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Long-standing fountain snags Apple's San Francisco store plans
Two weeks ago, we were greeted with the news that Apple was planning to move the Apple Store at the corner of Stockton and Ellis Streets in San Francisco to a new flagship facility to be located in the city's Union Square retail area. Now things aren't as rosy for the future of the new store, with critics being upset with the proposed design of the structure and the fate of a fountain behind the location. San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee has said that he would be taking another look at the plans to see if the fountain "would or would not complement Apple's proposal for a raised narrow plaza between its store and the Grand Hyatt," according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Other complaints include an 80-foot-long blank wall facing Stockton Street, which apparently caught flak from city officials during the initial discussions about the plans. Apple was, according to the Chronicle, "very receptive" to those concerns. The project is by no means in "shovel ready" condition; it also needs to pass muster by the city's planning and historic preservation commissions. The 1970s vintage fountain -- seen in the image at top -- is on property owned by the Grand Hyatt San Francisco, which has noted that "it's too premature" to address whether Apple's proposal will require changes.
The iPhone is a platform for coding newbies
I love hearing this about the iPhone: the San Francisco Chronicle has a piece about how Apple's little revolutionary telephone has brought a whole new crop of programmers into the development mix. People who had never before looked at code or considered writing their own applications are getting ideas about how to make better software, picking up Cocoa and Xcode books, and going to town. And strangely, we might actually have fart apps to thank for this -- people aren't just seeing the iPhone as an innovative platform, but they're seeing the App Store as an "anything goes" environment, where even their silly little idea might work. I don't know if we can pin all the credit for the burgeoning iPhone development scene on fart apps and the impression that even a monkey can make bestselling iPhone software (certainly Apple has set the bar and price for entry pretty low, both with the extremely cheap $100 fee for a developer account as well as the high quality Xcode software that comes on every Mac), but there is definitely something in this little device that's driving people to try and create their own software for it. Oh, and the money probably helps, too. Still, whether people are taking up iPhone development because they want to make millions or are just looking for another hobby, it's us, app consumers, who will benefit.
News flash: MMOs rule
Rumors of the impending death of PC gaming have been greatly exaggerated, at least if you take the word of Christopher T. Fong, who writes the Playing Games column at SFGate (San Francisco Chronicle). Fong's latest piece "Year in review: MMOs rule. PC gaming lives." is a very brief look at the state of play on the PC, notably the MMOs and expansions that arrived on the scene in 2008. Not surprisingly, Fong focuses on the W's -- Warhammer Online and World of Warcraft -- with a few boxing references worked in. While we all know that, in terms of subscribers, World of Warcraft is the reigning champ, it's clear that Warhammer Online won't be throwing in the towel anytime soon. (See what I did there?) In this writer's opinion, each offers something the other does not. The clash between players of each respective title might not ever be fully resolved, but as Fong also states -- they're both solid titles in their own right. That being said, please feel free to boldly proclaim which game is better and why. One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!
The Bastard Machine gets a dig in at both Second Life and Fox News
Tim Goodman, television critic of the San Francisco Chronicle, is one of the few critics of any stripe that I enjoy reading. It's not so much that I agree or disagree with whatever he's saying; it's more that I love his style. On a recent post for sfgate.com, he makes a slight poke at Second Life when talking about CNN's announcement that they'd be opening an island there. Calling residents 'sexless losers who can't cope with reality' first, then retracting it impishly immediately thereafter is enough to win points from me.And then he makes a joke about Fox news being more influential than CNN which is so true it holds up in SL as well. I'd like Mr. Goodman to do a whole piece on SL, except there's no connection with television there ... oh wait, he must've said something about that CSI: NY episode. Or Law and Order? The Office? No? Anyone? Bueller?[Via sfgate.com]
San Francisco man stabbed over PS3 altercation
The demand over next-gen systems seems to have ushered in yet another report of violence. 1Pstart posted a news bit from an earlier article that ran in the San Francisco Chronicle. It appears a San Francisco man was attempting to purchase a PLAYSTATION 3 from two women, when things became heated. Hani Attia, a witness to the altercation, stepped in to help settle the situation and ended up being stabbed. Later, he was pronounced dead at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital.The murder occurred this past Monday, and the suspect has not yet been apprehended. If anyone living in the San Francisco area has any additional details to provide, the San Francisco police department would be a great place to share it.[Via digg]
