Dear Apple: plan on iPhone OS 4 getting jailbroken because of the iAd system

Posted on April 8, 2010 by Royce

Apple just announced their new iPhone 4.0 OS will come embedded with a new addition called iAd.

According to Macintouch, “a new “iAd” advertising system that Apple is building into OS 4 for in-app HTML5 ads with “emotion + interactivity” to the tune of 1 billion ad impressions per day.”

What? Seriously?

The idea behind this, according to the story on Engadget, is “…to keep users in the apps to see interactive, “emotional” ad content as often as once every three minutes — not to “yank” them out… — while developers are rewarded with a 60 percent cut of the revenue.”

Do I mind developers getting money? Absolutely not! That’s why I have paid for 100% of the apps on my iPhone. Every single icon has a receipt from either iTunes, Rock or Cydia.

Which is exactly why I have a tremendous problem with the iAd being implemented in the core iPhone 4.0 system.

I paid for the iPhone device, I pay for cellular and data service to the iPhone, and I paid for every app on the iPhone. Why, exactly, am I going to see ads on this device? Why should the bandwidth I am paying for be diverted to the downloads of advertisements I do not want to see? What more do I need to support since I already will have paid for the device itself, the service it runs on and any apps I wanted?

The iAd is nothing more than a overt cash grab by Apple. Saying the developers will be “rewarded” with “60%” for their work is just a diversion from the remaining 40% Apple will drop straight to their bottom line.

Apple has an interesting use of the word “rewarded” in their press release. The developers invested their own time and money to make the apps in the first place, so shouldn’t they get something along the lines of 80% of the iAd revenue for their work? 70% even? “Rewarding” them with little more than half of the income they will get from people using their product is a touch greedy.

I bet the iPhone 4.0 OS will be jailbroken soon after it will be released to disable the iAd system. You watch.

Besides, the iPhone 4.0 is just catching up to what I have already been able to do with my first generation iPhone that’s been jailbroken for over a year!

User-defined wallpaper? Got it. (Winterboard)
Multitasking? Got it. (Backgrounder)
Spell check? Got it. (Inspell)
Folder filing? Got it. (Categories)
Video Recording? Got it. (Cycorder)
Book sync? Got it. (Kindle, Stanza & eReader)

Plus, my iPhone has things the 4.0 OS still doesn’t!

Terminal access to the root of the device and to outside sources.
Firewall for controlling what apps can access the network
Custom lockscreen(s) with upcoming appointment information and weather stats
Printing through Bluetooth or WiFi
File transfers through bluetooth
Google Voice
Grooveshark
Custom animated backgrounds, ringtones, and custom icon sets.
Custom routing of calls based on CallerID
Custom fonts throughout the device
Full icon control (5 x 5 layout on an infinite-scrolling page)

Apple also announced the iPhone 4.0 OS won’t run on my first generation device, which is perfectly fine with me since I already have all of the 4.0 benefits without any of the wasteful overhead.

So thanks, Apple, but I’ll pass on the cash grab.

Imagine how far ahead of the game Apple would be if it actually had the nerve to truly open the iPhone to all 3rd party developers. Opening the app store to all the jailbreak apps on Cydia and Rock would not only give them a much higher income source than anything the iAd would generate, but also push their marketshare far, far ahead of the newcomers.

Return to Falfurrias Overpass [PHOTOS]

Posted on April 8, 2010 by Royce

While driving around south Texas last week, I saw there was some more progress on that overpass in Falfurrias.

Return To Falfurrias Overpass 1

The wiry strands from my last visit are now encased in pillars of concrete, and horizontal support beams for the overpass are now in place.

Return To Falfurrias Overpass 2

The “downtown” area of Falfurrias is directly behind me where I took the photos. If you take the road going straight past the Burger King, you’ll get to Kingsville in about 40 minutes. To the left where the overpass is pointing is North and will get you to Alice, Texas. To the right going south about an hour is McAllen.

Return To Falfurrias Overpass 3

The overpass project is moving pretty fast. Since Falfurrias is the first town past the inspection checkpoint, I wonder if they’re going to run the overpass all the way south to meet it?

DOJ and FDA pop Guidant for failures of three models of its implantable defibrillators

Posted on April 8, 2010 by Royce

If I haven’t said it before, I’ll say it now. The FDA is awesome. On the occasions when the FDA tag teams with the DOJ? Watch out!

The FDA and the DOJ just popped Guidant LLC for $296 million. Their crime was withholding information about “short-circuiting failures of three models of its implantable cardioverter defibrillators: the Ventak Prizm 2 DR (Model 1861) and the Contak Renewal (Models H135 and H155).”

“The devices, once surgically implanted, constantly monitor the electrical activity in a patient’s heart for deadly electrical rhythms and deliver an electrical shock to the heart in an effort to return the heartbeat to normal. If they fail to operate properly when needed, a person can die within minutes.”

Nice company.

This $296 million fine is also “the largest criminal penalty ever imposed on a device manufacturer for violating the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act”.

Maybe nailing companies with $200 million dollar fines will get them to be a touch more responsive to things like this!

If you know someone that has an implanted defibrillator, have them check with their doctor to see if it happens to be a Ventak Prizm 2 DR (Model 1861) or either of the Contak Renewal Models (H135 and H155). You just might save their lives.

Here’s the link to the FDA/DOJ announcement.