Macworld’s picks for the best Mac hardware and software of the year.
Month: December 2011
iOS 5 Notification Center Fall Down Transition →
Ah ha. This video by Max Rudberg (the same Max who posted the Multitasking Tray gesture video) demonstrates almost exactly what I was talking about in my last link about the Notification Center being “above” the Home screen rather than “under” it.
In his description of the video, Max also hits on exactly what my gripe is:
The linen texture has been used to denote that something is at the very bottom layer of the interface. For example, when you open a folder, the wallpaper separates to reveal the folder contents on a linen texture. Therefore, the Notification Center that slides out above the interface shouldn’t really use the linen texture.
Though I’m not sure I like the way the Max animates the whole Home screen “falling” and bouncing to the bottom of the screen, I do like the idea of the Home screen sliding down to reveal the Notification Center underneath.
Why is the iOS Notification Center on “Top”? →
The aforelinked reminded me just how off the Notification Center feels in regards to its “depth” within iOS and it’s interaction with the Home screen. I agree with the comment “Shrike” makes in this linked-to post on the AppleInsider forums.
In short, the Multitasking Tray is “under” the home screen. When you activate it, the Home screen moves up to make way. The same happens with Home screen folders. Again, the icons in a folder are “under” the Home screen and when you open a folder the Home screen slides to accommodate.
However, when you slide the Notification Center down, it slides right on top of the Home screen, yet it uses the same “underneath” design (linen) that folders and the Multitasking Tray use.
Just try going back and forth a few times between the Multitasking Tray and the Notification Center and you’ll see what I mean.
A Simple Gesture to Activate the Multitasking Tray →
My initial reaction to this is: yes, please. Four-finger swipe on the iPad is already my new default way to bring up the Multitasking Tray — it just seems much more convenient than double-tapping the Home button.
But then I think about 3 issues: (a) How infrequently I use the Multitasking Tray on iOS; and (b) how often I launch the apps on my iOS Dock by sliding my thumb onto the bottom of the screen; (c) how easy it would be to accidentally bring up the Multitasking Tray.
The third issue is the one in particular would be the problem for the vast majority of users. Ironically, the whole point of this linked-to concept video is to demonstrate an easy way to launch the Multitasking Tray, but I think the ease is exactly the problem.
The bottom-third of an iPhone is surely the area that gets the most touch input. It’s where the Home button is, the Slide to Unlock button, and the Dock of icons. How many iOS users regularly access the Multitasking Tray so often that a slide of their thumb onto the screen would be that much more convenient. I imagine it would bring up the Multitasking Tray far more often that desired — even by power users.
And Ken Yarmosh agrees. He had the gesture activated on a jailbroken device and found that it caused interference with using several apps. Surely a system-wide implementation by Apple would be better than a jailbroken implementation, but it’s very possible that the reason this gesture doesn’t exist on iOS is because Apple hasn’t found an elegant way to implement it.
Louie Mantia on Social Networks →
He’s got a point:
What’s the point of single-purpose social networks if you have to publish content from one onto another? For Instagram, they may have built an app-only social network, but not everyone (like my family) uses it enough for it to be useful on its own. Foursquare and Gowalla suffer the same problem. So often in my Twitter timeline I see people saying where they are with a link to either site.
I love Instagram, but if I couldn’t post my ‘grams to Twitter on occasion then I don’t know if I’d be using it nearly as often.
Copper Mountain Time Lapse Video →
Aside from Vail of course, Copper is my favorite place to ride in Colorado.
The Erosion in the Paid Media Pyramid →
Seth Godin:
There’s a huge sucking sound, and that’s the erosion of mass as part of the media model. Fewer people buying movie tickets and hardcover books, more people engaging in free media.
Brett Terpstra’s Setup →
One of the core apps in my setup is nvALT, and Brett is the guy who forked it.
Facebook Buys Gowalla →
Another huge talent acquisition for Facebook. The guys at Gowalla do amazing work.
The Kindle Touch compared to Nook Simple Touch, Kobo Touch, and Kindle 4 →
A great review by Marco Arment, comparing the pros, cons, and similarities of the three major E-Ink touch-screen e-readers. After posting my review of the Kindle Touch many readers wrote in to ask which device I would ultimately recommend: the Kindle Touch, the Nook Simple Touch, or the Kindle 4. Marco’s review answers that question.
Also, Marco takes away points from the Kindle Touch because of its sluggish responsiveness. I mentioned the Kindle Touch’s slow response times in my review as well, but since the Kindle Touch is the first and only E-Ink device I’ve used I assumed the sluggishness was due to to the nature of the E-Ink. But, you can see in his video that the non-touch Kindle 4 turns pages much quicker than the Kindle Touch.
People to See, Places to Go →
Recorded just this morning, on episode 36 of the The B&B Podcast Ben and I talk about iMove, iPhone photography, the Jawbone UP and the Fitbit, the Doxie Go, and Ben’s new crappy monitor.
Brought to you by Instacast HD.
Macworld 2012 Early-Bird Registration Ends Soon →
Just a note that after this weekend, the price for a pass to Macworld | iWorld goes up a bit. I’ll be there, and am greatly looking forward to it.
A Review of the Doxie Go
Disclosure: The folks at Doxie sent me this Go as a gift. No review was promised to them in exchange for me receiving it. The words below are, as always, my honest and sincere opinion.
The Review
The biggest draw of the Doxie Go is that it’s cordless, or rather, that it’s battery powered. Cordless does not mean wireless. You do need a micro-USB cable to charge it, and the USB cable is the default way of getting your scans off the Go and onto your computer.
The Doxie Go can scan about 100 pages before the battery needs recharging. And the internal storage will hold at least 6 times that amount.
The idea behind the Go is exactly what the name hints at. The Go is a portable scanner that you can take with you. And while I don’t have a need for a portable scanner — my other scanner is an iPhone — I do like the idea of an attractive, small-yet-powerful, cordless scanner as part of my office setup.
The Go is small and attractive enough to warrant being kept on a desk top, but it is small enough to be kept in a drawer or on a shelf. And since it needs no wires to be able to function, you really can keep it anywhere you like.
Compared to the original Doxie, the Go weighs 4 ounces more but is an inch narrower. The Go is also cordless and has a much more attractive design (no pink, no hearts (no offense, Doxie)).
The Go scans color as well as black and white. The default resolution is 300 dpi, but you can also choose to scan a document at 600 dpi by a tap of the power button. (Hold the button down and you’ll turn the Go off.)
You copy files from the Go onto your computer in batch. You plug in the USB cable (or you can connect a USB thumb drive or photo card to the Go) and then import the files via Doxie’s own Mac app.
The Doxie software is akin to a simplified iPhoto. I don’t know why, but I half expected the Doxie Mac app to be found wanting. To my delight, I found it was quite the opposite. The app is easy to use, minimal, and it makes importing a cinch.
I’m more than pleased with the quality of the 300-dpi scanned documents. Once the files are imported you can quickly and easily make adjustments if you need to, but I found the auto adjustments that the Doxie app makes were often perfect the first time. If the app auto-adjusts incorrectly, you can re-adjust manually.
It is also relatively easy to name your files (since the scanner doesn’t know what to name them). A clever idea once OCR is implemented would be to auto name the file based on the first line of the document scanned.
The Go treats every single scanned page as it’s own document. And so, within the app is a vital function: you can select multiple files and then “staple” them together with a click. It could not be easier to join multiple scans into a single PDF document.
You can save the scans to you computer or just leave the files in the Doxie app. Unsaved Doxie scans stay in the Doxie app whereas saved scans can be removed from the app when you quit or kept in there indefinitely. You cannot import documents from your computer into the Doxie app. Thus, once you remove a scan from the Doxie app there is no way to get it back into the app other than printing it out and re-scanning it in.
I prefer to save my scans as PDFs. Mostly because I am scanning in documents that I no longer have to keep in a filing cabinet. The default when you hit Command+S is to save as a JPEG. However, Shift+Command+S is the hotkey for Save as PDF, and Option+Command+S for save as a PNG. I like Saving as a PDF because PDFpen can then OCR the document and then I save in Yojimbo. It’s amazing how once a PDF has been OCRed the contents of that PDF are completely searchable. It makes going paperless seem like a no-brainer.
And in my estimation, the Go’s file sizes are quite reasonable. A PDF of my 8.5×14″ Car Insurance Declarations page scanned at 300 dpi, saved at medium-quality, and then OCRed via PDFpen, weighed in at 1.2 megabytes. That is certainly more than a PDF from the source, but it is not bad for a large page that is high-resolution and has searchable, selectable, text.
Welcome to your new paperless office, Shawn.
Some Users Are Down on Jawbone UP →
In short, there are three complaints against the UP: (1) the device itself gets bricked and cannot be operated or synced to the iPhone at all; (2) the battery stops holding a decent charge; and (3) the removable cap which goes over the headphone charging plug is easy to lose.
Garrett Murray got two bricked UPs in a row and is waiting for Jawbone to send him another replacement. My UP hasn’t bricked, but the battery no longer stays charged for longer than 3 days at the most (it’s supposed to keep a charge for 10 days). I have not yet contacted Jawbone, but I am going to.
Am I bummed out that my UP doesn’t work just right? Of course. Do I wish I had bought a Fitbit instead? I don’t think so. Once I resolved that the UP didn’t have to be on my wrist 24/7 I began seeing it as a different type of device: one that reminded me to get up and move around every 30 minutes or so, and one that could quietly wake me up at an opportune time in the mornings.