July 2010
1 post
The Magic Trackpad is Just a Better Mouse
For all the hyperbole about the mouse being dead, no one has called out the Magic Trackpad for being what it really is—just a better mouse. Though it is touch based and enables certain gestures, the power of a real touch based OS like iOS is in direct manipulation via a touch screen. Here’s how I put it in my chapter on iOS UI in iPhone User Interface Design Projects:
“One of the keys...
June 2010
1 post
Anti-Competitive AND Potentially Creepy
I’m at WWDC and don’t have time to fully polish my thoughts, but I thought this was important enough to post a rough draft… please excuse the rough edges and rambling. I was quoted in the Wall Street Journal yesterday, but the story just didn’t go deep enough into my thoughts about this fascinating turn of events.
The new terms in section 3.3.9 of the iOS developer agreement are...
March 2010
1 post
Made, Is Making, or Will Make?
Properly conjugating a verb helps distinguish among past, present, and future events. Mobile developers and the tech press seem to have an awful time with conjugation, often making bad decisions or writing misleading headlines on account of that apparent confusion.
Gas Cubby *made* $32,446.54 in the 30 days following March 25th, 2009—the day it was selected by Apple as the Staff Pick of the Week...
January 2010
3 posts
Greener Pastures in the App Store
Monday night I finally decided to pull the trigger on a decision I’ve been debating for quite some time. I moved Gas Cubby from the Utilities category to Productivity.
As the App Store grows, the “Top Paid” list (the top 100 apps by sales volume) in each category has become crowded with various levels of crap, soft porn, and cheap apps. I don’t know the exact number, but...
Touch Screen Edge Cases
While fiddling with the Nexus One last week, I was incredibly annoyed at how many times I accidentally tapped the Home button while trying to tap the space bar on the software keyboard. I posted this little note on Twitter about the issue: “DON’T EVER PUT BUTTONS FLUSH WITH THE BOTTOM OF A SOFTWARE KEYBOARD. PEOPLE WILL ACCIDENTALLY TAP THEM AND BE PISSED”...
Quick thoughts on the Nexus One
Overall I don’t think Apple has much to worry about with the Nexus One, but Google sure is trying. The thing is, my 55 year old mother LOVES her iPhone. I could never recommend something fiddly like the Nexus One to my parents (who took to the iPhone like a duck to water). The logarithmic growth in smart-phones is happening in the non-techie crowd and Apple clearly has the best device for...