Erik Gibb
2007 June

I’m too old and too closeted of a fanboy to have waited in line like so many hundreds of others at any of the stores in the bay area today. But I ordered an 8GB version online last night as soon as the Apple store finished updating. Shipping in 2-4 weeks. Sigh.

I decided to hit a real store today to get one, then cancel my online order if I was successful. The Union Square store only had 4GB versions available, so I decided to wait. It’s going to be really. really. hard.

Continue reading “No iPhone goodness for me today” »

I love me some Apple, but I have a problem with the way they implemented search in mail.app and iTunes. Let’s say I want to search for and subscribe to the podcast “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!”. I open iTunes:

Next, I type in my query in the search box:

Oops. It’s searching in my music folder by default. No problem, I’ll just switch it over to iTunes store in the left bar:

Whathuh? Where did my query go? For absolutely no reason, imnsvho, the query is cemented to the context. I now have to retype my query and submit to get a result:

The same sort of silliness happens in Mail.app. If you do a search, you actually get a decent set of filtering options on the result set: [This folder you in which you started the search] • All folders • from • to • subject • etc. But say I started in my inbox and did a search for an item I sent… If I do the search then switch context to my sent folder to filter by [results in the sent folder only], my query field blanks out and I have to retype it.

Is this “feature” trying to solve separate problems—that the query input field and results aren’t perfectly co-located, and/or clearing the query is most obviously done by clicking the tiny x icon next to the input field? I suppose if people typed a search, then decided to go back to normal browse, either of these issues could fool a user into thinking they were seeing their entire blob of mail/tunes, “but for some reason stuff is missing.”

This could be solved by

1. Adding cues to make the distinction between “all my stuff” and “a subset of stuff based on your query, filter, or context”
2. Grouping the search query (and re-query) field with the results
3. Providing an easy mechanism to back out or re-do your search that doesn’t require a mouse gesture (yes, I know there’s a key command in there, but its fabulously undiscoverable)

I also know there are a thousand legitimate reasons why stuff like this doesn’t happen, so my hat’s off to the design and implementation teams for all the good stuff these products do have, and future luck in working out the kinks.

Continue reading “Search in Apple Mail and iTunes: Why oh why did my query go away when I switched context?” »

While it was hard to miss that Apple.com received a complete redesign with this week’s WWDC events, the finer points of the site’s new functionality are now coming into the, erm… spotlight. Eagle-eyed TUAW readers have been commenting and reporting on a number of interesting new enhancements to apple.com’s abilities, such as the horizontal sub-navigation that Gruber mentioned on some of the product sites (try apple.com/mac to get an idea).

A really cool new (and long overdue) feature to searching Apple’s site is more or less the web-based equivalent of the Spotlight interface. As you can see, the search box is pinned to the top right of ever page at apple.com now, and running a search produces near-instant results in a drop-down menu style interface. A ‘View all search results’ option at the bottom of that menu displays the page I snapped for this post, complete with a more robust and categorized list of search results that can be expanded and collapsed, helping you find just what you need far more quickly. The site even appears to be using cookies to store a recent list of your searches, keeping them always accessible at the far right of this search results page.

Altogether these are some very, very welcome new tools for searching Apple’s exponentially growing product, information and support material. It should be noted, however, that the last update Apple made to their discussion forum still holds true, and that includes its own powerful search tools; this spotlight UI seems to apply only to the rest of apple.com.

Via Tuaw

Continue reading “Apple.com adds federated search, recent searches, and ratings” »

A decent and fun what, why, and how of RSS

(Found on http://bokardo.com/)

Continue reading “RSS in Plain English” »

You spent a good deal of time working on the revamped UI for NNW 3.0. What was the toughest UI choice you had to make? The easiest?

They’re all tough decisions. The hardest thing may be nuking the stuff I think is cool but that nobody else likes. On the other hand, that may be the easiest thing, because the only person disappointed is me. (Read More)

Some user testing would help inform this, but he’s definitely in the right mindset

Continue reading “5 questions with Brent Simmons, creator of NetNewsWire” »

A panel of 36 mice could finally deliver the long-unfulfilled promise of personalized medicine.

The mice were specially bred to match the genetic makeup of most human genetic profiles, and should help scientists determine which drugs are dangerous — or more effective — for individuals before they reach the market.

“Imagine someone discovers a compound that prevents cancer,” said Jackson Laboratory geneticist Ken Paigen. “But suppose that in addition to preventing cancer, it has serious adverse effects in some percentage of the population. You’d sure like to know who could and who couldn’t use it.”

Personalized medicine promises to prevent some of those complications. Some custom treatments have slowly emerged in recent years. But Paigen and his colleagues say their 36 mice could open the floodgates. Taken together, the mouse panel roughly covers all the genetic variation in the human race. (Read More)

Continue reading “Specially Bred Mice May Hold Keys to Personalized Medicine” »

Their creations, on display in the museum garden until Sept. 23, have a sort of forehead-thumping “Why didn’t someone think of that before?” quality.

For example, one of the simplest and yet most elegant designs tackles a job that millions of women and girls spend many hours doing each year — fetching water. Balancing heavy jerry cans on the head may lead to elegant posture, but it is backbreaking work and sometimes causes crippling injuries. The Q-Drum, a circular jerry can, holds 20 gallons, and it rolls smoothly enough for a child to tow it on a rope.

Continue reading “Design That Solves Problems for the World’s Poor - New York Times” »

Online search leader Google Inc. said Friday it purchased FeedBurner, which helps bloggers and podcasters syndicate and make money from their online content, for an undisclosed sum.

Chicago-based FeedBurner “delivers feeds to millions of users around the world and offers unique and useful tools for publishers to analyze, optimize, and monetize their content,” wrote Susan Wojcicki, Google’s vice president of product management, in announcing the deal on Google’s official blog.

FeedBurner also offers a tool for pushing ads through feeds, generating advertising revenue.

Shares of Mountain View, Calif.-based Google rose $2.49 to $500.40 Friday.

Continue reading “Google Buys Feed Distributor FeedBurner” »

Apple first announced the partnership with EMI last month, allowing Apple to sell tunes by EMI artists such as Norah Jones, Paul McCartney and Coldplay <b>without digital rights management technology, or copyright protection software</b>.

Apple’s iTunes Plus sells tracks for $1.29, rather than the usual 99 cents. Besides removing the copyright software, it upgrades the sound quality.

“We expect more than half of the songs on iTunes will be offered in iTunes Plus versions by the end of this year.”

Continue reading “Apple crooning a different tune / Now some songs available without copyright software” »