BOOT UP: WINDOWS 8 DESKTOP SHOCK, HOW IPADS SAVED GREECE, APPLE'S BAD STORE MOVE AND
MORE
Charles Arthur and Josh Halliday: Plus Brin wears Goggles in SF, what's a modern browser?, the n0tice
experiment, smartphone data and more
A quick burst of 13 links for you to chew over, as picked by the Technology team Apple has removed
Airfoil Speakers Touch from the iOS App Store >> Rogue Amoeba Today, we've been informed that
Apple has removed Airfoil Speakers Touch from the iOS App Store.1 We first heard from Apple about
this decision two days ago, and we've been discussing the pending removal with them since then.
However, we still do not yet have a clear answer on why Apple has chosen to remove Airfoil Speakers
Touch. John Gruber thinks it is due to use of public APIs "in ways Apple doesn't want" - where Rogue
Amoeba reverse-engineered the method to let iOS devices receive AirPlay content. That undermines
Apple's authenticated chip hardware revenue stream. No-cost desktop software development is dead
on Windows 8 >> Ars Technica Microsoft wants Windows developers to write Windows 8-specific,
Metro-style, touch-friendly applications, and to make sure that they crank these apps out, the company
has decided that Visual Studio 11 Express, the free-to-use version of its integrated development
environment, can produce nothing else. If you want to develop desktop applications--anything that runs
at the command line or on the conventional Windows desktop that remains a fully supported, integral,
essential part of Windows 8--you'll have two options: stick with the current Visual C++ 2010 Express and
Visual C# 2010 Express products, or pay about $400-500 for Visual Studio 11 Professional. A second
version, Visual Studio 11 Express for Web, will be able to produce HTML and JavaScript websites, and
nothing more. Flipping heck. Former Microsofties are appalled. Just say "No." >> Dustin Curtis Yahoo has
just announced Axis, a browser extension thing and mobile app that "redefines what it means to search
and browse the Web [sic]." Curtis explains why it shouldn't have, and how this tells us more (as if we
needed it) about Yahoo right now. Google releases new copyright transparency report >> Electronic
Frontier Foundation Striking is the sheer volume of takedown notices Google receives: in just the last
month, it processed over 1.2 million requests for Search alone, from 1,296 copyright owners and 1,087
reporting organizations. That scale allows it to present trends in the data that might not otherwise be
apparent. For example, even in the case of notorious "pirate" sites like The Pirate Bay, Google has
received takedown notices for less than 5% of their indexable pages. On the other hand, this report also
provides a clearer look into the abuse of copyright tools. Google explains that it's complied with 97% of
takedown requests received between July and December of 2011, but also provides examples of
obviously invalid copyright requests it's received. Also covered elsewhere on this site. Google Privacy
Inquiries Get Little Cooperation >> NYTimes.com Mr. Caspar asked [in spring 2010] to see the hard drive
[with the Wi-Fi data collected from Street View]. Google said handing it over could expose it to liability
for violating German telecommunications law, which prohibits network operators and other data
managers from disclosing the private communications of their clients. This made no sense to Mr. Caspar,
who explained that as data protection commissioner [for Hamburg] he was empowered to receive the
data. Finally, in autumn 2010, the company yielded and gave Mr. Caspar the hard drive. By this point,
Hamburg prosecutors had opened a criminal investigation. Google was equally resistant with the
American authorities. Apple is still exploring ways to make stylus worthy of iPhone and iPad >> Unwired
View The stylus with haptic feedback, comes with a built-in haptic actuator and a short-range wireless
receiver. The vibration commands are sent via tiny wireless transmitters built into the bezel of your iPad.
Wait... did someone say haptic? Hang on, though - stylus? (Thanks @PaulJReynolds for first, aha,
pointer) Google's Goggles Spotted on Streets of SF >> Technology Review Like Google's press images for
what it calls "Project Glass," the glasses Brin wore while walking down King Street were lens-free with a
small, clear prism-like display mounted above the right eye. It wasn't clear if the glasses were
completely self-contained, or if they were wired to what appeared to be a smart phone in his left hand.
Brin, who has been seen sporting the headgear before, wasn't using them at the moment, though - he
said they were out of power. Oh, yeah, battery life. Modern Browsers >> Aventine After some
experimenting with what you do and don't need to get the Moog Google Doodle of a few days ago: In
the end, the conclusion is that a 'modern browser' according to Google is a browser which sends
'Chrome' as its UA string and supports Flash or the Web Audio API. Can we instead on production sites
standardize on something like "this site requires (experimental) features not yet present in your
browser" (Thanks @getify for the idea) and a link to instructions on how they can update their browser,
or if it is a browser specific feature, information about the feature and why it isn't yet supported in their
browser of choice. The Guardian's n0tice experiment and why media businesses should build APIs >>
TheMediaBriefing The Guardian has led the way in API-based development since 2009 and now its
spinoff hyperlocal social network n0tice has launched its own set of API tools to entice users and brands
to build things using its content and functionality. Get excited and build stuff. How Tim Cook is changing
Apple >> Fortune Tech Subtly, it seems. Meet Mike and Maaike, the design studio ushering Google into
hardware >> Co.Design Interesting: just as Google acquires Motorola, it also buys a design studio.
Maybe hardware really is where the money is. How 100 iPads saved Greece $140 billion >> Fortune Tech
Philip Elmer-DeWitt: I got a London call last week from Bob Apfel, a Brooklyn neighbor (and fellow
Oberlin College graduate). "Two weeks ago," he began. "I completed the debt restructuring of Greece."
With the aid of a custom app uploaded specifically to 100 iPads so that the Greek leadership team trying
to coordinate thousands of bondholders around the world signing off the default-in-all-but-name could
connect to clearing services and back offices. (Original article interviewing Apfel in a Greek paper.) They
used iPads because an app meant they could visualise how debt was happening. It was the world's
biggest-ever debt restructuring - quite possibly prevented total economic collapse. (Thanks @rquick for
the link.) Android- and iOS-powered smartphones expand share of market in 1Q 2012 >> IDC
Smartphones powered by the Android and iOS mobile operating systems accounted for more than eight
out of ten smartphones shipped in the first quarter of 2012 (1Q12). According to the International Data
Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, the mobile operating systems held shares
of 59.0% and 23.0% respectively of the 152.3 million smartphones shipped in 1Q12. During the first
quarter of 2011, the two operating systems held a combined share of 54.4%. The share gains mean that
Android and iOS have successfully distanced themselves from previous market leaders Symbian and
BlackBerry, as well as Linux and Windows Phone 7/Windows Mobile. Puts smartphone shipments at
152m, up 50% year-on-year. Android is 59%; Apple + Samsung is 75m, or half the total. A two-horse
race. You can follow Guardian Technology's linkbucket on Pinboard. To suggest a link, either add it
below or tag it with @gdntech on the free Delicious service;