iOS5: Cleaning…

iOS 5 appears to have created a rock and a hard place to place a certain category of applications, among them Instapaper—one of my favourites:

When customers save an article with Instapaper, get a book in iBooks, or download a podcast with Instacast, they expect it to be there next time they launch the app. Even though it’s technically re-downloadable, customers see that as their data—they put it there, and it’s theirs to remove if and when they see fit.

Guardian journalist Nick Davies told the committee: “The world is full of people who would like to control the flow of information.” He said the rise of the PR industry means: “They are winning the information war. The liars are winning.”

That’s from The Guardian, in evidence to the House of Lords culture committee, on the state of investigative journalism. While it’s a problem generally, it’s particularly acute in the technology sector, as TechCrunch note in the article Facebook PR: tonight we dine in hell.

The Macalope on reaction to the iPhone 4S

But what about Siri? Apple introduced, what appears to be—if it works—some serious Star Trek-level voice technology. And you’re complaining about the shape of the box it came in.

I’m curious about Siri, and not exactly 100% a believer, but the response has been a great example of books, covers and judgements.

From Spotify today, on discovering the almost tautological “people who use the internet more tend to buy more using the internet”:

We know that Spotify’s users who connect to Facebook listen to more music on a weekly basis. They listen to a wider variety of music—in fact we have more than 400 million playlists created in Spotify now. Because these users are more social, they’re more engaged. Because they’re more engaged, they’re more than twice as likely to pay for music.

Divided, my first iPhone application, is now available on the App Store. I’d love it if you’d buy a copy for you and all your friends!

Lovely complicated-bill splitting helpfulness: available now!