← Backward in time Page 1 of 91
March 10, 2010
→Apple’s Own Apps On The iPad
There has been a lot of conversation about what is going to happen to some of Apple’s preloaded apps on their journey from the iPhone to the iPad. Apps like Weather and Stocks. John Grubar is pretty much saying they won’t be there (at least on day 1).
Honestly, I could care less. While those apps are elegant and beautiful, their utility is pretty low. It’s mildly useful to know it’s going to snow on Sunday, but I would really like to know how much (especially this year). Long ago, I started using Weather Underground’s excellent iPhone site instead of Weather.
Which brings me to the other apps that Apple built. These are the ones that didn’t come preloaded on the device. Apps like Remote and iDisk require a user to go to the App Store to download them for free. Part of this was because they were for a subset of iPhone users who were using other Apple products like iTunes or MobileMe. I think the iPad version of these apps will be let the device be something much more useful.
Imagine a version of the Remote application that can let you do what you can already do with the iPhone version… control iTunes and let you enjoy your music at any Airport Express-equipped set of speakers. But in addition to this, you can enjoy that audio and everything else iTunes plays on the iPad itself. You can stream music and video to the device and not have to store local copies. It makes little sense to have to transfer half a gig of data to enjoy a movie on the porch instead of 10 feet away in the study.
Similarly, what if the iPad version of iDisk lets you browse the files you store in the cloud and your whole hard drive while you’re on the same network? I’m salivating just thinking of it.
There hasn’t been much indication of what Apple is thinking of doing in the evolution of these two apps. The ideas I’m describing seem so obvious I have to hope that’s where they’re going.
Google adds “Bicycling” option to Maps
Today we’ve added biking directions and extensive bike trail data to Google Maps for the U.S. My team has been keeping close tabs on all the public support for biking directions that’s been steadily coming in, but we knew that when we added the feature, we wanted to do it right: we wanted to include as much bike trail data as possible, provide efficient routes, allow riders to customize their trip, make use of bike lanes, calculate rider-friendly routes that avoid big hills and customize the look of the map for cycling to encourage folks to hop on their bikes. So that’s exactly what we’ve done.
March 8, 2010
→If you watched the Academy Awards last night you may have seen Patagonia’s founder, Yvon Chouinard, appear on a commercial for the American Express Members Project, a new partnership with social-action network Takepart.com. The piece was filmed in and around Ventura County by Robert Richardson – himself an Oscar-winning cinematographer – and directed by Scott Hicks of Shine fame.
The cover for Infinite Arms, the new album from Band Of Horses, coming out May 18.
March 5, 2010
→
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
→
“White Winter Hymnal” (from the Daytrotter Session) by Fleet Foxes
Keeping with the Fleet Foxes vibe… I love this sparse version of “White Winter Hymnal” from their Daytrotter Session.
Stop What You Are Doing & Install This Plug-In.
Cambridge UK startup Rapportive has released a Firefox and Chrome extension that will replace the ads in your Gmail with photos, biographic data and social media links, including a live display of recent Tweets, for whoever you’re corresponding with by email. It’s fantastic and takes about 2 minutes to set up.
Installed and tested — it took less than a minute. This is incredibly cool. Download here.
via dpstyles, mattlehrer, moth.
March 4, 2010
→We’ve been “in the studio” writing / experimenting for almost six months! Nearly every day! Almost all the work on this record is on the preproduction end. Recording will be fast.Robin Pecknold, from the Fleet Foxes, talking about recording their next album on the At Ease Message Boards
March 3, 2010
→Our family doesn’t have a TV anymore. We have five laptops at the dining room table and we all watch whatever we love.Amazing quote from a recent focus group. (via Tim)
I want to get one of these TykeRider bikes for my 2-year-old.
March 2, 2010
→
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
“When The Devil’s Loose” by A. A. Bondy
I’m a little late to the game with him, but I’m making up for lost time by digging up a bunch of his old stuff.
