Apple is in the process of removing WiFi scanning apps from the App Store for using a private framework. Some of these apps provide functionality that the iPhone OS weakly attempts. Its own interface is buried away in Settings and tells you the bare minimum of what it thinks you need to know. There’s no advanced mode which is what these apps provide. That this is a private framework at all is somewhat of a mystery since it’s hard to believe that they’re genuinely interested in the public’s security concerns.
Bruce Shneier makes some great points about Eric Schmidt’s unbelievably narrow-minded take on privacy issues, but one that’s glossed over is his statement that “we are all subject in the United States to the Patriot Act.”
It’s true, though: if you’re a witch, you won’t drown.
It’s been reported that Steve Jobs responded to an iPhone app developer who was told by Apple legal to change his app’s name. Apparently, he suggested that changing the name of the app as demanded wasn’t that big of a deal.
In the same spirit, I’m going to start a company called Apple. I think they’ll understand when my legal team demands they change their name. Not that big of a deal.
I’m fascinated by people’s relationship with technology and this recent posting on Lifehacker is a prime example of the wrong questions being asked. We’ve heard about Internet addiction – there was a story last week out of China with a death related to an Internet addiction rehabilitation program.
What’s most interesting to me about the Lifehacker article is that there should even be an article at all. Its subject “Is The Web Crucial To Your Morning Routine?” is about as germane as “is the telephone crucial to your morning routine?” or “do you turn on the TV for the morning weather or open a newspaper?”
My routine involves roughly, turning on the computer and leaving it to boot, make a pit stop in the washroom, to the kitchen and make some tea, pour some cereal and then sit down to check out what news or weather updates have come up – on the net. It’s my main (and preferred) source of information that informs my day and it seems that it should figure into the start of it (I don’t have kids yet, will change, I’m sure). However, is it really that much different from looking to the sky to see if it’s going to rain today or running around the corner to grab the paper to see if the economy has tanked and I should buy extra tins of food for the bomb shelter?
