22 posts tagged “apple”
Some cheers and jeers:
- First and foremost, the reason that the thing is so cool is because it doesn't feel like technology that should exist quite yet. It's like holding a sci-fi movie prop that actually works.
- Rich text fields (like the compose fields in Vox and Gmail) don't work in iPhone's Safari. Vox lets you email in posts, and of course there's the Mail app instead of Gmail, but it's a bug that needs fixing.
- I feel like the "iPod" functions should be called "iTunes" instead.
- If you don't have headphones plugged in, play songs or movies over the speaker. Great for demos or for sharing YouTube videos.
- EDGE isn't as slow as everyone says it is. It's great for email, and in limited tests the maps application works fine.
- Connecting to recognized wireless networks is seemless.
- iTunes gives you the option to sync the "most recent x episodes" of a show. That's great if you've watched all but 3 episodes, but, for example, I'd imported the entire series of Firefly from DVD to my computer and I haven't watched any yet, but it'll only sync the last few b/c they were added most recently. There should be an option for "oldest unwatched."
- The screen is very nice for watching video, but the blacks aren't quite black. Darker scenes in Firefly are a bit muddy. This is a general problem with all LCD and plasma TVs, too. Bright videos, like Pixar's short films, are beautiful.
- Google Reader defaults to its mobile version. The standard interface with its multiple AJAX frames would be difficult to use in the tiny Safari, but the mobile Google Reader is more primitive than it needs to be for the iPhone.
- Safari is a bit crash-y. Presumably this will get ironed out with software updates. Fortunately crashes are low impact. You just wind up back at the home menu, slightly confused but unharmed.
- Having a physical switch to turn off the ringer is very nice, rather than having to go all the way into Settings when you're in a movie theater.
- It won't sync my email properly, because I use Google Apps and it can't understand that I don't use @gmail.com even though I'm on Google's server.
When I worked at the movie theater in high school, we had a special procedure for the openings of the really big movies. It wasn't just about adding extra staff for the weekend–it was also about knowing how the whole operation was going to run. When did the various theaters let out? Where are people who show up early going to stand? How are we going to direct traffic as people exit when there isn't much room in the lobby during the big rushes? Putting on a big production takes a lot of planning.
If you were wondering why Apple would bother releasing Safari for Windows, the answer is actually pretty simple: money. Sure, it contributes to the "iPod halo effect," and it gets WebKit out there as a more prominent rendering engine, but the big reason is probably just cash. Every time you use the built-in Google search bar in a web browser, Google gives a small cut of the proceeds to the maker of the browser. That small cut adds up. According to Daring Fireball:
Safari is a free download, but it’s already one of Apple’s most profitable software products. [...] Apple is currently generating about $2 million per month from Safari’s Google integration. That’s $25 million per year. If Safari for Windows is even moderately successful, it’s easy to see how that might grow to $100 million per year or more.
There’ve been many attempts to finance app development with advertising; what’s interesting about web browser search engine deals is that browser developers earn money – a lot of it – for ads that users were going to see anyway, just by performing the same search without the built-in integration.
One wonders what would happen if Google stopped being the dependable cash cow all these business models depend on it being.
Maybe you've experienced this horror yourself. You pull your phone out of your pocket, and the web browser is open. OMG. How long has it been open? It is online? How much are they going to charge me for all that data my pocket presses invoked?
Safari on Windows is weird. It's like you're almost to the Mac experience, but you're not quite there yet. I guess this is what using iTunes is like on Windows, but I don't use iTunes at work. At home I use Safari and at work I use Firefox. I don't like having to get used to two browsers, but at least it reminds me where I am. Now that I can use Safari on a Windows machine at work, it makes my brain think I can do other Mac things, like hit F12 to bring up Dashboard. Also I've noticed that a few websites are sniffing for Safari and turning off features that it probably now supports.
Otherwise WWDC 2007 was pretty much standard. Nothing in 10.5 wow'd me, but I'm sure it'll all be great to use. The translucent menu bar will take some getting used to, and I don't quite understand how Stacks are implemented. Engadget has lots of info and photos up.
Just saw this on iTunes:
During the Academy Awards telecast tonight, after Wes Anderson's wonderfully quirky American Express ad, Apple showed a commercial for the iPhone:
The ad revolves around the word "hello," which, in addition to obviously having a lot to do with telephones, has a history at Apple. Here's an image of the very first Macintosh:
The unveiling of that Mac is a sight to see and, naturally, its first word was, "hello." Here's the story all about it, which gives some great context, and here's the demo itself:
The demo, of course, came right after the famous Superbowl commercial directed by Ridley Scott:
In addition to the iPhone announced today (which looks peachy), there’s also a new AirPort station, which has a very cool feature:
New to AirPort Extreme, AirPort Disk turns almost any external USB hard drive into a shared drive. Simply connect the drive to the USB port on the back of your AirPort Extreme and—voila—all the documents, videos, photos, and other files on the drive instantly become available to anyone on the secure network, Mac and PC alike. It’s perfect for backups, collaborative projects, and more.
Were you wondering how useful Time Machine was going to be for laptops? There you go.
Okay, I linked to this yesterday, but I didn’t realize how cool it was going to be until I had the update installed. If you’re using a Mac, run Software Update (go to the Apple Menu if it hasn’t popped up already), then hold control and use your scroll wheel (or use two-finger scrolling if you’re using a MacBook or MacBook Pro).
Quick tip: the scroll ball on my Mighty Mouse started going a little wonky. I found that turning it upside down and rubbing it on a soft cloth (I used an eyeglass cleaning silk cloth) for a minute will clean out all the debris and it works like new now.
Imported comments:
“Let me guess, the ball started to occasionally stop scrolling in one direction?” (Most likely down).
That happend to me. Hopefully you’ve found a fix, I didn’t even think to try cleaning it, but if it starts to happen more often (it became more and more frequent for me) just take it into an apple store. I went in and as soon as I pulled out my mouse the guy behind the counter said above quote, and immediately just went and opened up a box for a mighty mouse and traded me for mine. Saying he didn’t want to bother with any paper work because they were short staffed today. So basically just keep in mind it’s apparently a common problem, and they will take care of it quickly if need be.
DrOct on September 17, 2006Cleaning the ball in the manner I described made an amazing difference for the performance of the thing. It’s responsive to a degree I had forgotten it ever had been. I think I prefer the little nipple on the Mighty Mouse to actual scroll wheels, now that I have a clean one.
David Ely on September 26, 2006
