Shaun forgot his V8 today. (Requires the latest version of Safari/WebKit.)
That is the coolest thing I’ve seen all week — which is saying a lot considering I saw The Dark Knight last night. ✓
The Survey has returned for 2008. I took it, and if you make the web, you should too. ✓
Admin Comments, a new ExpressionEngine plugin by Brian Warren that allows website visitors (and moderators with Super User status) to delete their comments. Very nice! ✓
Me, today:
Some idiot almost walked into a lady in the mall while looking down at his iPhone trying to text. Oh wait. That was me.
What I didn’t report was the short exchange I had with said lady: “Excuse me,” I said. “Excuse you,” she replied. Nice.
At least I’m not alone. (Via Blankenship.) ✓
The Belkin BreakFree cable is essentially a MagSafe-like adapter for quarter-inch audio heads — so why can’t we have this for our iPods and iPhones? There is big money to be made here, folks. Big money. ✓
Merlin Mann started up a discussion for iPhone app ideas and the floodgates opened.
I’d love to have a GPS- and Bluetooth-enabled phone settings app that would tell the iPhone to activate/disactivate call forwarding based on your location. For example, if you get poor or no signal where you live, you could pair the app with your home computer and every time you come home it would tell the iPhone to forward calls to your home phone.
Technically, I’m not sure this type of app would even work. First, there is very little (if any) documentation about the iPhone’s Bluetooth capabilities in the SDK. Second, even if hooks were provided, I think the app would have to be launched in order to perform any sort of action (such as setting call forwarding); which sort of defeats the purpose.
Anyway, some of the ideas in the comments on Merlin’s article are great. Take a look. Especially if you’re a developer. ✓
July 17, 2008 Lines
So I just got back from the local Apple Store (empty-handed thanks to their policy about requiring the primary account holder to be present, yadda yadda — don’t get me started), and I thought I’d post this bit of interesting info about people lining up for the iPhone 3G.
It seems that the lines (which, by the way, are still insanely long — I mean, does anyone else not see how absolutely crazy this is?) are less because of the overall demand and more because of the slow exercise of activating the device. An employee even told me they only had only two personnel assigned to the job of activations, and admitted that’s the reason for the long waits.
So are they spiting AT&T, or their customers, with that strategy? Two employees? Really, Apple? Do you realize what people are doing for these iPhone thingies?
The Joshua has launched a tasty new version of the NewSpring Church website. I’ve not yet clicked through it entirely (I mean, how dare they launch a new website while I’m on vacation?!), but so far I dig the simplified, organic navigation and the choice typography.
Well done, Joshua & Co. ✓
Tapulous’ Friend Book iPhone app is exactly the kind of creative approach I was hoping to see from third-party developers. The “handshake” feature should be built in to the Contacts app from Apple, but since it’s not Tapulous took advantage. ✓
Marco Arment gives his impressions of the App Store so far (via Cameron.):
What bothers me the most is that so many apps are simply unnecessary front-ends to websites […] I want to see more apps doing things and enabling uses that weren’t possible to do well, if at all, using Safari. That’s the result I expected from the pent-up SDK demand.
I wholeheartedly agree. Most — probably 90% — of the apps available right now are unimaginative. I haven’t found a single (non-game) app that uses the accelerometer to present a different, landscape screen. That seems extremely odd to me, especially since many apps could really use more horizontal space for their UI presentation.
One of the most interesting apps is a video app from Rhythm NewMedia called vSNAX Videos [non-iTunes link]. The app is really polished and has some great features I’d even like to see Apple incorporate into the iPod video player. (If only the content were better.)
If there’s any takeaway for me from this past week (including all the TripLog conversation), it’s that interface design is needed now more than ever. ✓
From the Buy n Large website, their Core Values:
Buy n Large believes in focusing brand responses into leveraging consumer enhancement and nurturing emotional or cognitive customer satisfaction across the entire retail framework, while magnifying dynamic industry expansion into bespoke evergreen solutions. Our ability to harness visionary synergies and optimize out-of-the-box systems has created a dynamic process where we construct revolutionary architectures that redefine communities and cultivate integrated markets. Because we continually utilize global action points that enable 24/7 systems, our ability to engineer scalable methodologies is now second to none. At Buy n Large, it’s always been important for us to incubate leading-edge action points and unleash best-of-bread relationships. Our focus has always been to strategize solutions that will enable our customers to harness collaborative relationships while we transparently utilize extensible models.
Classic. (Via Bronwyn.) ✓
Got this in my inbox tonight:
From: sperte@me.com
Subject: A Tip From the Future
Date: July 8, 2018 9:32:47 PM PDT
To: sperte@me.com
Dear Sean,
Thanks for giving up soda and sugar substitutes, that’s been a huge blessing. Now to business.
I know you’ve been heavily weighing the option of getting an iPhone 3G on Friday, and have already looked at all the pros and cons. I also know you saved the money from the sale of the — what was it again? Oh, yeah, the PowerBook — to purchase it. (Wow, I haven’t said that name in years. I had to have my Knowledge Navigator look it up for me.)
Well, let me just tell you: Don’t do it. Skip it. Keep your current iPhone.
You see, here in the future, the only companies that have survived are the ones that look after their customers. While some companies expanded their energy and resources trying to contain handfuls of pirates and scammers, others concentrated on improving their loyal customers’ user experience. Unfortunately, AT&T is not one of the latter type. In classic Galactic Empire fashion, they tightened their grip, and the pirates slipped through their fingers. It drove their cellular division to the ground.
Meanwhile Apple has been pounding out product after product after product — with services, too! You should see their new home gardening appliance. Freakin’ awesome. Comes out in time for the Holiday season. But why am I telling you? You don’t even care about gardening yet.
Anyway, I just wanted to give you fair warning. You don’t want to be locked into AT&T any longer than you have to. They had a good run, but once Apple decided to give them the boot and launch their own communications service platform, it was over. (Truth be told, though, I knew way before then — when AT&T started courting other manufacturers trying to come up with an iPhone killer. It happens sooner than you think.)
Also, hey, don’t worry about that rash. It goes away.
Sincerely,
Future Sean
So what do you think? I say Future Sean’s an idiot.
I’m getting an iPhone 3G this Friday.
Feeling a bit burned by CoverSutra’s lack of updates and/or bug fixes? Take a look at TotalTunes Control. ✓