Speaking of the awesome camera in the 5s. The clarity and depth of field on these shots is incredibly impressive. I’d love to see some low-light and indoor examples though, considering that’s what most of the shots in my iPhone’s camera roll are.

Patrick Rhone on just how awesome the software and hardware is for the camera in the iPhone 5s:

The camera in the iPhone 5S basically moved the needle two years ahead of the entire camera industry. Not just smart phone cameras — all cameras.

Hands down, the number-one feature I’m most excited about in the 5s is the new camera tech.

Craig Hockenberry on the Mercedes S-Class and the iPhone 5s:

If you’re driving a car manufactured in the past five years, it’s likely it has anti-lock brakes. A standard feature at this point in time, but who came up with it first?

Mercedes-Benz first introduced it on the S-Class line back in 1978. It was a revolutionary technology and the first hint of how digital electronics would change the course of the automotive industry.

Horace Dediu on the M7 coprocessor in the iPhone 5s:

When the A series chips were created Apple leveraged the in-house design and cost reduction to make a wide range of products with more than 700 million examples built. Designing a chip needs a broad application domain.

Perhaps this is why Apple chose to describe the iPhone 5s as “forward-thinking”. The M7 and the Touch ID are like research projects whose actual value will be realized at some future time, in probably different contexts.

Jim Dalrymple, regarding Touch ID:

Unlocking the iPhone 5S was very slick—just rest your finger on the Home button and the phone unlocks immediately. You don’t have to press or move your finger around waiting for it to be recognized—it just worked.

Also, John Gruber:

Touch ID is very slick, very fast. Almost instaneous.

That’s great to hear. But, that’s the way it’s got to be. Considering how many dozens (if not hundreds) of times a day we’re unlocking our iPhone, imagine how frustrating it would become if Touch ID added an extra few seconds to that process.

I was sad they didn’t live stream today’s event. But, since we know there will be at least one more Apple Special Event this year, perhaps the biggest whizz bang new product(s) is/are still in store, and Apple wants to save their live stream card for that event.

Though I still don’t get why Apple doesn’t just live stream every press event. Maybe they know they get equal attention regardless, and so they don’t consider it worth the work to do a live stream unless it’s for an event where the execs want to do more than announce a new product to the world, they want to show it off.

But then again, they’re already video recording it, so why not flip the live-stream switch?

So I’m sitting here with my iPad while my 1-day-old son takes a much-needed nap. And I was in the process of writing a quick post linking to the handful of liveblogs for today’s special Apple event when I saw that Jeff Richardson beat me to it. Thanks, Jeff.

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My thanks to Booking.com for sponsoring the site this week. Sponsorship by The Syndicate.

If you do any writing with your iPad you’re going to want Editorial. And if you use Editorial you’re going to want Federico Viticci’s brand-new iBook that’s jam packed with tips, videos, workflows, and a picture of Viticci in the introduction.

It’s on launch-day sale for just $3 bucks.

There is some great insight and advice from Paul Graham, in his interview with Issie Lapowsky for Inc. Magazine:

It’s OK to start out with a small idea. […] If you try to do some big thing, you don’t just need it to be big; you need it to be good. And it’s really hard to do big and good simultaneously. So, what that means is you can either do something small and good and then gradually make it bigger, or do something big and bad and gradually make it better. And you know what? Empirically, starting big just does not work. That’s the way the government does things. They do something really big that’s really bad, and they think, Well, we’ll make it better, and then it never gets better.

I couldn’t agree more — shipping big and good simultaneously is hard.

One of the chapters in my book, Delight is in the Details, talks about this very topic. Saying that if you’re short on time and/or energy then it’s better to postpone or abandon certain features than it is to take shortcuts on the editing and polishing of the product.

People will always be more forgiving and interested in a product that’s delightful yet small in features than one that’s feature-rich but stinks to high heaven.

Adam Grossman of Forecast and Dark Sky awesomeness:

Free trials might even be as beneficial to developers as in-app purchases, which are generally the most lucrative app monetization scheme. They would both employ the same strategy: encouraging a large number of downloads and then monetizing some fraction of those.

I don’t know about you, but a common interaction I have with friends and family members when talking about apps goes something like this:

Them: “So, Shawn, what are some cool new apps?”
Me: “Well I’ve been using such-and-such app lately and it’s really cool. Let me show you.”
Them: “That’s pretty rad. Is it free?”
Me: “No. It’s a buck.”
Them: “Oh… So what other apps have you been using.”

While I do believe having free trials in the iOS and Mac app stores would be beneficial for developers, because it would likely increase revenue as Grossman states above, I also see it as being beneficial for users. People are avoiding a really great app that costs $4 because they don’t want to risk that money on the chance the app is lame (or who knows why they’re not buying it). But it’s an app that could really bring some benefit to their every day life. And so, by allowing a free trial period, that risk is all but removed and a lot of people just might start using so many of the App Store’s best world class apps.

Craig Hockenberry spitballing some pretty clever ideas about what an iOS device with a fingerprint scanner could do to make our lives a bit easier and more secure.

Patrick Rhone on the Microsoft/Nokia deal:

I can’t help but wonder how many completely new ideas seven billion dollars could have bought. […] Instead of skating to where the puck was, when others are skating to where the puck is, and Apple is skating to where the puck will be, could seven billion buy a whole new game?

I love this attitude, but honestly, I don’t know if Microsoft actually could have spent that $7,000,000,000 on ideas, research, development, and recruiting and come out with anything better. Because the way I see it, Microsoft doesn’t have a money problem, they have a leadership problem.