Posts Tagged ‘Squad’
Thursday, September 9th, 2010
In my post introducing iTunes 10, I mentioned that the new iTunes logo was sure to be controversial. Looks like I got that right! Wired News is reporting that a designer emailed Steve Jobs to tell him that the new logo “sucks” and throws away a decade of “instant product recognition.” The designer, Josh Kopac, got one of Steve’s trademark terse responses: “We disagree.”
A lot of people in the design community agree with Kopac that the iTunes 10 logo has got to go. Check out Dribbble, the playground where lots of pro designers preview their new work, and you’ll find several replacement iTunes 10 icons already. One that seems to have gained real traction is a magenta version by Chris Carlozzi. It’s got 154 likes on Dribbble, and has been touted by other blogs as the icon iTunes 10 should have had.
If you don’t love the new logo, take your pick of icons from Dribbble, or show us some other alternatives you like better. If you think the new logo’s just fine, here’s your chance to offer a defense in the comments.
Tags:apple itunes download, Chris Carlozzi, design, Designer, designers, download, Dribbble, Filed, Josh Kopac, kopac, logo, nbsp, playground, product recognition, Read, Squad, Steve, Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs - Apple, traction
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Monday, August 30th, 2010
Everyone knows that users hate change, so it’s no surprise that the new version of Digg has got people up in arms. Despite new user registration for the site going way up since the launch of v.4, people have identified about a dozen separate issues with the new layout, from actual bugs to petty nitpicks. Digg’s Kevin Rose addressed them in a new blog post, explaining the reasoning behind some changes, and promising fixes for others.
Here are the key points:
The Upcoming section, removed because it got only a tiny percentage of Digg’s total page views, is coming back in some form. The bury button is also gone, but it’s not coming back. Rose says removing the button was a way of shutting down the organized “bury brigades,” who were systematically censoring certain viewpoints and topics on Digg.
There are a ton of bugs that Rose acknowledges and promises to fix, including issues with RSS feeds, third-party Digg tools, and missing favorites. It sounds like some people think the new design of the site ought to be filed as a bug, but Kevin’s response, apart from pledging to look into some specific usability issues, is basically that you’ll just have to get used to it.
Tags:brigades, Button, digg, download, Filed, Kevin, Kevin Rose, Kevin Rose - RSS, nbsp, new layout, nitpicks, Read, Rose, site, social software, Squad, tiny percentage, usability issues, viewpoints, way
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Sunday, August 15th, 2010
Apple’s iOS 4.0.1 has arrived — along with 3.2.1 for iPads — and the big buzz is about a change in the way “bars” of signal strength are displayed. iOS 4.0.1 “Improves the formula to determine how many bars of signal strength to display,” but the 378MB update doesn’t have any other specific info in the release notes.Apart from changing how many bars to show, Apple has also messed with the size of the bars. Engadget did a comparison of the old and new versions, but one of the screenshots was from the Home Screen, and one was from an app, so it was a little tricky to see the difference. Here’s what each meter looks like at full bars on my iPhone 3GS:
There’s not much to say about iOS 4.0.1, feature-wise, but it’s very interesting in terms of Apple’s marketing and PR. Apple has called a press conference for tomorrow, presumably to do some damage control on this very signal issue, so the timing of the 4.0.1 update seems well-planned. Also, we’ve heard rumors of a silent recall from friends whose pending iPhone orders have been canceled, but we can’t confirm it.
Tags:3gs, Apple, apple iphone, damage control, download, iOS, ipads, iPhone, nbsp, os updates, signal, signal strength, Squad, strength
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Thursday, August 5th, 2010
Google Wave, touted last year as the future of text-based communication, will wave no more. Google just announced that it will be ceasing development on Wave, and eventually shutting it down, because it never caught on the way it was supposed to. Some of Wave’s technology, like the drag-and-drop feature and live typing, will live on as open source. Export tools are coming soon so that you can get your data out before Wave is over for good at the end of the year.
I used Wave for a while, and I can understand why it never caught on. It could serve the functions of email, instant messenger, or a live demo or (ugh!) “webinar” … but it was never the ideal solution for any of them. It was also incredibly resource-intensive with large numbers of people on a Wave, which is a bummer, because sharing information to large groups in real time, with the replay saved for sharing later, was Wave’s strong suit.
Because Wave never really replaced anything, and we never stopped using Gmail or Google Talk, the only major effect this shutdown has is freeing up creative Google personnel to move on to the next big thing. Whether you loved or hated Wave, you have to admit it was ambitious. I’m looking forward to seeing what the creators come up with next.
Tags:bummer, download, drag and drop, drop feature, Google, instant messenger, large groups, large numbers, nbsp, Read, replay, Source, Squad, technology, Wave, year
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Tuesday, July 6th, 2010
If you play one Flash game this week, make it Coma. This surreal, beautifully-illustrated story will take you a half-hour, tops, to play through, but it will be absolutely worth it. The game takes place in the subconscious of a boy named Pete, and he’s dreaming up some pretty strange stuff. [...]
Tags:cinematic experience, Coma, dexterity, download, flash game, game, half-hour, nbsp, Pete, play one, Read, Squad, strange stuff, Time, time wasters, up arrow, weird characters, YouTube
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Friday, June 18th, 2010
Because Download Squad is always* super-relevant and topical when it comes to sports coverage, here’s another app that lets you show your virtual support for your favorite World Cup team. Fun Booth 2 is like a souped-up version of the Photo Booth app for Mac, and it now includes all kinds of World Cup props that you can add to your photos.
Adding team-colored beanies, jerseys, and more to your pics is Fun Booth’s trendiest feature, but it’s got other tricks that make it worth a look even after the World Cup. Fun Booth has a library of other props, and it uses facial recognition to make them fit your photo perfectly. It also lets you drag and drop your own props or draw on your photos. There are even some limited photo editing capabilities, like adjusting brightness/contrast and saturation. The full version of Fun Booth 2 is US $19.99, but there’s also a free trial edition that you can download to see if it’s something you want to keep around.
*for very, very small values of “always.”
Tags:booth, Cup, download, facial recognition, fri, Fun, fun photo, Mac, nbsp, Photo, photo booth, Read, soccer competitions, sport soccer, sports coverage, Squad, US, virtual support, world
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Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010
Fresh on the heels of a recent spate of suicides, it seems that Foxconn and Apple are determined to make the workers of the sprawling Shenzhen complex a bit happier. Generally speaking, if you’re looking to brighten somebody’s day, paying them more money is a great start.
Apparently, the focus groups and deep investigations have led Hon Hai Precision Industry to the same conclusion, because Foxconn employees are now getting a 30% raise. The raise, which is already in effect, will bring their monthly income from the equivalent of about $131.77 up to $171.30 (USD). Foxconn management was originally going to raise the employees’ salary by 20%, but it seems they’re more committed to really good PR than anybody gave them credit for.
But that’s not even the half of it. Rumor now has it that Steve Jobs is going to release between 1% and 2% of total sales of all Apple products manufactured at Foxconn to the workers who built them. This profit-sharing is supposedly starting with the iPad, which has already sold over 2 million units in less than 2 months. Even at 1%, that amounts to several million dollars heading back to Shenzhen and straight into the employees’ pockets. That is, if the rumors turn out to be true.
On that note, where can I get a job application for the Apple section at Foxconn?
Tags:Apple Fresh, apple products, apple sales, apple section, bit, download, Filed, foxconn, hon hai precision, hon hai precision industry, iPad, nbsp, news, news apple, raise, Read, Shenzhen, spate, Squad, Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs - Foxconn
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