I’ve been interested recently in the apps available for iOS that push the very edges of what we thought was possible on a mobile device. Informed by my recent experience of spending a week on iOS alone, I decided to try and express what I mean by “ambitious” and to collect some examples of those kind of apps.
When iOS first appeared, it was a smartphone OS. Today, with the iPad, it’s much more than that. To be an “ambitious” iOS app, I think you need to be doing one or more of the following things…
Category: Apple
Wither Mac Pro?
Despite the coming availability of a new generation of Sandy Bridge desktop CPUs suitable for advancing Apple’s Mac Pro line, the company has reportedly been evaluating whether to continue to invest in furthering its full-sized workstation line beyond this year in the face of limited sales.
Although the Mac maker has reportedly developed a revision to the existing Mac Pro that may or may not see the light of day, people familiar with the matter said management as far back as May of 2011 were in limbo over whether to pour any additional resources into the product line.
Tablets and Journalism
The Pew Research Center has found that tablets are changing the way people read news:
Consuming news (everything from the latest headlines to in-depth articles and commentary) ranks as one of the most popular activities on the tablet, about as popular as sending and receiving email (54% email daily on their tablet), and more popular than social networking (39%), gaming (30%), reading books (17%) or watching movies and videos (13%). The only activity that people said they were more likely to do on their tablet computer daily is browse the web generally (67%).
Gifts for That Apple Nerd in Your Life
Why I Don’t Play Games on my iPhone
I posted the above photo on Instagram the other day, and have gotten several questions about it.
The explanation is pretty simple. I don’t play games on my iPhone.1
I noticed at some point over the last year or so that I used iPhone games to fill little gaps in my day. Instead of writing, reading or just thinking, I would play a game while waiting for an appointment or while on hold for a conference call. Any time I had a few “extra” minutes, I found myself pulling out my phone to play something.
iOS 5 Font List
On Walter Isaacson’s Lack of Tech Knowledge
Dave Winer, on the Steve Jobs biography:
Also, while Isaacson is a good writer and a good reporter, he doesn’t really understand how this stuff works. And you might think that’s what it takes to explain it to someone who doesn’t understand it, but I don’t think so. So much of the Jobs story is how he related to people who actually made the products. If one doesn’t understand the substance of those relationships, it’s impossible to tell the story, imho. It would be like writing a romance without having ever experienced love.
Jonathan Ive, on the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh
‘Astronomical’
I think TUAW’s Erica Sadun might be over-stating the “fail rates” of the iPad 2 in this article.
Apple Building Solar Farm Adjacent to North Carolina Data Center
Dianne Straley at The Charlotte Observer:
Apple has quietly begun work on a solar farm that apparently could help power its sprawling data center in southern Catawba County.
Permits issued by Catawba County show that the Cupertino, Calif., company has been approved to reshape the slope of some of the 171 acres of vacant land it owns on Startown Road, opposite the data center, in preparation of building a solar farm.
Macworld Expo Gets New, Dumb Name
It’s now Macworld|iWorld. Seriously.
The tag line? “The Ultimate iFan Event.”
So long, cool Macworld full of guys with ponytails talking about how wicked their Mac SEs were in the day. I had suspected you’ve been dead for some time, but this really seems like the last straw.