Posts tagged Apple
Our prototype iPad sleeve
I mentioned last week that I’m planning to launch a membership scheme on my big blog, Write for Your Life. Well, I’m opening a shop too. Imagine!
This is the first prototype for a handmade (by my marvellous fiancee) iPad sleeve. We plan on making a couple of variations with the option to have a bespoke stitched message, like ‘Iain’s cool iPad!’.
Your feedback welcome!
“ Is the iBookstore platform something Apple takes seriously, or is it happy to cede e-book sales to retailers like Amazon and B&N, which allow their customers to read their books through apps developed for Apple’s devices?”
Is Apple Using Gift Cards to Prop Up a Sagging iBookstore? - DailyFinance
I must admit I do get a little confused when it comes to the different models for selling ebooks. It seems pretty obvious to me that part of the reason Apple’s iBookstore is lagging behind other retailers is down to sheer numbers. There are simply fewer books to buy.
But are they taking the iBookstore seriously enough? I don’t know. It’s hard to tell. Perhaps some of my Apple-enthusiastic cyberpals might be able to shed some light?
“ When reviewing devices, there is a temptation to barrage the reader with facts, statistics and various performance indicators, as if this were the sum of a device. But really, as we all know, and as Apple especially has understood, that is not what matters – what matters is the ease of use, the effortlessness and joy of a technology, over and above the quibbles about memory or functionality. This is what makes or breaks a device.”
Very true, especially about Apple. That said, he also has a point when later in the article he refers to the ‘malevolent temptation’ of all the things the iPad offers beyond your reading.
Seriously uncool
I’ve talked a little about plain English before. My thoughts in a nutshell: it’s not dumbing down, it’s about communicating clearly.
Check this out:
This morning in Sunnyvale, California, Yahoo held a large press event to explain its new product strategy and debut some products out this fall. Blake Irving, Yahoo’s EVP and chief products officer, also outlined the challenges he faces at the company. He wants to bring “cool back to Yahoo.”
Excellent. That sounds like a good idea. Tell me Blake, what are you going to do to bring the cool back?
“You’re going to see things over the next few years that will feel a little bit different”. We’re going to be iterating much more frequently than we do today. People see Yahoo and see multiple verticals — you’re going to increasingly see “One Yahoo”. Going to be both on and off network. Yahoo is something that you take with you.”
You’re going to be what? Iterating? I’d probably know what that means if I wasn’t so transfixed on your multiple verticals. Come on, tell us what Yahoo really does.
“Yahoo is a global series of Web experiences across a variety of devices that gives people what they want. In content it connects advertisers to an audience that is global in scope. Yahoo is all about delivering experiences to individuals that make them engage with each other. Folks anchor on are you a search company? A content company? A communications company? We would like to engage with people on the things that matter most to them.”
Fine. Don’t then.
Compare that mumbo jumbo with the way Apple speak to their customers. Always simple language. Always written clearly. Really great, as Steve Jobs might say.
Perhaps the best example of recent times is a strapline of Apple’s that horrified me when I first saw it.
The funnest iPod ever.
Cripes. That’s all kinds of wrong.
At least that’s what I thought initially. But then I thought some more. The funnest iPod ever. Apalling English, but going on my own interpretation, plain English. It communicates perfectly with its intended audience.
And that’s what it’s all about. Someone needs to tell Yahoo.
Present&Correct - Olivetti Typewriter
Look at it. Beautiful, yes?
Inspired by the likes of Patrick Rhone and Nick Cernis, I’ve spent the last couple of years trying to live a more minimal lifestyle, certainly in terms of how I approach my work and writing.
It started when I bought my first (and so far only) Mac. Drawn by the bright lights and Apple’s promise of all-the-cool-things-I-could-do, I expected dazzlement and wonder with every mouse-swish and keystroke.
But something strange happened. Instead of revelling in the glitz and relative glamour of iMovie, iPhoto and the multimedia posse, I found myself enjoying quiet nights in with my new best friends, strong and silent types like Finder, TextEdit and, more recently, Simplenote.
And the reason was this. I am simply a writer. I don’t need all that other stuff. Or at least, I don’t need it to do what I do best.
So once the dazzlement wore off, what I found was a computer - a word you hear less and less these days - that gave me tools to do things quicker, more efficiently, perhaps even better. The technology disappeared and left me alone with my words. Just me and them.
Which brings me back to that beautiful typewriter. I have a reasonably significant birthday coming up. What could be more minimal for a writer, more distraction-free, than a bona fide vintage typewriter?
No email. No Twitter. No iAnything. Imagine that. Bliss.
Sony Launches Qriocity, Cloud-based Music Service to Rival Apple, iTunes
Announced today at Berlin’s IFA technology show, Sony unveiled its new digital media service on Qriocity (pronounced “curiosity” — who knew?), an on-demand video and music service.
Sony Launches Qriocity, Cloud-based Music Service to Rival Apple, iTunes | Fast Company
That has to be the worst name and strapline for a product or service ever. They break so many marketing and copywriting rules that I don’t know where to start.
But I must. I’ll pick three problems:
- Phonetically, a ‘Q’ sounds like quick or quote or quiet. There is no letter that relies on a following vowel more than the letter ‘Q’. And they’ve got rid of it. It’s like me pronouncing the title of this blog, Bee-roomeshtick. Nonsense.
- ‘Music that follows you’. What does that mean? Not to me, I’m a techno-literate writer who knows about syncing and stuff. What does it mean to the average Joe? Absolutely nothing. It’s practically jargon.
- The full stops. If you’re going to make your strapline look like a list of features, make sure you list all your features. And make them sound impressive. Music and movies. Is that it? In this day and age?
Honestly, Apple’s marketing department must look at stuff like this and not know whether to laugh or wince.
Via UpStand
Since we are on the subject of iPad stands, Mnmal draws attention to this sexy little number.
This, in the not too distant future, will be my not-at-home-on-the-iMac writing centre. So for notes, blogging and research. The final step in the great Windows flush of 2008-2010. I can’t wait.
