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Loren Brichter Talks About Pull-To-Refresh Patent and Design Process

Circling around on the internet over the last few days has been the news that there is a patent application for the “pull-to-refresh” feature that Loren Brichter pioneered in Tweetie and is now an extremely popular UI gesture used in a lot of iOS, Mac and Android apps. Twitter holds the patent application, not Brichter who recently left Twitter after they acquired him and Tweetie a few years ago. It’s also important to note that the patent has not yet been granted, it is simply a patent application at this point in time.

Featured in the latest One More Thing podcast (a tie-in to the Australian iOS conference we wrote about last week, featuring many of the speakers), Brichter briefly talks about the patent (note that this was actually recorded before the news about the patent spread wildly on the internet) and says:

… I can’t talk about the specifics but Twitter owns the patent, but I don’t think people have anything to worry about.

Brichter also describes the design process that resulted in the “pull-to-refresh” feature being implemented in the episode. He talks about how in Tweetie 1.0 the refresh button would be on top of all your tweets because there wasn’t enough room on the navbar because of a back button and compose tweets button. But for Tweetie 2, Brichter thought he could “make it a little simpler” so that you didn’t have to scroll to the top, lift your finger and tap on the refresh button, instead he asked the question:

…why not just make refreshing part of the scroll gesture itself? So it was kind of an obvious extension of a simple idea.

The whole episode is certainly worth a listen, Brichter offers some great insights on development and his experiences as both an independent developer and a developer working in a large team (like he did for Twitter and Apple).

Thanks to Stuart Hall for the heads up.

Apple Offers Refunds To Australians, Promises to Clarify 4G iPad Marketing

Today’s hearing into the ACCC’s allegation that Apple is misleading Australian consumers with its labeling of the new iPad as “4G” has recently adjourned for the day, with two promises from Apple. First, it will offer full refunds to any customer who purchased the WiFi + 4G model expecting it to work on Telstra’s 4G network (although this isn’t too significant, given Apple already offers a 14-day period to return any product). Second, it has committed to further clarifying its marketing to explicitly note it is incompatible with the Telstra 4G network. Emma O’Sullivan tweets that the phrasing will be “this product supports very fast cellular networks, it is not compatible with current Australian 4G LTE networks”. Apple promised to update all marketing to this new phrasing by April 5th.

It seems fairly clear that Apple wants to resolve the dispute with the ACCC quickly, not only committing to these two promises as an interim agreement, but also advocating the use of closed-door mediation with ACCC. In contrast, the ACCC is pushing for a full trial in early May.

Bizarrely, one point that Apple argued in the hearing today was that Australia’s mobile networks were “misnamed”. Apple argued that what are currently called 3G networks in Australia should actually be called 4G networks by “international standards” - the ACCC responded by saying that Apple is in fact using “US standards”.

LogMeIn Pro Adds HD Streaming To Any Device

LogMeIn, the company known for making it a breeze to remotely access your home computer, has just rolled out a new feature to their Pro level service. LogMeIn Pro now includes HD streaming to any PC or iOS device. Streaming works through a web browser or through LogMeIn’s free iOS app. The feature comes at a great time now that the new iPad is available – the Retina display and 4G LTE speeds are going to be amazing hardware accents to the fine software product that LogMeIn has put together. Here is what LogMeIn’s VP of Products, Matt Kaplan, had to say about the new HD Streaming feature:

“Anywhere, anytime access is an expectation for today’s mobile, multi-device user and justifiably so. With the new HD streaming capabilities, Mac owners can get the full benefits of their multimedia content, whether for work or for play, from virtually anywhere in the world. We see it as an amazing experience on any device, but combine it with the LogMeIn app and a new retina display iPad and you’ve got what we believe to be a remarkable solution for displaying, playing and working with today’s highest resolution media.”

The new streaming feature seems similar to other offerings by already popular iOS solutions including AirVideo or StreamToMe but LogMeIn has the unique benefits of other features such as Remote Screen Control, File Browsing, and Computer Management. The Pro Service starts at $39.99 a year if purchased as an in-app upgrade through the free iOS app and looks like it might be a killer service to try if you just picked up a shiny new iPad. I personally have always stuck with a combination of VNC, Dropbox, and AirVideo to serve these purposes but now that seems like quite a bit of hassle compared to the ease of setting up a LogMeIn Pro account.

LogMeIn is available for free from the App Store.

Australian Consumer Watchdog Alleges Apple Of Misleading 4G Claims

The ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission), Australia’s competition watchdog has just announced it will tomorrow seek orders against Apple for allegedly making misleading iPad “4G” claims in its marketing of the new iPad in Australia. It alleges that Apple’s promotion of the new “iPad with WiFi + 4G” is misleading “because it represents to Australian consumers that the product “iPad with WiFi + 4G” can, with a SIM card, connect to a 4G mobile data network in Australia, when this is not the case.”

The ACCC is seeking urgent interlocutory relief to ensure consumers are made aware of the correct technical capabilities of this device. Additionally the ACCC is seeking final orders including injunctions, pecuniary penalties, corrective advertising and refunds to consumers affected.

It will tomorrow make an application to the Federal Court in Melbourne for orders against Apple for allegedly contravening Australian Consumer Law (ACL). It advises consumers who have purchased or are considering to purchase the new iPad to ensure “they have a proper understanding of the mobile data networks which this iPad can directly access by a SIM card”. There are 4G networks operating in Australia but none are currently compatible with the 4G bands that are supported in the new iPad. Unlike in the US, carriers in Australia have not blurred the line between 3G and 4G networks by calling HSDPA a “4G” network, so when 4G is used in marketing in Australia, it truly refers to the next generation of mobile networks such as LTE.

Australian mobile carriers  Telstra and Optus have already ceased using any 4G references in their promotion of the new iPad, whilst Apple continues to use the 4G terminology with only a small fine print below stating;

The iPad with Wi-Fi + 4G model can roam worldwide on fast GSM/UMTS networks, including HSPA, HSPA+, and DC-HSDPA. When you travel internationally, you can use a micro-SIM card from a local carrier. You can also connect to the 4G LTE networks of AT&T in the U.S. and Bell, Rogers, and Telus in Canada.

Rovio: 10 Million Downloads Of Angry Birds Space In Less Than 3 Days

Rovio announced on Twitter today that Angry Birds Space racked up 10 million downloads in less than 3 days. Unfortunately Rovio didn’t give more details as to which 3 days saw more than 10 million downloads (presumably it was the first 3 days after launch) or which platforms were proving most popular. Angry Birds Space (the latest game in the Angry Birds series) launched on March 22nd (Thursday last week) on to the iOS, Android, Mac and PC platforms.

Nevertheless, it is a very impressive feat that Rovio was able to garner so many downloads in such a short period of time - it’s clear to me that Angry Birds continues to be an incredibly powerful brand that is being managed very well by the folks at Rovio. It’s also worth pointing out that last November Rovio revealed that the Angry Birds series had been downloaded over 500 million times since launching in late 2009.

Regarding Apple’s Edge and the new Apple TV Interface

Alongside a hardware update that supports 1080p playback, the new Apple TV introduced a brand new grid-like interface that draws upon influences from iOS. Where previous Apple TV interfaces were more or less clickwheel-iPod inspired, the new interface replaces sleek and jewel-like menus for a series of colorful icons that provide quick menu access to Netflix, TV Shows, and MLB.TV just to name a few. However, the interface is now at the center of brief controversy around Apple’s design decisions and the absence of Steve Jobs.

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