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Another meme by Patrick Rhone, here is what I keep in my Simplenote: Hex color values for different sites and designs that I like. Membership numbers for things like frequent flier accounts. Phone numbers of people that I figure I will only need to call for the next few days, and that are not worth…
Another meme by Patrick Rhone, here is what I keep in my Simplenote:
What’s in yours?
So a developer sees that his software has been cracked and is being shared on The Pirate Bay, and this is his response: I demand that you don’t remove this torrent, so that people can laugh at Minimoto and CORE skills. However, I also demand the better crack be made, so that it doesn’t cripple…
So a developer sees that his software has been cracked and is being shared on The Pirate Bay, and this is his response:
I demand that you don’t remove this torrent, so that people can laugh at Minimoto and CORE skills. However, I also demand the better crack be made, so that it doesn’t cripple the use experience of my beautiful program…
Now that is a great way to deal with piracy.
Smoking Apples: It doesn’t automatically load the entire story once you open it; doesn’t even cache the next image. You have to wait through a spinner every time (which I’m afraid will be quite a while on a slow net connection). Thankfully, it caches the story once you’ve viewed each image, even through an app…
Smoking Apples:
It doesn’t automatically load the entire story once you open it; doesn’t even cache the next image. You have to wait through a spinner every time (which I’m afraid will be quite a while on a slow net connection). Thankfully, it caches the story once you’ve viewed each image, even through an app relaunch. But, the moment you start viewing another story, it flushes the cache of all other stories. Perhaps it has something to do with licensing issues, but I love the fact that I can pick up the Eyewitness app at any time and view past images (Big Picture doesn’t even launch without an internet connection).
I have to agree, I was really excited for this app when I got my iPad. Having the app now though is a bit disappointing.
It is Wednesday, August 25th, and I am tired. I am really tired, I don’t know why, but I am. I have been all over today and just read this great post over at FiftyFootShadows (via Minimal Mac) on minimalism and consumerism. It got me to thinking about a goal I have had for the…
It is Wednesday, August 25th, and I am tired. I am really tired, I don’t know why, but I am. I have been all over today and just read this great post over at FiftyFootShadows
The problem though is where to start, and when to stop. So I had an idea, to fill one bankers box a week until October, roughly 6 bankers boxes. All that is to go into the boxes are items that can go to Goodwill or be sold online. Any garbage I come across is to be disposed of immediately.
Once full the box is to immediately go to Goodwill or items posted online for sale. My hope is that by doing this in small chunks with a definite timeline I will be less overwhelmed and instead take to the challenge in a new way.
I’ll check back in once I get the box full.
I agree with his sentiments, and the update he posted at the bottom nails the model that needs to be in place. Ross Rubin via Caolo: …if Apple really wanted to avoid subscriptions per se, it could offer pre-paid access as it has for 3G on the iPad, with a lower fee offering a limited…
I agree with his sentiments, and the update he posted at the bottom nails the model that needs to be in place.
Ross Rubin via Caolo:
…if Apple really wanted to avoid subscriptions per se, it could offer pre-paid access as it has for 3G on the iPad, with a lower fee offering a limited number of TV episode rentals per month and a higher number offering unlimited rentals during the month.
I hate paying Comcast for 9,000,000 channels when I only watch a handful of them, I want and the industry needs, to have an a la carte subscription system. Why should someone get paid when their content is crap and I never watch it?
Shaun Inman: Safari 5’s new “Smart” Auto-Complete has bothered me since the first day I updated. While this feature has been available in one form or another in previous versions of Safari it never ranked page titles over the urls when auto-completing and there was always a defaults write option to override the behavior. One…
Shaun Inman:
Safari 5’s new “Smart” Auto-Complete has bothered me since the first day I updated. While this feature has been available in one form or another in previous versions of Safari it never ranked page titles over the urls when auto-completing and there was always a defaults write option to override the behavior.
One annoyance solved today.
Elements is a writing app that syncs its text files with your Dropbox (link is to my referral account, if you don’t like me go to Dropbox.com) account giving you full access on your computer. When it came out I downloaded it immediately I am a sucker for any new app that may make my…
Elements is a writing app that syncs its text files with your Dropbox (link is to my referral account, if you don’t like me go to Dropbox.com) account giving you full access on your computer. When it came out I downloaded it immediately I am a sucker for any new app that may make my life easier and this sounded like it might. The thing is I already had Simplenote and it was syncing via Dropbox and Simplenote Sync already, so Elements would have to be better.
It isn’t better, it isn’t even close.
I hate to give a bad review of anything because I know a lot of time and effort went into making this app, but it really isn’t worth the money. The UI is ugly, and icon is ugly – even on the larger screened iPad it still is ugly. Oh and did I mention that you can only sync it with the ‘Elements’ folder that it creates in your Dropbox account? Well you can only sync it with that folder, what a waste.
Elements would be useful for a lot of people if it was just a text editor for Dropbox files, allowing you to edit and save back, any text files that you store in your Dropbox folder. Instead it forces me to create yet another folder, where I will promptly forget what I am storing in this new folder.
Perhaps I am just spoiled by the recent Simplenote 3 update, but this really is not a great text editor. I am hard pressed to see any benefit it offers over Simplenote and that is reason enough alone for me to not use it.
Now that we have the bad stuff out the the way there is a subset of people that I can see really liking this app: those that don’t like to tinker. If you have Dropbox already and use a program like TextEdit or TextMate (and so on) then this is a dead simple method of syncing. Whatever is in the Elements folder is synced and accessible in the app, dead simple.
Simplenote requires that you start syncing with its service (free) and then if like me you use Notational Velocity (with text file storage) enabled, placing the folder for Notational Velocity files in Dropbox accomplishes the same thing as Elements. It is a bit more complicated.
Emailing as an attachment is a really nice feature. Simplenote can email a note, but it cannot email it as a text file attachment (though it has several other sharing options). Being able to attach a text file to an email brings me a step closer to a full computing experience.
The second neat feature is the scratchpad, hit a button and you can jot a note, while you write another note. This feature is limited in its usefulness, but a great addition anyways.
There is a very niche market for this app, and at a price of $4.99 that niche better be willing to pay up. Most are better off getting the free Simplenote.
I guess new iPod touch’s that more closely resemble the current iPhone (front camera and retina display), iPod refreshes and the new Apple TV. I do not think they will touch the iPad at this event, they may quietly drop the price while the store is down though.
I guess new iPod touch’s that more closely resemble the current iPhone (front camera and retina display), iPod refreshes and the new Apple TV. I do not think they will touch the iPad at this event, they may quietly drop the price while the store is down though.
This person claims to have beat the world record for texting speed on an iPhone 4 by a whopping 4 seconds. If true, that is damned impressive.
This person claims to have beat the world record for texting speed on an iPhone 4 by a whopping 4 seconds. If true, that is damned impressive.
Matt Richtel reporting: “People think they’re refreshing themselves, but they’re fatiguing themselves,” said Marc Berman, a University of Michigan neuroscientist. It is no surprise that our brains need down time, I think we call all agree that stepping away from our phones/computers allow us to see the world in a new light. Not to mention…
Matt Richtel reporting:
“People think they’re refreshing themselves, but they’re fatiguing themselves,” said Marc Berman, a University of Michigan neuroscientist.
It is no surprise that our brains need down time, I think we call all agree that stepping away from our phones/computers allow us to see the world in a new light. Not to mention it really helps us to think.
Last night Simplenote released the version 3 update, a massive update that brings a slew of new features to the very simple note taking app for the iPhone. I like so many others took to using the app at the urging of Daring Fireball’s John Gruber when he mentioned it quite some time ago. Since…
Last night Simplenote released the version 3 update, a massive update that brings a slew of new features to the very simple note taking app for the iPhone. I like so many others took to using the app at the urging of Daring Fireball’s John Gruber when he mentioned it quite some time ago. Since then the much ridiculed app icon has changed a few times and again in version 3 it gains a new icon, more than that the interface has been overhauled and refined.
With version 3 on both the iPad and iPhone Simplenote has introduced ‘full screen’ editing, where by you get a white canvas, your text and the keyboard and nothing else. No clock, or battery status indicator to distract the eye, a pure typing environment. This is awesome. Anybody who writes a lot will tell you just how great this feature is, and with most things iOS related this feature really shines on the iPad.
The one complaint I always had about Simplenote on the iPad is that I didn’t like to have to type offset, where the text was pushed to the left. Now though with fullscreen the problem has gone away, a truly great writing app has emerged from what was once just a simple note taking app.
Tags: a great way to help you stay organized, I however have never been a big user of tags and so I doubt that this will be very used by me.
Pin to Top: This allows you to select a particular note that stays at the top of the list no matter how you are sorting. This was a much needed feature, I can’t tell you how long I have spent scrolling for a note (I often forget or neglect to search, mainly because I try to use it with just one hand a lot).
Orientation Lock on iPhone: I know with iOS 4 you can double tap and get the orientation lock system wide, but let’s face it most people will not use that (except on the iPad the hardware switch is far more convenient) so being able to turn off landscape mode in Simplenote is great – who uses the landscape iPhone keyboard anyways?
On the iPad the UI simulates a stack of papers, but it would appear that the top sheet of the paper is the same height, just more narrow than the sheet behind it. This is unlike other UI tricks where the stack just appears to be eschew below the top sheet. Whatever is going on I hate it.
The placement of the ‘sign out’ button in both the iPhone and iPad are in a terrible spot, I have hit them several times thinking it was the close or done button. Please move this in line with the other options for sanities sake.
On the iPhone the button to go full screen is with all the other tools on the toolbar, on the iPad it is a very low contrast icon in the bottom right corner, by itself. This is really annoying, put it up top with all the other tools and buttons, don’t make me search for it every time.
Buy this not because I say so, but because Evernote sucks and this is what a real notes app should be like. What an great update and I am sure more great ones to come. (I should clarify that Simplenote is free thought you can purchase upgrades in the app)
As I kid I remember playing F117a-Night Hawk on DOS, I had a joystick and a keyboard and I flew around shooting targets and trying to dog fight other planes. That was the past, but it appears it may also be the future of warfare. Amazing.
As I kid I remember playing F117a-Night Hawk on DOS, I had a joystick and a keyboard and I flew around shooting targets and trying to dog fight other planes. That was the past, but it appears it may also be the future of warfare. Amazing.
If you use Mint to track your web stats you will want to do this.
If you use Mint to track your web stats you will want to do this.
This is a horrid review of a product, take this example from the author Andi: The ePad is very light! Much lighter than the iPad and therefore it’s going to be much more comfortable for those with weak wimpy wrists while reading, playing and browsing the web. So you don’t have a scale or the…
This is a horrid review of a product, take this example from the author Andi:
The ePad is very light! Much lighter than the iPad and therefore it’s going to be much more comfortable for those with weak wimpy wrists while reading, playing and browsing the web.
So you don’t have a scale or the tech specs that you can tell us how much it actually weighs, for instance the iPad weighs 1.5lbs, and the ePad weighs? 1.4lbs? 0.6lbs? Come one.
Oh and this:
The 10 inch screen maybe the same size as the iPad’s and the bezel surrounding it may mimic the little Apple tablets with mirror like detail, but looks are not all they seem.
The screen ‘maybe’ the same size? Either it is or isn’t the same size, buy a ruler. Holy cow.
And:
The overall scores are 3-2 for the ePad!! Plus two ties due to personal choice regarding O.S and the material of the body.
[…]The scores are now 2-1 to the iPad, I could take a point from the iPad too for costing a hell of a lot more than the ePad, but I won’t because, like I’ve mentioned before the iPad does something all these cheap Android devices don’t…. It works and it works very very well and what’s the point in buying something that doesn’t work just because it’s cheap!!
So the ePad is the winner, then Andi rejiggers the scores until the iPad is the winner. What the hell is going on here?
Looks like a cheap piece of crap, also what is with the blatant “Dock Connector” rip off?
Looks like a cheap piece of crap, also what is with the blatant “Dock Connector” rip off?
Since I turned sixteen I have had three cars, all of which were European. My first car a 1991 BMW 525i had no cup holders to be found, the next car a 1998 Land Rover Range Rover 4.6HSE had four terrible cup holders in the center console – they only were able to hold a…
Since I turned sixteen I have had three cars, all of which were European. My first car a 1991 BMW 525i had no cup holders to be found, the next car a 1998 Land Rover Range Rover 4.6HSE had four terrible cup holders in the center console – they only were able to hold a pop can reliably. My current car a 2004 BMW 545i has two pop out cup holders in the dash, they are to say the least, horrid pieces of crap.
BMW and Land Rover added cup holders as an after thought, europeans simply don’t indulge in food and beverage in their cars like we crass Americans do. So when they started to add cup holders it seems as if they designed the entire car, got it ready for production when an American ex-pat stumbled by and said, where is the cup holder? BMW then scramble to shove a cup holder in wherever they could, resulting in a craptastic after thought of a cup holder.
Take a good look at the above cup holder, now forget about the fact that there is no way in hell you are putting a super-sized anything in it and look at where the air vent is in relation to the cup holder. They are positioned in such a way that when you have a drink in the cup holder, the drink gets all the air. Now this poses two problems, first the occupant does not get either A/C or heat depending on the weather – they mostly sit there in an uncomfortable state. The second problem, a much more dire one, is that the drink is getting all that air blown on it, resulting in a beverage constantly being warmed or cooled depending on the circumstances.
Indeed these cup holders were an afterthought.
I see design and feature afterthoughts daily, we all do. When a company adds a feature last minute shows like a bright red pimple – we all see it, but try not to say anything about it. We need to stop and truly ask companies to either delay a product to properly design a forgotten feature, or instead leave it out until they can properly work it in.
After all I am really glad this BMW has cup holders, but it is almost worse than if it didn’t have any. The cup holders that BMW provided are so poor, that I would much rather have a pop-out iPod dock than a cup holder that makes me worry my drink will flip out with every turn I take.
I see this all the time, so here are some examples of things that feel as if they were forced into a product at the last minute and not designed into the product from the very beginning.
There are so many more, but it just gets to depressing to keep listing them off.
Take the time to do it right the first time, if you forgot something do not try to squeeze it in at the last minute, make a plan and polish it later.
Jared Newman: In fairness, Motorola’s not the only company to struggle with Froyo. Owners of HTC’s Droid Incredible are still waiting for their update — rumors of August 18 didn’t pan out — and the brand new Dell Streak tablet is stuck on Android 1.6 until the end of the year. Samsung’s Galaxy phones are…
Jared Newman:
In fairness, Motorola’s not the only company to struggle with Froyo. Owners of HTC’s Droid Incredible are still waiting for their update — rumors of August 18 didn’t pan out — and the brand new Dell Streak tablet is stuck on Android 1.6 until the end of the year. Samsung’s Galaxy phones are all expected to get Froyo, but with no date announced for U.S. wireless carriers. So while Motorola gets an extra dose of shame for shutting down Droid X users, the only phone maker to truly ace the Android 2.2 launch was, of course, Google.
This is why you let Apple control everything, so this kind of crap doesn’t happen. Amazing.