2011 - Apps, Apps, Apps!

No doubt 2010 was the year of the app and with the tablet market exploding, 2011 promises more of the same.

My iPhone 3G is easily my favorite machine by a long stretch but me and my iPad  have endured a rocky period since the honeymoon phase of our relationship hit the fade.

But I'm happy to report a recent breakthrough has me feeling all warm and fuzzy again. It turns out I was carrying expectations from a previous relationship and putting unreasonable demands on my device, instead of starting with a clean slate. So, as part of my renewed commitment to my sleek, sexy tablet, I've been spending more time in apps because that is after all, what makes the iPad special.

So what apps am I packing and how do I rate them?
I'll pick five from my collection that go beyond the standards:

• Hipstamatic - Best $1.99 ever spent. I love this camera app. It's not perfect - I often have to take several shots before actually developing one, but the retro effects, edges and filters make virtually every shot a keeper. And you can upgrade to different filter packs to expand your photographic arsenal. Snapped above of Jim and Steve at Union Square yesterday in between meetings. 

• Dragon Dictation - This free transcription app is almost perfect but I'll forgive it, because it's free. I use DD almost daily to capture my thoughts and daily prep on my morning drive. Part of the fun is trying to figure out what the hell I was saying in the first place, but that's what you get for free. Did I mention that it's free? Here's my transcript from this morning straight out of the app: 

  Alright new blog post adds adds adds to try this again Dragon dictation keeps breaking up is that shot of Jim and Steve crossing the street in between meetings at Union Square yesterday to talk up my apple beer for tonight is by its inconsistency it still gives you great shots virtually every time with the various filters check it would be Dragon dictation hello jacking up today it's a lot of fun and very easy-to-use on the go to jot down quick notes send text e-mails etc. on third Avenue

• Twitter for iPhone/Twitterific for iPad - Need my tweets. Both are free. Both are good.

• Cor.kz - I've been using this wine inventory/database app quite a bit lately. I'm no wine snob, I just happen to know some enthusiasts who leave behind bottles at my house and I figured it would be useful to get better acquainted with my collection and keep stock of inventory. The app acts as a tidy front-end for the online Cellartracker database with info on over 750,000 bottles of wine. The integration is a little clunky because you need to toggle between Cor.kz and CellarTracker in order to get the full range of features and functions, but I'm finding I can do the basic inventory and find out what bottles are up for drinking without leaving the app. I did send a question to Cor.kz and received a speedy response, which counts for a lot in my book. Cor.kz will set you back $3.99.
  

• Trucks and Skulls/X2 Football 2010 - What app list would be complete without some mention of games? If you ask me, Trucks and Skulls for .99 is a great way to kill 10 or 15 minutes. From the site: "This is the physics puzzler you've been waiting for! Smash NITRO-BURNING MONSTER TRUCKS into piles of GIANT SKULLS!" Need I say more? But If you ask my five-year-old son, he'd probably say X2 Football takes the prize because he's becoming more of a soccer nut than I am. I can't tell you how many times this free lite version of the game has come to the rescue in impatient waiting circumstances.

And some others worth mention:

The new CNN app is gorgeous, Atomic Lite browser is better than Safari, Speak it! is a text-to-speech app I purchased by accident but it actually does a pretty good job of reading - and, you can do it with a British accent, Grimm’s Rumpelstiltskin - 3D Interactive Pop-up Book is awesome, Kids Jokes for $1.99 is a total rip-off.

And stay tuned - we've got some apps of our own in the works for release in early 2011. That's right - Artgig makes apps.

Happy Holidays.

Hey Apple, Where's My Peach Cobbler?

I happen to like peach cobbler - a lot.
I’m not sure how this love affair began, but it started with a perfect peach cobbler on one occasion many years ago and I’ve been chasing the high ever since.
Unfortunately, it’s much easier to find bad, overly-sweetened, careless cobbler than it is the delicious pinnacle of desserts I recall and crave.
So the other day, out of the blue, my wife announces she’s making me peach cobbler - “tomorrow."She says.
She even had the peaches to prove it.
But tomorrow arrived, and as the day wore on, I sensed a change in the winds - plans were shifting as they so often do in the harsh light of reality.
Unfortunately, she had timed her cobbler announcement with our nephew’s birthday party, for which she was already baking cupcakes and brownies.
I knew there was going to be no cobbler before the official announcement came.
I was told to eat cupcakes and that was it.
I also knew that with each passing minute, the likelihood of the cobbler happening at all was more and more likely a fleeting fantasy.
After all, it was a busy weekend with kids and there’s only so much time for dessert baking splurges.
I didn’t say a word.
The weekend was over - cobbler-less.
On Monday, upon arriving home from work, she shocked me - “I’m making you your cobbler tonight.” she announced.
After dinner she set about the making and baking of my succulent surprise as I played with the kids in the other room.
And then I heard it.
A baker’s groan from the kitchen.
And another one - louder, in case I hadn’t heard the first.
“These peaches are bad.”
And that was it.
The end.
In response to this abrupt dashing of dreams, I said to my wife “The only thing worse than no peach cobbler at all, is someone promising you peach cobbler and not delivering.”

And that’s kind of how I feel about Apple and my iPad.
I mean, Apple definitely got further with the iPad than my wife did with the cobbler.
The iPad is a wonderfully intuitive and sexy device - most of the time.
But what I expected (and what I feel Apple led me to believe I was getting), and what I got, are two different things.
IOS 4.2 is rumored to launch tomorrow and that should resolve some of the clunkiness, enabling basic functions like multitasking and printing.
And I’m not going to get started on Flash because it’s not going to happen - and I knew that when I purchased (but I’d still rather have the option to run Flash or not, instead of stumbling upon gaping content potholes when browsing the web).
But Flash aside, I find web browsing and emailing, and most other basic tasks (even navigating the App store) are just not as easy as they they are on my two-year-old, big, heavy, unsexy MacBook.
The iPad seems, well, really good at apps, if that’s your thing.
And there’s no question it’s a fantastic tool for kids with endless possibilities for education and entertainment.
It’s not bad.
But I expect better from Apple.
I expected the iPad would be a MacBook killer for me.
And I welcomed it.
I wanted it.
The iPad is the perfect size to cozy up with in bed - like a good book.
The MacBook in bed? Please. Only if I’ve had too much to drink.
But lately, I find me and my wife are reaching for the MacBook and not the iPad - even in bed.
When it comes down to getting content and getting things done, it’s just easier to do it on the MacBook.

I love Apple.
I just want my peach cobbler.

Artgig Concert Report: The Dead Weather - Prospect Park, BK

We shut up shop early Tuesday to brave the BQE, landing in Prospect Park only moments before The Dead Weather hit the stage for a Celebrate Brooklyn benefit concert.
And when Jack White appeared, blow torch in hand, on a perfect summer's eve, we snatched our frosty beverages from the Watering Hole and melded into the buzzing crowd.
From that moment on, we were transported in an experience described afterward by our honorary Artgigger, Nick, as "soul cleansing."
Yeah, soul cleansing with a blow torch - that about sums up the good old-fashioned rock concert The Dead Weather threw down - hustling, cussing and stomping through the night.
When it was over and the dust settled, I was left literally stunned.
That was The Dead Weather.

Read more at Brooklyn Vegan (and look who's at the top of the quotes).

iPads and iPhones and Apps - Oh My!

A very good longtime friend of mine, an Art Director for a big healthcare advertising agency, stopped by a few weeks ago with his shiny new iPad. I only had a few minutes with it, mostly playing a motion-sensing snowboarding game with my son, but I was left with a clear and distinct desire to own one as soon as possible.

It should be noted, that when I met this friend almost 20 years ago, he was the only person I knew who had a Mac.

A week later, I found myself on my patio drinking a nice bottle of Prisoner red with the same friend, when he voiced his surprise/shock/disappointment that I still didn't have my own iPad - especially since my business is rooted in technology and the web. He went on to tell me how his boss had just come back from some trade show and declared the iPad to be the future of computing.

I explained to him that Apple blindsided us, and our plans for Flash app development, when they pulled the rug out from Adobe with their new developer terms.

He was unimpressed.
He went on to explain that app development is the place to be.
And how he doesn't even miss Flash since he got his iPad.
And how even the porn industry is embracing HTML5.

I explained to him that HTML5 is a nice thought and a good Flash alternative for video in some browsers, but it doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of the mature interactive application authoring ability, not to mention penetration (while we're talking porn) that Flash provides.

Again, the HTML5 and Flash argument is really apples and oranges.

Well, how do they make games for apps then? He asked.

Well, Apple has their own developer environment for apps called Xcode and you can get up and running with some basic functionality pretty quickly, but if you want to do something fancier and more graphics driven, like a snowboarding game, you'll need to know Objective-C programming language and OpenGL for the graphics interface.

My friend stopped looking at me like I was some kind of caveman and we finished the bottle.

The conversation shifted to a new project he was working on with a hot, happening shop, and as he was talking them up, with iPhone in hand, he naturally made a move to call up their website to show me -  but stopped himself.

"I'd show you their website...but it's in Flash."

To be continued...

Artgig Launches IWPR International News Website

After over three months of around-the-clock-effort from an international development team lead by Jim here in Pleasantville and Tarrant Marshall in Australia for Artgig, along with our friends at ESI Design in Manhattan and the Institute of War and Peace Reporting team in London, we are extremely pleased to announce the launch of the new IWPR corporate news website. ESI had been working on this project for over a year when they brought us in and handed off a 70-plus page design spec for production.

We knew the three-month timeline was aggressive, especially considering there were other development teams in the mix working on ancillary components, but in typical Jim fashion, he didn't even blink - he just rolled up his sleeves and got to work with Tarrant in a routine that involved few breaks for air and lots of Skyping.

Amongst the many virtues of the new Drupal site aside from the new look, is easier, faster access to uploading and editing news and articles from not only everywhere in the world but everyone, including journalists in the field - and they can do it in any language they choose. It’s a picture of democracy blooming not only in struggling nations, but in journalism itself. And the open source platform will allow IWPR to continue and expand their work long after we've gone.

It's a difficult concept for westerners, because we're used to standing up and being heard, regardless of what we have to say. Or despite what we have to say, in most cases, and we don’t even have to stand up. Free speech is a luxury we take for granted. IWPR mentors communities for whom this concept is new and often dangerous, with services, equipment and this new website. They teach, encourage, support and disseminate.

But the beautiful part is the greater transparency of the entire process, which is in fact the main purpose of the organization, and indeed of journalism in any form. Every new iteration of the site allows more small voices a megaphone, brings more stories by the people to the people, cultivates understanding and empathy, and along the way enlightens us all and prompts action in the name of justice. Now that's a website to be proud of.

Check it out:

iwpr.net

From the Trenches: Apple vs Flash Part 3

Tuesday, May 25th 1547 hours

Just when it appeared Apple had Adobe Flash cornered, Google enters the fray.

Last week Google unveiled Google TV at their developer conference and joining Google's VP of Engineering, Vic Gundotra, on stage in support of the platform were some other tech heavy hitters:  Sony boss Sir Howard Stringer, Intel's Paul Otellini, Best Buy's Brian Dunn, and Adobe's chief executive, Shantanu Narayen.

That's right, Google is going full steam ahead with Flash on their mobile Android platform, their Chrome browser which just graduated from Beta, and now coming soon to a TV near you - Google TV.

Attempts at a blended TV/web interactive experience using your television are usually half-baked and clunky but Google aims to change that with the Intel Atom chip to deliver fluid browsing, content, apps and games - all from your remote.

It will also be interesting to see how Google incorporates the power of its powerful speech recognition software.

Our embedded operative and Android tester, Jim Bail, who watched some of the conference webcast, reports the Google gang stuck a big bullseye on Steve Jobs and Apple, calling out comparisons to Big Brother and warning of a Draconian future.

Now let me go search Google for images that include the terms "trench, war, and television."

Stay tuned...

From the Trenches: Apple vs Flash Part 2

Thursday, May 20th 0956 hours

The big thing that everyone is missing in this Flash War is the fact that Flash is not just video.
Sure, it's the preferred platform of the moment because practically everyone has Flash and can run it in their browser the same as the next.
But if HTML5 or some other technology bumps Flash from its web video throne, Flash will still be the only competent authoring tool for interactivity and animation on the web.
Sure, we've all learned that big splashy Flash intros are bad.
And we all know that what most people want on the web is content and they want to get it quickly without jumping through hoops.
But do you really want to eat chicken every single day?
What about the one day out of the week when you want to change things up, to try something different? To use your imagination?
How else are we to achieve the seamless cinematic quality of a big beautiful Flash site produced in capable and creative hands?
Or a game?
Club Penguin anyone?
Farmville?
Do you think it can be done in HTML5?
Have you seen the amazing "look what I did in HTML5" animations floating around?
They stink.
According to a 2009 Quantcast study, mobile web is less than 1.5% of all web browsing in the US - and that includes the iPhone, iPod Touch and every other mobile device you can think of.
Mobile computing is clearly on the rise, and the iPad will likely add to Apple's mobile share but we're not talking total domination here - not by a long shot.

It's a safe bet that the remaining 98-point-something percent of web users will not abandon their Flash-enabled browsing experience anytime soon.

Flash is safe...for now.