Michael Baierl » iphone http://blog.mbaierl.com Blog von Michael Baierl Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:17:13 +0000 en hourly 1 iPhone 5: “We want it back” ad http://blog.mbaierl.com/2011/09/iphone-5-we-want-it-back-ad.html http://blog.mbaierl.com/2011/09/iphone-5-we-want-it-back-ad.html#comments Mon, 12 Sep 2011 08:40:55 +0000 Michael http://blog.mbaierl.com/?p=1211 Apple seems to have “lost” another iPhone prototype in a bar… now they want it back – they even produced an advertisement… ;)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8riJCf-qvM

]]> http://blog.mbaierl.com/2011/09/iphone-5-we-want-it-back-ad.html/feed 0 Software is not free http://blog.mbaierl.com/2011/02/software-is-not-free.html http://blog.mbaierl.com/2011/02/software-is-not-free.html#comments Thu, 17 Feb 2011 14:17:14 +0000 Michael http://blog.mbaierl.com/?p=1066 A while ago I ranted about “making money in the Appstore” and that EUR 3,- are too much for an application. Most probably the people reviewing those apps never wrote code on their own… that said, there is a great list of 13 reasons why software is not free… and I could not agree more with Brittany… some of my highlights:

  • Software is not easy to create — especially not software that people consider easy to use and attractive. It’s a whole heck of a lot of work, in fact.
  • Good software takes somewhere between months and years to create. It’s not something you just whip up in a night like they show you in the movies.
  • Software is created by hard working people… like you. Do you get paid for your work?
  • People who make software have more to do once your purchase has been made. We are here for you when you run into issues by providing a support team to answer questions, walk you through troubleshooting steps, fix bugs, etc.
  • You pay for your clothes, gadgets, your movie tickets, your lunch, your plane ticket, etc. So why not your software?

    Read the full 13 reasons here and please think about this before you rant about spending money for software…

    ]]>     http://blog.mbaierl.com/2011/02/software-is-not-free.html/feed 7     World Lens http://blog.mbaierl.com/2010/12/world-lens.html http://blog.mbaierl.com/2010/12/world-lens.html#comments Mon, 20 Dec 2010 10:54:29 +0000 Michael http://blog.mbaierl.com/?p=979 Absolutely amazing real-time translation app: World Lens. Just point your phone to some text and it translates for you… in place, right inside the image. Unfortunately only English<->Spanish are available right now, but imagine this with Chinese while being in China. Absolutely fantastic!

    Download from the App Store. Developers Homepage. Via daringfireball.

    ]]>     http://blog.mbaierl.com/2010/12/world-lens.html/feed 0     Destroyed Apple Products http://blog.mbaierl.com/2010/11/destroyed-apple-products.html http://blog.mbaierl.com/2010/11/destroyed-apple-products.html#comments Thu, 18 Nov 2010 08:49:31 +0000 Michael http://blog.mbaierl.com/?p=771 Woah, check out this collection of destroyed Apple Products!

    ]]>     http://blog.mbaierl.com/2010/11/destroyed-apple-products.html/feed 0     Gratis Schutzhüllen http://blog.mbaierl.com/2010/09/gratis-schutzhullen.html http://blog.mbaierl.com/2010/09/gratis-schutzhullen.html#comments Mon, 06 Sep 2010 10:18:59 +0000 Michael http://blog.mbaierl.com/?p=711
    <ViCoreEx> Apple verteilt jetzt gratis Schutzhüllen für das iPhone 4?
    <ViCoreEx> Das ist ja als wenn Opel bei defekten Benzinschläuchen sagt: “Hey Leute, hier habt ihr Klebeband!”
    ]]>     http://blog.mbaierl.com/2010/09/gratis-schutzhullen.html/feed 0     A new gadget http://blog.mbaierl.com/2010/08/a-new-gadget.html http://blog.mbaierl.com/2010/08/a-new-gadget.html#comments Fri, 13 Aug 2010 09:09:16 +0000 Michael http://blog.mbaierl.com/?p=663 After careful consideration I ordered it:

    (from Geek And Poke)

    ]]>     http://blog.mbaierl.com/2010/08/a-new-gadget.html/feed 0     This is definitely not going to be a hit! http://blog.mbaierl.com/2010/07/this-is-definitely-not-going-to-be-a-hit.html http://blog.mbaierl.com/2010/07/this-is-definitely-not-going-to-be-a-hit.html#comments Mon, 05 Jul 2010 07:28:08 +0000 Michael http://blog.mbaierl.com/?p=641 Long long time ago I wrote about The Hit List – that it is going to be the best GTD software on earth.

    A little after that I wrote about how to not write software and especially about how to not communicate with users.

    Finally it is time to say that The Hit List is not going to be a hit…. let me quote some statistics from CAS:

    Last tweet: December, 2009
    Last forum post: December, 2009
    Last blog post: September, 2009
    Last significant (non-fix) upgrade to THL: May, 2009

    To me this looks like THL is finally dead…. too bad, would have had a great future!

    RIP, The Hit List!

    ]]>     http://blog.mbaierl.com/2010/07/this-is-definitely-not-going-to-be-a-hit.html/feed 0     That Lost 4G Phone http://blog.mbaierl.com/2010/04/that-lost-4g-phone.html http://blog.mbaierl.com/2010/04/that-lost-4g-phone.html#comments Tue, 27 Apr 2010 09:41:07 +0000 Michael http://blog.mbaierl.com/?p=583 Two non-published Dilberts talking about the “issue” of a lost 4th generation iPhone:


    Hilarious!

    You can read the full story at  Scott Adams Blog post.

    ]]>     http://blog.mbaierl.com/2010/04/that-lost-4g-phone.html/feed 1     How to not develop software http://blog.mbaierl.com/2010/03/how-to-not-develop-software.html http://blog.mbaierl.com/2010/03/how-to-not-develop-software.html#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 07:33:25 +0000 Michael http://blog.mbaierl.com/?p=541 A while ago I wrote about The Hit List – a clean, powerful GTD application for the Mac. Over a year passed since that posting so I’d love to give an updated about The Hit List and the development of that particular application.
    So, what happened in the last year? Well, not a lot:

    THL is still beta

    The Hit List lets you plan, forget, then act when the time is right. (source)
    That’s what they write on their homepage, but obviously the time is not right yet – THL is still beta. Over year ago I wrote that the developer reads the forums and listens to his users…. this is not the case anymore – there are no frequent updates and the developer (Potion Factory seems to be a single-person company) does not respond to mails. The forums are full of complaints and issues….

    THL for the iPhone is vaporware

    All the developer released so far is a screenshot, that can be created in Photoshop or using Interface Builder in a few minutes… until now there is no sign of an real, existing iPhone application, something that is really needed for a fully-operational GTD system.

    The competition….

    Enough complaining about THL itself, what I really wanted to write about is why I think that THL is not going to survive with the current development model… in the last year the competition did actually develop and improve their products, there have been releases and they learned from their mistakes. For example my favorite iPhone GTD application “ToDo” had a few releases and improved the application over time. Toodledo also improved their Web interface and added quite a lot of features.
    It is unrealistic to think that Potion Factory will release a working, reliable and proven iPhone application from the beginning… there will be bugs and flaws which have to be fixed after the release. No app is perfect when released.
    Also the competition is really really strong and feature rich. For example 2do or even Toodledo‘s own iPhone app. Both are shiny, stable and actively maintained. On the desktop Omnifocus and Things are way ahead THL right now – THL was great a year ago, it is old fashioned today.

    My recommendation

    While THL for the Mac is still one of the best GTD apps out there (it’s focus on shortcuts is great!) I do not recommend it anymore. There does not seem to be any development and without an iPhone counterpart (or an open API so independent developers can fill that gap) it is not useable as GTD system. All sync options are hacks and do not work reliable (check the forums for details). Do not invest your money right now… but maybe next year?
    ]]>     http://blog.mbaierl.com/2010/03/how-to-not-develop-software.html/feed 2     My opinion on the iPad http://blog.mbaierl.com/2010/01/my-opinion-on-the-ipad.html http://blog.mbaierl.com/2010/01/my-opinion-on-the-ipad.html#comments Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:18:00 +0000 Michael http://test.mbaierl.com/2010/01/my-opinion-on-the-ipad.html On Wednesday the mysterious Apple iPad has been announced. Phase 2. And because a lot of people know that I’m an Apple fanboy and feel the urge to discuss “what does not work on the iPad and why it is crap” with me I’d like to finally outline a few thoughts about this device….

    What the iPad is and what it is not

    • The iPad is not a computer replacement. It is not meant to be your only computer in a household. Yes, it might work out for some special cases (my mum, my dad) but the average geek will still need a separate computer for development, hacking etc.
    • The iPad does support multi-tasking. You can listen to music while browsing the Web. All well-coded applications will remember the application state, so going to a link while reading a mail will open up the very same mail once you open up the mail application again. IM has proven to work very well using Push notifications and I bet there will be better support for Push in the next release of the iPad OS (list all notifications etc.).
    • The iPad cannot make phone calls and therefore is also no cell phone replacement. Well, you can make calls using i.e. Skype and a Bluetooth headset. Who wants such a large cell phone anyway? I never really understood that kind of comment…. it’s no phone at all! The iPad is a iPod Touch on steroids and targets unusable, slow Netbooks with Windows on it. So it is also no cell phone replacement.
    • The iPad has three (3!) different keyboards. You can use the onscreen keyboard, which (according to my experience with the iPhone) will work very well in most cases. As alternatives you can use a Bluetooth keyboard or use the keyboard-dock. Plenty of options for faster typing.
    • The pricing is quite ok – yes, you can get laptops for the same price, but take into account the quality of these low-end devices. Apple stuff is always a bit more expensive (no need to complain!), but on the other hand you get a device that just works. No fiddling with Firewalls, no RegEdit, all stuff that you don’t really need.

    What I miss on the iPad
    These features would make the iPad of real use to me and I think they are missing in the current version of the device:

    • Wireless sync. I don’t see any reason for plugging the iPad to my computer to sync music and videos. Why can’t it sync over the air (when it is plugged to a power source)?
    • Multi-User support. No need for two iPads in our household, but two separated user accounts would be great.
    • Airtunes support to stream music directly to the speakers, instead of just remote-controlling the MacBook.
    • A front-mounted camera would be great for Skype or iChat video conferencing. Eventually also to detect who is using the iPad (see multi-user support above).
    • Cheaper e-Books. I don’t understand why I should pay the same price for an e-Book as for a paper book. The publisher saves money on printing, I have to buy a reader… so get cheaper!
    • Tethering through an iPhone. I have an iPhone, so why do I need an additional 3G contract? Let me tether through the iPhone, because contract in Austria allow me to use my 3GB monthly volume how I want to use it. Could also use the iPhone GPS location…

    Will I buy it?
    Let me quote someone here:

    To hell with it! It’s not something I need. It doesn’t solve any problems I have. I can resist. I am strong. I may be “Mr. Mac,” but I am also “Mr. Practical.”
    Which is exactly what I said when the iPhone came out. 3 days later I was in the Apple Store eagerly holding out my credit card to anyone who would take it. (source)

    So: I don’t know yet. Most probably I’ll skip the first generation and wait for an upgrade. It is also depending on the iPhone 4 which is to be released this summer (yes, my contract is finally over!) and what features it offers. And of course what features Apple will add to the iPad over time…

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