The Verge has a live blog going for the interview, which is scheduled to start at 9:30pm eastern time.
I desperately hope this is an early prototype since we’re roughly 4-5 months away from the release because it’s ugly as sin. And very unlike Apple’s typical design strategy.
John Moltz entire review can be summed up in this single, witty paragraph:
But how far does my respect for Windows 8 go? Well, would it surprise you to know that I wrote this entire article on Windows 8? It should. Because I didn’t. I wrote most of it on my MacBook Pro and my iPad.
I have a few points to make on Jim Dalrymple’s piece on all the iPad “mini” rumors. It’s very good, and my problem is not with him, but instead with all the stupid speculation over a 7-inch iPad.
The reason that most people bring up regarding the release of a 7-inch iPad is the Kindle Fire. Analysts and media types insist that Apple needs to bring a smaller tablet to market to ward off the threat from Amazon.
There are a couple of things to consider with this argument. First, people that use that as the basis for the release of a 7-inch iPad are full of shit. Second, using that argument shows they don’t understand Apple and how the company works.
When I read the first paragraph I was thinking, “Is he fucking serious right now? Since when do analysts know anything about how Apple works?” and then I read the second paragraph and chuckled. He’s spot on, clearly.
Dalrymple then goes on to make a comparison to the iPod. The first iPod was announced as a standalone product, then Apple expanded upon the iPod by making it in smaller sizes: iPod mini, iPod nano, etc.
The point of this article is not to say if a 7-inch iPad would be plausible. Instead, it’s just to explain how and why Apple would expand the iPad into a line if they chose to do so. I’d argue that Apple doesn’t need to expand it, and I’m not sure why people are constantly speculating that they will or need to. The iPod is a good comparison, but the iPod isn’t relevant anymore. It’s an old product. I think it’s safe to say that since the iPhone’s release, Apple has learned a lot, and perhaps along the way they learned that it’s not necessary to have multiple models for one product in order to be successful.
So far, people are only buying Kindle Fires and other 7-inch tablets because they are more affordable, not because they prefer a 7-inch tablet. Apple has almost never made affordability a priority because the products they make are based upon the concept that people are willing to pay for quality. The iPad is quality. The Kindle Fire is not.
I think Apple, at least for now, will do the same thing with the iPad that they’ve done with the iPhone. Release new iPads with top-tier prices and keep selling previous-generation iPads, but for new lower prices.
Big story today from CNN on how Tim Cook is supposedly making small changes to Apple, but the article is really just mostly based on how Tim Cook is different from Steve Jobs. And that’s just it: Tim Cook is not Steve Jobs. No one can ever be Steve Jobs, just like no one can ever be Tim Cook. Naturally, Tim Cook is going to do some things differently, and it’s wrong for anyone to expect him to simply pick up where Jobs left off.
The article mentions that most employees are very confident so far that Tim Cook is leading Apple into a bright future, but employees’ opinions of a company don’t mean much to consumers. All we need to worry about is whether Apple keeps churning out products of the highest quality. So far, so good.
Axis is Yahoo’s attempt at a web browser, sort of. It’s a full web browser for iPad and iPhone, but for the deskop it’s only a plugin for Chrome, Safari, Firefox or IE. Axis is built around the concept that we need a better way to search for things, e.g. with more visuals and instant results instead of scrolling through a sea of links.
In my experience, it shines the brightest on the iPad and iPhone. In the desktop browser, it feels too much like I should be touching it instead of clicking with a mouse to scroll through results.
It’s fairly unique and intuitive in certain regards, but I probably won’t use it very often if at all. The focus is too much about search, and I think this is going to be *the* browser of choice (or plugin) for people who do a lot of research or just constant web searches in general. I’m not one of those people.
Here’s John Gruber’s thoughts on how an iPhone with a 4-inch display would become a reality, and how developers may have to deal with some work for optimizing apps to take advantage of it. The post is aptly entitled:
How Apple Could Play the Bigger-Display iPhone Thing at WWDC, Which I Swear, I’m Still Not Convinced Is for Real But We’re Getting to the Point Where There’s an Awful Lot of Smoke for There Not to Be a Fire So Let’s Run With It
I share the same opinion, right down to the title.
From Kickstarter:
The CordLite is a charging cable that provides illumination, enabling you to see your charging port in any low light environment. It’s so simple, that by simply picking it up or holding it, it illuminates. The touch design eliminates the need for buttons or switches and keeps the look clean and simple.
Another one of the fantastic Kickstarter projects that makes you think: “Why the hell didn’t someone come up with this a long time ago?” Be sure to pledge $30 to pre-order.
The latest scoop from 9to5Mac:
Apple will not just increase the size of the display and leave the current resolution, but will actually be adding pixels to the display. The new iPhone display resolution will be 640 x 1136. That’s an extra 176 pixels longer of a display. The screen will be the same 1.9632 inches wide, but will grow to 3.484 inches tall. This new resolution is very close to a 16:9 screen ratio, so this means that 16:9 videos can play full screen at their native aspect ratio.
Beautifully designed website for what looks like a beautifully designed upcoming web development app. Available May 24th. Click through for a superb tour of the new features.
Bryan Wolfe, AppAdvice:
According to the Apple design group, “If the Apple logo was placed such that it was right side up when the lid was opened then it ended up being upside down when the lid was closed, from the point of view of the user.” In other words, from a users’ perspective, it was all wrong.
Interesting look at a unique history of the Apple logo. According to the piece, Steve Jobs cared about how the consumer would look at the logo, but in 2004 eventually decided the product would look better if the logo was flipped to benefit the onlooker’s perspective.
The New Windows 8 Desktop UI
The first time they saw this screenshot, most people thought it was a joke or a mockup from a mediocre designer. It’s not; it’s real. And I knew it was real. Want to know how I knew it was real? This.
(via parislemon)
