We’ve got a little more to show you – Apple will unveil the iPad mini on October 23rd?

Posted on October 16, 2012 by IdeaMonster

Apparently Apple will unveil the new iPad mini (to compete with Kindle fires and Nexus 7’s on low prices) on October 23rd. The invitations are sent, and apparently they decided that a smaller tablet is actually worth their while. Steve Jobs famously said that a smaller form factor is plain stupid. Tim Cook seems to differ ;)

Too be honest we’d rather see the infamous 13″ retina macbook pro, than a smaller and cheaper (and probably non-retina) iPad. Apple going after mass market only looks good on paper.

Besides, if the iPad mini is smaller, why are they calling it a little more? A smaller, non-retina iPad would actually be something “less” ;P

Apple Maps aren’t THAT bad, they’re just prematurely released

Posted on September 21, 2012 by IdeaMonster

After Apple released iOS 6 this week there has been an incredible amount of anger towards the new Maps application. People were pointing out mistakes, lack of POI and inaccuracy, and also many of the “flyover” 3d view bugs like destroyed bridges and buildings.

This is probably the first big Apple fail since Antennagate that’s so widespread. All the blogs and all the websites are complaining. But they fail to notice two things:

1. Google Maps will land on iOS very soon for sure (it was announced on Google’s mapping event in june).

2. This is the first version of Apple maps and all the negative feedback will actually help make them better.

The point though is that Steve Jobs would probably look over the whole world in those maps personally and check for errors. There are also many bugs in the new App Store (for example on the new iPad iPhone screenshots are distorted vertically)

Apparently quality control at Apple has lowered significantly since his passing. Too bad.

iOS 6 released today! Get it while it’s hot!

Posted on September 19, 2012 by IdeaMonster

Apple has released the new version of it’s mobile OS, so if your device matches the requirements (iPhone 3GS and up or iPad 2 and up) you can have it in a matter of … hours because the download speed is currently pretty slow. But still, we’re excited for the new features, especially Passbook which will create a completely new service for designers! Great stuff.

In case you don’t know how to update – go to Settings / General / Software update on your iOS 5.1 device.

HTC gets “inspired” by Nokia with it’s new Windows Phones

Posted on September 19, 2012 by IdeaMonster

Today’s HTC event didn’t bring anything really special to the table. Well aside from some pretty cool phones that is. But the moment I saw the devices I kinda had a deja vu. Was this the HTC or the Nokia event? Apparently it’s either Microsoft pushing for a different styling (to stand out from the rest of black slab-type devices) or they simply took (MANY) cues from Nokia’s flagship – the Lumia 920.

Take a look at those images and find 10 differences ;)

By the way – HTC’s phones also come in new, vibrant colors (that’s a good thing actually)

Adobe Illustrator sucks! We want FreeHand back! Well sort of.

Posted on September 18, 2012 by IdeaMonster

A while ago a group of dedicated Macromedia Freehand users created a petition to bring back the beloved vector image editor from the dead (or Adobe’s closet if you wish). Of course there’s no way in hell Adobe will admit that illustrator is not good enough, so they didn’t really go well with the idea of bringing a streamlined, easier to use and more intuitive vector tool back to the world. But fret not. Apparently FreeHand’s fans are really a dedicated bunch, because they’re making a “clone” of FreeHand, with modern features that would probably be added anyway if the software was still alive. The project is in development and there’s not much info available yet, but you can give the guys 25EUR to keep them both motivated and moving forward.

We think it’s a very cool idea, because let’s face it – the interface for Ai is dreadful. And since the Pixelmator Team didn’t start a vector app (yet?) we have to stick to what we hope will be the next best thing.

Check them out at : www.stagestack.com

Apple announced the iPhone 5 – September 12th 2012 keynote

Posted on September 12, 2012 by IdeaMonster

So the rumors were true. The new iPhone is called the iPhone 5, it has:

4″ display
16:9 aspect ratio
1136 x 640 screen resolution

And unfortunately it also has those two stripes on the back – we get it – with full aluminum you won’t get the radios to work, but wasn’t the antenna on the outside now? iOS 6 update coming on September 19th.

Our initial views on the iPhone 5 are: Meh. It’s really not THAT exciting. And the only really exciting iOS6 feature is Passbook, because it opens a whole new real from designers and developers (and businesses). If it sticks it’s gonna change the industry big time. The rest of the OS is ok, but not really revolutionary. Panorama mode in 2012? Come on Apple!

Besides, one more thing is bugging me a little bit. The calendar app icon updates itself with the current day, but the weather icon doesn’t. It still has the sun and 23 degrees Celsius. That’s an inconsistency that is very unlike Apple.

Google releases YouTube native iOS app ahead of iOS6 launch!

Posted on September 11, 2012 by IdeaMonster

A day before the very probable iOS6 launch, Google has released it’s standalone, native YouTube app for the iPhone. No universal version yet, but the iPhone version is much closer to the Android installment, than the YouTube iOS app we know and/or love since 2007. The icon has also changed to reflect the google approach, so instead of a skeumorphically Apple’y tv, it now just shows the YouTube logo. It also doesn’t work with iOS older than 4.3, so iPhone 3G users are kinda stuck with the original YouTube app forever. Hopefully it’ll still work after tomorrow.

The new design is actually better and easier to use, so maybe it’s not all bad that YouTube is missing from the stock iOS. Plus that’ll enable Google to do more frequent updates and keep the app on par with the Android version.

Watch the world’s videos and keep up with your favorite YouTube channels with the official YouTube app for iOS. Sign in to access your subscriptions, playlists, uploads and more.

You can get the new app
on the App Store

Nokia OIS Fail – misleading video

Posted on September 7, 2012 by IdeaMonster

Nokia showcased it’s pureview camera technology on their Lumia920 conference a few days ago, but apparently parts of it were a bit misleading. First of all the image stabilization showcase featured someone apparently riding a bike, and shooting a girl that’s riding along. They just forgot to edit one place in which a reflection shows that the camera is most likely a DSLR (and NOT the Nokia Lumia 920) and the camera man is riding on the back of a truck – not on a bike. Nokia quickly apologized saying that they only showcased the OIS technology, not the device itself, but posted a video showing the stabilization on Lumia920 which actually works pretty good (if it’s not another “misleading video”). Why bother then? Maybe it’d just be better to show the real thing work and avoid bad PR?

Also some pictures from their “nightly” photo shoot surfaced, showing that apparently the Lumia920 doesn’t take those awesome bright pictures at night by itself and needs a bunch of lights on tripods around (and a DSLR camera as seen above, but that might be just for comparison shots). Still if you need to cary tripods and lighting equipment to beat other cameraphones in low light photography, then you might be doing something wrong ;)

Here’s the vid showing the real Lumia920 OIS:

And here are the shots from the ~~fake~~ misleading video:

Wunderlist 2 is coming. Wunderkit development stopped.

Posted on September 6, 2012 by IdeaMonster

If you’re like me with millions of things “to do” and no time to do them, you’re probably using a task manager. Sure Apple has the “Reminders” app, but it doesn’t really work for stuff more complex than shopping lists. Two years ago a company called 6Wunderkinder introduced Wunderlist to the world. It’s a free task manager that had incredible growth during that time. Seriously, they have 3 million active users today. That IS something.

Then they decided to up the game and released Wunderkit – a collaboration platform based loosely on Wunderlist. The problem with it though is the fact that it’s 100% online and MUCH more complicated. Apparently users were wowed at first, but then rejected the app altogether and went back to Wunderlist. Which is exactly what I did (sorry guys).

Apparently they realized that they already had a hit product and it’s better to stick to improving on it, than to create the next big think, as it’s always tricky. In a recent blog post they explain why they’re coming back to WL and share their thoughts on Wunderkit’s failure.

What’s best about it is the fact that it’s gonna be native now, instead of being based on Titanium. That means that the 100% CPU usage bug on Macs will no longer be the issue. Also they’re planning frequent updates and new features! Awesome!

iPhone 5 it’s almost … retro?

Posted on September 6, 2012 by IdeaMonster

A while ago we talked about the fact that some recent UI design changes Apple made weren’t really that fortunate. When they replaced the iPod app with the “Music app” (which is actually a better name) they also went with an extremely UGLY icon that didn’t really match the rest. I mean come on, a dark and suspiciously thin note on an orange background just doesn’t do it for me. The Phone app, the messsages, the App store – they all have white icons on colorful backgrounds. This Music icon just doesn’t fit. At all. We’re not sure yet if it’ll be changed (but we seriously hope so) in iOS6, but it’s only a few more days to find out.

Right now take a look at that awesome retro-Mac icon set for the iPhone. Maybe Apple should go for that look? And we’d see Black&White pixel icons on Galaxy S4 ;)

Watch Motorola and Nokia September 5th presentations

Posted on September 5, 2012 by IdeaMonster

It’s funny how the keyword for 2012 is not a smartphone, but an ecosystem. Both companies announced new products and bragged about their ecosystems. But they’re right. Tech specs are not as important anymore as they used to be. The most important thing is what you can do with a phone. By the way we’re really liking both Win Phone 8 and the new Nokia Lumia!

You can see the Nokia and Microsoft presentation at:
http://www.nokia.com/global/about-nokia/webcast/live/.

It’s almost there – Apple will unveil the iPhone 5 on September 12th

Posted on September 4, 2012 by IdeaMonster

Clever!

The rumors didn’t even need to be true, because we had common sense and it really WAS obvious that Apple will unveil a new iPhone this fall. It was also pretty obvious that it’s either gonna be called “the new iPhone” or iPhone 5 since iPhone 4SS sounds kinda stupid. So lo and behold here’s the date – september 12th 2012. A few more months till the end of the world to enjoy the new, supposedly 4inch device from Apple. And the nice “5-shaped” shadow is giving away the name. Cool.

I wonder how doomsday 2012 apps will look on that larger display ;) But on a serious note, we’re pretty excited what will the killer feature be now. Siri update we already know of, so I’m guessing a better camera system, especially after the Lumia 920 presentation yesterday. This is by far the most tech-geek exciting month in a while.

We bet this will look great on the new device:

A 3d racing wipeout clone made with HTML5 + WebGL

Posted on September 2, 2012 by IdeaMonster

HTML5 is showing it's middle finger to Flash

It’s been a steady decline for Adobe Flash technology over the last few years. But in some scenarios it still stood pretty strong – one of them being games. Flash games exploded on the internet with many great titles (canabalt for example) and many not-so-great ones. When HTML5 took over web video as a better and more efficient player, games were still mostly a flash domain. Apparently that’s changing too, with Microsoft making HTML5 version of some Atari Classics and this WebGL wipeout clone that works extremely well in-browser on a 2011 11″ MacBook Air.

You’ll need a WebGL enabled browser (Google Chrome or Recent Firefox). Go to http://hexgl.bkcore.com to check it out!

In a few years Flash will probably cease to exist altogether if people can pull off things like that in HTML5 and WebGL. Good riddance!

Apple wins the trial against Samsung. Will that spawn innovation or kill it?

Posted on August 25, 2012 by IdeaMonster

Nothing spells copycat better than 1 billion dollars in damages

So the “tech trial of the century” is almost over. The jury has reached a verdict, Apple is happy, Samsung will appeal and life will go on. Or will it? Maybe this is actually a good thing, that it wasn’t the full 2.5 billion Apple wanted. It could still be a big dent in Samsung’s budget and it could lead to trouble putting out new devices. 1 billion seems fair and at the same time maybe it’ll be a lesson not to copy other peoples work so openly.

This result will certainly influence other companies to do things differently from now on, so Apple’s slogan Think Different can also be a jab at it’s competitors. Design differently! Android will have to lose the bounce-back scrolling feature and some others, as judged yesterday. Too bad people got used to these over the years, but clever people from Samsung and Google will find a way to replace them. Maybe that’s when we’ll see true innovation.

What’s funny here is the fact that previous Apple arch-rival Microsoft is now laughing, that Windows8 looks so good right now, as a truly original mobile OS.

Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 are getting Unity Engine support!

Posted on August 22, 2012 by IdeaMonster

That might give the mobile Win8 a boost!

Windows Phone 7 (and ultimately 8) was a little late to the mobile OS party. Sure it brought some fresh new clothes, but other OS’es were already the buzz of the evening and it was hard to keep up. The system offered very little features (aside from great digitally minimal looks) and it’s app store equivalent was seriously lacking. Microsoft was either paying devs to add quality apps, or re-designing some classics themselves, but it wasn’t enough. What do people want the most from a mobile phone? According to both recent and not-so-recent studies (meaning: it’s been a widely accepted fact) it’s GAMES. Preferably cheap, console quality titles like Shadowgun (pictured above) from MadFingerGames.

Well now there’s a chance of more quality 3d titles coming to the platform, because it was just announed that both desktop and mobile installments of Win8 will have full Unity support. That means it’s gonna be MUCH easier for developers to port their 3d games to the platform, thus increasing it’s value.

That’s one more step towards more market share of Windows Phone (Which is still extremely low). GOod luck!

Apple vs Samsung trial ending – will it change anything?

Posted on August 22, 2012 by IdeaMonster

The birds are still chirping, the sun is shining, the air is as polluted as ever. So will Apple consume Samsung as seen above? Probably not.

The biggest tech trial in history is coming to an end as we speak. By reading the liveblog from the final statements I can honestly say that everyone’s trying super hard to prove a point and win those billions of dollars. Which is what would be expected. But what does this whole trial mean to the consumers?

Continue reading →