June 2010
72 posts
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Talking of the iPhone 4 Camera... →
Boy Genius Report pits the iPhone 4 against the new Droid X camera. The Droid does a fine job of proving that Megapixels aren’t the Be-All and End-All - to quote MG Siegler:
The iPhone 4 camera destroys the Droid X camera.
There’s such vast differences between the iPhone 4 and Droid X that it’s easy to think that the Droid X is Just Another Shitty Low Megapixel Mobile...
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Macworld reviews the iPhone 4 camera →
Macworld’s group test, which includes the likes of two point-and-shoot cameras alongside the Droid et al, shows just how much engineering has gone into the (excellent) new camera system. Video performance seems pretty incredible too.
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Twitterrific 3 for iPhone & iPad →
Congratulations to all the folks at the Iconfactory for shipping Twitterrific 3 for iPhone & iPad. A free app (with ads from The Deck) you can upgrade for $4.99 in-app and add multiple accounts.
I’m sick to death of Twitter for iPhone, and this new version is already on my iPhone.
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“The iPhone 4 is an object of rare beauty. Noticeably slimmer but a trifle...”
– Stephen Fry reviews the iPhone 4
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Boing Boing's Field Test of the iPhone 4 Camera →
The new camera system in the iPhone 4 remains one of the biggest draws for me (upgrading as I am from an iPhone 3G). These photos from Boing Boing’s Xeni Jardin make me incredibly excited about tomorrow’s purchase.
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Engadget reviews the iPhone 4 →
In short, they love it. On the new screen:
Steve made a huge point about the science behind this [screen] technology during his keynote, claiming that the resolution of the screen essentially tops what is perceivable by the human eye. There have been some debates as to whether or not this argument holds water, but we can tell you this: to our eyes, there has never been a more detailed, clear,...
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8 More Subtle Changes You May Not Notice in iOS4
After yesterday’s post I was inundated with other small tweaks. Here’s a selection of others, spotted by eagle-eyed readers. Thanks to all those who sent them in!
1. Voice Control
Voice Control now responds to “What time is it?”. Some folks also tried “Where am I?” - a great idea - but to no avail. Only “What time is it?” works.
2. Voice Memos
...
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Flow Interactive on Safari 5 Reader →
A great short post, with an excellent illustration of why Safari Reader is currently necessary. A choice quote:
The mere existence of this feature is a sign that the reading experience on the web is often not satisfactory. By failing to recognise the main need of the reading user or by letting other considerations trample this need, publishers shoot themselves in the foot and are driving their...
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“Stop fucking calling it an “iTouch”.”
– Justin Williams, via Twitter
Amen to that.
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8 Subtle Changes You May (Or May Not) Notice in...
Every time Apple releases a new OS update, be it on the Mac or iPhone, there’s a bucketload of smaller - lesser-spotted - changes that appear in the system. iOS 4 very much continues this trend, so whilst you’re busy perusing the new update today here’s 8 little changes you may (or may not) spot.
All screenshots taken on an iPhone 3G
1. Call Screen
The”End Call”...
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“I bought the movie UP on Blu-Ray DVD from Disney and it came with a digital...”
– A great question to Steve Jobs, transcribed from his interview at this year’s D8 conference.
Incidentally, the full video (and audio) from the interview and Q&A are now available to download free on iTunes.
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iPhone 4 Confirmed to Have 512MB of RAM →
Next Thursday is going to be a smokin’ fast upgrade from my lowly iPhone 3G…
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WWDC Videos free to all ADC members
For the past few years, Apple’s sold videos and slides of WWDC sessions to those unable to make it. However, this year’s videos are free to all ADC members, and out in record time. Awesome for those of us (myself included) who didn’t manage to make it to the conference.
If you’re registered with Apple, head here and sign in to get your hands on the videos.
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For all those trying to beat the iPhone...
Learn from Nokia: this is not how you do it.
via AllThingsD
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“Apple: iPhone 4 has 960x640 quad size display. Moto: Droid X has 854x480 random...”
– Rene Ritchie, via Twitter
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"The Android star is rising" →
I’m always fascinated in how Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android platforms get compared - and always amazed at how poorly considered many pieces are.
Android is on the up, supposedly helped by the likes of the Droid and the oh-so-popular Evo. But in reality, the success of Android isn’t really down to those handsets: it’s down to the cheap-as-chips, non-upgradeable...
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“Safari Reader doesn’t kick in by default. It’s invoked by the user. Apple isn’t...”
– Gruber, responding to a followup post from Jim Lynch.
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“Let me state again for the record that I’m fine with the fanboy label. Apple...”
– You’re Damn Right I’m A Fanboy.
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Why We Built Readability →
The folks from Arc90, creators of the Readability bookmarklet that forms the basis of Safari’s Reader feature, offer some great feedback about their reasoning behind the bookmarklet.
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Stop Hacking Safari Reader →
Great post from Faruk Ateş. Beyond the Safari Reader customisation points, it’s a great reminder that instead of bitching on Twitter, there are legitimate means to file your bugs. With Apple, that starts with going to bugreporter.apple.com and signing in with your Apple ID.
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Carcassone for iPhone →
Talking of stylishly-designed iPhone apps, I’d be remiss in not drawing your attention to The Coding Monkey’s very excellent official Carcassone iPhone game. It’s slickly-designed, and fun to play. It’s not perfect: the matchmaking experience relies on email invites, which contain URLs to launch a specific game, however it’s our current Game du Jour at Realmac HQ -...
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Reeder for iPad
Whilst I’m yet to actually pick up an iPad, I’m thrilled to see my very favourite iPhone RSS reader, Reeder, is now available for iPad. It looks every bit as stylish as the iPhone original - and available on the App Store for $4.99.
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What does 320dpi mean to designers? A followup →
Tim Van Damme posts an excellent followup to his first article on designing for that 326ppi screen. If you’re a designer or developer, with access to the iPhone Developer Portal, this link is the one you’ll want to check before June 24th.
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Karma →
Gray Powell will be forever known as the guy who lost the iPhone, thanks to Jesus Diaz. But now Jesus Diaz will be forever known as the guy who calls himself a technology reporter, yet had an iPhone 4 in his hands for a week and missed almost everything that was interesting about it.
That works for me.
Dan Wineman, via Jeff Rock
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Anti-Competitive AND Potentially Creepy →
A great post on the Admob/Google/iAd/Apple saga from David Barnard.
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Apple launches iTunes Connect Mobile
If you’re an iPhone developer, you’ve probably been using AppViz, AppFigures or AppSales Mobile to download an process your iTunes sales reports. Today, however, Apple have released a new app of their own: iTunes Connect Mobile (iTunes Store Link)..
Complete with graphs and more, it’s a free app - and a big step forward in the usability of iTunes Connect, a tool built for...
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Safari 5 Reader Hysteria: The Aftermath
In the last 20 hours, a tonne of folks have visited to read my piece on the Safari 5 Reader Hysteria. There’s been a fair number of comments and accompanying posts, so I figured it was worth adding some more points I didn’t address - my Tumblr Questions form seems to be serving as a handy feedback form, so if you’ve any thoughts throw them in there.
One reader mentioned the...
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Don’t Buy The HTC EVO, It Is A Seriously Flawed... →
Blunt, to-the-point advice with plenty of reasoning from one Michael Arrington.
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On this Safari 5 Reader Hysteria
There’s a tonne of posts today about the slick new Safari Reader feature I linked to yesterday. As someone who enjoys reading decent content online, I totally welcome it. I’ve used readability / Instapaper bookmarklets for some time - both on my Mac and iPhone - and, if I’m honest, I’m surprised at the reaction from outlets that call out Safari 5’s Reader feature. If...
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Apple Design Awards 2010
Whilst there were no OS X awards this year, ADAs were handed out for iOS apps.
iPad
Financial Times iPad Edition
Flight Control HD
Pinball HD
Star Walk for iPad
TabToolkit
As I don’t yet own an iPad, I’ve yet to play any except for Flight Control HD: I loved Flight Control on the iPhone, and the iPad version is just as fun (and stylishly designed).
iPhone
20 Minute Meals -...
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“Your app has too many settings, too many things to tweak. API endpoints? Colors...”
– Kill The Settings, Build Opinionated Software - a great piece by Mike Rundle
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Apple's Worst Security Breach: 114,000 iPad Owners... →
Gawker says that AT&T, not Apple, are the source of the leak. But nothing draws traffic like misleading Apple headlines, eh?
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An iPhone Lover’s (Initial) Thoughts On iPhone 4 →
A great post from MG Siegler
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Palm loses webOS notifications architect to Apple... →
This can only be good news: Apple’s current modal notifications are just not cutting it for folks.
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“You’ll be able to buy this (iMovie for iPhone) right on your phone for $4.99… if...”
– Steve Jobs, via jordanmerrick.
Sidenote: The demo of iMovie was pretty damn impressive
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From the department of "This is why Apple doesn't...
The Guardian:
Adobe is warning of a “critical” vulnerability in its Flash Player, Adobe Reader and Acrobat software, installed on almost all PCs, which it says is already being exploited by hackers and which “could potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system”.
All platforms - Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and Solaris - are vulnerable.
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Engadget's iPhone 4 Guide →
Great preview of what’s new.
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“For those of you tired of reading lame iPad critiques, the internet is now full...”
– Hoefler+Frere-Jones, via Twitter
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“That’s the thing about Apple marketing. They don’t talk about how...”
– Gina Trapani, via Gruber
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Strawpoll: Will you update to iOS 4? →
As part of my work on forthcoming updates to Happening, I’d appreciate a general guide to the number of people who plan to upgrade to iOS 4. It’s likely to be a high uptake, I’m guessing.
Even if you’re not a Happening user, I’d love for you to take the time to fill this in - it’s entirely anonymous and takes two whole seconds.
Thanks to any of you in...
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“Even by the generally low standard set by mainstream tech writing, the...”
– Fraser Speirs, via Twitter