Trolls, the skurge of modern society
Wonderful and poetic video, written by Shane Koyczan and produced by Amazing Factory Productions with artwork by Gareth Gaudin. Trolls remain hidden under bridges today feeding on praying on the vulnerable who are innocently trying to get to their destination.
Apple iOS8 update & podcast app experience
I updated to iOS8 yesterday. Several weeks prior I had deleted the Apple Podcast app from my device; previously an optional download in iOS7. But since the release of Marco Arment’s much superior Overcast app I had fully migrated and decided to remove the Apple Podcast app from my device to save space & duplication of downloaded podcasts, along with the many GB of podcast data held within.
Upon upgrading to iOS8 it appears Apple have made the podcast app a mandatory app, meaning it is installed for everyone and cannot be deleted. This is indeed great for podcasting and will surely encourage legions of new users to discover podcasts who never have before. However I still use iTunes as my desktop podcasting client (admittedly less than I used to – relying more and more on my mobile device) and I subscribe to over 50 podcasts, some of which are video. Because of this and thanks to iTunes cloud sync, when I updated to iOS8 the podcast app was reinstalled on my phone and began downloading over 6gb of recent episodes from my subscriptions in iTunes.
To circumvent this you need to enter the option panel for the podcast app in ‘Settings’ and disable syncing, then inside the podcast app manually ‘edit’ the podcast list then swipe then tap to delete every one of the 50+ podcasts in my list, one-by-one. Suffice to say this takes a while.
Admittedly an edge case, but a good number of users probably still use iTunes to listen on desktop and another client on their iPhone meaning this was an unnecessary move to make. Seeing as this was made a mandatory app for everyone updating, a simple ‘Would you like to sync your podcasts with your Apple ID?’ prompt when first opening the podcast app for users you did not have it previously installed and have podcast subscriptions on said account would have saved me a very annoying process and subsequent ‘out of storage’ notifications that followed on my device.
Otherwise been a pretty smooth transition to iOS 8 and generally impressed and pleased with the improvements so far. Bring on continuity and hand-off with Yosemite.
Property Detective video
Our client Property Detective are preparing for the next round of product development and marketing. To help communicate the proposition of the tool we helped design to a wider audience they have worked with Diode Digital to produce this rather lovely animation based on the illustration style we produced.
We think it does a great job of telling the story and explaining the proposition. Show it some love on youtube.
Apple iPod touch update at last, but…
Apple® today announced its 16GB iPod touch update is now available in vibrant colors and equipped with a 5 megapixel iSight® camera for just $199. The entire iPod touch lineup features the 5 megapixel iSight camera with 1080p HD video recording, brilliant 4-inch Retina® display, Apple’s A5 chip and FaceTime® camera. iPod touch features an ultra-thin and light anodized aluminum design and is available in pink, yellow, blue, silver, space gray and (PRODUCT) RED. iPod touch comes in a 16GB model for $199, 32GB for $249, and 64GB for $299.(more…)
Dual screen vs super-widescreen, monitors for designers
LG have recently announced a 34” 21:9 Ultra wide monitor clearly targeted at designers. We love the idea of this and can see all the benefits of a continuous screen with one colour profile and seamless line of 3440 pixels from edge to edge. When designing monitors for designers you need to take into account many of the features LG have included here, which is a good thing.
Get rid of the dock on iOS
I wish if I emptied the dock on iOS of icons it disappeared. Returning once you re-entered rearrange mode and dragged an icon towards the bottom of the screen. On my iPad at least I rarely use the apps on the subsequent screens and so the dock looses it utility. On my iPhone my home screen is just my primary apps, and the subsequent screen apps are nearly entirely arranged into folders. On both devices, if an app is not on my home screen I use spotlight to launch apps as it’s much faster. Would look cleaner if a had an extra row of apps down there without the dock bar and the pagination dots placed right down the bottom. Would just be nice to have the option.
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Panasonic Lumix phone
Wanted to raise how interesting I thought the concept and design decisions here to be. Granted it looks like a it might be a bad phone, but it also looks like it could be a good camera.
What I like about this is how it recognises that smartphones have eroded/destroyed the compact camera market and also that most people probably use the camera on their smartphone more than they use it as a traditional phone today. It’s also interesting as Panasonic stopped making phones some time ago, but now phones are essentially smart cameras they have re-entered the market with this new focussed offering; the Panasonic Lumix phone CM1.
Apple TV direct control – the iRemote
I’ve been thinking about this more recently, following my musings last year on the subject, and have been wondering how Apple can improve the Apple TV beyond simply offering more content, adding an app store and enabling TV gaming. Here are some thoughts.
To my eyes one of the biggest obstacles is input.
Lovestruck users
There’s little more rewarding in this line of work when you see proof that something you worked on made a positive impact on somebody’s life. The newly released Lovestruck dating app we designed is cast as the driving force in this touching reenactment of a Singapore couple using the app and going on their first date. They later fell in love and married!
Watch the touching video they put together to mark the occasion as they give thanks to Lovestruck for making another successful match.
Twitter profile GUI PSD
Updated to include twitter’s new Gotham Narrow typeface update (31st May 2014). Same link below.
Based on the announcement of the upcoming facebook-like twitter profile page, we’ve made a new Twitter profile GUI PSD based on our previous template so all our fellow designers can test twitter page assets before putting them live.
