http://www.cultofmac.com/219813/how-apple-has-changed-the-world-in-just-7-years-picture-1000-words/
Archive for the ‘iPhone, iPad’ Category
Apple Has Changed the World
Sunday, March 17th, 2013Apple Won, Or Did They?
Saturday, August 25th, 2012Yesterday, Apple won the first round in a big patent infringement lawsuit with Samsung. My thoughts went back to the late ’90s when the mantra was “Apple is dead!” Apple computers were shunned in the workplace. That I had a Mac and did Mac software development made me a target of derision. Today, some virtual thumbing the nose at former coworkers might be in order. But then again, I’m not sure Apple really won. Could this be a turning point? Apple has a very loyal fan base, but will that change now? Is it possible that the recent success is due in part to the under-dog status of the company? Sure, Apple needs to defend their intellectual property. Who wouldn’t? But will there be unintended consequences? Will there be some erosion of Apple’s fan base? Will Apple move into the role of Evil Empire, the company that everyone loves to hate? I hope not. I hope that Apple continues to innovate and to create great quality products. And I really hope that wielding a large legal club does not turn the company into the next Evil Tech Empire.
Stanford
Friday, December 9th, 2011I’m taking this “iPad and iPhone Application Development” class done by Paul Hegarty of Stanford. It is available through iTunes U:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=473757255
The class is extremely well done. The classes are well paced, packed with information. I particularly like the mix of lectures with slides followed by demos in code. I highly recommend this to anyone learning to develop for iOS.
Cocoaconf
Tuesday, December 6th, 2011I had the opportunity to addend Cocoaconf this past weekend in Raleigh. It was a lot of fun being around a bunch of Mac and iOS geeks. I learned a lot about programming for iOS and got to meet some really interesting people.
Make Your iPad a Laptop???
Saturday, September 24th, 2011I saw this article just now. The first thought that popped into my head was, “Why would you want to make an iPad a laptop?” Part of what makes an iPad great is that it IS NOT a laptop. But then again I have both an iPad and a Laptop. When I am working I will use my laptop. I am writing this blog post sitting at my desk, using a full keyboard and large screen attached to my laptop. When I want to sit on the couch and read or just check email, I use my iPad. But for some people, I suspect that an iPad would be everything they need. If your only or your primary computer happens to be an iPad, I guess it would make sense to be able to set it up like an laptop for creating documents and the like. It is funny that Microsoft spent years trying to turn a laptop into a tablet. Now, vendors are coming up with creative ways to turn an iPad into a laptop.
Have iPad, Will Travel
Friday, July 8th, 2011I’ve had my iPad for over a year now. I love it! I use it to read books, read news, do email, take notes, look things up online or in documents (DropBox) and of course, keep up with Facebook and Twitter. When I first got the iPad, I didn’t know if I would be able to leave the laptop behind when travelling. After several trips for pleasure and for work, here’s my conclusion. The iPad is a great vacation companion. When I’m getting away for lesure, the laptop stays home. If a work trip only involved some meetings, I might also be able to leave the laptop behind. My work usually involves software development of some kind. And the iPad is not the right platform for most of my work. So if I travel for work, I take the laptop as well. It would be really neat to have a Ruby interpreter on the iPad. But that’s another story.
iOS v Android development
Sunday, May 22nd, 2011One of my goals for this year is to learn Objective C and write an iPhone or iPad app. The problem is, I really don’t like Objective C. I much prefer Java, with which I am familiar. As a point of reference I also looked into what it would take to write an app for an Android phone. Ah, Java. And ah, a nice clear picture of the OS and all that. But I’ve got a Mac, an iPhone and an iPad–and I love them. So that leaves me with the choice of learning Objective C, … or not.
I’m hoping that my dislike for Objective C will dissipate as I become familiar with it. But for now, it feels like I am taking a step backward in the evolution of programming languages.
Microsoft and Netbooks Are No Longer Part of the Conversation
Tuesday, March 1st, 2011I read a number of technical periodicals and web sites. The following is a personal observation: in the past year Microsoft and Netbooks have faded and are no longer a significant part of the conversation. A few points of clarification: firstly I’m not saying that Microsoft and Netbooks are synonymous. I realize that they are separate topics and have different influencing factors. I’m not saying that you can’t find articles about Microsoft or about Netbooks. I’m just saying that they are not front and center like they used to be. And I’m not making a value statement; ie. that this is good or bad. I’m just making an observation.
I think Netbooks are still going to be around for a while and will still fill a need for some people. But I think the iPad introduced a new era of computing. It may not have killed the Netbooks, but no one’s talking about the latest crop of Netbooks anymore.
Microsoft’s a more complex picture. Microsoft is still a very large player, still very competitive, etc. But it is no longer driving the conversation like it was even fairly recently. The discussion now is about Google, Apple, tablets and smart phones, working on the go and cloud computing. Microsoft is falling behind, not irreversibly, but enough that they are trying to catch up and are a bit less relevant. Microsoft may have the desktop market but that just doesn’t seem all that interesting anymore.
Reading on the iPad
Monday, June 14th, 2010I have now read one whole book (Malcom Gladwell’s What The Dog Saw) on my iPad. I’ve never liked reading books on the computer and was not sure if I would like reading on any electronic device. But I really enjoyed reading on the iPad.
One thing I like that I don’t recall anyone mentioning about reading on the iPad is that ambient lighting is not an issue. With the beautiful bright screen on the iPad, I don’t have the same issue that I occasionally do reading a paper book. Together with the ability to control font size, it takes away two sources of eye strain (or should it be iStrain) for me.
Writing on the iPad
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010I am writing this blog post on my iPad at a Raleigh Ruby Brigade meeting. The meeting is interesting, but I’m really liking working on the iPad. I’ll keep this short for now because I want to see how it looks on the website.