I’ve been meaning to update the design on my blog for quite a while now, and I finally got around to doing it. I felt like the old design was a little too severe with all that harsh black and white. This new version is a little softer, has better fonts, and is better optimized for devices like the iPhone and iPad. This also gave me a chance to rip out a bunch of the WordPress junk, like comments and categories, that I don’t really use.
To go along with the new look, the blog has a new name. A few months ago a friend of mine posted on Facebook something along the lines of “It’s 10 minutes to midnight, and I’m just now eating dinner!” The line “minutes to midnight” jumped out at me immediately. My first reaction was, naturally, “That would be a great name for a band!” Since it’s unlikely I’ll ever be in a band, the next best thing was to use it as a name for the blog.

So, to sum up: new look, new name, everything else stays pretty much the same.

The article focuses a lot on Best Buy, but I’m more interested that the number of iPhones sold directly by carriers instead of by Apple itself. AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint collectively accounted for 69% of all iPhones sold between December 2011 and February 2012, while Apple sold only 15% of the total. It’s a much better experience to buy directly from Apple, but it seems most people’s first stop when shopping for a new phone is their service provider.

Cool concept video of the Project Glass augmented reality project from Google. It’s pretty out there, and I shudder to think of the privacy implications, but it’s an undeniably interesting idea. Feels more like something out of a sci-fi movie than current technology.

The new plastic display has a resolution of 1024×768 and is six inches across the diagonal, which is comparable to the Kindle and Nook. Because it’s made of plastic and not glass, though, the LG display is half the weight (14g) and 30% thinner (0.7mm) than a comparable, glass e-ink panel. Existing e-book readers need to be thick (and heavy) to protect the glass display, but LG is promising that its display is a lot more rugged. The press release says that the plastic display survives repeated 1.5-meter drop tests and break/scratch tests with a small hammer, and that it’s flexible up to 40 degrees from the mid point.

I don’t feel much need for an e-ink display in addition to my iPad, but this could change my mind.

I’ve updated the blog so that I can make short “link posts” to interesting stuff. You’ll see these posts indicated by an arrow at the end of the post title. The goal is to post a more often, with a little bit of commentary each time.

Of most concern to regulators, Apple’s agreements with the publishers included “most favored nation” clauses that prevented publishers from selling their books through any other retailers at lower prices than offered through Apple’s iBookstore. Reuters now reports that the parties involved in the dispute are continuing to move toward a settlement in order to ward off a lawsuit, and that the settlement is likely to see the removal of these clauses.

Sounds pretty good to me.

In Episode 25 of the excellent Build and Analyze Podcast, Marco Arment discussed what he called “the new rules” of Apple’s App Stores. In essence, he argues that the rules and restrictions that Apple imposes on developers are the price we pay in exchange for getting access to great platforms like the Mac and iOS. Moreover, he notes that Apple may not always enforce the rules consistently or in a way that is to developers’ liking. Regarding developers, he says “any of our existing products or business models are not guaranteed to be permitted in the future. That’s it. At any given time, [Apple] could pull them away.” And he’s right. Short of violating the law or its contracts, Apple may do whatever it likes.

However, simple noting that Apple is free to do as it pleases misses an opportunity to have a productive discussion about what’s best for users, the platform, and Apple itself. Observing that Apple has many choices about how to behave should be the starting point of the conversation, not the end. Acknowledging the present situation isn’t enough — we need to make suggestions for the future.

In the past, I’ve argued that Apple’s rules regarding in-app purchase for items like magazine subscriptions and e-books were unwise. Of course Apple has the right to set those rules, but my point was that some of their choices were misguided. We’ve now seen Apple revise those rules to be somewhat less draconian. It’s a welcome change, and one that is likely to benefit Apple’s users in the long run. Of course, some people might disagree with me there, and that is the really interesting conversation I want to have: Not about whether Apple could, but whether it should.

I’m wading back in to the world of blogging. My current thought is that I’ll keep this mostly technology-focused, but some little odds and ends may slip in along the way.