Yearly Archives: 2012

Confusing behaviors

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Rian van der Merwe looks at ways developers can make confusing behavior in their apps easier for users to understand.

Google passes Microsoft in market value

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Google rose 1 percent to $761.78 at the close in New York, gaining a market capitalization of about $249.9 billion. Microsoft, the world’s biggest software maker, fell less than 1 percent to $29.49, for a valuation of $247.2 billion.

I bet Microsoft never thought this would happen.

App.net lowers yearly pricing, adds $5 plan

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First, we are introducing a $5/month Member plan. Some folks have been asking for a monthly plan since day one, and given all of the progress that has been made in the App.net ecosystem, we think now is a good time to introduce it.Second, we are dropping the Member price from $50/year to $36/year.

App design

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Gannon Burgett does a great job of taking a look at the design choices we see in apps these days. I think Apple users are much more picky over design elements, which is a good thing for the platform.

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite really shines

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TechHive:

The new Kindle Paperwhite is a dramatic update inside and out, one with fully redesigned software and an appealing integrated light that makes the Kindle more usable in any environment.

While I prefer the iPad, Amazon is doing a great job with the Kindle line. The reviews for the Kindle Paperwhite have all been quite complimentary. I’ve recommended various Kindles to any number of people who don’t need the full feature set or functionality of the iPad.

Studiometry [Sponsor]

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Solving a problem

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Apple changed its developer guidelines to prohibit apps from showing for purchase, other than your own. I agree with Gruber — I don’t see the problem this solves.

A look back at the CD

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The compact disc player turned 30 today, and this retrospective offers a history lesson about the format and the medium.

Fender

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The NYT has a story about Fender and its struggles.

Sculley talks Newton, ARM

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John Sculley recently spoke about Apple’s development of the Newton MessagePad and the genesis of the ARM processor.

Pixelmator

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My thanks to Pixelmator for sponsoring The Loop’s RSS feed this week. Congratulations on your fifth birthday of making the best image editing software on the Mac.

Inside the world’s last pinball design shop

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Wired:

While The Who’s “Pinball Wizard” still stands up after four decades of radio play, the designers of the pinball machines that made Tommy so good have become an endangered species.Only one company in the world, Illinois’ Stern Pinball, still designs and produces these electro-mechanical marvels, the lone holdout since industry behemoth Williams Electronics shuttered its pinball division in 1999. It may be a dying art, but the creative minds at Stern are nonetheless continuously creating new machines that can keep their industry moving forward and give them one more replay.

I still prefer pinball machines to video games. There’s something “retro-cool” about the mechanical action of the game play that you can’t get from computerized games.

Comfortably Numb

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Roger Waters and David Gilmour are two of the best. […]

Apple’s Scott Forstall problem

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There can be no doubt that as the Senior Vice President of iOS Software, Maps falls squarely on Scott Forstall’s shoulders.

Chalk art

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I love the one with the heart under the box. I laughed.

Klingon Style

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“Gangnam Style” is much better in the original Klingon.

AdSense killed from FeedBurner

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AdSense for Feeds was designed to help publishers earn revenue from their content by placing ads on their RSS feeds. Starting October 2, we’ll begin to retire this feature—and on December 3 we’ll close it. Publishers can continue to use FeedBurner URLs powered by Google, so they won’t need to redirect subscribers to different URLs. For more information visit the AdSense Help Center.

Can FeedBurner’s death really be far off?