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Apple's social networking strategy?
17 Sep 2009 17:46 EDT
Walt Mossberg writes a review of the latest version of iTunes (“Number 9″…”Number 9″…) in today’s Wall Street Journal. Like most of his reviews, it’s fairly in-depth and useful. One throwaway line in the article struck me, though:
A small touch of social networking, not exactly Apple’s historic strength, has been added to iTunes.
‘[S]ocial networking, not exactly Apple’s historic strength’, indeed. Apple is not a leader in this segment, and generally doesn’t have a strong strategy in this area.
Social networking started out with things like chat and Instant Messaging…and surely, Apple did offer things like iChat, but only within its usual proprietary mold. Social networking is inside the tornado right now, but whatever emerges from that whirlwind is going to be vastly important to computing within human society. So what’s Apple to do? Do they have a real strategy here?
One possibility is that Apple’s strategy is similar to what it is for music, where they are transforming into a storefront, publishing, and device vendor. They have an app store full of social networking applications developed by third parties. But this possibility doesn’t really address social networking head-on or integrate it into Apple’s fabric.
Another possibility is a continuation of their slow app-by-app integration strategy. E.g., iPhoto integrated with Facebooak and Flickr, iTunes Store integrated with Bebo, and now iTunes integrates with Facebook and Twitter. This seems likely given Apple’s history here. Since Apple’s rather late to the game to build its own social networking to link its apps into, then linking to the existing social vendors makes sense here.
Or is there something bigger on the horizon for Apple? Remember the rumors of Apple acquiring Twitter? (Ah, but Apple is probably the subject of more acquisition rumors than anyone but Google and Microsoft…) But surely if Apple’s in the social networking mood, an acquisition is the only logical path for them to follow; a late entry into that market would be exceeding difficult,
quick thoughts on iPhone security
16 Sep 2009 20:06 EDT
We’ve begun recently to see a trickle of iPhone security issues, for example the SMS vulnerability which Apple had to patch. This isn’t surprising, of course; every platform has bugs, and many of these bugs can leave holes that attackers can exploit. The iPhone probably has fewer known vulnerabilities than some other platforms since it’s relatively new (and not Windows-based), but it doesn’t have the locked-down level of security that, say, BlackBerry has, as others have pointed out recently.
But even if Apple does make strides in protecting its iPhone platform, that platform still presents novel and dangerous security challenges. Mobile devices — and the iPhone is today’s most ubiquitous and important mobile device — change the very way we have to think about security.
This different set of security issues arises due the fact that with a very small, very portable device new things can happen to it. The risk of theft and loss are much higher than a server in a data center or a home computer. The iPhone is designed to be moving all the time, and therefore can’t take advantage of the security of a known physical location, or even a known network connection. When you’re with your iPhone on the bus, you don’t know your neighbors and can’t even see who might be trying to hack you.
If somebody does physically steal a smart phone, it would be great to remotely wipe the data so that no one can use it. But if an attacker just wants the information that’s on the phone, they just remove the SIM card. Then the phone can’t be traced or wiped and the thief can do what they want with your data.
But of course the attacker doesn’t need to steal the phone. They just have to wait for you to wander by close enough for them to reach out wirelessly and attack over the ether. And what’s even scarier: once they’ve got a data grip on your mobile device, they’ve created a channel to get to your home computer and all your web accounts (such as banks) that you access with your iPhone or other device. That’s the target today, remember: purely financial.
For all mobile devices, the industry is going to need to include strong, usable encryption so that no one can steal data from a phone, whether on- or off-net . And in order to do that, all phones are going to need biometric access controls. Password-based encryption on smart phones is just not strong enough.
These issues aren’t specific to iPhones, of course, but given the rising popularity of that platform, I believe Apple will need to confront security like it has not had to before on its Mac platform
first post
16 Sep 2009 19:38 EDT
Today I quietly launched markbeadles.blogspot.com and markbeadles.com. Evidently September 16, 2009, will be forever marked as my blogoversary date.
Excelsior!
Marky needs a new pair of shoes
09 Sep 2009 03:32 EDT
Fair warning: this post is about my feet.
For those of you still with me, this is a story about changes both physical and metaphysical. Once upon a time my feet walked a lot and liked it. These feet were in 4 years of soccer, 6 years of marching band, and 4 years of the Army. All those years they were size 8 1/2 “wide” (EE or EEE) and pain-free.
Kidney failure can often lead to gout, a particularly unpleasant type of arthritis. It can lead to severe joint damage if untreated. About 10 years ago, or about 7 years after my first kidney transplant, I came down with it. It started to attack my joints, starting with my ankles and feet and eventually spreading to most of the joints in my extremities. The treatments were difficult — one treatment even landed me in the hospital because it completely stopped my bone marrow from working. The bone marrow makes blood, ya know?
(At this point I need to pause to deeply and sincerely thank all of you who have ever donated blood. Over the years I’ve needed a lot of blood from other people. I appreciate it.)
I had even started to walk with a cane a few years ago. Then I discovered that a very specific restricted diet can control gout. My condition started to improve, lost the cane, and took up hiking as a hobby. Hiking is wonderful exercise, but my feet were no longer happy. Enough long-term damage had been done: the bones in my arches were fused, compressed, and inflexible (a condition called pes cavus); and my toes were swollen to the point that my wide shoes were now ultra-wides: 9 EEEEEE. Count ‘em!
The only non-custom shoemaker that sells 6E shoes is New Balance. I am a very happily devoted New Balance consumer. They carry a couple particular models designed for people with problem feet like mine. So I wore my special shoes and hobbled along.
Then, as you probably know, about 9 months ago I had another kidney transplant. The rest of this blog details my remarkable recovery and return to health, but something was bugging me. My feet and legs were starting to hurt often. It didn’t make sense! Everything else was strengthening and feeling better. Muscles were returning; the hair on my head even grew back. I can swim laps and lift weights again. But my feet and knees: oy!
Last weekend I realized what was going on. My shoes no longer fit at all. I had to lace them too tight; they had no support; after exercise or walking I’d have heel and knee pain. I realized that my shoes were hanging off my feet. Wayyyyy too big. Not quite what I expected; I haven’t lost a significant amount of weight. So today I went back to the New Balance store. I told them that I needed new shoes, and that they’d have to size me again.
They sized me with a Brannock Device (yup, that’s what they’re called!) and then checked my gait using a FootDoc dynamic foot impression pad. It shows your arch, pressure points, whether you pronate or supinate, etc. The picture here is a scan of my very two feet!
The results were surprising: My shoe size has changed from 9 EEEEEE to 10 D within 9 months. (I know, I know, I am getting no sympathy from any women in my audience who may have at one time been pregnant. But still. 
My formerly very high arches are now normal, my toe joints are no longer chronically swollen, and my feet have stretched out, lengthened. No wonder my legs were killing me! I was walking around in entirely the wrong sized shoes.
My formerly very high arches are now normal, my toe joints are no longer chronically swollen, and my feet have stretched out, lengthened. No wonder my legs were killing me! I was walking around in entirely the wrong sized shoes.
I bought a pair of walkers and a pair of cross-trainers today to start with. I need to replace all of my shoes now. They are like new feet, frankly. When I look down at my new shoes, I no longer see stubby, boxy, shoes that are laced too tight. What I see looks like a pair of someone else’s shoes.
But hey, I’ll get used to it. They replaced one organ inside, and the rest of me seems to be changing so much more. Inside and out.
about mark beadles
I write the things you read here. Polymath renaissance redneck. I build software, stories, and young men. More...on the desk
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