During the last years, dictation software has become more and more popular with the development of touchscreen devices. Many writers prefer to use mechanical keyboards for typing, because touchscreen keyboards are not suited for longer texts: they can get very uncomfortable for someone who is not used to them. So especially when you’re outside, dictating text or data can be a very comfortable and healthy alternative to touchscreen keyboards. Even Apple has shown a reaction to that development by introducing Siri, the mobile all-in-one voice assistant on the iPhone 4S. Although it works fine and has lots of features, there are still many independent competitors in this area of app development.. Assistant, developed by Appmosphere and designed by talented designer Michael Flarup, is one of the newer, yet slightly more interesting, efforts.

Assistant serves just one feature: setting calendar events and timers via voice recognition. I know, Siri does that as well, plus much more (and might be funnier too). So why mention a more or less obviously inferior competitor, for which you even have to invest extra money when you get Siri for free with your iPhone 4S? Well, first of all, because not everyone owns an iPhone 4S and Assistant works on 3G(s) and 4 models. And to a certain extent, because of Flarup and his UI work.
After firing up the app you’re greeted with that immensely huge and gloomy stainless steel recording button and some examples on how to use the features of Assistant. Tap it and the voice recording via the integrated or attached microphone starts; tap it again to stop it. The app processes your vocal input (using the well-founded technology of Nuance Communications) and shows up a date dialogue afterwards, titled with the dictated appointment content and enhanced by eventually mentioned reminders. That’s it: all these main windows are clean, simple and immediately understandable, and the voice processing is pretty accurate and efficient.

Besides its well-done demo video on the app’s website, Assistant also has many setting possibilities which make the app very flexible and useful. You can select the default calendar in which Assistant will deposit your appointments, and default alter time and event duration. The app currently supports only English language input: you can choose from Britain, American, and Australian English. In addition to that, the settings include examples as to which kind of formulations the voice recognition is able to process. It’s quite variable: for example to set an appointment to a special time you can use direct time spelling (12.00 AM) or prevalent paraphrases like noon.

So now let’s get into the UI. Although I like Michael Flarup’s style of digital design very much and, as I already pointed out, the main window and the dialogue panel look nice and polished, there are two things that made me feel a bit uncomfortable with the overall design of Assistant: the buttons and the (also stainless-steel-like) titlebar used within the settings. The latter might fit pretty well to the main window and the “What can I say?”-example list, since the recording button, the monospace screen at the bottom, and the gloomy red list elements correspond to it. But if you move into the settings and the standard iPhone listing UI used for selecting several options, it becomes a disturbing visual overkill. Secondly the buttons set on it do not have anything in common with the plastic and rather machinery look of the titlebar: in my opinion, they are too smooth and colored too dark to fit to the bright but still cold and “hard” atmosphere the title bar creates.

So, I have to say that giving an exact final statement or even a recommendation for buying Assistant is rather difficult. It definitely has some advantages and provides iPhone 3G(S) and 4 users the possibility of stripped-down voice dictation to quickly create calendar appointments. But its look is a bit uneven and therefore I think not good enough to be considered as a must-have — there are some hot spots in it, but to me it is not completely coherent and attractive to reasonably use because of the design. Still if you’re searching for a stable and quite enjoyable app to solve the problem of not having a Siri-like working robot on your phone, get Assistant for $1.99 to dictate calendar events on your older devices.

Like many others, I was disappointed by how Walter Isaacson’s official biography of Steve Jobs turned out. With the kind of access that Isaacson had to Jobs’ information, photos, close friends and colleagues, in my opinion, the author should have tried to linger less on the personal reasons that led Steve to walk barefoot around campus, and more on the ideas that shaped the great businessman and inventor that he was.

Steve Jobs was a polyhedric figure, and Isaacson tried to capture the “facts” of his life by focusing on several of his “passions” and “flaws” while, unfortunately, getting many of the facts that helped Apple become the company it is today simply wrong. Perhaps Jobs wanted the book to be a honest representation of “the man behind the business”. Perhaps Jobs’ idea of the book people wanted to read about him was inherently flawed, then. But the way I see it, Isaacson made a choice, independently from Steve, to put the spotlight on certain aspects of Steve’s life, while omitting key details and facts to better understand the Steve Jobs who founded and re-shaped Apple. Maybe “Steve Jobs” is perfect for Joan Baez, or one of Steve’s multiple ex’s in time. But it is not the book I, as someone interested in Steve Jobs the man and businessman, wanted to read.

Ken Segall’s new book, Insanely Simple, is, from this standpoint, a simpler book about Steve Jobs. Rather than attempting to provide a complete and exhaustive picture of Steve Jobs in each and every aspect of his life – something that, as we’ve seen with Isaacson, can be a little daunting – Insanely Simple focuses on one thing: simplicity. Insanely Simple, though Segall’s recollections, wants to help readers understand how some of Steve’s ideas and behaviors came to be by following the principles of Simplicity.

Insanely Simple doesn’t want you to know why Steve didn’t wash for weeks, was a vegan, didn’t speak to his daughter for years, or refused to properly park his car. For as much as those are intriguing (and, to an extent, posthumously voyeuristic) nuggets of information, they won’t make you think about why the products Apple makes are great and profitable – the numbers speak for themselves – when compared to the plethora of options that we have on the market today.

Apple makes consumer products. Insanely Simple focuses on this aspect of the company from two perspectives: Segall’s, who worked at the Chiat\Day advertising agency alongside NeXT and Apple for several campaigns, and Jobs’, whom Segall got to know (and work with) personally. The two perspectives often intertwine and overlap in interesting ways: in the concise, fluent style of the book, Segall takes you through an anecdote about the introduction of the iMac to his ad team, and in the next chapter he’s comparing the shopping experience of Apple.com to Dell’s website.

Segall certainly didn’t write Insanely Simple for “Apple novices”, trying to explain that an iPhone is made of glass or what FireWire stands for (something that Isaacson did in his attempt to produce the universal book about Jobs for the masses). While, say, a less tech-savvy reader like my mother would probably need to look up a reference or two when reading Insanely Simple, I believe anyone will be comfortable within the range of discussion laid out by Segall: how “a deep, almost religious belief in the power of Simplicity” always beats Complexity in every business-related decision.

The thing is, it’s funny how Segall’s sole focus on one core concept – Simplicity – provides a richer and more meaningful tapestry of insight into Jobs’ attitude and actions than Isaacson’s poorly researched technical explanations and sentimental departures. In describing the oft-abused “think different” mindset that drives Apple as a company, Segall tries to portray Simplicity as a “skill” that “takes practice”. Unlike Isaacson’s story of the man, Segall thinks “being brutal and being respected are not mutually exclusive”.

Without spoiling too much of the book, I think a couple of brief excerpts can better put into context the “Power of Simplicity” that Segall wants to turn into the selling point of his work (below, page numbers are reported as provided in the review copy I received).

Page 42:

He stopped cold. His eyes locked on to the one thing in the room that didn’t look right. Pointing to Lorrie, he said, “Who are you?” Lorrie was a bit stunned to be called out like that, but she calmly ex- plained that she’d been asked to attend because she was involved with some of the marketing projects we’d be discussing. Steve heard it. Processed it. Then he hit her with the Simple Stick. “I don’t think we need you in this meeting, Lorrie. Thanks,” he said. Then, as if that diversion had never occurred— and as if Lorrie never existed—he continued with his update. So, just as the meeting started, in front of eight or so people whom Steve did want to see at the table, poor Lorrie had to pack up her belongings, rise from her chair, and take the long walk across the room toward the door. Her crime: She had nothing to add.

Lorrie, as Segall remembers, only added to the complexity of the room. She wasn’t “necessary” in the sense that, for what Steve wanted to accomplish during that meeting, he didn’t think Lorrie could contribute in any substantial way. So he asker her to leave. Where’s the line between honesty and rudeness? Segall continues (page 47):

To this day I have a recurring fantasy when I find myself trapped in a big meeting going nowhere. I imagine what Steve Jobs would say and do if he were sitting in that room, enduring what I’m enduring. In my fantasy, it’s like having a really good seat for a matinee at the Roman Colloseum. Who would Steve verbally dismantle or eject from the meeting? When would he cut the presenter off midsentence and say it’s all bullshit? With all the talk about how rough Steve could be, it should be acknowledged that oftentimes he was only doing what many of us wish we could do. Steve saw no reason to be delicate when his time, and the time of everyone in the room, was being wasted.

How many times have you wished you could simply call out someone during a meeting like that, and tell him he’s not necessary? Self-imposed social rules and the fear of hurting someone else’s feelings often keep us from doing what we want to do with a simple and efficient way. And as Segall says, “showing a little of that brutal honesty at the right time is a pretty good way to earn respect— and keep those smart groups small”.

When he hit something or someone with the “Simple Stick”, however, Steve Jobs didn’t always have the perfect touch or vision. But whilst reading Isaacson’s take on Jobs’ human flaws I had the feeling those traits were treated as “mistakes” without another possible explanation – just “mistakes”. I like how Segall tries to explain Steve’s deviation from the Truth of Simplicity as a result of a “skill” that needs to be learned and practiced. Even Jobs’ mind could sometimes be obfuscated by the appeal of “options” and “extras”; but because he was a visionary that understood the nature of Simplicity better than most people at the company – he could “see a spark in there that nobody else sees” – eventually Simplicity always found the way back to Steve’s vision.

The Ultimate Efficiency

In a way, Segall’s book is limited. It approaches the story of Steve Jobs at Apple with a very specific angle, it doesn’t follow a strict timeline of events, and it builds on the author’s theory that Simplicity leads to more prolific creative efforts with a constant flow of anecdotes and examples that, ultimately, aren’t “facts”. Segall doesn’t want to be a biographer, nor is he trying to put “the better book” about Steve Jobs’ life in the hands of customers. Segall wants to prove a point, and while the memories he uses surely contribute to solidifying his theory, in the end it is up to the reader to decide whether Simplicity really is the right key to understanding Apple’s success and a part of Steve Jobs’ persona.

I think Insanely Simple is honest. At $12.99 on the iBookstore (Amazon editions available here and here), you’re getting a clear, balanced recollection of events that focus on Simplicity, Steve Jobs, and the products and ideas that took place in between.

Insanely Simple may be “simpler” in terms of scope and chronological events, but it left me with a more complex, genuine necessity of reflecting more about Simplicity and its effects on Apple’s history than Isaacon’s book ever did.

I’m a huge fan of puzzle games. Throughout the years I installed almost every interesting game from this genre on my iPod touch: Cross Fingers and Smart Sokoban are some of my all-time favorites. I have to confess, I didn’t notice MacHeist coming up with their first iPhone game about a year ago. But today, their very sophisticated iPhone game The Heist got updated to version 1.1 and I had the great pleasure to beta test its new features and gameplay. Finally, I also recognized what a great game concept and visual effects The Heist has to offer.

Let’s start out with the actual game features. The Heist has got a small “story” around it:

Some puzzle-obsessed nut has rigged up this vault with state of the art defenses! You’ll have to crack a variety of puzzles to short circuit the lasers, security cameras and electrified bars. Are you up for the challenge?
Because of that, you frequently get calls by your spying colleague Sophia who gives you more instructions and (not really existing) time limits. Every time she calls you, new levels and difficulties are unlocked until you finally reach the vault.

In version 1.1 this story and the whole app has been enhanced by various features and fixes (taken from its App Store description):

• iPod play through with remote control support
• Game Center enabled on older devices (iPad 1 and iPod Touch 2nd generation)
• Awards earned achievements if any were missed
• Support for unlocking secret Clear theme
• Vault exit button

As the app is developed by the curators of MacHeist, there are some real loots deposited in this vault: with the new 1.1 version you can get steam codes for various games; you can even unlock a secret theme for Clear 1.1. To get there you have to solve four different puzzle games with 15 levels and four difficulty stages. These games actually include Smart Sokoban-style box puzzles, two sliding puzzles with bars and rectangle pieces. The most difficult — and unique — puzzle game in my opinion was the fourth one: a game where you have to sort differently colored stones marked with symbols on the field without having the same symbol two times in a horizontal or vertical row.

These games are not just addictive: they are surrounded by stunning visual effects and endowed with easy gameplay as well. The Heist is a very good example of how extensive and detailed design and the goal of keeping the gameplay smooth and simple should be mixed. Its use of LED effects, light reflections, and other more or less decorative elements is never disturbing the game’s content, and The Heist is easy and intuitive to play and understand.

With its Game Center integration (which now also works on iPad 1 and the 2nd generation iPod touch) and new achievements, The Heist is a quite substantial and addictive collection of tricky puzzles, and it definitely has the capability of captivating you for some time. If you like small time killers for short train or bus rides, go and get The Heist 1.1 right now for $0.99 (introductory sale price) .