The Brooks Review

Year: 2012

  • Stealability

    Turns out that when you ‘share’ a link from Readability, the link that is shared links back to the readability optimized site — not to the original source article. This is both shady and completely at odds with the ‘goodwill’ nature of the web. (Read it Later and Instapaper share links that go back to the source article.) Or as A.T. Faust III put it:

    >Still, intentional or not, Readability’s current setup is tantamount to content theft, and that’s a problem for everyone involved.

    [Here’s how you ‘opt-out’ of Readability’s madness](https://brooksreview.net/2012/03/opt-out/).

    [via J.D.]

  • The B&B Podcast #54: Distraction-Free Sweater

    Shawn and I talk about business models of apps like Instagram and services like Twitter. We also discuss our iPad usage and how it fits into our workflows.

    Be sure to check in on 5by5 to listen to us live on Thursdays, and if you are interested in sponsoring the show drop me a line.

  • The End of RIM as We Know It

    Dan Frommer:
    >Not only is RIM in worse financial shape, but all bets are off for its recovery.

  • RootMetrics Carrier Coverage Map

    >How do cellular carriers really perform? Find out by entering your city, zip code or even your address in the search box below, or by selecting a city from the available list. Discover your carrier’s strength over your mobile footprint. Find out your carrier’s RootScore – an aggregate grade – and get an understanding of your carrier’s voice and data strength. Then view all four carriers side-by-side. You may be surprised by the facts.

    Good to know.

  • OopsieFocus Script

    Still use this script from Shawn everyday. I love it so much I thought I would remind everyone of it.

  • Subtle Papers II for the Retina iPad

    *Finally*

  • ‘Yes, the iPad 2 Is Better Than the “New” iPad’ [Warning: Link to Enderle]

    Rob Enderle:
    >Granted, there were folks who believed the iPad 2 didn’t offer enough of an improvement over the original device to justify the purchase. I didn’t agree then, but with the 4G data limitations and the file size, power, and weight issues connected to the new display, well, I simply don’t see the iPad 3 as a better tablet – just different.

    [No, Rob, you didn’t agree then — instead you just thought no one would buy an iPad 2](http://www.tgdaily.com/opinion/54470-rotten-apples-is-the-tablet-ipad-bubble-breaking):

    >Actually, I think they will have lines for the iPad 2, at least initially. If those first customers get excited about the device then Apple will be fine – although I’d still likely question whether anybody else will be; given no other tablet has yet to sell as well.   



    Hmm.

    Lastly, where’s the data to back this claim up:

    >Clearly, if you are an iPad 2 user you already have the better product.

    *Clearly.*

  • “My Dad’s iPhone ‘Smoked’ Windows Phone, Denied Prize”

    Sounds like Ravi Udeshi got screwed by a sore loser.

  • MailTags 3

    Fantastic app, glad to see a new version. [Be sure to check out these Applescripts to if you use OmniFocus to auto add some ticklers from Mail to OmniFocus using MailTags](http://simplicityisbliss.com/post/15179318547/top-5-omnifocus-applescripts).

  • Svbtle for WordPress

    Pretty nice hack if you still want to own your content, but also want a less — erm — cluttered admin and publishing system.

  • DuckDuckGo Traffic Taking Off

    It almost resembles iOS device sales.

  • The Tricorder Project

    Hell yeah.

  • The Making of Frameographer

    A nice behind the scenes look at an app that I love playing with.

  • The Bro Show – Episode 101 – Everybody Needs More Linen

    I was a guest on The Bro Show this week Where Myke, Terry and I discuss iOS 6 wishes. Thanks to them for having me.

  • Amazon Item of the Week: Panasonic WhisperCeiling

    I know what you are probably thinking: “Ben why are you linking to a ceiling exhaust fan?” Because it is one hell of a ceiling exhaust fan that’s why. A couple of months ago — maybe more — I received a random message from Marco Arment that said I needed to file something away for future purchase — it was *this* fan. He said it was amazingly quiet.

    So I asked my father about it — he’s a commercial contractor — and it turns out he just installed one in his house. He said the same thing Marco did: it’s amazingly quiet. The reviews on Amazon were along the same lines.

    I installed one over the weekend and can say when the shower is running you can’t hear the sound of the fan over the noise from the water. In fact, I think most of the noise the fan makes is from the air rushing through it. I never thought I would write this much about a ceiling fan, but I just did, because I love it.

    [Go get it](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B003TJAGO4/ref=nosim&tag=brooksreview-20).

  • ‘Suddenly Microsoft Is the Hippest Tech Company Around’

    Rebecca Greenfield:
    >While Apple and Google are busy getting bad press for their privacy issues, labor practices and general big-evil-company wrongdoings, Microsoft has done some brand regeneration, making it look like the hippest tech company on the block these days.

    That’s the opening sentence — it only gets more stupid and pathetic from there.

  • Apple Offers iPad Refunds

    Sarah Farnsworth reporting on the legal outcome of a lawsuit over the new iPad in Australia:

    >Computer giant Apple has offered to refund people who bought its new iPad, which it admits is not compatible with Telstra’s 4G network.

    It’s almost like a dare from Apple right? Kinda like them saying: we know you want the iPad, you know you want the iPad, so we call your bluff.

  • ‘If It’s Walking Like a Duck, It Should Quack’

    Tom Hume on skeuomorphism:
    >I also find this line of reasoning supportive of my emotional response to skeuomorphs: on the desktop I find the hardback feel of the address book tacky; on a touch-screen device I find an almost-identical interface absolutely fine:

    That’s a good point — skeuomorphism makes sense when it is a thing you are physically interacting with (such as on a touch screen), but seems confusing (if not stupid) on a touch-less computer screen.

  • Quote of the Day: Sascha Segan

    “Finding tablet-oriented apps for Android is a hunt, a chore, and a grind.”

  • Calendar Redux

    Every so often [this post I wrote in September of 2010](https://brooksreview.net/2010/09/sucky-calendars/) about digital calendar paradigms pops back up. (It features a horrible design mockup of a calendar app I would like to see for my Mac.) This go around I think I am going to blame Patrick Rhone for the article’s resurgence:

    The thing is, for the most part, Calendar apps still really suck (maybe they suck more given how Calendar in Lion looks). Every time this post bubbles back up I get emails from developers that either want to develop the app I want (never seems to happen) or that think they have the app I want (they never do). That’s fine and nice to see, but seeing this again reminded me that there is light at the end of this tunnel.

    No, there’s still no perfect OS X calendar app — hell not even a good iPad one — but we are getting damned close on the iPhone. This near perfection comes in the form of one app and one iOS system level service working in harmony: [Agenda](http://getappsavvy.com/agenda/) and Siri.

    Since I received my first beta invite to test [Agenda](http://getappsavvy.com/agenda/), I fell in love with it. For me Agenda perfectly encapsulates what I need in an iPhone calendar app: showing me what’s next.

    Agenda excels at this.

    For the longest time my main complaint about Agenda was that it was still very cumbersome to enter in a new appointment, but Siri changed that. Now I can just speak my appointment at my iPhone and it shows up in Agenda (even though Siri just inputs it into the Calendar app). It’s a solution that works surprisingly.

    So well in fact, that I do 95% of all my calendaring in Agenda on my iPhone — even when my hands are already on my keyboard.

    If you are still having problems with finding a good calendaring app — give Agenda a try and forget about calendaring on your Mac or iPad.

    *Seriously, forget about it.*

    ### For Those of You That Just Ignored That Advice

    Ok, so you just ignored me and want to know what I use on my iPad and Mac — because I *must* have something better than you, right? Well, I don’t.

    Truthfully the only time I use a calendar on my Mac is to input a new event — for that I alternate between [Fantastical](http://flexibits.com/fantastical) and [QuickCal](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/quickcal/id416581096?mt=12), just depending on my mood and the lunar cycle.

    On my iPad I use Agenda (recently switching for the nicely polished [Calvetica](http://mysterioustrousers.com/calvetica)) simply because it is the lesser of two evils. I don’t love Agenda’s UI on the iPad — I think it is a bad balance between too sparse and to cluttered, if that makes sense. ((I hate to say that about an app that a lot of time went into, but it is how I truthfully feel about it.)) In my opinion I have yet to see anyone create a calendar app ((Or weather app for that matter.)) for the iPad that properly utilizes the iPad screen size — I’d be happy to be proven wrong.

    So for those of you that loathe all the digital calendar solutions: I hear you. But I bet you would be pretty happy with Agenda on your iPhone 4S (so you can get Siri) and ditching the thought of using a Mac calendar app for anything more than creating the odd new appointment. That solution really has worked out well for me.