Julian Yap

Visual Innovators. The start of a tasteless viral ad campaign for Dell?

2012-02-22T10:34:00-08:00

The video’s slow reveal approach just reeked of ‘hoax’ or ‘viral ad campaign’. The subtle facial language smirks.

In a quick search on the web I couldn’t find anything which officially tied the campaign to Dell but the production values of the video indicate that a fair amount of funding must have gone into the project. To me that ruled out the chance that this would have been a random creator or a competitor’s smear campaign. The marketing department at Dell hired an ad company and approved this.

A quick whois search also shows that the domain claytonsotos.com was registered on February 2nd this year. The domain visualinnovators.com was only registered a few days ago on February 19th. A Tumblr account for Clayton Sotos exists with posts dating back to January this year.

I understand the concepts of a viral ad campaign but to me this comes across as tasteless. Is Visual Innovators the first in the series of a tasteless viral ad campaign from Dell?

Becoming an iOS Developer

2012-02-21T00:29:00-08:00

Josh Smith relays his experience moving from programming in Microsoft’s Windows Presentation Foundation to Apple’s iOS:

When you move to iOS, you will need to leave behind most of what you know about UI programming from the .NET world. Fundamental things like object-oriented programming, virtual methods, properties, and loops are still relevant, and having knowledge of those things is essential. But knowledge alone won’t be enough to get you up and writing an iOS app.

You will need to re-map your existing concepts and knowledge onto a new programming language, UI platform, APIs, operating system, IDE, keyboard shortcuts, debugger, error messages, etc. This takes time, and can be frustrating for people who are accustomed to being competent and productive in another environment.

It may take any decent programmer a week or two to pick up the basics of Objective-C or any language for that matter. The next steps and real challenges involve learning the frameworks and API’s. There’s a certain amount of basic knowledge you need to commit to memory and beyond that comes expertise.

What defines you as a software engineer is where you decide to devote your time and energy. Your brain has a finite capacity so you need to make conscious decisions on what you want to fill it with. You need to believe that taking those next steps will get you somewhere you want to go.

Google Tracked Safari Users, Bypassing Apple Browser Privacy Settings

2012-02-16T23:34:00-08:00

To get around Safari’s default blocking, Google exploited a loophole in the browser’s privacy settings. While Safari does block most tracking, it makes an exception for websites with which a person interacts in some way—for instance, by filling out a form. So Google added coding to some of its ads that made Safari think that a person was submitting an invisible form to Google. Safari would then let Google install a cookie on the phone or computer.

It should be noted that the default setting on Safari is to block cookies “from third parties and advertisers” unless a user interacts with the third party in some way. This is a perfectly fair default which increases the privacy for users and does not break any obvious web browsing functionality.

On mobile Safari (on the iPhone and iPad) a similar default is in place, albiet with a more cryptic wording. Theoretically, cookies from third parties and advertisers should be blocked in a similar manner as with desktop Safari.

Is it fair that Google purposefully circumvented these default privacy settings using a browser exploit? Definitely not.

Expect to see Apple to address this legitimate browser exploit in the next security updates to OS X and iOS.

UPDATE: Jonathan Mayer, the grad student at Stanford whose research brought this issue to the WSJ, has recently put up a detailed post with further technical details.

iOS App Access to Contact Data Will Require Explicit User Permission

2012-02-15T09:14:00-08:00

“Apps that collect or transmit a user’s contact data without their prior permission are in violation of our guidelines,” Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr told AllThingsD. “We’re working to make this even better for our customers, and as we have done with location services, any app wishing to access contact data will require explicit user approval in a future software release.”

A fair and reasonable response from Apple.

In terms of usability and actual user comprehension, I believe the alert box is the best way to ask users that a certain permission (such as permissions for Location and Twitter account details) is required. The main difference with iOS and Android is that iOS asks you for permission when you are performing a task which requires the permission at that time. If you never use a particular feature of an app which requires the Address Book permissions, you won’t be asked for that permission. Android asks you for permission(s) upon app installation which are usually blindly clicked through by users who just want to start using the app they downloaded.

Fair Labor Association Begins Inspections of Foxconn

2012-02-13T16:39:00-08:00

“We believe that workers everywhere have the right to a safe and fair work environment, which is why we’ve asked the FLA to independently assess the performance of our largest suppliers,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “The inspections now underway are unprecedented in the electronics industry, both in scale and scope, and we appreciate the FLA agreeing to take the unusual step of identifying the factories in their reports.”

So Apple is the only participating technology company in the FLA and somehow people still believe Apple is the enemy?

Droid 4 by Motorola unfortunately doesn't run Android 4

2012-02-10T11:37:00-08:00

The newly announced Droid 4 by Motorola ships with Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread. I guess the “4” in Droid 4 doesn’t refer to Android 4.

The Samsung Galaxy Note (that 5.3" screen phone that advertised during the Super Bowl) also ships with Android 2.3.

Nearly 500,000 "App Economy" Jobs in United States

2012-02-08T00:46:00-08:00

“America’s App Economy – which had zero jobs just 5 years ago before the iPhone was introduced – demonstrates that we can quickly create economic value and jobs through cutting-edge innovation,” said Rey Ramsey, President and CEO of TechNet. “Today, the App Economy is creating jobs in every part of America, employing hundreds of thousands of U.S. workers today and even more in the years to come.”

The full study entitled “Where the Jobs Are” is worth reading. You can skip through the ‘Methodology’ part which just talks about how they came about the estimated figures.

Halliburton to ditch BlackBerrys in corporate transition to Apple's iOS platform

2012-02-07T01:24:00-08:00

The move comes after “significant research” into both Apple’s mobile platform and Google’s Android operating system led Halliburton to “determined that the iOS platform offered the best capabilities, controls and security for application development.”

RIM has lost the general consumer and now their enterprise market is crumbling to the pressures of the inability to compete with modern smartphones.

I feel the trend will be that more enterprises will move to iOS as opposed to Android, the main reason being platform security.

Speculative Developers

2012-02-06T16:11:00-08:00

If you want to develop apps, take your time and make something awesome. Make it fast. Make it beautiful. Make something you’re proud of. Don’t make 60 crappy apps: Make one really good one.

I tend to agree with this article which mostly outlines what David calls “speculative developers” or ones who “barf out as many apps as possible in the shortest time possible in hopes that they strike gold in the App Store lottery”.

I disagree with his suggestion of “make one really good one”. That’s a lot easier said than done and the example he mentions is Marco Arment with Instapaper. It’s the equivalent of buying only one stock and not diversifying your portfolio.

For independent developers, I would definitely recommend making something you are proud of first and foremost. Beyond that, focus on building a strong portfolio of applications to diversify your risk. Try and work on having apps in different categories in the App Store and targeting different audiences.

Not many developers can step up to the plate and hit a home run on the first swing. Ship, measure, learn, adapt and repeat.

Apple Clarifies iBooks Author Licensing Situation in New Software Update

2012-02-03T10:39:00-08:00

Here’s how the turn of events unfolded. Apple releases iBooks Author with loosely drafted EULA. Blogosphere overreacts. Apple says ‘Hmm, looks like some people really overreacted to the intention of the EULA, we will have legal clarify the EULA.’

Apple has clarified the “important note” which mentions the intended use of the software:

If you want to charge a fee for a work that includes files in the .ibooks format generated using iBooks Author, you may only sell or distribute such work through Apple, and such distribution will be subject to a separate agreement with Apple. This restriction does not apply to the content of such works when distributed in a form that does not include files in the .ibooks format.

Many people claimed that any content you created in iBooks Author remained trapped as well. Apple has also clarified that this is not the case:

[I]f the work is provided for a fee (including as part of any subscription-based product or service) and includes files in the .ibooks format generated using iBooks Author, the work may only be distributed through Apple, and such distribution will be subject to a separate written agreement with Apple (or an Apple affiliate or subsidiary); provided, however, that this restriction will not apply to the content of the work when distributed in a form that does not include files in the .ibooks format generated using iBooks Author. You retain all your rights in the content of your works, and you may distribute such content by any means when it does not include files in the .ibooks format generated by iBooks Author.

It is good that Apple has addressed these concerns promptly in what I felt was a non-issue at the time.

Google now scans Android apps in the Android Market for malware, spyware and trojans

2012-02-02T13:03:00-08:00

Today we’re revealing a service we’ve developed, codenamed Bouncer, which provides automated scanning of Android Market for potentially malicious software without disrupting the user experience of Android Market or requiring developers to go through an application approval process.

The service performs a set of analyses on new applications, applications already in Android Market, and developer accounts. Here’s how it works: once an application is uploaded, the service immediately starts analyzing it for known malware, spyware and trojans. It also looks for behaviors that indicate an application might be misbehaving, and compares it against previously analyzed apps to detect possible red flags. We actually run every application on Google’s cloud infrastructure and simulate how it will run on an Android device to look for hidden, malicious behavior. We also analyze new developer accounts to help prevent malicious and repeat-offending developers from coming back.

Good to see that Google now acknowledges this well publicized problem with apps on the Android Market and has put in some measures to prevent the spread of “malware, spyware and trojans”.

Mark Zuckerberg's desk at Facebook

2012-02-02T11:55:00-08:00

Zuckerberg still doesn’t have an office. I guess that makes it easier for Eduardo to walk up and smash his laptop.

Nice to see that he’s a fellow MacBook Air user.

Android developer recommended target specifications - Not such a rosy picture

2012-02-02T00:20:00-08:00

Localytics tries to paint a rosy picture for Android:

Across all apps using Localytics, a full 73% of Android usage came from devices running a variant of Android 2.3. While the build, known as “Gingerbread”, is not the most recent, from a fragmentation perspective it should be good news to developers that such a large majority of users are running the same Android OS version.

The problem is, when you have only 1% adoption of your latest Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system, developers won’t be targeting that version. By targeting Android 2.2 or 2.3, Android developers are in effect stuck in the past for a long time to come. The hype surrounding any new release of Android is greatly diminished since mass adoption isn’t possible in the short term. Imagine if Google announced Android 5.0 tomorrow with awesome new API features. It wouldn’t mean anything.

It should be noted that the figures that Localytics mentions for Android 2.2/2.3 usage are much higher compared to the figures put out by Google.

74% of Android tablet usage takes place on 7 inch devices with 1024 × 600 resolution.

That percentage for tablets will surely increase as the Kindle Fire is largely seen as the only successful competitor to the iPad.

If Android tablets get stuck in “7 inch device” land, that’s really going to effect the stigma associated with Android tablets and the markets it can appeal to.

30 years with David Letterman on Facebook Timeline

2012-02-01T23:25:00-08:00

David Letterman’s Facebook Timeline is filled with highlights from the past 30 years of the Late Night show. Great use of the feature.

Microsoft exploits Google privacy concerns in newspaper ads

2012-02-01T22:16:00-08:00

Microsoft says it plans to run a series of newspaper adverts this week, taking advantage of concerns over Google’s updated privacy policy while advertising its own alternatives. The adverts will run in major US newspapers like the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and USA Today, and will highlight the recent changes in Google’s privacy policy.

I’m pretty surprised that Microsoft can create and approve such a widespread ad campaign so quickly. In either case, this is a major smack down.

Understanding Japanese App Store Withholding

2012-02-01T21:02:00-08:00

The Japanese government requires that Apple withhold 20% of your profits from App Store sales unless you have filed forms demonstrating that you are a foreign company and taxable there instead. The forms are a bit complex and the process a bit cumbersome, but unless you complete it 20% of whatever you make in Japan is taken and not returned.

Great read for App Store developers. I don’t believe it’s exactly correct that you can’t receive the 20% back since I’ve owned international mutual funds (from a broker that provides a Form 1099 that Apple does not provide) where overseas withheld returns are returned when filing my tax return. Nevertheless I am not an accountant and this process makes it a lot easier.

Some clarified steps were slightly modified when I tried this.

Goto “Contracts, Tax, and Banking”.
Then “Tax Info” for “iOS Paid Applications”.
Click on “learn more” in the section that says “For developers residing outside of Japan who want to sell apps on the Japan App Store, learn more about optional Japanese tax forms.”
Complete the forms and process outlined here and your account will avoid the charges. Make sure you read the Form instructions on each section for further details.

Team Apple World Police

2012-02-01T00:32:00-08:00

First of all, the blogosphere seems to think that Apple needs to play Team Apple World Police with Foxconn. I think we have the New York Times to thank. It should be noted that notable products which Foxconn manufactures include the Amazon Kindle, iPad, iPhone, PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360 (via Wikipedia).

That zany guy Farhad Manjoo believes he has the answer:

With its vast resources, Apple could speed up this trend by investing billions in robotic factories. This, of course, raises another ethical dilemma—is it really humane to replace human workers with machines? As awful as working conditions at Foxconn might seem to Americans, the jobs are prized in China.

Unfortunately he’s a crazy walking contradiction (from the same article):

There are 200,000 people on the iPhone assembly line alone. The work is dull, repetitive, dangerous, and low-paying.

Firefox 10 Adds Powerful New Developer Tools

2012-02-01T00:17:00-08:00

Firefox adds a number of new built-in developer tools that let developers change the look and feel of websites in real-time. With Page Inspector, developers can peek into a page’s structure and layout without having to leave Firefox. This means they can quickly navigate between page elements and view the HTML document structure for the page. Style Inspector makes editing the style of websites even easier. Now developers have quick access to CSS properties and can view or change values for their website within Firefox.

Some great new additions to my favorite web browser.

I checked out the intro video and had a quick play around with the Page Inspector and Web Console which both work great. I previously used Firebug but this feels much cleaner and more stable. I think it’s all I need for my minor CSS hacking requirements.

The Front Line

2012-01-31T23:50:00-08:00

Former Flickr employee Nolan Caudill writes:

For reasons I don’t know, Yahoo laid off the highest level of Flickr’s customer support, the people that end up filing bugs against the developers and helping the trickier cases get solved for the members. Those guys getting shown the door is as bad as it sounds.

From a business perspective the reasons usually boil down to financials with blatant disregard and disrespect for everything else.

Why people have Google Search completely wrong

2012-01-31T00:42:00-08:00

A few weeks ago Google put out a major revision to Google Search in an update dubbed “Search, plus Your World”. I definitely feel many people are still confused by all of this and are unable to comprehend what exactly is going on.

When thinking about Google, the first thing you need to do is change your perspective. Just remember that you, the end user, are the product being sold and the real customers are the advertisers. In any business, your real paying customers take priority over your users. It’s difficult to fathom and adjust to because we have become accustomed to the easier mental transaction that being an end user means that we are the customer. Just keep repeating the message to yourself, “I am not the customer” and breathe.

With that in mind, recall that Google+ is an all out attempt to catch up to Facebook in social networking. To simplify the relationship, Google+ aims to capture your personal profile so that advertising can be specifically directed towards you better which is what advertisers absolutely love.

Make no mistake, this all came about because of Facebook. Facebook’s official financial numbers will be out soon as they are filing for an IPO but rumored numbers place their 2011 revenue around $3.8 Billion.

Facebook and Twitter pose significant threats and competition to Google’s advertising business model and Google realized this late in the game which is why they have so aggressively pushed Google+ to the forefront of Google Search.

According to recent comScore numbers, Facebook is absolutely killing it in the online display-advertising market with a 27.9% share.

Julia Boorstin for CNBC on why Facebook is winning:

First, there’s the ability to target ads very narrowly using personal information from user profiles and information about how people spend their time on the service. There’s also the fact that Facebook offers a rare opportunity to connect with self-professed fans, who are far more open to marketing messages than a run-of-the mill web-surfers.

In conclusion, Google+ and “Search, plus Your World” isn’t about making the web or search better. It’s making directed advertising better.