Linked List: December 10, 2012

Monday, 10 December 2012

Twitter Adds Photo Filters to Its Mobile Apps 

The Twitter/Instagram standoff has escalated into a shooting war.

Update: The Android version is out, but the iOS version is still pending approval in the App Store. So why announce it today? Perhaps because Instagram had an update that did hit the App Store today. Makes Twitter look petty.

The old one was dated, no argument there. But the new one is just awful — one of the worst logos I’ve ever seen. It has no heft, no gravitas. It looks like a frame from a “wait for content to load” animation.

Last line of the article nails it.

Update: Armin Vit’s coverage at Brand New; it certainly looks better without the gradient, but it’s still a terrible mark for a major university.

Australian Police Warn Motorists Against Use of Apple Maps 

The hits just keep on coming. The problem for Apple is that it’s not enough to improve their mapping data — they have to improve it before the public’s perception of their mapping data is irreparably damaged.

Update: Fixed already, but the PR damage is done.

iTunes 11’s Mysterious Cloud Icon 

Matthew Panzarino:

Just to the right of the button almost anyone who is signed into iTunes will see a small cloud icon appear. Clicking on it does nothing, there is no tooltip and it sometimes animates in various ways. This has led to confusion about its purpose. When I saw it I felt I knew right away what it was, but thought I’d do a little testing to make sure my hypothesis was correct.

If you’re wondering what the cloud icon is, it’s actually very simple: It means that some part of your library is in Apple’s cloud.

It’s not quite that simple, though. Read through to the end for the update.

Rethinking the iPhone Lock Screen: A Counterpoint 

“Cybermoai”:

Just because a design looks good doesn’t mean it has been well thought out.

‘The Real Thing’ 

Beautiful short film about an amazing car. (Via Shawn Blanc and Cameron Moll.)

How Michael Lopp Instagrams 

I still can’t believe how much better the original Instagram filters were than the current ones.

Joe Stump on Switching From iPhone to Android 

Good list of what’s great and what stinks on Android.

Bold Poker 

Crazy idea, exquisitely well done:

Bold Poker replaces your deck of cards with iPhones. A whole bunch of iPhones.

Crazy because why not just use a real deck of cards, right? Exquisite because just look at it.