Particle Debris (Week of Sep 26)


/> This was another eventful week. Apple and its iPhone developers have been squabbling, Google announced its G1 with comparisons to the iPhone coming fast and furious, and more delicious rumors surfaced on the new Apple notebooks rumored to be announced on October 14.

Have you ever wondered how many apps you can install on an iPhone? The magic answer is 148. You can normally only have 9 page of apps plus the "Fab 4" and the bottom. Thats 144 + 4. iPhone Matters filled in the details.

I got a kick out of a post at the Innerdaemon that made a strong point, not about Apple's practices, but where it could all lead: "Apple Rejects Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac."

On Thursday, Apple Insider published a detailed comparison of the iPhone and Google's Android G1. (I really don't want to see any more headlines that say, "Does Google Dream of Electric Sheep?") The design philosophy of the two phones is clearly described for those who are interested. Of course, the feature war isn't going to decide market dominance here. Even so, we've been waiting to see what Google has been up to, and the differences in the two devices are fascinating.

During the week, I received a copy of the eBook, "Take Control of Buying a Mac" by Adam Engst. This is very much worth the meager asking price of $10 for those who aren't totally immersed in the Mac Web. Particularly valuable is the table on page 10 and the discussion afterward that shows when Apple has tended to release new products and why. That's because knowing when to buy is as important for some as what to buy. No one likes "Buyer's Remorse."

The eBook also goes into the details of that crucial decision: to buy a desktop or notebook. There's a whole lot more, almost 100 pages. Adam Engst is a Mac guru, and you won't find better advice for ten cents a page anywhere.


On Thursday, Farhad Manjoo published an article at Slate on why Steve Jobs may not be a lunatic when it comes to a closed system on the iPhone. For historical reasons in the PC wars, an open system was better, but a mobile phone is different animal. Given the fact that the Android phones haven't faced the full wrath of the Internet bad guys yet, the author may be right and offers a lot of food for thought, even if you disagree with him.

Also on Thursday, there was a story about improved browsing history in Safari at TG Daily. I use OmniWeb for the thumbnails, a much more visual way for me to set up a queue for my articles. But Apple's patent appears to focus on a tree view. If Apple can design a browsing history that can build a better article queue for me, I'll go back to Safari.

On Friday, there was a story about how Webkit has achieved the highest score yet on the Acid3 test. Remember, back in the early days of the Internet everyone complained about how slow browsers were on the Mac? Not any more.

Finally, and this is just a rumor at 9to5Mac. Someone has either photographed or photoshopped an image of what the next MacBook Pro will look like, curvy MacBook Air lines, glass trackpad, and black bezel. (Maybe FW800 only and Wireless USB???) We shall see, but it's a very cool glimpse of what might be in store for us in October. We can only dream...