Because the iPhone allows all of us to be amazing photographers now. And something needs to happen about that.
This feeling has been eating away at me for some time now because I feel like a cheat when I shoot something amazing with my phone. Take my last two shots, which I’m very proud of. They cause me a lot of self loathing. Look at how amazing my photo of the Urban Lights sculpture at LACMA is. It’s a total lie. I understand framing, I understand the rule of thirds. I don’t understand how to work with light, especially not dusk, which was when this photo was taken. My Photoshop skills are rudimentary. Yet I created an Amazing Photograph because my phone has Lo-Mob on it. Fuck you, me.
Category: Apple
Mobile Web Apps in a Multi-Platform World
Way back in the dark ages before the App Store, the only way to add functionality to an iPhone was through Safari. In iPhone OS update 1.1.3, Apple added webclips, an easy way to launch into a web app from the iPhone’s homepage. While these were not full-featured apps, it wasn’t a bad compromise. While they didn’t offer much in terms of integration 1 with the rest of the OS, they did allow users to more easily pop in and out of websites designed specifically for iPhone use. Twitter clients abounded, as did to-do apps and news apps.
On Core Competencies and Battle
While I usually don’t quote entire posts, this one from my buddy Kevin Lipe is worth it:
What I don’t get about this whole thing is this: Why the hell does Adobe feel like it has to “beat Apple”? Adobe makes application software and browser plugins. Apple makes computers, phones, and operating systems (and yeah, they have pro apps, but ask anybody who uses them: they sort of half-ass all of that these days).
WSJ Verizon iPhone Story Planted by Apple?
Now, I of course don’t know for sure that Apple fed WSJ this story — but let’s look at the recent history. In January, as rumors were swirling about the iPad, the WSJ had a story suggesting the tablet computer could run around $1,000. At the time, I pointed out why this reeked of Apple setting expectations low so they could blow them out of the water. A few days later, a former Marketing Manager at Apple backed this up. The result? Steve Jobs on stage announcing the iPad would start at just $499. Boom.
Dear Media, Please Stop Reporting Verizon iPhone Rumors as Factual News Stories
Take a look at these headlines:
- Wall Street Journal: Apple Readies Verizon iPhone
- Forbes: With iPhone in the Works, Verizon Stock Takes Advantage
- All Things D Apple Prepping Verizon-Ready CDMA iPhone for 2011 Launch
- Huffington Post: Verizon iPhone Release Set For Early 2011, WSJ Reports
- IT World: Apple, Verizon Wireless make (inevitable) iPhone deal
- UPI: Report: Apple plans Verizon smartphone
Looking at that list, you would think Apple announced something regarding the iPhone today.
Thing is, they didn’t.
iTunes Needs a Server
I couldn’t agree with Kirk McElhearn more. It’s getting a little crazy how dated iTunes feels.
File This Under ‘Obsessive’
After taking a closer look at Apple’s latest iPhone 4 Retina Display ad, we noticed the scene about Twitter. We thought it would be interesting to plug the Twitter profile username from the ad into the actual Twitter to see if it was legit. Sure enough it is, and has a whole army of people with headshot-grade picture followers. Meet Apple’s fake Twitter army, full of perfect profile portraits, perfect names, and perfect tweets.
The Macintosh TV
The Macintosh TV, released in October 1993, incorporated a 68030-powered Macintosh computer, a cable-ready TV set, and a CD-playing stereo system into one device. The Mac TV could display cable TV stations or an AV video signal on the computer’s 14-inch color monitor, play audio CDs through its integrated stereo speakers, and allow users to power on/off the computer and change channels with its bundled remote control.
I totally had a draft blog post about this machine.
Invoking iTunes’ Hidden Preferences
It’s sad that it takes a guy like Doug Adams hours to build such a great little bundle of scripts to make iTunes easy to live with.
Apps Sharing UUIDs?
A review of the “Most Popular” and “Top Free” categories on the iPhone App Store found that 68 percent of software would transmit UDIDs from devices. In addition, 18 percent of applications encrypted their communications, so it could not be determined what kind of data is being shared.
Snap.
‘The MobileMe Potential’
While the idea of Apple owning Dropbox makes me nervous, Shawn’s right about this:
In its current state as “exchange for the rest of us” MobileMe seems neither exciting nor ambitious. As a web-app, me.com is beautiful and extremely functional. But I for one never use it. Instead I use the native OS X apps. And iDisk? Well, that is also collecting dust.
What would be exciting is an open service that bridged the gap for all the data which is shared between our Macs, iPhones, and iPads. What could be more ambitious than killing the USB cable?
The NeXT Years
Randall Stross for The New York Times:
Kevin Compton, who was a senior executive at Businessland during the Next years, described Mr. Jobs after returning to Apple: “He’s the same Steve in his passion for excellence, but a new Steve in his understanding of how to empower a large company to realize his vision.” Mr. Jobs had learned from Next not to try to do everything himself, Mr. Compton said.