In the past months we’ve seen many tech demos trying to experiment the concept of desktop-class applications running inside a browser, as a webapp. Safari 4 running inside Safari is a perfect example for this.

Today’s experiment is another webapp that tries to replicate the functions of a Mac desktop app, this time using UKI, a simple JavaScript UI toolkit for desktop-like webapps. The app is the popular Mail.app, and the web version is absolutely stunning: it looks the same, works the same and acts the same. You can drag messages around, expand and collapse folders, navigate with your arrow keys. Clearly it’s just an experiment that shows what’s actually possible with modern technologies, but the result is impressive nevertheless.

Check out the screenshots after the break, and the try the app here.

Read more

The iPad has been out for 5 days now, mine is on its way to Italy too, everyone seems to be happy and satisfied. It’s a great device, no doubt about it. But I can hear the far away voice of those people who haven’t purchased an iPad yet and decided to stick with their iPhones. Waiting for better times (camera, 3G, other random excuses) to come. I can hear this voice, I can hear these people complaining because they fear developers have forgotten about them.

Developers, this one is for you. They are right.

Read more

We’ve seen many Webkit / CSS experiments, but this one, seriously, it’s an outstanding achievement. We’re talking about a kinetic type videos, one of those you usually see realized with Flash and advanced After Effects techniques. This time, we have a kinetic type video made entirely with Webkit, CSS and javascript. The experiment is called “The Man from Hollywood” and it’s available here.

From the website:

“It’s a Kinetic Type experiment that makes use of Advanced CSS selectors and Webkit CSS properties. The idea is based off of kinetic type videos that are usually created using After Effects, Flash, or other animation tools. Javascript is used, but minimally, really just to turn class names on and off. All of the animations are accomplished using CSS.”

Be sure to check out the screenshots after the break, and see the video in action here.

Read more

I remember when I was a kid I asked my parents to buy me a computer. I didn’t ask for a Mac or a Pc, I just wanted “a computer”. Maybe I should have been more specific in my request, because my parents did buy me a computer, but one of those fake ones kids use to play around with english words and learn basic word processing. Just like this one. Thing is, I wanted a computer, but I had to get along with that. Assuming that we’re calling my first computer an actual computer, I reckon that thing had some sort of desktop with icons to switch back and forth between “programs” and choose which would have been the next step. Should I open the word processor or the dictionary? That’s what was bothering me back then. But even though that was nothing more than a toy, that computer initiated me to the concepts of desktops and apps, the basics or modern computing life.

Read more

Some people just don’t get it.

Gina Trapani (founding editor of Lifehacker) has posted a new entry on Fastcompany’ blog called “Why You Shouldn’t Buy an iPad (Yet)”, giving us some arguable points about why we should skip the current iPad generation (let’s simply call it iPad 1st gen) and wait for better, less buggy, cheaper device next year.

I’ve never understood this way of thinking, and never will.

Read more

The New York Times:

“A few brains may do better than others. That is the finding of a new study from the University of Utah where researchers say they’ve discovered a class of “super-taskers.”

The researchers found that about 2.5 percent of the college students they studied were able to simultaneously talk on the phone while navigating in a driving simulator. By comparison, the other students in the study saw their driving performance on fall 20 to 30 percent, according to David Strayer, a psychology professor involved in the study.”

These people will be getting a limited edition, multi-tasking capable iPad. As for Flash, scientists haven’t found references of super-human speed enabled beings yet.

Sachin Agarwal:

“The Finder hasn’t been updated with anything sexy in years. I think this is because Apple doesn’t want to devote major resources to something that should die. Expose, Dashboard, Spaces, and Spotlight are all hacks to make the final years of the Finder tolerable.

When you launch iTunes, you see your music. When you launch iPhoto, you see your photos. When you launch Mail, you see your email. Where is it all stored? Who cares.

I want to be able to access all my data on my iPhone, iPad, and iCar. And I want them all to be in sync. I want the data to be managed automatically, backed up, secure, and fast. If I buy a video on my iPad, sync it to my TV instantly. If I take a photo on my iPhone, sync it to my iPad. Don’t ask me anything, just make sure everything is everywhere.”

Just in case you were still wondering:

“There was almost no effect on rank. The small visible bump can be entirely accounted for by actual increase in regular sales. If the 500 daily gifts counted as purchases, we would guess that we would at least be in the Top 25 of Strategy/Adventure, and in the Top 100 of All Games.”

Link