EstablishedGruesome, Horrifying
Want the gruesome, horrifying details of the Halloween slaughter of the Trojans?
No. 10 Oregon 47, No. 4 USC 20.
NYT: http://bit.ly/3GIEO7
7 Years
USC hadn’t lost by more than a touchdown in 7 years. Ducks beat them by 27 points. Just sayin’…
Rosebowl bound?
My god the Ducks are fucking good. How high do they jump after this? USC is nothing. Quack attack!
106 Banks
“Before today, 106 banks had failed this year.” Jesus. LA Times: California National Bank expected to be seized tonight http://bit.ly/4ow72f
Whatever, Conformist
“Whatever, conformist.” Possibly the best thing ever, Where the Dirty Hipsters Are. Top quality ribbing from Gotcha Media: http://j.mp/IaPD3
Magic Mouse In Stock
The real mall news:
3. Glendale Apple store got in Magic Mouse today. Stunning design. Even the box is pretty.
http://twitpic.com/nhg54
Mall Surprises
Hadn’t been to a mall in a while:
1. Suprised how many stores are closed/empty.
2. Halloween store is the only one doing business.
And…
Say it Ain’t So!
Say it ain’t so! Say Anything is 20 years old. Like Lloyd, I too don’t want to sell, buy or process for a job.
LA Times: http://j.mp/1Jel4I
Free to Navigate
The web is buzzing today over Google’s announcement that Android 2.0 will feature Google Maps Navigation. While cool, I say…Duh.
See the NY Times article here (NYT incorrectly calls this GPS for some reason).
Garmin and TomTom stock values have already dropped nearly 20% after the news broke.
But I have to say to the tech and tech punditry fields – how are you surprised? Of course Google was eventually going to roll out to turn-by-turn navigation. Google Maps is the best online mapping resource, it offers extensive driving/walking/metro directions capabilities and includes street level photography of most medium and large metro areas in the US. You can even view your Google Maps directions in street view with overlaid arrows pointing the way. Of course navigation was on the way.
If your business sells access to data – in any format – then Google will be, if they aren’t already, your competition. Google’s entire mission is to catalog the world’s information. And driving directions certainly falls within that broad category. And they price everything at $0.
Google’s pockets are so deep that it can fund nearly any data cataloging & analysis project. And after the initial financial outlay to set up the system (whether it be street view photography or scanning books), it exists forever thanks to cheap server space.
That is the world of the future. If it can be known, you can access it for free. It will become the norm. It will be expected. Don’t build a business on data you keep walled-off from the public.
Kryptonite
RT @daveshumka: Superman has over 100 words for Kryptonite.
Public Option Lives!
The public option lives! Thank god the senate is finally starting to pull it together. Dare I say that the public option now seems likely?
Roger Ebert Says
RT @ebertchicago: Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire co-starring in a remake of The Third Man? vomitvomitwomit.
Hometown Runaways
Fascinating NYT piece on the increasing number of runaways — starring my hometown, Medford, Oregon. http://j.mp/1TCUvG
Awesome. Way to go.
Local TV News
Variety piece No News is Bad News reveals the destruction of local tv news by the economy & Internet. http://j.mp/4C4kpO (via @ebertchicago)
Quack Attack
I don’t usually tweet on sports but the Oregon Ducks are killing the Huskies. Could this finally be the year for my alma mater?
Rock Band iPhone
Got Rock Band for iPhone. If you like RB and want to work wrist muscles you didn’t know you had, get it. It’s amazing how faithful it feels.
Oh Ballmer
Steve Ballmer on Engadget Show: his top Win7 feature is wifi auto-discovery. Really? That’s the best you got? In 2009? http://j.mp/3jz8rL
Wired on Twitter
Wired: Essentially, Twitter left a ball and stick in a field and lurked on the sidelines as its users invented baseball. http://j.mp/4DjsIF
Ebert on 3D
Roger Ebert on 3D films: “Characters seem more concerned to demonstrate their dimensions than their personalities.” True. http://j.mp/3SNBiz
iMac as Monitor
The new 27″ iMac can be a secondary display for your MacBook. That is pretty awesome. http://bit.ly/2SXToT Thanks to @siracusa for the tip.
Green Apple
Totally impressed by Apple’s extensive info on their product’s environmental impact. All product companies should as well. http://j.mp/HEhPK
Tech’s Big News
Wow, today is tech’s big news day? Want a 27″ iMac but will limit myself to magic mouse. Mac Mini server is cool. B&N Nook ebook looks rad.
NYT on MSFT
Interesting NYT piece on Microsoft’s future — or lack of if they don’t get innovating. And they seem a little oblivious. http://j.mp/157Dnv
7 Days with Tweetie 2
After a week with Tweetie 2 for iPhone, I can say unequivocally that it is easily the best Twitter client available – mobile and desktop. It has a level of fit and finish that few apps achieve.
There have been other reviews of the app that go into depth on the features and quality so I’m not going to do that here. Instead I am going to take on the one large information architecture flaw I see in Tweetie 2. Let’s dig in.
TWEETIE MODES
Tweetie has basically two reading modes. There is the standard tweets mode which provides button bar access to your timeline, replies/mentions, direct messages and search. I’ll call this ‘tweet-view’. This is likely where you will spend most of your time. With the possible exception of search (which I’ll touch on more later), these are all related ways of viewing your incoming messages. This grouping makes sense.
Tweet-View Button Bar
The second reading mode is for profile-specific data. This provides button bar access to your own user profile, recent tweets, mentions and favorites (this is also where you view any other user’s profile). Generally speaking, this is the outgoing content from any user. This I’ll call ‘profile-view’. This set of functionality is also grouped in a fairly sensible way.
Profile-View Button Bar
But there is a problem. And that is the bridge between tweet-view and profile-view.
TWEETIE’S BRIDGE TOO FAR
The button bar in tweet-view ends with a three dot ‘more’ button ( ••• ). Tapping this button takes you to the ‘bridge’ – this screen is technically within the tweet-view mode (no change to the button bar). The bridge screen allows access to four things: My Profile, Favorites, Go to User and, slightly separated, Drafts.
More Button Leads to Bridge Between Modes
Here’s where it gets weird. The first two items take you directly into elements within the profile-view mode. Go to User takes you through a search mechanism but eventually dumps you out at a user’s profile page within profile-view. Drafts is completely separate functionality.
While this is all a little awkward, it is not a big deal. What makes it feel truly confusing is coming back from the other direction.
More Button Within Profile-View
Let’s say you are looking at your user info. This means you are in profile-view. In profile-view there is no ‘more’ button in the button bar that would take you back to tweet-view. Instead, you tap the More button in the header which takes you back to the previous page – the bridge screen. But the functions available on the bridge push you in the direction of the profile-view. You have to notice that the button bar has switched to tweet-view and tap the appropriate item you want. It’s confusing and counter-intuitive.When I go back to the bridge, I always end up hitting the Accounts button in the upper left (thinking I need to go further back to see new tweets) which takes me a step too far out.
Is this a major problem? Probably not. But for an app with as much polish as Tweetie 2, it’s a sore thumb.
Basically the issue is wether the profile-view should be treated as sub-pages or if it is an entirely separate section of the app. Right now it is an uncomfortable hybrid. If it is subpages, it should not have a button bar. If it is a separate section, it should not use a ‘back’ button in the header. I think two modes are deserved but how should they coexist?
From an architectural perspective, tweet-view and user-view are flip sides to the same coin. Tweet-view focusses around incoming content while user-view focusses on outgoing content. Therefore, the More button should act as a toggle – it swaps you between modes (without an in-between bridge step). This toggle would take the place of the More button in tweet-view and would be an additional button in profile-view (bringing it to 5 buttons as well). The two modes should be stylistically distinguished from one-another in some obvious way. Personally I’d like to see a white button bar in profile-view.
Problem solved? Almost. This makes switching between tweet- and profile-views simple and efficient but what about the additional functionality that the bridge provided? The Bridge had four elements: My Profile, Favorites, Go to User and Drafts. My Profile and Favorites are now handled more effectively by taking you straight into profile view – but where should Go to User and Drafts live now?
Go to User is a type of search and it makes the most sense to move it there. I would put it right between Search and Nearby.
Search Page Should Absorb Go to User
Drafts is a larger issue. Putting it in More seems to be a bit of a kludge to begin with as that page was a catch-all for misfit functions. Drafts is intimately tied to the compose message functionality. And that is where it should belong.
COMPOSE PERFECTION
Tweetie 2 has achieved a level of refinement in the compose window that truly is a step above. I tend to use the horizontal orientation for message composition and nearly all the Twitter clients are forced to cram in so many options that there is little space left to actually, you know, write. Tweetie cracks this problem by combining character count with an ‘advanced functions’ button.
Tweetie's Clean Compose Screen
The advanced functions button allows access to 6 key features which are hidden “under” the keyboard:
Tweetie's Hidden Compose Functions
Without a doubt, these are vital functions for the average Twitter user. You may use some of these features every day and some not-so-much but I don’t think any could be considered useless and therefore removed. However, Shrink URLs is something that could (arguably should) be done automatically. This would free up one function tile which could be replaced with Drafts. Now Drafts would be located within message composition which makes more sense than putting in a random catch-all location.
YET…
There is one thing that still bothers me. Searching for users can only be done through the tweet-view mode. Above, I moved Go to User to live within the Search screen but even before that, Go to User was located under tweet-view’s more button. I think both view modes should have identical access to search. Unfortunately the profile-view mode has no room for for additional buttons in the bar and I don’t see any other locations to put it. I would love to hear ideas on this one.
In closing, I want to reiterate my appreciation for Tweetie 2. It is an excellent piece of software. I think it just needs the level of refinement you find in the compose message screen to be applied to the confused mode switching functionality. I know I’ll see the fit and finish become more refined as Tweetie develops.
E.W. on Wild Things
Entertainment Weekly’s Wild Things review really nails it: http://j.mp/FJPtM
I think you could get the whole crowd howling at the end.