Tag Archive for 'iphone'

The Annoying iPhone App Process Was All Part of Apple’s Master Plan To Make Developers Build Web Apps

Published by Zacqary Adam Green at 6:00 PM on December 16, 2009 in Commentary. View Comments Tags: , , , . Short URL: http://plankhead.com/ZH

Steve Jobs with iPhone
Robert Scoble just Sc-c-c-cobleized us with this post speculating that iPhone app developers, fed up with the App Store approval process, are abandoning apps in favor of websites that do the same thing.

Lately I’ve noticed that some developers are avoiding building apps and, instead, are building custom web pages that are designed specifically for the iPhone. [...] Yesterday another one came along from Nextstop, which is a cool new app for sharing cool things to do near you (great for travelers to check out) and they, too, decided on HTML5 instead of doing an iPhone app.

Some reasons Nextstop likes HTML5:

1. Rapid iteration. If they code a new feature tonight, you get it tonight. No waiting three weeks for you to get their latest.
2. It prepares their systems for building a native app. Why? Because apps can include a Safari browser instance inside, so all of this work is reusable, even if they do a native app.
3. It’s easier to build and debug because you don’t need to do a lot of specialized coding to make the native app work properly.
4. It fits into the greater web easier for users. In an iPhone app it can be jarring to take users out to a web browser, but if they already are in the browser they are used to going to other pages and back again using Safari’s navigation.

That sounds like a really great idea, doesn’t it. You know who else thought so? Steve Jobs:

WWDC 2007, SAN FRANCISCO—June 11, 2007—Apple® today announced that its revolutionary iPhone™ will run applications created with Web 2.0 Internet standards when it begins shipping on June 29. Developers can create Web 2.0 applications which look and behave just like the applications built into iPhone, and which can seamlessly access iPhone’s services, including making a phone call, sending an email and displaying a location in Google Maps.

But then the developers were all like, “Nooooooooo!” and Apple was all like, “Fiiiiine!” in October 2007 and announced a way to build native apps. But submitting an app to the App Store and going through the approval process is annoying as hell for developers, so they’re getting around that by doing what Apple wanted them to do anyway in the first place.

That Steve Jobs sure is a crafty one.

PreThinking.com Article on iPhone Smasher Accidentally Creates Lol Image

Published by Zacqary Adam Green at 10:15 PM on June 7, 2009 in Commentary. View Comments Tags: , , , , . Short URL: http://plankhead.com/VG

Palm Pre-enthusiast blog PreThinking has posted an article about a first-generation iPhone user who got a shiny new Palm Pre. Now he has no more use for his iPhone. Instead of coming up with a better solution, such as selling the old phone to someone who might want it, the man smashes it with a hammer:

Happy Palm Pre owner smashes his old iPhone...Pre Thinking.

PreThinking added their logo to the image, as is common practice in the interblogosphernetwebs, where anyone can take your image and claim it as theirs unless you put some form of identifier on it. For what this man did, the phrase “pre-thinking” is coincidentally appropriate.

[PreThinking via Gizmodo]

Jiggle Physics On the iPhone Are Only Acceptable If Used On Real Boobs

Published by Zacqary Adam Green at 7:53 PM on January 16, 2009 in Commentary. View Comments Tags: , , , , . Short URL: http://plankhead.com/ksz

Some time ago there was an app submitted to the iPhone App Store called iBoobs. This was an application which displayed a pair of 3D boobs (wearing a bra) and read accelerometer data. Essentially this means that every time you moved or shook your iPhone, the boobs would jiggle. How funny. But as you can maybe see from the link if the German translation is comprehensible, the app was not approved by Apple because “Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple’s reasonable judgement may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users.”

But yesterday Apple apparently did approve something called Wobble. It’s an application that allows you to add “wobble regions” to photographs. These regions will jiggle when you shake your iPhone. (Hint: You put them on boobies!!!!)

Seems Apple’s being their hypocritical selves again. After the jump, videos explaining why…

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