One of the more contestable claims of the FOI book is that tethered information appliances like the iPhone, that either block outside apps or subject them to much more gatekeeping by the platform vendor, will not only complement the more open PC, but overtake it — that PCs themselves will become appliancized. Already there’s talk […]

In 2006, two guys from India came up with Scrabulous, a Scrabble-like game that took off only after it was transformed from a standalone Web site into a Facebook app.  Hasbro, holder of the Scrabble trademark in North America, noticed, as did Mattel, holder of rights elsewhere, and asked them to take it down.  They […]

Macworld is reporting that some iPhone application developers are having a difficult time adjusting to having to distribute their software only through Apple.  They’re apparently too afraid to go on the record (!), but: As developers update their applications — including bug fixes — it can take up to a week for a new version […]

The Free Software Foundation’s Defective by Design project highlights objections to technologies that enforce limitations on the uses of the content they carry.  This weekend they’re encouraging people to book time with an Apple “genius” — one of the in-store sales + tech support people who usually spend the day answering questions about iPod capacities […]

Techcrunch is reporting that Facebook has poached Elliot Schrage from Google as its new VP of Communications and Public Policy, and that one of Elliot’s jobs will be to manage the Facebook development platform, where outsiders can write code to run on Facebook — from the bitten-by-a-vampire app to Scrabulous. Techcrunch speculates that this reflects […]

The Silicon Alley insider is reporting that would-be iPhone application developers — at least those who aren’t well connected — can be waiting up to six months to be accepted into the Apple iPhone developers’ program. 

Thanks to everyone who tuned in to the June 17 ’08 Colbert Report, including those who switched away from the last quarter of the Celtics championship. Here’s a direct link to the video. Is it geo restricting, i.e. are there some who can’t view it because of location?  If so we can look for an […]