Opinionated

This week as I pondered various discussions at the Defrag1 conference I found myself again frustrated that we do not yet have a bytecode interpreter as a standard browser feature. It has been apparent for a long time that JavaScript is not a foundation we can grow forever on. The current ubiquity and reliance on JS is an accident of history, …

One of the best known stories about Steve Jobs is how he saw graphical user interfaces and mouse input devices at PARC and it inspired him to push for the efforts at Apple that became the first Mac. It could be argued that the iPad and iPhone are also in a way inspired by PARC, (parctabs and …

Safari will often show a cached copy of a page that is several days old, even though it showed a current version moments before. I see it most frequently on news index sites like the Techmeme river. To reproduce: 1. Go to site, may be in a new tab/page, view current version of page. 2. Follow a link and view linked …

I have been waiting since August 8th for enrollment in the Apple Developer Program. It is now the latter half of September. I am completely stunned. Timeline: August 8 — Initial application through online form. I also faxed in documentation of my LLC the same day as I knew this would be required. I received thank you emails in …

As predicted Android is dying fast. Surprisingly Google is helping it along. There has been a lot of stunned commentary since Google announced that it would acquire Motorola Mobility, lots of people questioning their sanity. I think this was their only move, they either had to abandon any pretense of controlling Android, or build their own stuff. As …

It has been widely adopted by device manufacturers, happy to toss aside legacy firmware and licensing fees for something sleek and modern and with a Google subsidy. It is now reported at a 39% market share. It is specifically because it is widely used that it has rapidly become the commodity underlayment and is being fractured to …

Lion is here and it is very good. I come to the Mac from a strange place. I’m not a ‘switcher’ in the sense that I am not a consumer user who when it came time to upgrade an aging Windows PC decided to try out a Mac. In fact I was very reluctant. Fortunately I have impeccable timing. I can still …

On the face of things Android is killing it. Two things will actually ‘kill’ it: First the developer experience is awful. Technologically and ecosystem-wise it is a distant second to iOS. This has slowed development of quality apps for android, and injured the developers that have targeted the platform. Apple will continue to enjoy ever-increasing lock-in …

This was an interesting week, with the first “cloud failure” big enough that anyone with an Internet connection took notice. There has been much gnashing of teeth and hyperbole, and several embarrassing moments for a lot of teams, not least at Amazon. I think it is worth spending a few moments to take stock. The specific cause of the …

Now that I know the solution this is head-slappingly obvious, but prior to that it was driving me nuts for most of a week so I am going to share this here for people searching for a solution. The behavior I experienced was suddenly most, but not all, apps on the iPad had no sound and I couldn’t get it to …