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Quick Thoughts on Today’s Apple Event
The new iPods look pretty decent. Nothing huge to talk about there save the iPod Nano - a complete redesign. I love the idea of a tiny multi-touch screen but I worry about people with big hands having trouble navigating on the device.
They still missed the mark with AppleTV. They’re clearly competing against Roku; even the device LOOKS like a Roku! You get Netflix streaming and a movie/tv rental function, plus YouTube and other stuff. That’s exactly what Roku offers (using Amazon for rentals)…
How about some imagination? They could’ve junked the AppleTV OS and loaded it up with iOS. That way, users could customize their AppleTV experience and find new ways of using the device. Use another iDevice to control the AppleTV - any iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad could become your new TV remote.
The gaming potential alone could be worth millions.
Not to mention, rental?? I tweeted this earlier, but… Blockbuster is bankrupt. Rental is clearly not working. Netflix, however, is king — unlimited access is what people want. They’re sidling up with their music business model but forgetting that people consume music and video differently.
iTunes 10 is available now, in theory - the download page crashed and a “Coming Soon” graphic is up now.
Ping looks like something interesting. 160 million users gathered to browse and talk about music, inside the biggest music store on the planet. That is some potential for those of us in the music business, for sure. A targeted audience of music fans; what could be better?
iPad Pocket Tees
hilarious.
Loopseque, a new iPad app for music synthesis using circles! More info at Create Digital Music.
Yet another amazing iPad DJ video.
Gorgeous iPod Choke Hazard Shuffle necklace. Really clever design.
Wow, crazy. The opposite of what I normally post - an iPad being controlled by MIDI.
This is my Flipboard.
That’s what I’m calling this little video I made to demonstrate the elegance and ingenuity of a new iPad app called Flipboard. I think you’ll agree, it looks nice. I also think you’ll find, once you download the app, that it feels amazing.
Here’s the effect it’s had on me in my couple of months using it in beta: I tend not to follow too many people on Twitter for the content they share, and in a typical Twitter client, I tend to gloss over links and images. Flipboard gives me such a nice way to read this stuff, I use it as an auxiliary client, just for the linked content. Turns out there’s some interesting stuff hidden behind all those ugly short URLs and yfrogs.
Big thanks to the talented and illustrious Peter Atencio for his work behind the lens, and to my handsome and kindhearted nephew Wes who knows how to swing.
FINALLY.
iTunes Album Artwork - GIF?
Why doesn’t Apple allow this? It’d be so cool to download and play an album that features animated artwork.
For instance, Anamanaguchi just put a new single out with an animation for it’s artwork. The only way I’d be able to see this art is if I go to their website.
It’d be amazing to pull out your iPhone or iPad and see this in the now playing section:
Speaking of, go get that single. It’s free.
iOS4 Multitasking - a UI Suggestion
So I love the new iOS4 multitasking functionality. I can keep Pandora or Rhapsody running in the background while I log into a website (then flip over to 1Password to copy over my password), and more. It’s great.
The one thing I don’t like is it’s “open app” management process. I understand that open apps aren’t draining battery life or compromising hardware performance, but they still annoy me. It’s mostly because I have a TON of apps and after a few days, my multitasking pop-up is page after page of “frozen” applications.
I’m not suggesting Apple make an Android-style App Killer app here, but I think this kind of implementation could work. This first image is the standard iOS multitasking window (with that sweet Pac-man wallpaper):
Simple, right? It looks great, except when you swipe to the right, you get pages and pages of other open apps. It just gets sloppy.
What I’d suggest is an icon that lives only in this multitasking environment. I’m calling it “Close All to Right”:
I’m not a graphic designer so forgive the sloppiness of the image.
If you tapped on this icon, it’d prompt an “Are You Sure?”, then it’d close all apps to the right of the icon. You’d be able to hold and drag your open apps at will (or this Close All icon) in order to choose what stays open.
If this was implemented, you’d be able to easily select 2-3 apps that would remain open but close the majority of your background frozen apps. It’d prevent users from having to sit and close out dozens of apps in a go, and it’d also allow users to keep background processes going if they so choose.
What do you think?
