Day: 28 February 2012

Andy Rubin is Kidding Himself ⇥

Marco Arment, summarising Andy Rubin’s comments on the state of Android tablets:

His other remarks about “education” and “hoping” sound like he believes that “other platforms” are winning because consumers just need to be “educated” about software ecosystems.

Translation: people are buying iPads because they’re stupid. Nice, Rubin.

Siri, Update This Headline ⇥

Apparently Siri is not being licensed — that was a misunderstanding of the actual circumstances. What is happening is that your iPhone will become the brains of the in-car communications and entertainment system, controllable via Siri.

What this article does confirm, however, is that the Siri experience in a Mercedes will be different than the currently-shipping iteration in the iPhone.

Apple Loophole Gives Developers Access to Photos ⇥

Whereby “loophole” they mean “unclear permissions prompt”. It’s a good point though: the same dialogue is used to allow access to both location data and the photo library. The solution is not, however, another prompt, but rather a redesigned way to grant (or deny) permissions.

I think a first launch toggle menu with explanations of what the app would like to access and why would be a dramatically preferential solution. Furthermore, inserting a standardised area in Settings to adjust these permissions when desired would also be beneficial. It would be clearer and more approachable than the current implementation.

Mercedes-Benz Brings Siri To Their Cars ⇥

This is a surprising move from Apple. I didn’t think they’d license Siri out. The most interesting nugget is this, though:

The Drive Kit Plus will come preinstalled with popular apps such as Twitter, Facebook, and Aupeo Personal Radio. Users can then add and control other apps via their iPhones. Another exciting feature is the integration of a Garmin navigation system that is operable through Siri as well.

I doubt this is something that the Drive Kit Plus enables, but rather is a part of an upcoming update to iOS, since it describes it as something that users can modify. Very cool.