Aram Zucker-Scharff

Top of the Interwebs:

Damn it… I really wanted to go just one day without Apple doing something ludicrous and required to be part of these posts. Is that too much to ask? Apparently so because Apple has caused waves by launching App Store subscriptions for developers. This allows people to run apps with regular subscription costs, much the same way The Daily, and iPad newspaper-thing, does.

Only… Apple is forcing other companies with apps to move their perfectly functional subscription systems under the big chrome-colored Apple banner. [Insert Orwellian joke here.] Anyway, this is causing some consternation among companies like Rhapsody, which make their money via subscriptions. I suppose these companies are going to stir up some sort of rebellion among the developers and there are even rumors of an anti-trust case which makes me laugh both for irony and complete uselessness.

Anyway, now these developers are stuck because they promoted the hell out of iPhones, building themselves into a horribly closed and restrictive system. Now they have to reap what they sowed. I have no sympathy.

Self-aggrandizement:

Five things the success of Facebook chat tells us about the future.

Niche controversy of the day:

We are seriously back in this whole Huffington Post turns you into slaves and kills journalist babies thing again? Really? The latest take is that HuffPo is some sort of feudal system in which Arianna Huffington whips you until you cry out bad journalism. We’re going to ignore the possible S&M imagery there and gloss over the Yakov Smirnoff joke and skip right to the point:

NO.

Long version: I don’t care how you modify the historical interpretations of feudalism, Huffington Post provides a service and a valuable tool to its contributers. There is a trade going on there because the internet isn’t free. You are paying them for the use of their service with your content. Not a bad thing. That’s called trade. Oh and they can always leave. Can we drop this whole argument once and for all now?

Nifty:

Now you can read the Obama Budget with highlights and comments from The New York Times’ best reporters. Today I have 216 reasons why I’m glad I’m not an NYT reporter.

Worth looking at today:

This Thursday is the day The Internet Strikes Back! Time to let Congress now that all this faffing around on the topic of Net Neutrality simply will not do. Support net neutrality ASAP.

So-called social games (read Farmville) are the topic of discussion Braid’s Jonathan Blow. Zynga developers allegedly sit down and build games with the goal “to degrade the player’s quality of life.” I’m not entirely sure why World of Warcraft doesn’t fall into this category.

Google continues its attempt to eliminate content farms from destroying search. (via)

Google’s CEO looks to the phone as the platform to replace the PC.

“The Internet is not magic ‘freedom juice.'”