For those that don’t know – Twitter is locking down their API and now requires “traditional” clients with large amounts of users to request access. In other words – they’re locking out a lot of the community that made them what it is today. Kind of a short version that misses a lot of points, but that’s the gist of it.

Contrary to popular belief – I don’t hate Apple, I hate how a lot of their advocates function and act in different situations. I mean, I don’t think Apple makes the best products by a long-shot. I’ve used a bunch of them extensively and it just doesn’t feel right. The only products that I highly endorse are their trackpads and the iPad for news reading and web browsing. What I don’t like is those extreme followers. Every cult-following has them, but Apple fans have this community of insanely brutal and aggressive voices that constantly bash on other companies.

Take this Twitter situation for example – we have some of them telling Twitter to drop dead, some saying Twitter’s lost it’s way, and others saying Twitter is evil. Why? A developer policy change to a free service? A developer policy change. Huh. You’d think Apple fans/developers would be used to that. How many times has Apple changed their policies and threw a bunch of developers out the door? Keep in mind that these developers actually pay Apple to make applications for them, not a free model like Twitter’s. If you aren’t catching it – that makes it way worse. People invested tons of money to be a part of that ecosystem and got cheated out of it because Apple decided to change it’s mind.

One big example is the banning of apps if they didn’t use Apple’s own 30-percent-taking in-app payment system. It’s okay to take 30%, but to force it on every developer after you’ve allowed otherwise in the past? Amazon damn-near got rid of their Kindle app. Tons of other developers pulled out as well because either the profit margins would be horrible or they’d have to overcharge users. I’m not saying Apple or Twitter are worse than each other – not at all. My point is that there should be an equal level of anger and discussion about these major changes.

Are these same bloggers angry about Apple’s developer policy changes, no matter how ruthless they may be? Nope. In fact, they create reasons as to why it makes sense. They’ll make post after post about why it makes sense to apply these new policies. But with Twitter – anger, hate, and numerous cruel words. And if this was the only time it could be slightly excusable. But it happens all the time. When else? I have a huge list of examples.

When Samsung allegedly copied iOS and it’s corresponding devices, Apple bloggers screamed out and said Samsung deserves nothing better than the courts. It didn’t matter that Samsung was bringing fantastic competition on the table – let the law books to take them down. They wanted to bring the law in for something they didn’t even totally understand. But when Apple allegedly price fixed – an illegal act – they blamed Amazon. They said Apple brought competition and such actions should be allowed. It didn’t matter that it forced users to pay more on every single marketplace – Apple was in the right. It didn’t matter if Apple was guilty or not – the law didn’t need to intervene. Amazon was wrong.

And remember that whole Samsung Galaxy Note thing? Geez.

Microsoft is taking a big risk with Windows 8 and is trying to create a brand new experience. They’re trying to combine what Apple is convinced should be in two form factors into one device so that consumers don’t have to have three different devices. Without even blinking they claim Microsoft is wrong and that Windows 8 is a complete failure. It’s not even out to market. Not to mention that it’s gotten lots of good reviews. And let’s bring up the fact that most users don’t want to spend money on three different devices when they can buy two devices and save tons of money. But Microsoft is wrong.

Any PC maker comes out with a new laptop and Apple bloggers call it out as a Macbook or Macbook Air copy. But when Apple steals great ideas from Android or Windows Phone they don’t even discuss it. In fact, they act like it never happened and move right along. In the vice versa case, umpteen blog posts with people making comparisons and showing how others constantly copy Apple.

Here’s another that I posted onto Google+ recently where Jim Darymple posts a link to a list of apps optimized for the Retina Macbook (a few of these lists also came out when the retina iPad came along too). If this same list was for apps optimized for a new Android phone, what do you think it would be about? Fragmentation.

RIM is currently going through some really hard times. They’re trying to bounce back with new products but it’s definitely a really rough patch. Whenever their new CEO tries to shine a bright light on the situation you’ll find an Apple blogger literally laughing at their situation. Some tell them to even shut down because it isn’t worth it. Yet they forget that Apple was in the exact same situation years back. Microsoft was forced to give Apple billions of dollars to continue to exist. This company is now worth more than Microsoft. Why can’t RIM bounce back the same way? Why is it that only Apple can pull such a thing off? Apple isn’t some Godly creature that came out of nowhere. They’re a company – a corporation – much like RIM and RIM has just as much of a chance of bouncing back.

And here’s a last one I posted a while back when ASUS gave out free GPS dongles because the Transformer Prime had faulty GPS.

Not all Apple-focused bloggers are like this, but there’s a huge community that is. Cut it out, grow up, and take the similar side to every issue. If you don’t want to talk about it, don’t, but don’t act one way when Apple does something and when other companies do the same. Cut the hypocrisy. I think your readers deserve it.

The video linked in the title will take you to a 60-second ad spot for the Samsung Galaxy S3. Don’t worry if you can’t figure that out, though. The phone itself is shown in it’s entirety for a whopping 4 seconds out of 60. Did I mention it says nothing about what the phone actually does?

Hey Samsung – how about you make ads for humans as well?

And, yes, the Samsung Galaxy S3 is a disappointment to me. I might talk about it later, but probably not.

Yesterday I posted about Target wiping it’s shelves clean of Kindles. Turns out that they’re just angry because they feel that those shelves were being used to be a showroom so people could play around with the Kindle and then go home, get on Amazon.com, and buy it there. Cheaper, no sales tax (for most places), and much easier. In their words:

What we aren’t willing to do is let online-only retailers use our brick-and-mortar stores as a showroom for their products and undercut our prices

Fair enough, Target. I’m going to have to agree with you there.

And Amazon – maybe it’s time to open up a B&M showroom yourself. If not a full-blown store, at least pop-up shop where people can play around with your hardware, and then order them straight from there.

Interesting point by Wil Wheaton in the post linked in the title. His issue is that YouTube has dropped the thumbs up/down buttons for a big G+ Like button. And the only time you can use it? You guessed it – if you have a Google+ account. In other words – you need Google+ to have your say in YouTube.

Now, in essence – there’s nothing wrong with this. Kind of like on Facebook where you can only “Like” a video, YouTube is Google’s Facebook Video…but just a lot bigger and better. But what’s wrong with it is that it’s a regression. Google didn’t go forward, they quite literally went backwards with this one. And that sucks. Especially when it’s their way of shoving a service down everyone’s throat.

I love Google+ but I love YouTube as well. And this? This is bad for YouTube, and I can’t agree with it. Bring back the multiple options, Google.

Mr. Wheaton gives his own reasons as well, so I suggest you hit that title and read his thoughts on the situation. He breaks it down really well.

Interesting. Especially considering this gem from an earlier post:

it should be noted that Apple recently partnered with [Target] for a small number of “mini-stores” earlier this year

And another straight out of the post linked in the title:

It’s worth noting that Target’s statement also notes that its continued support of other e-readers and accessories — including, specifically mentioned here, Barnes & Noble’s Nook.

Yes, the Nook that Microsoft recently invested in.

Huh. Hit the title link for Target’s statement.

Adam Fields talks about how OS X Lion has been giving him a little bit of…er…trouble. And the post linked in the title isn’t the only one where he talks about it. He also talks about it here, here, and discusses the linked post further here. Hint: you have to hit the terminal a ton of times. Two thumbs up for intuitiveness!

I’ve had to use OS X for a little while in my old job. Hated it. I was so happy when I was back on Windows it’s not even funny. I know – it sounds crazy. I’ll talk about this a little more in a later blog post, but there’s no way anyone can convince me that OS X is a superior OS in it’s current state. It looks pretty, sure – but I need to get work done, not glaze over slow and sleek animations.

Very, very cool stuff here. The interesting thing is that – based on their tests – the performance using their Mono platform (open source .NET implementation) is significantly faster. I’d love to see some demos and get some more information. The awesome part is that they’re focused on continuously staying up-to-date with the latest version of Android by automating the process of translation and then refining it. In time, they likely won’t even need to change any of the translated code. The cool thing is that if you’ve developed apps for Android in the past, you’ll likely be able to use this translation tool to convert it into C# for Xobot as well. And it’s open source. Yep. Very cool. Hit the title link for more info.

Hit the title link for guidelines that’ll help all you iOS-ers to keep your data when switching computers. In light of this, here’s how you sync your Android phone:

1. Turn on your phone
2. Sign in with your Google account (if you haven’t already)
3. Wait…that’s it
4. No, seriously, that’s all you have to do

Thanks for link, +Pearl Chen!

Yep, it’s finally coming after months of anticipation. Looks gorgeous, and takes clear cues from Windows Phone and Android. However, it has some great ideas including the sentence-completion touch keyboard. I’ve played with early versions of the OS, and I have to say – quite fluid (much like the Playbook). That being said, there’s a lot of friction RIM will have to endure over the next little while. But no matter what anyone says – there’s no “too late” in mobile right now. People may think that users have made their final choice, but this is just the beginning. Android and iOS may have had a head start, but Windows Phone and BBOS will have their turn. They may not dominate, but the bites they’ll take out of the pie will eventually become considerable. More on this in a later blog post.

The Verge has done a great job getting all the BB10 articles into one stream (as usual). Hit the title link to get some awesome BB10 coverage.

Judge Posner on Apple’s latest lawsuit against Motorola:

I deny the second half of Apple’s motion (seeking prohibition of the deposition) as frivolous and the first half (seeking substitution) as untimely. I’ve had my fill of frivolous filings by Apple. The next such motion, and I shall forbid it to file any motions without first moving for leave to file.

Ouch.