Month: September 2011

The New Setup ⇥

Marco Arment, on the idea of buying a high-end desktop and a MacBook Air:

Since I never stopped buying laptops since getting the Mac Pro, I’ve been a multiple-computer user since 2008. Trust me, it sucks.

I’d love to get a new 11-inch MacBook Air with a 27-inch iMac, but the thought of keeping both in sync is unfathomable. Even with current tools like Dropbox, and soon-to-be current tools like iCloud, it’s still an enormous pain to keep my stupid huge media files in check. It just doesn’t work for me.

His choice (spoiler alert!) was a 15-inch MacBook Pro, maxed out with a big solid-state drive, relocating the standard hard drive to the optical drive bay. This would likely be my choice as well, with the obligatory enormo-display at the desk.

Sony’s Inspired Unlimited Music Designer

Sony launched a promotional website for their new tablet, inventively named the “Tablet S”, and I like the idea. The website is beautifully done, too, with that trendy parallax scrolling in heavy use. Something struck me upon reaching the Unlimited Music section. This is a shot of what the service looks like (click to enlarge any image in this post):

sony music screenshot

It looks an awful lot like iTunes 8’s genre view:

iTunes 8 screenshot

I failed to grab a screenshot of iTunes 8’s genre view when I had the chance, so all credit goes to Positive Feedback.

Now, of course, this is arguably nitpicking. Showing genres in an interactive, image-heavy way is not a unique concept. However, some of the genre-representative images on Sony’s device are quite close. In each, the foreground is the iTunes thumbnail; the background is the Sony version.

One may argue that the iTunes images are obvious representations, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the metaphors are the only ones Sony designers could have used. Why not use a saxophone for jazz, or a different font for dance? Sony has one of the better design teams in the tech world. There’s no reason they couldn’t have tried for something unique.

Leapfrogs ⇥

Shawn Blanc:

Here’s a thought: the iPhone and iPad are testing grounds for one another.

He proceeds to make a decent case for this, until…

The iPad has 3G data connectivity without a carrier contract. The iPhone doesn’t (yet).

The iPhone is available off-contract. I think Blanc is referring to the ability to activate/de-activate 3G service on a whim, which is iPad exclusive.

Sometimes the iPhone gets it before the iPad, and sometimes the iPad gets it before the iPhone.

I don’t think it’s this arbitrary. The newest technology ships first on the device that requires it first. The A4 chip was needed to power the larger display of the iPad; it was later miniaturised for the iPhone 4. The iPhone got FaceTime first because it’s a communication device. Each will ship newer and better technology when it requires it, and then that enhancement will find its way to the other product (and to the lowly iPod touch every September).

Making Beautiful Forms ⇥

Having never used Square but knowing their penchant for good design, I’m not surprised that their initial setup is good. But I am surprised at just how damn good it is. Tristan O’Tierney (the creator of the form) offers some additional insight and features in the comments.

One Path to Better Jobs: More Density in Cities ⇥

How great are the benefits of density? Economists studying cities routinely find that after controlling for other variables, workers in denser places earn higher wages and are more productive. Some studies suggest that doubling density raises productivity by around 6 percent while others peg the impact at up to 28 percent. Some economists have concluded that more than half the variation in output per worker across the United States can be explained by density alone; density explains more of the productivity gap across states than education levels or industry concentrations or tax policies.

The Plot Was Non-Existent ⇥

Earlier:

Yesterday, however, SFPD spokesman Officer Albie Esparza told us that no records of any such activity by SFPD officers existed, as they should if police had been involved in a home visit and search.

Therefore they concluded that there was a chance that “Apple security personnel attempting to recover the prototype falsely represented themselves as police officers.”

Now:

San Francisco Police Department spokesman Lt. Troy Dangerfield now tells SF Weekly that “three or four” SFPD officers accompanied two Apple security officials in an unusual search of a Bernal Heights man’s home.

Amazon’s Kindle Tablet Is Very Real ⇥

A fine article from MG Siegler.

So how much will the 7-inch Kindle cost? $250.

Woah.

It is multi-touch, but from what I saw, I believe the reports that it relies on a two-finger multi-touch (instead of 10-finger, like the iPad uses) are accurate

I believe it is running on a single-core chip (though I’m not 100 percent sure).

I also believe the device only has 6 GB of internal storage.

There is no camera.

Ah, I see. It’s going to be an awesome Nook Color competitor, and will probably poach some of the customers considering the iPad for reading and casual browsing.

The Plot Thickens ⇥

​As the visitors left, one of them — a man named “Tony” — gave Calderón his phone number and asked him to call if he had further information about the lost phone. Calderón shared the man’s phone number with SF Weekly.

The phone was answered by Anthony Colon, who confirmed to us he is an employee of Apple but declined to comment further. According to a public profile on the website LinkedIn, Colon, a former San Jose Police sergeant, is employed as a “senior investigator” at Apple.

If this story is true, I hope the book gets thrown at Apple, and at Colon. It’s shameful behaviour.

So Close ⇥

Mr. Arrington “will run the fund and will continue to write for TechCrunch, but will have no editorial oversight,” said an AOL spokesman. Erick Schonfeld,

So very, very close.