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- Fonts 101: A Font Primer
Over the next few days, I will be covering everything from font management apps to how to deal with font problems. By the end of the week you’ll hopefully have a solid handle on how to manage and troubleshoot fonts on your Mac. We’ll begin this series by taking a look at the history of fonts and the various formats that fonts exist in.
It might sound crazy today, but fonts were one of the first things that really got me interested in computers. Computer typography was a constantly evolving industry in the ’80s and ’90s. A certain part of my personal interest developed because I went to high school with a kid whose dad turned out to be a rock star of computer typography. You see, his dad invented a method to describe a font using a mathematical “language” rather than just a set of dots. John Warnock, along with partner Chuck Geschke, left Xerox PARC to start Adobe Systems to commercialize this breakthrough in computer science. The key to Adobe’s Postscript technology was the ability to describe a font as an outline rather than a set of dots. The bezier curves that made up the outline could be scaled to any resolution and then filled with the dots on the printer so that all the edges looked smooth. Totally tubular!
Steve Jobs got wind of Postscript and went to Warnock and Geshke to convince them to adapt their technology to make a printer language that would work with Apple’s forthcoming LaserWriter. The Mac was revolutionary, in part, because you could see fonts displayed on the screen that looked like the fonts you could output on a printer. What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) was a huge selling point for the Mac and the reason for its early dominance in desktop publishing and graphic design.
Fonts and the Mac
Because Apple was involved with fonts and typography from the very beginning, the Mac has support for a number of different font formats as they have evolved over the last 25 years. Here are the major formats that are found on the Mac that you can expect to see on your own machine.
Type 1 Fonts
If fonts were people, Postscript Type 1 Fonts would be the old men that sit around on the porch and gripe about how things used to be back in the day. The original outline fonts, Type 1 fonts are printer fonts (outlines) which must be kept together with their corresponding screen fonts (bitmaps) in order to render the text on screen. Even though they date back to the 80’s, Type 1 fonts have survived to this day and are still present in the font library of many designers.
Because of the problems caused by separate screen and printer font files, Adobe released Adobe Type Manager as a utility to render the outline fonts on screen. This was largely a response to TrueType and was successful in making all the designers who had invested lots of money in collections of Type 1 fonts very happy. If you have Postscript Type 1 fonts around today, you will want to make sure that you keep them with their bitmap fonts.
Type 1 Fonts have the file type LWFN. This type ID came from “LaserWriter font.”
Bitmap Fonts
Bitmap fonts are really out of use in the operating system, but remain as a legacy item. Bitmaps are basically fonts that are rendered at a specific size to be displayed on screen. They are not outline fonts, but rather a grouping of dots or pixels. You should only see these in conjunction with Postscript Type 1 fonts.
Part of the reason that Bitmap fonts stuck around is that font faces are typically adjusted by the font designer at small point sizes so that the proportions look correct. Bitmaps were carefully designed for each point size to look right at different sizes. Adobe came up with “hints” and in Postscript fonts to make these small adjustments on the fly and similar techniques have been employed in more modern font formats. Thus the need for hand-tweaked point sizes has diminished over the years and bitmaps aren’t really needed.
TrueType
If Type 1 fonts are the old men on the porch, TrueType fonts are having a mid-life crisis as they realize that they never really reached their potential and are being pushed aside by the new kids coming up. Invented by Apple and brought to market in 1991 along with System 7 to try and break the stranglehold that Adobe had on the desktop publishing and laser printer markets, TrueType fonts integrate the concept of screen and printer fonts so you only have to manage one file, called a font suitcase, which contained both. The format became widely popular for cheap or free fonts but, despite the sophisticated kerning and ligature features of Quickdraw GX and Apple Advanced Typography, never really took off among designers who continued to prefer the typefaces available in Postscript format.
Apple licensed the TrueType technology to Microsoft, so TrueType fonts are supported in both the Mac and Windows operating systems. Unfortunately, the fonts are implemented differently on each platform, so you will see Mac and Windows versions of the same font family in the TrueType format. Today, new TrueType fonts would only be released in the Windows format since the Mac also supports that format.
Because TrueType was envisioned as an alternative to Postscript, a number of TrueType fonts were created in character-width compatible sets for popular Type 1 fonts like Helvetica, Times Roman, and Courier. The familiar TrueType fonts that correspond to the venerable Postscript fonts are Arial, Times New Roman and Courier New. One particularly frustrating aspect of font management is figuring out which fonts are simply replacements for the same typeface in a different format so that you can standardize your designers on the same font.
The Mac TrueType fonts have the type FFIL while Windows TrueType fonts appear as .ttf files. Leopard is moving towards the Windows format .ttf files as the standard (as is everyone else).
Dfont files are a special case of TrueType where the font data has been moved in the data fork to support some of OS X’s unix underpinnings. These are only used for system fonts and you should never need to mess around with them.
OpenType
OpenType was announced in 1996, but became available around 2000-2001. This technology was jointly developed by Microsoft and Adobe to add additional capabilities to fonts and resolve the lingering conflicts of managing both screen and printer fonts. In particular, OpenType supports unicode character sets and non-Roman scripts like Arabic, though word processing or page layout software has to be written to expose those features to the user. At this time, Adobe’s entire library of fonts have been converted to OpenType and every other major font foundry releases their work in OpenType as well.
Although Tiger showed considerable support for OpenType fonts, Leopard goes much further and also includes support for Arabic script OpenType fonts.
OpenType fonts are .otf files in OS X.
Suitcase Files
In the old days of System 7, suitcase files held both screen and printer variants for TrueType fonts. The name still survives in OS X as a file type, but the implementation of font files in OS X has completely changed.
System Fonts
Mac OS X requires several fonts in order to display the menu bar and other UI elements. Because of this, OS X will often not boot at all if fonts are missing. Because fonts are loaded at a low-level in the operating system, problems with fonts can cause system crashes or performance problems. Leopard introduced the new concept of protected system fonts that will be replaced automatically if they are removed from the system font library to prevent such problems. If you remove some fonts and see them magically reappear, OS X may be helping you out by replacing the system fonts it needs.
Microsoft Word Fonts
Microsoft Office for Mac, partly because of Microsoft’s history of developing font technologies for Windows and partly to make Office documents more portable between Windows and Mac versions, includes a number of fonts in a standard install on the Mac. Some of these fonts are duplicates of fonts included with OS X and some are required by Office to render the toolbars and other interface elements of Office applications. These fonts were originally welcomed because they were better than the system fonts, but now the Leopard system fonts have surpassed the Microsoft fonts. Office 2004 and Office 2008 install fonts into different locations, so be aware of that as you try to clean up your fonts on your system.
Adobe Creative Suite Fonts
Adobe Creative Suite installs a large number of fonts in Mac OS X. CS3 and later put these fonts in the system library, but CS2 and the original CS placed them in an Adobe directory. If you are using Creative Suite, then you certainly want a large font collection, but you will end up with duplicates between Apple-provided system fonts and Adobe fonts. One of the most common font problems I see is a designer that has multiple versions of Helvetica installed that eventually conflict with each or simply cause confusion when choosing the right font for a project.
Get a Handle on Your Fonts
Tomorrow I will cover five software programs that help you manage your fonts: Font Book, FontExplorer X and FontExplorer Pro, FontAgent Pro, Suitcase Fusion X, and FontCase. In addition, if you really want an in-depth understanding of how fonts work in Leopard, I highly recommend that you check out two e-books from TidBITS Publishing: Take Control of Fonts in Leopard and Take Control of Font Problems in Leopard. Sharon Zardetto, who has been writing about the Mac for over 20 years, has created a really valuable resource for designers and support professionals alike. Tiger versions are also available if you are still supporting 10.4 in your shop. These books cover font technologies in far greater depth than I have here, and also explain how to fix a myriad of problems that may crop up.
Переслать - Give Your MacBook a Thick Skin: Seven Laptop Skin Companies Worth Your Money
The latest unibody aluminum MacBooks are fantastic, and I truly love mine, but I found out quickly that the aluminum surface doesn’t take kindly to scratching. Within the first week of owning it, I had an inch long nick in the top cover…it mocks me daily. So finding some adhesive skin options to protect my precious has become a major todo list item.
Below is a listing of seven different lines of laptop skins that are sure to keep your precious MacBook safe from scratches.
GelaSkins & Infectious
The usual suspects seem to be GelaSkins and Infectious (see disclosure at bottom). Both have some incredible artists delivering stunning designs, and both offer skins for a number of different devices (iPod, iPhone, MacBooks, Wallpaper graphics, etc) to suit nearly anyone’s needs. The 13″ MacBook skins run $30 at both sites. (Though iPhone skins are $10 instead of $15 at Infectious.)
iamhuman
iamhuman has a relatively limited number of designs, but they are very clean. The stylization of the iamhuman skins is top notch — these are definitely a bit more my style. They sport some lovely wood-grain designs if you’re into that kind of thing. A stand-out feature is the cutout so you can still proudly display the Apple logo. Prices range from $30-$45 and they work for Apple and PC notebooks alike.
Macvatar
Similar to iamhuman skins, Macvatar also has the Apple logo cutout in their skins. Unfortunately their designs are extremely limited at only 6 options. These skins price at $25, making them the cheapest options yet for protecting the outer shell of your MacBook.
Skinizi
Skinizi designs are slightly edgier, though I really like their comic-looking cityscapes. They offer skins for laptops, iPod/iPhone, and Nintendo DS. Prices are 25 Euro, which is around US$31 currently.
iStyles
Going the distance it seems, is iStyles, which sells its protective skin designs for $25, and you not only get the top cover, but also a wrist rest skin too. Pretty decent deal! The designs are all over the board, so you can probably find something you’ll like. iStyles also offers skins for several different electronics if you’re in the market.
SkinStyler
Probably least to the point of what I was looking for — yet pretty cool — are the offerings at SkinStyler. They only make wrist rest and trackpad skins. As for me, I’m not sure I’d love the trackpad skin. The organic style of the wrist rest skins however are pretty cool — especially on the black MacBooks.
If you’ve got first hand experience with any of these products, or know of some other options that people should check out, share the wealth below in the comments.
Disclosure: Infectious is backed by True Ventures, which is also an investor in Giga Omni Media, the parent company of this network. Giga Omni Media founder Om Malik is a venture partner with True Ventures.
Переслать - Weekly App Store Picks: March 14, 2009
Place your iPhone on the floor and prepare to dance a merry jig, it’s the weekend and that means I’ve prepared a selection of fresh picks from the App Store.
As ever, before we get stuck in to a hand-picked selection of the latest releases from the App Store, I’ve delved in to the week’s Apple happenings to bring you notable news from the past seven days.
First up, swiftly following the Watchmen movie release came the iPhone game. Featured in TheAppleBlog’s new App Review series, the game managed to earn our first Rotten Apple award. If this game were a person you’d be best off giving them a swift kick to the shins and walking away — it’s awful.
On Tuesday, the latest update of Tweetie — my fave app for tweeting — was blocked from release by Apple. It’s all to do with ‘objectionable content’ namely a very naughty word, our own Darrel Etherington explains everything.
Another column new to TheAppleBlog, Jailbreak, continued this week. Clayton Lai highlighted five must-know things about jailbreaking your iPhone. It’s all terribly informative, especially for those new to all this jailbreaking business.
And speaking of hacked iPhones, one thing that those with jailbroken devices might have problems using is the latest iPhone firmware. Version 3.0 of the iPhone OS is due to drop next Tuesday, March 17, at a special Apple event.
Finally, Apple released the latest version of iTunes, integrating several updates including a smart new DJ mix feature, and also squeezed out a brand new iPod Shuffle. The new Shuffle has been causing somewhat of a stir due to its buttonless design, moving controls over to the proprietary headphones.
On to the apps now, this week I’ve been looking at Remote, Eliss, Payback Lite and Topple 2.
Remote (free)
Strictly speaking this isn’t a new release — it’s the same old app from Apple that enables you to remotely control iTunes using your iPhone. However, the latest update to iTunes adds some interesting new functionality to remote — now friends with their own touch or iPhone can use Remote to request and vote for songs to be added to your iTunes playlist. It’s a fantastic concept, effectively transforming iTunes in to a social jukebox.
Eliss ($3.99)
Frankly I’m still not entirely sure how this minimal vector game works, but I’m pretty sure the satisfying bleeps triggered when I squish two planets together are a good thing. Steph Thirion has done just that with Eliss, a puzzle game with an ultra-retro look that involves blending planets to ensure galactic harmony. I’ll always get behind the indie game developers who are prepared to take risks and, in creating something a little different, design fun new experiences.
Payback Lite (free)
Then again, we don’t always need bold risk-taking to ensure that games are fun: Payback is a blatant rip of the Grand Theft Auto series, closely resembling GTA 2 in particular. The game packs in a suspension-bouncing soundtrack, big explosions and a selection of vehicles to speed about the city in while completing your illicit assignments. My favorite feature though is the poorly acted voice-overs, complete with awful cockney accents — it gives the whole game an endearing low-budget Guy Ritchie vibe. Try the free Lite edition before upgrading to the full game.
Topple 2 ($2.99)
The sequel to Topple — a totally weirded-out Tetris-esque game that involves balancing emotional blocks on top of each other — has just hit the App Store. The new version features some gameplay twists including Rescue and Power Tower, six different worlds with lush artwork and both Wi-Fi and email multiplayer. If you’re not familiar with the original, take a moment to grab the original — for free — from the App Store.That’s all from the App Store for this week. I’ll return during the week with TheAppleBlog App Review and, as always, on Saturday with my Weekly App Store Picks.
In the meantime, what apps have you been using this week?
Переслать - Cramer v. Stewart on Daily Show Last Night: The Apple Tie-In
So, am I right in assuming that a lot of you have already seen the culmination of the on-air feud between Jon Stewart and Jim Cramer last night?If not, I would recommend checking out the full interview at Comedy Central’s web site, and check out the background context, via a simple “Jim Cramer” keyword search on YouTube, if you’re not familiar with what’s been going on. Here’s the short version: Jon Stewart called out all of CNBC for shoddy financial reporting in a lengthy montage, Jim Cramer took personal offense, John fired back at him, specifically, then Jim went on John’s show and basically got eaten alive. Believe me, I’m not doing it justice.
You might be thinking “I thought this was an Apple blog, because of the name,” but bear with me, there is an Apple angle to last night’s events. During the interview, Jon is continually backing Cramer into a corner and then playing a clip of something he said earlier that completely contradicts or points out the absurdity of what he just said to Jon. During one of these clips, taken from a 2006 interview on TheStreet.com, Cramer mentions Apple by name. And not just briefly, as a throwaway example. He mentions Apple as an example of a company where manipulating buzz around a product is simple, and will definitely affect stock pricing.
Why is this so? Cramer infers that it is because of people like us, who devour any shred of Apple news or information with such zest and zeal that letting slip a simple hint that AT&T and Verizon aren’t interested in Apple’s then-upcoming iPhone would catch like wildfire, and share prices would tumble as a result. Aside from Cramer’s very concrete example, I can think of at least a dozen other times when this sort of thing has happened, and suddenly rumors that later prove to be false take on a more sinister character, since they might be misdirection instead of just accidental misinformation.
It would be easy to accept the role of the patsy in these circumstances, the unwilling conduit of information. But really, I can’t help but feel that I deserve at least part of the blame Stewart is laying on Cramer’s shoulders, since we bloggers often put entertainment before more serious concerns of what cumulative effect our pieces might have, taken together. Also, I really just don’t like the feeling that I’m being used as a plaything by financial gamers.
So what’s the answer? Not to refrain from producing content, obviously. The Apple user community is a rich and vibrant one, and participating in that discussion is too valuable to give up. Instead, we should do what Stewart suggests Cramer do, and be more critical about the information we receive. It’s less about what we report, than how we report it. Too often dubious rumors get reported as the gospel truth, without disclaimer. That’s just as bad as Cramer passively taking for granted every word out of a CEO’s mouth.
Переслать - GrandTotal + TimeLog = Invoicing Bliss
If you haven’t noticed, the writers here at TAB like to write about invoicing applications. Some of our recent reviews include Billings, OnTheJob and Involer. But forget all of those other invoicing applications. I just found the one true ring of invoicing and time management: GrandTotal + TimeLog from Media Atelier.
I have been testing this application bundle for the past two weeks ,and I am very impressed with the quality and overall user experience. Because of its integration with Address Book, iCal, MobileMe, and iWork, it really feels like it’s a native app.
GrandTotal
As an invoicing application, GrandTotal has an impressive feature set. Here is a short list of the many things GrandTotal can do:
- The ability to create recurring invoices
- An invoice editor that lets you customize your own layout (using existing templates or creating your own)
- Quotes & account statements
- Flexible tax settings & multiple currency support
- Integration with Address Book and TimeLog
- Catalog for recurring and fixed amount items
- Reminders for due & overdue invoice
- Many export options, including PD
Version 1.2 was released this week and with it came the following new features:
- iPhone application (more below)
- All-new UI for the Preferences dialog box
- Ability to create an invoice with just the Gross total
- Addition of a Recent list to the Overview
As I mentioned, the application is very easy to use. Let’s take a look at the main UI (items are intentionally blurred to protect the innocent):
GrandTotal Overview Tab - Recent/Open Invoices
GrandTotal Preferences - TimeLog IntegrationTimeLog
As a time-tracking application, TimeLog’s feature set is also very impressive. Here is a short list:
- Uses iCal calendars and calculates the time spent on projects. You can assign clients to your projects from the Address Book. Your timesheets are then synced with MobileMe, ensuring they are current no matter which Mac you use.
- There is a menu item that lets you manage your time easily. You can start and stop the Timer with just one click.
- TimeLog can track the applications you use and then display the usage in the TimeLine. One caveat here is that it tracks everything you do. The developer does not have blacklist functionality yet, but he is working on it.
- Export your timesheet to Pages or Numbers — this is great for sharing your data with others prior to sending out an invoice.
- Integrates with GrandTotal — all of your timesheet data is easily available in GrandTotal for quick processing of invoices.
TimeLog Main WindowiPhone App
New to version 1.2 of GrandTotal is an iPhone app that lets you review your invoices while on-the-go. The best part? It’s free.
In the app, you can view Overdue, Due and Open invoices. You then click the invoices to see the full details as well as the contact information of the client. The client information is “hot” in that it will take you to your address book contact entry so that you can call/email/text them. A nice feature to have would be to re-send any outstanding invoices via the iPhone app.
The one requirement in using the iPhone app is that you must have a MobileMe account to sync your GrandTotal data. Otherwise, the app doesn’t work (which will be a deal breaker for some).
GrandTotal iPhone App Main Screen
GrandTotal iPhone App Invoice Detail ScreenConclusion
The tag-team of these two products provides a pretty powerful punch in managing your time as well as your billing. The user interface for both GrandTotal and TimeLog is exceptional and makes it pretty easy to get set up for your small business.
Further, you now have iPhone integration so that you can review your invoices and their current standing with your customers. This way, it’s just a quick call away for asking the question: “Is the payment on it’s way out?”
However, are these two apps the best out there? Have we reached invoicing nirvana? Well, I would say it’s pretty close — if you don’t mind a few items:
- The price. Compared to the competition, which averages about $40, to purchase both GrandTotal and TimeLog be prepared to spend about $75.
- iCal integration is excellent, although there is a big caveat. I would discourage you from using any existing calendars as TimeLog changes the data to existing iCal meeting entries.
- Application management. In the competitive space, both Billings and OnTheJob contain the majority of features in one, rather than two applications.
At the end of the day, you can overcome these issues if you want to have the most full-featured time management and invoicing products on the market.
The developer says that more is on the horizon. Maybe an iPhone app for TimeLog? Possible integration with accounting applications? Stay tuned. One thing is for sure, based upon what we have with GrandTotal and TimeLog, we can only continue to expect great things in the future from Media Atelier.
Переслать - iPod Shuffle Unboxing and Hands On
Much has been said about the new iPod shuffle. Its size has been praised, lack of buttons grumbled about, and — as with most new Apple products — has caused a little controversy. I wanted to try the product out for myself as I’ve been needing a small MP3 player for exercise. My iPhone is a little too cumbersome to carry while running.I’ll be taking a look at the packaging, unboxing the iPod shuffle, and offering my thoughts on the hardware and software bundled with the gadget.
Unboxing
Apple seems to be continuing down the road of shrinking packaging material, and the box for the iPod shuffle is really small. It comes presented with the shuffle center stage, containing a simple manual, 3.5mm audio to USB adaptor, and the headphones.
Initial Impressions
The first thing to note, as you’d expect, is that the iPod shuffle is absolutely tiny. I’m fascinated to see where the constant shrinking of the shuffle will ultimately lead to, and I don’t think it’ll be long before you’ll struggle to find it in your pocket. The build quality is also remarkable, with the aluminum construction feeling bulletproof.
As with the previous generation, the entire device is fashioned into a large clip. You can easily attach it anywhere, and it’s sturdy enough that I wouldn’t be concerned about it falling off when running. The top of the shuffle sports a small switch which toggles between shuffling tracks or playing music sequentially.
The headphones are (unfortunately) exactly what you’d expect. They’re standard iPod headphones, albeit with a new and sleek in-line track/volume controller. They have the same ‘rubbery’ feel as recent iPod model earphones, and offer the same reasonable level of comfort and sound. Don’t expect to be blown away, though Apple should be working on an adaptor to allow you to use your own earphones in the near future.
iTunes Connectivity
Connecting to iTunes is as simple as ever, and includes a few options which haven’t been present before. Upon connecting, you’re asked to register your iPod (with a nice new graphic to show the new shuffle in the lineup):
Registering the iPod Shuffle
When setting up, you’re asked if you’d like to enable VoiceOver. This works by generating spoken audio for the names of your tracks on your Mac (or Windows machine), before transferring them to your iPod along with the music. Because of this, you’re asked if you’re happy to install the VoiceOver desktop software.
Installing VoiceOver
This integrates silently into iTunes, and you don’t really notice anything is occurring. A short downloading status message appears, and then syncing music is handled as normal. You’ll be pleased to know that disk mode is supported as before, allowing you to transfer other files on the iPod. If you’d like, you can also set a volume limit and automatically reduce the quality of audio when syncing to fit more on the device.
iTunes Settings
Track Navigation & VoiceOver
There has been a decent amount of debate over how usable the headphone remote would actually be for skipping between tracks. I’d say it’s probably the least user-friendly interface that Apple has created for the iPod to date, but that doesn’t mean it can’t still function very well.
The annoying aspect of VoiceOver is that it isn’t the quickest method of navigating your iPod’s content. There’s quite a bit of waiting involved, and it’s tricky to skip through what is being read out. Not a problem if you have two or three playlists, but increasingly annoying as you add more. While the new computer voice in Leopard was noted as a decent improvement, I still think that artificial computer vocals have some way to come before they’re anything like the real thing. ‘Alex’ is perfectly coherent, but it’s a little odd to have your track information spoken to you by a digital voice.
Commendations, Complaints and Caution
On the whole, the size reduction and multiple playlist support do make the iPod shuffle a decent improvement. It’s brilliant if you’re exercising, and the controls do allow for simple track control without fumbling with the iPod itself. I’d really appreciate a way to use my own headphones with the shuffle, and look forward to some form of adaptor being released.
It is possible to trick the iPod, by setting the track and volume playing with the default phones and switching across to your own. Far from ideal, and doesn’t allow any subsequent control of the player. If you’d like to buy a better pair of supported in-ear phones, you can do so from Apple.
However, the general fact is that most shuffle owners don’t want to carefully select specific tracks to play; there’s been no way to do this in the past (even lacking multiple playlist support), so in many senses the new version is a step forward. I’ll certainly be happy with being able to use the new navigation method and appreciate the ability to flick through playlists.
Ultimately, the new iPod shuffle is a decent looking flash drive, backed up with a seasoned and fantastic piece of software — iTunes. The player has a few areas in which improvement is needed, but represents a solid advancement of Apple’s iPod device.
Переслать - App Review: Convert — Apparently Form Does Not Equal Function
App Quick Stats
Convert, an app for converting an array of different units, looks great and, in theory, should be quite useful. Unfortunately, the bad outweighs the good on this one.
The iPhone isn’t just about gaming and entertainment. Admittedly, I’ve got two screens worth of music and gaming apps, another screen for news, books and recipes, and then a screen dedicated to file-sharing and chat.
On my fifth and final screen, however, is a selection of software tools. There’s the basics, like Calculator and WeDict, sat alongside GPS-tools such as Locly and HearPlanet. Until now though, there was no unit converter.
The clever people at Polar Bear Farm have created Convert, a unit conversion tool that marries a variety of seemingly esoteric units — to the layman — with a polished interface.
With quite a history behind them, having launched in 2007, Polar Bear Farm is no strangers to app development. Notable past releases included Nice List, a stylish holiday gift manager, and Note Pad, a replacement to the iPhone’s own Notes app, upping the game with graphical flair and desktop syncing.
Then there’s Telegram, filling the iPhone voice-messaging void by allowing users to send short audio messages to each other.
The point is, Polar Bear Farm is an app developer who seems to specialize in creating tools that manage data and make life easier. And what’s more, these tools are always visually stunning.
Units and Values
Moving on to Convert, the most exciting thing when first opening the app is the aesthetic. It’s not at all iPhone-esque — gone is the Apple-aesthetic we all adore. Instead is a reductionist approach — metallic and digital, calling to mind expensive electronic tools created for specialists.
This may not be too far from the truth though as, while the app is indeed visually stunning, it also seems to pack in an array of esoteric units for converting. The units are separated in to ten different classes: Angle, Area, Length, Mass, Power, Pressure, Speed, Temperature, Time and Volume.
All the basics are present and correct too, so entering the Length section will bring up Inches, Kilometers, Miles and Feet, among other conversion options. Notably, however, the app does not convert currency, something which — as an iPhone user who travels frequently — would have proved incredibly useful.
Perhaps more importantly, the app incorporates a diverse range of less commonly-used unit-types, such as radians, nautical miles, and drams. Unfortunately, Delorean owners will be disappointed to find that there is no option to convert Gigawatts.
Although the UI isn’t quite as intuitive as it should be, the actual conversion process is incredibly easy. Select the unit to convert from and then the unit to convert to, then tap the numbers on either side of the equation, enter the new figure and instantaneously the equation adjusts to display your answer.
Comparing Problems
When I initially heard about the app’s $1.99 price tag, I felt somewhat unsure, questioning whether a unit converter is really worth two bucks. For my own conversions, I use Google. It’s free to use, although admittedly somewhat clunky on the iPhone and requiring a data connection.
In comparing Convert to Google’s calculator, I discovered a couple of interesting anomalies. When numbers are displayed, it always expresses them in full, so 596 days in microseconds would be 51,494,400,000,000.
There are, of course, shorter ways of expressing the same value. Google’s calculator outputs 596 days as 5.14944 × 10^13 microseconds (see it here displayed properly). The issue is further compounded with even larger numbers — Convert doesn’t seem to like really big numbers, in fact. It seems if a number is too big for the display, nothing at all is shown. As such, converting 596 days to nanoseconds leaves the display blank (whereas Google has no trouble).
The point is that the tool should be able to handle these kind of equations and express the outputted value clearly to the user. Convert seems to have been designed as much for the layman as for Make enthusiast or even coders and physicists. Esoteric units of measurement are all well and good, but the app should be able to handle esoteric equations too.
Furthermore, there’s some notable competition on sale in the App Store. One app in particular, The Converter, packs in a serious amount of units for converting, including currency conversion too, for 99 cents. However, The Converter (and all of the other conversion apps on offer) certainly aren’t as aesthetically impressive as Convert. I just don’t know if a pretty user interface is enough to warrant an extra buck, though.
Summing Up
With its appropriately stylized visual, so much work seems to have gone in to creating an app that looks professionally produced. The sound design is excellent as well. The app clicks and bleeps just at the right time, giving a satisfying level of tangibility to this digital tool.
However, there seem to be a couple of drawbacks to an app that could be accused of putting form before function. Firstly, despite the range of different units on offer for conversion, in comparison to other (cheaper) apps, Convert actually only seems to provide a paltry selection. The app therefore needs an update that expands the unit library to something much more substantial.
The other issue is with the way the app displays — or occasionally doesn’t display — values. With the user interface so rigidly set as part of the design and the apps current inability to express x to the power of y, it literally leaves no room to display incredibly large numbers. I’m surprised that this issue didn’t get caught in the testing phase.
As the app currently is, despite the fact it looks so gorgeous, I really can’t recommend it. There are cheaper apps out in the store that, while they certainly don’t have the good looks, have the features and the brains to hold their own. Until this app gets a much-needed upgrade, I suggest you avoid it.
Переслать - Study: For Many, Apps Lack Staying Power on iPhone
Results of a recent study by Pinch Media were released (and poked fun at by The Onion) and reveal that users of iPhone/iPod touch apps lose interest quickly. Our own Om Malik actually pointed this out just a month after the App Store launched, and it seemingly continues to hold true today. But how relevant are these findings? I submit that the study is more a commentary on the design of the App Store than the apps that people are loading their iPhones with.The study says that people lose interest in free applications more often than paid. Well duh! I’ve got nothing vested in a free application, so if it doesn’t hit the mark for me, why continue using it? I’m much more likely to give an app I paid for the proverbial college try before abandoning it and feeling like I wasted money. This is all common sense so far.
The claim is also made that applications with the most staying power are Games, Social Media and Entertainment specific. I’ll agree with that for the most part — when I need to kill time, it’s Twitter, news, or some game. However, my morning ritual has me checking the likes of The Weather Channel, USA Today, Omni Focus, Ski Report, Chase, and Weightbot/Lose it. Some are free, some paid, but none exactly fit the the categorization — of course we’re all different.
I think it’s fair to say that many applications are purchased/downloaded with the idea of needing them one day. Open Table, Wikipanion, Amazon, and eBay all fill this void for me. I don’t need them on a daily basis, but when I do, it’s nice to have them available.
A metric that is not captured here is when people revisit an application down the road. There has been many an application that I’ve grabbed because of its potential and/or lower introductory price. I’ll download them, not touching them for weeks — possibly even deleting them temporarily — then decide to give them another look after some updates. Vocalia was one of these such instances. It was little more than a proof of concept when it launched and I bought it, and now it’s a solid voice dialer.
We’ve all heard (ad nauseum) about the runaway success of the fart apps and other silly gimmicks and gags. Some have made a lot of money (some are free), but it’s my guess that these apps especially fit the confines of Pinch Media’s study. Gimmicks usually offer little in the way of staying power.
So what makes an application for the iPhone or iPod touch have what it takes to remain in use? I think it’s a simple answer with a not-so-simple solution — whatever fits the needs of a particular user. Luckily each developer has a different vision which some cross-section of consumers is bound to be in line with. Perhaps some developers will find usefulness in these study results — though while everyone gets different utility from their apps, and user scenarios vary so greatly, it seems Pinch Media’s findings are sort of useless.
How accurately can your app usage practices be defined? Do you think they’re widely relevant for developers to create a killer app?
Переслать - UPDATED: iTunes 8.1 Available Now
Along with the release of their new iPod shuffle, Apple has updated iTunes to version 8.1. New features include improved speed with large libraries, Autofill, a switch to 256-Kbps AAC as the new import default, and more notably iTunes DJ and Genius sidebar for Movies and TV Shows.For a lot of users, the first two will be more than welcome additions — seriously, who can argue with speed improvements, especially if they apply to networked libraries as well. Also, as I'm sure a lot of other non-shuffle owners will agree, the Autofill feature is one that has been much lamented over. The shift to a higher encoding rate, however, is an interesting move and may cause confusion with some users when they suddenly can't fit as many songs on their iPods and/or iPhones as they were used to, notable because Apple's capacity calculations are still based on the 128-Kbps bitrate.
Party Shuffle has been transformed into iTunes DJ which, beyond a more suiting name change, adds an extra layer of interactivity for touch device owners with the Remote app (iTunes link), that was updated last night to version 1.2 to add iTunes 8.1 compatibility. When enabled, you can "allow guests to request songs with Remote for iPhone or iPod touch" as well as "vote to control when songs play." Access to the DJ playlist is password protectable to limit access, and if you're so inclined, you can also greet participants with a welcome message.
The update is available now via Software Update and the Apple-released notes for this update are below for your perusing.
- Supports syncing with iPod shuffle (3rd generation).
- Allows friends to request songs for iTunes DJ.
- Adds Genius sidebar for your Movies and TV Shows.
- Improves performance when downloading iTunes Plus songs.
- Provides AutoFill for manually managed iPods.
- Allows CDs to be imported at the same sound quality as iTunes Plus.
- Includes many accessibility improvements.
- Allows iTunes U and the iTunes Store to be disabled separately using Parental Controls.
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