Instagram’s secrets to fast upload speeds →
This slide from a tech talk by Instagram’s Mike Kriger says it all. You can have fast tech, but sometimes clever design allows you to pounce on that tech earlier in the user experience.
This slide from a tech talk by Instagram’s Mike Kriger says it all. You can have fast tech, but sometimes clever design allows you to pounce on that tech earlier in the user experience.
There’s a lot of big tech sites out there, but for very in depth comparison pieces, Ars Technica is unparalleled. Their hit streak continues with this look at a Apple/iTunes branded mastering technique to squeeze better quality out of MP3s. A lot is covered here, including basics on how music is moved from a master copy to CD or MP3.
A decidedly not cool move by Apple here. Note that Apple is not rejecting Dropbox and Rdio API integration as a whole (that’s front page, “bring the pitchforks” kind of news); instead it’s about the way their APIs authorize users. In particular:
If the user does not have Dropbox application installed then the linking authorization is done through Safari (as per latest SDK).
Once the user is in Safari it is possible for the user to click “Desktop version” and navigate to a place on Dropbox site where it is possible to purchase additional space.
Apple views this as “sending user to an additional purchase” which is against rules.
This is a stretch, at best. As the cloud storage wars among these big players heat up, this kind of sidestepping by Apple looks especially shady.
Update: A lot of other bloggers have pointed out that Apple’s 11.13 rule that restricts external purchases has been around for a while. Others say it’s a simple fix on Dropbox’s part. I think both, while true, somewhat miss the point. First, it appears Facebook Connect is in a similar predicament for authentication (you get bounced to a web page where it’s possible after several clicks to purchase or sign up), yet didn’t get rejected, which implies Dropbox is being treated differently. In addition, just asking Dropbox to fix or patch doesn’t excuse overzealousness on Apple’s part.
Bottom line, it’s one thing to reject an authentication web page that has a direct buy/sign up link on the first page – I see Apple’s concern there – but it’s another to reject sign up/buy several clicks away.
A three part documentary testing the latest crop of high end digital video cameras. 12 cameras are tested head to head, from the expensive Red One M-X (getting increasingly popular on the indie film circuit) to the well known Canon 5D Mark II and Nikon D7000 DSLRs.
It’s rather technical, but if you want to see where the film and camera industry is moving, this is a good start.
I first heard about this over at the Brooklyn Creative League, and I’m digging this collaborative tech for project management. It’s crazy cheap ($3 a year for 3 minigroups and a gig of storage) and looks very straightforward. It’s so inexpensive I’d consider it for non-work web collaboration with friends out of NYC.
Invariably this article, like the ones on Foxconn working conditions, will be dismissed as something that all multinational corporations do, not just Apple. Be it better working conditions in China, more jobs in the U.S., or paying a fair share of California taxes, Apple won’t do it because it won’t “maximize competitive shareholder value.”
Yet don’t we expect more from Apple? Many wouldn’t think twice of criticizing Mitt Romney’s 15% effective tax rate, yet Apple gets a free pass? It’s clear to stay competitive Apple can’t change everything. But something, from donations to California public schools, to bumping up the price on iPhones and Macs (or at least presenting the option) by a few bucks for better working conditions, can be done.
As the debut of Google Drive underlined this week, there's a lot of options out there for cloud storage. To help you decide what's best for your needs, Ars Technica breaks down the pros and cons of each service.
(For the record, I'm pretty happy with the 8GB I get via Dropbox. Some great iOS integration with key apps doesn't hurt either.)
Twitter is awesome, yet I’m very selective with my follow list; a lot of people I otherwise respect just don’t tweet with either a frequency or content that I’m comfortable constantly scrolling through. For that reason a lot of Twitter recommendation engines I find don’t work well.
Peep could change all that. It’s a little tool, produced during this year’s Seven on Seven conference, where you type in any user name and get a private list added to your account which mirrors all their followers. In other words, you get a list that mirrors their timeline. Clever.
The Oatmeal strikes again with another winner. I had a good laugh with his FlareGramster idea.
Really nice roundup by Verge writer Nilay Patel on the privacy implications of each cloud service. Not crazy about Apple’s ability to delete “objectionable” material, but then again, I’m not the audience for buying iCloud space.