Scherber.org

I hate when the “Think Different” company insults the intelligence of it’s own customers. Apple is doing it right now from their very own website. Apple claims they are still in the process of reviewing the Google Voice App and NEVER actually refused it. What actually happened is that Apple removed ALL the previously accepted Google Voice Apps from the App Store. In the case of GV Mobile, acceptance had come from Phil Schiller himself weeks prior.

Customer and developer both get screwed. The customer gets screwed because even if they keep a rejected software app on their iPhone, it will never be properly updated and will eventually obsolete itself. The developer get screwed because refunds come out of their own pockets and not Apple’s. This despite the fact that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the app, and regardless that it comes after many months of coding and testing, and finally getting the application approved from a senior-level Apple executive.

Apple claims they don’t want duplicate functionality (really?) because it might confuse the end-user (really?) Let’s hope they don’t attempt this tactic on their personal computers, else you’ll never be able to use an app that might compete with (or in Apple speak: be confused with) an established Apple application. God knows having access to multiple word-processor apps might confuse the hell out of you.

What this is really all about is control; Apple’s and not yours. It is about limiting your options, and stifling innovation; all for the sake of the almighty buck. I think Apple is confused if they don’t understand that their customers (and the FCC) know EXACTLY what is happening here. It won’t be tolerated, nor will this issue go away until Apple fixes it.

TechCrunch wrote an excellent piece that far more eloquently than could I repudiates most of the complete drivel in Apple’s response to the FCC. – It is required reading. – The Truth: What’s Really Going On With Apple, Google, AT&T And The FCC – http://shar.es/T95M

The new i.TV 2.0 will include an integrated TiVo remote control (awesome), a new simplified (hopefully faster) remote-like user interface, online ticketing, and integration with iTunes, Netflix, and YouTube. The icing on the cake: push notifications!

This software, after many speed bumps, is coming into its own, and will be the iPhone software to beat. Good job Justin! Congratulations to you and your team.

I have a print of this hanging in my office.  It never ceases to blow me away.  It is a 10-day photographic exposure of the “empty” night sky taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.

The image is from an area of the night sky equivalent in size to a grain of sand held at arm’s length. It is an image filled not with individual stars, but whole galaxies, over three thousand of them, each containing hundreds of billions of stars themselves.  A truly awe-inspiring photograph.