Search

Sponsors

Member Stuff
Powered by Squarespace
Archive
Reconmended Sites
Updates

 

Sponsors

Friday
Sep032010

Apple did stuff, again

iTunes 10 Replace Icon

Image by PUWANART via Flickr

It is going to be a while before Apple can grab my attention like they did with the iMac’s, laptops, and iPhone.  Despite making some of the most desirable devices known to a consuming society, they seem to have reached the point where they can no-longer surprise. 

I’m not sure if it is the Microsoft thing - “we are too big, and have too many users to be radical”, or if it is just Apple’s own version of it.  Maybe it is more like the music artist’s problem of the next album needing to be better than the last one.  Whatever it is, today's announcements had more to do with fulfilling the rumours, updating software, and refreshing product lines.

One interesting thing is the introduction of Ping, a social network for music within iTunes.  The pundits on Twitter have been bagging it all day, but you can’t ignore the potential if Apple can get it to catch on.  One more thing that Apple is providing to Artists and fans that cuts out the record label middle men.

Jason Remnant

...if it isn’t Broken, just make innovation and design boring.

Enhanced by Zemanta
Monday
Aug162010

5 Good features of iOS4 so far....

2G and 3G iPhone's

Image by Roman Reisenberger via Flickr

I have been traditionally distracted by the Football (Soccer) World Cup over the the last couple of weeks, and of course a new job.  So that is why there has been a lack of posts on TBL.  And how bad is the timing with all the tech news going on at the moment. You have to admit that I have done a good job to ignore it all, but it may just be the lack of sleep.

One thing that I could not ignore was the release of iOS4 for the iPhone 3GS.  Now I was a little late to the party in getting it, but that just meant that I didn't have to compete with the rest of the world to get the uber-large download.  So Now that I have had a few weeks working with the new OS, here are 5 things that I like.

1. The Camera

If you have used the iPhone's camera app, you know that it could get a bit slow.  Slow in the way that once you hit the button it seem to take an age for the shutter animation.  Well, they have fixed that in iOS4, plus they have given 3GS Zoom.  The first time I took a photo after the update, I missed it.  They have sped up the speed of taking a photo considerably which improves the app, and the camera no end.

This is one of those smallish things that Apple seem to do just to try and improve the user experience.  The previous camera app worked well, but in a way that so many phone makers don't, Apple shows that they are focused on the platform rather than the money.  If the platform seems more up to-date and punchy then stick with it, and the money follows.  Most of the old school mobile phone manufacturers would use such a update as a feature on new hardware.

2. Folders

I have read a few negative things about the Folders feature on iOS4, but as I haven't had access or used a Folders feature on phone, for Apps, I was coming into this with fresh eyes.  I kind of like it.  Once I worked out how to use it, and really I was looking for a more complicated implementation, I had one of those "why didn't they do this in the first place" moments.

I have cut my 9 pages down to 2 and found the Apps side of the iPhone usable again.  I have to admit that I was losing the Apps vs organisation war.  Now though I can find or at least organise my "organise your life Apps".  The restriction on the number of Apps per folder is kind of silly, but I guess it would be just as annoying if I had to scroll to find Apps, so I'll give them that one. Also it would be nice to just make folders, rather than having to have 2 spare Apps to rub together.  But I guess the process makes folders a bit more straight forward for the non-techie, which is the iPhone's market.

3. Wallpapers

This may just be the theme geek in me but one of the things that always annoyed me about the iPhone is the lack of customisation of the interface.  Now to be fair, the interface has always been part of the success of the iPhone.  But I like a change every now and again, and simple things like the wallpaper and colours shouldn't be a big deal right?

Well I get half my wish, because as we know, Apple knows best.  I can now have a wallpaper or photo on my unlock screen, and a different, or same, wallpaper or photo on my home screen.  It may not sound like much, but it is a step in the right direction.

4. SMS Counter

This is just a small thing but often the most useful things are, and that is a ability to turn on a counter to track the length of SMS's.  Settings -> Messages -> Turn on "Character Count", and after a 20 or 50 characters you will get a count down.  It is one way to get that stressful Twitter feeling while messaging.

5. Performance

Now you may take this next feature or leave it.  I wasn't going to put it in, but it has been such a noticeable part of my iOS4 experience so far that it had to be mentioned.  You may wonder why I'm not talking about Multi-tasking in this post.  That is because I have talked about my feelings on Multi-tasking here.  And really there hasn't yet been any good Multi-tasking Apps, for Australia at least.  So as the Multi-tasking has been a bit of a non-event, the performance change I have noticed is worth talking about.

It may be just the fact that it has been freshly installed that gives my iPhone 3GS a boost, but I have to say that the whole phone has felt much sharper.  Even with the new transitions, multi-tasking, and the older hardware, I find the iOS4 experience to be a lot better than I was expecting.  In this day and age, getting a good experience on older hardware is a plus.

The overall here is that Apple has continued to move forward with their new way of doing the mobile device/phone platform.  Even though the older hardware has fallen by the wayside, Apple has proved once again that simplifying and standardizing their offerings is the way to success.

And maybe Microsoft have woken up to this with their recent axing of the Kin.

I think it has to be said that the iPhone, iOS and Android platform are proof that we are moving away from the one device, short term mobile market.  And shifting to a "Long tail" strategy where the platforms and even the devices need to be seen as evolving, instead of through away.  This is something that Apple seems to have right, but Android may need to settle down its install base to perfect.  Android can take iOS if only it can give the consumer confidence that they can get the best version, and be supported.

Jason Remnant

...if it isn't Broken, speed up the camera App.

Enhanced by Zemanta
Thursday
May202010

"OS race is over" so says OSNews

English: This picture shows the relations betw...

Image via Wikipedia

About 10 or so years ago, an operating system (OS) geek like me found the Mecca of websites OSNews.com, and promptly had the alternative OS market open up to me.  OSNews had all the goss and info on what was really happening with the emerging Operating Systems like BeOS, QNX, Mac OSX, and the new Ubuntu.  Of course, there was Windows and the other Linux dristros and the odd cloud OS technology that showed some innovation in the space.

Now over the past 5 years or so, things have been a-changing' in the OS world.  For the desktop, the industry has started to consolidate around the big three and leave the alternatives behind. By the big three, I mean Windows, Mac OSX and Linux, and there appears that there is not much call for anything else.

In a post from Thom Holwerda "Why OSNews Is No Longer OSNews", we get a great look at the OS industry and why the premier site for news on alternative OS's is talking more about HTML5 and smartphones.  To me though, I see their shift in focus to be the right move as the new alternative OS's and technologies are going to be in the mobile market and online.  All the hacking and geeking we used to do in the desktop space is going to be moving into the mobile and online space.

It is sad to hear Thom lay it out on the table and crush our dreams of a new BeOS or QNX desktop offering, but nice to see that OSNews is going to move with the industry and keep us up to-date.

Why OSNews Is No Longer OSNews (via OSNews.com)

Jason

...if it isn't Broken, install it with a different switch.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Wednesday
May192010

Dumbing Tech down so it makes Sense

{{de|AMD Athlon Mobile 1800+}}

Image via Wikipedia

I was working on a long post about how tech and the Internet is being taken out of the hands of the geek and sold to the unwashed masses.  But then I read the blog Jason Biggs posted on AMD's Vision.

It looks as though AMD have cut the crap and instead of confusing users with numbers and words like Gigahertz, they are now rating their CPU's based on things you want to do.  So after you tick all the boxes of the things you want to be able to do, then click buy.  There has to be something wrong with this, it is definitely going to make choosing the right computer easier, and will probably cut down the calls from family members.  OK, so that's not going to be a bad thing, but someone is going to need to know what the numbers mean, right?

AMD's Vision: The chip race is finally over (via Crunchgear)  AMD Vision

Jason

...if it isn't Broken, they will still need someone to show them how to use Windows.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Monday
May172010

Digg on Users, Die on Users...

Image representing Digg as depicted in CrunchBase

Image via CrunchBase

Many of us in the content creation game spend most of our time working on building a user base of adoring critics.  But upon reading this Techcrunch post by Mike Arrington "Digg's Biggest Problem Is Its Users And Their Constant Opinions On Things", I realise that we could be working on building a real pit for ourselves.  Techcrunch's post points out the problems down the track of building a service for and around your users, rather than building a platform.

Digg is a popular site and yes, it is really just a user platform, but it's struggling to maintain its mainstream presence because the serious mainstream tech audience has moved on to the more mature users of Mashable and like.  Any user platform is just a mirror of its user base, and unless you can maintain the mature and hardworking users, or can reward such users, then you go the way of Myspace.  Let's hope Kevin's work and revamp can bring us something new and worth getting involved with again.

Digg's Biggest Problem Is It's Users And Their Constant Opinions On Things (via Techcrunch)

Jason

...if it isn't Broken, put a mike on stage with a t-shirt and some sauce.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]