Quantum Teleportation Achieved Over 16 km In China

Scientists in China have succeeded in teleporting information between photons farther than ever before. They transported quantum information over a free space distance of 16 km (10 miles), much farther than the few hundred meters previously achieved, which brings us closer to transmitting information over long distances without the need for a traditional signal.

Most Useful OS For High-School Science Education?

I teach at a high school program for gifted students which emphasizes math, science, and technology. Currently we have two computer labs for the students: A new programming lab (all Dell PCs running XP, MS Visual C++, Eclipse, and SolidWorks for programming and CAD) and an old general-purpose lab (all Macs running OS X 10.3, with software ranging from some legacy OS 9 science applications to MathCad). Most of our students eventually pursue graduate degrees in science and engineering, and we would like them to have experience with the tools they will find out in industry. As we look to replace the old machines, there has been a push to switch to PCs with XP so that there is only a single platform to support. There are over 5000 machines on the district's network and the IT department is very small (fewer than 10 people), so the fewer hardware and software differences between the machines, the better. Without opening a flame war as to which one is 'better,' I'd like to know what those of you in the science and engineering fields actually use more in your labs (hardware, OS, software), so that we can decide which platform to support. It will most likely have to be either XP or OS 10.6, with very restricted permissions to students and teachers, as that is the comfort level of IT and administration, but I'll push for whatever would benefit the students the most.

Adobe Calls Out Apple With Ads In NY Times, WSJ

Businessweek reports that Adobe has taken out newspaper advertisements in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times today and posted an open letter to call out the tablet-computer maker for stifling competition. 'We believe that consumers should be able to freely access their favorite content and applications, regardless of what computer they have, what browser they like, or what device suits their needs,' the letter states. 'No company — no matter how big or how creative — should dictate what you can create, how you create it, or what you can experience on the web.' The letter is part of a widening rift between Apple and Adobe. Two weeks ago, Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs wrote a 29-paragraph public missive panning Adobe's Flash as having 'major technical drawbacks.' US antitrust enforcers also may investigate Apple following a complaint from Adobe, people familiar with the matter said this month. Adobe has also launched a banner ad campaign to let you know that they love Apple. The two-piece banner ads are composed of a 720x90-pixel 'We [heart] Apple' design, followed by a 300x250-pixel medium rectangle that reads: 'What we don't love is anybody taking away your freedom to choose what you create, how you create it, and what you experience on the web.'

Steve Jobs Says PC Folks' World Is Slipping Away

Provoked by an iPad ad promising a 'revolution,' Valleywag's Ryan Tate fired off a late-night missive to Steve Jobs. Jobs responded, and the two engaged in an after-midnight e-mail debate over lockdown, Cocoa vs. Flash, battery life, and whether 'freedom from porn' is a bug or a feature. 'The times they are a changin',' quipped Jobs, 'and some traditional PC folks feel like their world is slipping away. It is.' Tate was unswayed by the Apple CEO's reality distortion field, but did come away impressed by Jobs' willingness to spar one-on-one over his beliefs — at two in the morning on a weekend.

Steve Jobs Publishes Some "Thoughts On Flash"

Steve Jobs just posted an open letter of sorts explaining Apple's position on Flash, going back to his company's long history with Adobe and expounding upon six main points of why he thinks Flash is wrong for mobile devices. HTML5 naturally comes up, along with a few reasons you might not expect. He concludes in saying that 'Flash was created during the PC era — for PCs and mice.'" Tacky that his first point is that Flash is proprietary, when Apple restricts the apps that can be installed on the phone. Pot, meet kettle.

Steve Jobs Hints At Theora Lawsuit

Steve Jobs' open letter on Flash has prompted someone at the Free Software Foundation Europe to ask him about his support of proprietary format H.264 over Theora. Jobs' pithy answer (email with headers) suggests Theora might infringe on existing patents and that 'a patent pool is being assembled to go after Theora and other "open source" codecs now.' Does he know something we don't?

Gizmodo Blows Whistle On 4G iPhone Loser

Cars.com's David Thomas speculates that the iPad could prove to be a serious problem for automakers that charge a ransom for rear entertainment systems. The base iPad, Thomas notes, costs far less than most DVD options offered by automakers. Ford charges $1,995 for a dual-headrest-mounted DVD system in its Flex crossover. In the Acura MDX, its single-screen system, with three wireless headsets and a 9-inch screen, costs $1,900. At $500 a pop, giving two kids their own iPads would cost far less than what the automakers charge for an ICE system. The Cars.com article mentions some of the advantages of ICE, including being weather-tested to work from -5 to 160 degrees F (-20 to 71 C), and being far less prone to breakage."

Steve Jobs Recommends Android For Fans of Porn

After being asked about the App Store's recent ban on 'sexy apps,' Steve Jobs responded, 'We do believe we have a moral responsibility to keep porn off the iPhone. Folks who want porn can buy an Android phone. You know, there's a porn store for Android, you can download nothing but porn. You can download porn, your kids can download porn. That's a place we don't want to go, so we're not going to go there.' Apps such as Playboy's and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition are still available on the App Store, however, as they come from 'more reputable companies

Adobe Stops Development For iPhone

Adobe's principal product manager Mike Chambers announced that Adobe is no longer investing in iPhone-based Flash development. The move comes after Apple put out a new draft of its iPhone developer program license, which banned private APIs and required apps to be written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine. According to Chambers, Adobe will still provide the ability to target the iPhone and iPad in Flash CS5, but the company is not currently planning any additional investments in that feature." Daring Fireball points out approvingly Apple's rebuttal to the claim that Flash is an open format, however convenient it might be for iPad owners. Related: The new app policy seems to be inconsistently enforced. Reader wilsonthecat writes "Novell have released a new press release in response to Apple's announcement that none-C/C++/Objective-C based iPhone application development breaks their SDK terms. The press release names several apps that have made it past app review process since the new Apple SDK agreement

Apple: Best of the Decade

Steve Jobs and Apple appeared in an extraordinary number of 2009's "Best of" lists

Our favorite: "There's an app for that," the Yale Book of Quotations' No. 3 quote of the 2009, right before Rep. Joe Wilson's "You lie" and after Captain Sully Sullenberger's "We're going to be in the Hudson."

Some other citations…

• Steve Jobs: CEO of the Decade. Fortune magazine.
• Steve Jobs: Best Performing CEO in the World. Harvard Business Review.
• Steve Jobs: Person of the Decade. Wall Street Journal.
• Steve Jobs: Most Important People in 2010. Newsweek.
• Apple: Brand of the Decade. Adweek's Best of the 2000s.
• Steve Jobs: Marketer of the Decade. Adweek's Best of the 2000s.
• "Get a Mac": Campaign of the Decade. Adweek's Best of the 2000s.
• Steve Jobs and Tim Cook: Most Influential People in Mobile Tech. Laptop magazine.
• Steve Jobs: Best CEO Buzz of 2009. Fortune.com.
• Apple, iPod, and iPhone: Silicon Valley's Top 10 of 2000s. The Real McCrea.
• Apple Releases iPhone: Top 10 Tech Stories of the Decade. CNN.com.
• Apple Unveils iTunes: Top 10 Tech Stories of the Decade. CNN.com.
• Apple: Company of the Decade. Om Malik.
• iPhone, iPod, Mac OS X, PowerBook G4: 10 Gadgets that Defined the Decade. Engadget.
• iPhone 3GS: Best Smartphone of 2009. IGN.
• MacBook Pro: Best Laptop of 2009. Popular Science.
• MacBook Pro: Best Laptop of 2009, IGN.
• Apple: Winner No. 1. TheStreet's Winners and Losers of 2009.
• Live Blogging the Apple Extravaganza: Most-Viewed Bits Post of 2009. New York Times.
• Find My Phone: Pogie Award for Second-Best Tech Idea of 2009. David Pogue, New York Times.
• "There's an app for that": 3rd place, Top Quotations of 2009. Yale Book of Quotations.
• Steve Jobs: No. 3 readers' choice for Person of the Year. TIME magazine.

Those are the Apple (AAPL) year-end superlatives we've collected. If you spot any more before the ball drops in Times Square, let us know and we'll add them to the list.

[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]

How Apple Does Control Leaks

at the Wall Street Journal, which provided confirmation of an Apple tablet device, had all the earmarks of a controlled leak. Here's how Apple does it.

Often Apple has a need to let information out, unofficially. The company has been doing that for years, and it helps preserve Apple's consistent, official reputation for never talking about unreleased products. I know, because when I was a Senior Marketing Manager at Apple, I was instructed to do some controlled leaks.

The way it works is that a senior exec will come in and say, "We need to release this specific information. John, do you have a trusted friend at a major outlet? If so, call him/her and have a conversation. Idly mention this information and suggest that if it were published, that would be nice. No e-mails!"

The communication is always done in person or on the phone. Never via e-mail. That's so that if there's ever any dispute about what transpired, there's no paper trail to contradict either party's version of the story. Both sides can maintain plausible deniability and simply claim a misunderstanding. That protects Apple and the publication.

In the case of yesterday's story, Walt Mossberg was bypassed so that Mr. Mossberg would remain above the fray, above reproach. Also, two journalists at the WSJ were involved. That way, each one could point the finger at the other and claim, "I thought he told me to run with this story! Sorry."

Finally, the story was posted online late Monday, eastern time, so no one could ever suggest there was any attempt to manipulate the stock market.

The net result is that Apple gets the desired information published by a major Wall Street news outlet, but can always claim, if required, it was all an editorial misunderstanding. The WSJ is protected as well.

__________________

Controlled leaks are almost always the solution to a problem. In this case, it could have been that Apple needed to release the tablet information early because they wanted:

to light a fire under a recalcitrant partner
to float the idea of the US$1,000 price point and gauge reaction
to panic/confuse a potential competitor about whom Apple had some knowledge
to whet analyst and observer expectations to make sure the right kind and number of people show up at the (presumed) January 26 event. Apple hates empty seats and demands SRO at these events.


Of course, if Wall Street draws the right conclusions, and AAPL goes up, as it has, then everybody benefits. But the manipulation of stock is never the purpose. It's simply a favorable outcome of the process. Again, Apple is protected.

That's how Apple does controlled leaks, and the WSJ article from yesterday was a classic example.