Pinboard (guardiantech)

Frustrated with iCloud, Apple’s developer community speaks up >> Hacker News

guardiantech — 2013-03-29T19:10:43+00:00

And boy, are they frustrated:

from having studied this for many, many hours over many moons, is that what Apple is trying to do is fundamentally hard, if not entirely unfeasible. They're trying to replace a smart server with one that's dumb as a doorstop. More specifically, they're trying to emulate a CRUD web service with a file sync engine.
Conflict resolution is left up to individual clients, since the server doesn't do any "thinking". Likewise, there is no canonical, authoritative state of the store, since the server doesn't "think", only the clients do. Apple was hoping that by shoving a bunch of diffs of your database onto the server, that clients can reliably reconstruct a sane database by playing them back - except that multiple clients are updating the diffs simultaneously and there is no server-side conflict resolution.
Oh, and if stuff fails, there are no regular snapshot states to fall back to, because iCloud is a file store, not a database engine. Your whole store is now corrupt. Enjoy.

Apple's broken promise: why doesn't iCloud 'just work'? >> The Verge

guardiantech — 2013-03-27T20:48:44+00:00

Nearly two years [after its launch], customers demand iCloud integration more than ever from third-party developers, but it's a total mess to implement. "iCloud hasn't worked out for us," wrote Daniel Pasco, CEO of development studio Black Pixel this past week. "We spent a considerable amount of time on this effort, but iCloud and Core Data syncing had issues that we simply could not resolve." Pocket lead developer Steve Streza piled on with a cutting tweet: "Remember that @blackpixel has many of the brightest people in Cocoa development. If they couldn't get iCloud working, who can?"
… iCloud apparently chokes hard on the databases it’s supposed to be so proficient at handling. From a user perspective, this means that despite a developer’s best efforts, data disappears, or devices and data stop syncing with each other.

(Thanks @HotSoup for the link.)

Apple and Twitter >> Patrick Gibson

guardiantech — 2012-11-20T06:21:41+00:00

Google, specifically Android, has been steadily improving its entire platform. To me, it still doesn’t have the same quality of polish and feel that Apple software does. However, it’s getting harder to argue that point, especially since their web services all tend to Just Work. Features like Google Now and near-instant voice commands are starting to give Android a serious leg up on iOS. Design is coming along as well. Android is still ugly, but it’s much less ugly than it was a few years ago. Google seems to be actively addressing this, and if Apple isn’t worried, they should be. Tom is the first friend I’ve had who has switched from iOS to Android, and he is unlikely to be the last.

Compare - How does SkyDrive compare to Dropbox, iCloud, and Google? >> Microsoft

guardiantech — 2012-04-25T05:30:02+00:00

Tickboxes galore. Man, Microsoft sure does love those tickboxes. It's like the specification inspector. What's not mentioned is that you don't have to use one or the other. You can have them all.

'This item is not eligible for iCloud' - Apple >> Stack Exchange

guardiantech — 2012-01-02T22:03:31+00:00

If you find something hasn't been uploaded to iCloud, howcome? Usually, that it has too low a bitrate. (Incidental note: lots of pirated stuff is low bitrate.)

This item was not added to iCloud...:>> Apple Support Communities

guardiantech — 2012-01-02T21:53:35+00:00

Been playing with iCloud? Had the message "This item was not added to iCloud because an error occurred"? This tells you how to remedy it (though not why it occurred).

How iCloud works >> TUAW

guardiantech — 2011-10-10T22:06:18+00:00

"During a recent edition of TUAW TV Live, the question of how iCloud works in applications came up. After some internal consultation, we came to the conclusion that Apple has fully announced this feature and that its workings would not be considered confidential. "In that spirit, here's an introduction to iCloud's internals summarized from material in my upcoming iOS 5 Developer's Cookbook expanded edition. In its simplest form, iCloud is merely a special folder." A folder?? That's it??

Why Apple should make iCloud open >> Kate Craig-Wood

guardiantech — 2011-10-04T13:43:45+00:00

"Essentially Apple sees iCloud as a consumer rather than a business service – and Apple have never really been interested in enterprises or business, despite the work they done to support policies and enterprise standards like Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync on the iPhone. "In addition to the closed, proprietary, non-interoperable system being likely to put off serious business users there are two other issues. It does not look like iCloud will not come with a substantial service level agreement, which guarantees iCloud uptime or quality of service, and they don’t seemed to have paid a huge amount of attention to security. CIOs aren’t going to entrust important data to a service that may or may not be available when needed. "Still, even if it is a consumer service, Apple is a quality brand so one would have thought that security would be a priority, and these days consumers are increasingly aware of the need for keeping personal data safe, especially online."

Apple’s iCloud enables a post-PC world that will boost iPad & iPhone sales >> if connected

guardiantech — 2011-10-03T20:34:49+00:00

Ian Fogg thinks iCloud is going to make it feasible for Apple to offer many more device features because of its hardware margins: "Apple still makes the vast bulk of its revenues from hardware sales despite having by far the most successful app store, music download store and various other services initiatives. Example: In the first three years after the launch of the Apple App Store Apple generated $8.3bn in revenue from iOS apps (1). But this figure is dwarfed by their iOS device revenues of over $100bn in the same period (2). Apple has great margins on those hardware revenues too. "Because of that hardware model, Apple has enormous incentives to create new product features to drive device sales, even if that means offering those new features or services for free. Apple can be disruptive with “free” offerings too. The 'contagion of free' business models are not just the preserve of Google and Valley-based VC-funded startups."

One case for Apple bringing the cloud to average users at the right time >> One FPS

guardiantech — 2011-06-13T20:28:27+00:00

"A little birdie says that about 50% of Apple Store customers who need to get their iPhones swapped have never plugged them into iTunes after the initial activation and sync. This is a big reason, according to this birdie, for why Apple Store Geniuses are excited about iCloud.
"Backupophobes can get away with never touching iTunes after activating an iOS device. But folks obviously need to plug them into some kind of power source to recharge which, combined with a reachable WiFi network, is what triggers iCloud’s automatic backup feature. ..
"I’m surprised to hear this number pegged at 50%. If true though, I find it interesting that it is still much lower than just about any statistic you will hear about how many traditional computers users backup."

What is iCloud? >> Apple

guardiantech — 2011-06-07T05:37:45+00:00

"When you update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to iOS 5, your favorite Apple apps become seamlessly integrated with iCloud. Just like that."

It's not clear from the illustration, but we're guessing that Macs have to be running OSX Lion. And Windows users? Sorry, no.