The public unveiling of each new version of Mac OS X has brought a new default desktop picture, and a new hunt to find a full-res copy of that wallpaper before the official release. The introduction of OS X Mavericks was no different, only this time instead of a space-themed galaxy or nebula, Apple decided to bring Mac’s default look and feel back to earth.
Thomas Brand takes a look back at Apple’s history with Mac OS and OS X default desktop pictures.
Matt Alexander has a good piece on the hypocrisy behind some people’s reactions to iOS 7:
One of the most trite and oft-spoken philosophies in the technology world — originating from hockey’s Wayne Gretzky and popularized in our community by Steve Jobs in 2007 — is that companies ought not to skate to wear the puck is, but where it will be. That is what both Apple and Microsoft have sought to do in recent weeks.
We responded, however, with premature dismissals and cries that our technology is changing.
It’s embarrassing.
And Harry Marks has some solid counterarguments, but especially this bit:
Apple may or may not pay attention to the complaining about the icons in the beta. It may or may not read all the scathing editorials about how Helvetica Nueue Light was the wrong font choice because something something zzzzzz…sorry, I dozed off for a second. What it will do is make iOS better. It will change the way we use our phones and tablets whether we like it or not.
So, you can either upload your alternate stock icon designs to Dribbble, or you can adapt your app to better suit the coming change. Which will it be?
If you’ve ever wondered how the world started using the word “tweet”, read Craig’s post for a great piece of Internet history.
Shawn Blanc:
Anyone who has been subscribing to RSS feeds for longer than a few months will know your subscription list regularly needs pruning and adjusting. Well, I want my RSS reader to help me with that task. Smart Streams can help by making it easier to wrangle my feeds based on more than just which website they came from. I expect in the long run that they will prove very accommodating and useful as my interests change and as my attention ebbs and flows.
A good overview of Feed Wrangler’s best feature. I’ve been using Feed Wrangler since April and I’m very happy with it.
This week, the 5by5 delegates to the UN from England, Italy and Tennessee gather to discuss some follow up, Windows and the Apple cult.
I also got to talk about Nintendo and Steve Ballmer. You can get the episode here, or subscribe via iTunes.
Winning apps won’t merely take Apple’s default look and mimic it. Think about how boring it would be if all of our apps looked like iOS 7 Calendar or Settings. It would get old really fast. But that’s nothing new. Think about if all the apps on iOS 6 looked like iOS 6 Calendar and settings… Yep, it would be really boring.
Jeremy Olson has some great thoughts on how designers and developers should respond to iOS 7 in the coming months. From what I’ve seen so far, this summer will be an interesting one.
Last night, Apple updated its iOS 7 mini-site to include links to two webpages that detail improvements coming for Business and Education users.
For Business, the biggest additions are Per app VPN, more controls on “Open In”, third-party app data protection, and more options coming to MDM with streamlined enrollment. New MDM options are also coming for Education users, alongside single sign-on for an institution’s apps, App Store license management, and more.
Macworld has a good overview of the changes coming in iOS 7 for Business and Education. As noted by Bradley Chambers, the new Apple ID features for students under age 13 are a notable addition.
The Dropbox app for iOS received a nice update last night. It’s now possible to swipe across any file to bring up a bar containing icons to share, mark as starred, move, or delete; you can also easily share any folder or multiple photos at once with other users.
I’m particularly happy about improved photo sharing, as it fits well with my photo archiving workflow.
John Pavlus of Co.Design on Instagram’s Cinema mode:
Stabilization is the “filters” of mobile video: the one-touch (or in Instagram’s case, no-touch) killer feature that makes your mundane “moments”–your life, really–look and feel like art, and you the artist. Instagram’s video feature is usually compared to Vine, but it really has more in common with Paper–another fantasy-driven art-making app that transforms your homely scrawls into graceful sketches.
[via Ellis Hamburger]
