10.09.12 |
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PJ Rey, The Society Pages:
Nostalgia for the low-tech/lo-fi/analog is really nostalgia for a time when technology could be mastered–a time when you could fix your own car or bike, a time when you pop open the back of a camera and intuitively understand how it works, a time when you knew where your food came from and how it was prepared, a time when the circuits in electronic were large enough to be visible and an average person could figure out how to repair, replace, hack, and even build them, a time when a device was yours to open and when warranties end-user agreement didn’t micro-manage how used your own property. In short, the appeal of low-tech is it affirms our sense of independence and individuality.
I opened this article expecting a superficial screed against Williamsburg, but this is far deeper territory.
10.03.12 |
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The Atlantic‘s Derek Thompson:
I have a theory — well, maybe more of a frame — for the message these two graphs are sending. For younger people, the Internet is the new cable news. For advertisers, cable news is still cable news…but ultimately, attention and money are zero sum, and advertising companies will shift money to meet the eyes wherever they go. And they’re going online.
10.02.12 |
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Checkmark is a location-based reminder iPhone app. True, ever since iOS 5 and Siri we’ve had the ability to add simplistic reminders via Apple’s built in apps. Yet entering a new reminder remains cumbersome. That’s where Checkmark shines – a new reminder is three quick taps away, and the UI is clean and easily digestible.
It’s currently $2 in the App Store. If you occasionally need quick reminders when you leave/arrive at work or home, it’s a good buy.
10.01.12 |
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Marco Arment wrote an astute article regarding the iPad 1’s lack of upgrade potential:
The iPad 1 was the first modern “tablet”, and as we saw (eventually) from its competitors, its $499 price point and excellent battery life were difficult to achieve in 2010 (and even in 2011). More RAM would have added to the component costs and decreased the battery life, potentially making it less appealing and jeopardizing its success, so Apple chose to keep it at only 256 MB.
Whether that was a good decision or not, it significantly shortened the iPad 1’s useful software life.
09.28.12 |
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Major credit to the Apple CEO here: this is a flat out apology. No wiggle room, no “we’re sorry you feel this way”. And then there’s this:
While we’re improving Maps, you can try alternatives by downloading map apps from the App Store like Bing, MapQuest and Waze, or use Google or Nokia maps by going to their websites and creating an icon on your home screen to their web app.
Apple, naming five competitors as acceptable alternatives? Wow. I’m not a fan of revisionist history, but I doubt we’d see this candor during the Steve Jobs era.
09.27.12 |
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John Gruber:
If you think about it, it makes strategic sense that, if Apple were going to break out on its own for mapping data, they would do so while there was significant time remaining on the maps license with Google.
Develop its own mapping data before the end of the Google contract? So far, makes sense. If you’re Apple, regardless of the end, having an Apple produced Maps in your back pocket is sensible.
An all-new maps back-end is the sort of feature that Apple would only want to ship in a major new OS release…I think everybody can agree this has been a major change, for users and app developers alike — should be delivered only in major new OS updates.
Significantly weaker argument here. Apple is famously a company devoted to what’s best for its consumers, right? So you’re telling me a flat out PR and technical disaster when it comes to their in house maps functionality (Apple’s current direction) is favorable over keeping the Google contract for a few more months to work out internal Maps kinks and yes, worse case releasing the app “mid cycle”?
It’s this lack of delay that’s infuriating about Apple’s switch to an in-house Maps client. There was effective time on the clock; yet Apple rushed out a half baked client and tried to package it during WWDC as though it was a superior option.
09.27.12 |
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I use Rogue Amoeba’s apps on a daily basis: Audio Hijack Pro for recording Skype calls and live podcasts, Airfoil for adding a simple graphical equalizer on top of Spotify’s output. I also put Fission through its paces a few times a month, an essential tool for quick audio edits and conversions between m4a audio and mp3.
Bottom line, great apps that have never let me down on sale for the next four days. Decent discounts as well – anywhere from 25%-67% off per application.
09.26.12 |
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Really enjoyed this quick take over at The Verge on how full frame DSLRs are dropping their price considerably. Look to the comments as well for some healthy back and forth on what people are interested in picking up, from DSLRs to phones to pocketable mini point and shoots like the Canon S100.
09.15.12 |
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Watts Martin:
What makes Apple the fabulous and infuriating company that they are is their mix of conservative minimalism with crazy risk-taking, running ahead of the herd betting that everybody is going to stampede in their direction. There was no mix this time. Neither the iPhone 5 nor iOS 6 are ahead of the herd. And depending on what Android 5 does, iOS 7 may need to make one hell of a leap not to be behind it.
I’d still argue the wide breadth of apps are the iPhone’s strongest selling point, pushing it ahead of its competition for now. I even find little fault with the iPhone 5’s hardware – gorgeous, minimal, and build quality that few others touch. But in terms of iOS as an operating system? We’re hurting, big time.
09.14.12 |
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Dieter Bohn for The Verge:
Like Microsoft in the 90s and early 2000s, it is taking a very conservative approach to updating its core UI in the name of accessibility and consistency. Apple is keeping the iPhone in a very familiar and safe zone, but does it really need to? It’s risky, taking something that’s massively successful and trying something new and different with it. Most companies don’t do it, but Apple has a reputation built making those kinds of bets. Perhaps it doesn’t deserve that reputation anymore.
As Bohn himself states later in the article, Apple’s not close to the Microsoft Windows Vista fiasco state of Microsoft circa 2000. But do big Apple fans like myself have reason to be concerned? Certainly.