Tough Questions, Indeed

post from Daring Fireball on 15 November 2011 08:03:41 PM. © Daring Fireball

“The sky is falling in Cupertino” piece by Nicholas Carlson at Business Insider:

One reason Jobs was so good at selling was that his productdemonstrations were, for the most part, grand reveals of closelyheld secrets. Apple secrecy has made for great theater. Greattheater makes for an excellent brand.
Our source close to Apple employees says that with Jobs gone, someof them are starting to loosen up about what they’re working on.
“Everybody has kind of dropped their guard,” he says.

OK, what have they “loosened up about”? Do tell.

Crickets.

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Read The Full Article:
http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-after-steve-jobs-its-time-to-face-the-big-qu
estions-2011-11

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The Chairman

post from Daring Fireball on 15 November 2011 08:03:41 PM. © Daring Fireball

Board of director news from Apple:

Apple today named Arthur D. Levinson, Ph. D. as the Company?snon-executive Chairman of the Board. Levinson has been a co-leaddirector of Apple?s board since 2005, has served on all threeboard committees — audit and finance, nominating and corporategovernance, and compensation — and will continue to serve on theaudit committee. Apple also announced that Robert A. Iger,President and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company,will join Apple?s board and will serve on the audit committee.

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Read The Full Article:
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/11/15en-US-Apple-Names-Arthur-D-Levinson-Cha
irman-of-the-Board.html

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The Parable of the Stones

post from Daring Fireball on 15 November 2011 06:03:43 PM. © Daring Fireball

Re: the previous item, on ideas being merely multipliers and the real value of anything being in the execution, here’s a terrific excerpt Philip Elmer-DeWitt pulled from Robert X. Cringely’s 1995 interview with Steve Jobs:

You know, one of the things that really hurt Apple was after Ileft John Sculley got a very serious disease. It’s the disease ofthinking that a really great idea is 90 percent of the work. Andif you just tell all these other people “here’s this great idea,”then of course they can go off and make it happen. And the problemwith that is that there’s just a tremendous amount ofcraftsmanship in between a great idea and a great product. [?]
Designing a product is keeping five thousand things in your brainand fitting them all together in new and different ways to getwhat you want. And every day you discover something new that is anew problem or a new opportunity to fit these things together alittle differently.
And it’s that process that is the magic.

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Read The Full Article:
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/11/11/steve-jobs-the-parable-of-the-stones/

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Ideas Are Just a Multiplier of Execution

post from Daring Fireball on 15 November 2011 05:04:12 PM. © Daring Fireball

I’ve linked to this short 2005 piece by Derek Sivers once before, but it’s a worth a re-link today, in the context of assessing Steve Jobs’s accomplishments:

To me, ideas are worth nothing unless executed. They are just amultiplier. Execution is worth millions.

So succinct, so accurate, so widely misunderstood.

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Read The Full Article:
http://www.oreillynet.com/onlamp/blog/2005/08/ideas_are_just_a_multiplier_of.html

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Call for Action, Download Paid Apps for Free -
WhatsfreeiniOS

post from prMac on 15 November 2011 04:25:00 PM. © prMac

Still waving and digging over the app store for cool free applications, now it's time to call for action. Permeative Technologies one of the leading iPhone app developers, has analyze the exact trend and need of iPhone owners and iPad users, as with the result of their analyzation they have launched two free apps to download What's Free and Games 4 Free for the idevice community. Which will help users to find and download those paid apps which have been gone free from last 24 hours.

Read The Full Article:
http://prmac.com/release-id-33945.htm

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Im Really Sorry About This, but I Cant Take Any
Requests Right Now.

post from Daring Fireball on 15 November 2011 02:03:38 PM. © Daring Fireball

I got this yesterday afternoon, trying to use Siri. Seems like Apple has added a bit of self awareness regarding Siri’s online availability — if the problem is on Siri’s end, she’ll tell you so.

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Read The Full Article:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gruber/6347422857/in/photostream

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Hypercritical, Episode 42: The Wrong Guy

post from Daring Fireball on 15 November 2011 02:03:38 PM. © Daring Fireball

After finishing Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs, I was disappointed overall, but didn’t take the time to completely formulate why. John Siracusa did, though, and his multi-faceted critique of the book is simply devastating. I went into this podcast knowing that I thought the book was flawed, knowing that Siracusa did too, and expecting to be nodding my head in agreement with him throughout the show. But it’s worse than that. Isaacson blew it, a one-time opportunity forever squandered. Jobs picked the wrong guy.

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Read The Full Article:
http://5by5.tv/hypercritical/42

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PressOK Entertainment Launches PlacePlay Ads

PressOK Entertainment, Inc. announces hyper-local mobile ad solution working in conjunction with PlacePlay location-based engagement features boosts iOS developer revenue; Locally targeted advertising results in up to 10 times higher eCPMs than existing ad networks; 100 percent revenue share to first 25 developers who launch with PlacePlay Ads. PlacePlay Ads provide up to 10 times higher eCPMs than traditional ad networks. PressOK has positioned itself as the ideal partner for iOS developers.

Read The Full Article:
http://prmac.com/release-id-33926.htm

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New Netflix Tablet Experience

Netflix:

Today we’re excited to let you know that we’ve launched a fullyredesigned experience for our free app on all Android tabletsincluding the Kindle Fire and NOOK Tablet. [?]
This experience will be ready for the iPad in the coming weeks, sostay tuned. We listened to you, revamped our design, and hopeyou’ll enjoy it.

“(iPad Coming Soon)” is a phrase you don’t see often. Anyway, the current Netflix iPad UI really is pretty lame. Interesting spot they’re in — Apple has its own tablet, Amazon now has its own tablet, but Netflix instead relies solely on apps they’re creating for use on its competitors’ tablets. Apple and Amazon both offer end-to-end solutions, Netflix doesn’t, and I don’t think ever could.

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Read The Full Article:
http://blog.netflix.com/2011/11/new-experience-now-available-for-all.html

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Tappie Puzzles - Zanymation / Aduk GmbH. IPad App
for kids 4+ years old

Zanymation announces Tappie Puzzles 5.0, the new touch-screen application suitable for children aged 4+ years. The challenge is to solve puzzles by matching shapes to the missing areas. In each animated scene visited, children will find crucial parts of the picture missing, for example the monkey's bridge or the polar bear's igloo. By using the drag and drop technique, the scene can be completed and further animation of the characters in the scene is triggered.

Read The Full Article:
http://prmac.com/release-id-33833.htm

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