Common Dream

Apple fears the killer app.

Hank Williams, in Apple fears the killer app.

I think Apple has come to the conclusion that any killer apps for the iPhone need to be from Apple, and that those that are not from Apple are hugely dangerous. And this well may be true. Because if some third party invents something that fundamentally changes what it means to own a mobile device, and that software is available on other devices, overnight Apple is in the position of being the supplicant.

Poppycock.

Chrome Extensions I Use

I've been using Chrome on and off for a while now, and one thing I really like about Chrome when I'm using it is its awesome extension support. Developers can write extensions for Chrome in javascript, so no fancy tools are required to get going with writing extensions. As much as I like extensions, I use them fairly sparingly, because it's easy to clutter up the browser with them. Here are my 3 favorites so far:

Instachrome by edgar.js

This extension lets you mark stuff you'd like to read later in Instapaper. I'm an avid Instapaper user, so I wanted something that made shoving articles their way easier. This extension sits in the Chrome toolbar and gives a few options for marking articles and getting back to articles in Instapaper.

Chromed Bird by Cezar Sá Espinola

Chromed Bird is a Twitter client for Chrome. I was a big user of Tweetie for Mac, but Tweetie doesn't support the new style of retweets, so I figured I'd try out Chromed Bird. I haven't opened Tweetie since I installed Chromed Bird. It's basically a Twitter client in a big drop down, and I'm not in love with the general design, but it's met my tweeting needs really well.

It's kind of suprising that Google didn't include subscribing to as a default Chrome feature, but this extension handles the task handily. It shows up in the unibar (that's Chrome's name for their hybrid search/address bar).

I do have a few critiques of how Google handles extensions. I'd be far happier if Google would:
  • Publish human interface guidelines for extensions so that developers would know better when to use the different extension points, 
  • Add the ability to add to context menus from extensions (it's coming in a future release). There are quite a few extensions that would be better if they were far more out of the way. 
  • Sync extensions like bookmarks are synced.
Chrome has never felt native to me like Safari does. It will be interesting to see if Apple adds extensions to Safari like John Gruber hinted at yesterday. Safari has to stop beach balling so much on my computer for me to ever be fully content with it as my primary browser.

How Apple could slay Google at WWDC 2010

Some great thoughts by Daniel Eran Dilger on how Apple can brutally respond to Google at WWDC. His idea about Apple launching Chrome style extensions is pretty fun:

Imagine what could happen if Apple introduced Safari 5 at WWDC with support for a plugin API (as sort of postulated, teased, hinted or simply hoped for by John Gruber this week), and then demonstrated this new plugin architecture with a free, bundled plugin that blocked web ads. 

To copy Google while at the same time brutally attacking their business model could be a pretty smart tactic. I'm curious, though, where it leaves the web:

The big question here is: does Apple have the balls to revolutionize the web and return the world’s journalism and entertainment to a paid premium model (like magazines and books and newspapers and HBO) rather than an adware garbage model?

I agree with the idea that ads are pretty worthless, but I'm not sure that tons of paid content is the way things would go either. I'm not really sure where the removal of ad revenue would leave the web.

I like the whole thing where Apple reviews the apps so that you can't get viruses.

My friend Deena, an iPad user, on her appreciation for the app store review process