Gifting Apps Doesn’t Affect Ranking in the App Store

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.”

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Preview: Design Brief for iPad, Because You Have to Ask the Right Questions

Web designers, this one’s aimed at you. We all know client work can easily become a nightmare sometimes. Well, most of the times somebody would say. Thing is, one of the problems with designers and clients, is that the former don’t really do a good job at first, while approaching a new client: they either don’t ask the right questions, or understand what the client indeed wants. Or perhaps properly store the information they collected about the client.

Design Brief, an upcoming application for the iPad developed by Ben Duivesteyn, aims at solving this problem by providing a beautiful and easy way to capture information about a new client.

Read more

Wired: The iPad Is Already Reshaping the Internet

Wired:

“The reason the iPad could have a more pronounced effect on the internet than the iPhone actually really is simply because it’s bigger. The challenge of best displaying your content on the iPhone wasn’t simply making sure you had a Flash-less site — it was fitting it all into a 3.5-inch screen, reducing it to the utter essentials to fit the way people use their phones, a task that might’ve gone beyond a mobile-optimized site in many cases. With the iPad, two of the biggest restrictions — the tighter screen, those smaller windows of time — aren’t there, so content producers very well might not need an app to fit their content onto the iPad. In other words, they really can just build a site instead of an app, which is why the iPad might have a more profound effect on the internet than the iPhone.”

I’d say is the Internet that was desperately waiting to be reshaped. Developers, designers, site owners - they all were waiting for a new way to experience their creations, and it will be available in 4 days.

Bluebird 1.0 Beta 3 Now Available

Bluebird, the Twitter client developed by 13bold (you may have heard this name before, they’re the creators of Bowtie), has been updated to the 1.0 beta 3 version. The new beta sports significant UI improvements, support for username autocompletion and emoji, bug fixes and a more minimalistic style overall.

We’re looking forward to the final release. In the meantime, you can go download the beta here and browse some beautifully designed custom themes on Iconpaper.

The iPhone and Verizon, Will it ever End?

You know, I just want there to be world peace. Love and happiness. iPhone and Verizon. But good grief, it seems the drama never ends. In every coming release, even with the iPad, there’s always been rumors of Apple hooking up with Verizon. And while I’d love to see the two making sweet love under that beautiful red network, I don’t know if I see it happening. When the WSJ noted today that a new version of the iPhone would be made for Verizon, people freaked. After all, the WSJ is a big news source. Gizmodo is skeptical (right?), but says that if it does happen, it’ll be a pretty big deal. Gruber on the other hand, calls bollocks. So, what should we expect? Read more