Category: Usability and HCI

Why can’t 3rd party developers tap into Software update? Right now you can only update software from Apple directly. I would love to be able to run Software Update and see Adium, NetNewsWire, Google Earth, and the like ready for me to update. I can’t see how hard it would be.

With my limited understanding of how Software Update works I’ve devised this idea:
1. Software update is initiated, checks the .pkg’s in the Recipt folder
2. Then it connects to Apple to ask for updates, while now checking similar settings on the 3rd party websites. Developers would create a directory that hosts the updates. Software Update would pull the new .pkg from the directory listed in the Recipt folder. (Which would be created when the program was first installed.
3. Software Update lists the updates available.
4. Select the updates, read the EULA, enter your password and viola!

A receipt would have to be written, and the developers would have to have a page setup on their site in order to get this to work, but I would think it wouldn’t be that hard to actually do. There could even be a distinguishing mark next to 3rd party updates, to keep them visually seperate from Apple’s own updates.

The 1gb nano is perfect. Good price, nice size, and it feels good in your hand. It still amazes me when I hold mine and think that something this small has 4gb of storage. When the first iPod came out I thought it was small! That may make me sound old, but it’s true.

Honestly, I can’t find one flaw with the current iPod line. Apple has hit the sweet spot in regards to their price point. That said, are we on the verge of total iPod saturation? Is the word “iPod” going to join the vernacular such as Kleenex and Q-Tip? (Funny how both those examples are personal hygiene items)
The educational price for the 1gb is only $129 bucks, which is cheap for such a slick piece of technology.

But then again, I’ve already drank the Kool-Aid. (another Trademarked name)

Technology that doesn’t look like technology is the future.

http://www.coolhunting.com/archives/2006/01/forecasting_umb.php

I’m up playing with iLife 06. Here’s my mini-review.

First, I like the fact that all the apps are following iTunes in their ‘edgeless’ appearance. Second, it’s interesting that a few of the apps are starting to look like other Apple Apps. Once example would be iWeb. It looks kinda like Pages. At first glance you could almost mistake iWeb for Pages. Weird. Third, the media viewer seems more present in this release and it’s an interesting concept to access you movies, photos, and music that you have. This cross pollination will take some time to get use to. Not that I’m complaining, I like the idea of easily sharing assets between programs.

iPhoto
I totally dig iPhoto, the Photocasts (rss feeds) look decent in NetNewsWire, and I like how they kept the “published” icon consistent across ical and iphoto. It IS much snappier and I like the full-screen editing. My only complaint is when entering and leaving full-screen editing I was expecting a nice fade in and out, perhaps with a slide of the menus. What I received was a quick snap in and out. Meh.

iMovie/iDVD
I looked at this briefly. I like the fact that there is a category of Video FX that allows you to use compositions from Quartz Composer. This opens up the possibility of someone creating some spectacular effect ‘plugins’ I also like the new iDVD themes; pretty always wins a point in my book.

Garageband
I haven’t messed with any of the podcasting stuff in Garageband. But I will soon.

iWeb
I created a quick page (http://web.mac.com/ckoerner/iWeb/) in iWeb. It renders nicely in Safari, Firefox, and yes even IE for the Mac. I can’t see anyone who already has a blog (such as WordPress) wanting to use the blogging feature, it seems kinda clunky compared to the content management systems I’ve used in the past.

iTunes
It’s been around for awhile, and I’m not sure if it’s even technically part of iLife anymore. But i like it!