From Gizmodo: There are no less than five apps to turn my iPhone into a flashlight, yet I can’t turn it into a 3G-powered Wi-Fi hotspot. Why? Because the SDK has more restrictions than Guantanamo—devs can’t integrate with the OS and have to steer way, way clear of copyright and trademark issues—so the most innovative, game-changing apps might not ever make it to your squeaky clean iPhone. That’s why we need more than Apple’s official app store—we still need jailbreaking, Installer.app (now Cydia) and the best unauthorized third-party apps to make the iPhone an ultra-powerful open platform we really want.

In all truth, I never expected Apple to revamp the iPhone as a fully open platform. I hinted at that a while ago in a previous post. But truth is I don’t think Steve and Co realize the potential of loosening the chains they have on developers. True, they don’t want third party applications to damage the iPhone experience (by, say, bogging down the operating system or creating potential security issues for iPhone users). But by not allowing full (read as more) access to the device’s capabilities, they’re encouraging users - at least the most adventurous - to hack away at the machine, and going rogue on them.

1) If I download an application to try it out, delete it, and then want to install it again - because that just might be the way I am with decisions -, why do I need a message telling me that I’ve already downloaded that application once, and asking if I want to download it again. Yes Apple, I do want to download it again, I just clicked the damn “INSTALL” button.

2) I have no idea why, but if I download an application on my iPhone, iTunes keeps complaining it can’t sync it with my Macbook Pro because it is not “authorized” to “play the item” (seriously.) on my computer. It’s not a song, so I won’t be playing anything, Apple. And do I really need to “Authorize Computer” for free apps? Come on.

3) Why is there no way for me to use iTunes to download a bunch of applications and then just drag Applications in and out of a device, just like I do with tracks and playlists? I know we’ve been there before, but this sync-everything experience is really boring and convoluted. Installing and uninstalling applications on OSX is usually a drag and drop experience, why smack us in the face with this absurdity?

I hate posts that only complain, so I’ll make amends right now. It’s not all bad about the App Store and the iPhones’ application management experience. I for one am quite happy about what Apple is doing with the iPhone and its promotion as a platform. But if you guys over at Cupertino could fix these things, now that would be great.

Note: using the iPhone App Store? How’s your experience been thus far? And if you’re inclined to share, what applications have you been using, free or otherwise?

Anyway, fast forward from two years ago to present day. Mike and the rest of the guys at Techcrunch (which I left now ages ago, but miss dearly) are tackling this very problem (see the post at TechcrunchIT, too) - talk about bending the rules of what you expect from a blog.

If you think about it, it makes total sense. Our computing power is in the cloud, so is our information. What we need now, is a better way to connect to the services we use and the data they store. This project might just be one of the answers to this problem. Part of the beauty? The plan to work on it and opensource the software and design. Want to get involved? Get in touch with the TC people - we know we will.

Read more at: Techcrunch, TechcrunchIT.

Now I’m not a fan, or user, of virtual worlds. I did try Second Life for a few minutes but quickly gave up because the engine is bad, and quite honestly I’m not a big fan of spending hours living the life of a fictional character. There’s people partying on there all day, I’m sure, but if I want to do some of that, I’ll definitely do it with no keyboards attached.

On Lively

But Lively is interesting. One, it is from Google, which has enough online properties to really explore this market. Think about Blogger and Orkut. Now think about the possibilities of allowing people to have rooms where they can engage with their friends in a totally new (and apparently exciting) way. It is quite obvious this is big for them. Maybe it won’t mean a thing for early adopters and tech pundits, but the average young blogger will be all over this.

Moreover, this is a whole new vertical to explore in new, creative, advertising ways. Everyone knows Google loves that - it’s their business. Just imagine all the plans for in-game advertising being tested with the thousands of rooms about to be created by people with blogs about music, fashion, cinema. It’s potentially a big, big market.

I guess we’ll see how this turns out. Me, I’m impressed that Google stepped out of the box and delivered a product that people weren’t expecting. This may not be a good thing for some people, but I actually think it is a refreshing initiative. If you’re looking to read more about Lively, check out the coverage on Techcrunch and Techmeme.

Update: I totally forgot to mention one tiny detail that I’m not that happy about. Windows only? Come on now, Google. I do expect more of you guys.

Webreakstuff Labs! is our blog for development, experimental and… well, everything else, really. If you’re a fan of them bits and bytes, you should go ahead and subscribe, because there’s going to be a lot of that on there - and (yay!) from all our team and not just me. There’s already a few posts on there, and there’s quite a few others lined up.

Hit the labs!

You guys should need no explanation as to how these things work. Here’s the cold hard truth: people will get things for free if they want to. I bet there’s millions of illegal copies of your tracks (even new ones) out there already. Your new album (which I’m actually looking forward to) may even be leaked before release date - it’s been happening to other people (have you heard?). But look: it’s not all that bad.

I know you guys don’t need to know this stuff, or shouldn’t have to: you’re the band! You guys do the rocking, right? Well, wrong. Your management and PR is doing you a disservice by avoiding that people talk about your new album. Actually forcing people to bring down their reviews of your music is not just dumb - it’s also, well, insane. It’s really going back to Napster days when everyone’s opinion of you changed just a little bit. And I could swear I read you were changing.

There’s a few bands who apparently have kept up with the news between rehearsals. Guys like Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) - that guy is crazy, he even gives stuff away, right? - or Radiohead - holy crap, I get to choose how much I pay? I pitty you fools! - , actually understand that things have changed! You shouldn’t really try to stop the flow of information - you should just turn your own hose on, full steam. To try and remedy your situation, I included a few articles (by bloggers, no less!) I think you should read about this new “crazy talk” going on out there.

I still hope you’re well, and that your new album is at least better than the last. And do know that all this post was written down with hands in the rock position to keep the feeling going.

Some reading material

Radiohead announces In Rainbows. Crazy talk.
Radiohead fans to pick album cost. LULZ
NIN - Ghosts on The Piratebay. Posted by that weird kid Reznor.
Again, this Nine Inch Nails guy talking crazy. To the NY Times. Nuts!

Okay, some (more) serious footnotes and a conclusion

The internet changed the game. People actually use it to read the news (O’RLY? Yeah. Really.), buy and download music, and - believe it or not -, reading reviews of albums on the web really does still make people go out and BUY CDS. Please let people talk about your music. Like any good PR person or manager would/should tell you: them internet eyeballs, they’re loads, and they come in tubes! Don’t cheat, play the game. And good luck with the new album - I even read, before you guys censored the reviews - that it wasn’t that bad.

The first article from Harvard Business Publishing, talks about how Zappos bribes potential employees into quitting in order to gauge their interest and commitment to the company’s values. Here’s a piece from the article:

This is a company that’s bursting with personality (…) So when Zappos hires new employees, it provides a four-week training period that immerses them in the company’s strategy, culture, and obsession with customers. People get paid their full salary during this period.

After a week or so in this immersive experience, though, it’s time for what Zappos calls “The Offer.” The fast-growing company, which works hard to recruit people to join, says to its newest employees: “If you quit today, we will pay you for the amount of time you’ve worked, plus we will offer you a $1,000 bonus.” Zappos actually bribes its new employees to quit! Why? Because if you’re willing to take the company up on the offer, you obviously don’t have the sense of commitment they are looking for.

The second bit of inspiration I want to leave you with is this presentation from Underground 4 in Los Angeles by Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh. It talks about how Zappos became a 1 billion dollar business by caring about their customer experience:

What to take away

WOWing someone is a powerful thing. When you care deeply enough about someone - a customer, partner or employee - you are more likely to engage them in a way that makes them reciprocate the good will. Naturally, I’m stating the obvious when I say you should aim to please your customers, but when was the last time you heard people recommending a brand because they were just so nice to you?

What can we, as designers, developers and entrepreneurs, do for our audience that we haven’t yet? How can we WOW them? There’s a few lessons to take away from the Zappos story. I know I have, and I hope you do too.

There’s a lot I want to say not about Totspot, but the experience behind it and how it got to where it is right now, but to be honest, I haven’t been this tired in a very long time. Still, there’s some pretty exciting stuff down the road with the service, so if you have kids, go have a look. I think our team (both on Webreakstuff’s end as well as everyone else behind Totspot) built something really special. Hope you like it! Visit Totspot now.

Just because it’s free, it doesn’t mean it has no value

Let me put it this way. Gmail is free and yet I’d personally panic if it suddenly went away. Google is free too, and we use it all the time. Free doesn’t mean “allowed to suck”, or stand for “acceptable downtime”. Free products like Gmail, Google, Twitter, Facebook or Friendfeed still have a value. What you’re not giving away in dollars (or in our case here, Euros), you’re giving away in data and attention.

Sure, I’d be bitching often if Twitter was down and I had paid money for it. But even if I haven’t, they have my data, their service still is the vehicle through which people hear from me at a more personal level. I have invested in this service with my own attention. I don’t have a particular number for how much that’s worth, but it’s definitely not a zero.

It’s about you, the user

This isn’t a rant against Twitter. They’re not the ones saying we should accept their downtime because they provide their service for free. Real people are saying this. Personally, I don’t think these people understand the value of their own presence and data. Don’t want to be frustrated because a service is down? It’s definitely your right not to be (and I’m glad - we as a species are already way too stressed out as we are). But don’t underestimate your own value, or think that just because something doesn’t have a price tag, it should be allowed to fail.

The goal of the OLPC is to create a computer that lets kids explore and be creative by themselves or with their friends. It is definitely not a computer to run Notepad, or Office, or play Solitaire and Minesweeper. It is not a computer for those who’ve been using Windows, OSX or Linux for years. By this I’m not saying that the OLPC needs a dumbed-down experience. It does need, however, to be designed in a way that fits with the needs of someone for whom a computer is a strange and alien object.

On the Sugar UI: If you’ve ever seen a OLPC device, you’ve seen Sugar. Sugar is the user interface that the computers use, and it has been designed with kids in mind. Now, if you’ve been reading this blog for a while you know I am critical of Sugar because it is confusing and abuses icons at the expense of usability. It is what you get by having a top graphical design firm work on a computing experience. But despite all this, it is still an experience you can make better and evolve.

On Windows: Windows on the other hand, is a controlled, fixed experience. It’s not like you can just go and change the whole UI to fit OLPC and kids. Or you can, by running apps on top of the OS (just like HTC does with their mobile Touch interface on top of WM6), but that’s just wrong and and a lousy experience for the user.

Users of the OLPC - again, children in need - are not going to get the desktop metaphor, the applications packed with Windows XP, or the computing experience as a whole. Would they benefit from a transition to Windows or OSX after using a simpler UI to understanding the concept behind the machines? Absolutely. But as an initial experience, Windows (or anything else that’s not tailored to the OLPC audience) is a bad fit.

Update: Just noticed how Mike over at TC seems to agree with this assessment, albeit from a angle of his own (and in his good old style). There’s a few more takes on this matter (although mostly from old media) on Techmeme.