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My Cosmonaut arrived at the office, just in time for Christmas.
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➶ Justin Williams on iPad Magazines
Tonnes of good points in here.
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I wish the Kindle Fire all the very best but, at $300, 7” and no email client, if you say “iPad killer” I will punch you in the face.
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➶ BBC iPlayer goes global with iPad app launch in 11 countries
It’s Europe only for the time being, free with pre-roll ads and sponsorship for some content. If you’re wanting the whole package, it’ll set you back €6.99 per month (or €49.99 a year). Best of all - the app downloads content overnight when charging.
It’s also iPad-only for the moment. Whilst ordinarily the BBC would be required to be open-to-all platforms, Stuart Dredge at the Guardian App Blog notes:
BBC Worldwide is not subject to the same requirements to support a range of devices as the BBC in the UK, so for global iPlayer, this was a purely commercial decision.
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With a focus on web technologies, webOS could be deployed in the iPad’s Mobile Safari browser as a web-app; this produced similar[ly speedy] results, with it running many times faster in the browser than it did on the TouchPad.
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➶ Guardian Kindle edition now available, iPad and Android apps coming soon
I’m incredibly excited about the Guardian iPad app - it’s great to see the Kindle option too.
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Something I Wasn’t Sure I’d Say About Android
For the first time since I picked up my iPad 2, I’ve started leaving it at home occasionally. It’s not because I dislike the device - far from it, it’s a terrific couch-top device that allows Steph and I to do almost everything we want without a laptop. It’s simply that it’s not a part of my daily schedule.
Part of my schedule though, are Apps. When we’re not building them, we’re talking about them. Rarely a day goes by where we don’t discuss a new app that we’ve heard about or used, and as you’d expect I’ll fire up iTunes on my laptop to check out any iPad apps. From time to time I’ll pick up an app on the assumption of ‘oh, I’ll put it on the iPad when I get home’. But the problem is, that unlike my iPhone which docks and syncs on a daily basis, the iPad will typically go 2 or three days between sync (thank you iPad 2 battery) and in that time I’ll nearly always forget I even bought the app - at least until the iTunes Receipt comes through.
A similar annoyance goes for iBooks, which tempts me with headers in the iTunes Store for deals on eBooks - only for me to be kicked off to the browser. At that point, my entire desire to pick up the book starts to be questioned: do I want the book enough to enter the PIN code on my phone, find (or install) iBooks on the phone, and type in the name of the book and finally, finally pick it up.1
In the run up to Google I/O this year, I took some time to look at what was announced last year. The real kicker for me? Intents and the Google Marketplace. The Google Marketplace basically offers a feature Kindle users will be familiar with: you buy the app online, in the browser, and can install it directly to your phone.
And you know what, by god I want that for the iPad that’s sat at home and the iPhone in my pocket. Honestly, for all this talk of Apple’s cloud stuff (and, guys, don’t get too far ahead of yourselves - I know it’s brilliant link-bait to talk up what Apple’s going to do but stay sane) I can honestly say for the first time: I wish Apple would implement something found in Android.
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Yes, a first world dilemma. ↩
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➶ BlackBerry PlayBook Gets Facebook App Before iPad
Logic dictates that the PlayBook, the one that CIOs are supposed to love, gets a Facebook app before the iPad - though ZDNet’s Jason Perlow is unimpressed:
Not really impressed with FaceBook for PlayBook. The worst 3rd-party apps for iPad are better than this thing.
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➶ Elliot Jay Stocks on Adobe's Digital Publishing mistake
Elliot makes some great points about the expense involved with Adobe’s Digital Publishing ‘solution’. As has been noted by Chris Phin:
Tablet publishing is a gold rush. Adobe can name its price.
That’s awesome for Adobe, but honestly the Adobe solution is mediocre. At best. Not only is it near-on impossible to actually share content from these magazines, but the Adobe ‘Reader’ app that powers most iPad magazines is a complete shit-sandwich.
- Each issue is 500MB plus in a monolithic download.
- The Adobe app is completely unaware that iOS now offers multitasking, and not only fails to download in the background but also doesn’t install in the background.
- As soon as you start downloading an issue, the ‘View’ button for any of the existing issues that you’ve purchased are greyed out, meaning that you’re forced to sit at the app homescreen for 5+ minutes. Staring at a god-damn progress bar. Hoping that the app will work if you leave the iPad unattended and it goes to sleep.
Fucking good job, Adobe.
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➶ MG Siegler's BlackBerry PlayBook Review
It’s shipped, and it doesn’t seem entirely terrible. Judging from the review it’s no iPad, but it’s game-on for second place.
© Nik Fletcher 2007-2011 ~ Contact
