Malum Elegans

Moving On

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 09:56:31 -0400

I now have a new website with its own (handcoded) blog. I also write for iPhone Appstorm and Mac Appstorm.

NewTextFileHere and NewRTFHere (if I ever get the latter working properly) are available on the new website as well.

Goodbye, and hello again

Mon, 17 May 2010 10:13:40 -0400

Maintaining Malum Elegans as a separate blog has become untenable. For that and several other reasons—including the need to grow up a little bit and pay some more attention to the face I’m showing the world—I’ll be moving a lot of the kind of content you’ve seen here over to my personal Tumblr for the time being.

I’m in the process of rethinking and rebuilding my online presence, so there will be some serious shuffling going on. If you don’t have the patience to follow an electronic shell game, you can follow me on Twitter or check my website every so often to see if I’ve made any progress.

Thanks for visiting!

Apple to undergo antitrust inquiry

Mon, 03 May 2010 11:35:00 -0400

Apple to undergo antitrust inquiry:

“Regulators, this person said, are days away from making a decision about which agency will launch the inquiry,” author Josh Kosman wrote. “It will focus on whether the policy, which took effect last month, kills competition by forcing programmers to choose between developing apps that can run only on Apple gizmos or come up with apps that are platform neutral, and can be used on a variety of operating systems, such as those from rivals Google, Microsoft and Research In Motion.”

So let me get this straight: Apple deciding what can or cannot run on their own proprietary platform somehow constitutes an antitrust issue? Okay. Fine. Let’s accept that giant dungheap of logic for a moment, and completely forget the fact that HTML5 webapps are 100% platform agnostic (except for Microsoft’s phones, but that’s pretty much due to Microsoft’s advanced case of Not Invented Here Syndrome regarding WebKit).

Accepting for the moment that Apple is doing something wrong by maintaining the quality of their own platform and accepting also that HTML5 doesn’t exist, there’s still one huge problem with this scenario: Flash is in no way a cross-platform solution for mobile applications. There are two ways in which it could be:

Flash apps could run in-browser on all current smartphones. Unfortunately for this argument, they don’t. They don’t run in-browser on one current smartphone. At some point in the near future, a known-to-be-slow version of Flash will be available for certain Android phones. That is in no way a cross-platform solution.
Adobe could compile Flash apps for all current smartphones. This is also blatantly not the case. CS5 includes the ability to compile and bundle Flash applications for the iPhone. Only the iPhone. Unless CS6 is coming out tomorrow and includes support for compiling and bundling for Windows Phone 7 and Android, Adobe has done absolutely nothing to improve developers’ cross-platform workflow. Apple’s refusal to allow Flash-based apps, as a result, is equally irrelevant.

Developers are still free to develop native version of their applications for any platform they wish. If they want to develop decent, platform-agnostic mobile applications, well… here’s the only IDE they’ll ever need. Or get.

EDIT 1: Flash has been demoed on the Droid, but is not yet available to the general public; according to Michelle Perkins of Adobe, it’s on course for “the first half of this year”.

EDIT 2: Certain Android phones, including the HTC Hero, do apparently support a slow, Windows-y version of Flash. Unfortunately, the marketing and general availability of this feature is unclear, which makes it hard for me to be sure which phones support it and how well. If anyone has one of these phones and wants to share how it works, I’m all ears.

"Flash was created during the PC era – for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe,..."

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 09:35:00 -0400

“

Flash was created during the PC era – for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards – all areas where Flash falls short.

The avalanche of media outlets offering their content for Apple’s mobile devices demonstrates that Flash is no longer necessary to watch video or consume any kind of web content. And the 200,000 apps on Apple’s App Store proves that Flash isn’t necessary for tens of thousands of developers to create graphically rich applications, including games.

New open standards created in the mobile era, such as HTML5, will win on mobile devices (and PCs too). Perhaps Adobe should focus more on creating great HTML5 tools for the future, and less on criticizing Apple for leaving the past behind.

”

- Steve Jobs » Thoughts on Flash

I’m looking forward to the outflow of vitriol from Adobe employees later today.

I'm not the only one

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 12:29:00 -0400

I'm not the only one:

Timo Vuorensola, Why I left Facebook:

Quitting FaceBook over the Like-button was not the main reason – if it was, I wouldn’t be using Google’s services, or basically any other social network out there. The thing is, I just don’t like their style. FaceBook is like the hunkiest douchebag in the bar. You know the type, the guy with enormous muscles and fake tan and bleached teeth. He gets to act just as badly as he wants, but there’s still always people swarming around him. Sometimes big online services just go into that path and never come back, and I don’t need that kind of shit around me.

The whole piece is possibly worth reading.

EDIT: And you are familiar with Iron Sky, right?

Delete your Facebook account

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 10:55:01 -0400

Delete your Facebook account:

If you deactivate your account from the “Deactivate Account” section on the Account page, your profile and all information associated with it are immediately made inaccessible to other Facebook users. What this means is that you effectively disappear from the Facebook service. However, if you want to reactivate at some point, we do save your profile information (friends, photos, interests, etc.), and your account will look just the way it did when you deactivated if you decide to reactivate it. Many users deactivate their accounts for temporary reasons and expect their information to be there when they return to the service.

If you do not think you will use Facebook again and would like your account deleted, please keep in mind that you will not be able to reactivate your account or retrieve any of the content or information you have added. If you would like your account permanently deleted with no option for recovery, log in to your account and then submit your request by clicking here.

I didn’t realise this was possible. Thanks to Ray Schamp.

The True Story of Audion

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 10:01:00 -0400

The True Story of Audion:

In honour of the release Transmit 4, give this post on the history of an app that almost became iTunes a read. It’s a fascinating look at the early history of Panic and the software music player explosion, and includes some uncommon insight into Steve Jobs and Apple to boot. It’s also a good reminder for developers who find themselves competing with game-changing products (emphasis mine):

It isn’t just that iTunes is free. It’s also damned impressive, and getting better by the day. Sure, it’s inflexible, and it could do more. But Apple has done things with iTunes that we would have never, ever been able to do with Audion — things we couldn’t even have imagined. The Music Store is nothing short of amazing. The iPod has changed music. (And Party Shuffle was really clever, I thought.) You see, Audion is not just going up against a free product that’s mediocre, leaving a lot of room for potential switchers (think Internet Explorer on Windows and the emergence of Firefox), but Audion is instead competing with a product that, you know, we actually use ourselves. When you double click the competition in the morning, that’s a pretty good sign that it’s time to hang up your hat!

Transmit 4 Available

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 07:23:00 -0400

Transmit 4 Available:

Vastly improved speed, a whole new appearance, and the ability to mount connections as disks in the Finder. I’ve been beta testing it for some time now, and it’s well worth a download. At $19 for individuals with a Transmit 3 license, I’m convinced it’s more than worth the upgrade. For everyone else, it’s a slightly more heft (but very reasonable) $34.

Tempus fugit

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 23:54:49 -0400

Acrylic remains cagey about their upcoming releases, but previous tweets suggest that Times 2.0 is nigh. It will include some sort of syncing support, whether through Google Reader or homebrewed. They’ve also been less than silent about an iPad version.

So, while the tweet I mentioned earlier may have actually been referring to an iPad version of Wallet, Times users hopefully won’t be left holding their breath too much longer.

Times a-changin'

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 23:29:20 -0400

Acrylic Software: Are we working on an iPad version of _____? Magic 8-Ball says signs point to yes.
Malum Elegans: @acrylicapps Are you also still working on a new Mac version?
Acrylic Software: @MalumElegans Yes.

Facebook wants more of your data

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 14:32:41 -0400

Facebook wants more of your data:

If you ever wanted Facebook to have access to every piece of information about you, Mark Zuckerberg has you covered:

We think that the future of the web will be filled with personalized experiences. We’ve worked with three pre-selected partners—Microsoft Docs, Yelp and Pandora—to give you a glimpse of this future, which you can access without having to login again or click to connect. For example, now if you’re logged into Facebook and go to Pandora for the first time, it can immediately start playing songs from bands you’ve liked across the web. And as you’re playing music, it can show you friends who also like the same songs as you, and then you can click to see other music they like.

We look forward to a future where all experiences are this easy and personalized, and we’re happy today to take the next important step to get there.

In other words, “Give us your information, and we’ll make your life so easy you don’t even have to live it.” Can anyone else hear a voice intoning something about freedom being slavery?

"It is polite to apologize for how little you update at least every three blog posts."

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 14:06:47 -0400

“It is polite to apologize for how little you update at least every three blog posts.”

- Fake e-Etiquette

But seriously. I’ll be posting more in the days to come.

RIAA/MPAA Want Government-Mandated Spyware That Deletes 'Infringing' Content Automatically

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 22:41:37 -0400

RIAA/MPAA Want Government-Mandated Spyware That Deletes 'Infringing' Content Automatically:

taylorcarrigan:

Putting the absurdity of border control and mandatory spyware aside, it is absolutely disgusting that the RIAA/MPAA have the nerve to suggest that national security resources be devoted to protecting their obsolete and rapidly failing business model. This is simply infuriating.

Quite so.

Gizmodo » Q and Data Examine the Next Generation Padd

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 23:50:18 -0400

Gizmodo » Q and Data Examine the Next Generation Padd:

John de Lancie and Brent Spiner playing with an iPad. That hits at least two of the cardinal points of geekdom.

"The iBooks application is laughably bad as I suspected. The Amazon Kindle app, however, is awesome...."

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 09:36:00 -0400

“The iBooks application is laughably bad as I suspected. The Amazon Kindle app, however, is awesome. No silly “looks like a book” design or superfluous page flipping animations. The Kindle app is how eBooks should be. Bravo, Amazon.”

- Paul Thurrott on the iPad

I invite you to peruse Amazon’s Kindle for iPad page. In particular, this image:

Either Thurrott never actually used Kindle for iPad, or Amazon posted a very misleading ‘screenshot’. I don’t have an iPad yet, so I can’t check; anyone?

iPad Mania

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 11:44:31 -0400

I’ve been pretty silent for the last few days for a couple of reasons. First, I’ve just moved and don’t have internet in my new place (and won’t until Monday afternoon). Second, most of the big news right now is about the iPad, and others have that pretty well covered. I’d recommend checking out these blogs for hardcore iPad coverage:

I’ll be joining in the fun a bit more once I have access in my home again, and once I receive my newly-reserved 64GB 3G iPad in late April or early May, you can expect to see a lot of iPad-related commentary and reviews here.

"If it works beautifully, it should also work robustly. It’s made for people to chuck onto the..."

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 10:50:50 -0400

“If it works beautifully, it should also work robustly. It’s made for people to chuck onto the car seat and thrust into luggage without thinking. It’s not to be delicate with.”

- Jonathan Ive on the iPad, as recorded by Stephen Fry.

AppleInsider » Apple's iPad iBookstore offers low-cost e-book self publishing

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 15:54:40 -0400

AppleInsider » Apple's iPad iBookstore offers low-cost e-book self publishing:

Interesting, if true; I’m curious to hear Neven Mrgan’s take.

Yes, Virginia, you can copy text from an iBooks book. (via...

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 13:41:47 -0400

Yes, Virginia, you can copy text from an iBooks book.

(via Apple’s iPad Guided tours)

iPad Design Showcase on Ember

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 12:00:03 -0400

iPad Design Showcase on Ember:

Be sure to look at Mondo Solitaire, designed by Adam Betts. If that’s any indication of the aesthetic quality of the software I’ll be running on my iPad, I’m drooling already.