If you’ve been wondering why Apple hasn’t implemented Loren Brichter’s clever and obvious “Pull to Refresh” gesture, it may be because it’s patented.
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Use Siri and WolframAlpha to Find Airplanes Over Your Head →
Oh my nerd:
Need to pick someone up at the airport? Now you know exactly — and I mean exactly — where their plane is.
The Home Work Podcast →
A new show from friends Aaron Mahnke and Dave Caolo about working from home. I work from home, and love it. Though it has some great benefits but also some very unique challenges (and there will be even more of those challenges once Noah grows past his “sleeping for 18 hours a day” phase). And so I’m very much looking forward to this new podcast from Aaron and Dave.
Prize Request Form for New and Current Members →
If you’re a new or current member, and if there is a certain prize in particular that you’d like to win over another, you can let me know by filling out this form.
I’ll be using a random number generator to pick the winners, and then I will check the spreadsheet and try and get people a prize they prefer. You don’t have to fill out the form to win, only if you want to request a particular prize. Winners will be notified by the end of this week.
The Three Rules to Blogging →
Cameron Moll:
But if our definition of successful blogging — nay, let’s say successful writing — is measured in terms of audience reach and grammatical proficiency, we’re measuring the wrong things.
Amen.
Codename: Svbtle →
Dustin Curtis shares a peek at the blogging engine and network he’s been building, codenamed Svbtle.
What I like about this is the way drafts are called “ideas”, and his emphasis on having an open and basic text entry field for writing the posts. As he says in his description there are no plugins, post types, social “share” buttons, etc. Fundamentally, Svbtle is similar in concept to Marco’s blogging software, Second Crack, or to Calepin. In that the emphasis is on simply writing something and then publishing it.
More and more I feel that the categories I use on this site are irrelevant. New readers to the site are not as likely to go back through the archives so much as they are to check in each day and read what’s fresh. And long-time readers looking for a past article are probably going to use search to find it.
My point being, there is this mindset that says “only what is fresh is what’s important.” I am not advocating that mindset, but I do see an extreme amount of value in blogging platform which encourages you to turn your ideas into something formed and then to hit the publish button.
iBooks 2: More Than Meets the Eye? →
Todd Olson:
In our view, iBooks 2 + iBooks Author + iBookstore = a new Wild West of publishing. And not only that, with interactive widgets, iBooks can also be a much less expensive way to create certain kinds of iPad applications, particularly ones that are primarily about presenting content. And not only that, iBooks could become a platform for publishing all kinds of other highly-interactive crazy stuff, from fancy ads to annual reports to digital album extras to college course catalogs to user’s manuals to movie promos to…you get the idea.
It seems like the news and excitement around iBooks 2 and iBooks Author has all but fallen by the wayside since it was announced in January. But I just keep thinking that iBooks Author will prove to be a big deal down the road.
Five iPads Later →
On this week’s episode of The B&B Podcast, Ben and I talk about the difference between the iPhone and iPad Retina displays, 4G LTE speeds around Kansas City and Seattle, Vitamix blenders, and Keyboard Maestro macros.
Twenty-Four Hours of Idling Engine Noise From the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D →
Makes for galaxy-class white noise. Also, a 102-minute MP3 version is here. (Via Matthew Panzarino.)
Is the New iPad Screen Too Good for the Web? →
If you’ve got a new iPad, one of the first things you’re likely to notice is that graphics on the Web look fuzzy when next to crisply-rendered text.
Graphics could look blurred on the iPad 2 as well, but it was not nearly as contrasted as on the new iPad. I don’t think many people plan to go through their site and update all the pictures, screenshots, and etc. found in their past articles. But one simple thing that websites can do to improve their look on every iPad is to use SVGs or upscaled PNGs for their header and sidebar images.
For example: on Sean Sperte’s site, Geek & Mild, the ampersand logo is an SVG — and so it scales well and looks crisp on any screen.
Here on shawnblanc.net I upscaled the “shawnblanc” image. Meaning the source image is exactly three times larger than the size it’s displayed at (777×138 and 259×46 respectively). It looks nice and sharp on an iPad 3.
I think a good rule of thumb for what graphics you should bother updating or not is simply this: if you want people to read it, or if it’s a critical component of your site design, then update it to look crisp on a Retina display.
Federico Viticci’s iOS Writing App Comparisons →
If you’re still on the fence about which iOS writing application is best for you, Federico Viticci tried out 40 different ones and then picked his favorite 4 to do a side-by-side comparison of. His only criteria was that the apps had to be available on iPhone and iPad, have Markdown support, and sync with Dropbox.
Viticci’s top choice ended up being Writing Kit. Because of his recommendation I’ve been spending a bit of time in the app to see how it handles Markdown and syncing. I agree that it is a fine app. Though something I strongly dislike about it is the need to manually tap “Save” in order to sync/save your work to Dropbox.
However, something that I’ve instantly fallen in love with in Writing Kit is that on the iPad, the left and right margins act as left and right arrow keys. Tap the left margin to move the cursor one character to the left; tap the right margin to move the cursor one character to the right. This clever little feature is like Pull to Refresh — once you’ve used it it instantly feels natural and you miss it in every other app.
Writing and Speaking →
Paul Graham:
I wish I were a better speaker. But I don’t wish I were a better speaker like I wish I were a better writer. What I really want is to have good ideas, and that’s a much bigger part of being a good writer than being a good speaker.
Sponsor: TextExpander →
Editor’s Note: My thanks to Smile Software for sponsoring the RSS feed this week. TextExpander is one of those staple apps on my Mac that when it’s not running I feel handicapped. I have over 60 snippets I use — from email signatures, to Amazon and iTunes link codes, to custom replies for emails, to common miscapitalizations of certain words, and more.
Moreover, those snippets sync to my iPhone and iPad via TextExpander’s iOS App. And since the iPhone and iPad writing apps I use have built-in iOS TextExpander support, I keep many of the same writing advantages that I have set up on my Mac.
This week the folks at Smile Software are running a 20% deal on TextExpander (and all their software). As it says below, use coupon code SYN0312 in the Smile store to get your discount.
TextExpander can be as simple or as geeky as you want. Whatever your level of experience, there’s a TextExpander tip for you:
Getting Started: Make a snippet for your email address. You’ll be amazed at the keystrokes you’ll save not having to type that over and over.
Intermediate: Add one of the Predefined Groups, like HTML/CSS snippets or instant URL shorteners. There’s even an AutoCorrect group to fix your typos.
Advanced: Try fill-in snippets, which have multiple variable fields. For example, you could have a form letter with blanks for name, product, company, etc. Type your abbreviation, fill in the fields and you’re done.
Even More Advanced: Create your own AppleScript and shell script snippets.
Get the free demo. Don’t miss the 20% off special discount. Use the coupon code SYN0312 in the Smile store (Expires March 31, 2012).
Stephen Hackett’s Review of the New iPad →
Here’s another good review of the new iPad. Stephen does a good job commenting on each of the major updates the new iPad got (the screen, battery, 4G, camera, etc.).
What strikes me after reading Stephen’s review is: what could be left for the iPad? Now that it has a Retina display and 4G LTE connectivity, I don’t see any other hardware sore spots in need obvious need of attention (other than improving the ability to hold the device with one hand).
No doubt Apple will improve the processor and the battery and the camera and the aluminum shell, but it seems that all of the main things have been brought to market already. Does this mean the future of the iPad is going to be bent towards software? And so perhaps the Mac is where we’ll start seeing hardware breakthroughs next — such as LTE and Retina MacBook Airs?