On my way home from work I witnessed the hubbub surrounding Google's acquisition of the fairly popular email client Sparrow, thinking to myself how much this must suck for people that have bought a licence for Sparrow on iOS or OS X.

Well, a few minutes ago I stumbled on this post by John Moltz: Why can't we have nice things?

In it he quotes from this TNW piece:

The Mac development house Acrylic has announced that they have been acqui-hired by Facebook.

[…] Acrylic says that Pulp and Wallet have not themselves been acquired by Facebook, but there are no plans to keep developing them.

I purchased Pulp for the iPad today. Sigh.

There is hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price alone are that person?s lawful prey.
It is unwise to pay too much, but it is also unwise to pay too little.
When you pay too much, you lose a little money, that is all.
When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything because the thing you bought is incapable of doing the thing you bought it to do.
The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot? It can't be done.
If you deal with the lowest bidder it is well to add something for the risk you run.
And if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better.

— By John Ruskin (1819-1900), English author, artist, art historian and social thinker.

This is something that has become increasingly relevant in the smartphone and PC markets in recent years. Getting a cheap Android phone instead of an iPhone, or instead of a higher quality (read: supported directly by Google) Android phone might save the buyer a few bucks in the beginning, but will potentially result in greater frustration afterwards. The same holds true for laptops, especially the oh-so-great Ultrabooks.

I'm not even going to go into the topic of how at this point people pay a negative Apple tax for most of their products, compared to other vendors.

Every time the frequency of "reports" about rumoured new Apple products starts to increase, the phrase "Where there's smoke, there's fire." can be found in many an article. It's usually done in a self-assuring/self-deluding manner — take your pick — by the respective author when there is not even a bit of proof or an actual source, but loads of other New Media Douchebags "reporting" the same thing.

My only question is this: Are you sure you're that's smoke and not just very dense vapour?

About 40 percent of the solar energy reaching Earth’s surface lies in the near-infrared region of the spectrum — energy that conventional silicon-based solar cells are unable to harness. But a new kind of all-carbon solar cell developed by MIT researchers could tap into that unused energy, opening up the possibility of combination solar cells — incorporating both traditional silicon-based cells and the new all-carbon cells — that could make use of almost the entire range of sunlight’s energy.

That is truly exciting news.

via House of Grindlebone

Its demise was predicted so many times that some people actually believe the Dashboard is already dead. Fortunately it's not and Apple keeps including it in every release of OS X.
Personally, I find the application very useful and not a day goes by that I don't check one or another thing using one of the widgets I have installed, even though I don't use many.

Mac.AppStorm has compiled a really nice list of useful widgets for OS X's Dashboard. There's something for everybody's taste in there; I'm using the currency converter and iStat Pro. It also helped me remember the Color Burn Widget which I lost during an OS upgrade.

There are two widgets I'd like to add to that list, though:

Loremify — a one-click Lorem Ipsum generator, and
Delivery Status — the best parcel tracking widget out there.

Oh and everybody always forgets about the built-in widgets, so; multiple weather widgets, a few world clocks and the unit conversion widget never leave my dashboard.

In my post on the new MacBook Pro with Retina Display a few days ago, I wondered how many external displays the machine would be able to drive given its two Thunderbolt port and one HDMI port.

Well, the great people over at OWC have put this to the test and attached three external monitors. Head over to their blog to see a picture of this in action.

I'm pretty impressed, to be honest.

Harry Marks has posted a nice list of questions on his site Curious Rat, that he was left with after yesterday's presentation by Microsoft.

Not answering the most basic questions regarding a new device of this kind, like say " What is it going to cost?" and "How long does it typically run on one charge?" fills me with a sense of foreboding.

The thing that really angered me, though, was this:

Two separate processor architectures (Intel i5 and ARM) will give developers two separate platforms on which to build apps. Do they build for legacy Windows first, then if there’s time/resources, Windows RT? Or do they build for Windows RT and leave old-timey Windows in the past?

It shows that (1) Microsoft still hasn't developed the balls to say goodbye to the legacy crap that's been holding them back for almost a decade now, and (2) these things have little chance of becoming actual competitors to the iPad.

I predict that the only software good enough to compete with iPad apps will run on the ARM tablet; which requires developers with a willingness to do the legwork on this new platform and the slightest hint of what good UI design looks like. I hope for the sake of customers and Microsoft, that Redmond will provide developers with a good SDK for Windows RT applications and even better support.

If that doesn't happen — and I'm quite sure it won't — we'll end up with a Windows 8 tablet that isn't better than a 10-year-old Compaq TC1100 running Windows XP. Why? Because most companies and lazy independent developers will stick to their guns and continue to build powerhungry, unoptimised, legacy crap that barely even runs on the Windows 8 tablet under the guise of offering "the full Windows experience".

The only way Microsoft can achieve any relevance in the tablet/post-PC market, is if they're willing to drag their customers and developers — especially the corporate ones — kicking and screaming into the current decade.

Reeder 3.0 for the iPhone was released a few days ago, heralded by Federico Viticci's review on MacStories.net.

Reeder has been my main RSS feed reader since it was released. Actually since each separate version was released — I own licences for the iPhone, iPad and OS X version.
Despite some minor annoyances the UI of all apps is second to none and it's easily one of the most heavily used apps on all my devices.

The UI of the new iPhone version is nothing short of spectacular and works very well, even though it's a bit laggy at times (I'm sure this is something that will be improved in a future release).

I'm not going to review the entire application, Mr. Viticci has done a thoroughly good job with that. What I want to mention is the integration of Fever as the first true alternative to Google Reader since the demise of Newsgator as a publicly available RSS aggregator.

Shaun Inman's service might be a bit more difficult to set up for the average user and it requires a web server (you buy a licence for the Fever software which then has to be hosted on your server), but for me it has three advantages:

1. It works perfectly fine as a regular feed catching service,
2. it's marquee feature ranks posts by importance and popularity based on several criteria, presenting the user with a "you don't have time to read all entries, but these you shouldn't miss" listing (more on this here),
3. and using Fever is going to eliminate the last reason for me to have a Google account.

The one thing keeping me from buying some web space, a Fever licence and setting it up right this second, is the absence of a good Fever client for the iPad. As of now it's also unclear when Reeder's developer Silvio Rizzi will release Reeder for iPad 3.0.

I also hope that by the time Mr. Ricci has Reeder 3.0 for iPad ready to go, the app will also support in-app feed management for Fever accounts, which it currently doesn't and receive a better visual implementation of Fever's ranking feature (both are things the MacStories review criticises).

For the time being I'm going to enjoy reading my RSS in Reeder 3.0 for the iPhone, and I somehow get the feeling that it's going to be used more often than the iPad app.

This machine is a gigantic, high resolution, unibody middle finger to PC makers.

I had time to poke and prod this notebook for about half an hour at a local retailer a few days ago, and the above is pretty much my assessment of the device.

A few words on the — in my eyes — non-issue of repairability:
(1) Only a very very small number of people would ever actually want to attempt it; (2) I don't care that the RAM is soldered to the logic board, because even 8 GB combined with a SSD will be sufficient for very long even for "power users" — forgive the dick quotes, I hate myself; and (3) like with the second generation of the MacBook Air, companies like OWC will probably release alternative SSD modules that fit Apple's home brew interface in the next two months.

Now to the interesting stuff:
I’m not so much impressed by obvious improvements like USB 3, the full flash storage architecture, the insane amount of RAM you can put in them, the faster SSDs, or the dual Thunderbolt ports. These are pretty sweet, though, and make me wonder just how many displays this thing can drive simultaneously :)

What I am impressed with is the amount of effort Apple put into making this machine what it is.

• Exhibit 1:
  The retina display. Many people expected this, still, 2880 by 1800 pixels is simply incredible for a 15.4“ notebook panel. From what I’ve read, Sharp builds them and I’d love to know for just how long Apple has reserved — read: bought-up — all production capabilites for this component.
• Exhibit 2:
  Cooling vents that not only serve to let cool air get into the device, but also work as stiffening elements for the body of the notebook; making it even more robust without making it heavier and thicker.
• Exhibit 3:
  Fans with asymmetrically spaced blades and an improved airflow architecture that reduces noise. I would've suspected that this was born out of necessity, because the internal components needed to deliver the level of performance the new MacBook Pro offers, are going to produce a lot of excess heat. But accounts by Jim Dalrymple and others suggest that it's very hard to get the notebook to even audibly spin up the fans, let alone become warm.
• Exhibit 4:
  The battery. Not only has this machine enough juice to run for seven hours, depite its power hungry innards — due to past experiences I believe Apple doesn’t overstate this number — it's also packed neatly and symetrically into the notebook and at the front of the casing, probaly giving it a nice centroid, comparable to a Lotus Elise ;)

Not even a day after the announcement of the machine, I’ve seen reports by blithering idiots, neckbeards, trolls and New Media Douchebags deriding the new machine for being;

• Made by Apple — which is bad because Apple is _evil!_
• Too expensive — GAAAH! Apple TAX! GAAAH!
• A disappointment, because it doesn’t have feature X, Y & Z.
• Not trumping every weird-ass gamer laptop on the planet based on specs.

To all of these numbnuts I say this: I triple dog dare you to find me a laptop that;

• is built half as well — we’re going to figure out how to quantify this
• has the same or a better display,
• as well as proper OS and application support for the insane resolution,
• has the same or a better runtime on one charge,
• and compares well on the remaining specifications.

All for the same or a lower price in the coming six months — hell, I’d be willing to give you a year. If you can manage this, I’m going to bake you cookies, write „Apple sux!“ on them and send them to you.

Another WWDC keynote in the bag. And what a behemoth of a keynote it has been. Not having had time to follow live blogs, I caught up on the announcements through the Apple’s video of the event and by reading up on the details on Apple.com and other good sites.
I know I'm late to the game with my keynote recap, but there were many interesting software announcements too good not to be discussed.

My overall impression of the event and the announcements was that Apple is flexing its muscles. One major new hardware release, many minor revisions and upgrades and two OS updates at once. This should give the competition a glimpse at what Apple is capable of today, most even likely not even beginning to stretch their resources.

Here's the rundown of the features I'm most excited about:

iOS 6

• Siri only available on the 3rd gen. iPad — This is kind of a bummer, but it’s in line with Apple’s product strategy, meaning it was to be expected and is probably hardware-related, at least to some degree.
• Facebook integration: DUH!
• Maps look simply beautiful, but having to compete against Google Maps and Google Earth is not going to be easy; Apple has their work cut out for them. The application will put pressure on developers of Turn-by-Turn Navigation apps, because just like on Android, the solution integrated into the OS might be sufficient for many people.
• Shared Photo Streams is a neat way to privately share photos without having to upload them to a social network. From the looks of it, the minimal design puts the content first and further sharing options second.
• Passbook is our answer to how Apple thinks mobile payments should look like. I don’t see NFC appearing in Apple’s devices anytime soon.
• The new features in the phone application UI were long overdue. Android has had them for years and they’ve even existed in not so smart phones — those with memories that go back further than four years might remember.
• I like the better handling of Messages across devices. When someone sends an iMessage to my phone number, I’m now going to receive it on my iPad and Mac, too. Great!
• This one I’m extremely excited about, the Do Not Disturb feature. Seriously, what took them so long? Finally (yes, I said it) I won’t have to put my phone into Airplane Mode at night to have peace and quiet. Extra props for the fine tuned options.
• I didn’t see Google show up in the search fields of iOS devices, only a generic 'Search' term. Might there be a chance for additional search engines besides Google, Bing and Yahoo? I’m talking about DuckDuckGo of course. I’m trying hard not to get my hopes up.
• The new store designs and China-centric features are appreciated.

OS X Mountain Lion

• 10.8’s pricing and upgrade conditions are a thing of beauty. Microsoft should slowly start to get the drift.
• Tighter iCloud integration should’ve been there in Lion, but maybe I’m the only one who thinks that way. Easier machine setup is a good thing, though.
• At this point, the built-in Reminders app in iOS has replaced Things (by Cultured Code) for me. The implementation on the Mac (inside of iCal) has been far from good, but a native OS X Reminders app is going to make this complaint a thing of the past.
• Notification Center is a very welcome addition, but I’m interested to see what kind of apps will be able to take advantage of its APIs; only Mac App Store apps, or any kind of app?
• Power Nap is a very interesting and potentially useful feature. From what Apple states as the system requirement for it, though, you’ll need a Mac with flash storage. I wonder if it’ll work with Macs that’ve been retrofitted with SSDs?
• The Dictation feature will be an absolute productivity boon — especially with my Master’s Thesis looming on the horizon! I hope they’ve integrated some kind of fast language switching for this OS feature, because I’m definitely going to hop between English and German a lot.
• Sharing looks nice and I’m hoping for a public API so other services can make use of this — I just want to get rid of all those bookmarklets in my browser’s bookmark bar.
• Safari has received some good upgrades: Apple finally (yes, I said it again) got rid of the separate search box. Now, how about letting me set DuckDuckGo as my default search engine? The tab view is interesting, too, and iCloud tabs will surely come in handy. Apple’s attempting to improve password handling in OS X, let’s see how it compares to the likes of 1Password for regular users. The „Do Not Track“ feature and the ability to rename bookmarks in the bookmarks bar are welcome additions as well.
• Auto Save has been taught two nice new tricks, too: It automatically moves untitled documents to iCloud and APPLE BROUGHT BACK „SAVE AS“! YAY! No seriously, I still need this feature rather often.
• The oh-so benevolent Apple has decided that a permanently displayed Calendar sidebar is a good thing after all, same as a groups column in the Contacts app and they improved the date picker. Regarding the first two: Why the hell did they remove it in the first place?
• Dashboard: It just won’t die. Persistent little fella. Personally, I like Dashboard and would be sad to see it go.
• The OS X Software Update feature and the Mac App Store are rolled into one app. I consider this to be a good thing. Equally good is the automatic download of and notification about software updates both for the OS and Mac App Store applications.
• Mail, Mail, Mail, oh Mail. Tighter iCloud integration FTW I say, because the app (here we go for a thrid time) finally pushes recent senders, favorites, signatures, flag names, smart mailboxes, mail rules, and account information to all devices.
• Quicktime X now uses hardware video encoding for H.264 content on newer Macs. I wonder if this’ll be somehow usable by other applications? But it neat in any case.