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Apple and OLED

[New reports](http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/01/january-launch-of-10-inch-amoled-apple-tablet-near-impossible.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) are surfacing, putting to bed the rumors that Apple’s new Tablet will have an OLED screen. Thank god we’re getting that out of our systems now, so people won’t be screaming about it next week. 
(Who am I kidding? People will be screaming about this for the next five years.)
The argument against OLED in the Tablet this time is a logical one; there simply aren’t any 10-inch OLED screens being manufactured right now. At least not in the quantities Apple would need. So unless Apple has some secret deal in place with Samsung, it’s highly unlikely. 
But even if OLED were possible, it would still be a poor choice for Apple in this product. 
OLED has been getting hyped for several years; I remember people talking about Palm Treos eventually getting OLED screens back in 2005 or 2006. It’s one of those technologies that is supposed to change the world eventually but never does. 
The problem with OLED is a common one in the tech industry. It sounds great on paper to nerds, but doesn’t suit anyone in the real world. 
Sure, an OLED screen will look great indoors at a trade show, or in a commercial, or in your mother’s basement. The colors are better defined, richer. It saves power in some circumstances. But go outside in the sun a couple of times, and you’ll quickly realize that your screen is completely useless.
Seriously. Read several reviews of the Google Nexus One, and you can tell which reviewers actually took the thing outside, and which ones just reviewed it from inside their homes. Either they mention the fact that they can’t see the screen outdoors at all, or they don’t mention going outside at all. I have yet so read “this thing looks great outside.”
And a gadget that doesn’t work well outside is, by definition, a nerd toy, not a consumer phenomenon. 
Even the battery savings is questionable. If your interface is mostly white text on a black background, sure, it will save power. But look at the interface of 90% of computer programs out there. White background, black text. And for good reason. This arrangement is easier on the eyes. The problem is that under those circumstances, an OLED screen will actually eat battery faster. 
OLED power saving is a lot like a hybrid car. You can boast about MPG ratings in your Prius, but when you actually drive it like a normal person, it gets poorer milage than a good diesel. 
On top of all this OLED is expensive. Prohibitively expensive. Google can afford to put it on a small phone screen, because it saves so much money by not giving you any RAM in your phone. But for a 10-inch device, OLED definitely pushes you up to $1000 or more. Something that I would argue Apple doesn’t want to do. You have to keep the price of the tablet somewhere between the iPod Touch and the cheapest MacBook.
While Apple never “goes cheap” on parts, it is very cost-conscious. It doesn’t add technologies because they have a good buzz. It adds technology that actually helps make the experience better. WiFi, USB, Bluetooth. These were game-changing technologies. OLED is better sometimes and worse other times. That isn’t good enough to justify the additional cost. 

German Government the first to officially recognize that IE sucks

> **The German government has warned web users to find an alternative browser to Internet Explorer to protect security.** > > The warning from the Federal Office for Information Security comes after Microsoft admitted IE was the weak link in recent attacks on Google’s systems. > > Microsoft says the security hole can be shut by setting the browser’s security zone to “high”, although this limits functionality and blocks many websites. > > However, German authorities say that even this would not make IE fully safe.
via [news.bbc.co.uk](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8463516.stm)
I’ve long wondered how the world would finally rid itself of the plague that is Internet Explorer. There have obviously been better free alternatives out there for as long as IE has existed. But people are sheep, too lazy to download free alternatives. And company IT departments have locked many business users into using IE, as well.

Firefox, Safari, and now Chrome have all made respectable inroads into taking away IE’s market share, but at the rate they’ve been going, it will still be years before IE becomes a footnote in Internet History.

This recent attack in China on Google, which was perpetrated via IE, has raised awareness of the dangers of this horrible mess to a whole new level, though. When an entire nation is warning its citizens not to use your software, you officially have a PR problem.

It won’t be long until several other nations follow suit. Why? Because the hackers weren’t after Joe Schmoe’s info this time; they were hacking into government secrets and the intellectual property of giant corporations. IE has officially become a nuisance to powerful people, in other words. You can’t buy your way out of that.

Note, Germany isn’t telling people to upgrade to the newest version of IE; it’s telling people not to use ANY version of IE. No security patch is going to get them to back off this time.

As far as I’m concerned, Microsoft deserves this. Ballmer has paid only lip service to the security nightmares that his software created for so long now.

Take this as yet another sign of Microsoft’s long decline in progress. It will take a while, but believe me, Microsoft is powerless to regain its dominance over the world of computing.

And the Cycle Continues

> Flurry’s report mentions that the Nexus One lacks the “wow factor” and the general perception that the device is not seen as revolutionary, but rather just evolutionary from other Android phones.
via [macworld.com](http://www.macworld.com/article/145673/2010/01/nexusone_sales.html?lsrc=rss_main)
Looks like the Nexus One has suffered the [fate of all Android phones](http://jcieplinski.posterous.com/nexus-one-of-many-in-a-long-line-of-android-f) a bit earlier than expected. The story has turned negative in less than two weeks, and before the next “iPhone Killer” even arrives. Not good news for the Fandroids, as David Pogue likes to call them.

First week sales aren’t everything, of course. But with “mixed reviews” and no sustainable buzz in the press, not to mention no big marketing money from T-Mobile and Google behind it, the Nexus One doesn’t look like it stands much of a chance. Especially once you consider that in two weeks the entire tech world will become completely engrossed in “Apple” talk that will last at least into June or so.

If you ask me, the biggest thing hurting the Nexus One is the fact that it divides the Fandroids. Apple only releases a new phone once a year for a reason. With Nexus One, not only did Google fail to capture iPhone fans, not only did it anger partners like Motorola and scare partners like Samsung into developing its own OS, it pissed off many of the Android fans it already had too, by releasing it so soon after the Droid.

Never underestimate the power of buyer’s remorse. Droid fans were quick to point out that the Nexus One was nothing special, because to say otherwise was to admit that you’re locked into a contract with yesterday’s cool phone.

With friends like those…

Don't Return your Nexus One between 14 and 120 days.

> Bottom line: canceling the contract in the first four months leads to $550 in charges (don’t call them penalties!), on top of the $179 paid for the phone itself. After four months, only the T-Mobile fee applies.
via [arstechnica.com](http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/01/warning-nexus-one-users-dangerous-fees-ahead.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss)
Ars Technica has taken a closer look at the terms and conditions of buying a Nexus One. Yikes. I thought the hike on the Droid’s early termination fee to $350 was a clear indication that Verizon EXPECTS buyer’s remorse. But $550 for canceling within the first four months? That’s just a crime.

Android Marketplace May or May not have seen its first Malware

Priceless quote of the day from this article, originally published in Computerworld, about a possible string of malware apps in the Android marketplace that were pulled by Google after being discovered:

“That’s the way things are for Windows,” he pointed out. “Nothing is approved by anybody, and it’s worked very well for Microsoft.”
How can anyone write that with a straight face? Of course it’s worked out well for Microsoft. Never mind Microsoft’s users. Google will make out fine no matter how many users get their credit card numbers stolen by scammers, in other words. 
I do find it necessary to admit that this article offers no proof that Android Marketplace has in fact allowed in apps that are malicious in nature. All that is known is that 50 or so apps from the same author were pulled suddenly after some complaints. But that’s beside the point. The point is that there’s been an Elephant in the room when it comes to Android and Google’s reluctance to take security seriously. Most of the glowing press fails to recognize that Android, “open” as it is, is about as secure as Microsoft Windows 95 was. 
Say what you want about Apple’s approval process. It’s a walled-garden. It excludes people who don’t fit Apple’s profile of good taste. Whatever. At least I know that there’s a very good chance that an app I download at the App Store isn’t going to steal my identity. Could something get past Apple and still be malicious? Possibly. But at least someone has given it a preliminary check before its release. And at least I know that Apple has mechanisms in place to stop apps from spreading viruses like wildfire if one does happen to slip through.
So far, no massive reports of malware have appeared for Android, though it stands to reason that as Android gains popularity over the next few years, that will likely change. Not because popularity necessarily leads to successful hacking, but because Google has literally taken zero steps to prevent malicious software from infecting Android users. It’s just plain irresponsible. 
We may not have yet seen the first Malware app for Android, but we surely haven’t seen the last, either.