Macenstein

Four “WTF was Apple Thinking?” iTunes design decisions

Everyone loves iTunes – mainly because if you use an iPod, iPhone or iPad, you have no choice but to love it. But for a company as well known for their UI design as Apple is, there are still a couple “WTF were they thinking?” oversights that bug me on a daily basis as I sync my devices. Here are my top 4. 1. Seriously? You had to use Purple TWICE? Apple needed... Read More

Apple’s evil Game Center plan

When Apple first announced Game Center, my feelings ranged from indifferent to mildly supportive. The idea of having just ONE gaming account to manage vs the 3 or 4 major iOS social scoring systems seemed like a nice idea, although having already set up those 3 or 4 accounts, it never really bothered me. Still, being the good Apple soldier I hopped on the Game Center bandwagon,... Read More

A profanity-laden tirade against the new iOS 4.2 text alert sounds

HOLY FUCK! Having just downloaded the iOS 4.2 GM, I am only now discovering what all you developers have known for some time – that the new text alert tones Apple has added with this build are so fucking bad, they don’t even rate as shit. I have long complained about Apple’s pathetic assortment of Text Alerts, citing it as one of the increasingly hard to find excuses... Read More

Angry Birds maker confirms that developing for Android is a nightmare

Angry Birds maker Rovio has made a post on its blog addressing the performance issues many Android users are experiencing running its game, and in the process confirming Steve Jobs’ assertion that developing for a fragmented platform such as Android is a nightmare for developers. Read More  Read More

Review: iPhone 4 Vapor case by Element Case

I can’t think of a more visually drool-worthy iPhone case than the Vapor case from Element Case. Machined from a solid block of aircraft grade aluminum and then anodized to create a hard protective coating, it is the only iPhone case I know of that still has a 6-week waiting period a full few months after going on sale. Starting at $80 and going up depending on options... Read More

Review: iHome iB969 charging station

iHome has a long history of supplying innovative, well-designed, and horribly named accessories for Apple gear. The iB969 continues these traditions. What is it? Well, you wouldn’t know from the name, but the iB969 is a 4-in-1 charging station designed to charge pretty much any portable device out there, although it throws a definite nod to the iPod, iPad, and iPhone. The... Read More

Back to the Mac Event: The Good The Bad, and the Meh

As with all big Apple events, I once again find people turning to me for my opinion on the announcements from Apple’s Back to the Mac Event. Honestly I can’t blame them, as my opinion is often the only correct one when it comes to such things. I seem to have the uncanny ability to cut through the hype with laser beam-like precision, and somehow categorize the day’s... Read More

How do you REALLY feel, Steve?

Audio of Steve Jobs’ thoughts on Google and RIM from today’s financial conference call.  Read More

My GOD, this would annoy me

In yet another sign that I have become a cranky old man ahead of schedule, I must say that as impressive as this video is, and as good as these guys sound, and as geeky as the whole experience is… I would be so fricking annoyed if I were just trying to get from point A to point B and these guys were pulling this crap on my train. The band is Atomic Tom, and the song is “Take... Read More

So what are YOU looking for in OS X 10.7?

So earlier this week Apple sent out invitations for its Back To the Mac event, set for next week. I’m not sure where our invite is (they always seem to get stuck in our spam filters I guess) but the point is it looks like Apple is ready to pretend it cares about its Mac business unit again, and will likely be previewing OS X 10.7. It’s always a bit of a fool’s... Read More