We’re doubling down on secret ingredients.#ApplePizzaCookRequirements

— Stephen Hackett (@ismh) June 1, 2012

What I don’t want to happen, though, is for Apple to create a bigger device. I have small hands and small pockets, and I don’t want to be fumbling and toting around an aircraft carrier of a smartphone. I think there’s something to be said for usability, and John Gruber makes a great point that Apple can make the iPhone’s screen larger without increasing the size of the device itself. Regardless, as someone who’s visually impaired, I would most definitely welcome a larger-screened iPhone because, well, bigger is better.

What I really don’t want to see happen is Apple going bigger for bigger’s sake. As Rene Ritchie notes:

There’s a school of thought that, since Apple’s iPhone outsells all larger screened Android phones combined on major U.S. carrier networks, Apple doesn’t “need” to go to a larger screen for competitive reasons. However, that doesn’t mean they won’t go there for predatory reasons.

Just because people are buying more 3.5 inch iPhones than larger Android phones doesn’t mean people prefer 3.5 inch screens. It means, as a total package, they prefer the iPhone. Some users no doubt compromise on a larger screen size just to get an iPhone. Others no doubt compromise on getting an iPhone because they really want or need a bigger screen.

Of course, Apple’s MO is never to be a follower insofar that they’ll do something or create a product just because Samsung or HTC or whomever did it. If the iPhone (6) does indeed have a bigger screen, then whatever Apple’s baked into iOS 6 naturally has to take advantage of the increase in pixels. Still, there’s still a part of that’s nervous that the new iPhone will be physically bigger, and I think that’d be a bad thing. But we shall see.

Speaking of iOS 6, Marco Arment wrote today about how the design of the WWDC 2012 app may be signaling a change in the iPhone’s UIKit from blueish tones to a silvery, almost monochromatic look. I agree with Marco that while the existing look isn’t terrible, a refresh wouldn’t be bad either — and be symmetrical to the iPad’s UIKit.

On the heels of my uncle’s becoming a Extra Innings subscriber, I decided to check out the MLB At Bat app for iOS. I’m really glad I did, because it’s a fantastic app. For all the issues I have with the current game, MLB did a wonderful job with At Bat. The iPad version is particularly good: video is obviously better (especially on the Retina model), there are stats galore, and the user interface is just well-designed. On my iPhone, I have the Giants set up as my favorite team in the app, so I get push notifications every time a game’s about to start (with starting pitchers) as well as for scoring alerts, video highlights, and so on. It’s really handy. In addition, I subscribed to the $27.99/month MLB.tv service. What that gets me is not only Gameday Audio (with choice of announcers) but also live streams of games. (Local blackout restrictions apply, however; in my case, that means no Giants or A’s video.) The stream is slightly behind the live action, but it’s still damn cool to be able to watch a live game from my iPad.

This sort of sans-TV TV watching, I think, is the future. It really is a great feeling being able to watch a live game on my iPad. Throw in other apps like Netflix, Hulu, HBO Go, and you effectively have a mini HDTV. Even better, iOS devices have AirPlay support built-in, so I could conceivably take, say, today’s Phillies-Mets game from my iPad to my theoretical big-screen TV.1 No HDMI port/cable required, and everything’s in full HD resolution.

If you’re a baseball fan, you need MLB At Bat. It’s exquisitely well done.

Here’s Shawn’s take:

Candidate for best iOS App Name of 2012: Diet Coda.

— Shawn Blanc (@shawnblanc) May 21, 2012

And here’s Gruber’s:

I’ve been beta-testing Diet Coda for a while, and it’s a hell of an app. I’m retiring the old “iPad is only for consumption” sarcastic schtick because at this point, it’s such utter nonsense. But forget the features and capabilities and touch-based UI design for the moment, and let’s just celebrate what, to me, is the best name for an iPad app ever.

Diet Coda looks really cool. Even though I have no need for it1, being the geek I am I’ll definitely be downloading it once its released on Thursday. I’m excited to check it out!

I’m not a comic book geek per se, but I am familiar with the Marvel universe, so I know the mythology behind the characters. The movie I saw was good — albeit probably a bit long at 2.5 hours — and entertaining. I wouldn’t say it was so good that I need to see it four or five times (like the girl at the concession stand told me some people have) nor is it the best superhero flick ever, but it was good.1. I really liked Robert Downey Jr as the snarky, arrogant Tony Stark — I laughed out loud more than once, especially at the “performance” quip. Otherwise, the special effects were top-notch, the action sequences loud and fierce, and the theater was packed.

In other words, The Avengers is your quintessential slam-bang summer blockbuster. Go see it.

As an aside, seeing this movie has caused me to question even more The Hulk’s superhero status. His scenes in the movie are fine — particularly towards the end when he throws Loki around like a rag doll — but I just don’t like him. I don’t see the appeal in a guy who gets big, green, and mean when he gets angry. He just doesn’t seem that superhero-y, though you could arguably say the same for Captain America and his shield, as well as Iron Man and his suit. I realize my complaints about The Hulk are nitpicky and non-sensical; all I’m saying is he’s not amongst my pantheon of superheroes.2 He’s down there with Dr. Strange and Silver Surfer.

But going back to the movie itself, Joss Whedon did a good job. It’s well worth the matinee price I paid.

If you want to read a great review, be sure to check out my friend Karen’s write-up. The girl’s got talent.

Someone could be building something right now, in secret, that could obsolete Facebook. Software is ‘soft’ for a reason, it can change fast. Facebook could easily get overtaken by an upstart. Why do you think they’re so eager to buy out anything that resembles competition? Remember when MySpace was a behemoth? Everyone forgot about MySpace in a short span of months. Microsoft and Apple have endured as software companies because of the complex and substantial connection they have to hardware platforms. The software behind Facebook is not quite trivial, but don’t forget, there are other smart kids in college dorms all over the place.

Skoda makes two big points in his post:

1. Facebook’s time in the limelight is short; and
2. Their mobile experience sucks.

To the first point, while I agree Facebook won’t be the #1 social network forever, I actually really like using it. Using the service has allowed me to re-connect with so many people, both old and new. For me, Facebook serves its purpose. As for the second point about mobile, I agree with Skoda that Facebook’s mobile experience is lacking. The iOS apps seem to have gotten worse over time, and it’s a damn shame that it took so long for them to release an iPad version. In addition, I think the UX overall lacks insofar that I dislike the Timeline and I hate getting app requests from friends. I’ve learned to live with Timeline, but I’m absolutely not interested in the app requests I so often get from friends.

Yet despite Skoda’s pessimism, there’s no denying Mark Zuckerberg has had a helluva week:

I just open my Facebook app and right there is @finkd getting married. Wow. Way to keep that under wraps. Congrats! Best week ever?

— MG Siegler (@parislemon) May 20, 2012

(via TBR)

Some iPhone competitors offer a clever feature for conserving battery life: They use geolocation to figure out where you are, automatically enabling and disabling the Wi-Fi antenna when you’re away from a known hotspot.

When you’re home, the phone can tell; it turns on Wi-Fi and connects to your network. Jump in the car, however, and your phone soon notes that you’ve left your abode, and shuts off the Wi-Fi so that the device won’t needlessly continue to scan for other base stations. You can override that, of course, if you find yourself at a coffee shop with a wireless network you’d like to connect to—and then your phone remembers the location for that hotspot, too. When you head home again, your phone automatically turns off the Wi-Fi again until you get there.

This is a great idea, akin to the geofencing feature in the Reminders app.

To help conserve battery life, what I do as I leave the house every morning is turn off Wi-Fi on my iPhone. Lex’s idea is even better than implementing a shortcut button (think the Lock screen Camera button). What’s more, a feature like this would automatically turn the Wi-Fi radio back on after I got home1.

Again, great idea. Here’s hoping Scott Forstall is a Macworld subscriber.

(via The Brooks Review)

A blog isn’t about the feelings of the company, but rather a personal look at the writer. You can’t assign a blogger a story and hope the audience doesn’t get the fact that they have no idea what they’re talking about or worse yet, they don’t really care.

Readers connect with a blogger. They know things about them, they laugh together and sometimes argue over points in a story. It’s a give and take relationship that not everyone can handle.

Blogging is not about being stiff and rigid in your writing, but being flexible and flowing with ideas. It doesn’t matter if everyone agrees with your thoughts. In fact, that would be really boring — but you write it anyway.

The Beard nails it. Couldn’t have said it better myself.

(via Stephen Hackett)

This drives me crazy — it’s as if no one’s ever seen how Apple prints the name on the box.

To review, the correct styling of Apple’s devices appears thusly:

• iPod
• iPhone
• iPod Touch1
• iTunes

They are not to be butchered this way:

• ipad
• IPHONE
• Ipod
• i-tunes

And by the way, Apple makes Mac computers — not MAC.2

Finally, three meta points:

1. OS X is not pronounced “OSX” like it’s an acronym. It’s “OS Ten”, since ‘X’ is the Roman numeral for 10.
2. The Mac is a PC in every way a Windows machine is a PC. PC = Personal Computer. The only difference is which OS the computer runs: OS X or Windows.
3. There is no such thing as an iTouch.

Whew. That felt good. Glad I’m not the only one who’s annoyed by this crap.

If Yahoo were a gigolo, he’d paint a picture of a naked woman on his back, just in case it improved business.

— Daniel Jalkut (@danielpunkass) May 16, 2012