Linkbait 12

This week’s.

• Former Microsoft employees create a new company to help big corporations with their migration path to newer IE versions. Their product will allows corporations to run IE6-specific code in an IE8 tab. Could be exactly what we need.
• RIM advises people to turn off JavaScript in BlackBerry WebKit due to a vulnerability that exposes data on the media card and storage (not on the device itself; address book and such are safe).
• Ad-supported apps are commonplace nowadays. But what do the ads advertise? Other apps.
• More details about the Nokisoft deal. The deal isn’t actually done yet, the transition will take about two years, Office will be part of the deal, Silverlight will remain the only way of writing apps for Windows Phone (Qt is relegated to Symbian), and there’s a division of labour:

  Nokia would bring assets such as its brand, hardware, productization, global reach, application store, operator billing support, maps and location­-based assets to the partnership. Microsoft would bring their next generation smartphone platform with Windows Phone, as well as search, broader advertising, ecommerce, gaming and productivity assets such as Bing, AdCenter, Xbox Live and Office.

  My emphasis. Nokia brings operator relations, and not Microsoft. But Nokia’s relations with US operators are bad, so US market entrance remains iffy.
• Jason Grigsby:

  We’ll know the mobile web is ready when links to the desktop version disappear.

• John Gruber explains why the Nitro JS engine does not run for web apps, but does for Safari. As I suspected, there was no evil plot. Instead, Just In Time compilation, which Nitro uses, is a security risk, and that’s why Apple doesn’t want to use it in random apps. Safari is safe enough, though.
• Interesting start of what may become an excellent series that explains SEO. We’d almost forget there is a scientific basis for SEO, but Tim Huegdon explains it clearly.
• This is so cool! A charger with all common plugs. I didn’t know it even existed!
• Motorola is reportedly working on its own mobile OS. If they truly want to build one from scratch this project will fail miserably, but I assume Moto is not crazy and will base the OS on either Android or MeeGo. Probably the former, seeing that they already have experience with it.
  The article’s author ventures:

  It seems more likely to us that Motorola Mobility is working on a Web-based operating system to compliment [sic] Android, instead of one to compete with it, but we’ll have to see.

  I’m wondering what a web-based OS is, but if there’s an answer that makes sense, Moto may be pursuing it.
• The BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is definitely going to support Android apps, in addition to BlackBerry apps, native apps, HTML5 apps, Flash apps, and Air apps. No lack of choice here.
  Is this wide array of choices a bad idea because no single one will be implemented properly, or a good idea because it will attract developers from many ecosystems? I’ll judge this in due time by studying the PlayBook’s browser.
  And if we have so many choices, the BB PB would become an excellent platform to pit the various kinds of apps against each other and see which one is better from a performance, UX, ease-of-coding, or any other point of view.
• Windows Phone 7 is being updated, and here are the details of the update. No IE9 yet; it’s officially slated for October, and I wouldn’t be totally surprised if it’s postponed a bit. Before Christmas, though.
  Meanwhile Mary Jo Foley is getting impatient with the updating process, although she concedes Microsoft’s openness about the details has improved greatly.
  Still, Windows Phone’s updating process is a miracle of transparency when you compare it to Android. My Nexus One and HTC Legend both started out at 2.1 . The Nexus meanwhile has 2.3, the Legend ... hasn’t. Compared to the updating nightmare Android is, Microsoft is doing not bad at all.
• A useful Media Query Image Download Test. I will run it on my devices in the future (unless I forget).
• Did you know the <meta name="MobileOptimized" content="width"> tag? It exists, though only in IE Mobile.
• And <meta name="HandheldFriendly" content="true"/> was originally created for the AvantGo browser for PalmOS, but is also supported by BlackBerry.
• And some Amazon reviews are pretty funny.
• Have a tip for next week?