Review: Sticky Windows

I've been using Sticky Windows for about a week now and I've got to say I'm impressed. This great little app sits in the background and is launched on start-up. It is an alternative to minimizing windows to the dock which I've got to say I'm not a big fan of. I find that doing this I often forget about what I have open and using the application switcher can often work in unexpected ways. With Sticky Windows you drag your window to the side of the screen and it morphs into an elegant tab. You can see what you have open but the windows aren't all cluttering your desktop. If you're anything like me you have several windows open at once, this is a great way to manage your workspace. That is until Leopard arrives and we have Spaces, but more on that soon.

The countdown to Leopard

One of the most exiting new features in the upcoming Leopard has got to be Stacks. This could be a great new workflow for people who have to manage several files all over their system. For myself, I often find that I have a desktop littered with various files. What Stacks aims to do is to group those files by kind and stack them ontop of each other in a 3D style pile. With a click you can open the fan of files or have them arranged in grid. Thus saving a whole bunch of real estate on the desktop. Here's what you can expect from Apple in Leopard...



But of course what Apple does well has usually been done by other people first. I recall seeing the following video about a year ago and just highlights exactly the kind of bleeding-edge stuff that people are working on. An attempt to make the desktop a more intuitive space and more like the kind of space we actually have around us. Don't forget when the personal computer first came out we were expected to take on the notion of files and folders to understand the hierarchy of a computer's directory. This is just the next step....



And could this be the future. Apple is well in place to provide a home computing system like the following video. Multi-touch iMac? Open GL graphics. It's all there. The question is do we really want to be using hand gestures to navigate our personal computers?

iPhone vs iPod touch

So with Apple's touch line-up now in place for the UK holiday season I must admit that I am hankering for one of these devices. But which one to choose? There are three choices.

8GB iPod touch for £199
16GB iPod touch for £269
8GB iPhone for £269

The iPod touch is undoubtedly a great device but the iPhone is an iPod as well. And it would be so great to do away with that extra device I carry around with me, my phone. So are any of these configurations worth me giving up my 60GB iPod and my Sony Ericsson? Ok so storage is undoubtedly an issue. At the moment I carry around about 30GB of data. Half of this is in the form of music and the rest is a few movies and most of my picture library. I also use my iPod as an external hard drive carrying various essential bits of data as and when needed. For me to purchase any of these multi-touch products I'd have to rethink how I treat my media and move away from the notion of carrying it ALL with me. This is do-able. I have a vast amount of music that I never listen to and I could treat it the same way I treat movies on my iPod and just have a few. But realistically is 8GB just a bit too restrictive? I think it probably is. In this sense I should really hold out for a 32GB option especially now that the touch devices have an OS to hold too.

The next question I'm asking myself is could I live without the phone facility. In reality I don't make that many calls. Most of my call activitiy is in the form of texts. Actually a wi-fi option on the iPod touch is pretty good. You get great browsing speeds and where I work falls into the city of London which is a free wi-fi network. This could work. The only downside is that Apple has decided to not bundle the mail program (along with a couple of other nice online apps) which is a great shame as I subscribe to .mac and I don't want to be going online to check my mail all the time. Big black mark against the iPod touch for this one.

So it really seems that this first round of multi-touch devices just aren't for me. I think it makes sense for me to get the iPhone at some point but I need it to be my fully functioning iPod too so 32GB is a must. Some food for future thought is that Apple must get on the 3G bandwagon for the iPhone to be a viable competitor to other UK phones (without losing battery life). They also need to address the camera in my mind. It should really be on the front side so that video chats become possible and a flash option should be included for still shots. Although camera phones have always been dodgy in my mind. My Sony Ericsson has a 3MP camera phone with a good flash but it is VERY slow and the images are just OK. Camera phones need to address their lag time to make them a viable option to replace carrying a camera with you. But when you see the quality of the video on a product like the Nokia N95 you know it is possible and really does give hope that the all in one device is just around the corner.

iPhone home

uuuuuggggggg mmmmmmmmmm can't make words too busy droooooling

The iPhone gets its release date today. June 29th for all those lucky enough to live in the States and can use AT&T. Presumably we will have to wait a bit here in the UK which will hopefully mean a bigger hard drive and 3G (please put in a better camera Steve). I can't wait. Ha ha

Check out the new US ads for the iPhone below...

d5 jobs & gates history

Ok uber geek alert!!! This interview is one of the rare appearances that Steve Jobs and Bill Gates have made together over the years and occurred at this years D5 conference (think G8 but digital). These two, surprisingly charismatic, figures chat comfortably together. But what is really special is to discover some genuine history and how it all began in the computing world. Hi I'm a Mac and I'm a PC :)

surface

So it has arrived. This is a landmark in the way we engineer our computing environments and this will set the bench mark for things to come. And it comes from Microsoft. Yes they beat Apple to it. It is SURFACE. It's a multi-touch enabled coffee table that allows you to drop your digital camera onto the surface and it automatically downloads your images for viewing on the table. You can then resize, zoom and crop your images. Even upload them to another device. It is amazing. The drawbacks to this are that it is quite impractical relying on mirrors, cameras and projectors to work. Unlike the multi-touch device, iPhone, which will be accessible to the masses and will probably do really well. Madonna has been given a surface. B**ch. Helsinki has a tourist info wall. I want one. It would look great in my flat. But you can be sure you'll have to use a coaster for your drink.

got milk?

This has got to be the most gorgeous looking desk out there and having a nice sleek Mac sitting on top all the better. It seems to be perfectly designed to fit a pro mac upon its shiny surface and almost follows the form of the Apple Studio display and iMac design to the T. iWant people iWant.... Check out the site here.

the future's bright....the future's Intel

With the swap over to the Intel chip over at Apple just a fading memory now, it seems clear that Intel's future is very bright indeed. They are commited to providing more power for their chips any way possible. And now they are looking to power a whole gammut of mobile devices shown here in a demo of possible future apps. I must say this ad has me drooling (thanks to whoever sent this round the agency today). The only problem is that I am impatient. I want this technology now. I do, however, understand that there is a big gap between dreaming of a technological future as perceived in science fiction and actually living, breathing and using the tech in day to day life. As I sit outside working on my laptop I think nothing of the incredible technology that is in place to power my surf on the net. Yet here it is. The future is, in fact, now. But the dream of a perfect future where technology is so advanced that it blends seamlessly into one's life is really appealing. Oh and I do love the minimalist look that so many of these films sport (has there ever been a cluttered vision of the future sporting hi-tech gadgets? I suppose Children of Men came close). Any thoughts?

iblinds

Apple has done it again. To complement their range of gorgeous computer wear they are branching out into the realm of interactive office furniture. Featured here with the iBlind. Yes window blinds that interact with your music. Essential? Maybe not. But a great video here with brilliant and rather hypnotic use of stop-motion video. Enjoy!

iPhone Nano anyone?

The shape of things to come????

iPhone tastic

Apple has done it again. I haven't been this excited since the launch of the original iPod six years ago. This truly is innovation at it's very best. A big welcome everyone to the iPhone.

What is really interesting about this device is how it fills the gaping hole in the mobile device market. "What?" you say but we are totally saturated with phones with all kinds of capabilities. Phones can surf the net, get emails, take pictures, take notes. So what exactly is the iPhone bringing that is new to the market. Short answer NOTHING. But what it is doing is getting it right. This is the device that people have been calling out for. A fully syncable pod-like unit that pairs up with your desktop Mac thus keeping all your photos, music and video with you wherever you are. For me this is the amalgam of two devices I carry with me to work everyday. My iPod and my phone. Perfect.

The Apple iPhone does purport to take pictures and does so with a 2 mega-pixel camera. This is obviously not going to win anyone over who is a serious photographer but if they are using the same technology found in their laptops for iChat the quality will be great. We should note that Apple is not showcasing this feature on their iPhone site so obviously not the selling point. No, what this is meant to be is a storage device for all your personal media AND one that you can use to make phone calls with.

What is absolutely superb though is the user interface. This is the point where your jaw will literally drop open. You have seen nothing like this before. For one there are no buttons on this device. It looks like an elongated iPod but with a huge display and no click-wheel. Yes it looks like that revolutionary patent has been banished to the history books. Apple has now devised a user-interface whereby the iPhone can detect your finger movements without the need for a stylus. This is touch-screen done right. You can view your photos and videos by holding the device in either potrait or landscape. It will detect which way up it is and turn your media the right way up (check out the music and video demos here). What I found breathtaking is the way you can literally thumb through your album art.

The phone capability of the iPhone does exactly what you would expect it to but encased in a gorgeous and intuitive user-interface. You scroll through your contacts in much the same way you would your music library. As you place your finger on the device you flick up or down and the list rolls as though you were spinning a rolodex (check out the video here). One entirely unique feature here is the ability to view your voicemail messages and to select which one you would like to play in whatever order.

Added to all this is the ability to browse the net and send email. The iPhone sports a slimmed down version of Mac OSX and graphically it is stunning. Using the miniMail application feels exactly like the Mail program we all know and use. Browsing the net is like nothing I have ever seen on a mobile device. It loads the entire page giving you a large thumbnail of the page and you can zoom in on any section and click on the links. The way you zoom is by using two fingers and spreading them apart. (Intuitive). It has to be seen to be believed.

My only question is when is it available and will I be able to use all these features here in the UK.

iPod the next generation

So it is holiday season and Apple look set to clean up AGAIN. I was in the London Apple Store today buying gift certificates for my cousins and lo they have an express lane for buying an iPod (and thankfully gift certificates). Seriously they have lined them up like sweets in a sweetie shop and with all those sugary colours it was difficult not to walk out with a paper bag full of goodies.

It looks likely that Apple will be updating it's line of mac products in the very near future and to be honest I think a total refresh of it's brand is wise. Now that Vista is just about released and looks like a clone of Aqua (2 releases ago) thus today the rumours started flying about a total revamp to it's interface named Illuminous . This iPod demo is something I would be very excited to see as I think it really pushes the boundaries of interface design. Now couple that with a phone and decent camera and you really are talking :)