Apple Goes Transparent on App Store

Apple has finally provided clear guidelines on its App Store policies, which should make writing a major iOS application feel less like a gamble. Moreover, the relaxing of restrictions on the tools used to create iOS apps ought to eliminate the biggest complaint raised over Apple's walled garden approach to app development.

Gruber has a very good analysis.

TV Trojan

I still think that the Apple TV as it has now been unveiled is a trojan horse for the company (not of the malicious software kind, however). If this thing sells enough units — and at the new price and design, it very well could sell that mystical figure known as “enough” — one can easily see people begging for a SDK to develop apps (especially “casual” games) for it.

And, like the original iPhone, Apple can act like its arms are being twisted and then “relent” by doing what it intended to do all along. Right now, launching with an app store might be embarrassing. The current Apple TV hasn't been that successful (by Apple's own admission) and so interest could be tepid. Just look at how hard of time Apple had getting the major networks to support its new TV rental scheme (just two did). Unlike its other devices, people aren't begging to be involved on the Apple TV. Yet.

But, this device, with its Netflix streaming support and iTunes compatibility, could easily sell well. And then, in Steve Job's lingo, “boom.”

Cell Phone Bits

Two cell phone related pieces went up on Open for Business this week that might prove interesting to asisaid readers. First, I posted my review of the Droid X. I spent about a month using the device and I have to say I was very impressed by it — much more so than I expected to be.

Also, my friend and fellow contributor Dennis Powell writes about his odyssey through prepaid cellular plans in the sort of entertaining way only he can do. It is a fun read and an enlightening one if you are looking to save money by going prepaid.

Google's Continued Fall from Grace

Neil McAllister writes on why Oracle is right to sue Google over its modified Java platform:

“Now if Microsoft wants to use Java, they will have to use the same Java everyone else does,” Sun vice president Rich Green said at the time. Should not Google be held to the same standard? Oracle thinks so, and like Sun of old, it has chosen a legal remedy.

If anyone is looking for proof coming from places other than Cupertino that Google is not viewed as a “don't be evil” company any longer, comparisons of its actions to some of Microsoft's antitrust debacles of the past ought to do the trick.

The question, though, remains: can anyone actually do what Google does better than Google?

Microsoft, Macs and Seminarians

The AP reports:

Increasingly, companies are giving their employees a choice to either use Microsoft Windows PCs or Apple Inc.'s Macs, the analyst said. And, increasingly, employees are choosing Mac over Windows. To boot, Chowdhry said 70 percent of college freshman are entering school with Macs, up about 10 percent to 15 percent from a year ago.

I think this is quite likely true. I have observed this phenomenon during my entire seminary experience. Since 2007, when I arrived there, I have noticed that each incoming class of students has brought with them an increasingly high number of Macs. It may not have been a majority at first, but in the last few years, between new students coming in with Macs, along with middlers and seniors getting new systems, the glowing Apples about any classroom denote that Macs are clearly now a significant majority.

What is even more notable about this is that seminarians are not exactly known for having a lot of funds or — perhaps more relevant — expectations of large incomes post graduation. If they are willing to throw in a bit more cash for a more reliable computing experience, I think that the overall picture of Apple in academia is promising.

Especially in fields where computer platforms are less likely to be mandated (such as ministry work), I think it seems reasonable to expect that today's students will continue to use Macs into the future, barring any major changes to the landscape of computer operating systems.

Is it too much to wonder if Windows could become the next WordPerfect? Yes, probably. But, with Mac OS, iOS, Chrome OS and Android all chewing away at different parts of the Windows market and estimates like these indicating who has the next generation's market share and mindshare, I think we could be headed into a future where non-Windows computers are not immediately considered “alternative” and foreign.

Better Facebook

Better Facebook is a FREE user script that plugs into your browser and adds a lot of great enhancements to your existing Facebook account!

I've been using Better Facebook since the Safari Extension Gallery came out and highlighted it. So far, I'm finding some of its additions to Facebook quite handy. (It also works on Firefox, Chrome and Opera, by the way.)

Sometimes to Get It, You Must Live It

Soul Survivor: How Thirteen Unlikely Mentors Helped My Faith Survive the Church

I am sure I did not fully appreciate the title of Philip Yancy's excellent book when I read it two years ago.

The iPhone 4 Antenna Song

Apple showed this video from YouTube today at the iPhone 4 Antenna Q&A. Classic.

Free Amazon Prime for Students

Amazon is giving away (affiliate link) a free year of Amazon Prime unlimited, no extra charge two day shipping to students at a college or grad school. If you are taking at least one class for credit, you qualify.

I signed up and Amazon was nice enough to offer a prorated refund for the remaining months in my regular Amazon Prime subscription.

hdBaseT

OSNews comments on an interesting new audio/visual cable standard being proposed as an alternative to HDMI.

It's really more than an HDMI competitor, it's a cable specification that “converges full uncompressed HD video, audio, 100BaseT Ethernet, high power over cable and various control signals through a single 100m/328ft CAT5e/6 LAN cable.” That's an idea that I can really get behind. No new proprietary connectors, no expensive cables needed, consolidation of all necessary signals into one cable. The founding companies include LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, and Sony Pictures Entertainment.

This sounds like something that could really simplify wiring one's TV and related equipment cost effectively. And just think about larger scale setups.