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Reserving judgment

Initially, my first reaction to this post was: No, no! Fucking NO!

But then I remember the time Cydia first came out, and I thought it would be unfair to judge Installer 4 negatively when it’s just doing exactly what Cydia had done back then. As such, I decided to reserve judgment and see where all this takes us.

I do, however, want to state my disappointment in the “scene.” Why can’t these guys just get along and fucking collaborate? Unless Installer 4 can guarantee that it will have a better distribution backend than APT then I really see no point why they even have to give an alternative to Cydia. Eye-candy/ease of use, while certainly appreciated, isn’t critical; a proper backend implementation is always more important for stuff like this.

This isn’t the desktop arena; these types of scenarios are bad for the scene because it dilutes the collective integrity of the community… even if it’s masquerading as “giving the users more choices.”

I believe I already gave my opinion on the matter in a fairly recent post, but let me expound.

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Some more OSX tips

Here are some more tips for OSX – mostly for personal consumption but who knows, someone might find a use for them as well.

Also some iPhone hacking tips at the end. The discussion of the moral implications related to the subject will be saved for a latter post 😉

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Regarding Gruber and MagicPad

Gruber Said:

Regarding MagicPad, the upcoming iPhone notes app with text selection and copy/paste, a few readers have emailed to point out that Safari uses double-tap-and-release (tap, up, tap, up) for zooming, whereas MagicPad is using double-tap-and-hold (tap, up, tap, drag) for selection — and that so therefore there isn’t any conflict between those two gestures.

I just don’t see how typical iPhone users could be expected to make that distinction. On the Mac, double-clicking in text means “select this word,” whether you release the button after the second click or not. Single- vs. double-tapping is complicated enough for most people; double-tap-and-hold vs. double-tap-and-release would be baffling.

Is he serious? I’m beginning to think this is one of those I’ve-already-been-corrected-but-just-have-to-continue-arguing-just-to-make-it-seem-like-I-still-make-sense arguments.

Don’t get me wrong, I have the utmost respect for the guy as far as UI design goes – but seriously, this is just ridiculous.

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Zoom, just one look…

… and then my heart went boom!

Remember that song? Well, it doesn’t really have anything to do with this post apart from the reference of the word “zoom.” (and personally, my heart did go “boom” when I saw the awesomeness of what I’m about to discuss).

I’ve implemented a new “lightboxing” system in my site using the FancyZoom script.

For the uninitiated, a the term lightbox has its etymology rooted in photography, but sufficed to say, in “internet” lingo, it’s a script which is commonly used for toggling image magnification without having to leave the current page. I’ve been using it in my site almost every time I use a thumbnail (which will be demonstrated in a while). For a quick sample though, click right here.

Oh and if you’re reading this via RSS reader, I’d suggest you visit the actual page for this entry, else none of this will work.

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1Password

Arguably the most useful application on the Mac, the mobile version of 1Password can now be found on the AppStore.

Gotta be honest here… if I didn’t already have an iPhone, it’s applications like this that’ll make me want to get one asap – it’s just so fucking useful.

For the uninitiated, 1Password, in it’s most basic form is a password storage application. Much like Firefox’s password manager, or the Apple Keychain built right into OSX.

The reason why it so much better though, the reason why I myself have purchased the application despite my ability to easily source a pirated license, is how well thought out the whole application is. It’s one of those things that just clicks with you once you start using it… and you suddenly find out that you can’t live without it. Read More