June 2012
1 post
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Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover Review
Long form typing on the iPad has traditionally been an interesting combination of amazing simplicity and needless complexity. Simplicity in the plethora of awesome text-editing apps make the software experience wonderful; complexity in the awkwardness of typing on a piece of glass, or setting up an external keyboard and cover (or stand). As good as the iPad is, the MacBook Air is probably better...
May 2012
6 posts
4 tags
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John Gruber's Talk Show leaves 5by5
This is a big deal because The Talk Show was the podcast that forever changed 5by5. Prior to The Talk Show, 5by5 was characterized by shows like the Expression Engine podcast, The Pipeline and The Dev Show - podcasts that were almost entirely educational in nature. The Talk Show changed the equation: throwing in speculation, imagination and entertainment to create something that was fun to listen...
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The New, Bigger iPhone
Something has been bugging me about the new iPhone rumors saying that the new phone will get bigger, and that to make apps work with the larger display they should only expand in one dimension.
I’m reluctant to say that a 9x16 aspect ratio is natural for anything. It just seems much too narrow to me. Further, I think the arguments for doing so don’t hold water. If Apple decides to do...
John Gruber on iOS 6 Maps App →
No surprise to anyone even vaguely paying attention to the cold war between Apple and Google.
Just out of curiosity, what will it take for the war between Apple and Google to become a “hot” war? Do artillery shells have to be raining down on Mountain View or will there merely be a formal declaration of war to announce it?
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Day in the Life of a Music Snob
7:30:00 PM:
Well, I’m out of podcasts, might as well listen to some music through my standard iPhone earbuds. Should be listenable for a little while, I would imagine.
7:30:30 PM:
AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH OH GOD IT SOUNDS LIKE A SCREECHING CAT FILTERED THROUGH RAW ANALOG TV STATIC AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH WHERE IN THE HELL ARE MY SENNHEISERS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH
April 2012
7 posts
4 tags
Windows 8: Russian Roulette Edition
Let’s say you’re a Windows developer. Already you’re facing the problem that you’re on an Android-esque platform where no consumers want to buy applications. Compound that with the fact that Microsoft’s UI development tools on Windows before Windows 8 are either 20 years old (Windows Forms) or slow, heavy and blurry (WPF). What you have is an enviroment that is not...
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Hypercritical 64: You Will Die Instantly! →
In the latest Hypercritical episode John Siracusa replies to my post about App Store updates. I agree with everything he says, and it’s otherwise an entertaining and informative episode as always.
That said I do have one point to add. Most people’s attitude towards replacement is “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. The reason for changing Office’s file...
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When Upgrading is not a Choice
On the latest Hypercritical episode, John Siracusa is talking about Apple’s App Stores and the lack of paid upgrade capability. He is spot on for much of the episode, but I take issue with what he says around the 100 minute mark. He thinks the mindset that people can be forced into upgrading an application is a false one - that there is nothing truly forcing you to stay on the current...
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Tumblr to Add Some Sort of Advertising →
Personally, I miss the Iconic Promotional Unit.
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Libyan Rebels Tweeted Targets to NATO →
The New York Times:
…anti-Qaddafi forces were providing targeting recommendations to NATO via informal means, sometimes even by way of Twitter or e-mail.
Twitter: your social networking service of choice for blowing your enemies to kingdom come.
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The Apple Dashboard (not the OS X one)
A while back I wrote about how Apple getting into the car industry is something I would have loved to see happen, even if it is a farfetched idea. However, I think there is a case to be made for Apple to involve themselves with car dashboards.
As Scott Hanselman pointed out so well, car computers stink. Still, a lot of people want to use their phones on drives to and from work. The problem for...
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The first few weeks of Papermill →
Android’s core strength over the iPhone is that it appeals to the buyer who chooses purchases based on facts on paper, and which one adds up to the “better” device. Subjective things like the user experience and actual utility are not factored in. As a result, app purchasers on Android have a different value mindset than iOS users.
An application like Papermill, which was made...
March 2012
11 posts
4 tags
Restriction Woes
So Matthew Inman and MG Siegler both gave up in frustration trying to get Game of Thrones legally, without paying $100/month for an unused cable subscription. I now have a similar story that I want to relate.
I’m a graduate of Ferris State University, a college in Michigan’s central lower peninsula. The college’s best sports team is their Division I hockey team, and somehow...
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The new iPhone... number unconfirmed
The iPhone 4S took some heat for being a “minor upgrade”, and Apple appears to have responded by removing the number entirely from the newest iPad. So, will they do that with the newest iPhone? In theory that’s the best thing for them to do, but there’s a problem.
Numeric version names on Apple products are actually something Apple rarely did after Steve Jobs returned. It...
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Das Keyboard Ultimate S
My new keyboard came in - the infamous Das Keyboard. In fact, I got the especially infamous “Ultimate S” unlabelled key edition. And it came in when I was at work too, which gave me the opportunity to use it to terrorize the office I was in.
My first impression of this keyboard is that it’s significantly better than the current wired Apple Keyboard that I was using. Which,...
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Instapaper 4.1 →
I’m not sure what I like more, the wonderful new font choices (currently rocking Lyon), or the subtle speed improvements that nonetheless make all the difference in the experience.1 I have been neglecting my Instapaper queue - this could be the tipping point for me.
I’m sure the retina graphics and text are oh-so-amazing, but I’m skipping the 3rd gen iPad. Hard to justify the...
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Twitter Buys Posterous →
I can’t help but wonder if Twitter’s idea is to make posting longer content extremely well-integrated into tweets - like “click button to side of tweet box to get great big text box which is linked automatically to your tweet”. That could be pretty cool and compete well with one of Google+’s few useful features: turn your profile into a blog just by posting longer...
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Thoughts on The New iPad's 4G
I think the precedent that Apple set with the new iPad regarding 4G is interesting - we’ll be expecting that the iPhone 5 (The New iPhone?) will be a little bit thicker and have 4G as well, or there will be even more “disappointment”. Some of which might even be justified.
I also find it strange that the iPad is reported at 10 hours on wifi still. That implies that, at 9 hours,...
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Windows 8: A Gamble And A Stumble
As a developer of Windows applications at a small-to-mid-sized business, I have quite a bit of interest in Windows 8, because it’s undoubtedly going to affect my job in the future. I downloaded and played around with the consumer preview on a desktop PC, to see how it would work in a business environment and in a home environment. Things might change between now and release - I am writing...
4 tags
February 2012
7 posts
6 tags
Car Haters and Idea Guys →
I think this is my favorite episode of Build & Analyze yet. They start out talking about cars - which I love hearing about from an Apple geek’s perspective - and then proceed to explaining how the secret to successful startups is not having a wide audience to plug to, but having a great product that even a little tiny audience will get excited about and plug to others. Further, the...
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Responsiveness
I’m an avid reader of RSS feeds and blogs, whether they be long form or short form. My iPad is the best tool to do both, thanks to the Reeder and Instapaper apps. For a reason that I haven’t been able to put my finger on until today, though, I’ve much preferred reading in Reeder over Instapaper. I think I have finally figured out why: responsiveness.
When I launch Instapaper,...
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Mac No More →
Apple just dropped the Mac from Mac OS X. Could this be the start of the transition away from the Mac name? It only exists in the names of their hardware now. What new name would they adopt to replace Mac in the Macbook and iMac and elsewhere?
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Exclusive Betas
The new Tweetbot for iPad app was released to the public today, and it’s a great app. Here’s something I’ve noticed about what the blog writers are saying about it, though:
David Chartier:
I helped beta test both versions and there’s a ton of great new stuff.
MG Siegler:
I’ve been testing out Tweetbot for iPad for a few weeks now, it’s brilliant.
Shawn Blanc:
...
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MG Siegler: Now, What About Chrome For iOS? →
Still, a Chrome app for iOS would likely be largely what the other browsers available on iOS are: re-skinned versions of Mobile Safari (a wrapped for UIWebView). But that might not be all bad — Mobile Safari still offers a smoother browsing experience when compared to this new Mobile Chrome, as I laid out in my review.
It would be nice to have, but the biggest problem alternate browsers have...
3 tags
Sample Data
public static IEnumerable<ShippingData> GetSampleShippingData()
{
return new List<ShippingData>{ new ShippingData
{
Carrier = "Planet Express",
DateShipped = new DateTime(3000, 1, 1),
ServiceLevel = "Next Day Intragalactic"
}};
}
Hey, gotta have some fun at work.
January 2012
12 posts
5 tags
An Awesome Idea, Accidentally →
Title of this Ars Technica article: HP makes printing to an iPad easier with Wireless Direct printing.
I’m pretty sure that “printing to an iPad” was a typo and they meant from, but think of how awesome that would be: what better way to go paperless than to have an iPad masquerade as a wireless printer, accept documents “printed” your PC and turn them into...
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The Automation Revolution →
The New York Times on the current state of the U.S. economy:
On the other hand, corporate success has not necessarily benefited American workers and consumers so far in this recovery. Today, the economy produces more than it did when the recession began in 2007, but it manages to do so with six million fewer jobs.
I don’t see this ever getting any better. What are we going to do in...
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Launch Center →
Worth the 99 cents for the speed dial alone, Launch Center is a very nice-looking app. More importantly for an app intended to speed up various tasks, that nice-looking UI is very fast and smooth. You can also use it to launch any URL - which is handy for apps that have registered their own URL scheme. It even has support for scheduling these actions to show up in your notifications at certain...
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Apple's Stunning Quarter →
MG Siegler:
Apple now has $97.6 billion in cash.
Think about how big that number is. Apple could cease all business operations now, take 10,000 of its employees, pay them each $100,000 a year for doing nothing, and not run out of cash until the year 2110.
6 tags
Where It Hurts
Marco Arment and MG Siegler have a point when they say that SOPA is inevitable. Public outrage in America is like a videogame superweapon: it destroys anything in its path, but it can only be used sparingly. Unfortunately, unlike the average citizen, lobbyists are paid to be relentless.
Marco’s suggestion to not watch MPAA videos is the right idea, but not the best approach. A more...
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Why I Hate Android →
MG Siegler explains how Android turned a do-no-evil company into sellouts.
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Comments Commentary →
If you’re debating whether to include or exclude comments on your blog, the best thing you can do is to read Matt Gemmell’s latest article about the topic, as well as the first two he wrote that started the conversation. Matt both proves that you don’t need comments to communicate effectively with your readers, and also addresses just about every concern that you can think of...
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Microsoft To Offer Incentives to Sell Phones →
John Gruber:
If this strategy was on the table, why didn’t Microsoft start this a year ago?
If it was Apple, which makes hundreds of dollars per phone sold, then a $15/phone incentive would not be a desperate gamble. Microsoft only sells the OS, though, and if a quick Google search is right, that’s about the price Microsoft is charging manufacturers to license their OS. Though the app...
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My Speculation on Platforms That Probably Got Way...
Let’s say you’re an electronics manufacturer hoping to build the next great gadget. What do you have to do to go about it?
Basically, you need demand for your product. However, getting that demand isn’t as simple as building the better product in a vacuum. You need to build a product that gives your target customers the maximum value - and thanks to the developer interest issue...
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No Comment
It’s time for the semi-annual tech blog “Comments are horrible!” series of posts. And here’s mine!
Do you have something to say in response to someone? Own your words. Post it on your blog, or on Google+, or even Twitter (or email if you must share privately) and notify the writer via Twitter or email. Tumblr asks & messages are a great way too (particularly with...
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Misconceptions About iOS Multitasking →
Fraser Speirs wrote a well-written, in depth post about multitasking on iOS. However, while correcting the misconception, it doesn’t quite address why it exists.
If you were going to explain background applications on iOS to a normal person, you would have to say something like this: “Apps don’t actually run in the background. Unless you’re playing music from them. Or if...
December 2011
7 posts
5 tags
Kindle Fire vs. iPad 2 →
I like this comparison. Not quite sure which of these is better… one of them is cheaper, but one of them is not described with adjectives like “frustrating”, “mostly crap”, “infuriatingly awful”, and most damning of all, “needs improvement”.
Also, grab your popcorn and head for the bunker, I just submitted this to Reddit. Should be good flame...
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HP Open-Sourcing WebOS →
Translation: “We didn’t find any suckers who were willing to license it.”
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Twitter's Redesigns →
While I’m a huge fan of Tweetbot’s amazing presentation and feature set, the new Twitter app is certainly less intimidating for new users. While I’m less willing to use the native Twitter app over it, I do think they went in the right direction. The tendency to bolt things on without thought to the overall experience is very prevalent with every other web apps, and I love to see...
1 tag
Minimal Mac's Response to that Pinboard Post →
What if, 1% of the users of a particular free service of 36 million clients and growing, were to decide to drop $10.00 cash every month into an envelope and mail it to said service? What if that envelope had no return address? Perhaps there was an note inside that begged them to create a model to let us pay them to use the service.
So, here is the address I’m sending my unmarked cash with...
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Don't Be A Free User - Pinboard Blog →
Linked to, as always, with Tumblr, the world’s greatest free blogging service.