→ Apple's limited auto-renewal subscriptions

Apple's limited auto-renewal subscriptions

Marco Arment:

Ultimately, I had to ship Instapaper 4.0 with non-renewing subscriptions, I was able to delete all of the clunky auto-renewing server code, nobody sees that terrible dialog in my app, and I need to ship an update soon that will annoy my best customers with manual-renewal notifications.

But this is a great example, like Newsstand Kit’s background downloads, of Apple adding a capability to iOS that’s potentially useful to thousands of developers, and then restricting it so that only a handful of players (usually big companies) can actually use it.

Apple certainly doesn't cater to developers first. This is one of those cases where I assume Apple will one day get it right. Easier to gradually allow developers more power than to take it away. Still, it sure does stink until then, doesn't it?

→ Windows 8 Storage Spaces detailed

Windows 8 Storage Spaces detailed

Peter Bright at Ars Technica:

Unlike RAID systems of old, but in common with other modern storage technologies such as Solaris' ZFS and Linux's btrfs, pools can use disks of different interface technologies—USB, SATA, Serial Attached SCSI—and different, mismatched sizes. New disks can be added to a pool at any time. Pools can also include one or more hot spares: drives allocated to a pool but kept in standby until another disk in the pool fails, at which point they spring into life.

Storage in a pool is then distributed among one or more spaces. Each space can have its own redundancy policy, with three kinds of fault tolerance offered: 2-way mirroring, 3-way mirroring, and RAID 5-like parity. With the mirrored options, a space's data is stored either twice or three times within a pool. With the parity option, the system will compute additional information and store this within the pool. If any disk in the pool fails, the data can be reconstructed using this additional information.

A feature of both server and desktop Windows, this is killer.

If the feature does indeed ship in desktop Windows, it will overnight obsolete a range of SOHO-oriented storage systems; products like Drobo and ReadyNAS will find it hard to survive in a Windows 8 world.

It looks like I'm going to have to build myself a Windows 8 storage server.

→ Wired.com's Report on the State of 3D Technology

Wired.com's Report on the State of 3D Technology

This is the most significant bit to me:

But even handsome 3D specs can’t mitigate the headaches and fatigue suffered by some viewers of 3D content

Avatar in IMAX made me nauseous and dizzy after just a few moments. The Nintendo 3DS is the only 3D display I've been able to use for more than 10 minutes at a time, but even then it tires my eyes out faster than normal displays.

→ Android Developers Blog: Holo Everywhere

Android Developers Blog: Holo Everywhere

Adam Powell, an Android engineer:

In Android 4.0, Holo is different. We’ve made the inclusion of the unmodified Holo theme family a compatibility requirement for devices running Android 4.0 and forward. If the device has Android Market it will have the Holo themes as they were originally designed.

This is interesting. Google and Apple have different approaches to platform building. Google gradually lays down more rules and control over time, forcing the developers and experience more in line every release if they want to be part of the Google platform at large. Apple starts stringent, sees what people clamor for, what they think they can allow without overwhelming the user experience, and then slowly adding features bit by bit.

It's very much a choice between letting the genie out of the bottle and gradually forcing him back in versus letting him out just a little bit at a time. I'm under the impression the latter (Apple) is the far easier and smoother approach to putting the perceived user experience first, while the former (Google) gives developers more of what they demand. I don't think that point is arguable. What is arguable is which one actually ends up building a more fruitful (or, to use an opinion word, better) platform. My opnion is that the Android vs iOS battle has thus far pointed toward's Apple's approach being better for building a real platform--both for the developers who want to make money and the users who want a stable and consistent experience.

Still, even if you'd agree with me on this point (which you might not), this is but one platform battle. We've had others before, and we'll have others again.

What is inarguable is this: Google is improving the experience of Android by forcing authorized Apps to include support for their theme. Therefore, Google is improving the experience of Android by requiring developers to do work they might not want to do because Google deems it better for the user.

→ Google TVs confirmed from LG, Samsung, Sony, Vizio

Google TVs confirmed from LG, Samsung, Sony, Vizio

Electronista.com:

The launch isn't universal and will leave out companies like Panasonic, but it helps explain Google chairman Eric Schmidt's beliefs that most TVs would use Google TV by mid-year. Although doubtful that most TVs will use the platform given that the OS may skew towards higher-end sets, it could make Google TV difficult to avoid for those buying within a certain price range.

Will Google TV be genuinely useful this time around? I've spent extensive time with the Logitech Revue and liked it well enough for browsing the internet on a TV, but there's no way it was practical enough for normal users.

How is this going to work? An Android App Marketplace for Google TV is a step in the right direction. Will it integrate cablecard support into TVs and have TV tuning capability? The existing box's ability to integrate with DISH Network set top boxes was pretty effective, but really, Google needs something more if it's going to really change television.

I wonder how this will compare to whatever successors to Apple TV are being working on.