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Posts in stories

Taking A Step Back

A friend of mine once asked me why he would ever need to install applications other than games on his iPhone, while he could do most of the things he needed by simply opening Mobile Safari. He’s not new to the iPhone platform: he bought an iPhone 3G in 2008 and finally switched to the iPhone 4 a few weeks ago. He reads blogs to stay updated about what’s new in iOS 4, the latest Apple news and games updates. Yet, he doesn’t install apps to “do stuff” on his iPhone, because he says Safari is such a good browser he doesn’t need to “spend money on additional apps”.

Maybe he’s missing out the best part of iOS, or maybe we, as geeks, need to take a step back and reconsider what we’ve done so far. Read more

Do We Really Need Tweetie 2 for Mac?

Last week I wrote that Tweetie 2 for Mac is alive, and should be released soon. Finally, I would say: after a quite embarrassing “MacHeist beta” delay and a series of announcements from Brichter himself and other personalities over at Twitter, we should definitely we able to get our hands on Tweetie 2 in a matter of a few months. And I repeat, we should. We don’t have any more information about this besides the fact that the app is alive and will be free under Atebits’ name.

My question is, though: do we really need Tweetie 2? Read more

Antennagate Is Alive, And It’s Helping Apple Sell More iPhones

Today I went to an Apple Store with my friends and girlfriend. I live in Viterbo, so we had to drive to Rome’s “Roma EST” Apple Store, which is a 90 minutes drive. I wanted to buy an Airport Express to use with AirPlay (and eventually came home with a KeepItClean MacBook cleaner spray, too), a friend wanted to get a 17-inch MacBook Pro. We had a great time, just like every time we go to that Apple Store. Customer experience quality is top-notch.

This is not the point, though. The last time I went to that Apple Store was in May, and the iPhone 4 wasn’t out yet. Today was the first visit after the iPhone 4 release and all the “Antennagate” media mess. Today’s visit made me realize Antennagate is still alive and kicking, but it’s actually helping Apple sell more iPhone 4s. Read more

Apple, The Next Step Is AirFiles

I installed iOS 4.2 beta on my iPad, but haven’t been able to check out the new AirPlay or AirPrint features yet: I don’t have an Apple Airport Express station to configure with my stereo, nor I have a compatible HP printer in the office. Still, I know these two new features pretty well: AirPlay is Apple’s take on how you should be able to consume digital content in the living room, AirPrint allows you to print documents from your iPad and iPhone with a few taps. Both of them are great features. I want to focus on AirPlay, though: as Seth Weintraub puts it, AirPlay is Apple’s “go to market” strategy - in a way that this single feature will let users easily hook their iPhones and iPads to the Apple TV to effortlessly share SD content, and eventually pay for HD versions using Apple’s TV own rental system. Any kind of video content can be streamed using AirPlay, as long as it uses a standard media controller and it’s encoded using the popular H.264 video format.

I haven’t tried it personally, but I already know AirPlay is going to be huge amongst iPad and iPhone owners once the new Apple TV will be available. This kind of one-tap streaming and sharing of content between devices has got me thinking, though: what if Apple shipped “AirFiles”, a built-in system to share any kind of documents across mobile devices and computers? Read more

An Interview with Shawn Blanc

Shawn Blanc runs one of my favorite weblogs, one of those you open for a quick 5 minutes read and you end up spending the whole afternoon on. With a good cup of coffee and some Mac nerdery state of mind.

Since we started working on MacStories 3.0 in April (true story), I knew that I wanted an interview with Shawn ready to publish by launch day. What happened is an interesting internet experiment: MacStories 3.0 took 6 months to complete, and our email interview turned into a conversation. A pretty long one. We started when the iPad wasn’t available, we wondered what Loren Brichter might be working on and we ended up talking about Flipboard. I think this conversation between me and Shawn is a great example of how fast things change on the internet in a matter of a few months. And, most of all, it’s a great example of how Apple rolls.

Long, unedited, real. Check it out below. And go grab some coffee. Read more

Ping: Apple’s Naive Social Demo

Last night I wrote about iTunes 10, and Apple’s problem with its flagship media management application becoming a bloat. Feature-creep, that is. The app wasn’t available yet, so I couldn’t give you my thoughts about Ping, Apple’s new attempt at social networking inside iTunes, although I already had some doubts about it. I installed iTunes 10 as it went live and immediately signed up to Ping.

Just like I expected, it’s useless.

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You Can’t Define The iPod Touch

The new iPod Touch is awesome. It’s got two cameras (even though the rear one isn’t the same of the iPhone’s), it’s got an all new sleek and thinner design, it’s got a Retina Display. Unlike many people said on Twitter today, it’s the same Retina Display you’re used to on the iPhone 4. The camera is different, the display’s the same. The new iPod Touch is one hell of a music player.

Or, it’s not a music player at all. It takes photos and HD videos, it’s got a state-of-the-art display perfect for reading and gaming - Steve Jobs himself said the iPod Touch outsells both Sony and Nintendo combined.

It’s time to stop thinking about the iPod Touch as an iPod.

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The 2010 Apple TV: “All Your TV Are Belong To Us”

Apple’s hobby has certainly turned into a delicate little surprise. The new Apple TV is incredibly tiny, fitting into the palm of your hand with its glossy block sides and matte black top. It’s a departure from what Apple normally does with their aluminum based Mac Mini or their plastic white Time Capsules, but as a small addition to your TV, it’s joyfully inconspicuous. Featuring HDMI out, USB, Optical out, and the ever sleek aluminum Apple remote, this year’s Apple TV is greatly compatible with all of your new HDTVs. But how does it fare on the software front? Streaming, not syncing seems to be the answer, but I’m a little disappointed at the total offering.

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