by Conrad MacIntyre
By Conrad MacIntyre
Jeffery Battersby has a nice rundown of the apps that are out there for doing your taxes on iOS, but is it just me or does that seem like a really odd/weird task to be doing on iOS?
I'd do them on my Mac but there's not one piece of software written than will allow me to file my taxes from my Mac. Unbelievable.
Webdesigner Depot:
Mobile Internet usage is on the rise, and the world of Web design continues to evolve—so designers must learn to accomodate mobile devices. Thinking “Oh, my users won’t visit my website on a mobile device” is the worst mistake of all.
You mean, like The Loop, Jim?
Apple and Google are supposed to hate each other, but just because we use their products doesn’t mean we need to hurl hateful, meatless comments at each other.
Amen.
Ryan Faas, Doom-Sayer:
As Apple continues to encourage the Mac App Store as a primary source for Mac software, this may create problems for businesses and schools that have large Mac populations both because there isn’t currently a volume or site licensing option and because purchases are tied to a user’s Apple ID. Apple does offer volume licensing of its own apps, which are now only available through the Mac App Store but so far hasn’t made a move to do so with apps from other developers.
Well, until the Mac App Store is the ONLY way to purchase software schools and business don't need to worry about it, do they Ryan?
To further promote their Galaxy Note, Samsung has decided to embarrass themselves by “going to the streets” to try and convince people how awesome the S-pen functionality is by challenging an obviously clueless iPhone user to perform the same mundane tasks as a seasoned (trained & scripted) Note user.
I wonder how many interviews they had to film before they found someone this clueless. I also wonder if they could have found a Galaxy S II user who would have fit the bill.
Also, this reminds me of "Rick Mercer Talking to Americans". Watch it now. Especially if you're Canadian (Flash).
T-Mobile USA executives are talking reinvigorated challenger strategy and the carrier’s CTO Neville Ray (whom we interviewed last month) justconfirmed that their 4G network, which will be deployed during 2013, “will be compatible with a broader range of devices, including the iPhone”.
So… does this mean T-Mobile knows the next iPhone will support 4G networks or is it just wishful thinking by a mobile provider that's dying to get the iPhone?
Jordan Crook, whose work I typically enjoy:
According to the firm, Apple shipped nearly 23.4 million mobile PCs in the fourth quarter of 2011, which is 128 percent year-over-year growth. Cupertino sihpped over 62.8 million mobile PCs over the entirety of 2011, representing 132 percent year-over-year growth.
Who gives a rip about shipped numbers?!!?! (Note the excessive punctuation to illustrate my frustration). Shipped numbers don't mean anything unless you put them together with sold numbers.
I feel like no one else is saying this, and since I’ve not ever been one to hold back what’s on my mind I absolutely will — enough is enough. I’ve had it with incremental updates to Android smartphones every two weeks, I’ve had it with the super-sized ousness, and I’ve had it with all of these marketing gimmicks. Just focus on a quality product, and you won’t have to release eight “flagship” models a year.
(via The Loop)
Christian Sibreg, on the ongoing legal battle between Apple and Proview (that company that sold Apple the name 'IPAD' and is now suing them claiming that the sale did not include use of the name in China.:
Associated Press this morning reported of a heated exchange between cash-strapped Proview, which recently filed for bankruptcy, and the Silicon Valley giant.
Emphasis mine.
At one point this week, two of the top ten paid iPhone apps were outright scams. Phill Ryu has a good set of suggestions for Apple should address this. Being able to get a refund within a short window after first installing the app, for example.
I can't speak to scam apps, but I trust the source. I do, however, strongly feel that Apple needs to allow a return policy. Even 24 hours would be enough. A try-it-before-you-buy-it approach would be awesome. I have blown money on apps I'll never use again because I couldn't test it out first.
Jordan Crook, summing up her time with the Samsing Galaxy Note:
I applaud Samsung for thinking outside of the box on this one, but the issue with this type of exo-box-thinking is that I think it’s headed in the wrong direction. I understand that people are increasingly enjoying larger screens, as mobile video and gaming take over, but there has to be a line. Unfortunately, I think the Galaxy Note crosses it.
No matter how beautiful the display is or how fun (/useless) the S-Pen is, this thing is just too damn big to enjoy. I can’t tell you how frustrated I was doing even the simplest things like taking a picture, gaming, or even writing a text or search inquiry. And don’t even get me started on the kinds of looks I got holding this thing up to my face.
Perhaps if you have giant hands and can’t get enough doodle in your life, the Note might be right for you. But for anyone else, I’d recommend either waiting for the Galaxy S III (which is sure to be freaking awesome), or holding out for this rumored Galaxy Note 10.1 we’ve been hearing about. The Note makes much more sense as a cool tablet than it does a giant phone.
Sounds like a winner. The whole review is worth reading.
Matt Gemmell, addressing the music and movie industries:
We’ll buy stuff if it’s convenient to do so, and if the price is reasonable. Any sensible business would thus have as its goal “make our stuff convenient to buy, and price it reasonably”. You, however, suffer from some kind of brain cancer where your goal becomes “find ways to force people to buy our stuff regardless of how inconvenient and extortionate it is”.
The whole piece is great and worth a read (language warning).
The suit entitles any US customer who purchased an iPhone 4 to $15 or a free ‘bumper’ case for their device.
Way better than Apple's original offer.
While the iTunes App Store is an incredibly and unprecedentedly popular service, many users have complained about how difficult it sometimes is to find new and exciting software for their iPads, iPhones, and iPod touches. Apple is likely working on a more interactive way of locating iOS device software to solve these concerns. The interactivity that Apple wants within the digital store is something Apple could only likely pull off by housing the store within a full-fledged application, not a pure web browser experience.
I would like the iTunes store (music, movies, tv, books, apps - it's really big) to be in a separate app, at least on the Mac. iTunes is awfully convoluted. I'd also like a separate app for syncing iOS devices.
The iPad-customized version of Microsoft’s Office software suite could soon be heading to Apple’s App Store approval team, after The Daily managed to spend some hands-on time with the new application and snap a photo of it running on an Apple device.
How much you wanna wager this sells like the proverbial hotcakes?
If you went ahead and loaded the developer preview of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion onto your Mac, you likely already played around with the new Notification Center. Until you got bored and fired up Growl once again so you could enjoy notifications from all your apps, not just Mail and Calendar. Wouldn’t it be great, though, if all those Growl-capable apps could talk to Notification Center instead? With Hiss, they can.
This looks like a great way to bridge that gap until developers implement Notification Center into their apps.
Macworld out together a great list of questions and answers about Mountain Lion.
Seconded.
Yesterday we showed you how in OS X Mountain Lion, Software Update has shifted from its own app to the Mac App Store. But how will that work with updating apps that weren’t purchased through the App Store, but were instead bundled with your Mac at point-of-sale or installed from a DVD?
As you can see in the screenshot above, Apple’s got it covered: the Mountain Lion App Store will automatically detect any app that has historically been updated through Software Update and ask to register it to your Apple ID, along with a unique hardware identifier.
This is very exciting.
Yesterday, wereportedthat Apple’s new Messages app icon looked pretty shamelessly similar to that ofHipChat‘s. Now HipChat has spoken out about the maybe-theft-probably-concidence, and while they don’t have any hard feelings, they still think it sucks they’re about to get steamrolled by Apple.
The similarities are striking…
But Google has now secured one patent that may just demonstrate that companies are figuring out ways of getting around would-be infringement issues — and possibly produce more differentiated products in the process.
Whaaa? There's ways to do things other than the way Apple did it?