WordPress 3.0 is now live after a while in development. I would explain the highlights if this video didn’t do it so well for you already.
WordPress 3.0
Snippets: a Powerful code storage system
I first came across snippets when it was in very early beta. I had been using Code Collector Pro for a few months and I was far from satisfied. I downloaded it and wanted to move over but didn’t want to redo all my snippets. About a month later when Snippets was around beta .8 (one of the final versions before full release) code collector pro corrupted my entire database and I was sold. I started up snippets and took off. Ever since I can’t even imagine how I lasted without it. One thing that the snippets guys brought up to me is their Import utility which is absolutely amazing. Mainly it gives you the ability to import your snippets from different unfortunately popular snippet collecting applications. If you’ve stored a significant amount of snippets in a different application this is exactly what you need.
What it’s made for
Snippets aims to give you a great way to not only save and store your code but also use it anytime anywhere with ease. Their web site puts it perfectly as
“The main idea is to make the process of reusing as easy as possible to avoid wasting your valuable time to write the same code again.”
Who is the target crowd? In my opinion it’s anyone who uses code, ever. The amount of time this will save you from not only not having to type it again but also from not having to find snippets again somewhere on the internet is invaluable.
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Steve Jobs on Flash
Wow….just wow….never in a million years would I have expected to read what I just read…A 1600 word essay from Steve Jobs himself explaining IN DETAIL why Apple is supporting flash less and less. You can read the original article here straight from apple.com.
Argument
Steve highlights six main points to explain his reasoning.
1. “Open”
Steve dives into detail about how flash is a completely closed system. He admits that the iOS is proprietary too but explains that flash is completely controlled by Adobe, the definition of closed.
2. Full Web
Since the iDevices stopped fully supporting flash people continuously say that without flash you’re missing out on 95% of web video. That is blatantly not true. He first talks about YouTube since they hold an estimated 40% of web video and come with a handy little application to make it all work, and then he lists these: “Add to this video from Vimeo, Netflix, Facebook, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, ESPN, NPR, Time, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, People, National Geographic, and many, many others. iPhone, iPod and iPad users aren’t missing much video.” A very convincing point.
3. Reliability, security and performance.
The trifecta of the computing experience, and something flash has never delivered on any Apple platform. Don’t believe me? Just go here (warning depending on your browser it may crash immediately, thats the point.) Or you can just read this article from TUAW explaining the 16 month old bug…
4. Battery life
I’m glad Steve touched on this because this is something a lot of people don’t understand, and he explains it in detail. Mainly flash video is decoded in software rather than hardware (where H.264 is decoded) which destroys your battery life.
5. Touch
This makes perfect sense. Flash relies heavily on hover events to achieve silly effects, this is obviously not something you could provide on an iDevice, Steve puts it this way “Flash was designed for PCs using mice, not for touch screens using fingers.”
6. The most important reason
Steve debunks the idea that they only reason you can’t develop in flash for the iDevices is political, he explains that it’s because of their spotty performance when transcoded.
Final Thoughts
I think this is a great argument that really may be one of the last nails in the coffin that is flash, something that I am not sad to see go.
Steve confirms they aren’t dropping OSX
After Apple confirmed WWDC today people started noticing that the focus was definitely on the iOS. There was absolutely no mention of OSX in the itinerary. 9to5mac (one of my favorite sites) posted this article about it, raising the question, is this the new path for Apple. I know many people myself included did not like this at all and thankfully it is not. A Steve Jobs Email Replies reader Nathan (twitter) thankfully just forwarded me this email that he received directly from Steve.
It’s great to hear that the iOS is not going to be their only focus in the future. Thanks Nathan!
Ommwriter Review: THE Zen writing for your mac.
So most likely many of you have heard of Ommwriter. It came out and was all the talk for a few days because of it’s very strange approach to writing. No one can deny that it is quite different from almost any application. Granted it has the normal full screen mode used in WriteRoom and Pages but it really separates itself with music. Thats right, directly off the install Ommwriter plays music to you. Everyone immediately said “WOW THATS SUPER CRAZY!!” But its really not….
Think about it. If you like doing a lot of intense work where you try to zone yourself out of distractions to help yourself work what do you go to? Maybe you quit your Twitter client and Facebook, maybe you hide your desktop with Deskshade or Camouflage, and maybe, like me, after you do all that you turn on music. I always try to go for something without vocals just so I don’t get distracted by someone talking. And thats exactly what Ommwriter does.
I do want to mention this application is still in beta, I’m sure many changes will be made before that label is removed.
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Well look at that, it’s Opera!
Not 24 hours ago I was eagerly awaiting the release of Opera for iPhone, so I was very happy to see Opera publish this press release. About 20 minutes later, the time it took to actually get into the store, it was on my phone. I was personally one of the first people to write a review on iTunes where I gave it 3 of 5 stars, just so it wouldn’t be completely looked over. The browser itself is only a big deal because it is the first non-Webkit browser in the application store. I don’t actually know how much of a feat this is, as in I haven’t heard about any other browsers actually getting denied, but Opera did a great job building up the hype for the release. Not to long ago they released a video showing Opera running on an iPhone 3Gs right beside MobileSafari. Opera absolutely creamed it on EDGE which got a lot of people stirring. Because of Apple’s super closed environment not many people, myself included, expected them to actually accept the application because it obviously “directly duplicates functionality on the device,” which is one of the reasons Apple has to deny your application.
Yet since there was so much hype about Opera coming to the iPhone and it would’ve been very strange for Apple to deny an application that has many very similar counterparts already in the store, they actually accepted it. Whether they did that because of their good will, Opera’s countup timer to see if they would actually approve it, or the fact that it’s UI is so terrible they just felt sorry for them. That’s right I said it, the user interface of Opera is about 10 times worse than that of Opera on my Mac, and that’s saying something. Don’t get me wrong yet, there are a few cool features to Opera Mini that I definitely like, they just don’t out weigh how disgusting it is. Let’s go with the happy stuff first.
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iPad after a week…
Well the iPad bug bit me. I was very excited when I first saw Steve Jobs unveil the iPad back in January. I couldn’t wait to try it out. A few months passed and April 3rd finally arrived. I went to my local Best Buy to check out the iPad and was initially less than impressed. I spent some time with the device and after three hours I left with every bit of the money I planned to spend still in my checking account. (more…)
New MacBook Pros and Apple’s strong lineup
Well I just have to say that I am most impressed with Apple’s current lineup of hardware. Their iPods are more sophisticated than ever. The iPhone is ruling the roost in the mobile space these days. The iPad made quite a splash when it launched and is still going strong. Apple’s iMac continues to sell well while simultaneously eating away at the need for it’s more costly bigger brother, the Mac Pro desktop. And finally we have the well-loved and highly respected Macbook Pro family. Apple’s newest laptops, released today, are simply stronger than ever.
While I immediately questioned Apple’s reluctance to add Intel’s latest i5 series processors, it will all come out in the wash I’m sure. In my mind the people that purchase Apple’s entry level Macbook Pro are not going to be too discouraged by the somewhat stale Core 2 Duo. I feel that the longer battery life will be more appealing to said customers. Power users are still going to opt for the “sweet spot” 15″ Macbook Pro or even the “way too big” 17″. That said, these new laptops are a welcome addition to the hardware family.
I am loving that there is now an option to add a 512GB SSD, however the price leaves a lot to be desired. I find it silly that 500GB is the largest HDD that Apple allows in their CTO option. Still though, with the low cost of storage these days, it’s not really a big deal anymore.
All in all these new laptops are a nice compliment to Apple’s current hardware lineup. I can’t say I was really surprised or blown away by the upgrades. Today’s announcements seemed like a very natural progression in the way of things. While I certainly won’t be going out of my way to replace my late ’08 Macbook Pro 15″, I wouldn’t hesitate to plop down the cash for one of the new 15″, or even 13″, Macbook Pros.
Twitter buying Tweetie: The Aftermath
I can tell you right now I’m not happy about this article and I think very few people are. If you read my last article you know that Twitter bought Tweetie branding them as their favorite application. They are changing the name to “Twitter for iPhone.” Why are they taking the happy name “Tweetie” that Loren said wasn’t as scary as “Twittelator” the Arnold Schwarzenegger of iPhone Twitter clients. You don’t think he said this? Check out this video of him speaking for the Stanford iPhone application development class (iTunes Link). Twitter decided to switch the name for one reason SEO. I’m not sure if SEO is what you would call it for the application store but that’s why. Uniformed people go to the store and type “Twitter” in which case Echofon comes up first and Tweetie 2 is about 15th, yet Tweetie is arguably the best Twitter client on the iPhone (ignore Tweetdeck it’s a different story).
So why is everyone angry about this? They have a good reason to be, a good many reasons. First of which this is discouraging development of other applications (like Nambu), since Twitter branded themselves its very hard to compete with the initial creator of the entire system.
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Apple should buy Cultured Code
My task manager of choice on my Mac, iPhone and future iPad is Things by Cultured Code. I don’t think their applications even need reviews, but I’ll go over them nonetheless.
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