techno.blog("Dion")

Imagine this scenario. Say you worked for a company that had a top website and a new browser came out. There were some known bugs when said browser used your website, so you would obviously change the website ASAP. Chance are that you are ahead of the game and already had the fixes ready as you tested with release candidates. Your users grab the latest and greatest browser and use your website with glee.

Now imagine if the following happened: the browser vendor was in charge of your website and you had to ask nee plea with it to update your site. The vendor refuses at first and you have no control at all! All of the users that have upgraded their browser are now getting a sub-par experience. It’s your site, but you have no control. You curse as you know that the fix is RIGHT FRIGGIN THERE but hasn’t been applied.

This is crazy talk. You would never cede control like that. But wait, isn’t that what can happen with the iPhone and Apple? Facebook is one of the most popular applications on the iPhone, yet I read the following from poor Joe Hewitt, the guru that single-handedly created Facebook for iPhone, as well as the original Firebug, worked on Firefox, and much much more:

Submitted an update to the Facebook app a few weeks ago to fix OS 3.0 issues, still awaiting approval.

As of right now, if I am running Facebook on the iPhone 3Gs there are known bugs that Joe has fixed. I can’t run it. This is how they treat THEIR TOP APPLICATIONS which has a brand name company behind it? Imagine how they treat the poor lowly buggers on the totem pole.

Well, actually, we don’t really have to wonder too much. How gutted are you if you bet a year of your company on something with some amount of apparent blessing from Apple, and then see it thrown back in your face with some rule cited … when you know that the guy next door got his work in even though he is doing the same or worse!

Back to Joe. He got the latest 3Gs and talked about how smooth it is. This is great news. I feel like I often have a frozen UI on my 3G (typing, scrolling, any interaction) and it bugs me. If Apple has gotten their device “responsive enough” where the average user doesn’t notice these glitches, they have gone a long way, and as Joe mentions…. will give him time to work on features and not tweaking his code to try as hard as possible to keep his UI responsive (which in some circumstances was proving impossible). Ben has told me “It’s like the PowerBook G4 to MacBook Pro upgrade dude” which is great to hear since recently all upgrades have felt like a wash (e.g. recent Macbook Pro upgrades).

Also, I took another look at the applications that I have installed on my phone, and quickly realized that I use ~5% of them. I have a huge number that I have probably run once. When I look at the ones that I do use, I also quickly saw that the vast majority could easily be web applications, especially with the HTML5 features of Mobile Safari. If Apple continue to open up the API to the WebView (or PhoneGap / Titanium Mobile continue to thrive) then it will be so easy to create a large swarth of applications using simple Web tech. Sure there will be reasons to go closer to the metal, but for a lot…. you won’t have to. That is exciting stuff. I would also love to chat more with Joe about his experience using Cocoa vs. Web tech for layout etc. We have chatted a little, but I would love to talk more.

I went back and forth on getting an upgrade this time around. I was a definite “No” at first due to the pricing, and then AT&T came out saying that they would be helping out, so Ben and I went to check it out. Note: we both were in the same line for the 3G last time around, and at the store we found out that HE got to get the phone for $200 (as a “valued customer”) whereas I would have the pleasure of paying $300 more. I couldn’t whip out my credit card and walk out with the same hardware as him for a shed load more. So, now he will get the chance to lord over me until I do make the upgrade “wow this compass is amazing. wow the responsiveness is fantastic. How did I live without video right in my pocket.” Or, maybe I will jump to a Pre and start hacking on the native SDK that is just Web itself?

Ben and I both got new work 15″ Macbook Pro laptops, and Ben isn’t happy.

I have to admit that it doesn’t feel like the Apple designers may have gone one step too far with the trackpad. In one fell-swoop they took away the button and added new and exciting gestures.

The big problem I have with this is that I have learned to use the trackpad with one thumb at the bottom (where the button was) and I use my index finger to move around. There is a lot of muscle memory there. What this means in practice is that I am in Gmail and the pinch gesture kicks in which results in my font changing size, or the rotate gesture causes an image to skew in Keynote.

In theory, it is beautiful to get rid of the button. In practice I miss the tactile feedback, and the separation of concerns.

Maybe I should quickly grab a Macbook Air which still has the small little trim mouse button?

To those at you who have been using the latest generation of Macbooks, do you get over this? Will this be something that I forget in a month and life will actually be better?

I am really excited to see what comes out of all of the iPhone Tablet rumors.

My son is three years old now, and knows how to use my iPhone. When using the computer, he instinctively started to think of it like the iPhone and would start to touch (and smudge!) the screen.

In the real world we touch things. We grab them. We manipulate them. We don’t often have an abstract notion of moving X to get Y.

Well, there is one that Sam knows well:

These machines are pure evil when you have a young’un as they say “Daddy! Daddy! I want the pink one there!” and you have no chance in hell of ever getting it :)

Anyway, so Sam knows how to use multitouch, and is at an age where we are thinking about setting him up with his own computer. I don’t want to go through the pain to teach him a mouse and keyboard quite yet though, so what if there was a computer he could hold and could use his normal skills to access? The iPhone tablet could be that device!

As a side effect, it would also be the PERFECT home automation device, as well as an eBook reader, and a casual browser, and email checker, and the list goes on and on and on. The computer is changing in front of our eyes isn’t it.

Being a power user sucks, as you are often in the minority. The marketing folks are drooling over the middle of that bell curve, and you are clustered at one end with a few of your mates.

I got reminded of this again with the iPhone 2.2 update that gave me this:

I get it, some people didn’t know that the search icon would do what that huge block on the right hand side now does. Make it like the “normal” browser and maybe they will get it. For me though, the space that they gained with the reload/stop URL bar integration is destroyed by the huge search box which does nothing for me.

If you could change it back, that would be OK. about:config away. But Apple doesn’t do this for us. We live in a Jobsian society where his vision is our vision. One more gripe with the iPhone even with this update…. I keep expecting the team to give us a decent friggin cache. PLEASE let me give the iPhone as much space as it needs to keep my stuff around! A mobile browser that is often on a crap network needs this more than anyone else! Cache more aggressively. Save my JavaScript and CSS! At the very least, don’t let me hit the back button and wait for the entire bugger to be grabbed again for the love of god! Why can’t I about:config and up the caching space and rules :(

I find this common with the Apple tools in general. They often get away with it as the engineers hide things in Apple prefs that we can change. The UNIX sometimes gets a chance to shine through for us there. Developers can sneak in a few more settings that don’t show up in the UI that Mr. J probably looks at with a fine tooth comb.

Argh. So close. Does anyone else feel this way? Maybe it is time to check out Linux? Nah, I am not that crazy ;)

I had the same machine for a couple of machines, and with the most recent move to a newer Macbook Pro, I decided to take a leaf out of the smart movers guide. I am sure you have heard of the simple spring cleaning opportunity when you move house. The system is simple. When you get to the new house, keep non essentials in boxes. If six months or a year later you aren’t using items, then you don’t need them and you can go ahead and sell / donate away.

I have a large list of Apple software that I have kept on Tada-list for a long time.

It started as a “what I run” kind of list, and then it morphed a little. There are more than a few applications that are duplicative in functionality, so I often only have one of them installed.

With Leopard, a lot of the applications aren’t needed. Virtue Desktops? Not so much (even though I am still frustrated by Spaces from time to time!)

Anyway, with the new machine, I am not doing what I normally do; go through the list and install the apps that I have on my old machine. Instead, I am installing on a “need to use” basis. After a few weeks I have been surprised at how little I need some of the applications. We will see if that changes when I get back into more serious work :)

Related

I ran into Joe Hewitt at a local coffee shop in Palo Alto (the beauty of living here…. I get to run into people of the caliber of Joe :) and at some point we talked about Textmate, and how it is surprising that we haven’t seen 2.0. I seem to remember thinking that it would launch pretty close to Leopard itself, so I wonder what is happening. It must have some pretty amazing Core Animations in it by now ;)

Michael Cote also just put up some Mac Tips which has some nice applications for you to install and try…. but only if you need to use them ;)

I have been wanting a Nintendo DS for quite some time. I have watched friends with their special ROMs that have every game under the Sun on them, and some of the games have phenomenal game play. I always love a device that focuses on that rather than raw graphics.

I don’t know why I didn’t get around to getting one. I think that the reason partially lies in the fact that I had bought a PSP when it first game out. It was great fun to play, but since I had a child quite shortly after, I think that my nephews have played it more than I.

There lies the rub. For me, the only real time that I get to play something like that (including a DS if I had one) is on a flight. In those times when boredom sometimes strikes, the Internet isn’t there to help, and you are stuck in cabin where the idea of doing anything useful on the flight disappears.

So, I never have got a DS. I don’t think I will end up with one now, because I can just download games to the iPhone. There aren’t any that I love right now, but I can enjoy a short period playing Tetris and trying out some free / very cheap new games that try to use the gyros.

I trust that the same will go for the Amazon Kindle too. I really like it in theory, and I am waiting for the next version to come out. But by then we may have a MacBook Touch that will illuminate the need.

Sometimes the convergence play doesn’t work. The bulky “I do it all” stops making sense, and you just want something that does that one thing really well. Apple is nailing it though, and I think that the iPhone is actually going to be THE computer in the years to come.

Bluetooth to headsets, glasses that show the screen directly on your retina, voice controls, magic keyboards, and a hell of a lot of processing in the cloud.

I am sorry that I will only be buying a few devices in the future. I always remember my iPhone. I often forget the PSP etc.

I was excited to see that Apple have released a new version of Java that gives you Java 6 support. This is great timing, since JavaOne is next week.

You may be thinking “great timing”, but for poor fellows like myself, it is a double edged sword. If I install it, will it somehow mess up my demos and cause a good blue screen while on stage? What a tease.

In fact, for one of our demos, Ben and I need to use Windows (had fun with that today :/) because we are using some of the new Update 10 work. The demo next week should be a lot of fun if we can pull it off. It is a little out there!

I look forward to installing the new Apple update, right after our JavaOne talk ;)

Believe it or not, I have not been an iTunes purchaser. I didn’t want to deal with the DRM and the mess associated with multiple computers and syncing.

However, I was waiting for my flight from SFO to LHR and thought I would finally give it a whirl. The experience was very poor.

The first problem was in purchasing the darn film I wanted. iTunes kept giving me a generic “Error, try again” message. It finally worked on the five try for some reason.

Then the kicker. The airplane food was over, so I could sit back and relax wit the show of my choosing. I go to play, and get:

“This computer is not authorized to play “Your Movie”. Would you like to authorize it?”

This is why I hate iTunes. I want to be able to just download and play things without all of the hoops. I have just purchased the movie on this computer so LET ME PLAY IT :/

Instead, I have to choose between Bee Movie and Elizabeth: The Golden Age. I choose my RSS reader, podcasts, and a good book.

Nothing makes you curse more than the “convenience fee” that companies like Ticketmaster try to sell you. When I first say that I would be charged more for printing a ticket out compared to mail/will-call I was appalled. The whole point is that I am saving you money guys! No having to pay for call centers. No having to ship things.

Some companies see things backwards and want to squeeze money out of you. I feel this way with Apple sometimes, and agree with a certain Brian on the rentals.

How is it that I pay the same for a rental via iTunes as I would from Blockbuster? Blockbuster has the overhead of the brick and mortar crud (not for long ;). Apple just needs a few servers. Yet, because of the convenience they charge the same and take in all of the profits.

And what about the rest of the Macworld fun?

• You can’t have a great iPhone year every year, but it is clear that this one wasn’t for me
• A small laptop with a battery pain in the butt, no ethernet, etc etc. No thanks. My pain point wrt laptops is not to do with size. My batteries are a constant pain in the butt, so I can’t imagine having to take the bugger in a year later to get a replacement, let alone dealing with the flights to europe! I do think that certain people will love the Air, I am just not the target audience. This isn’t a developer machine, and I am not the kind of guy who buys one of each laptop and deals with the sync issues
• The iPhone update went smoothly for me. I didn’t have any of the update server issues that others had. That being said, although I am very happy to be able to catch up to 1999 and send multiple people SMS messages, the new features are hardly earth shattering. Wobbly icons are cool, but come on :)
• $20 to add apps that you get on the iPhone, and can get via a jailbreak, for the iPod Touch. Really?

When you get a name for constant innovation, it is tough when you don’t blow peoples minds one year. All I wanted was 3G :)

I land in SFO after the fun flight from London which I luckily didn’t miss (Mark Reinhold, also). What do I do after I land? Why turn on my iPhone of course. There is an obvious desire to check email and voice mail as SOON as you land a plane. Just look around.

The problem was that I couldn’t hear any voice mail. Hmm. I try to call, and no cigar. When I got to the car I could use the bluetooth integration, and it worked fine.

So, I did what I normally do, and I setup an appointment at the Stanford shopping mall store. I just got here, and after a lot of testing they realised that some lint fell into the mic line, and the sensor there told the phone “oh, the headset is on, so pump all AV out through that”.

So, if you don’t hear anything out of your phone, and it wasn’t the speaker setting, or audio sources, give this a try: blow into your mic input.