Mr. Blanc pointed out this tip that saved him 25GB of space, I got back about 5GB — be sure to check it out.
[via Shawn Blanc]
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Leica Sofort 2June 13, 2024
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Casio Duro MDV-106 Re-ReviewDecember 15, 2022
Recent Articles
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Save Drive Space, Banish Old Email
Mr. Blanc pointed out this tip that saved him 25GB of space, I got back about 5GB — be sure to check it out. [via Shawn Blanc]
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The Case for An Apple TV…Set
MG Siegler makes a nice case for Apple building a TV set. >It certainly would be. Conventional wisdom says that Apple cannot build a television. The same conventional wisdom also said that no one wants a tablet computer. Apple thrives by defying conventional wisdom.
MG Siegler makes a nice case for Apple building a TV set.
>It certainly would be. Conventional wisdom says that Apple cannot build a television. The same conventional wisdom also said that no one wants a tablet computer. Apple thrives by defying conventional wisdom. -
Quick Takes on Five Apps #9
This is the ninth [installment](https://brooksreview.net/tag/quick/) of the Quick Takes series, where I look at five apps and tell you my thoughts on them. ### [Atari Greatest Hits](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ataris-greatest-hits/id422966028?mt=8) (iOS Universal) ### It’s junk. You can download it for free, but then you have to use in-app purchase to buy any of the good games. I bought…
This is the ninth [installment](https://brooksreview.net/tag/quick/) of the Quick Takes series, where I look at five apps and tell you my thoughts on them.
### [Atari Greatest Hits](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ataris-greatest-hits/id422966028?mt=8) (iOS Universal) ###
It’s junk. You can download it for free, but then you have to use in-app purchase to buy any of the good games. I bought Asteroids because I used to love that game ((My Uncle had the arcade game at his house and I remember spending hours playing with with my cousins. It’s a great game that this app ruins.)) and it is utter crap to the point of being unplayable. Not to mention the game doesn’t even take up the full screen, or in any way look like it has been optimized for the high resolution iPhone screen. The objects are tiny and the controls are non-sensical.
### [Prompt](http://panic.com/blog/2011/04/introducing-prompt-ssh-for-ios/) (iOS universal) ###
The app icon is not blue and makes good sense, so right away this app has my attention. Overall I don’t have much use for a SSH app for iOS, but being that Panic made it, I had to try it. The app is well done and has an awesome feature: passcode lock. I don’t know why more developers don’t take the time to implement this option, but it is killer. I can store my SSH passwords in the app for quick logon, but make sure that most other people can’t access the app.
Overall I don’t use SSH much, but with the recent server troubles I have been having it has been nice to have this app so that I can ‘check-in’ on my server. It doesn’t seem like there would be much that would make an SSH app good or bad, but Panic has done a great job with this app by adding terminal specific controls at the top of the keyboard. If SSH is your thing, then I recommend you take a look at this.
### [Moleskin](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/moleskine/id429657255?mt=8) (iOS Universal) ###
So the people that make the wonderful Moleskin notebooks have been adding a lot of crap to their offerings lately (things like bags and laptop cases) — this is another in that long line. I was excited to see the app as it allows you to add images to the notes, type text, and doodle. That sounds pretty neat for a free app, alas it took me 10 minutes to figure out how to draw on the page.
In looking at this offering and all the stuff you have to enter before you get a note page open — well you are better off with many of the other free notebook apps, actually you would be better off paying for an app. One better implementation in this same style that I can think of is the Muji notebook app.
### [Blogsy](http://blogsyapp.com/) (iPad) ###
I was excited to try this app after I saw some decent comments about it. It is a blogging app for the iPad, one of the rarer apps in the iPad store. Unfortunately it really isn’t that good. It is poorly designed, has a terrible icon and doesn’t give power users any of the features they would want.
If the most important thing to you in a blogging app is being able to layout and style your post, then maybe you will like this app. Especially if you want to create media rich apps from the iPad. However, if you want to set the post slug, or even just add a custom field — then you are SOL. It feels like an app built by someone who doesn’t blog, but that wanted to build an app to suit what they *think* a blogger does.
### [It’s Friday](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/its-friday/id427931660?mt=8) (Who Cares) ###
A terrible, utter crap, misogynistic app. Made for a terrible, horrible song — that has an even worse music video. I feel so incredible bad for the app reviewer of this app. Please don’t download this — even as far as sound boards go it does a poor job. The audio sounds terrible and it is not faded in or out — just all around not good. I am so happy I can delete this now.
*If you liked this installment be sure to check out the [other](https://brooksreview.net/tag/quick/) installments.*
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Outlook with Metro UI
I really hope that Microsoft keeps putting the Metro UI to work on their apps, this is probably the best looking Outlook there has ever been. Who knows if it is good — what matters most is that it doesn’t look like a cluttered mess.
I really hope that Microsoft keeps putting the Metro UI to work on their apps, this is probably the best looking Outlook there has ever been. Who knows if it is good — what matters most is that it doesn’t look like a cluttered mess.
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B&B Episode #8
Have you been wondering what my thoughts on Tweetbot are? Well you are in luck because that’s what Shawn and I talked about on the latest episode of the B&B Podcast. We also threw in some weather talk for good measure.
Have you been wondering what my thoughts on Tweetbot are? Well you are in luck because that’s what Shawn and I talked about on the latest episode of the B&B Podcast. We also threw in some weather talk for good measure.
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Massive Shut Down of Online Poker Sites
Jacqui Cheng: >As a result, the 11 individuals behind the three poker sites now face “at least” $3 billion—you read that correctly, billion—in money laundering penalties, in addition to the shut-down of 76 bank accounts in 14 countries. That is a lot of money, a lot of money. Also be sure to read the second…
Jacqui Cheng:
>As a result, the 11 individuals behind the three poker sites now face “at least” $3 billion—you read that correctly, billion—in money laundering penalties, in addition to the shut-down of 76 bank accounts in 14 countries.That is a lot of money, a lot of money. Also be sure to read the second to last paragraph for quotes from FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Janice Fedarcyk — who must have had CSI write the statements for her.
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Are We Over Simplifying the Secure Password Debate?
Dr. Drang: >A cracking program trying to hack my GMail account has no idea how long the password is, nor does it know the character set I’m using. Does it start with a dictionary attack? If so, does it try multiple words before moving on to random strings? Does it try lowercase passwords before moving…
Dr. Drang:
>A cracking program trying to hack my GMail account has no idea how long the password is, nor does it know the character set I’m using. Does it start with a dictionary attack? If so, does it try multiple words before moving on to random strings? Does it try lowercase passwords before moving on to the full character set? If so, at what length does it stop trying lowercase passwords?That’s a pretty good set of questions — hard to say what password will be most secure unless we know the method a potential attacker is going to use against us and the sophistication that the cracking software has.
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Password Security
Thomas Baekdal: >It is 10 times more secure to use “this is fun” as your password, than “J4fS
Thomas Baekdal:
>It is 10 times more secure to use “this is fun” as your password, than “J4fS<2". -
Quote of the Day: Eric D. Snider
“We were like stewardesses handing out peanuts on the Hindenburg.” — Eric D. Snider I loved his post so much I had to post about it twice.
“We were like stewardesses handing out peanuts on the Hindenburg.”I loved his post so much I had to post about it twice.
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Great Account of This AOL/HuffPo Mess
Eric D. Snider: > It’s the old “I like you, I’ll kill you last” routine. The whole thing is pretty great. [via Marco Arment]
Eric D. Snider:
> It’s the old “I like you, I’ll kill you last” routine.
The whole thing is pretty great.
[via Marco Arment] -
Amazon’s Appstore Sets Off Alarms
IGDA Board of Directors: >Many journalists have noted the unusual nature of Amazon’s current store terms, but little has been said about the potential implications of those terms. In brief: Amazon reserves the right to control the price of your games, as well as the right to pay you “the greater of 70% of the…
IGDA Board of Directors:
>Many journalists have noted the unusual nature of Amazon’s current store terms, but little has been said about the potential implications of those terms. In brief: Amazon reserves the right to control the price of your games, as well as the right to pay you “the greater of 70% of the purchase price or 20% of the List Price.” While many other retailers, both physical and digital, also exert control over the price of products in their markets, we are not aware of any other retailer having a formal policy of paying a supplier just 20% of the supplier’s minimum list price without the supplier’s permission.They don’t provide any source links to the Amazon information, but if this is true I can’t imagine why you would want to be in the Amazon store. Especially given this:
>And if you ever conduct even a temporary price promotion in another market, you must permanently lower your list price in Amazon’s market.
Yikes.
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Why No Company That Values Their Data Should EVER “Go Google”
Colin on e1ven.com: >The problem is, Google is entirely useless whenever there finally *IS* a flaw. After all the stuff I have been posting about why free is not good, and about Google support — this is yet another example of why using Google apps costs a lot more than the $50/user charges.
Colin on e1ven.com:
>The problem is, Google is entirely useless whenever there finally *IS* a flaw.
After all the stuff I have been posting about why free is not good, and about Google support — this is yet another example of why using Google apps costs a lot more than the $50/user charges.
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Quote of the Day: Jessica Hische
“The work you do while you procrastinate is probably the work you should be doing for the rest of your life.” — Jessica Hische
“The work you do while you procrastinate is probably the work you should be doing for the rest of your life.” -
Instacast version 1.2
Instacast just got a lot better with the 1.2 version update. If you have been holding off you should check it out now. You can now import and export OPML files (feed files for the podcast subscriptions) and you can do this via Dropbox. You can also send show notes to Instapaper — clever.
Instacast just got a lot better with the 1.2 version update. If you have been holding off you should check it out now. You can now import and export OPML files (feed files for the podcast subscriptions) and you can do this via Dropbox. You can also send show notes to Instapaper — clever.
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Could Tweetbot Change Twitter’s Stance on 3rd Party Devs?
MG Siegler: >I also love the idea of adding some chaos into the mix. If Twitter doesn’t own the most popular mobile client, what does that mean? Would they have to buy Tweetbot? Do they make moves to shut it down or limit it? That’s and interesting question, but I am already willing to say…
MG Siegler:
>I also love the idea of adding some chaos into the mix. If Twitter doesn’t own the most popular mobile client, what does that mean? Would they have to buy Tweetbot? Do they make moves to shut it down or limit it?That’s and interesting question, but I am already willing to say that Tweetbot won’t over take Twitter (official app) as the most popular iOS client. The problem isn’t that Tweetbot isn’t good enough, the problem is that it isn’t $1.99 *better* than the free Twitter offering — it’s $0.99 better, but for most ((Whereby, “most” is not referring to us nerds, that only make up a small fraction of the base.)) they wouldn’t even cough that amount up.
[Updated: 4.14.11 at 1:35 PM]
I should also clarify to say that I think it is worth the price, but I don’t think that at any price they could surpass the market share that Twitter has with its official app.
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TweetDeck to Make Their Own Fort?
Mark Millian reporting for CNN on plans that UberMedia (the people behind TweetDeck) may make a Twitter competitor, got this choice quote: >”The audience for TweetDeck is very different” from the people who use Twitter’s official apps, Tony Haile[…] No kidding, TweetDeck is a hot mess. Besides being ugly as sin it is nothing more…
Mark Millian reporting for CNN on plans that UberMedia (the people behind TweetDeck) may make a Twitter competitor, got this choice quote:
>”The audience for TweetDeck is very different” from the people who use Twitter’s official apps, Tony Haile[…]
No kidding, TweetDeck is a hot mess. Besides being ugly as sin it is nothing more than information overload presented in the most user hostile method possible.
Having said that, can you imagine just how “amazing” a Twitter competitor from UberMedia would be? It’d make MySpace look well designed.
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Tweetbot Reviewed by Shawn Blanc
Shawn wrote a really nice review of Tapbots’ new Twitter client: Tweetbot. It just hit the U.S. app store last night and is overwhelmingly nerd popular. I have a mixed set of feelings about the app and haven’t used it enough to say for sure whether it is right for me or not. There is…
Shawn wrote a really nice review of Tapbots’ new Twitter client: Tweetbot. It just hit the U.S. app store last night and is overwhelmingly nerd popular. I have a mixed set of feelings about the app and haven’t used it enough to say for sure whether it is right for me or not. There is a lot of UI chrome going on and no real “must have” feature — I put it in my dock in place of the Twitter app and we will see if and how long it stays there.
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Solarized OmniFocus Theme Updated
I updated the Solarized theme for OmniFocus to fix the color of the completed items. I also moved it to a permanent home. Please update your bookmarks to the page linked to as I won’t be mentioning future updates.
I updated the Solarized theme for OmniFocus to fix the color of the completed items. I also moved it to a permanent home. Please update your bookmarks to the page linked to as I won’t be mentioning future updates.
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Topolsky’s PlayBook Review
Joshua Topolsky: >There are five gestures which allow you to navigate the OS. A swipe up from the bottom bezel while in an application will take you to card view (and your homescreen), while the same gesture in the card view will bring up your app drawer and also close it. A swipe downward from…
Joshua Topolsky:
>There are five gestures which allow you to navigate the OS. A swipe up from the bottom bezel while in an application will take you to card view (and your homescreen), while the same gesture in the card view will bring up your app drawer and also close it. A swipe downward from the top of the bezel while in an app will reveal more chrome, allowing you to explore options or make other selections (in the browser, for instance, it brings up your tabs and option icon). If you perform the downward swipe on the homescreen […]I don’t normally quote this much of any one article, but I wanted to highlight just how complicated this gesture stuff is on the PlayBook. I just don’t see how grandparents would be fine with this. I know tons of grandparents who are in love and using iPads — do you think they could handle all those crazy gestures? I think we need a home button here.
Topolsky:
>And that’s what it really boils down to here; what is the compelling feature that will make buyers choose the PlayBook over something else?
There isn’t one.
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MG Siegler’s BlackBerry PlayBook Review
MG Siegler: >Is the PlayBook comparable to the iPad? No. Between the (lack of) app support and the wonky web browsing, there’s just no way around that fact. But RIM was smart to make the PlayBook a completely different form factor and give it BlackBerry Bridge to appeal to corporate users. So in that regard,…
MG Siegler:
>Is the PlayBook comparable to the iPad? No. Between the (lack of) app support and the wonky web browsing, there’s just no way around that fact. But RIM was smart to make the PlayBook a completely different form factor and give it BlackBerry Bridge to appeal to corporate users. So in that regard, there could be significant interest in this device.The review isn’t as bad as the above passage makes it seem — Siegler notes that there were a couple of updates pushed while he was reviewing the unit and that the software has a lot of nice touches. The problem seems to be that the iPad 2 and the apps behind it are much further along than where the PlayBook is as it jumps in to the ring.