Congratulations on your new iPhone or iPad! I've been using iOS for awhile, and I've found that there a few apps I find pretty compelling. Some of them are the usual suspects, and others are a bit stranger. Take what you think you'll enjoy. Follow the links from this post and they'll take you right to the App Store where you can download the apps.
The Loop has a piece this afternoon espousing that the best approach to buying technology is to buy what you need when you need it. In general, I agree. But what such a strategy fails to consider is that need is not always pressing. I've been living with my 2008 MacBook for the last four months. It no longer meets my needs, and it's a too anemic for what I do with a computer. It has served me well over the last four years, but it's now time for an upgrade. I purchased an iMac two summers ago after they had been refreshed, and it is now my main machine. The MacBook will be replaced with a new laptop to supplement the iMac for when on the road or around the house. I've needed to upgrade the MacBook. But I haven't bought a MacBook Air or a MacBook Pro because they are about to be upgraded. Waiting hasn't killed me. I just don't do things on the MacBook, or I use headphones to avoid listening to the fan. I ignore antialiasing. But I wait, because I know that the refresh is coming, and I don't want to miss it. When I buy at the beginning of a cycle, I know that there is nothing more that I could have to avoid the bogey man of buyer's remorse. I bought what I need (or a little more) when it was brand new. Something better will come later, but for the entire time I have that product, I will know that I did all I could to guarantee that I had the best product for me from the time it was new. If your device breaks and you need a replacement, buy now. But if you are replacing a mostly functional device, wait. I'm happier for it.
Share Article → I've noticed a growing trend among newly updated iOS apps where content display is focused on clarity and distribution rather than quantity. When I first jumped on the iOS platform in 2008, it seemed that the vast majority of apps made use of the default TableViews to cram a list of content on the screen. Today, apps are spreading content out and adding layers of interaction that enable both skimming and diving deep into one particular piece of information.;)
The result is a new set of apps with legible typography, nicely laid out screens, and clear UI elements. I could stand to see more of this in the coming months, as long as information continues to be conveyed clearly.
My housemate Hannah sketched me last month on one of the first sunny days—I like it.
I recently gave this presentation to defend my Computer Science Honors Thesis. The presentation went well, and I decided to post my slides here as a video. A PDF of the slides may also be downloaded from here.
