Top Posts

Leica Sofort 2June 13, 2024
Grand Seiko SBGX261February 23, 2023

Recent Articles

  • Mozilla May Make Flash Click-to-play By Default in Future Firefox

    Should be the default for all browsers, it makes the web useable.

    Should be the default for all browsers, it makes the web useable.

  • Retina.js: Retina graphics for your website

    I’ve seen a ton of these types of hacks lately and this one looks nice, but I can’t wait for there to be a more elegant solution. That solution may just be waiting until the average Internet speed is fast enough for websites to always serve the retina graphics.

    I’ve seen a ton of these types of hacks lately and this one looks nice, but I can’t wait for there to be a more elegant solution. That solution may just be waiting until the average Internet speed is fast enough for websites to always serve the retina graphics.

  • Change Log of the Day: Camera+

    “NOT owned by Facebook” Classic.

    “NOT owned by Facebook”

    Classic.

  • ‘Why Is iCloud Free?’

    Stephen Hackett: >Where does iCloud fit in to this? iCloud isn’t backed by piles of VC money, nor is it paid for by ads. Does that mean that it will go away one day? His answer is spot on.

    Stephen Hackett:
    >Where does iCloud fit in to this? iCloud isn’t backed by piles of VC money, nor is it paid for by ads. Does that mean that it will go away one day?

    His answer is spot on.

  • 500px

    A while back when I was worried about the inevitable death of Flickr I decided to look around at other online photography options. 500px came right up to the top of the list and I signed up for an account (paid account) right away. I loved the design of the site and it seemed like…

    A while back when I was worried about the inevitable death of Flickr I decided to look around at other online photography options. 500px came right up to the top of the list and I signed up for an account (paid account) right away. I loved the design of the site and it seemed like a really nice place to be.

    Fast forward to last week, with the arrival of my daughter, I needed a place to share photos with my family. I decided that 500px would be that place, not Flickr. With their [Lightroom plugin](http://500px.com/lightroom), it is really a snap to add pictures, well and drag and drop at least.

    Now a week into really using the site I can see that this is *the* site I will be using for my photos. What a fantastic service. They also received a bunch of due praise this week for their readable and understandable [terms of service](http://500px.com/terms).

    A great service run by some great photographers.

  • Dropbox’s Future

    Drew Houston on creating the experience that “just works” with Dropbox: >Achieving that experience is not simple: we have a polished exterior, but there’s this jungle of different operating systems [with which we must work] and even gnarlier stuff like operating-system bugs and incompatibilities. It’s a hostile environment: we macheted our way through that jungle…

    Drew Houston on creating the experience that “just works” with Dropbox:
    >Achieving that experience is not simple: we have a polished exterior, but there’s this jungle of different operating systems [with which we must work] and even gnarlier stuff like operating-system bugs and incompatibilities. It’s a hostile environment: we macheted our way through that jungle of problems. It was a bunch of us spending big chunks of our 20s chasing down these obscure compatibility issues.

    Statements like this are what worry me most about the future of services like Dropbox. I for one think that Apple is committed to iCloud and thus they would prefer it baked into all Mac and iOS apps instead of Dropbox — so what reason would Apple have to *not* break all the hacks that Dropbox has in place? And there’s Dropbox’s biggest problem.

  • Apple is allowed (at long last) to intervene in Lodsys lawsuit against app developers

    Nice for those app developers that have yet to settle.

    Nice for those app developers that have yet to settle.

  • ‘Is This the World’s Ugliest iPad App?’

    If it’s not, then I don’t want to see what is.

    If it’s not, then I don’t want to see what is.

  • The B&B Podcast #56: Tilt-Shifted Lemonade

    >Ben and Shawn talk about Ben’s life as a brand-new dad, Instagram and Facebook, and the Pebble smartwatch. This was a fun episode talking about my kid, then Shawn wanted to know my thoughts on the Pebble watch and everything got *real* (huh?).

    >Ben and Shawn talk about Ben’s life as a brand-new dad, Instagram and Facebook, and the Pebble smartwatch.

    This was a fun episode talking about my kid, then Shawn wanted to know my thoughts on the Pebble watch and everything got *real* (huh?).

  • Consistency

    J. Eddie Smith, IV writing about Byword: >The concept of a device-dependent, plain-text-oriented writing application that offers consistency in UI, feature set, and syncing is very cool. Agreed. iA Writer does that well, as does Reeder. Consistency is a great term for apps like these and I would like to see more of it.

    J. Eddie Smith, IV writing about Byword:
    >The concept of a device-dependent, plain-text-oriented writing application that offers consistency in UI, feature set, and syncing is very cool.

    Agreed. iA Writer does that well, as does Reeder. Consistency is a great term for apps like these and I would like to see more of it.

  • Dropcam

    Not only does this have some great features, but it looks really neat. Anyone have one, I’d love to know how it actually works. [via Cult of Mac]

    Not only does this have some great features, but it looks really neat. Anyone have one, I’d love to know how it actually works.

  • The Cosmonaut Stylus

    I find the very notion of a stylus for the iPad to be offensive. [The last one I tried was horrible](https://brooksreview.net/2011/02/stylus/). Then Paper came out and I really *wanted* something to help me draw a bit better and so there was really only one stylus left that I had to try: The Cosmonaut. I purchased…

    I find the very notion of a stylus for the iPad to be offensive. [The last one I tried was horrible](https://brooksreview.net/2011/02/stylus/). Then Paper came out and I really *wanted* something to help me draw a bit better and so there was really only one stylus left that I had to try: The Cosmonaut. I purchased one and man am I impressed, [I am with Marco Arment when he says](http://www.marco.org/2011/12/12/the-cosmonaut-stylus-review):

    >The Cosmonaut is the only capacitive stylus I’ve wanted to use for more than thirty seconds. The others were novelties, but this is a truly useful tool. It’s excellent, and I’m going to start bringing it in my computer bag.

    It’s in my bag too ((I know, I can’t believe it either. I was wrong.)) , well not *right now*, because I am going to be needing it out.

  • A Look at the Das Keyboard Pro for Mac by Garrett Murray

    I have a visceral hatred of these things. They are ugly and big and loud, but people seem to love using them. I don’t get it, nor do I want to get it. In my mind these are like a Subaru with a four inch exhaust pipe on it that makes it sould like weed…

    I have a visceral hatred of these things. They are ugly and big and loud, but people seem to love using them. I don’t get it, nor do I want to get it.

    In my mind these are like a Subaru with a four inch exhaust pipe on it that makes it sould like weed wacker: it may drive really well, but I want nothing to do with it. ((One could argue it is more like a classic muscle car. That may be, but trust me, you don’t want to drive one of those everyday.)) These things seem like a novelty to me and I can’t fathom why you would want to use one for more than a day every two years.

  • ‘People on Twitter Learn That The Titanic Was Not Just A Movie’

    I… it’s just that… really?

    I… it’s just that… really?

  • ‘Why Instagram & YouTube Are So Alike’

    Om Malik: >Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram reminds me of Google’s acquisition of YouTube — buying a whole different kind of engagement and interaction medium from their core offering. This has been said to me many times since I reacted so strongly to the acquisition by Facebook. I think that analogy fits, but unlike others I…

    Om Malik:
    >Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram reminds me of Google’s acquisition of YouTube — buying a whole different kind of engagement and interaction medium from their core offering.

    This has been said to me many times since I reacted so strongly to the acquisition by Facebook. I think that analogy fits, but unlike others I think that makes this even worse.

    Since acquiring YouTube, how has Google made YouTube better? The best quality videos are on Vimeo. The funniest are usually on Funny or Die. And unless I am mistaken neither were major players in the video space when Google purchased YouTube back in 2006.

    YouTube still can’t playback video smoothly, it still takes forever to load, it still looks like crap, it still has the worst — most hate filled — comments on the web. It is still a flash laden nightmare.

    So what about Google buying YouTube was exactly good? Honestly.

  • Make Mail Badge Report Only Personal Emails

    This is brilliant. [via Merlin Mann]

    This is brilliant.

  • TSA Security Theater Described in One Simple Infographic

    Seven of every ten weapons get past TSA screeners. Read that again.

    Seven of every ten weapons get past TSA screeners.

    Read that again.

  • U.S. Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Apple, Hachette

    On the one hand I can see why the DOJ stepped in to straighten this out, but on the other all I hear is this sentence in the Bloomberg report from Bob Van Voris: >Upholding the agency model would give publishers more control over pricing and limit discounting, helping the industry avoid sales losses as…

    On the one hand I can see why the DOJ stepped in to straighten this out, but on the other all I hear is this sentence in the Bloomberg report from Bob Van Voris:

    >Upholding the agency model would give publishers more control over pricing and limit discounting, helping the industry avoid sales losses as more consumers buy books online.

    It seems like one of those situations where if the DOJ does find wrong doing then it could ultimately hurt consumers by way of publishers just going out of business. Then again, I have to think, what if self-publishing *is* the future?

  • iMessage and Instant Messages Deserve Different Apps

    Dan Moren makes the case for iMessage and IM to be two separate apps on the Mac and for Apple to give users greater control over iMessage. It’s an interesting problem, but I don’t think separating the two is the solution. iMessage is great and so is IM, and they are two very different communication…

    Dan Moren makes the case for iMessage and IM to be two separate apps on the Mac and for Apple to give users greater control over iMessage.

    It’s an interesting problem, but I don’t think separating the two is the solution. iMessage is great and so is IM, and they are two very different communication methods, BUT one is the future and one is the past.

    I would really like to see some stats on teenage usage of IM. My guess is that outside of Facebook Chat, barely any teenagers use something like iChat or AIM. Therefore, I see what Apple is doing as keeping the legacy support of IM for users like Moren and I, while adding in support for iMessages — something that teenagers (the future user base) is likely to be using today — thus making Messages a relevant app for more users.

    Those of us that like IM, may not like iMessages, but I the opposite is true of teenagers today: they are all about texting and Facebook.

  • Tempus – The simple calendar for iPhone

    I had completely forgotten about Tempus for iOS. It’s a great minimal calendar app that has a nice conitnous scrolling week view like Agenda. I like that the app has the ability to add to a specific day so you don’t need to specify that later — it also has the fast entry like its…

    I had completely forgotten about Tempus for iOS. It’s a great minimal calendar app that has a nice conitnous scrolling week view like Agenda. I like that the app has the ability to add to a specific day so you don’t need to specify that later — it also has the fast entry like its sibling, Calvetica. It’s not perfect on the iPad, but it’s a solid app. Even though I hate the icon, I’m going to give it a go as my main calendar app on my iPad — still doesn’t beat Agenda on the iPhone though.