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iPhone: the SDK is on its way

October 17, 2007 by Michael Boyle

As I predicted, Apple has announced that it will release a proper SDK in February (2008). From the announcement:

Let me just say it: We want native third party applications on the iPhone, and we plan to have an SDK in developers’ hands in February. We are excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users.

Certainly many will find fault with this and say it’s too little too late, but both the marketplace and Apple’s recent history seem to prove the naysayers wrong. Now if only Rogers could their act together and offer non-insane data rates (for all wireless data) and then bring the iPhone to Canada.

A List Apart: Findings From the Web Design Survey

October 17, 2007 by Michael Boyle

Earlier this year, the nice folks at A List Apart undertook a survey of people who work on the web. The findings were released yesterday: Findings From the Web Design Survey including data tables if you want to do your own crosstabs.

An important issue has to do with the scope and definition of the survey itself. In one breath it’s called the “Web Design Survey” but elsewhere it was about “web professionals” and specifically asked about people who are not designers at all but writers, editors and others. As someone who is not a professional designer at all but has nevertheless worked on the web professionally since 1994, it was never clear if I was or was not within the scope of those to be surveyed. I hope they clarify that considerably in future surveys.

Facebook spammers?

October 17, 2007 by Michael Boyle

Alec Saunders has passed along the news that there is concern in the Facebook developer forums that Facebook is being invaded by spammers. We’ll see – even more than Google, Facebook is vulnerable to bad behaviour of this kind.

Scoble: Talking with Six Apart

October 16, 2007 by Michael Boyle

I just caught up with Scoble’s interview with Six Apart over at PodTech.net. It’s a good piece, though if you’ve been involved in blogging in the corporate environment there’s not much new. What was new was the focus the Six Apart gang is putting on getting MT into all of the mashups that are coming into vogue. I think they’re really well positioned to take that a long way.

I just hope that Six Apart doesn’t lose its core constituency first – like me, for instance. Shipping MT4 without an easily extendable library of ready-made templates – and without even providing complete instructions at how to build your own – was a huge mistake.

More fun from Rogers

October 16, 2007 by Michael Boyle

Alec Saunders reports on his experience with a new Rogers service he tried out – in particular, the basic buying (and returning) experience: Rogers Portable Internet bait and switch. There’s something strange going on when a market leader makes even more elementary mistakes than it did when it built its leadership position. Rogers reminds me of the record companies more than anything else – scrambling frantically in all directions when the road ahead is difficult but clearly marked.