May 2012
2 posts
1 tag
“The plethora of online Photoshop tutorials demonstrate its power and its...”
– Rands In Repose: Two Universes
New Nike+ Running site →
I’ve been testing the new Nike+ Running site over the last couple of weeks. The big news is that the previously Flash-powered site has been totally re-written. The new site goes live in June, but if you’re wanting to see what’s coming this FAQ from Nike has the details.
April 2012
8 posts
Tumblr to launch ads starting May 2 →
Despite all the protestations about how Tumblr didn’t want to show ads, it seems the 120 million views per day on the Tumblr Dashboard might be just too lucrative.
It’s definitely a shame there’s an about-face with this, however Tumblr is of course a free service backed by VCs who will expect the service to start to produce revenue (and in the longer-term, hopefully profits)....
“It’s a little like asking why Hasbro didn’t do Farmville, or why McDonald’s...”
– Disruptions: Innovations Like Instagram Are Tough for Large Companies
Retina.js — Retina graphics for your website →
If you’re looking for a solution to serve up retina images in HTML (as opposed to via CSS), this might come in handy. It follows the Apple.com method of always downloading the low-res first - making it bandwidth heavy - but after having spent a fair bit of time looking at options it seems to be perhaps the most easily implemented1 on the majority of sites.
N.B. It’s not perfect -...
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dcovery →
It’s not yet launched, but it looks like a pretty smart - and well-designed - app and service for planning trips.
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“Amazon’s UK operations are also poised to benefit from Luxembourg ownership in...”
– Amazon: £7bn sales, no UK corporation tax —The Guardian
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“Imagine everything that is wrong about Android phones and UIs & Google...”
– Chris Heathcote on Twitter, about Google’s new Project Glass. Cynical? Yes. But I’d by lying if I said this wasn’t one of my concerns about Project Glass.
Instagram now available for Android →
Huge congrats to my buddy Tim Van Damme and the rest of the Instagram team.
March 2012
6 posts
Anchorman 2 is in production →
Awesome.
“I think if everyone tweeted less the overall quality would improve, so maybe I’m...”
– 5 Minutes on The Verge: Loren Brichter
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A Tip for Purging Photo Stream Across Multiple...
Every app that I try / use tends to get screenshotted on iOS or my Mac [running the stats on my LittleSnapper library, I’ve kept - note not “taken”, that’d be way higher - roughly 6 screenshots a day, since LittleSnapper launched in 2008].
Photo Stream is great for getting those to my Mac without using Image Capture, but until a moment ago there were 200 screenshots, all...
Thieves Are Your Best Customers in Waiting →
I believe the term is “This”.
With New Hardware, Square Begins Taxi Rollout →
As you’d expect it looks terrific, and looks to replace gaudy advertising screens in NYC taxi cabs.
If only Square were this side of the pond…
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We're Hiring At Realmac →
If you’re an awesome iOS/Mac Developer, Server-side developer, or kick-ass User Support person, we’re hiring. All positions are full-time, in Brighton England.
February 2012
9 posts
Samsung Galaxy Note Challenge is the dumbest thing... →
Brilliant post by Dave Caolo.
Yours Truly chats Clear with The Guardian →
It’s been an amazing week for Clear. If you’re wanting to know how things are going, and what’s next for Clear, be sure to check it out.
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Apple Releases OS X Mountain Lion Developer... →
It’s iOS 5, for the Mac, and it’s shipping this summer. Macworld have a preview, and Gruber’s piece is definitely worth reading.
To say this caught me off guard would be an understatement.
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Clear is Here!
It’s been just under a month since we first showed it off at Macworld; but here it is. Clear is now available on the App Store for just 99¢. Here’s the video (which stars yours truly, as do the App Store screenshots):
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Path: We are sorry. →
Great response from Path over the Address Book stuff yesterday. Not only is there an app update with better disclosure, they’ve also mentioned in the post that all previously-uploaded address book data has been removed.
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Path uploads your entire iPhone address book →
Poor form on Path’s side. Some immediate thoughts:
Given there’s no warning in iOS you’ve got to wonder who else does this.
File those Radars if you think there should be a warning (on iOS and Mac). Judging from Ywitter this is something logged as far back as 2007 on the Mac side.
Even if there’s no warning from iOS, I’d love to know why Path didn’t disclose...
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Research Roundup: Responsibility reports from... →
If you’re wondering how the other tech firms that have their wares manufactured by Foxconn fare in supplier responsibility, Dave Chartier’s made a handy list of all the annual reports.
Here's a reason why Siri is only on the iPhone 4S →
In short: the A5 chip in the iPhone 4S has massively-enhanced noise-cancellation silicon.
January 2012
13 posts
2 tags
Wilson Miner - When We Build →
Back in November I was fortunate enough to be in the audience at Build when Wilson gave this talk. It was utterly mesmerising to watch then, and the video is now live on Vimeo.
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Macworld 2012 →
Just a quick reminder that I’ll be in San Francisco from tomorrow, for Macworld | iWorld. If you’re planning to be at the show, make sure to stop by the Realmac booth in the OS X Zone. I’ll also likely be at the TUAW meetup. See you in San Francisco.
Codify at Tap! The iPhone and iPad magazine →
Shameless self promotion alert, however my review of Codify for Tap! magazine, which I contribute app reviews to most months, is now online.
Stanford offering a free Online Human-Computer... →
Consider me signed up.
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Distance: long essays about design, published... →
Another terrific-sounding tech / design periodical looking for backing on Kickstarter.
Immobile Apps →
Nick Bradbury has some great points on testing mobile apps. Our flat has truly shitty cellular data, and the WiFi doesn’t extend to one level of our basement flat - and it’s painful to see so many apps that appear to simply not have been tested on GPRS.
In developing Happening - which I recently retired from the App Store - I spent a tonne of time testing the app in the GPRS hotspot...
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Slender →
If you’re a developer looking to manage the images used with your Xcode projects, this looks massively handy. Slender checks your projects for Retina images (and that their dimensions match the @1x images), removes images that are no-longer needed, and a lot of other useful bits.
It’s $5 on the Mac App Store.
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Netflix launches in the UK →
The catalogue is a little dated, but for £5.99 a month I’m not going to complain - especially if it ramps out with more over the coming months.
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Five Years
Beside my desk, there’s a drawer. In it are some gadgets: three Palm Pre devices, two iPods, an iPhone 3G and most treasured of all, my original iPhone. From time to time, I’ll take it out. Remind myself of its cold aluminium shell. The plastic antenna cover, the light far-less dense body compared with its seemingly-vacuum-packed 4S-branded successor. The screen that’s just a...
3 tags
See you at Macworld? →
I’m massively excited to be heading to Macworld in a couple of weeks time. We have a small booth in the OS X Zone (Booth 228), so if you’re in town be sure to stop by and say hello.
Oh, and if you’re still considering going to Macworld but haven’t registered yet, we’ve got 100 Exhibit Hall passes (normally $15) available. Just visit this link to claim your pass.
How the badly maimed BBC can stand up to parasitic... →
Great piece by Polly Toynbee for The Guardian.
December 2011
20 posts
“While the video game industry at large continues unabated with complex games...”
– Faruk Ates on Gamification Fatigue
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Jason Hirschhorn & Paul Carr’s TOP FOURTEEN worst... →
Hilarious.
Subtraction.com: Subscribing to The New York Times →
I had no idea that NYT pricing was such a minefield.
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“… [W]hen you publish trashy, low-quality idiocy masquerading as technology...”
– Low points in tech journalism; we seem to be having rather too many of them
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Samsung: no ICS upgrade for Galaxy S and Galaxy... →
For the unaware, TouchWiz is Samsung’s own glitzy skin over Android - which apparently uses up precious ROM space on the device, making the Galaxy S and Tab unable to update to the latest version of Android: Ice Cream Sandwich.
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The Icon Handbook →
If you build software, use icons in anything, or simply want a great-looking book on icon design, Jon Hicks’ new book should be on your Christmas list.
I was fortunate enough to see a PDF of the finished book1 just before it went on sale yesterday: it looks truly incredible.
The Analog and LittleSnapper icons are featured in the book. ↩
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Justin Williams' Ultimate Developer and Power... →
Lots of great apps and hardware here.
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“It looks like a human was involved in choosing what went where,” Marissa told...”
– Marissa Mayer addressing Google designers, as quoted in “In The Plex” by Steven Levy — via Buzz
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iOS: A visual history →
Nice run-down by Dieter Bohn at The Verge.
Why Spotify can never be profitable →
Quite the read.