Federico Viticci

10781 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

An Impressive iPhone Newspaper Ad [Video]

A few agencies get mobile advertising just right, and a very few companies seem to understand that you need a good iPhone app to let people engage with your product. Most companies think that pushing a web application wrapped in an iPhone app out in the App Store is enough; Belgium-based insurance company AXA is different.

Not only AXA was the first insurance company to deploy a good iPhone application, now they also realized an impressive interactive ad that requires users to point the iPhone over a blank spot on a newspaper and watch the magic happen. Seriously, just take a look at the video below. It may be a gimmick and it may not be so informative, but it catches your attention; it kind of forces you to stare at that video for a minute.

Impressive. [via TWN] Read more

Sintek Denies iMac Touch Rumors

A few days ago tech news website Digitimes reported that, according to their sources, Sintek Productions had already sent Apple some sample of a 20-inch capacitive touch screen to use in a future iteration of the iMac. Digitimes claimed:

Sintek Photronics has reportedly sent samples of projected capacitive touch panels to Apple to be incorporated in the latest iMac all-in-one (AIO) PC, according to industry sources.

The new iMac is rumored to have a good vertical and horizontal viewing angle, and its projected capacitive touch panel will adopt a one-glass solution, which integrates the touch sensor and cover glass, to reduce thickness and weight.

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“Curated” Doesn’t Necessarily Mean “Secure”→

“Curated” Doesn’t Necessarily Mean “Secure”

With absolutely no slight intended towards Apple or its App Store Reviewers, it is, in practice, impossible for Apple to guarantee that a user’s data won’t get sent from any application that Apple has approved. In fact, the curated nature of the iOS App Store makes Apple’s approach less secure in many ways, as the tools used to detect the breaches in security on Android would not be approved on the iOD App Store currently, so iPhone users don’t have as simple a way to detect if their phones are sharing their personal information.

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The Potential of MobileMe→

The Potential of MobileMe

I am grateful for what MobileMe offers — I use iCal every day and would be pulling my hair out if it weren’t always in sync between my iPhone, iPad, Mac — but I could just as easily get my contacts and calendars synced for free via Google. And that is precisely my point. Apple is letting other cloud services define and strengthen the relationship between our desktops, laptops, and mobiles more than Apple is.

In many ways Dropbox and Google are driving the iOS / OS X relationship more than MobileMe is. While MobileMe is syncing my contacts and calendars, Dropbox is syncing my most-dear files: the projects, articles, and notes I’m interacting with every day. What are iWork.com and MobileMe for if not for the sharing and syncing of everything between our Macintoshes, iPhones, and iPads in sync?

MobileMe works great as a contacts / calendar / bookmarks syncing solution, but Google is catching up. Not to mention Dropbox: what’s going to happen when everyone’s most loved San Francisco-based startup announces a system to automatically sync preferences between multiple devices? Apple needs to change and improve MobileMe. With faster and multitasking-enabled iOS devices, it’s in their best interest.

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Jackass Of The Week: Dan Lyons→

Jackass Of The Week: Dan Lyons

Android has also transformed Google and its longtime ally Apple into fierce rivals. Until recently, Apple seemed destined to rule the mobile Internet, thanks to the popularity of the iPhone, which was introduced in 2007 and quickly began grabbing market share. But Android has enabled handset makers like Motorola and Samsung to develop credible rivals to the iPhone. This year, as those companies have gained traction, Apple’s momentum has stalled. Rubin credits the fact that Android is an open-source program used by dozens of phone makers, while Apple goes it alone, developing its own proprietary hardware and software. In September Apple CEO Steve Jobs got a little hot under the collar of his mock turtleneck and told reporters he didn’t believe Google’s sales figures.

I look forward to Fake Eric Schmidt.

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Inkiness: Elegant Sketching for iPad

Here’s what happened with this post: I was going to write something like “here’s a neat little app for you to play with while Twitter is down”, then Twitter came back online. With a new CEO. Huge congrats to the Twitter team and good luck to Dick Costolo.

Anyway, I was going to talk about Inkiness for iPad. Inkiness is a very simple and elegant application to take notes on the tablet using your fingers. You can sketch and jot down your ideas, draw mockups (if you’re really good at it), share your creations via email, Twitter and (huge) Evernote. The greatest selling point of Inkiness is how simple it is: it’s just about sketching and sharing. There’s no fancy “import from” option, no PDF annotations, no additional features that would make it just like any other app out there. It’s about drawing with your fingers (it works great with my PogoSketch, too) inside an elegant and beautiful user interface. Read more