Henrik Carlsson's Blog

All things me.

Steve Jobs

posted this on and tagged it with Apple Steve Jobs

This feels really strange. Yesterday Steve Jobs passed away. I didn’t know Steve, I never even met him, even so, tears fills my eyes when my fingers hit the keys on my MacBook Pro and I attempt to write this. And despite the fact that I never met him, it still feels quite normal calling him Steve instead of ”Mr Jobs” or ”Jobs”. It’s probably because the creations of his company is such a big part of my life.

Steve Jobs’ life’s work is truly unique. He was pinnacle in the popularization of the personal computer in the eighties. Then in the early 2000s his vision, along with the hard work of all the talented people at Apple, did what the music industry had failed to to; embrace the new technology and make money from it.

In the never-ending cycle of paradigm shifts in technology it’s no surprise that the popularity of the iPods would eventually demise. Nor is the fact that the omnipresence of the personal computer will soon decline in favor of other very personal computer devices. The remarkable thing about Steve’s achievements is that he was just as important in the popularization of the new smartphones and the actual creation of any kind of a real ”tablet market” as he was almost three decades ago when the personal computer where born, and ten years ago at the beginning of digital music sales. When the time has come to start the demise of one of his products, he has been the one in the frontline for the new up-and-coming paradigm. In en era when ”entrepreneur” is one of the most overused buzzwords, Steve is the one that will be remembered hundreds of years from now. He is the one that can truly be called an entrepreneur, as Schumpeter first defined the word; someone who drives the innovations and technological changes of entire nations.

So here’s to the crazy one. Steve, it’s been an honor to be able to take advantage of all the amazing things that has come out of Apple under your leadership and vision. To me you personified The American Dream and taught all of us to go our own way and work for what we believe in.

It was hard to begin writing this post but it’s even harder to stop writing it. Is guess the best way to end it is with two quotes from Steve, the first one from his 2005 commencement address at Stanford:

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

Then finally this second one, from his letter of resignation that was sent on August 24. It gets a new meaning now, even if you – like me – don’t believe in life after death.

I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.

∞

Rapid sales on Amazon’s new eReaders/tablets, because they’re good or because they’re cheap?

posted this on and tagged it with Amazon Kindle

According to SplatF Amazon’s new Kindle Fire is their best-selling electronics device, even though it’s only available for pre-order. However, what surprises me is this:

The new $79 Kindle is no. 2, and various Kindle models actually make up the top 12 gadgets on Amazon right now.

The Kindle is available in three versions, the color-display tablet called ”Kindle Fire”, the touch screen eReader ”Kindle Touch” and the no-touch but cheap ”Kindle”. The $79 model that Dan Frommer mentions is the one that’s basically the same old Kindle as before, i.e. just a cheap eReader without touch and likely with crappy controls.

Based on this I guess that a lot of Kindle customers are very price-sensitive, so it’s likely that even the Fire will compete on price rather then features.

∞

There will not be an iPhone called the 4S!

posted this on

Next week (Tuesday, to be specific) Apple will host an iOS-related press event. As far as we all know they will likely talk about the finished version of iOS 5 and reveal one or more new iPhones. There has been a lot of speculation over what the new iPhone(s) will be like. A popular theory is that there will be two new versions, one brand new iPhone 5 and something that is more like an evolution of the iPhone 4. An earlier theory said that the new iPhone would just be an updated 4.

Both these theories have given wind to the idea of an ”iPhone 4S”, much like the 3GS which was a beefed-up 3G. I’ll go on record and say that there will not be an iPhone called the 4S. The only reason the 3GS was called that was that it was the third iPhone and the second one already had the number three in it.

So my guess is that if there is just one new model it will be the iPhone 5, whether it’s a ”revolutionary” update or just a beefed-up 4. If there will be two models, they will both likely feature the numeral 5 in their name.

Now, let’s se if Apple proves me right or wrong.

∞

Replies and comments

More iteration

posted this on and tagged it with Web Design and Development

The iteration of this sites design is slowly progressing. Out of the four points I presented in my original post about the design update, one is now complete and the others is in progress.

∞

Iteration part II

posted this on and tagged it with Status Web Design and Development

The other day I wrote a post about some things that needed to be changed on this blog. That change-process has now begun. Some content has been removed from the content area and moved to the sidebar.

∞

You’ll need a Facebook account to sign up for Spotify

posted this on and tagged it with Facebook Social Networks Spotify

According to information directly from Spotify you can no longer sign up for a Spotify account, be it an ad financed free account or a premium account, unless you have a Facebook account.

Unfortunately you will need a Facebook account to access Spotify from now on, unless you already have an account set up.

A my friend Emil put it in a tweet, being able to use your Facebook account is a good thing, being forced to do it is a bad thing. I like it when modern more or less web-related companies integrate with each other, but when membership in one requires you to be using the other it’s really not a good thing.

My opinion on Spotify in general

I’ve had a Spotify account for a really long time now. It’s always been a premium account, except for the first few months. I’ve been fairly happy with the service and selection they provide. However one thing about Spotify has bothered me. (The same goes for any other company that provides streaming media.) No matter how long I’ll be a member, nothing of what I chose to listen to will be mine. The second I quit my membership I will lose the ability to listen to the songs. Contrast this with money spent on a download service, like iTunes. When I pay for a download I purchase something. If I chose to throw away my iPod and iPhone, thrash my Mac and burn my iPad to ashes, the right to listen to the music I’ve purchased is still mine. Any computer or computer-ish device that can play AAC audio files enables me to listen to my purchased music. (Yes, of course I must make sure the actual files are present on the device.)

This is by no means Spotify’s fault. It’s an inherent flaw in the streaming business model. To some people it’s no problem, and to me the benefits of Spotify has counterweighted the limitations of the nature of streaming. However, I’ve noticed that I don’t listen to as much ”new” music as I would need to in order to really make full use of Spotify’s benefits.

Spotify’s change to the free accounts

Some time ago Spotify changed the terms for free accounts and made some cheap accounts available. Suddenly the free accounts had a limit to how many songs could be listened to in a month. This really pissed of some people. Apparently some people still thinks free music should be part of the human rights. (Let’s save that discussion for some other day.)

This didn’t really change anything for me. If anything it was just an indication that the advertising didn’t pay off as good as some people thought and that Spotify felt a need to limit the free accounts in order to gain more paying customers.

Spotify and Facebook

So far Spotify’s collaboration with Facebook hasn’t changed anything for me, since the new rules only apply to accounts created now and in the future. However, if it does start to apply to old accounts I will likely cancel my Spotify subscription and start spending the $10 a month in the iTunes Store instead. I currently don’t have a Facebook account and I will not create one just because Spotify wants me to. I pay money to Spotify to listen to music, not to have them forcing me to get a Facebook (or any other social network) account.

∞

Iterating the design

posted this on and tagged it with About the blog Web Design and Development

As I wrote earlier today, this blog needs some sort of design re-make in order to better distinguish the actual post content from all other page content.

What to do?

This is a list of what I think needs to be done.

Apart from that I should also spend some time making it more responsive, since right now it’s more of an adaptive design.

∞

Replies and comments

Time for some redesigning?

posted this on and tagged it with About the blog Web Design and Development

When I made this blog a couple of months ago I hoped that the no nonsense, text only design would be great for readability. However, this seems to not be quite true. I feel the content is hard to separate from the sidebar, footer and everything else. I guess it’s time to slightly rethink my design of the blog.

∞

Replies and comments

The iPhone 5 will be announced on October 4?

posted this on and tagged it with Apple Links

According to AllThingsD:

Tuesday, Oct. 4.

That’s the day Apple is currently expected to hold its next big media event, according to sources close to the situation, where the tech giant will unveil the next iteration of its popular iPhone.

AllThingsD also states that Apples new CEO Tim Cook will be the one leading the keynote speech at this, and all future, Apple events. I think that is not necessarily correct. Cook will likely lead this one to show everyone that he really is the new man in charge. However in the future someone else might be better qualified to do the keynotes. To paraphrase John Gruber, Steve Jobs didn’t do the keynotes because he was the CEO. He just happened to be both the CEO and a really great keynote speaker.

∞

More facts on usage of iOS vs Android

posted this on and tagged it with Apple Google Links

Here’s another report of iOS vs Android use. According to Mobile Marketing Watch iOS represents two thirds of the mobile traffic that hits Google Search.

∞

Profile Photo © Henrik Carlsson