Voidnothings » apple

User-Led Innovation Can’t Create Breakthroughs; Just Ask Apple and Ikea

Lance — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 03:43:19 +0000

Companies should lead their users, not the other way around.

The user is king. It’s a phrase that’s repeated over and over again as a mantra: Companies must become user-centric. But there’s a problem: It doesn’t work. Here’s the truth: Great brands lead users, not the other way around.

Ping, a social network for music.

Lance — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 02:23:05 +0000

Introducing the new iTunes with Ping. Apple is finally entering the social network arena with a niche service all for music, all built-in using iTunes. My first impression:

Mainly inspired by Zune Network and Last.FM
Apple dropped a hint on the upcoming iOS 10.7 GUI by making the traffic lights button aligned vertically?
Muted icons on the left sidebar
I don’t like the new checkbox input, is this the next version of Aqua?
Taken cues from the iTunes player in iPad
Apparently, Ping is only available on few markets as of launch: US, UK, and etc. you’ll get an annoying error (I can’t believe Apple is still showing this machine only error codes!)

With the media event yesterday, Apple did some subtle changes to its website too. You’ll notice that they added a noise texture with gradient effect on the background, and their rounded corners seems to be trimmed down from 7px to 5px radius. Who knows what’s upcoming? One thing is certain though, iTunes GUI is usually related to the next update on OSX, iTunes 9 gave a hint about the GUI in Snow Leopard.

Now, enough. Here’s the direct download link to iTunes 10.

Going Mobile.

Lance — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 03:20:31 +0000

Finally got my very first Macbook PRO, its a 15″ 2.66Ghz Core i7, 4GB DDR3 RAM, Nvidia 330M 512MB, anti-glare display and opted for the hi-res screen. I originally prefer the sexy black bezel but too bad the glare is really annoying according to most reviews.

Along with a mobile desktop, I also got myself a NorthFace Borealis backpack, and a Logitech V550 Nano. Next in the list would be Wrapsol a fine protective film that easily blends with your notebook’s original look, Moshi Keyboard protector – just to make sure I won’t fry my logic board because of an unexpected coffee spill, and perhaps another bag for casual trek like the Crumpler’s Part and Parcel.

Now let’s get some stuff working. If you have an interesting project just buzz me

Macbook Pro now with i7/i5

Lance — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 16:06:06 +0000

Apple finally released the long awaited refresh to the Macbook Pro line. The i7 2.66Ghz is available only for the high-end 15″ and 17″ models, according to Apple marketing for this configuration battery power should be around 8-9hrs (wow!). The rest of the 15″ got the i5 series ranging from 2.4 to 2.53Ghz, also it is interesting that the 13″ still feature a slightly bumped Core2Duos from 2.4 to 2.66Ghz and feature a 10hrs batter life.

Head on and read about the rest of the new features.

Update: A few months later, Apple added the 2.8Ghz i7 to the 15″ variants As for me, I think the 2.66Ghz is still rocking!

On Users and Innovation

Lance — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 03:04:27 +0000

I always believe customers/users are always right, but what if the truth is they’re most of the time wrong? What if we all failed to innovate all because we are haunted with the vague functional spec and their vision of a far flung unknown universe? Does it make sense to perfect a product that no one uses? Or should we justify creating something ‘magical’ and redefine their experience by using our pragmatic thoughts as curators?

Let’s see.

The holiday lineup is set

Lance — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:18:30 +0000

This is the official statement given by Apple. Last week, the update on the iMac sparked a lot of speculation that more product updates could be coming later this year, just in time for the holiday season. Read the article here on AppleInsider

Also with the recent seed of Snow Leopard 10.6.2, there are indications of two new models for the MacBook Pro lineup, further speculation says that it could include mobile quad-core i5/i7 chips from Intel and AMD Radeon HD4500 mobile GPU. You can view the article here

Would it be OK to shop for this coming holiday? I think it depends, If you really need the unit and can’t wait for around 4-8 months then go for it, the Core2Duo lineup is still OK in terms of performance, but If you want a future proof rig, then wait. The next product update could be in Jan or in June, just in time for WWDC.

I find the MacRumors Buyer’s Guide useful, note the trend of each product release.