Hasta La Gadget!

Plenty ink has already been spilled about the new restrictions in clause 3.3.1 of the new iPhone SDK terms of use. The new wording disallows developers to use third party, cross platform development tools (like Flash CS5) to build their apps, and plenty of folks (like Adobe) are angered by it. Now it seems Steve Jobs has chimed in as well. Developer Greg Slepak reached out to Steve, citing the large outpouring of negativity on the topic, including a post by John Gruber of Daring Fireball, who Greg calls Apple’s “biggest fan.” Steve apparently responded, citing a newer post by Gruber that explains Apple’s theoretical reasoning for locking down the platform like this. Steve called the post “very insightful.” When Greg replied, raising some very legitimate defense that highly popular, important apps like Mozilla Firefox are built with cross platform frameworks, Steve Jobs had a slightly less terse response:

We’ve been there before, and intermediate layers between the platform and the developer ultimately produces sub-standard apps and hinders the progress of the platform.

On Greg’s blog he breaks down some of Gruber’s claims and makes a pretty compelling case for third party toolkits — important examples of which can be found all over the Mac and Windows landscape. We get the feeling his impassioned pleas, and the oft-bandied threat of developer migration, will fall on deaf ears at Apple as always, but at least he helps shape this debate somewhat, which will no doubt rage on for months and years to come. Check out the full conversation between Greg and Steve, including Greg’s final response, after the break.

Continue reading Steve Jobs responds directly to developer over new iPhone SDK rules, cites blog for explanation

Steve Jobs responds directly to developer over new iPhone SDK rules, cites blog for explanation originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 10 Apr 2010 20:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

There are many devices that allow one to remotely access your digital content at home when you’re on the road. These include low-cost remote access appliances like the PogoPlug, midrange NAS storage devices such as Netgear’s Stora, and expensive but powerful solutions that cater to the technically inclined, such as HP’s MediaSmart products powered by Windows Home Server.

Now, however, Dane Elec — best-known for selling USB flash drives and memory cards at retailers such as Target — has jumped into the shared storage space with an offering called MyDitto. The late entrant seeks to overcome some of the setup and access complexities of other products in its class, bringing network storage beyond the early adopters. While MyDitto incorporates a number of good ideas, though, its advantages help only in a limited number of NAS usage scenarios.

Continue reading Switched On: MyDitto NAS has some key issues

Switched On: MyDitto NAS has some key issues originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 10 Apr 2010 17:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CNET shows you just how competitive the OS battle has become. See how popular features compares among the latest OS releases from each manufacturer pOriginally posted at a href=”http://www.cnet.com/8301-17918_1-20002198-85.html” class=”origPostedBlog”Dialed In/a/p

Still thinking long and hard about some of those iPad alternatives? Well, ASUS’ 10-inch Eee PC T101MT is undoubtedly for those that can’t make the call on netbook vs. tablet, and like clockwork the Atom N450-powered netvertible is creeping up on stateside order pages in search of $500 of your hard earned cash. Unfortunately, for that price you’ll only be getting single touch input since its Windows 7 Starter OS lacks multitouch support, but our guess is that slightly more expensive SKUs with Win 7 Premium will start popping up soon. We’d certainly urge you to wait on our full review, but if you’re too eager to put your fingers all over that capacitive screen and chiclet keyboard, reach for your wallet and hit one of those source links.

ASUS Eee PC T101MT now shipping to the form factor indecisive originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 10 Apr 2010 14:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  B&H, Amazon  | Email this | Comments

All this iPhone 4 news not doing it for you? Still got Windows Phone 7 on the brain? There’s a simple—and most importantly, free—way to try it out, right now, on your PC. More »