The Brooks Review

Category: Links

  • Shawn Blanc on ‘Mobile Bliss’

    Shawn Blanc:

    Imagine if you will what a merging of Dropbox and MobileMe might look like. Something simple and completely expected, I suppose. It would be free, it would sync and share info and files, and it would let other apps use it for syncing. Imagine setting up your iPhone with your Apple ID once, and then any app that has a Mac and/or iPad counterpart would sync. Sounds like mobile bliss.

    Agreed. Shawn offers a great analysis of what iOS users really need from MobileMe and Dropbox – I agree with everything he says (except I DO use the MobileMe galleries feature, so I must be one of the few).

  • NPD Report on iPad Usage

    Stephen Baker:

    Early adopters are now using their iPads for more than 18 hours/week, and for almost one-third of them that time is increasing. Clearly early adopters love their iPads and are finding increased opportunities to use them.

    Clearly.

  • Moleskine Covers for iPhone and iPad

    These look very nice and much better than the DODOcase – the thing is, I don’t want a pad of paper in my iPad case. For me the iPad is about going paperless – not having to also tote around a paper notebook.

    [via Unplggd]

  • A list of Messenger / laptop bags

    Brian Hoff is compiling a list of some great messenger / laptop bag companies over on The Design Cubicle (my personal favorite are the Booqbags, I have had 4 and only replaced them due to differing needs never because of a problem with the bag). Be sure to check this out before you buy your next bag.

  • Bill Frakes and Joe McNally iPad Interview

    A neat interview of two superb photographers, where the iPad asks the questions.

    [via Joe McNally’s blog]

  • The Apps Staging Ground

    Mark Sigal:

    That is why it’s laughable that the latest meme du jour, “The Apps Lifestyle” — and believe me, it is a lifestyle — is ridiculously framed as a trend of the multi-vendor “cell phones” segment. Why? The clear-cut truth is that Apple’s iOS device platform is the staging ground of the Apps Lifestyle, something that ~90-percent of iOS device owners “get” to the point of it being intrinsic, assumed and embedded.

    By contrast, maybe 15 percent of non-iOS device owners embrace The Apps Lifestyle, or even know what it means, and that’s probably being generous. Yet, this composite translates to 29 percent of all users (according to Pew Research Center).

    John Gruber is right, this is a must read.

  • 37signals’ New Office Looks Amazing

    What a beautiful office space – not to mention an impressive amount of open space in the office.

  • Due for iPhone: to-do, task, reminders management app

    From the developer:

    Ever wished you could jot down a task and set up a reminder really, really fast?

    What a great little app, the stored timers are killer for me – baking will be much more accurate now. Not that I do much baking, but when I do – watch out.

    [via Daring Fireball]

  • The Single-Use Blog

    Pretty neat idea, creating a new blog (something on Posterous maybe) for each trip or event in your life. I think this is a great thing for the non-techie people out there (especially with how easy Posterous is). For me though I would rather set up a custom page on an existing blog or something along those lines – still I might just try it out for my next trip/event.

  • Does RIM Have Working Playbook Prototype Yet?

    Justice Gödel Conder argues that RIM only showed people a dummy device and has yet to make an actual Playbook:

    The PlayBook was never demoed at the Live Announcement. The dude is supposedly holding the device in his hands and he doesn’t touch the screen once. Let me repeat that. He never touches the device once! The screen never changes and it never gets dark. I cant help but wonder if he’s just holding a dummy (plastic) device.

    He goes on to compare this with how Apple handled the iPad announcement – allowing everyone to play with the device and showing it in operation over Jobs’ shoulder. Interesting, if true this most likely means the device will ship late and not work as well as shown in the videos.

    [via Mike Rundle on Twitter]

  • John Gruber: “Apple and the Open Web”

    John Gruber’s video presentation at the Web 2.0 Expo.

    [via DF]

  • 430 One Star Ratings

    Dave Caolo on the ratings of the new New Yorker iPad app:

    Out of the 582 ratings left as of this writing, 430 are only one star. The vast majority of low scores come from subscribers who are opposed to the app’s cost.

    The problem: Apple has yet to provide a way for publishers to allow subscription pricing, and until then publishers need to cover the costs of making iPad editions. Apple please fix this.

  • Engadget Reviews the Apple TV

    Joshua Topolsky:

    If you just want a dead simple movie rental box and you’re not that picky about content, the Apple TV is a no-brainer. If, like us, you’re looking for options good enough to make you can the cable, Apple’s new box still feels a lot like a hobby.

    Looks like I will be passing this go around on the Apple TV (again). The Mac mini just makes so much more sense.

  • Everday Carry [dot-com]

    From the site info:

    Everyday Carry, or EDC, generally refers to small items or gadgets worn, carried, or made available in pockets, holsters, or bags on a daily basis to manage common tasks or for use in unexpected situations or emergencies. In a broader sense, it is a lifestyle, discipline, or philosophy of preparedness.

    If you can’t get to the site that will be because it is on Tumblr…just sayin’ they’ve been having problems.

    [via Unplggd]

  • Idiot of the Week: Eric Zeman [Updated]

    Eric Zeman for InformationWeek on why the RIM Playbook is better than an iPad:

    The PlayBook has a 1GHz dual-core processor with multi-symmetric processing. The iPad has a single core 1GHz processor. We haven’t seen any benchmarks yet, but two cores is twice as good, right? RIM claims the PlayBook is the “Fastest. Tablet. Ever.” We’ll have to see just how fast it is once it is available for sale.

    In actuality I should have quoted his entire article – the whole thing is that dumb. He his talking out of his ass about something he has never held, not to mention the fact that ‘speed’ is based just as much on the software as it is on the hardware. So to say that having a dual core chip is ‘better’ is just dumb, they aren’t even the same architecture, let alone the fact that they run different OSes.

    [Updated: 9/28/10 at 2:46 PM] I know that he is being partially sarcastic in the above quote – but honestly read the entire article and you will see that it is really misinformed.

  • The Value of a Donation of Facebook Shares to Newark

    Apparently Zuckerberg will be setting up a company that will house $100 million worth of Facebook shares for his pledged donation to the New Jersey schools. Andrew Ross Sorkin for the New York Times writes:

    People involved in the donation process say that the Facebook shares pledged will be worth $100 million based on the company’s own internal valuation, not the value assigned by the secondary market.

    Sounds like a sweet deal for Zuckerberg, he may only have to give up one single share.

  • ‘Omnifocus Brings Desktop Caliber GTD To iPad’

    Brandon Pittman reviewing OmniFocus for the iPad:

    $20 for the iPhone version is fair and $40 for the iPad version can be justified because I actually feel like it’s of desktop quality, just on your iPad. I can’t get behind $80 for the Mac version of Omnifocus though. I use it the least of the three apps, and since you can sync the iPhone and iPad without a desktop version, unlike Things, using just the mobile versions in tandem is a completely viable solution.

    I couldn’t agree more, if I didn’t already have the Mac version of OmniFocus I would not buy it today. That said it does come in handy if you use your Mac all day and not the iPad – but for $80 I think I would figure out how to work in the iPad a bit more first.

  • Typedia’s Q & A with Mark Simonson

    Mark Simonson on the tools he uses for Font design:

    Eventually, I realized that the tools I had were more than good enough, had been good enough for a long time, and that all I was doing was procrastinating. I still get hung up about it sometimes, and I have to remind myself to get back to work.

    Typedia is just starting the Q&A series with Font designers and if you are a font nerd like me you will love it.

    [via Jason Santa Maria on Twitter]

  • AOL Officially Acquires TechCrunch

    The linked item is the press release, I didn’t read it because a) it looked boring b) it doesn’t matter. All that matters to me is that they continue to let MG Siegler do his thing, he is the best writer they have.

  • Microsoft Replacing Windows Live Spaces with WordPress.com

    This should be very interesting for WordPress – if they can handle this with no downtime it should be a huge win for everyone. I am curious though – why didn’t Microsoft just buy WordPress.com?