Link
- The Times Needs a Policy on Quotation Approval, and Soon by Margaret Sullivan at the Times's opinion column Public Editor’s Journal
- Jeff Bezos, inheritor to Steve Jobs’ crown? by Om Malik at Om.co
- Making Money While Keeping Prices Low: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Explains It All (Mostly) by Tricia Duryee at All Things D
Twitter continues to value advertiser utility above user experience
Twitter continues to value advertiser utility above user experience
Romain Dillet at TechCrunch explains it like this:
Now when you land on a company profile page, you will see a big brand name with a small @username below, a gigantic header photo, a small logo next to every tweet, photos of new products in the sidebar without having to scroll, a pinned tweet at the top of the timeline for a current promotion, and finally the traditional flow of tweets.
Twitter is not hiding the ball on this one: their advertising blog post makes it hard to see the new profiles as motivated by anything but improving advertiser utility.
Twitter’s downward spiral into user-neutral (at best) and user-hostile (at worst) changes suggests their ignorance of the operating principle I mentioned last week.
That’s a shame, because the company-first-via-users-first approach is serving Amazon and Apple, and their partners and users, very well.
David Hoffman on quotation approval
David Hoffman on quotation approval
Two days ago, I mentioned a piece by David Carr on quotation approval. This morning, I found that Professor David Hoffman, whose corporate law class I took at Temple Law, had posted his own thoughts at Concurring Opinions.
Specifically, this part stuck out to me:
There’s a simple reason that most sources (including me) ask for quote approval: we don’t trust reporters to avoid making a hash out of our comments, pulling quotes selectively to fit a pre-existing narrative, and consequently turning the source into the reporter’s sock puppet.
Professor Hoffman’s reaction illustrates an important distinction that we need to make in thinking about the integrity of quote approval. I think that experts have a right to approve not only their quotes, but the context in which those quotes will appear.
After all, a journalist’s use of an expert extends beyond the quote, and can be honest or manipulative depending on the integrity of the journalist in question. The press seeks quotes from experts like Professor Hoffman, and I believe their seeking creates an obligation to accurately report not only the words but the context.
However, David Carr’s thesis on the problem with quote approval holds true when those approvals are coming from public relations departments or firms, campaigns, or others who actively seek press coverage. The difference is between controlling the narrative (in the case of PR) and ensuring accurate context (in the case of experts).
Virgin Mobile USA's inadequate response to a good-faith vulnerability disclosure
Virgin Mobile USA’s inadequate response to a good-faith vulnerability disclosure
Developer Kevin Burke describes in damning detail how easy it is to brute force Virgin Mobile USA account PINs, as well as the company’s incompetent and opaque handling of the situation.
The New Feedly Mobile
Anti-disclosure: This post raves about the new Feedly. They didn’t pay me, I don’t know them, and all I get out of writing the below is the satisfaction of pointing fellow Android users to one of the best-designed apps in the Play Store.
I love both Pulse and Flipboard and I can’t think of many ways I would improve them. They’re elegant and functional, which are really important descriptors in my mind when it comes to app design. But they feel best to me on a tablet. Both use interface paradigms (buzz word!) that just feel (again, to me) a little overwrought on most mobile phone displays.
I uninstalled them this morning after trying out the new update to Feedly. Feedly has always integrated Google Reader, but the update includes a swipe-from-left menu letting you easily access your Reader folders. Those of you who aren’t Google Reader users can find sources in their slick new topic menu. Instapaper (and Pocket) integration, syncing read items to Reader, a dark theme, and some new font choices round out what I consider the best newsreader available on Android smartphones today.
Try the new Feedly people, and thank me later.
Mitigating My Mitigating
This post by Michael Schechter at his site A Better Mess hit home for me because I recently migrated this site permanently to Tumblr from a self-hosted Wordpress installation as part of a larger effort to consolidate the things I do in life and on the web. I’m also looking for a way to squeeze some exercise into what amounts to a 12-hour “work” day between my day job and evening classes. I am like Mr. Schechter in that I start lots of little projects, often with little or no eye toward whether they will still interest me in the long-term.
Sometimes they do. For example, I made Memeframes as a way to quick-glance Techmeme and its sister sites and I use that daily. But Fiction By Joe Ross, a Tumblr vehicle for my original sci-fi, hasn’t seen an update since July—and not for lack of material. It just isn’t in my weekly workflow.
Anyway, give Schechter’s post a read if you ever find yourself struggling with a similar problem.
David Carr on quotation approval
David Carr on quotation approval
Keep in mind that when public figures get in trouble for something they said, it is usually not because they misspoke, but because they accidentally told the truth.
News junkies probably know this already, but it’s worth letting the Times's David Carr remind us that what we find between the quotations marks isn't always accurate: sometimes it's edited by the speakers themselves.
Further Reading
Twitter forced to turn over protester's deleted tweets
Twitter forced to turn over protester’s deleted tweets
Mike Isaac, writing at All Things D:
In the end, the New York DA and the judge used a legal maneuver to put pressure on Twitter, threatening to hold the company in contempt of court and levy steep fines if it didn’t hand over the data.
You can’t say they didn’t try.
They have even appealed the judge’s threat to hold them in contempt. The envelope—yes, a physical envelope—containing the tweets at issue will remain sealed until that appeal is complete.
I’ve said it before: it may not be a good time to be a third-party Twitter developer, but the company truly goes to bat for its users when it’s appropriate.
Gruber on "Amazon's Play"
John Gruber writes one of the most respected and prolific tech blogs on the web, Daring Fireball. Some people deride him as a blindly-worshipful Apple fanboy who delights in pointing out the failed attempts of other companies to copy Apple’s products and strategy.
I don’t agree with those people.
This article by Mr. Gruber is a great example of his willingness to praise true innovation. Amazon has taken inspiration not from Apple’s hardware or software design, but from their approach to product development.
Place the delight of your customers first and the device and multimedia sales will follow. Put another way, Amazon, like Apple, operates on the premise that putting customer experience first is the best way to put corporate success first.
Further Reading
"The Math"
Once again, MG Siegler nails it on HBO’s missed opportunity for direct-subscription innovation.
Most companies are so desperate to maintain anything close to an upward slant in revenue year-over-year that they never even know opportunities like this one exist.
The worst part of this situation, to me, is the fact that HBO is being repeatedly told about this opportunity and actively ignoring it merely because it doesn’t make short-term business sense.
Kindle Fire HD 8.9: how the new Kindle tablet compares with the competition
Kindle Fire HD 8.9: how the new Kindle tablet compares with the competition
Amazon increased the power and range of its Kindle offerings and achieved impressively-low pricing across the board. Again.
I’m 100% certain someone I know will get one of the newly-announced devices, maybe even before the holidays, and I can’t wait to have a look.
Further Reading
Brevity
MG Siegler posted yesterday about his desire to write with more concision. His point is a good one: writing concisely suggests, when you think about it, a far better grasp of a topic than does the need to write 1,000 words about it.
It’s a lesson I learned from a couple of professors in law school (while others tried to teach almost the opposite):
Get in, make your point, and get out.
Being Real Builds Trust
Steph Hay, writing at A List Apart:
Your mom may not be your target user, but she is a real person who’ll call you on your bullshit.
This is great advice.
Peeling Back the Hidden Pages of History With Hyperspectral Photography
Peeling Back the Hidden Pages of History With Hyperspectral Photography
John R. Quain, writing at American Photo:
When the hyperspectral eye was turned on an early draft of the Declaration of Independence written in Thomas Jefferson’s hand, researchers could see that Jefferson had originally written the word “subjects” on one line, which he then scratched out and replaced with the more politically correct “citizens,” exemplifying the egalitarian sensibility of one of the Enlightenment’s greatest minds.
Okay, that is the most fascinating tech I will see this month. Read the whole article. It’s, well, fascinating.
NoWait protects restaurants from the wrath of restless customers
NoWait protects restaurants from the wrath of restless customers
Rebecca Grant, writing at VentureBeat:
Restaurants can use this iPad app to keep track of available tables and alert customers with a text message when their table is ready.
This sounds like technology with the potential to go far beyond restaurant use cases.
Neil Armstrong, First Man on Moon, Dies at 82
Neil Armstrong, First Man on Moon, Dies at 82
Neil Armstrong on Chuck Yeager’s breaking the sound barrier, quoted by his own biographer:
All in all, for someone who was immersed in, fascinated by, and dedicated to flight, I was disappointed by the wrinkle in history that had brought me along one generation late. I had missed all the great times and adventures in flight.
Hardly, Mr. Armstrong, hardly.
Bill Nye ‘The Science Guy’ Hits Evolution Deniers
Bill Nye ‘The Science Guy’ Hits Evolution Deniers
Bill Nye, as quoted in an article by Kevin Dolak at ABC News:
And I say to the grownups, if you want to deny evolution and live in your world, in your world that’s completely inconsistent with everything we observe in the universe, that’s fine, but don’t make your kids do it because we need them. We need scientifically literate voters and taxpayers for the future.
Watch the full clip of Mr. Nye’s thoughts on creationism on YouTube.