AppAdvice’s Week In Review

What do the wild wild west, Rush Limbaugh, and Liquidmetal have in common? They were all featured in some of the more interesting iOS stories in the last week. Enjoy!

Glass Broken?

A report this week suggested the next generation iPhone will be made of Liquidmetal not glass likes its two predecessors. Liquidmetal, which is obviously solid at room temperature, is said to be hardwearing and able to withstand thermal cycling. Best of all, it looks pretty damn cool! Later in the week, another rumor stated that the sixth generation handset would be thinner than the current model, the iPhone 4S, and include in-cell panels, which combine touch sensors and color filters into one layer. Says this rumor:

Apple’s new iPhone, which is expected to be released in the third quarter of 2012, is likely to adopt in-cell touch panels rolled out by Sharp and Toshiba Mobile Display (TMD), according to sources in Apple’s supply chain.

Is The App Store becoming the wild wild west?

Like Las Vegas, the App Store is a great place to visit, but you never know what might be lurking one or two blocks from the main strip. Despite considerable popularity, the store seems full of scammers, rule-breakers, outright fraud, and plain bad PR. Sadly, the perpetrator is Apple itself. As A.T. contends, Apple’s management of the App Store just plain sucks, saying:

It’s already clear that Cook and company no longer police app submissions with any comprehensive review process, but it’s looking like management has also turned a blind eye towards moderating the App Store’s chart-toppers. Whatever automated algorithm Apple has in place to establish quality app rankings simply isn’t getting the job done, and these lists desperately need to be curated by human eyes and minds and morals. After all, the allure of Apple’s ecosystem — its so-called “walled garden” — is that it’s a safe, secure, and straightforward place to work and play. I fear that’s no longer always the case. The App Store is still number one, but it’s quickly moving in the wrong direction.

Rush Limbaugh: My iPhone was hacked

The most popular (and controversial) radio talk show host in the U.S. (and Apple fan) claims his iPhone 4S went crazy thanks to Siri and Nuance. Real or made up, Limbaugh’s claims certainly lead to a large number of comments from our readers, with some even wondering why we posted this story in the first place. Among the comments: Wapsi13:  Rush is the reason my grandma thinks the earth’s axis has been shifted by the Chinese. Which is the reason for any bad weather, high gas prices, terrorism, and her arthritis. Sunlight79: No, I don’t think Rush was full of it. I find it intriguing. You decide. Do Limbaugh's claims sound truthful or much to do with nothing?

Steve Jobs Unplugged

When Steve Jobs passed away last year, the Internet was overwhelmed with stories and interviews praising the man, his life, and his visionary genius. From the scrapped (and suddenly profound) Jobs-narrated “Crazy Ones” commercial to Walter Isaacson’s seminal biography, we all got an endearing and enduring image of what the world had and what the world lost. Of course, like any life story, there’s a lot more to it. As one of the late Apple founder’s closest media contacts, reporter Brent Schlender spoke to Steve on a regular basis since 1985, and he recently uncovered a series of long-forgotten interviews taken from Jobs’ so-called “wilderness years.” Explains Schlender (via MacRumors):

Rummaging through the storage shed, I discovered some three dozen tapes holding recordings of extended interviews–some lasting as long as three hours–that I’d conducted with him periodically over the past 25 years. Many I had never replayed–a couple hadn’t even been transcribed before now. Some were interrupted by his kids bolting into the kitchen as we talked. During others, he would hit the pause button himself before saying something he feared might come back to bite him. Listening to them again with the benefit of hindsight, the ones that took place during that interregnum jump out as especially enlightening.

Recommended Reading

• I Love My iPad, But I Hate What I've Become by A.T. Faust examines how Apple's tablet has made one blogger lazier than he's ever been in his life.
• Melbourne-Based Artists Looking To Create Apple Product Perfume For Special Event by Joe White explains how you too can smell like an Apple product just opened.
• Apple’s iCloudy Service by yours truly looks at Greenpeace's latest campaign against Apple over environmental concerns.
• Apple Stores Continue To Pull In Staggering Revenue by Brent Dirks confirms the obvious: Apple's retail store are making the company a fortune.

Finally, A Coca-Cola moment

Most of us figured Spotify's "big announcement" this week would be the release of the company's long-awaited iPad app. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be. Instead, it was announced that the streaming music service would work with Coca-Cola in their quest to take over the music world. In celebration of the most recognized product on the planet (not made by Apple), and inspiration behind Jonathan Mak's latest work, we present this funny video. Enjoy!

-- Week In Review is published each weekend at AppAdvice.com.

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