I believe retina Macs will be announced before summer. Here’s why: in summer, OS X Mountain Lion will get released, but substantial work on HiDPI support has just been done for 10.7.3. Why the rush? Summer is too late, I guess. I won’t be surprised to see the new Macs announced in March along the new iPad. It’s all about displays, so it would make sense.
While modal interfaces are evil, there are cases where the designers haven’t yet figured out a way to get completely modeless. I, for one thing, cannot imagine Photoshop without tools.
But why on Earth does Apple use modes in the Camera app? Notice the small switch in the bottom right:
Don’t know about you, but I constantly get into a trap of modal errors here. I press the shutter button, and heck, the stupid thing is now recording video. Apparently I was shooting video the last time I opened the Camera app... who cares, the moment is missed already.
Apple talks about how they’ve improved the camera start-up time in the new iPhone. That, as well as the addition of a dedicated camera button to the home screen, is great. But things like this stupid switch void their efforts, because there’s always a 50% chance that you won’t to actually take a picture.
Unlike a modeless Photoshop, this problem is easy to solve:
Yes, I know about the different “crop factors” for photo and video and that there are some additional options for photo. But so what? Just call the options “Photo options” and zoom in when starting to shoot video.
Here’s what the future Amsterdam Apple Store looks like:
Multiple logos next to each other? Most identity guidelines strictly prohibit all kinds of logo desacralization. I don’t know if Apple has any (and what they say), but here, Apple seems to be fine with the play.
Oh, by the way, this is what the coat of arms of Amsterdam looks like:
Good taste and good sense of humor is above guidelines and rules.
The new mix is a progressive house one.
I was going to call it “Lust And Passion” as it includes the tracks named “Circles of Lust” and “Passion Of Zorro”. But then I changed my mind: Dosem and his track Freed are the heroes of the mix. In fact, everything Dosem produces is delicious. Both “Beach Kisses” and “Silent Drop” were splendid. And now here’s Freed (40:25+) — boy is it good!
The rest of the tracks are also great. Why would I include them in the mix otherwise, right?
Wireless DJ, the iPad MIDI controller (created by Evgen Bodunov and myself), has been updated to support effects. Use EQ/FX switch to select how to treat the three knobs and turn the effects on/off with a separate button. I’ve made a video with a demo of the new feature. Not a great performance, but good enough for you to get the idea. Also, this Dany Sbert’s track is awesome:
By the way, the website has been also updated. Don’t forget to download the new configuration file for Traktor Pro.
Wireless DJ is the most affordable and cool way to get into mixing.
If you just want to take a picture, you use your iPhone. But what if you want great quality? Not “great for a phone”, but plain great? You shoot with a DSLR camera.
Unfortunately, DSLRs are painfully outdated. With them you can’t tweet or email photos, you can’t crop or adjust them and you can’t organize your library. And to get your photos anywhere, you’ll need a cord or a compatible card reader. This is ridiculous given that it’s 2012.
Adding all these features to cameras, on the other hand, seems unrealistic. It will take years of work and the UI will be terrible. Doubt it? Just look at your current camera buttons and menus and imagine setting up a twitter account on it. It’s crazy, no one would ever do this even if they had the feature.
The solution: remove everything from the back side of the camera and make it an iPhone dock:
Here are the features you get for free (or at low cost) after you’ve done this:
OK, stop me, or I can just list all the iPhone features and say they are now features or this awesome DSLR.
Since you don’t have to include all this stuff with the camera, it will be dramatically cheaper to produce. And since it makes the camera so much more useful, it’s an incredible profit opportunity. How come nobody has done it yet?
Syncing iPhone before iOS 5:
Syncing iPhone with iOS 5:
Thank god the old way still works.
Many people romanticize the experience of reading a printed book, but I just don’t get it.
Neither do I. And I’m all for calling ebooks (including the ones purchased from iBookstore), books.
But there at least four notable books that don’t work as ebooks, at least given today’s state of technology. They are: “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information”, “Envisioning Information”, “Visual Explanations” and “Beautiful Evidence”, all by Edward Tufte. You want all that awesomeness on paper.
Some time ago there was a discussion about iPhone’s ring/silent switch and the way it does not mute some of sounds. Namely, it doesn’t mute timers and alarms, music and video. So only the sounds you don’t control and don’t explicitly ask for (i. e. calls, texts, emails, other notifications) are muted. Turns out, some people don’t like this behavior and would prefer the switch to just mute everything. I’m with Guy English here: I don’t want anyone but the alarm clock to wake me up.
But some say, well, if it’s a matter of personal preference, why couldn’t this have been optional? Obviously, there’s already way too much stuff in Settings app and adding even more options is a bad idea. And Apple is famous for not liking options. But there’s a reason, I’ve found, why adding this option would be a particularly bad one.
On a MacBook there’s no way to choose what it does when you close the lid, it just goes to sleep. On Windows notebook this is a matter of user preference. Some prefer their machines to continue working after being closed, and it makes sense if you want to, say, download an HD movie overnight. Why not add this setting on a Mac?
As a Mac user I would not welcome this setting. Having no choice means closing the lid is a reliable way to sleep my notebook. I just close it, I don’t have to double check before putting it into a bag. It won’t drain my battery or overheat just because I forgot to change the stupid setting. It will go to sleep (there are some smart exceptions which are irrelevant in this discussion). On Windows you are never sure. You can’t rely on a notebook to do the right thing. You have to double check every time.
If there were a way to choose whether ring/silent switch mutes all sounds or just calls and notifications, I’d never be sure my alarm would wake me up. I would have to double check this setting every time. And one day I will oversleep and miss an important meeting. Who would be to blame?
So sometimes “optional” means “unreliable”. I wonder if readers could provide more examples of this.
My name is Ilya Birman, and I’m a designer, writer and what not. I’ve been writing for 9 years on my blog in Russian. Now I’m starting this new blog in English. Why?
My main interests are web and graphic design and making great products. While there are some cultural aspects, I think most of the principles of good design and successful products are universal. So there’s no reason to hide my thoughts and observations from the larger audience.
I’ve also made some products which are of interest to English-speaking world. These include Wireless DJ, the great MIDI-controller app for iPad, Emcee, a small app that displays current song in the menu bar, and Biathlontime, a site on biathlon. More soon! I want to be visible to the current and the future users of my products.
So let’s see how it all works out.
