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- Just how bad is Flash on Android?August 31
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Pretty bad. In fact, if you’re thinking video, utterly unusable.
Kevin Tofel of GigaOm and JKOnTheRun is someone who isn’t a dyed in the wool iPhone or Apple fan. In fact, he replaced his iPhone with a Nexus One in January (a process that I’ve recently gone through, more of which anon). And that’s why this video over on NewTeeVee of his experience with Flash video should be required watching for anyone who thinks Flash on mobile is a reality, today.
What does this demonstrate? Simply that the idea that Apple could simply magically put Flash on the iPad (which runs a processor in the same class as the Nexus One) is fantasy. Ignoring the broader reasons for Apple wanting to keep Flash off its platform, it’s clear that Flash is simply too processor-intensive to work properly on mobile-class processors as currently specified.
Related posts:
- “We’re putting the band back together. We’re on a mission from God”August 29
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Well, it was a nice break. But I think I have unfinished business here.
Stay tuned…
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- The end, goodbye (and hello)August 13
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I’ve been writing here for over eight years, and in that time what started out as a simple collection of links and bits and bobs that I found interesting has mushroomed into something huge. I’ve no idea how many posts.
But I’m tired of it, so I’m effectively closing the site. I’m not taking it down, although I might do at some point in the future. I like the idea of things disappearing from the Internet, because I’ve often been more intrigued by what vanishes than what persists online.
So why? Basically two things. First, this started because my day-to-day job was about technology: Evaluating it, dissecting it, reading its runes and writing about it. The tech industry was my beat, and this site was a reflection of that.Hence the name, of course.
This is no longer true. My day job involves, but isn’t about, technology, and I no longer care about it in the same way that I used to. It’s not something I’m as passionate about, in the abstract, as I used to be. Occasionally, something comes along that I really do find interesting. But all too often my interest comes down to “oh yes, Microsoft tried that in 1995″ or some variant thereof. Been there, done that.
The second reason is more personal, but equally important: this blog – and by extension, me – has become more “influential” than I’m comfortable with. And I don’t like the direction that influence takes me. When what you write has the power to make someo
- When mobile carriers ruled the worldAugust 12
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If you want to understand what happens when you allow the mobile carriers to dictate hardware, look no further than the fate of the Samsung Epic 4G:
“The Galaxy S will eventually hit Verizon rebranded as the ‘Fascinate’, but it won’t have the front-facing camera. Likewise, AT&T will get the phone, rebranded as the ‘Captivate’, but will lose both the front-facing camera and the LED flash.”
If AT&T or Verizon customers want a front facing camera, that’s just tough: they doesn’t want you to have one. Or, in AT&Ts case, an LED flash. You might take too many picture or something.
Apple broke the “carriers define the phones” model. Google tried to follow suit with the Nexus One, but decided that it was better off doing what Verizon told it to in return for major backing for Android. And it’s customers that suffer.
Related posts:
- Apple reassures FutureTap: “We’re not making a patent claim on your work”August 11
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Remember the story about how Apple was stealing a third-party app developer’s work and patenting it?
At the time, I explained in a long post that the patent was nothing to do with FutureTap’s excellent WhereTo? application. And, after consulting a patent lawyer who managed to get in touch with Apple’s patent lawyers, that’s exactly how it’s panned out. In a post on their blog, FutureTap’s Ortwin Gentz quotes Apple’s senior patent counsel, Anand Sethuraman:
“The patent application in question does not claim as inventive the pictured user interface nor the general concept of an integrated travel services application. We appreciate your taking time out to discuss the matter and will keep you updated.”
So there you have it. This was a long-way from the “evul Apple!” that many sites went for – but, as I said at the time, this says more about how Apple is currently perceived than its actual behaviour.