iOS 4 for the iPhone

I'm a bit geeky but not geeky enough to want to spend precious minutes finding out how to do something. Apple made me think (not good for a "Don't Make Me Think - Steve Krug" disciple). Indeed when my iTunes on my iMac asked me if I wanted to download the latest iUpdate for my iPhone I have to admit I wasn't particularly iFussed either way; so I said yes...

Hmmm, went in for a quick look at what the fuss was about this iOS 4. The picture thing was nice and a nifty new swishy swirly animation. The thing that most interested me was multitasking, so I booted up an application at random - so far not much thought. I hit the home button; app seemed to close - brain still idling. Expended a few seconds of processing power and intuited the double-click on the home button. Waddaya know! Some apps in a secondary task bar. Thought, very cool!

Got about 3 apps running and decided that I wanted to shut some of them down to keep processor and memory free (hold-over from the PC days). Hmmm, no quit, stop, end buttons; what to do?

Answer: Research.

Looked in the Apple website and got lots of superlatives about how the world was changing... again. Great action shots of the latest iThings. No manual, no instructions. I tried doing a site search on iOS 4 and got an error (maybe everyone was doing the same thing).

Neural Oscillations rapidly rising. Why can't I do this simple function, surely I need to be able to stop processes. So in frustration I hit Google with a specific search "iOS4" and proceeded to follow the first link on the page.

Now, with thanks to "a" from Gizmodo who posted "The Complete Guide to Using iOS 4".

I know that I don't need to stop apps but that I can if I want to. She or He also provided a number of tips that I will read at my leisure so that I don't have to get a PhD in iOlogy. And, yes, it is still intuitive - my problem was past experience making a problem where there was none. I still remember MacOS and Windows v1.

So there. Read the article at http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2010/06/the-complete-guide-to-using-ios-4/ and save some valuable time.

If you discover any additional resources please post them in the comments section.

Have fun.

As a long term bookworm, or "avid reader" as I am currently known, I have collected a reasonable number of books which we keep in approximately 26 lineal meters of glass-doored bookshelf. So what does the future hold; or more accurately what will we hold in the future?

The nostalgia of the written and bound book notwithstanding the new (to Australia) Amazon Kindle (pictured) can hold up to 1500 books in its memory with access to a library of over 200,000 books and periodicals. Early adopters get your credit cards. The unit uses the 3G mobile data network to browse and purchase from Amazon's online store and books are delivered immediately. Now if we could only get the authors to keep up (kidding... pulp fiction is not a good staple diet, you take your time authors and give us quality).

Enter competitors; stage left.

Sony has a reader using the same technology but no direct delivery and Apple as usual are tight-lipped about, well, everything.

Just thought you'd like to know really...

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I had to share this little snippet I found today.

Click the pic to see the big one - it's hilarious.



If anyone ever asks you how the internet works - show them this instructional diagram from Vlad Studios (he does great desktop wallpaper too).

R.I.P. to Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson and Internet Explorer 6

Thanks to Martin Metodiev for his stunning Obituary site:

One of these icons will not be missed.

Web designers world wide are eagerly awaiting news of the eradication from computers worldwide of Internet Explorer 6. There won't be any official documents in stark contrast to Smallpox which was officially certified by the WHO as eradictated in December 1979.

Farrah and Michael, will leave a legacy whether you loved them or hated them. Internet Explorer 6, more of a feeling of "it's about time". With 2 vastly superior generations can I, dare I change my development processes to remove the expensive and time-consuming task of testing and modifying websites so that the less than 19% of internet users can see a perfect rendering of the website.

Why dump IE6?

One word; progress. The capabilities of what we can achieve on the internet in terms of user experience has increased phenomenally. With new CSS standards being defined right now the task of creating great websites to help businesses do great business is getting easier and more flexible than ever before. So why add cost to the development process by having to create mostly redundant code and is a significant handicap to the creative process of building business. Which is really what these web sites are about.

So, if you have been one of those who have politely declined Microsoft's invitation to upgrade for the last 3 years or so (Internet Explorer 7 was released in 2006) then I'd say the time to capitulate is now. The great news is that you don't have to go through dealing with Internet Explorer 7 (which has its own issues) you can automatically upgrade to the shiny brand new Internet Explorer 8!

Ahh! That feels better now that I have got that off my chest. Seriously though, many web designers now no longer warrant that their websites will work under IE6 as do many banks, government agencies and large corporations. With the emergence of web-based applications replacing traditional desktop applications, upgrading your web browser is becoming even more important than upgrading your computer.

Web Design Experts may withdraw support for IE6 later this year - so stay tuned.