The Rules of Mobile App Design (Presentation Slides)
Last week I had the honor of presenting to the NJ Mobile Meetup group. NJ Mobile is a collection of about 300 mobile technology enthusiasts that I co-organize. While I’ve been one of the groups organizers for quite some time, this was the first time that I actually spoke at an event. Much to my delight the presentation, which was partially based on my blog post The Rules of Mobile App Design, was very well-received.
My goal was to record the presentation and slides and post a video, but I’ve been experiences some technical difficulties of the crashing variety whenever I try to record my screen and voice at the same time. So here are the slides, and I hope to add the full video presentation soon:
Rules_of_Mobile_App_Design (PDF)
BlackBerry Deserves Compensation for its Failure
RIM, the makes of BlackBerry are quickly approaching a financial free-fall.
They have been unable to adapt their products to properly compete with the Android and iPhone. Even the US Government is starting to adopt the iPhone (and the US Government is insanely slow to change).
As a result, BlackBerry is fast approaching the point of no return, if they haven’t already reached it. They are screwed.
Their business model was disrupted by two companies who previously represented no threat. They are losing money, and will continue to lose more in the future. As a consequence Apple and Google should be forced to pay RIM enough money annually to keep the company financially solvent.
If the news, record, movie and print industries are entitled to compensation for dying business models, RIM should be too.
Must Use App: Dropbox
Dropbox is a file sharing application that works on Mac, PC, iPhone & Android. It allows you to store files locally on your computer, while simultaneously backing it up to a cloud server and sharing the files between all of your other devices.
If you use more than one computer like me, this is a must use application. If you have more than one computer, all of the files in your Dropbox are easily accessible on all of your computers.
It’s also great because you can access those files by signing into the Dropbox website, so you can access your files from someone else’s machine.
It’s also an easy method for swapping large files with friends, family, coworkers, and clients.
Give it a try, and please use my link. If you sign up via my link, I will receive an extra 250mb of free storage (I don’t place adds, and I don’t ask for much, so please forgive me being a bit of a whore in this instance).
Sign up for Dropbox
Post-PC = Marketing BS
During Apple’s iPad 2 event Steve Jobs declared that we are living in a “post-PC” world, and as with every word that the man utters, tech geeks pretty much ate it up.
It’s a cute sound-byte. It makes you feel like you’re part of some grand and imminent future. The PC completely changed the course of human history, and now it is obsolete. Rejoice!
The trouble is, the statement is flat-out false. We’re living in a world of integrated computing. Your PC, mobile, and tablet (if you have one) all work together to give you access to your data. Each one makes computing better in certain circumstances.
That’s the world we live in. “Post-PC” is marketing bullshit.
What’s a PC?
personal computer
–noun
a microcomputer designed for individual use, as by a person in an office or at home or school, for such applications as word processing, data management, financial analysis, or computer games. Abbreviation: PC (dictionary.com)
By this definition:
- A Mac is a PC
- An iPhone is a PC
- An iPad is a PC
They’re all PCs, you just interact with them in a slightly different manner.
Marketing
Apple devoted many years and truck loads of money to differentiate their Apple PC hardware from Windows PC hardware.
Apple hardware = Mac
Windows hardware = PC
Mac = Cool, attractive, creative dude
PC = Pasty, nerdy, stodgy man
The combination of excellent hardware, beautiful design, the iPhone, the failure of Windows Vista, and an overabundance of Windows viruses mixed with aggressive marketing to crown Apple the king of PC technology.
The Bottom-line
We aren’t living in a post-PC world. PC’s have taken over everything.
Calling it a post-PC world is just Apple’s marketing department’s way of trying to declare that there are no other relevant tech companies out there, and that is bullshit as well.
(Image via Engadget)
Canon & Apple Partnership
Rumors are popping up all over the Internet about an Apple/ Canon collaboration.
Software
It’s a natural partnership as Apple has a long tradition of high quality photo & video software in the form of Apature, Final Cut, and iMovie. With a new version of Final Cut due this Spring, there’s a good chance that Canon could provide some interesting integrated hardware.
iPhone & iPad
The single greatest deficiency of mobile devices are their camera lenses.
Up until now, mobile device makers could just bump up the quality of the image sensor in the camera to show incremental improvement in photo quality.
Last generation was 4 megapixels? Well this phone has a 5 megapixels camera in it. We have pretty much hit the point where that doesn’t help much anymore. The device makers already added flashes. There is better camera software available in Android and iPhone app markets, so the only thing left to improve are the lenses.
Lenses
If you aren’t a photographer you might not realize how important and expensive good lenses are. In short, great lenses are essential for high quality photos.
The problem that device makers have with adding high quality lenses to phones is that those lenses range in size from large to gigantic.
My speculation is that the Canon/ Apple partnership will extend past Apple’s software, and that we will see some sort of Canon lens configuration built-in, or as an accessory to the iPhone & iPad.
Mobile cameras are fast approaching a barrier that can only be overcome with better lenses. Canon will be Apple’s answer to the problem.
Check out some fine lens and shutter work at JerseyStyle Photography & My Digital Mind.
(Via AppleInsider)
iSin – The Confession App
Call me a heathen but I think this is hilarious.
There is an app on the iTunes Store called “Confession: A Roman Catholic App.” It costs $1.99, and it is the self-described “perfect aid for every penitent,” and comes with “7 different acts of contrition.”
It provides sins to choose from, or if you’re the creative type you can add custom sins.
From iTunes
Suggested Improvements
I’m all about helping people, so I’ve come up with a few ideas for future iteration of “Confession.”
Badges
foursquare gives users virtual badges based on location activity. Confession can give badges based on sins.
“You’ve taken the Lords name in vain 10 times. You’ve unlocked the ‘Say My Name!’ badge.”
Mayorships
Everyone’s got their favorite sin, now you can prove it with a foursquare-esque mayorship.
“Mayor of coveting your neighbor’s wife. You’ve confessed to this sin 837 times.”
Data Aggregation, Research & Publication
Pull in anonymized sin data to conduct research on the prevalence of reported sins based on region, demographic, and behavioral information.
Then they can start a blog called NotOkSins where they publish findings on sinful behavior (OkTrends).
Achievements
Similar to badges, achievements can be used for more complex groupings of sins.
“ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED Seven Deadly Sins”
Seriously
Regardless of your religion, it’s unwise to create a log of your bad behavior. Like my mom always said, “Don’t write it down if you don’t want people to read it.”
Password Protect Your Mobile Phone
I know, it’s a annoying to enter a password every time you want to access your smart phone, but believe me, you need to do it.
Your mobile is a window into your life…
If you have an iPhone, Android, Blackberry, or Windows Phone 7 device, your phone gives you unlimited access to your email, twitter, blog, Facebook, bank account, and just about any other information that you can access online. The big difference is that most phone apps also store your passwords. Plus you carry your phone everywhere, and it’s small enough to lose fairly easily.
If anyone gets their hands on your phone, and it isn’t password protected, they will be free to do just about anything with your online identity, and that will really ruin your day.
Identity thieves and vicious teenagers will have a field day with an unprotected phone.
Practice safe computing with proper security.
(Photo by David Spira)
