This Week's Sponsor:

1Blocker

A Cleaner, Faster, and More Private Web Experience

Posts in links

Teardown: What’s Inside Apple’s Big New iPad 2 Dock (+ iPad 1 Dock)→

Teardown: What’s Inside Apple’s Big New iPad 2 Dock (+ iPad 1 Dock)

iPad 2 Dock Teardown via iLounge

iPad 2 Dock Teardown via iLounge

First, if you’ve ever wondered how Apple gets those docks to feel substantial, the answer’s not tiny sandbags. Each version of the Dock actually has a huge, heavy metal plate inside molded with a “Zinc-3” legend on its undercarriage.

That explains why the iPad 2 Dock is so heavy. iLounge also goes as far to show the comparisons between the first iPad dock with newer model. What’s interesting is that the dock appears as one solid piece from the outside, but is divided into an outer shell and a base on which the components sit. It’s an interesting design, and one that competitors probably wouldn’t mimic: they wouldn’t hide the fact that their docks are just cheap plastic or are built & glued in multiple pieces, whereas Apple goes out of their way to make their products presentable. Even in accessories, Apple does a substantial job paying attention to solid unibody designs. TUAW writes:

In terms of actual computer hardware, as you might guess, there’s not a lot – just a few chips for functionality like authentication and of course iPad synching. In fact, the iPad 2 dock, says iLounge, has more empty space than the first dock, even though the actual design is a little more compact than before.

Also of note: the weight shown in the pictures looks heavier than it feels. If I was to perceive how the iPad 2 Dock felt by looking at the picture above, I would think it’d be as heavy as the iPad 2 itself.

Permalink

iPhone Tab Bar Lessons→

iPhone Tab Bar Lessons

Over the last couple of years, the iPhone has greatly popularized the tab bar navigational model for mobile handsets. Apple has put together a design rationale for the tab bar in their Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) along with lots and lots of other information — they do however leave some question unanswered. Having worked with interaction and graphical design for iPhone applications during the last couple of years I’ve managed to pick up some lessons the hard way, and in this post I would like to share my thoughts on a couple of do’s and don’ts.

Petter Silfver compares different tab bar designs from popular iPhone apps and gives some insight into Apple’s subtle design decisions that most of us won’t even notice, but are important to build a consistent and natural experience on iOS. Such as colors and hues in the tab bar, the ideal number of tabs, or the problems with a “More” tab that distracts users and hides important functionalities of an app that should be discovered naturally.

If you’re an iOS geek like me, a designer, or simply interested in knowing more about this particular aspect of Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines, check out the post here. It’s full of details, and it’ll make you re-consider the implementation of Instagram’s Camera button.

Permalink

Tablets are changing the way consumers engage with content→

Tablets are changing the way consumers engage with content

With more than 165 million tablets expected to ship over the next two years, tablets are growing in popularity and changing the way that we consume content. People are spending considerable time with tablet devices and using them to play games, browse the web and search for information.

I’m not terribly surprised that tablets are becoming a hub for personal entertainment, but I am surprised at what people are using their tablets for (I figured news and reading would be on top). 28% of 1430 respondents (BGR) said the tablet has become their primary computer in the household, with 43% spending more time with their tablets than their laptops or desktops. 84% of those surveyed play games on their tablets, compared to lesser 61% who use their tablets to consume the news. Only 46% of those surveyed use their tablets to read e-books which is astounding.

Assuming that the majority of those surveyed owned an iPad, does this mean that less than 50% of iPad owners download, purchase, or read books from the iBookstore? What about Kindle and Amazon? With the amount of interactive content available on the iPad, it’s understandable people are seeking apps like Flipboard and are consuming media via their usual outlets, though I’m surprised e-books don’t have a bigger market or aren’t generating more attention.

The initial blog post doesn’t reveal too much, but the included PDF details a lot of interesting numerics for the small March survey.

Permalink

The iPhone Goes Where No Mac Has Gone Before→

The iPhone Goes Where No Mac Has Gone Before

Francois Fortier shares his experience with using Macs and iOS devices in a corporate environment:

However, the iPhones and iPads seemed to have crept into most Enterprise class companies from the top floor boardrooms as well as the server rooms in the basements. Not only does the current version of iOS 4.3.1 play nicer with Exchange Activesync than Windows Phone 7 and even Android but its extra management features provide comparable security to BlackBerry Enterprise Server managed BlackBerry’s. In fact, the iPhone comes out tops on this fight too since it doesn’t require a Client Access License for it to be managed. Apple has even released a free tool to allow Exchange Admins to lock out other iPhone features if the need be. Here is a table explaining the current state of the mobile OS landscape.

It is no secret that Apple has managed to capture the heart of corporate America with the latest Enterprise additions to iOS for iPhones and iPads. As several Fortune 500 companies deploy or pilot iOS devices instead of BlackBerrys, there’s a trend among IT departments and employees: why would you need to use a separate “corporate device” when you can just activate the enterprise features and switch between your personal and business-related apps on a single iPhone or iPad? Sure BlackBerrys still have a couple more functionalities than iPhones or iPads, but the 400,000+ apps available in Apple’s App Store are the key factor here. Employees don’t want to swap devices anymore.

Fortier also writes:

So there I was in between floors checking the location of the next meeting while lugging my colleague asked me to review the notes from the last for one of the action items, and this is when it occurred to me. No one was looking at me weird because I wasn’t using a BlackBerry or trying to wake a HP EliteBook from Vista Sleep of death mode. In fact it seemed perfectly acceptable for me to checking my iDevices, getting the info out quickly and move along

You know something has changed when people are writing books on how to use the iPad in corporate with apps available from the App Store. Macs might as well be growing fast in enterprise, but iOS devices have done in 36 months what OS X couldn’t in 35 years. [via Forkbombr]

Permalink

Nintendo 3DS Sales Affected By iOS Devices→

Nintendo 3DS Sales Affected By iOS Devices

Electronista reports the sales of the Nintendo 3DS won’t match the ones of the original Nintendo DS, according to iSuppli:

Nintendo’s 3DS sales will never match those of the earlier DS line due to competition from Apple and Google, IHS iSuppli said this weekend. The 3DS would hit 11.6 million devices in 2011, but it would always lag behind what the DS line managed at the same point in its history, hitting 69.9 million systems versus 90.9 million.

I was one of the people who stood in line at my local videogame store in 2004 to get an early DS unit imported from the US (back then, games didn’t have regional restrictions), and I bought a DSLite and DSi after that. But something’s changed in the mobile gaming industry since November 2004 (when the original DS went on sale), and that’s the quick adoption of app stores and touch-based smartphones. In fact, iSuppli believes that the iPod touch, the iPhone and iPad are affecting the sales of the 3DS, which is struggling in keeping sales numbers up in Japan. Official numbers haven’t been released yet (they’ll be available later this week), but the 3DS is doing okay for now. It’s just that there’s a general assumption it won’t do as well as the DS in the long term, mainly because the market has changed to accommodate iOS and Android devices as gaming machines that also happen to do many other things – again, thanks to online marketplaces like the App Store. On top of that, DS games are still sold in cartridges at $40 whilst you can find thousands of $2.99 - $9.99 games in the App Store. And with digital downloads, you don’t have to worry about physically carrying around anything except, well, your phone or tablet.

There are a lot of factors to consider when comparing Nintendo’s portable consoles to iOS devices (personally, I don’t believe the console will die anytime soon), but it’s very clear that in this new market many users are playing games on new devices like the iPod touch. Nintendo will keep selling its 3DS models for years, but don’t expect those numbers to be as huge as the original DS.

Permalink

“Post PC” Doesn’t Mean “Sans PC”→

“Post PC” Doesn’t Mean “Sans PC”

Michael Gartenberg weighs in on the “post PC” argument started by Steve Jobs at the iPad 2 media event, when he said devices like the iPad are the perfect example of the “post PC” technology era we’re living in:

The iPad and other devices are not here to displace the PC (by which I mean all personal computers, whether they’re Macs or PCs running Windows). In fact, post PC means after PC, a new generation of products that build on the PC. What it doesn’t mean is sans PC, that is, without PC. The personal computer will no doubt be with us for a very long time… but that doesn’t mean we’re not in the post-PC world.

Gartenberg is right, I don’t think Steve Jobs meant “iPads will replace desktop computers in the next 12 months” – rather, something more like “We’ve seen the numbers, and the iPad is clearly a device different from computers that average users actually want to buy”.

Think about it: iPads can’t “replace” Macs yet if only because a Mac is needed to develop iOS apps. And of course, hundreds of other tasks iOS devices still can’t perform. For this reason I think associating “post PC” with “replacing” is a wrong assumption. It’s obvious the iPad can’t replace a desktop Mac – and yes, also because of the cable that’s needed to sync content. But are we seeing a trend? Yes. And what about 10 years from now – what will the average PC sold at Best Buy look like?

“Post” doesn’t mean “sans”, but the post-PC era has definitely started.

Permalink

How many Macs did Apple sell last quarter?→

How many Macs did Apple sell last quarter?

None of the 43 analysts we polled – professional or amateur – think Apple sold more than 4 million Macs in the quarter that ended two weeks ago. But as a group they expect unit sales grew even faster – nearly 24% year over year. The high estimate of 3.865 million – submitted by both Traderhood’s Nicolae Mihalache and Apple’s Gold’s Dennis Hildebrand – represents more than 31% growth year over year.

For Apple’s first quarter fiscal results for the new year, Apple reported 4.13 million Macs sold following a strong demand for the MacBook Air. While we have seen updates in the MacBook Pro which include Sandy Bridge and Thunderbolt, analysts are predicting that Macs will see a decreased demand this quarter, which is in line with the sales trends from 2006. Analysts are also predicting that Apple will sell 19 million iPhones for the second quarter according to Fortune.

Permalink

Angry Birds Seasons Will Get “Amazing Update” for Easter→

Angry Birds Seasons Will Get “Amazing Update” for Easter

With a series of tweets posted on the official @RovioMobile account, the Angry Birds developers have confirmed to their fans that Seasons will get an amazing and “great” update for Easter. A preview of the new features will be posted soon, but if we had to guess we wouldn’t be surprised to see more eggs and some kind of evil rabbits. Angry Birds Seasons was updated in the past to include Halloween levels, Christmas specials, a Valentine’s Day edition and a green St. Patrick’s Day version. The update is expected to drop in the App Store before Easter (which is on April 24 this year).

With other tweets, Rovio is also suggesting Angry Birds Seasons for Mac will be released before Summer, and a huge update for the regular “Angry Birds” game is set to come out in the next few months, hopefully around May / June. Check out Rovio’s Twitter timeline here to get more details on the updates the development studio is working on. Honestly, we can’t wait to have some more Angry Birds in our hands. And with a new record of 10 million downloads in 10 days, I’m pretty sure the next updates will dominate the App Store once again. [via]

Permalink

YouTube is going LIVE→

YouTube is going LIVE

Today we’re announcing the initial roll out of YouTube Live, which will integrate live streaming capabilities and discovery tools directly into the YouTube platform for the first time. This begins with a new YouTube Live browse page (www.youtube.com/live), where you can always find the most compelling live events happening on YouTube and add events to your calendar. Subscribe to your favorite YouTube live-streaming partners to be notified of upcoming live streams on your customized homepage.

Broadcasters like TWiT already stream their content live when it hits the air, but imagine how much exposure independent or amateur content creators can get through the power of YouTube. We’ve started to see the shift from traditional news outlets to independent blogs and journalists, and the same disruption is happening with consuming video. While Hulu, Netflix, and others are making strides to offer content outside of traditional cable media, the launch of live video on YouTube will make this transition more apparent and continue to deliver more options to consumers. I’m not surprised that Hak5 is already streaming, and Geek Beat will also have upcoming programming this evening. Also of interest: there’s already sports programming for the NBA Playoffs. Could good independent vloggers unroot traditional news channels like ESPN? The exposure YouTube brings, plus what it chooses to feature on their live page, will be significant.

Permalink