Chris Ziegler, The Verge, on AT&T’s position on Apple’s iOS 6 FaceTime over cellular feature:

AT&T has cleared the air this afternoon on its policies for FaceTime over cellular, saying that a Mobile Share plan will be required to use it — but it won’t incur an extra charge apart from normal data usage.

And AT&T’s actual release:

AT&T will offer FaceTime over Cellular as an added benefit of our new Mobile Share data plans, which were created to meet customers’ growing data needs at a great value. With Mobile Share, the more data you use, the more you save. FaceTime will continue to be available over Wi-Fi for all our customers.

“Want to make use of a cool new feature that the data you pay for could use? Too bad. Switch to our capped data plans.”

What a crock of shit. Every since AT&T realized offering unlimited data was a mistake, they have been customer-hostile. They take every opportunity to force people off those data plans. This is nothing more than limiting traffic so that those with unlimited data plans cannot use FaceTime over cellular.

I’m sick and tired of AT&T acting like they are doing customers a favor in allowing certain services. Our data is capped. Who the hell cares how it is used? AT&T is certainly the most displeasing company I have the misfortune of using.

</first world problem>

Phys.org:

The melting season in Greenland usually lasts from June – when the first puddles of meltwater appear – to early-September, when temperatures cool. This year, cumulative melting in the first week in August had already exceeded the record of 2010, taken over a full season, according to Professor Tedesco’s ongoing analysis.

Good thing climate change is the greatest hoax ever perpetuated.

John Gruber provides a well-reasoned (math included) argument about the purported iPad mini:

Cost can’t be the only factor in play, though. There must be something great about the device’s design. If it’s not display quality, what else? I’m thinking thickness and weight. The iPad 3 gained a retina display — but at the expense of getting thicker and heavier than the iPad 2, so as to fit a more powerful battery to run those additional 2,359,296 pixels. So I’m thinking the iPad Mini doesn’t get a retina display but in exchange gets to go remarkably thin.

How thin? Possibly as thin as an iPod touch. How heavy? Potentially 60% less than a WiFi-only iPad 3 and 22% less than a Nexus 7. To top it off, what if the name was iPad Air? Sign me up.

Melissa Hogenboom, BBC, goes behind the scenes with Google’s doodle team:

They are seen by hundreds of millions of people. Some are put together in a few hours - others, like the Freddie Mercury tribute, take several months to complete. All are created by the handful of “doodlers” who sit in a small office in California.

I love Google doodles. Their importance should not be understated. When your home page is as simple as Google’s, the addition of simple, clever artwork is instrumental in how people view the brand. As mentioned later in the article, the doodles are akin to a beautiful hotel lobby or gorgeous retail packaging.

Josh Halliday, The Guardian:

Facebook has been accused of deceiving developers after it emerged that the social networking site did nothing to verify the security of applications it was paid tens of thousands of dollars to review, and which it assured users had been checked.

Basically, Facebook offered a “verified” program to developers for a fee. Apps in this program would receive a checkmark of approval with the promise to increase discoverability for users. It turns out that Facebook pocketed the money and didn’t check anything.

Matt Gemmell on managing out-of-control email:

To effectively manage our email, we have to accept a few basic truths. They’re hard truths, but that only makes them even more valuable. Here they are:

1. What’s important to other people is not (as) important to you.
2. You are inherently lazy and egocentric.
3. Ruthlessness is a hell of a time-saver.

With those facts, we have the basis of a truly workable email-management system. The simple rules I use are as follows, and are based on categorising email by when (or if) I’ll reply to it.

I started a similar task at the start of 2012. I tried to go through some 10,000+ emails to gauge importance, reply, etc. - that was crazy. I finally relented and archived everything. To my surprise, the world did not end.

Now, I’ve been following my version of Matt’s guidelines for awhile and have successfully kept Inbox Zero for six months. Email is a lot less stressful now and I am not looking back. If you feel overwhelmed by your inbox, you are doing it wrong. Free yourself.

K.C. Ifeanyi, Fast Company:

Like many famous authors, Theodor Seuss Geisel was an ad guy before he became a household name. See his work here, from UC San Diego’s Dr. Seuss Collection.

My favorite is the Schaefer Bock Beer ad.

Industrial designer, Don Lehman, on a video of the purported sixth-generation iPhone:

I’m fairly convinced this is what the next iPhone will look like. If true, this design will be noteworthy for being the first unibody iPhone, making it the thinnest, strongest, and lightest housing to date.

Lehman then goes into incredible detail about the specifics of the rumored design and why it makes sense (at least from Apple’s perspective). Great read.

As with all pre-release design rumors, many throw their hands up in disgust - wanting a complete redesign (for reasons I don’t fully understand). Personally, I like the design. A lot. Apple can take my money on day one.¹

In June, I linked to the story of Jonah Lehrer’s downfall - admitting to using fabricated Bob Dylan quotes in his latest book. The revelation led to his resignation from The New Yorker and the muddying of his reputation.

Lehrer referenced “lies” and “mistakes” in his resignation. That he used the plural form should have been telling. Kevin Breen of The Skeptical Libertarian uncovered evidence of additional misdeeds:

Tuesday night, I showed a printed excerpt from Jonah Lehrer’s bestselling book, Imagine: How Creativity Works, to Teller, the quieter half of the magic duo Penn and Teller. Teller read what was allegedly a statement he made about a previous point in his career: “I was definitely on the verge of giving up the dream of becoming a magician,” Lehrer quoted Teller. “I was ready to go back home and become a high-school Latin teacher.”

I began to ask Teller if he had really said that, but before I could finish, he interrupted with a quick and decisive, “No.”

It was too bad. I really liked that book.

As you’ll see in Breen’s article, once you begin contradicting your own writing, the end is nigh. I’m not sure how Lehrer will ever regain the trust that is required of an author.

Jason Kottke has posted pretty cool videos that deal with animal physics. Enjoy them on your Friday.

First up is slow-motion video of cats falling. We see how cats land on their feet - rotating in mid-air while conserving angular momentum.

Next up is a look at the stability of an owl head. Kind of creepy.

Finally, chickens have a remarkable sense of their position in space. This allows their heads to remain still. Very creepy.