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Is Steve Jobs Big Brother?

yglesias.thinkprogress.org

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Re: Is Steve Jobs Big Brother?

#6

Post by DrSprout »

>If you want to implement a Google Voice solution, you’re more than welcome to, via the browser.

The browser is completely inadequate to the task. I don't even think Webkit has the audio input features implemented yet, and if they exist they're completely useless for any real-world applications, especially on a phone.

Telling people to use APIs that don't exist yet is nonsense.

Re: Is Steve Jobs Big Brother?

#7

Post by fr0man »

hugh3 wrote: post #5
k33n wrote: post #2

First sentence: The short answer is…no. Thanks for saving me the trouble of reading the rest of the article.

Tune in next week for "Is Steve Jobs Justin Bieber?" on Adventures In Click-Whoring!

He's a blogger, can you blame him? He got my click from his Twitter feed with it, because I was interested to see a non-IT guy's take on the recent spate of Apple-bashing. Yglesias is usually very measured and insightful. I just didn't think so this time.

Edit: Odd, when I submitted it, I titled it with something other than his post/page title to describe it as "Matt Yglesias Asks: Is Steve Jobs Big Brother? (Matt says no)", but it didn't take for some reason.

Re: Is Steve Jobs Big Brother?

#8

Post by SamAtt »

DrSprout wrote: post #6

>If you want to implement a Google Voice solution, you’re more than welcome to, via the browser. The browser is completely inadequate to the task. I don't even think Webkit has the audio input features implemented yet, and if they exist they're completely useless for any real-world applications, especially on a phone. Telling people to use APIs that don't exist yet is nonsense.

The whole argument of "you can use the browser" has always been a straw man that falls apart when exposed to even the least bit of scrutiny. You can't access much of the hardware via the browser (no audio, camera, etc...) You can't charge for a browser app. You can't play video with any kind of content restrictions (which Flash video offers). And so on. The whole line of reasoning is ridiculous.

I won't say this article is inappropriate for HN but I think it's unworthy of HN.

Re: Is Steve Jobs Big Brother?

#9

Post by hubb »

i think the author misses the point about itunes, whether purposely or not, like so many others: it's not the functional capabilities of itunes apps vs webapps, but the financial capabilities

Re: Is Steve Jobs Big Brother?

#10

Post by mechanical_fish »

DrSprout wrote: post #6

>If you want to implement a Google Voice solution, you’re more than welcome to, via the browser. The browser is completely inadequate to the task. I don't even think Webkit has the audio input features implemented yet, and if they exist they're completely useless for any real-world applications, especially on a phone. Telling people to use APIs that don't exist yet is nonsense.

the browser is completely inadequate to the task

Okay, but have you explained that to Google?

http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2010/0126/Googl...

Now, I'll concede that the HTML5 app which Google released as "Google Voice for the iPhone" might not be the app of your dreams. Maybe you should aim your ire at Google, then, for releasing a thing called Google Voice that isn't the ideal Google Voice. But you can hardly blame a pundit for believing that an app which already exists and which Google has officially announced is physically possible.

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