Linked List: March 24, 2010

Wednesday, 24 March 2010

Microsoft Says It Won’t Abandon Windows Mobile 6.5 

Not to worry, customers are abandoning it for them.

Robot Touchscreen Analysis 

Moto re-performs their touchscreen accuracy test using a robot “finger”.

Preview: Instapaper on iPad 

Marco Arment:

While I could have taken the conservative option and waited until a month or two after the iPad’s release before launching Instapaper for it, an iPad without native Instapaper Pro is not a device I want to own.

This will be on my first home screen.

KaleidoVid 

Use your iPhone as a kaleidoscope, using the camera as input. Decent on old iPhones, really smooth on the 3GS.

User Interface of the Week: Landlord Report 

Available for Mac and Windows.

Update: Landlord Report is featured in Apple’s Mac OS X downloads listing.

Saturation 

Cool, fun, free iPhone app for finding good color palettes.

ProPrompter — Use Your iPad as an In-Camera Teleprompter 

Already there are iPad products I never would have imagined.

Nevada Company Awarded Smartphone Motion Control Patent 

John Paczkowski:

Last week, the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued a very broad patent on motion-based smartphone control, one that could have significant implications for the industry.

Kurt Vonnegut at the Blackboard 

Speaking of good writers on writing. (Thanks to DF reader Shajith Chacko.)

‘Do Not Write a Crock of Shit’ 

David Mamet’s memo to the writers of The Unit (caps in situ):

THE JOB OF THE DRAMATIST IS TO MAKE THE AUDIENCE WONDER WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. NOT TO EXPLAIN TO THEM WHAT JUST HAPPENED, OR TO *SUGGEST* TO THEM WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. […]

HERE ARE THE DANGER SIGNALS. ANY TIME TWO CHARACTERS ARE TALKING ABOUT A THIRD, THE SCENE IS A CROCK OF SHIT.

ANY TIME ANY CHARACTER IS SAYING TO ANOTHER “AS YOU KNOW”, THAT IS, TELLING ANOTHER CHARACTER WHAT YOU, THE WRITER, NEED THE AUDIENCE TO KNOW, THE SCENE IS A CROCK OF SHIT.

Sneak Peek of Content-Aware Fill in Photoshop CS5 

Indistinguishable from magic. Incredible.

Adobe Creative Suite 5 Countdown 

The counter is implemented in JavaScript; works great on the iPhone and Android.