OS X’s Spotlight searching functionality is pretty handy, but I’ve always been annoyed by having to arrow down to select the top hit and launch/open it. I stumbled upon a shortcut by accident. Holding down Cmd will highlight the top hit, and then pressing Return will launch/open it. So, Cmd-Space, type, Cmd-Return. Handy.
Archives for June 2007
iPhone Availability
I was in the Tampa Apple store around 1pm today, and they still had iPhones in stock. There were maybe 20 or 30 people in line. It wasn’t that crazy. I called ahead and reserved a MacBook Pro (more on that later). They had someone help me personally and sell me on the AppleCare and ProCare upgrades. There were plenty of available staff members. Honestly, I was expecting it to either be a zoo, or for them to be completely sold out of iPhones. Either they had a huge inventory, or demand isn’t as explosive as some had predicted.
Steve Jobs on native apps vs web apps
Go read Steve Jobs talking about how native apps on the iPhone blow web apps on the iPhone out of the water. And then read the transcript of him at WWDC ’07 (to a room full of OS X developers) trying to pass web apps off as a viable substitute for native apps.
iPhone SDK: A big “f-you” to developers
Apple’s announcement that there will be no software development kit for iPhone, while it may fool some in the media, will not fool developers, who see this as a giant “f-you.”
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Apple’s press release could use some translation, with a hat tip to John Gruber.
iPhone to Support Third-Party Web 2.0 Applications
Our browser works.
When it begins shipping on June 29, the revolutionary iPhone will run applications created with Web 2.0 Internet standards
Our browser works.
Apple today announced that developers can create Web 2.0 applications that look and behave just like the applications built into iPhone and that can seamlessly access iPhone’s services.
A coat of paint can fool people into thinking that they’re using a natively running application. The ability to click mailto:
links can fool people into thinking that a web app has integrated e-mail support.
That includes making a phone call, sending an email and displaying a location in Google Maps.
mailto:
, meet gmaps:
and phone:
Third-party applications created using Web 2.0 standards can extend iPhone’s capabilities without compromising its reliability or security.
Your code isn’t worthy of running on our precious iPhone. Did we mention that our browser works?
Forget syncing iPhone data with your Mac or PC. Forget support for interacting with the hardware. Forget the ability to run in the background. Forget a consistent look and feel. Forget local storage of data. Forget games and rich media. Apple’s answer to developers’ pleas is an insult to developers’ requests and to their intelligence. They could have said “hey, we still haven’t figured out how to sandbox code in an operating system whose resistance to viruses is due in part to its ability to protect the OS from malicious applications, but in the meantime, look at what you can do with web applications on the iPhone.”
I almost expected booing during the WWDC announcement. Maybe the developers in attendance were still too shocked. Or maybe the inclusion of “Cover Flow” in the Finder was still making their ears bleed. “Cover Flow is great.” Yeah, well so are Victoria’s Secret models, but they don’t exactly help me be productive.
Freedom 0.1
Six Apart announced yesterday that Movable Type 4.0 will have a GPL version. This is big news. It certainly raises a lot of questions in my mind. Where would I be today had Movable Type 3.0 been released with a GPL license in 2004? Where would WordPress be? How will this affect Movable Type’s market share, and how will it affect the way Six Apart is regarded in the blogging world?
My reasons for switching to WordPress weren’t completely philosophical. Although Mark Pilgrim’s “Freedom 0” was a big motivating factor, I had been frustrated with Movable Type for technical reasons. But it is arguable that many people would not have switched to WordPress had the MT 3.0 pricing structure not left such a bitter taste in bloggers’ mouths.
As for how this news will affect 6A’s status in the blogging community and the FOSS community, only time will tell. Releasing the software as GPL isn’t enough. They’ll have to be much more open about their development, and encourage the building of a developer community around the software. There’s little free PR gained by the mere release of the software through the GPL.
Another interesting question was raised when I read this portion of the announcement:
The MTOS Project is a community and Six Apart driven project that will produce an open souce [sic] version of the Movable Type Publishing Platform that will form the core of all other Movable Type products.
Unlesss I’m misreading “form the core,” this suggests that the commercial version of Movable Type will be built on the open source version of Movable Type. This means that the commercial version will also have to be released under the GPL (to anyone who buys a license to the commercial version). In that case, why bother releasing two versions? Why not just offer “official” support for Movable Type from Six Apart and have that be the business model?
New MacBooks Pro
Yes, MacBooks Pro. “MacBook Pros” sounds horrible to my ears.
Yesterday morning, Apple announced an update to their MacBook Pro line of professional portable computers. A processor upgrade means that all models are faster, and can now address 4 GB of RAM. Previous models were limited to addressing 3 GB of RAM (which was a suboptimal amount of RAM, due to the mismatched DIMM sizes). The 15.4 inch MacBook Pro now uses an LED-backlit screen. It is brighter, uses less energy, and is more environmentally friendly. The 17 inch MacBook Pro doesn’t have an LED-backlit screen yet, but don’t worry, it gets its own perk: an optional $100 upgrade to a 1920 by 1200 pixel screen. That’s the same resolution as the 23 inch Apple Cinema display. The ability to take that many pixels on the road is going to be very appealing to certain content producers, especially those doing HD video editing. 1920 by 1200 is more than full HD resolution, so HD content can be shown without being scaled down.
Both sizes of MacBook come with draft 802.11N WiFi capabilities. I hope that when that standard is ratified there will be a firmware update that allows for full compatibility with the standard. Also included is an upgraded video card.
I’ve been in the market for an upgrade for a while, so these machines are tempting me quite a bit. I’ve promised myself I wouldn’t buy a new machine until Leopard ships pre-installed, so it’s going to be a long couple of months. Which machine I get is still up in the air. It all comes down to which I like more: the LED-backlit screen of the 15 inch model, or the incredible resolution of the 17 inch model. Right now it’s about a $400 difference.
One note: it is cheaper to get a MacBook Pro with 2 GB of RAM (1 GB x 2), throw that RAM away, and go buy 4 GB (2 GB x 2) from a third party than it is to buy a MacBook Pro with 4 GB of RAM pre-installed. You’ll save $200-$300 by doing that… and even more if you manage to sell the RAM that came with the system.