Scary Error Messages

Apple literally wrote the book on Human Interface Guidelines. I have a copy of the original paperback, published in 1987. It's still worth reading. But the current version lives online. Check out the guidelines on alerts. … [Read more...]

Scanning Old Paperbacks

I'm a book addict. I love books, I love people who write books, I love people who publish books, I love other people who love books. My wife and I own a lot of books. (5690 at current count, all cataloged in Delicious Library. And, yes, the shelves are categorized and alphabetized.) But... books are bulky. And heavy. And if you're away … [Read more...]

Favorite iPhone/iPad Apps: Spring 2012 Update

It surprises people that, as a well-assimilated Apple fanboy, I didn't buy the first generation iPhone. I was in the store on launch day, I had one in my hand, my credit card was burning a hole in my pocket... and I left without one. I used my Treo for nearly another year until the 2nd generation iPhone (confusingly named 3G) was released. I wasn't … [Read more...]

Suggestions for Noteshelf

I own fourteen stylus-based notetaking apps for the iPad. (Yes, I'm obsessive. Trying to recreate my long-lost Newton experience.) I love Noteshelf for the iPad, but there are some parts of the user experience that could use some work. This post is aimed at Fluidtouch tech support. Fingers crossed! … [Read more...]

Keynote Conundrum

I'm preparing a presentation which consists almost exclusively of photographs with captions... no videos, no animations, very little text, simple transitions. I'm using Keynote '09 version 5.1 on the Mac as a glorified 35mm slide carousel. The file is 188 MEGAbytes. Which is absurd. There are 70 slides. I manually shrunk all the source … [Read more...]

The New Model 100

Has anyone else noticed that iA Writer's "focus mode" turns your iPad into a TRS-80 Model 100? Some of you are too young to remember the Model 100. I travelled with one of these bulletproof boxes for years, starting in 1984. It ran forever on AA batteries. It had a full-size keyboard for touch-typing. The acoustic couplers would connect you to … [Read more...]

Midtown Atlanta Apple Store

Putting the final touches on Midtown Atlanta's new Apple store (Spring Street and Armstead Place). … [Read more...]

iPhone/iPad Lockscreens

Last week, I managed to leave my iPhone in a different building across campus. Boneheaded move, I know. But it was returned to me before I even finished my next meeting (in yet a third building on campus)... before I even realized it was missing! How? I'd gone to the trouble of setting up a custom lock screen for my iPhone (and my iPad; see … [Read more...]

Why I love my PhotoJojo lens

iPhone 4 pictures taken from the same position in a hotel ballroom, before and after attaching the lens. Click to embiggen. (This is Gov. Perdue of North Carolina speaking at the Southern Growth Policy Board; confusing, because we had our own Gov. Perdue in Georgia until six months ago!)   Standard iPhone 4 photo With PhotoJojo … [Read more...]

iPad Rotation Lock

Steve Jobs was wrong, and I'm glad that he backtracked. After months trying both ways, the side switch on the iPad is clearly rotation-lock. … [Read more...]