Federico Viticci

10878 posts on MacStories since April 2009

Federico is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of MacStories, where he writes about Apple with a focus on apps, developers, iPad, and iOS productivity. He founded MacStories in April 2009 and has been writing about Apple since. Federico is also the co-host of AppStories, a weekly podcast exploring the world of apps, Unwind, a fun exploration of media and more, and NPC: Next Portable Console, a show about portable gaming and the handheld revolution.
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@viticci.macstories.net
viticci@macstories.net

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Swarm Light: iPhone-Controlled LED Chandelier [Video]

This falls under the category of neat installations powered by an iOS device we have covered so many times here on MacStories. The Swam Light is a $180,000 LED chandelier based on an algorithm originally meant to analyze the behavior of bees. The LED that power the chandelier, in fact, are organized in a series of grids and lit up to display “simulated collective movement” – or, the movement of groups of insects.

What’s cool is that the creators of the installation, rAndom International, developed an iPhone controller in-house to handle operations remotely. The iPhone app can dim lights and switch between the various modes implemented in the Swarm Light.

Check out the video below. [via TUAW] Read more

Reeder for Mac Vs. Fitts’s Law→

Reeder for Mac Vs. Fitts’s Law

It’s finally happened. Someone came out with a Mac OS application that’s clearly a touch UI crowbarred into a point-and-click universe.

And it doesn’t work.

The application in question is Reeder, a Google Reader client for Mac OS X. Yes, it looks pretty, and I feel kind of bad for making an example of it, especially since it’s in early beta.

The whole analysis is basically about the “misplacement” or “small size” of Reeder’s sharing and feed management buttons. Honestly, I haven’t really ever clicked on the wrong button because of this use of the laws, nor do I know of other users complaining about this very specific problem.

But hey, it’s in early beta. Perhaps Silvio Rizzi will follow Fitts’s Law come the final version. You know, just to prove that with the correct adjustments, apps coming from iOS can work on the Mac. [via Daring Fireball]

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Osfoora HD for iPad Is Now iOS 4.2 Compatible

A few days after a sneak peek at the Mac version, popular Twitter client Osfoora for iPad has been updated to include support for iOS 4.2. The update took longer than expected, as Osfoora users have been asking for multitasking support for several weeks now. The app now runs smoothly on iOS 4.2 and can correctly save your position when switching to other apps.

The 1.2 version also brings improved scrolling in the timeline, a variety of bug fixes and updated image sharing services. For those who missed our review of Osfoora HD for iPad:

Osfoora for iPad comes with a couple of original and interesting ideas, combines them with tons of features geared towards the average Twitter power user and offers a good-looking, polished package which gets a very few things wrong, but surely deservers your attention.

Osfoora HD for iPad is available at $3.99 in the App Store.

Color Splash Gives A “Dramatic Look” To Your Photos

I downloaded this app last week, but it turns out it’s been around for quite some months in the App Store. Color Splash by Pocket Pixels is a simple iPhone app (iPad version is available, too) that allows you to highlight areas of a photo to make them black & white, or make the entire photo black & white and only set certain areas to be colored.

It’s a very cool effect that it’s made easy by iOS multi-touch technology and would otherwise be a rather difficult task for the average user on Adobe’s Photoshop. Read more

BlackBerry vs. iPhone: What’s In Your Pocket?→

BlackBerry vs. iPhone: What’s In Your Pocket?

Apple says the iPhone is more than a mere appliance for sending e-mail. The device, with its sleek touch screen and ability to run hundreds of thousands of Web-connected applications, games and utilities, can be used for nearly any purpose, business or personal, a line that Apple hopes to blur out of existence.

“Most people now want to use a single device to handle both their personal and professional lives,” said Shaw Wu, an analyst at Kaufman Bros. “That’s what Apple’s really good at — and now RIM is playing catch-up.”

I guess the question is: can they even catch up at this point? 275,000 apps is no small difference. [via]

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iPad Gift Cards Spotted at Apple Stores

As noted by iLounge, Apple has started selling “iPad Gift Cards” in its retail stores right ahead of Christmas. The cards aren’t anything special – actually, they’re just standard Apple gift cards wrapped inside a nice iPad-specific package.

What’s interesting is that, apparently, Apple updated its iPad purchase policies to include support for discounts through the aforementioned gift cards. Until a few weeks ago, Apple only allowed customers to buy an iPad via a debit or credit card.

Now you don’t have excuses anymore: your wife wants an iPad. You know what to do.

“The iPad Is Not Newspaper With Moving Words”→

“The iPad Is Not Newspaper With Moving Words”

The problem for anybody wanting to believe that the iPad is a newspaper or magazine replacement is that it is not. It’s a digital device, which means people will get easily distracted and start playing Scrabble, or listening to music or whatever else one can get up to on a crowded carriage.

It’s also still too easy to jump from one news source to another, because digital has fundamentally changed people’s relationship with printed news sources. Once, a newspaper was not just a source of information, but a statement of identity, where most buyers would not dream of picking up a competing title.

Paid Content also cites a report from Screen Digest according to which the average iPad user downloads 60 apps a year – but only 6 are paid apps. Where did they get these numbers? I’m curious.

Perhaps the problem with the publishing industry on the iPad is that most newspaper / magazine apps suck? [via Brooks Review]

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