Posts categorized “ipod/iphone”.

Random thoughts on Instagram

April 3rd, 2012
  • Love it
  • I now see the world in Instagram possibilities — like, “Oooh, that would make a good Instagram shot”
  • It’s worth it to me to pull over my car and grab a unique shot
  • You should follow me: davelawrence8 (natch)
  • You can usually tell who gets a new iPhone: they tend to join Instagram shortly after
  • Android users: welcome to the party
  • I have yet to get a Camera+-save-then-upload-to-Instagram workflow that I really like, but sometimes I will edit a photo in something like Snapseed and then post it to Instagram
  • Speaking of which: if you’re not using mobile photos for Instagram, you’re cheating
  • One or two photos a day is fine. Five in a row of your kid or your lunch is not fine
  • Scenery, architecture, and skyline shots are fun, but my favorite Instagrams are the ones that capture an idea, or a mood, or a single object in a unique way

iTunes Match: for me, a solution in need of a problem

December 6th, 2011

Thomas Brand at Egg Freckles:

For normal people iTunes Match will solve the problem of getting the music they have on one computer to all of their computers and Apple devices without networking, filesystems, or sync cables. For me iTunes Match is a frivolous expense…The only advantage iTunes Match provides me is the flexibility of streaming or downloading songs on the go when I am away from my computer.

I’ve talked about this a few times on The hello Show, but this new way of doing your music that Brand explains is, to me, much like MobileMe was in terms of syncing: it doesn’t solve a problem for me. Brand mentions he already knows how to sync his iTunes libraries across multiple machines. My sticking point is that I have the one true iTunes library, and everything runs from that without problems.

My process for syncing is tied with the way my routine goes. Before I head to bed, I plug my iPhone into my Mac for recharging and syncing. Any changes made on the iPhone (appointments, contact updates, etc.) get synced to the iMac, and any new updates on the iMac (podcasts, songs, calendar additions) get synced down to the iPhone. Then, the next morning, I unplug the iPhone and head off to work.

Most of the music I want to listen to on my iPhone gets synced through iTunes. If I notice something is missing, during the next sync I add that artist or playlist. There are no kinks in my system.

Yes, the higher-quality music files from iTunes Match are attractive. The tradeoff is I have to dip into a system I’m not entirely comfortable with yet.

An iPod for music lovers

August 24th, 2011

iPod classic

Kirk McElhearn at Macworld:

Both iPod classics (black and silver) are ahead of the iPod nano and shuffle in any of their colors. So while many people think the classic is a niche device, this might not be the case. Even if it were a niche, it would be one worth holding onto, because the buyers of this model are the real music fans, with lots of tunes, and want a device that holds as much as possible.

Agreed. My first iPod, a 30 GB iPod video from 2005, is still my only classic iPod, and it’s no longer big enough for my music library. I’ve thought about shopping for a refurbished model just so I don’t have to worry about the song juggling that McElhearn talks about.

For true music lovers, and especially for those of us with large music libraries, the iPod classic is still a viable option – sort of like a Mac Pro for tunes.

New iPhone wallpapers posted

January 24th, 2011

iPhone wallpaper - Green Newton

Just for fun, I posted a few new iPhone wallpapers that might interest Apple fans: four wrinkled-paper versions, like the Newton one above.

Everything new is old again

November 22nd, 2010

MessagePad 2007

Andy Ihnatko’s original iPhone. An oldie but goodie.

[Via Daring Fireball.]

For those who miss the clickwheel

September 27th, 2010

iPhone wallpaper - iPod

A classic iPod wallpaper for your iPhone.

Finally: Newton Einstein project on iPhone

September 15th, 2010

Check that out.

Matthias Melcher has done something I’ve only been able to dream about: put the Newton OS Einstein emulator on an iPhone.

As he says, it’s only proof of concept right now. You can see it lags just a tad. But imagine this thing running full-power and full-speed on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.

UPDATE: Steven Frank went ahead and threw Einstein on the iPad. Fan-friggin’-tastic.

[Much abliged to Matthias for keeping me updated in the comments.]

NYT: original Newton MessagePad review

August 24th, 2010

From the New York Times’s original review of the Newton MessagePad:

The bottom line on the Newton Message Pad is that Apple promised too much and failed to deliver a useful device for everyday executive chores. On the other hand, the Message Pad practically hums with untapped potential, and six months (or moths) to a year from now it is likely to be a popular executive tool.

…When it was first described publicly more than a year ago by Apple’s chairman, John Sculley, the Newton was said to be a combination pen-based computer, personal organizer, fax and data communicator, and wireless messaging system.The Newton is indeed full of promise, but that’s not the same thing as fulfilling the promises.

I’m just trying to think of a situation where today’s Apple would release a product that had more “untapped potential” than actual usefulness.

The original iPhone, maybe? It didn’t have apps, cut/copy/paste, or any of the things we all take for granted now. But then we didn’t have to worry about faulty handwriting recognition. Today, it seems a new Apple product must have an immediate pick-up-and-use aura. Potential comes through iteration, sure, but you’re not left holding a device that inspires a yawn – or a question of its practical aspects.

The opposite argument is that apps didn’t come to the iPhone until a year after its launch, and then the whole world seemed to open up. With the Newton, it took until at least Newton OS 2.0 to get things in motion.

The kicker of Peter Lewis’s review comes at the end: “The possibilities are grand. For example, one can imagine cellular phone circuitry being shrunk to fit in the Message Pad’s credit-card-sized PCMCIA slot, or a Newton being shrunk to fit in a cellular phone.”

One can imagine, indeed.

[Via Gizmodo, via Retro MacCast.]

Quote of the week: close enough

June 22nd, 2010

“Verizon has reached a powerful point in their marketing: for Verizon customers curious about the iPhone, Droid is close enough. Close enough is powerful, and Apple is rapidly losing ground to it.”

Marco Arment on a possible Verizon iPhone. His theory is that Apple will continue to lose ground to Verizon’s Droid if it doesn’t release a CDMA iPhone. As long as you can walk into a phone store that isn’t AT&T and pick up an Android smart phone, often for free, Marco’s right – it’ll be good enough.

iPod…or iPad?

May 31st, 2010

iPods at 2 million?

Weird – they’re just now reaching two million?

Oh wait. It’s a copy-editing mistake (check the URL).