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Posts tagged with "iOS"

Louis Gray: “Apple TV Extends Fragmentation”→

Louis Gray: “Apple TV Extends Fragmentation”

While Android is clearly struggling with the challenge of bringing 2.2 support to all the latest handsets (and making progress), we see Apple TV running a variant of iOS (mixed with the traditional Apple TV OS), different than that of the iPhone/iPod Touch, with iPads still not having iOS 4, and yes, Macs still being Macs.

Let me break it down for you, Louis: Macs have a physical keyboard, iPads and iPhone have a touchscreen, the new Apple TV plugs into your television. Pretty simple to understand.

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iMac Touch Panel Samples Already Sent to Apple?

I’m pretty sure the iMac Touch rumor is one of the best ones we’ve had to deal recently: Digitimes has played the most important role in this story, reporting about the iMac Touch in January thus starting an all-new rumor chain that extended to websites such as LoopRumors. Then, about a month ago, Patently Apple discovered an actual patent for an iMac computer capable of shifting from a classic desktop configuration to a touch-based, iOS-like interface. Read more

My Must-Have 20 iPad Apps

Following yesterday’s post about the must-have Mac apps I install every time I have to play with a new installation of OS X, I thought it would be interesting to talk about my iPad setup as well.

Of course the iPad is a different machine from MacBooks: not just because it’s an entirely new kind of computing machine, the concept of “OS installation” itself is radically different. On OS X, installation is a clunky process that can take up to several minutes at best; as for the transition from an OS to another, OS X doesn’t come with the simple Backup / Restore system iOS  has. Sure you have Time Machine and Migration Assistant, but those tools aren’t as consumer-friendly as iOS and iTunes.

Speaking of which, that’s exactly what makes iOS different: iOS devices live inside iTunes. iTunes handles the updates, backups, restores, fresh installations and applications. For these reasons, installing apps on an iPad running a fresh new OS is a different story then OS X. Most users have never messed with restore and betas, so they never really had to deal with “starting anew all over again”. I did, and here are the apps I install every single time my iPad needs to be synchronized for the first time. My must-haves. Read more

What If iChat Was One Window?→

What If iChat Was One Window?

Adium and several other clients are already part way there—they combine all the services into one list, but they still typically show one window for friends, another for open chats and a third for file transfers.

I’m finding more and more that the best way to design desktop apps is to imagine you’re building them for iOS.

Clever UI concept by Bjango.

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An API To Keep Track Of User Position in Twitter Timeline→

An API To Keep Track Of User Position in Twitter Timeline

I use Hibari on my desktop, Twitter on my iPhone, and rotate between Twitter and Twitterrific on my iPad. And the experience of Twitter client hopping sucks. That’s because when I switch from one to the other, no client has any idea where I left off in the other. I either skip chunks of tweets against my will, or need to scroll through oodles of tweets I’ve already read.

There’s a better way. And it shouldn’t be on the customer’s side to deal with. This is a problem Twitter developers can and should solve.

I’m proposing — and hosting — an API through which different Twitter clients could painlessly keep track of where users are in their timelines.

Developers: please start supporting this.

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Ringer Profiles for iPhone→

Ringer Profiles for iPhone

Your iPhone would know you’re inside a movie theatre and would automatically set it to “Movie” mode. It’d know when you’re home. When you’re in the office, and when you’re at your second girlfriends house where it would not show a preview of any new text messages (hehe).

The built-in GPS could turn on Airplane Mode when you enter an airport. It could change your roaming and data settings when you’re in a country other than your own. It could even use GPS in combination with the built-in sensors to determine if you’re moving (i.e. on a playing soccer, dancing, or going for a jog.

Together with a Services menu and a new notification system, that’s what I hope to see in iOS 5.

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Apple Help Wanted: HTML5 Job

Apple is looking for a Creative Technology Manager to help out in their “creative technology team” on the Apple.com website. The focus will be HTML-5 based content ready for iOS devices like iPads, iPhones and iPod Touches.

This individual will be responsible for driving web-standard (HTML5) innovation that enhances and redefines the marketing of Apple’s products and services to millions of consumers. Work will also include exploring opportunities with apple.com, email and mobile/multi-touch experiences on the iPhone and iPad.

Apple already has some HTML5 features to its website. There’s the new movie showtimes section, part of the Movie Trailers page that works on a desktop or iOS device. In August, “Compare Macs” was added to the Apple.com store. Read more

No AirPlay For Video Until November→

No AirPlay For Video Until November

Engadget reviewed the AppleTV box today and got some more details on Apple’s new service (better HD quality than Amazon – nice!).  We had thought the previous reviewers forgot to try out Airplay on a 4.2 Beta iOS device.  But it turns out that even the 4.2 betas don’t yet allow AirPlay video to happen.

That’s bad news for developers who are running betas, but it makes sense for Apple to ship a feature when everyone can access it. I guess the Apple TV will get 4.2 in November as well, together with all the other iOS devices.

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iOS 4.2 Beta 2 for iPad: Faster, Optimized

Apple released the second beta of iOS 4.2 for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad last night, and we immediately installed it on our devices. We reported about the beta being a lot more stable and faster on the iPad, together with a brand new (and beautiful) animation for multitasking. We tested the beta on the iPhone 4 as well, and I’ve noticed that the device feels slightly more responsive than before, especially when handling phone calls. Read more