I'll iPhone You.

Diet Coda

Mon, 21 May 2012 20:43:13 -0400

The iPad version of Coda is looking pretty dope.

"Apple captured 73% of phone industry profits and Samsung captured 26%. HTC took 1%. Everybody else..."

Wed, 09 May 2012 10:13:26 -0400

“Apple captured 73% of phone industry profits and Samsung captured 26%. HTC took 1%. Everybody else lost money.”

- @asymco

Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox. The horror.

Wed, 09 May 2012 10:12:34 -0400

Apple rejecting applications which use Dropbox. The horror.:

This is some bullshit.

Unlock iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, 3GS Using SAM On All BaseBands Including 04.11.08.

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:23:48 -0400

Unlock iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, 3GS Using SAM On All BaseBands Including 04.11.08.:

This is big news: you can now unlock your iPhone regardless of its baseband.

Pocket (Formerly Read It Later)

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 11:09:59 -0400

Pocket (Formerly Read It Later):

Read it Later is now Pocket, and sports a snazzy new design and matching applications.

Figure for iPhone.

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 13:29:04 -0400

Figure for iPhone.

The Case of the Coffee Smart Cover I bought my parents (a...

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 09:50:00 -0400

The Case of the Coffee Smart Cover

I bought my parents (a fairly expensive) leather smart cover for their iPad. I also thought it would look awesome as it aged over time. Like this fellow I learned that whatever leather Apple uses just ends up looking grimy and/or dirty. It’s actually quite disappointing. His solution looks to work quite well with the colour he chose. (My advice to you, dear reader, is to avoid the red iPad smart cover.)

Paper vs. Paper

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:14:38 -0400

It’s interesting to compare MacDrifter’s review of Paper to Teehan + Lax’s review.

For example, MacDrifter complains about how the ‘ink’ behaves in Paper:

The faster the stroke, the thicker the line. That seems a little counter intuitive to me. With real ink, which I believe Paper is trying to mimic, darwing faster produces lines that are thinner and lighter. It does not feel like real ink to me but that’s ok. It takes some getting used too in order to make the pen behave how I want it to. That’s not ok.

While Teehan + Lax remarks on the backwards choice as being the smart one:

The free version defaults to the fountain pen, which while maintaining the feel of an actual fountain pen, adds a few small tweaks to how it works within the world of the application. In many ways, these tweaks are counter intuitive to the way that the fountain pen works in real life, which seems ironic for an application purporting to be a digital execution of a simple physical idea. In actuality, these tweaks add to the user experience. For example, the longer you hold down a fountain pen in real life, the more ink will spill out on the page; in the world of the Paper app, they eschew this convention in favour of letting users add fine detail. “Ink flow” in the virtual world is tied to velocity, which accentuates both usability and aesthetics. This approach puts an instantly recognizable style on the strokes within your drawing, while simultaneously enabling you to add smaller, fine strokes. It’s a seductive interaction, one that draws you into the application and makes you want to keep using it, maybe even making an in-app purchase along the way.

Paper has a very small learning curve. By requiring users learn a handful of gestures to get going, Paper allows for an application that is free of any extraneous cruft. I’m really enjoying Paper; it is now one of my favourite applications on my iPad.

Readability: iPad vs. Retina iPad

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:13:23 -0400

Readability: iPad vs. Retina iPad

The first few weeks of Papermill

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 15:22:00 -0400

The first few weeks of Papermill:

A pretty detailed look at the the development and marketing work that went into the Android Instapaper client Papermill. The application was well reviewed, and it looks surprisingly slick for an Android application. So, it was surprising to see how poor his sales have been thus far. His conclusions on the financial viability of developing for Android phones are pretty bleak.

I think this unhappy end-scenario - of applications that either compromise on quality or have not had the necessary time invested in their design - is as a result of Android users not being willing to pay for an apps whose focus is quality and whose price reflects this. Instead, these users opt for a free but less refined experience. This has led to a race to the bottom, with independent developers creating applications are de-facto free instead and relying on ads for profit. The quality of the design and user-experience are subsequently not a factor in their creation, as there is both no great impetus to provide it nor any expectation from the user that it will be forthcoming.

I liked this comment on the Android Market.

This is also not helped by the total lack of moderation on the Android Market. Each day, at least one of the top trending apps is a data-theft/ad-spamming application that’s usually nothing more than a live wallpaper of a small animation. These applications are free, have incredibly high download rates, and any a large number of misleading or clearly machine-generated ‘reviews’. They can be featured on the trending apps for numerous days. This has caused me, and I’m sure others, to largely ignore trending apps.

Why even bother looking at the App store if it’s mostly garbage, I suppose?

Simplenote Loves Instapaper

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 14:08:21 -0400

Simplenote Loves Instapaper:

Simplenote continues to be pretty awesome. My usage off the application varies from month to month, but it’s been a consistent feature off my iPhone, and is always one of the first applications I recommend to people who first get an iPhone.

Made with Paper

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 00:59:27 -0400

Made with Paper

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 22:35:14 -0400

Made with Paper

Diary of an iPad (3) Owner.

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:52:04 -0400

Diary of an iPad (3) Owner.:

Shawn Blanc has a long post about how he has been using his iPad 3 since it arrived.

I have a review of my original iPad which I started writing shortly after I bought it. For whatever reason I never got around to finishing it, or publishing it while it was still interesting or relevant. It’s full of stuff like this:

I am using the iOS 4.2 beta, which adds folders and multitasking to the iPad. These are both very welcome features. With mutlitasking the iPad becomes incredibly versatile.

Remember when you couldn’t multitask on the iPad? Oh man.

Since Reeder came out for the device the iPad has become the place I do most of my feed reading.

I remember feed reading on the iPad prior to the release of Reeder. I had to use the Google Reader website, which barely worked properly on the iPad. (I wonder if that’s changed.)

I bought an iPad 3 to replace my original iPad. I gave the original to my mom, who loves it. (Her and my dad were sharing an iPad 2 up until now.) The new iPad is pretty amazing. I have nothing but good things to say about it. Maybe i’ll write a proper review, and actually post it this time.

Paper from FiftyThree looks pretty amazing.

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:38:00 -0400

Paper from FiftyThree looks pretty amazing.:

It’s a drawing application, and it looks incredible. The Verge has a long review of the application. It’s applications like this that really make the iOS platform what it is. Are there any applications for the Android with this level of polish:

Do you remember the last time you used iOS’s “shake to undo” feature? Perhaps the most impressive tool in Paper is Rewind, an inventive take on “undo” that succeeds where others have failed. If you make a mistake while you’re drawing, there’s no need to erase it. Just place two fingers on the screen and move them in a counter-clockwise motion. The app retraces your steps, brush stroke by brush stroke, to a maximum of 20 previous moves. Once you’ve tried Rewind, you’ll wish it were present in every other creative app you’ve tried. It’s a user interface breath of fresh air invented by filmmaker (and FiftyThree designer) Andrew S. Allen, who wanted an “undo” method that worked like the jog dials he uses to go back and forth in time while editing video.

Modern Day Chess

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 09:48:23 -0400

If Chess was invented today, it would be an iPhone app with only pawns (but you could upgrade them to queens with an $1.99 in-app purchase).
— Dave (@dayfat) March 26, 2012

Nexus S: Even Google can’t do Android updates.

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 12:38:37 -0400

Nexus S: Even Google can’t do Android updates.:

Chartier adds:

Google can’t update its own flagship device, released in December 2010, to its own OS, released less than a year later in October 2011. Apple, by contrast, still updates (and sells) the 3GS, released in 2009, to the latest version of iOS, released this month. And all owners of every compatible iPhone get access to the update, whether wired through iTunes or OTA thanks to iOS 5, on day one.

Geometric pornography app rejected by Apple

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 22:39:00 -0400

Geometric pornography app rejected by Apple

Comparing Temperatures.

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 10:30:06 -0400

Comparing Temperatures.:

The Verge needs some help with their math. To quote Gruber, “This is middle school science.”

An amazing set of geometric wallpapers.

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 23:42:00 -0400

An amazing set of geometric wallpapers.