Yet more optimisation of this site:

The Last.fm content that resides on the right sidebar is now fetched separately from the rest of the content, via Ajax calls. Furthermore, this information is cached locally, with an expiry time dependent on the nature of the content.

These last changes, together with an upgrade to Spam Karma 2.3 now makes everything nice and speedy.

You, like me, may have been getting irritated by the length of time it takes for pages on this site to load. Turns out it’s a combination of the unoptimised database queries used in this version of WordPress and the current state of Last.fm, which affects the information that appears in the sidebar to the right.

I could have upgraded WordPress and/or written some custom caching to handle the Last.fm information, but instead I’ve plumped for the excellent WP-Cache plugin. This goes most of the way towards sorting these issues out.

It seems like Apple Store personnel haven’t yet any idea as to when they’re going to receive training for the iPhones which go on sale next Friday.

Here’s the training: go watch the advertisements.

Now, go read the manual for a BlackBerry Pearl [PDF].

Spot the difference.

Web Worker Daily asks if it is time for web based operating systems to be considered seriously. The answer is simple:

No. Never. The web operating system concept is irrelevant and outdated. The web simply doesn’t operate the way that a desktop does. And it’s worth remembering that the desktop metaphor has been used for decades because no-one has successfully commercialised a better alternative.

The reasons for this answer are two-fold:

1. Bookmarks are your shortcuts to your ‘applications’
2. APIs are how your applications communicate with one another

This is all that’s required. Both exist already.

Is it right that AT&T are only going to announce the service plans for the iPhone on the day the phone goes on sale? Potential buyers will probably think not, but there are good reasons for delaying until June 29.

Most of the uncertainty around the feasibility of the iPhone as a “game changer” is related to the service – availability, reliability and what you get for your money. Notably, the cost of the data sent to and from the device. Announcing the prices before the iPhone goes on sale would have diverted attention from the device. At this time, however, from a marketing viewpoint, the services and prices are irrelevant. Furthermore, it’s possible that if there are concerns surrounding the prices they will be swamped by the hundreds of reviews that will be published, leaving the pricing as little more than a footnote. In any case, the price of the packages will undoubtedly change, such is the way that mobile networks revise their charges every couple of months.

Of course, another possibility is that the packages will be priced in order to limit demand.

It’s probable that at some point there will be a move from pay-as-you-go data rates, to flat rates – it’s starting to happen in Europe. Although, with the increasing availability of Wi-Fi enabled mobile phones, this could take some time.

It will be interesting to see what price plans are available when the iPhone comes to Europe.

Ryan at 37signals remarked that designing for the iPhone is like a hybrid of print and web design, because whilst there is the interactive element of a web page, other aspects such as page size and fonts are fixed and known.

Something at the back of my mind that I’ve been pondering on, related to the absence of Flash or Java support is this:

The iPhone gives web designers the opportunity to design for the web properly, returning to the core of what the web is about (i.e. communication), whilst embracing the experiences of the past 12 years. That is, the web done properly, without the extraneous fill-in technologies that have been stop-gaps because none of us knew what was possible in the first place. Now we do, so, with the iPhone, we can damn well get on and do it.