braddolman

Apple should SwipeSelect

Thu, 10 May 2012 14:01:00 -0700

On May 2, Daniel Hooper published a short concept video to YouTube describing a new text selection paradigm for iOS devices (See my previous post if you are unfamiliar with the video). Its usefulness was immediately apparent. Shortly after that video appeared, Kyle Howells released an implementation for jailbroken devices called SwipeSelect.

Its very true to the original concept video but does have a few problems:

The most glaring (for me) is that it breaks the ”shift-slide” and “KEY-slide” shortcuts (pressing SHIFT or KEY and then sliding to a key selects that key and then returns to lower case or the previously selected keyboard). I use these shortcuts dozens of times a day, so this is a real problem that needs addressing. It should be solvable though, as it is really a matter of differentiating between a one finger swipe and a two finger (holding shift while swiping).
SwipeSelect does not support up and down swipe gestures. The left and right gestures are workable, but up and down are required for scrolling through longer text entries.
The cut/copy/paste text options popup is not visible when you use the keyboard to make a selection. It is possible to bring this up if you carefully tap in the correct spot, but it should be automatic.

So, should Apple SwipeSelect? If the above issues can be resolved (and I think they can) then yes I think that this relatively simple idea can dramatically improve text selection and cursor control when using the onscreen keyboard. It is also completely transparent to the user, so it shouldn’t compromise existing usage patterns. Users that are not aware of the feature can continue using the old method.

Apple should seriously consider this suggestion for improving...

Wed, 02 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Apple should seriously consider this suggestion for improving text selection on iOS devices.

Hope restored.

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:44:21 -0800

A shadow has hung over me my entire adult working life. It was the shadow cast by the knowledge that a company like Apple couldn’t get the recognition it deserves in a world like this. That knowledge made me more cynical and seemed to make the world a darker place.

I was there in Apple’s darkest days. Even when Apple was against the ropes, reaching out to it’s arch rival for a lifeline, I was still there. I evangelized. I endured ridicule. I continued - stubbornly - against the grain. Thankfully, many others believed too and slowly things began to change. The transformation over the past 10 years has been nothing short of amazing and an absolute joy to watch.

People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.

— Steve Jobs, Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, May 13–16, 1997

Yesterday, the final tipping point was reached. The final hurdle was Wall Street, suits that never understood why Apple wouldn’t just die, now even they understand. Design matters. Quality matters. Dreams matter. Apple has unequivocally proved it is possible to win the world over when you care deeply about what you do. My youthful hope for the future is restored.

I wish Steve Jobs had held on a little longer, he would be - and should be - so proud. Thank-you Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and everyone at Apple over all these years.

Onward!

An updated blog

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 00:15:23 -0700

I’m giving Tumblr a whirl because my old blog is just completely stagnant. Its hard to get motivated (or find the time) to write out long form posts on any sort of semi-regular basis. So, I’m going to try this out and – who knows – if it seems to jibe with my erratic thoughts and multiple social service connections, then perhaps I’ll just move my personal website here.

iPhone – true ubiquitous computing at last

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 12:21:00 -0800

The level of FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) being spread about the iPhone is truly amazing. Once again, just as with the original iPod and the original Mac, the vision-less masses are shouting at the top of their lungs “there’s nothing to see here! Please pay attention to MEEEEE!”

Of course, these people think that the iPhone is “just another phone”. Or that their Treo somehow compares. Or that its just an expensive iPod nano. Or that the world revolves around them.

And, like before, they are missing the bigger picture. What the iPhone really represents is the future of computing. For the first time, a product has been developed that makes the benefits of ubiquitous computing accessible to anyone and it does it all in a tiny little package that is so simple that even my grandmother could use it. Try that with your Treo. The current generation iPhone is only one small step but its obvious to all those without blinders on that this is the future.

I envision Apple expanding and merging the iPhone technology with their all their product lines. The iPod would benefit greatly from the improved interface implemented on the iPhone. The Macintosh, and especially the portable computer line, would likewise benefit greatly from the user-interface. I can see a much smaller, yet full-featured, portable computer than the current MacBook and MacBook Pro… essentially a tablet computer with a user interface that is actually, finally, usable. It could finally move the tablet PC into the mainstream. Further down the road, even desktop computers would benefit greatly from implementing the improvements shown with the iPhone. I believe that with the iPhone, Apple has not only shown us the best mobile phone, or the best iPod, or a revolutionary internet communications device – although it is all of those things – but Apple has introduced an entirely new platform.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind, Apple changed the world on January 9, 2007. Again.

Anti-Consumer Canadian Copyright Changes

Sat, 13 Jan 2007 12:40:00 -0800

If you’re Canadian and you own an iPod or other MP3 player, a 20 year-old-VCR, or one of those fancy new DVR or DVD player that records TV then new changes to Canadian Copyright law are set to make you a criminal. It also makes it illegal for you to make a back-up copy of that expensive “Lord of the Rings” DVD box-set you have, and forces you to buy them again if they ever become scratched. These new changes would undo decades worth of advances that have been made to ensure that Canadian consumers have the right to use the media they purchase in the manner most appropriate for them… so-called “fair-use”. Currently, consumers rightly take for granted that they have the right to record a television show or copy a CD for their iPod. If the pending legislation is approved, these activities – and much more – would become illegal.

Of course, these changes to Canadian Copyright are not being done for the good of Canadian consumers. Nor is it to help Canadian artists. No, this legislation is being put forward to increase the profitability of the music and movie industries – already among the most profitable industries around. The same industries that, for example, were charged with price-fixing in the USA – which they settled out of court in an attempt to keep the story out of the media. The same industries that have been collecting levies for years on blank media in Canada while distributing only a fraction of what they’ve collected to actual artists (according to their website, they have collected $162M while dispersing only $93M, and even that was only after they finally got called out on their lack of payments to artists). The same industries that have been busy suing their customers in the USA (a tactic that Canadian artists have taken a stand against) and lamenting the fact that they aren’t able to do the same in Canada due to the protections “fair-use” has given us in this country.

The truth is that the executives in these industries can see the writing on the wall. They are the dinosaurs. Technology has all but made them obsolete… and they know it. For decades they have taken the works of talented artists, charge consumers a premium for it, and paid the artists the very minimum they could justify. In the near future, artists will likely by-pass this archaic system and communicate directly with their fans and sell their product to them, while pocketing the profits from their hard work. Of course, the record labels don’t want this to happen… they’ve had a good deal since the 1950’s, where they add very little real value, while at the same time extracting the majority of the profits from the artists’ work.

If we really do value a “free market economy” then we must allow it to work. A free market is not supposed to prop up industries are becoming obsolete due to the advance of technology. A free market is not supposed to protect industries from having to change with the times. What a free market IS supposed to provide is an unbiased environment where the best solutions to the public’s needs are allowed to flourish. That means that if people have shown the desire to purchase their media online (which one only needs to look at the success of iTunes to see that is clearly the case), and if the current media companies refuse to do it because they are trying to hold onto an obsolete and highly profit model from the 1950’s, then those companies should perish. It sounds harsh, but that is the reality of a true free market economy. The other reality is that, from the ashes of those dinosaurs which refused to change, a new industry that better serves the public’s needs will rise to take its place. I’m confident that any such change will vastly improve the situation, not only for Canada’s artists, but for consumers as well.

So what can we do to counter the media industry’s pressure on our government to make them remove our “fair-use” rights. Well, we the people, need to apply our own pressure. Democracy doesn’t work if the public simply lets big business dictate the bounds of society. First, go to this website and get the contact information for your MP. Then, write a letter to said MP stating that you want Canada’s Copyright Law to reflect its existing “fair use” concessions for consumers.

30 Days

Sat, 05 Aug 2006 19:59:00 -0700

“30 Days” is one of those very, very rare television programs that comes along not nearly often enough and allows us to get a glimpse of the incredible potential that people saw in TV during the 1950’s. A potential that we obviously lost sight of – what with our 24/7 “news” channels that keep us up-to-the-minute on celebrity sex lives (cause that’s news) while the remaining channels broadcast every waking moment of some idiot du jour whose only talent is being more obnoxious than anyone else. Through all this darkness, “30 Days” shines strong enough to give one hope that the dream of the promise of TV is not yet dead.

“30 Days” just started its second season and I have to say –and remember this is coming from someone seriously jaded by everything on TV these days – everyone should be watching this show. Its Morgan Spurlock’s follow-up project to his “Super Size Me” documentary… The one responsible for the removal of those “Super Size”-ed items from McDonald’s menus (although they flatly refuse that explanation… its just, you know, coincidence). Part documentary, part reality TV, “30 Days” probes issues in a way that few others would dare try – by putting people at opposite ends of the spectrum of today’s hot-button issues together to live for 30 days. The results can be moving and significant.

Whether taking a right-wing mid-western devout Christian and having him live with American Muslims or taking a border-state American Minuteman and having him live with illegal Mexican immigrants , “30 Days” brings focus and clarity to issues too often clouded by hatred, racism, and ignorance. You owe it to yourself to watch.

Shoutwire, is this really the future of media?

Thu, 13 Apr 2006 20:10:00 -0700

If your not familiar with Shoutwire, its one of these flavor-of-the-month social “news” dissemination services, where the users submit links to the interesting bits they find on the net and then other users vote for those links. The most voted for items are presented as a supposedly ferreted out list of whatever is hot and current in the websphere at the moment. Furthermore, they provide RSS feeds which users can subscribe to so the top stories pop-up automatically in their favorite newsreader. Good stuff so far (I’ll just ignore the fact that they appear to have stole the whole idea from Digg).

Anyway, it all started innocently enough, with RSS. Which I’m a total sucker for. Practically everything that I read on the web gets served to me in wonderful, automatically generated RSS feeds. Mmmmm. So, naturally, when I stumbled on Shoutwire some months ago, I added their RSS feed to my routine. So far, so good.

A short while ago, I noticed that the Shoutwire RSS feed had ads embedded in it. This got me a little more pissed than the run-of-the-mill stuff that pisses me off everyday because, quite frankly, I think we have allowed advertising to spread like an unchecked plague throughout every possible surface that we might happen to gaze upon throughout the day. Putting ads in an RSS feed, however, is a special kind of evil though.

RSS is great. RSS works. A big part of the reason that it is great and works so well is because it is completely stripped of all the unnecessary crap the clutters up the worldwide web. Sticking ads in there is just plain stupid. Its basically undoing a fundamental part of what makes RSS worth using in the first place.

Now, I’m not unreasonable, I know that this is a company and it needs to make money and that advertising is a good way to do so. But, Shoutwire was clearly overdoing it – inserting an ad up to every second or third heading in the RSS feed. Maybe one per page wouldn’t have set me off, but three per page clearly did. And after being surprised by those ads in my RSS feed one too many times, I decided to post a very short editorial on the service so that other users could shout the story so Shoutwire would see how many people would like the ads removed from the RSS feeds. What better way to gauge the response of its users, I thought, than to use the service itself to collect feedback. I composed a very short - and purposely very civil - editorial listing and posted it.

I checked that the story had been posted and, indeed, noted that two people had already shouted the story. Happy that perhaps I took one small step to help bring awareness to the issue, I went on my merry little way.

Then, however, a much much worse thing happened. When I attempted to see how many “shouts” the story had later that night, I found that it – and all references to it – had been removed from Shoutwire. OMFG… I had been censored!

If I wasn’t pissed off before, I certainly was now.

So, naturally, I posted another short story attempting to tell users about Shoutwire’s censorship and once again mention the annoying RSS ads… Well, that one didn’t even last a couple of minutes.

I did a little investigation, and found that Shoutwire has been accused of censorship before as well. In particular, they have reportedly removed stories which refer to Digg.com - their main competitor. They also have been accused of removing stories that link to blogs. Considering that the whole service is only about 6 months old, that’s a pretty horrible way to start a “news dissemination” service.

The real crux of the censorship is that these guys probably should not be removing any stories. The whole point of Shoutwire and its ilk is that the users promote stories that are deserving. The community decides what makes it to the front page, not some stuffy so-and-so in a large well-appointed office. That’s the whole point of the “social networking” phenomena. We, the people, are sick of five big media companies – and companies in general – deciding what information we should or should not receive. These social news sites are supposed to signal the rise of a truly democratic media. Finally. If we’re really just replacing the five big companies we can’t trust with new ones that are going to continue to exert their ideologies on us, then what’s the point? If this is the future of media, I don’t want any part of it. I, for one, demand more.

I think its worthwhile to try and tell Shoutwire how they are letting us all down. There’s always a chance they will listen. In the meantime, I’m removing their RSS feed from my newsreader and I’ll be checking Digg and Del.icio.us for my social news dissemination fix from now on.