What’s worse is that it’s still there.
[Update: The typo has been fixed.]
Likability
Computers are personal, but tablets are deeply personal.
Because of this, competing with the iPad is not as simple as going head to head with all the tangibles: hardware vs. hardware; OS vs. OS; 3rd-party apps vs. 3rd-party apps; and so on.
The iPad is more than the sum of its parts. The iPad has an intangible: Likability.
To date, nobody has been able to compete with Apple when it comes to the combination of hardware, operating system, and 3rd-party apps. If competitors have yet to even compete with the tangibles of the iPad, how then do they expect to compete with the intangibles?
From what I have seen and read about the TouchPad and webOS so far, this may be the first likable tablet since the iPad. It’s buggy and has a poor app store like the rest of the other tablets. But what the TouchPad has that the others do not is likability. And that gives me hope that it could be great.
Why Can’t Anyone Make a Tablet Better Than the iPad? →
Matthew Panzarino:
I can give you one reason that I’ve found to be evident across all of the tablets that I’ve tested personally and that seems to be present in the ones that I haven’t yet, going by the reviews: The fluidity and immediacy of touch response in the user interface.
Put another way, features do not a user experience make.
If You Read Just One TouchPad Review This Morning, Read Joshua Topolsky’s →
Something you found in most of the TouchPad reviews I read this morning, but that I thought came across best in Joshua’s, is just how likable webOS is. Josh touches on the feel of the TouchPad more than just the feature list.
A Tech Enthusiast Site Reviews the HP TouchPad →
Summed up:
I’ve been testing the TouchPad for about a week and, in my view, despite its attractive and different user interface, this first version is simply no match for the iPad.
Macworld’s TouchPad Review →
The embargo lifted last night and the reviews for the HP TouchPad are being published. And, for the most part, those with review units share the same sentiments about the TouchPad: it seems that HP did a lot of things right with webOS 3.0 and the future of the TouchPad has a lot of potential, but it’s still buggy and full of dark corners.
Jason Snell writes, in his review for Macworld:
Is there any reason for a prospective iPad user to buy a TouchPad today? I can’t see it. In a head-to-head comparison with the original iPad on launch day, the TouchPad might win out due to its dual-core processor and multitasking support. But today’s iPad 2 has both, along with tens of thousands of tablet-optimized apps and almost none of the quirks that the TouchPad currently exhibits.
Using Typekit Fonts in Your Own CSS →
Setting up Typekit fonts is a piece of cake. And there is not just one way to do it — Typekit has a few different options. If you want to learn a different option, or if you’re still weak in the knees about rolling custom fonts, then this tutorial on the Typekit blog can help you. (I’m doing “Option 2” on shawnblanc.net.)
Marshall Kirkpatrick’s Initial Google+ Review →
Marshall Kirkpatrick also likes it:
Big picture take-away: Google has built an attractive, intuitive, intelligent service that’s fun to use and speaks to a deep human need for contextual integrity of communication. There is not just public/private, life is more complex than that. This need, unmet by almost any other social network today, is where Google is aiming to win the hearts of users. The app the company built towards that aim is smooth and pleasing to use.
The Google+ iPhone Web App →
MG Siegler’s first look at the iPhone app for Google+:
If you simply point your iOS Safari browser to plus.google.com, you’ll find a solid web app written in HTML5. You can’t do quite everything you’ll be able to with the native app, such as Huddle (group chat). But it the main parts of the Google+ functionality are there. Stream, Photos, Circles, Profile, and Notifications appear in the main menu.
And there are actually some other unique features, such as the ability to check-in to a venue and see Google+ message from users nearby to your current location.
MG Siegler’s Initial Google+ Review →
After spending several hours with Google+, MG Siegler really likes it so far:
Google has done a very good job with the early execution. Can they maintain that? Once the novelty is gone, will there be a reason to use it? And will the idea scale — meaning both in absolute size and in terms of moving beyond an early adopter market?
His mostly glowing review touches on all the major elements, as well as giving some insight into where things might be going with Google+ in the future. I’m not on Facebook or Google+, but after reading Siegler’s review, Google’s new social network actually sounds far more interesting to me than Facebook’s. Of course, the issue isn’t the features, it’s the users — will my friends and family be compelled to join Google+?
Google’s Innovation Dilemma →
Horace Dediu:
Android and Chrome are, if successful, sustaining technologies for Google. That’s not going to be enough.
The Pope’s iPad →
He used it to tweet the launch of news.va yesterday. (Via Lessien.)
The Area Code Project →
Mike McQuade is cataloging all U.S. area codes by making hand pulled serigraph posters and smart phone socks. The posters look gorgeous; I’m waiting for 303.
Designing GitHub for Mac →
Kyle Neath’s behind-the-scenes look at designing the new GitHub Mac app:
All in all I created 45 comps for 1.0 — each with about 5-10 unique states (with layer groups).