is Roberto Mateu’s geeky blog.
John Gruber, in Macworld:
They take something small, simple, and painstakingly well considered. They ruthlessly cut features to derive the absolute minimum core product they can start with. They polish those features to a shiny intensity.
The next best thing to picking on Steve Job’s brain is reading what John Gruber or Andy Ihnatko think is there.
Apple Sells One Million iPads →
One million iPads in 28 days—that’s less than half of the 74 days it took to achieve this milestone with iPhone
Ka-Ching!
Steve Jobs: Thoughts on Flash →
Steve Jobs shares his (and hence, Apple’s) Thoughts on Flash:
Flash was created during the PC era – for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards – all areas where Flash falls short.
The arguments are pretty strong, not a lot of reality distortion field included.
And the last line is pure gold:
Perhaps Adobe should focus more on creating great HTML5 tools for the future, and less on criticizing Apple for leaving the past behind.
Adobe really needs to have an amazing Flash version for Android soon, or embrace HTML5. The burden of proof is theirs, not Apple’s.
Navjot Pawera on his next setup →
My buddy Navjot Pawera on the plans for his next setup:
- iMac: Post processing photographs, writing (updating blogs, personal stuff), web development, occasional video editting/graphics work
- 13” Macbook: Media Center
- iPad: Couch browsing (mail, facebook, twitter, RSS feeds), serious reading,
- iPhone: Stays the same loyal companion
I agree with his ingenious plan, sans the MacBook as a Media Center. Only because I already switched to an Acer Aspire Revo as my Boxee machine when my old MacBook died.
Update: after some thought, I realized Nav hasn’t answers the really tough questions:
Which iMac and iPad version to choose?
I’ll be waiting for part 2 of the post.
Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal →
Jonathan Schwartz, on the value of patents:
In 2003, after I unveiled a prototype Linux desktop called Project Looking Glass*, Steve called my office to let me know the graphical effects were “stepping all over Apple’s IP.” (IP = Intellectual Property = patents, trademarks and copyrights.) If we moved forward to commercialize it, “I’ll just sue you.”
Funny, I always thought that Leopard’s dock looked exactly like the one in Project Looking Glass.
/via Daring Fireball
Steve Jobs working on biography with Walter Isaacson →
Brad Stones, on the NYTimes.com:
The book, which is in the early planning stages, would cover the entire life of mr. jobs, from his youth in the area now known as silicon valley through his years at apple, these people said.
Walter Isaacson wrote Einstein: His Life and Universe and Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. I’m more than half-way through the Einstein one, and it’s excellent.
Every time Apple has an event in which they announce a new product, I need about a week to get out of Jobs reality distortion field1 and be able to process information on my own again.
Mind you, the post-event week is not easy on us geeks. It’s an emotional and intellectual roller coaster. You go through euphoria, disappointment, hope, financial analysis and inner-discovery in a short period of time. Then you open Google Reader, and it starts all over again.
So, the iPad. It’s here. If you have followed some of the news you may have heard the following:
To which I say: No, yes, not really.
There is no question that the iPad shares most of the same DNA as the iPhone. But so does a dolphin with an orca. Point is, the fact that something so different looks like it works in such a similar way, speaks volumes of the detail that went into making this device.
The similarities of the iPad with the iPhone are not because of laziness on Apple’s part. Most likely, it’s the results of a strict design restriction. If you own an iPhonesOS device (like other 75 million people) you needed to be able to know how to use the iPad. Which you do.
Should you run out and get it? Probably not. Am I getting one? Of course. -“But,”- you say -“it doesn’t have a camera!”- I know. -“And it doesn’t even support multitasking!”- Very true. -“What about your new Kindle?”- Would you shut up and hear me out?
Ok, I got nothing. However, this is about you, not me.
There are couple reasons why should wait a little. For starters, if the iPhone and iPod touch are any indication, it’s likely Apple will update the storage sizes and maybe the prices around November. Also, unlike with the iPhone, it looks like Google “& partners” will be able to quickly deliver their own answer for this segment in the same timeframe.
Obviously, all of this assumes that the hoopla around the tablet form-factor has legs. Which I believe it does.
If you typically turn on your TV and immediately open you laptop, you’ll eventually feel the need for the iPad. If do the same with your iPhone or mobile phone, it would happen even sooner.
Try not to dismiss the iPad (or the whole tablet category for that matter) because you feel perfectly fine with your laptop or netbook. Most people where perfectly fine with CD player six years ago, and with a basic Nokia phone even more recently.
With the iPad, Apple has clearly signaled where they think personal computing is going. Or at least, where they are going to stubbornly pull it towards. Make no mistake about it, the iPhoneOS is the future of the Mac.
In desktop OSes, all complexity is staring back at you every time you use an application. My Mom can always find a way to change something once, and never be able to get back to the same place ever again. I call this UI dead-ends.
On good touch UI’s, this isn’t as common. The iPhoneOS has a great UI.
That’s why there will be an iPad in your wish-list someday. Maybe not this year, but sooner or later you’ll see how effortlessly something is done on it. A task that usually takes more than a couple clicks on your computer will be done with a few gestures.
Then you’ll know. Just like I do now. That you need one.
If you don’t understand the reality distortion field, the closest analogy I can give is that it’s like withdrawal symptoms. You know that you are in a place that is not good for you, but you don’t want to leave. You feel safe, real-world problems don’t apply to you, and you’re convinced you can stop believing whenever you want. ↩
Aaron Swartz’s asks, Is Apple Evil?:
It’s clear that Apple plans for the iPhone OS to be the future of its product line. And that’s scary because the iPhone OS is designed for Apple’s total control.
[…]
I love Apple products. I’m a huge Apple fan. I’d buy an iPad right now if I could. But, for the first time, I’ve got a real sinking feeling in my stomach.
This is part of my internal debate regarding yesterday’s announcement.