Teaser image credit: iStockphoto