I wonder how quickly web developers figure out how to get around this:
Category: Design
On iPhone 4’s Screen
On existing iPhones (and iPods, and iPads), there is not a lot of distance between the glass surface and the LCD, but there is some. There’s also a very narrow amount of air between the touchscreen glass and the underlying LCD. If you’ve ever got a bit dust under your display, that dust is in the air between the glass and LCD.
It’s mentioned briefly in Apple’s promotional video about the design of the iPhone 4, but they’re using a new production process that effectively fuses the LCD and touchscreen — there is no longer any air between the two. One result of this is that the iPhone 4 should be impervious to this dust-under-the-glass issue. More importantly, though, is that it looks better. The effect is that the pixels appear to be painted on the surface of the phone; instead of looking at pixels under glass, it like looking at pixels on glass. Combined with the incredibly high pixel density, the overall effect is like “live print”.
HTML5 on an Apple Newton
D’Arcy Norman, on visiting Apple’s “HTML5 Showcase” on an Apple Newton:
The content displayed just fine, as best as could be handled by a 15 year old handheld computer. Sure, some of the bells and whistles are missing. But the site is usable.
Standards, especially ones that support graceful degradation of presentation by devices at runtime, ensure we have access to our content long after it’s built, on devices we didn’t have in mind when we built it.
The Most Precise Thing
Steve Jobs, on the new iPhone:
You gotta see this in person. This is beyond a doubt, the most precise thing, and one of the most beautiful we’ve ever made. Glass on the front and back, and steel around the sides. It’s like a beautiful old Leica camera.
For the first time, I prefer the black model over the white.
On Adobe’s Digital Publishing Platform for iPad
Adobe Systems Incorporated has unveiled a new digital viewer technology that enables print publishers to bring stunning digital versions of their magazines to life. This new publishing software was developed with input from Condé Nast’s WIRED magazine, a publication that recently debuted a digital edition for Apple iPad, utilizing the new digital viewer technology. WIRED’s June issue Reader application, now available through the Apple iTunes App Store, is built using Adobe’s digital viewer software.
Greenpeace UK Launches BP Logo Redesign Contest
Some of the entries are pretty good.
Wired App Less Than Meets the Eye?
Jon Gilkison over at InterfaceLab, on Wired’s iPad edition:
There are certain interactive elements to the articles, but – and I apologize to all of the people who put in a lot of back breaking work into this – they’re pretty lame. Tapping on a button-looking element switches out part of the page with another image. You can drag your finger across certain images to make them sort of animate like a flipbook (and in truth, that’s what it is – a series of PNG or JPEG images). There are videos you can tap on to view fullscreen. There are audio clips that you can play. The interactivity in the Wired application is very 1990’s. I am not trying to be insulting either, it’s simply the truth. The Wired application has pretty much brought back image rollovers.
WebOS’ UI Designer Now at Google
We’d heard rumors this morning that Matias Duarte had left Palm for Google, but now we’ve got it straight from Mountain View: Mr. Duarte is the new User Experience Director for Android.
This could be the shot in the arm Android’s interface team badly needs.
Wired’s iPad Edition Released
The tablet is our opportunity to make the Wired we always dreamed of. It has all the visual impact of paper, enhanced by interactive elements like video and animated infographics. We can offer you a history of Mars landings that lets you explore the red planet yourself. We can take you inside Trent Reznor’s recording studio and let you listen to snippets of his work in progress. And we can show you exactly how Pixar crafted each frame of its new movie, Toy Story 3.
Lawyers and Typography
Speaking of lawyers, be sure to check out this site built by Matthew Butterick, a LA attorney with a knack for good design:
Even though the legal profession depends heavily on writing, legal typography is often poor. Some blame lies with the strict typographic constraints that control certain legal documents (e.g. court rules regarding the format of pleadings).
But the rest of the blame lies with lawyers. To be fair, I assume this is for lack of information, not lack of will. This website fills that void. There are numerous guides on typography for generalists but none specifically aimed at lawyers. So as one of the few typographers-turned-attorneys in America—yes, there are others—I figure that if I don’t do it, nobody will.
Iconfactory Outlines Twitterrific’s Future
When Twitter recently announced they were purchasing Atebits’ popular Twitter application, Tweetie, many critics wrote off all 3rd party apps, including Twitterrific. Well, we’re here to say that not only is Twitterrific alive and kicking, but it’s being actively developed with love by the Iconfactory. There are some exciting changes coming to the ‘Little Blue Bird that Could’ and we wanted to give you a wing up.
‘House’ Season Finale Shot on Canon 5D
Even if you don’t watch the show normally, you should see this episode for the video work. It is beautiful. There are shots all over the episode with razor-thin depths of field that were simply stunning. I would love to see more of this.
Greg Yaitanes, the show’s director answered some questions about shooting with just a DSLR on Twitter a while back, and they have been compiled over at PetaPixel.