Month: July 2008

iPhones will dumb down passwords

After typing various secure passwords into an iPod Touch (each change between numbers and letters requiring a switch of the virtual keyboard), I’d become convinced that people are likely to dumb down passwords they have to type into their iPhone. Want to buy an App? Password.
The phenomenon was noted over at 43 folders as well they also point out that the AppleTV conveniently highlights the characters on screen as you type them into iPhone Remote. Whilst this probably isn’t a problem in your living room it’s likely to pose a problem at trade show setups I’d guess.
Or perhaps use the accelerometers to unlock the iPhone keychain when you do the right interpretive dance?
Now if only they’d automatically reconnect to the VPN…

Lingering Leopard Lepidoptera

Back in Mac OS X 10.5.0, Princeton University’s Office of IT identified some problems with Mac OS X. Sadly some of them still seem to be around in 10.5.4, namely the Location menu in the Network Preference pane that has deleted locations re-appear, or that just seems to randomly mangle itself if you make any addition or deletions.

Say it with iPods

Apple US’s corporate gifting and rewards program lets you get 50 or more iPods engraved with your corporate logo or message. You can also buy 50 packs of iTunes store gift cards in US$10,US$15,US$25 or US$50 each. It also mentions MacBooks, MacBook Pros and iMacs. I wonder if they’re available in 50 packs too?

iPhone activation angst

If you were frustrated at getting your iPhone/iPod Touch/MobileMe activated over the weekend you weren’t the only one (although I’m sure you could have found something better to do!). Someone took the time to come up with an “I’m an iPhone” video, and JoyOfTech also had a take on the BlackBerry schadenfreude, short lived though it was. Or check out “How to get broke by buying an iPhone”
Meanwhile, Australians weren’t left out of the picture with a certain phone company’s activation system going offline before the launch. Which was probably better than Optus (i)phone users in Queensland being unable to dial emergency 000.

MacBook Air SSD drive comparison

The folks over at StorageMojo have a battery life comparison of MacBook Airs with hard drives and SSD drives. Also a comparison of MacBook Pros with and without SSD drives.

Anybody with a MacBook Air with SSD care to comment if they’ve got a /.hotfiles.btree file on their machine? This would possibly indicate that Mac OS X is still shuffling around their file system to optimise file access as if it was on a hard drive.

iTunes and the Blind

Some friends of mine have written an article for Media Culture called iTunes Is Pretty (Useless) When You’re Blind: Digital Design Is Triggering Disability When It Could Be a Solution.
 Check it out!

Although I’m somewhat suspicious that the claim that pod in iPod stands for “Portable on Demand”, seems more like a backronym coined by those wanting to use it to attempt to avoid being sued by Apple’s Lawyers.

Meanwhile some folks find podcasting less than inclusionary (sadly for a lecture series on Disability Inclusion!)

Personally I think the iPhone will suck from the ‘You have to look at it to use it’ point of view. Buttons at least make phones easier to use without looking at them. Perhaps some accelerometer based gesture user interface (although difficult to use in your pocket without looking somewhat suspicious 🙂 Roll on the haptic iPhone.