“The iPad has been available for a few weeks now and I’m disappointed to find that one of my predictions seems to be coming true: the iPad won’t truly be ‘out’ for another few months, when developers have finally had enough time with a real iPad in their hands to design true iPad-focused apps,” Ihnatko writes. “Most of the freshman class seem to be either embiggened editions of iPhone hits or apps that bear the fingerprints of mouse-and-keyboard user interface design.”
Certain “problems are easy to spot, and easier to fix. You see a nail sticking up a little, you hammer it down,” Ihnatko writes.
MacDailyNews Take: Which reminds us, MacDailyNews app 2.2.2 has finally popped up in Apple’s iTunes App Store. If you haven’t updated yet, please do so as our developer been a-hammerin’.
Ihnatko continues, “The bigger problem with the evolution of iPad software will be in developing the core philosophy. What is an iPad app? What sort of statement is the user making when he or she leaves the house with the intention of prosecuting the day’s goals with an iPad instead of a notebook?”
Full article – highly recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s always a pleasure to read something from a professional who knows how to write.
Bluetooth next?
Is “embiggened” a word Andy?!
It is now.
By the way, for the MDN app, I’d really love to see up and down arrows in the bottom button bar, next to “+Font”, that will go to the next and previous story. It’s just so slow to wait for the main story list to come back up and then drill down again.
Also, I’m hoping you can make that button bar disappear and reappear when we tap the screen, so it doesn’t obscure the story.
Thanks!
“t’s always a pleasure to read something from a professional who knows how to write.” and has something worth saying.
iPad in its infancy.
Yet, still a notorious bloodbath.
It’s only going to get better. Much, much better.
It’s Apple’s “pull away” product. As in, “pull away” from the competition forever.
To: Geddy
Andy’s use of the word “embiggen” is a clever Simpsons reference. It’s a quote attributed to town founder Jebidiah Springfield: “A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man”.
It’s a perfectly cromulent word!
Well, now that MacDailyNews app, version 2.2.2 came up in this article, I gave it a try one more time. Let me tell you that the app performs still like a snail, as previous versions did. But first the first; the title appears twice, one time as a tool bar and a second time as part of the body of the articles. Why? I don’t see the reason to waste space in such a way, unless you’re a super fan of the site as to want to see its name elsewhere. Responsiveness is missing in the app; you can touch any button and wait even until two seconds to see the app get aware of the touch. Article loading, sharing, changing fonts are very, very sloooow activities. The app crashes every time you try to save and article; in fact, the save story button doesn’t respond fast enough and when you touch it by second time, the app crashes.
In the end, I don’t see a valid reason to get this app in my iPhone, not even for free. It is much better to create a web icon as the iPhone version of MacDailyNews site is faster by far and sports almost entirely the same interface; you will only miss the alerts, that’s all.
Saludos!
Re: “embiggened”
When Sir Winston Churchill was at a loss for an appropriate word he invented a new one. That got the ball rolling. Good writers and people who are fluent in Ebonics are allowed to do that.
A lot of these trolls are just IT repair-men, who, just like their dads who ran repair shops for cars, dread anyone buying a solid dependable BMW. Remember TV Repair men? They used to be regular visitors to our house in the early 60s, until the sets got more and more reliable and these guys weren’t needed any more.
Alex, . . . really?
BMW dependable?
Why do you think they started that free repair policy.
Is anyone else surprised that there is no Facebook app for iPad?
It’s flippin May 19!
Facebook developers have had plenty of time know. Like months! Are they waiting for something in OS4? I know the integration garbage, but iPad users won’t see that until “fall,” whenever that is…
Using a gaudy 2x pixellated iPhone app is absolutely ridiculous at this point in time! There’s no excuse. Money is rolling in. They have a well designed iPhone app already, so it’s not like it can’t share code…good gracious. Shame on Facebook! Hire some help!
Andy Ihnatko. Truly a sapient pundit.
@VAL4Mother
Maybe the FaceBook developers have determined that the iPad offers no new opportunities for stealing and publishing their users’ private information. Maybe a front-facing camera…
Most of the freshman class seem to be either embiggened editions of iPhone hits or apps that bear the fingerprints of mouse-and-keyboard user interface design.”
Bear the fingerprints??? Reminds me of the bear at the bar asking the bartender, can I have………..a……………..beer?
The bartender asked, Why the long pause?
The bear looks at his claws and says, “I dunno. I’ve always had them.”
MacDailyNews Stop update your App with usless shit and get your head out of your ass and add REAL OFFLINE CACHING!!!