Linked List: March 12, 2010

Friday, 12 March 2010

Overdoing the Interface Metaphor 

Chris Clark:

iPad apps have a high visual fidelity to real-world objects but retain the sensible interaction design one would expect from Apple. iBooks doesn’t force you to swipe its pages side-to-side; you tap on a page to advance to the next one, and the page-turning animation is done in a fraction of a second.

That’s in response to this fine post from Marco Arment, which makes some strong points regarding the design of calculator apps. Marco is in love with Soulver, a $19 Mac calculator I don’t recall seeing before, which indeed looks quite clever.

Andy Ihnatko’s Morning Purchases 

Andy Ihnatko:

Between the hours of 8:30 and 8:45 this morning, I bought two things:

  1. Breakfast, consisting of a wheat bagel and a Diet Coke. Purchase price: $1.74.

  2. An iPad. Which cost me more than the breakfast.

New Information From Apple on iPad 3G Usage 

Apple:

You can check your data usage in Settings on your iPad anytime. And iPad will even let you know when you’re running out. You’ll get three alerts as you near your 250MB limit — at 20 percent, 10 percent, and zero. With each alert, you can choose to add more data or wait and do it later. Tap Now and iPad opens the Cellular Data Plan window so you can update your data plan.

Apple Adds Screen Orientation Lock to iPad 

The orientation lock should be useful for reading while lying down. (For those curious: I ordered a 32 GB Wi-Fi model, the case, and the dock. Update: The plain dock, not the keyboard dock. I think using a Bluetooth keyboard will be more comfortable.)

The Effect of iTunes Web Preview on Google Search Results 

Interesting analysis by Weldon Dodd.

HumbleFinancial Graphs 

Google Finance-style charts, using JavaScript and the HTML5 canvas.