World-leading PC manufacturer Lenovo has done it again, announcing the ultrathin ThinkPad X1, a hugely innovative laptop that looks like nothing you’ve ever seen before.

OK, so it might look a smidge like the MacBook Air, but here’s why Lenovo’s laptop will grind Apple’s into the dirt:

• Nipple: Everyone likes a nipple, and this laptop still has one wedged into its keyboard. Apple seems to think that multitouch trackpads are the way forward, but the nipple will eventually win the day.
• Stickers: The MacBook Air is extremely boring when you open it up—the entire thing’s just grey. Yawn. By contrast, the ThinkPad X1 has lots of exciting stickers on it; even better, these tell you what companies have supplied parts for your computer, enabling you to show off to your friend.
• Heft: The ThinkPad X1 is about 50 per cent heavier than the MacBook Air, meaning it’s far more satisfying to carry. You really know you’ve spent money on something when it’s in a bag and tugging at your shoulder. (Even better, 1.7kg is only the starting weight—you can actually make it heavier. I’m hoping for a special edition with a brick glued to the lid.)
• Battery: Lenovo reckons the battery should last up to five hours, compared to seven in the MacBook Air—a big benefit, because everyone works too much these days. The X1 makes sure you won’t, especially if your forget your charger.
• Windows: It’s got Windows inside! Everyone loves Windows.
• Poor screen contrast: Great reproduction of photos drops your productivity. By making on-screen graphics less exciting, you will do more work. Unless your battery runs out first, obv.
• Black: Black is the new black, and the black shell doesn’t at all make the X1 look like it’s the result of a torrid affair between a MacBook Air and a clunky 1990s Windows laptop.
• Specs: The X1 has more bullet-points than the MacBook Air, referring to extra ports and ‘stuff’ that is a surefire way to draw in typical users. They love lists of numbers.
• Storage: The SSD will be optional, rather than standard and enforced across the line. Futuristic technology is scary.

Run for the hills, Apple! I think I’m not alone in saying that Lenovo’s got you beaten here, and that within four days at most of the X1 being on sale, you’ll be down to third in terms of market-cap, because Lenovo will blitz past even Exxon, leaving you in its wake.

Ryan Sarver (head of Twitter’s Platform Group), in March:

Developers ask us if they should build client apps that mimic or reproduce the mainstream Twitter consumer client experience. The answer is no. We need to ensure users can interact with Twitter the same way everywhere.

Mac Twitter client Kiwi’s developer, today:

I’ve stopped working on Kiwi. […] It essential that the platform you’re working on is eager for your app, eager to help you get to market, and eager for you to reap your well earned rewards.

Perhaps Twitter has a great long-term goal that involves the strategic decision of “crap on the guys that made your platform popular”, but it’s a pity so many clients and devs are taking a hit. And from what I see from Twitter itself—across Mac, iPad and iPhone, the company itself is being quite hypocritical when it comes to Sarver’s comment:

We need to ensure users can interact with Twitter the same way everywhere.

Maybe Twitter should make sure its own apps have some semblance of uniformity, then.

Worrying times for iOS indie devs:

James Thomson (PCalc, DragThing):

Just got hit by very worrying threat of patent infringement lawsuit for using in-app purchase in PCalc Lite. Legal docs arrived via fedex.

To be clear, I haven’t been sued yet – I’ve been told that I am infringing their patent, they want me to license it, and I have 21 days.

Patrick McCarron:

Anyone else get a patent threat via FedEx for in-app purchase use in their iOS app? So far @jamesthomson and I got hit.

I think it’s safe to say that these won’t be isolated incidents and some fuckwit patent troll is now going after indie devs, hoping they’ll cough up money rather than risk their business. Of course, going after the enabler of in-app purchases—Apple—is a bit riskier for a troll; it’s much better to threaten guys who can’t afford to fight back.

This reminds me of when muppet ex-games dev Tim Langdell smacked down any iOS developer who had the audacity to use ‘edge’ in a game’s title. (Full story: ChaosEdge.) In that case, EA decided to use its powers for good, ‘protected’ indie devs and fought in part on their behalf (EA itself was also threatened, due to its Mirror’s Edge game, but nonetheless assisted Mobigame and others), eventually winning the day by getting Langell’s marks removed.

For IAP, another champion is needed, who will immediately state they will fight the case on everyone’s behalf. Whether that’s Apple (which would make most sense) or some other huge company with a vested interest in IAPs doesn’t matter: what matters is someone fights this, or it’s game over for a massive chunk of iOS development and its thriving indie community.

Update: The nature of this threat is, according to sources, “wide ranging”, and there’s speculation it could target more than just Apple, but any platform with content downloaded in the same manner as IAP.

Update 2: Cult of Mac claims Lodsys, LLC is the company threatening indie devs, by way of a 2003 patent. MacRumors adds that further developers are revealing that they’ve been threatened.

Update 3: Wired reports that Lodsys are also suing the Pocket God developers.

The Brooks Review:

Android releases are done alphabetically, which is dumb. Why is it dumb? Industry standard is numbers because numbers make sense.

I’m not sure Android’s way is dumb per se, but it sure is yet another example of engineer thinking (this is logical to me, therefore let’s do it) versus thinking for the typical consumer (where numbers do indeed rule, and version 5.4.3 is clearly more recent than 2.5.1).

Gary Marshall over at TechRadar, echoing my thoughts on Google’s Chromebooks:

Given the choice between a netbook that runs Chrome and nothing else and a netbook that costs less, runs Windows 7 and will happily run the Chrome browser—which, so far, seems faster than the Chrome OS does—I’d go for the netbook.

And for people going, “AHA! But the Chromebook is light, quick, with solid-state storage and decent battery life, idiot-face”:

Unfortunately I’ve already dropped four hundred quid on something that boots instantly, is easy to use, delivers better battery life than a Chromebook, looks better than a Chromebook, is more portable than a Chromebook, has solid state storage like a Chromebook and that can, with the right software, take full advantage of the cloud. It’s a tablet.

This.