Random Musings of Daniel J. Hamilton

Steve Jobs

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:58:25 -0500

Looks like John Gruber got around to finishing the Walter Isaacson Steve Jobs Biography. His conclusion is spot on:

It’s not just that Isaacson was wrong about something; it’s that he was wrong about the most important thing in Jobs’s career. There’s a decades-long story arc about the software system started at NeXT that Isaacson completely misses.

Sad that the one guy who gets to talk to Steve Jobs for history turns out to be so totally technologically ignorant that he misses the entire point of the man’s career.

I agree with Gruber that Isaacson gets the personal part of Steve Job’s life but he misses the opportunity to correctly question Steve Jobs about his work because he just doesn’t get it.

If Isaacson has any duty to history, he needs to make his notes and tapes available so that someone who actually knows something about technology can write the story of why Steve Jobs brought Apple back from the dead.

Great read and proof why longreads is awesome: longreads: The...

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 15:18:55 -0500

Great read and proof why longreads is awesome:

longreads:

The search for an amateur philosopher who anonymously paid university professors thousands of dollars to review his work:

The institute’s letter claimed that a “very substantial sum” had been earmarked to help contribute to “the revival of traditional metaphysics.” Given the number of philosophers involved, that sum was at least in the neighborhood of $125,000. Who could afford to spend that much money on philosophy? And of those who could, who would want to? No one had a clue.

To judge from both the reviewer’s contract and “Coming to Understanding” itself, the institute meant business. For one thing, the manuscript, signed by one A.M. Monius, suggested the handiwork of a serious thinker—not a prankster. “It didn’t seem like a joke,” Zimmerman says. ‘“t wasn’t that funny. It was clearly the work of a fairly able writer—a smart person, one capable of making some gross philosophical errors while at the same time having some clever ideas.”

“The Mystery of the Millionaire Metaphysician.” — James Ryerson, Lingua Franca (2001)

See also: “Cass Sunstein Wants to Nudge Us.” — Benjamin Wallace-Wells, New York Times, May 13, 2010

Kind of on an economics kick today

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 16:22:46 -0500

Been reading a lot of articles today on economics and/or the state of politics and the economy.

Many are quite long, but thanks to Instapaper and flipboard I’ve posted links to them thought the day. See if you can see the common thread running through these articles.

Why Apple's products are 'Designed in California' but 'Assembled in China'

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 16:18:29 -0500

Why Apple's products are 'Designed in California' but 'Assembled in China':

Chris Rawson, tuaw.com

Look at the back of your iPhone, or your iPad, or on the bottom of your Mac. You’ll see the following words embossed somewhere: “Designed by Apple in California. Assembled in China.” Many Americans, all the way up to the President…

How U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 16:17:30 -0500

How U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work:

Apple once bragged that its products were made in America. But it has since shifted its immense manufacturing work overseas, posing questions about what corporate America owes Americans.

Chefs, Butlers, Marble Baths: Hospitals Vie for the Affluent

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 16:15:34 -0500

Chefs, Butlers, Marble Baths: Hospitals Vie for the Affluent:

Private chefs prepared to cook anything, elegant surroundings and even butlers are among the amenities in lavish suites of some hospitals.

In a Romney Believer, Private Equity’s Risks and Rewards

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 16:15:13 -0500

In a Romney Believer, Private Equity’s Risks and Rewards:

The merits of private equity firms, like Marc J. Leder’s Sun Capital, have come into question again because of Mitt Romney’s time at the firm Bain Capital.

Speculators drive cotton price volatility, hurting farmers and consumers | McClatchy

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 15:34:25 -0500

Speculators drive cotton price volatility, hurting farmers and consumers | McClatchy:

(via Instapaper)

The Left-Behinds - Michael Hirsh - NationalJournal.com

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 15:17:59 -0500

The Left-Behinds - Michael Hirsh - NationalJournal.com:

(via Instapaper)

Can Jeremy Grantham Profit From Ecological Mayhem? - NYTimes.com

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 14:28:54 -0500

Can Jeremy Grantham Profit From Ecological Mayhem? - NYTimes.com:

(via Instapaper)

liberalsarecool: We are a liberal society. We are composed of...

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 13:13:40 -0500

liberalsarecool:

We are a liberal society. We are composed of liberal beliefs. Democracy is liberal. Education is liberal. Freedoms are liberal. The First Amendment is liberal. Separation of Church and State is liberal. Innocent until proven guilty is liberal. Our socialist society of civil servants is liberal. Social Security and Medicare are liberal. Free markets correcting themselves is liberal. Freedom of religion is liberal.

Conservatives get to live in this liberal socialist society with all its great and not so great standards. Instead of building on this society as whole, their politicians, pundits, and talking heads find ways to exploit cultural ‘tribal thinking’ and insecurities in certain pockets of the country and develop wedge issues and identity politics to gain supporters.

Their collective goal is to eliminate the very principles and ‘social justices’ that have been in place for centuries. They get to run against liberal ideals they can never eliminate, and for that, the idea that “liberalism” having to be stopped, becomes a meaningless, mindless dogma of the politically confused. You can’t stop it. It is an intrinsic part of the entire country.

Yet, with this canard of “if only we could get rid of liberals”, they yearn to “restore” the country to a time that never really existed. That only they can accomplish. Beware of such ideologies. Conservative Kool-Aid is not the answer. The nature of our country is to include everyone. To take care of those who need help. In this tough economy, now is not the time to forget.

Douglas/liberalsarecool

One of these guys is wrong

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:10:24 -0500

One of my “must see” daily websites is macsurfer.com. Today I came across 2 headlines listed right on top of each other:

From bgr.com: web traffic patterns suggest iPad was a dud this holiday season

And…

From macdailynews.com: ad network numbers suggest apples iPad had a massive Christmas

Clearly, one of these is wrong. Both linked articles cite the same data from Chitika Insights. However, bgr.com simply regurgitates the Chitika data and conclusion (that iPads did not sell well for Christmas) while macdailynews.com, actually tries to interpret the data and comes to the (correct) conclusion:

If 1 million Kindle Fires were being seen by Chitika and they increase by 122% after Christmas, then that’s a total of 1.22 million new Kindle Fires that were unwrapped, turned on, and measured > by Chitika…. if 40 million iPads were being seen by Chitika before Christmas and iPad shows a 28% increase (or whatever percentage that graphic is trying to show) after Christmas, then 11.2 million new iPads were unwrapped

Which leads me to two points:

First, lies damn lies and statistics. Chitikas data on first glance looks like it actually supports the fact that more kindles were opened on Christmas than iPads. But, when you actually apply some critical reasoning to the data, you realize it’s just not true.

Second, kudos to mac daily news for being smart. Shame on bgr.com for being dumb.

My thoughts exactly mediation: gingerhaze: Thanks GRR Martin...

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 01:13:16 -0500

My thoughts exactly

mediation:

gingerhaze:

Thanks GRR Martin for turning me into a terrible person.

ugh srsly

Get out 2011.

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 01:16:42 -0500

Get out 2011.

Poor Cousin: thought on 90WPM: Seeing It

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 22:08:00 -0500

Poor Cousin: thought on 90WPM: Seeing It: Really good post on the whole android vs. iOS debate, the flames of which have been fanned by the war between MG Siegler and Josh Topolsky. Recommend you go check it out, but I wanted to add a bit to this:

90wpm:

Topolsky is clearly pissed off. It’s easy to dismiss his post as yet another Android reviewer ranting about Apple-centric bloggers, but if you listen to the core of his argument, he’s voicing a common objection from the Android camp: that reviewers who regularly praise Apple products are generally dismissive of Android devices, cherry-picking the worst failures as evidence that Android Just Isn’t There Yet.

This point about android reviewers comparing android to iOS and dismiss Android as iOS’s poor cousin: what I really think pisses the android camp off is because they know: Apple got there first and does it better for the average user.

Android is simply a copy (good or bad, you decide) of iOS. Like it or not, no matter what the outcome of the iOS v Android platform wars, history will record that Android, like windows before it, is simply a copy of Apple innovation. In fact, even more so (Bill Gates had a small point when he noted that Apple simply took Mac OS from Xerox).

I think this is what really drives the hatred. The need to believe that Android innovation is superior to Apple.

Personally, I have had iPhones since they were introduced, upgrading them as time went along to iPhone 4s. A few months back, I got 3 Nexus S phones to replace the iPhones. Nearly a day does not go by where my wife and kids do not beg me to go back to the iPhone. Android is just alien to them - they have trouble using it for anything more than making phone calls (and sometimes they have trouble doing that).

I freely admit that I am an Apple fanboy, but my family is not (I’ve heard pleas for windows from them for years) but after 5 months with the Android phones, they know that for them, iPhones are better. If you were to ask them why, they probably couldn’t say anything more detailed than the iPhone just works better. And that reason is why (despite marketshare, tech specs, number of apps) Android is considered iOS’s poor cousin.

Young Adult

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 14:19:00 -0500

Browsing through goodreads.com and come across their year in review and discover that young adult (YA) titles where some of the most read books of the year.

I dont get it. Unless english teachers and librarians across the world are forcing kids to buy these books and sign up for goodreads.com why are actual adults so smitten with these types of books? Am I missing something about the category?

Now, I understand the occasional YA title becoming popular (e.g. Harry Potter) , but is the world of fiction so barren or adults of the world so emotionally and intellectually stunted that theyd rather read books written for kids?

I read somewhere that statistically men dont read and that the majority of books published these days are bought and read by women. So, I guess what I am asking is why so many women want to read books for kids.

Clueless I guess.

hifilofi: Yep Ha! Very funny.

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 15:48:50 -0500

hifilofi:

Yep

Ha! Very funny.

Polls say Romney will walk to GOP nomination

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 15:40:00 -0500

Polls say Romney will walk to GOP nomination:

A few days out from Iowa and although nobody has yet cast a ballot in the GOP primaries, the polls seem to be saying Mitt Romney will walk to the GOP nomination.

That would be amazing. Something always goes wrong, front runners always stumble. Romney probably wins the nomination anyway, but it won’t be a walk.

Anyway, probably doesn’t matter anyway. I still think President Obama wins re-election, pretty easily at that.

Apple Rumors: iPad 3

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:49:01 -0500

Saw on various Apple news/rumor sites yesterday that there’s a new rumor that Apple is going to announce the iPad 3 in January - At iWorld (which I believe is the renamed Macworld). My take on this:

When. hell. freezes. over.

Apple famously decamped from Macworld and most every other tech conference it participated in many years back. I know Steve Jobs is gone, but there’s no way that Apple is going to go back to conference participation. The reason is still the same: Apple wants control of their product launches and by participating in conferences, they give up some control as to when they can release new products. In fact, Microsoft rolled out the same excuse regarding CES a few weeks ago. So, no new iPad at iWorld. Willing to put money on it.

That said, I do think the iPad 3 is coming early 2012. With retina display. Yippie! At the same time I suspect they’ll maintain iPad 2 at a lower price ($299 probably, $249 if they are spooked by the kindle Fire). But, no 7” iPad this year. File it away for claim chowder.

As to when: figure an announcement either before (unlikely but possibly Jan 17 or 24) or shortly after iWorld (which is Jan 26-28 2012) where Apple will introduce the iPad 3 and announce iOS 5.1 availability to developers (which they will have to do so developers can get their apps ready for retina iPads). The actual date you’ll be able to get grubby hands on an iPad 3 is no sooner than mid-April.

Still kind of amazes me that people seem so perplexed by Apple’s product launch cycle. To my eye, they have “windows” - early sping for iPads, summer for iPhones and fall for iPods. Laptops and Desktops go when they are ready via either special events or press releases. Pretty simple.

parislemon: Amazon's December Kindle Sales: Somewhere Between 4 Million And Infinity

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:21:48 -0500

parislemon: Amazon's December Kindle Sales: Somewhere Between 4 Million And Infinity:

parislemon:

This is beyond ridiculous now. Amazon continues to feel the need to boast — and it seems understandably — about their Kindle sales. But they continue to refuse to give actual sales numbers to back up the boasting.

The latest press release says that “Throughout December, customers purchased well…

What I want to know is…how many Kindle Fires have been returned? Amazon’s sales numbers for the Fire are (well, maybe, as parislemon suggests) antidotally impressive for 4 weeks. But, given all the griping I’ve read about the usability of the Fire, how many are now on their way back to Amazon?