Apple's Scott Forstall's fatal mistake was not signing iOS 6 Maps apology letter: sources

Scott Forstall — the departing Apple executive who'd become the public face of iOS in his role as head of mobile software — may have met his demise when he refused to put his name on the apology letter Apple released several weeks ago, a rare show of contrition from Cupertino when its revamped (and Google-free) Maps product fell short of expectations at the release of iOS 6. The New York Times and CNNMoney are both reporting the story this evening; we've heard similar from sources as well.

Santiago: South America's Silicon Valley?

(CNN) -- Finding enough capital to give a burgeoning business its best shot of success is a challenge that faces many budding entrepreneurs. So when Mariano Kostalec heard about the Start-Up Chile initiative, he was intrigued. The government funded project offers high potential global start-ups a $40,000 investment on the condition they open an office in Chile. No equity is ceded and the only requirement is that at least one member of the team remains in the country for six months. The aim is to turn Santiago into South America's Silicon Valley.

A Web Designer’s Introduction to A/B Testing

A/B testing is the process of experimenting with different options in order to measure the relative success of each one. Where the web is concerned, A/B testing can make it clear which design choices are most effective; clear to the designer and (more importantly) clear to the client.

A Guide To Mobile App Testing

Testers are often thought of as people who find bugs, but have you ever considered how testers actually approach testing? Do you ever wonder what testers actually do, and how they can add value to a typical technology project?

Mention of iBooks 3.0 discovered in recent iTunes listing, supporting books focus for iPad mini event

Just last week we brought you the news that Apple’s October 23rd iPad mini event would be focused on iBooks, which makes sense as it will likely be a great device for reading. I posited at the time that this might include new versions of Apple’s book-related software like iBooks. Now, a live listing on iTunes, discovered by Florian Innocente at iGen.fr, is directly referencing iBooks 3.0 as a requirement. You can see the listing, which is still live, here. I’ve reproduced it in a screenshot below in case it gets altered.

Brewster: The Smart Contacts App That Wants To Rule Them All, Now Conquering Europe, Too

Brewster, the relationship-centric iOS address book app that went live in the U.S. in July with some fanfare (and a little controversy for good measure), is picking up some more steam. On the heels of an app update earlier this month, this week it is launching across Europe, available for the first time in iOS App Stores across the region.

Developer depression: Isolation is the biggest problem

Therein lie several questions: Do aspects of developer work foster loneliness? Is the isolation that’s reinforced by computers unique to developers, or are we all guilty of replacing personal intimacy with inanimate screens? Perhaps most importantly, is the solo nature of developer work causing depression? If so, how can it be fixed?

Wonderful article.

How To Design A Mobile Game With HTML5

Care to make a cross-platform mobile game with HTML5? No need to dabble in Java or Objective-C? Bypass the app stores? Sounds like an instant win! A handful of game developers are pushing the envelope of mobile HTML5 games at the moment. Check out the likes of Nutmeg and Lunch Bug for some shining examples. The great thing about these titles is that they work equally well on both mobile and desktop using the same code. Could HTML5 finally fulfill the holy grail of “write once, run anywhere”?

Apsalar adds support for Facebook’s new mobile ads to track iOS and Android app marketing campaigns

App developers now have a new tool to add into their arsenal that will help them monitor and analyze their users’ engagement from a mobile marketing standpoint with their Facebook-integrated apps. Starting today, the social network will begin offering the campaign insight services from mobile marketing measurement company, Apsalar, to developers in order to help measure the performance of their mobile marketing campaigns.

Tweetbot for Mac Review

Tweetbot for Mac isn’t the app for people who casually check on Twitter every couple of days: it is priced at $19.99, a clear signal as to the kind of audience Tapbots want to capture. On the other hand, it’s also understandable why Tapbots may want to save precious Twitter tokens for users who really value the feature set of Tweetbot.

I’m Jonathan Coulton, and This Is How I Work

In 2005, Jonathan Coulton did something most of us only dream about: he left his day job in the name of rock. (Okay, folk rock.) A lifelong musician and computer programmer by trade, Jonathan quickly gained a following with songs about coding, science fiction, and geek culture. (If you need an introduction, check out this acoustic version of his song "Code Monkey.") As a champion of music industry reform, Jonathan makes his music available for free download and use under Creative Commons. According to him, "I give away music because I want to make music, and I can't make music unless I make money, and I won't make any money unless I get heard, and I won't get heard unless I give away music." So far, he's been able to support his career this way (unsigned) for nearly a decade.

A classless class—on using more classes in your HTML

This article is a pretty basic one, but it’s aimed at developers struggling to shake the idea that classes in your HTML are somehow a bad thing. Quite often, developers new to OOCSS find it hard to transition from adding no classes to anything to adding as many as you need (i.e. a lot more than you were).

Useful one!

Your mobile site is slower than you think

The world’s first study into mobile wait times reveals that a typical ecommerce site takes 11+ seconds to load, one-third of site owners don’t have a mobile-specific site, and LTE isn’t the performance saviour it’s been touted as Trying to measure and analyse your site’s mobile performance is like taking aim at a constantly moving target. As soon as you think you have some idea of what exactly it is you’re trying to measure, it changes.

Apple's funky new venue - Apple 2.0

FORTUNE -- Some reporters expressed surprise that Apple (AAPL) would choose to hold next week's special event -- the one widely expected to showcase a new, smaller iPad -- at San Jose's California Theater rather than the venues it's been using lately: The Yerba Buena Center for the Performing Arts in San Francisco or the Town Hall auditorium on the company's Cupertino campus.

GoPro Unveils Its Latest Line-Up

The top model, the HERO3 Black Edition, is 30 percent smaller and 25 percent lighter than the HERO2 with a $399.99 price tag. Its image processor is twice as fast, and the camera can capture 4k video at 15 frames per second, 2.7k video at 30 frames per second.

HERO3 Black Edition