'Regarding Passbook'

Rene Ritchie, writing for iMore:

“With Newsstand, Apple didn’t go the iTunes or iBooks route, didn’t establish a specific format and present the content is a consistent manner. They outsourced to publishers, and the experience suffered. With Passbook, Apple didn’t offer the iTunes transaction system, didn’t establish a specific process in a consistent manner. They outsourced to retailers, and the experience suffered.”

Couldn't agree more. I was one of the users who had problems with Passbook after upgrading to iOS 6, because tapping the App Store button at the bottom of the empty "wallet" would give me an error. Even when it started working days later, it was unclear what exactly I was supposed to be doing.

I went in expecting a seamless experience, but what I found is that you have to actually download all these other apps you don't need just so you can tell those apps to add a card to your Passbook. The whole point of Passbook, in my mind, was to eliminate the need for those dozens of other apps. It's pretty disappointing that Apple took such a great idea and released it this way.

Go read the rest of Rene's post, it's full of other insights.

'Remembering Steve'

Today marks one year since Steve Jobs passed away. Can't believe it's been that long already, it feels like only weeks ago.

​In memory of Steve, Apple has put up a short, sweet tribute video on their site, which is followed by a message from Tim Cook. Worth checking out.

'Character'

Cap Watkins makes some great points about company character and how it influences users to continue using products (or even come back to them after being burned).

“I was [...] thinking a bit about why companies like Yahoo! and MySpace feel irredeemable to people. So irredeemable that in our minds no amount of talent, rebranding, redesigning or corporate restructuring could make a difference. Personally, I like underdogs, but even I can’t shake the idea that certain companies are doomed regardless of how many times they change course.”

​I'm one of those people who deleted my Myspace profile a long time ago, never to return. Their horrid user experience (remember all those terrible Myspace "theme" sites?), combined with the same type of bottom-of-the-barrel users that have infested places like Youtube nowadays, was a huge turnoff after a while.

I honestly don't care what Myspace has done to make the site better since I left. I have no reason to, since everyone I know is on Facebook or Twitter, and I had such a bad experience with it years ago that I'm almost a little surprised that it's even still around.

As for Flickr (also mentioned in the above piece), I'm not one of the people who used it during its heyday. However, I do think that the service still has so much life and potential left in it, if only Yahoo would give it a chance to shine. I personally consider it to be Yahoo's flagship product, even if they don't. There are a lot of people who are heavily invested in the Flickr ecosystem, and there are even people who have met on Flickr and gotten married later.

With an existing hardcore userbase like that, Flickr could definitely make a turnaround in ways that Myspace never will again. Yahoo's company character in the last several years has caused people to label them as doomed, but I believe there is still a spark of hope for them. Especially with Marissa Mayer at the helm.

Anyway, go read the rest of Cap's post, it's great stuff.

'Apple Maps: The FAQ'

Great post by Kontra about the 'Mapsgate' thing. Don't want to spoil any of it here so just go read it.

'Customer Service'

Harry Marks comments on the deluge of people that have been complaining that AT&T has stopped letting ​their iPhone customers upgrade early:

“Whining because you’re not allowed to pay the same price for the new shiny as those who’ve been using 3G Ses and 4s for the last two years is exactly what’s wrong with our over-indulged, entitled society. Not everyone is special. Not everybody gets a trophy.”

​Couldn't agree more.

It's already weird that people feel this absurd need to have the latest and greatest thing, year after year. There's no need to act like an entitled brat on top of that.

'Comments Suck'

Cap Watkins discusses why he thinks Branch is a better tool for discussion than blog comments.

“Internet comments have long been a source of pain for popular web sites. On one hand, the ability to participate with a story gives readers a closer connection with the site and probably drives a bit of returning traffic. On the other hand, comment sections are wretched hives of scum and villainy. ”

I've disabled comments on Unretrofied since the very beginning exactly for this reason. If someone feels the need to comment on something I've said here, they can feel free to let me know via a blog post of their own, or they can contact me through Twitter and email, but I'm not letting this place become cluttered with stupid arguments and vile opinions. Even if that means shutting out the nice, thoughtful people too.

I'm not about to start adding Branch links on all of my posts as an alternative to having comments, as Watkins suggests in his post, but I think it's an intriguing proposition.

'The Mythical Instagram High Ground'

Great post from 'clearzero' on the Verge forums:

“If I have resorted to asking you what camera you are using we have both lost. Instagram is not your enemy or an enemy to photography. It is just a tool. If it helps someone express a unique vision or experience we should all embrace it. It is not a threat to my many years of experience or yours. If it were, we are likely not the outstanding photographers we think we are.”

'Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee'

Lately, I've really been enjoying Jerry Seinfeld's self-produced series, Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee.​

It's exactly what the title implies: Seinfeld calls up one of his comedian friends and asks them to have coffee, then he picks them up in a classic car on the way there. What follows is good conversation, interspersed with beautiful shots of coffee being poured or espresso being brewed while jazz plays in the background. It's coffee porn at its finest, and I love it.

I recommend watching every episode, but especially the one with Alec Baldwin, if only for this statement he made to Seinfeld:

“Your life has been one unbroken boulevard of green lights, hasn’t it?”

Only complaint I have is that I haven't found a way to subscribe to the damn thing yet. Get with the times, Jerry!​

Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee

"I am not busy."

Andre Torrez:

Rather than say: “I am too busy, I don’t have any time for X.” I realize I can be honest and say I am not interested enough in X to do it.

'The Problem with Logos'

Speaking of Andrew Kim, I'm going back through some of his older posts because I find most of them to be very fascinating, as someone with an interest in minimalist design.

This one speaks to me quite a bit because I feel the exact same way about logos being splattered all over products today. I don't buy things like clothes or smartphones just because they carry a certain brand name or logo in an obvious way. If anything, I find it to be a huge turnoff.

Regarding the Samsung Galaxy Tab (pictured above), Andrew had this to say:

Here is another example. Can you believe this? This is criminal. The Galaxy tab has 2 logos on the front and 3 GIANT logos on the back. People should go out and riot about this device. What is this, an F1 car? Verizon and Samsung should have to pay people to use this.

Couldn't have said it any better myself. If you've already paid for the device but are then forced to be a walking advertisement for the company, they should be sending you a check in the mail. Ridiculous.

Make sure to read the follow-up post, too.

'The Next Microsoft'

Designer Andrew Kim has been experimenting with a complete rebranding concept for Microsoft. The results are really quite beautiful.

'I Give Up'

Andre Torrez:

But somewhere in between that new iPad, the unserviceable laptop non-story, and that idiotic comment about the new Retina displays something in my brain snapped. I give up. I surrender. The war is over. I can’t care about this stuff anymore. Getting annoyed at the pace of technology is fruitless for me. Being cynical about any new bit of technology that doesn’t fit into my view of how stuff should work has been a dragging anchor in my life.

'See Ya Dad'

Marvel artist Skottie Young's father passed away last week and he wrote a lovely piece about it:

He was a good man, and as a Thor lover from childhood he was very proud that I hang my hat at Marvel drawing comics. There wasn't a person he came in contact with he didn't mention it to. When I bought my car, he mentioned it to the dealer as if Spider-Man would inspire them to cut a couple thousand off the price. Ha ha. He was proud of me. He was a husband and father of four who worked at CAT for 34 years so I don't have say that I am proud of him, but... I am very proud of him.

'Facebook Nation'

Nancy Baym, writing for Social Media Collective, on the idea of a universal Facebook login being regarded as a "passport" for the internet:

But we should think long and hard about its implications. Except for nations that block the internet or some of its sites (hello, China!), the internet has thrived on being a set of domains across which we could travel without passports. Do we really want Facebook citizenship to become a requirement for accessing other domains? Do we really want an internet where we not only need a passport, but a passport from a nation – any nation – owned by a privately-held corporation? Either social network “citizens” need rights beyond emigration or we need to push back hard. We must be the builders of our own futures, not subjects in a nation motivated by profit.

It's a good read, go check it out.

'What Comes After Reading on the iPad"

Khoi Vinh wrote a thoughtful analysis on the future role iPads (and other tablets) may play in our lives:

Traditional publishers are pouring millions into establishing a beachhead on tablets and e-readers, perhaps with good reason. But the intense competition and experimentation (much of it misguided) is almost assuredly unsustainable; almost all of the content apps that we see today will be gone within a few years, I predict, or they will be supplanted by browser-driven editions as their native iOS or Android apps prove too expensive and impractical to maintain.

What’s more, all of these efforts conform to a familiar pattern: at the start of nearly every technological shift, legacy brands manage to command a disproportionate amount of attention as they attempt to stake their holds in the new space, but almost always find themselves unable to sustain that attention through genuine innovation. Ultimately, it’s the pure play companies that realize the medium’s true potential.

'On Succeeding Steve Jobs'

Gruber details his views on who may succeed Steve Jobs should he ever decide to step down as CEO of Apple.

A new Apple CEO would need credibility and the ability to instantly instill confidence with two highly disparate groups: Apple’s rank-and-file employees, and Wall Street. The only candidates who could satisfy both factions, to any degree, already work at Apple. Name one outsider who’d be accepted both inside the company and on Wall Street. I can’t. Not one.

I'm actually a bit surprised by some of the suggestions for outside successors that have apparently been made by others, such as Steve Wozniak or Guy Kawasaki  or Jack Dorsey. These seem like such obviously-bad choices, even to a guy like me who only follows this stuff as a hobby. Not that I have anything against those people; Jack Dorsey has certainly proven that he can create a quality product (such as Twitter and Square) but to suggest that he could just come in and take over as CEO of Apple is a bit ludicrous.

Gruber's top choice, Tim Cook, already seemed to be groomed for the position long ago in my opinion. I would have thought it readily apparent to anyone else who watches Apple affairs too, but the article that Gruber is responding to here would seem to indicate otherwise.

'Reading on the iPad'

Shawn Blanc discusses his views on his experience with (and the problem of) reading articles, both magazine- and newspaper-based, on the iPad.

And so — perhaps intentionally, or perhaps unintentionally — digital magazines that replicate their printed versions are, in some ways, feeding on the mindset that printed content has a higher value and novelty than digital content does.

They replicate their printed magazines in digital format because they are trying to convey some of that perceived quality and value that historically comes with the printed page. The reader may not be holding a piece of paper, but at least they’re looking at what would be the printed page through the window of their screen.

Unfortunately, replicating print onto a digital format doesn’t best serve the problems of great user experience, sharing through social media, and taking advantage of the rich media possibilities our iPads provide. It does, however, appease the publisher’s need to convey value with their content.

It's a great read and I agree with much of what he's saying here. He acknowledges that he doesn't have a perfect solution for the content publishers because it's obviously a difficult problem to solve, but does put forth a few good ideas. I also really like this analogy:

Apps like Instapaper and Reeder offer more of a “reading environment” (like a library); Wired and The New Yorker are more like an amusement park with words. One isn’t better or worse than the other, but people who like to read a lot certainly don’t spend the majority of their reading time at a noisy amusement park.

Ben Brooks on "It Just Works"

Nice analysis on what it means for a product to "just work" for consumers:

For me ‘just works’ comes down to three factors:

1. Understanding how customers use your product. This is likely helped by the ‘support emails’ Marco mentioned.


2. Using your own product often.


3. Not adding stuff, for adding stuff’s sake. (Feature bloat.)

Personally I agree most with #2, although they're all great points. Some of the best applications I've ever used have been developed by people who aren't just out to make a quick buck; they had a need for a particular tool or service, and (perhaps for lack of better alternatives) decided to come up with their own instead. Marco Arment's Instapaper app seems to be a great example of this, although I can't speak for him personally.

'Fantastical 1.0'

John Gruber linked to an interesting new menubar calendar app called Fantastical that lets you type your events out using natural language. I'll definitely be checking this out.