Cuil is a new search engine, apparently developed by a couple of ex-Googlers.

The Good:

Unlike Google, Cuil still has me as the first result of a search for "Charles Miller". As such, it fulfils the most important purpose of any search engine: stroking my ego.

The Bad:

Why did it decide my copyright notice was appropriate summary text for my blog, and who the hell is that bald guy?

Read the rest of this entry…

I'll keep this short, because I'm late to the party and by now everyone and his dog has gone over the subject in excruciating detail.

Buy the iPhone if:

• You are a gadget freak, and
• You don't really care about your cell phone embracing Freedom 0

Matt Ryall's summary of the iPhone -- "it's a bit like living in the future" -- hits the nail on the head. It really gives you the sense that this is the true beginning of ubiquitous, always-connected networked living. If you're like me, you'll want to experience that now.

If you're not like me, then you're probably not reading my blog. But you may want to pass this advice on to your friend who really just wants a phone that works: don't buy the iPhone 3G. You'll love it right up to the first time your battery runs down.

Out of the box, my iPhone 3G runs out of juice depressingly quickly. You get in the habit of dotting chargers around your life -- in the study, at work, by the bed -- so whenever you're at rest you can plug it in and recharge. Otherwise you're down into the red zone and wondering if you should just turn the phone off in case you need to call a taxi at the end of the evening.

And this is on a brand new phone. In a year's time when the battery starts to wear out, it will really start to bite. In eighteen months I'll have the choice of sending it back for a replacement battery or being near-permanently attached to a charger.

Apparently the iPhone still has a better battery life than most comparable 3G smart-phones. It's not like Apple are making a sub-standard device, they're just doing the best they can under the constraint of current technology. But that is sort of like saying that at least Syphilis isn't the worst STD you could have caught.

While the battery life bothers me, it's not a deal breaker because I'm a nerd, and the sense of childlike wonder I get from the device is enough to compensate for always having to remember if I've charged it lately. For anyone else, though, I'd recommend waiting a year or so for the power consumption issues to be sorted out.

The future will still be there.

To save the FSF, its supporters, and anyone who might want to go into a Genius Bar this week some valuable time, I thought I would answer their questions in advance.

1. "Why do all developers have to submit their applications to Apple before they can be loaded onto an iPhone?"

Because Apple have always wanted to control the end-to-end experience of their products. This has been a very successful tactic for them in the past decade, especially with the symbiotic relationship between iPod and iTunes. As the saying goes: when you're on a good thing...

They also get a cut of the proceeds of application sales, which helps them make money. They are by no means the first company to subsidise a platform this way: game-console makers have been doing it for decades. While making money may sound evil -- cue images of Scrooge McDuck diving through mountains of cash -- it's what you need to do to run a company, and Apple have had a lot of success so far through paying the people who develop their products.

Developers knew about all of this before they made the decision to develop for the platform, and were more than free to "vote with their keyboards" and develop instead for a platform with a more open policy. They still are.

I'm on record as calling a similar programme "completely fucking lame", and to be honest it puts me off developing for the iPhone that I would have to rely on Apple to distribute anything I wrote. I can, however, understand why Apple is doing it enough that I don't need to go to a Genius Bar and ask some low-level tech support guy to explain it to me.

Read the rest of this entry…