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| 5 Ways to Create Stunning iPad Applications | |  The iPad has been on the market for two years now. With a second milestone of 200,000 iPad applications on the App Store nearing, there's no better time than now to reassess how to approach the UX of iPad applications. Some of the ideas in this article are relevant to all tablets, not just the iPad. But in consideration of the tremendous success of the iPad (73% of all tablet sales last year), it does warrant specific attention and focus. So, without further ado, here are five interface guidelines to (re)consider when approaching the UX and design of iPad applications. 1. Retiring the Tab Bar When it comes to the iPad, tab bars are simply passé;. Leftover from the task-driven, "get in get out" mentality of the smartphone, tab bars aren't needed on a "lean-back" device like the iPad. In other words, the more relaxed mode of use of iPads means there's no hurry to quickly change views by having all navigation options front and center, which is what tab bars are meant to do. Unlike an iPhone app, people immerse themselves in iPad applications for longer periods of time and with a more relaxed mindset. Tab bars are also less usable on a larger screen. They aren't reachable with thumbs and require a change in hand position. Visually they're eyesores, and from a layout perspective they often take up precious real estate. More elegant alternatives to the tab bar include slide-out (see Facebook), gesture-based (see Paper), or content-driven (see USA Today) navigation. Beyond being more usable and aesthetically pleasing, an added benefit of these options is that they are particularly complementary to the crisp new Retina displays on the iPad 3. Short version: Just say no to tab bars. 2. Stop Pinching Me Gestures are one reason why touch devices are special. They make apps feel personal, fun, and intuitive. Unfortunately, they also can lead to frustration when conventions aren't followed or if non-standard gestures aren't kept consistent in the app itself. Gesture consistency is a general mobile problem that's more evident on the iPad, where additional gestures are available such as multi-finger taps, pinches, and swipes. When working with gestures on the iPad: Remember that one hand will usually remain on the device. Introduce non-standard gestures through onboarding and first-time walkthroughs. Consider reinforcing non-standard gestures through visuals or animations either the first several times they are used, or every time. Be aware of iOS-level gestures, including the four-finger swipe up, five-finger swipe left or right, and five-finger pinch, so the app's gestures do not compete or conflict with iOS. 3. Over-Heightened Realism Heightened realism and skeuomorphic design became more popular with the introduction of the iPad, which in turn influenced applications on Macs (e.g., iCal). In it's Human Interface Guidelines, Apple writes, "When virtual objects and actions in an application are metaphors for objects and actions in the real world, users quickly grasp how to use the app." It sounds great in theory, but doesn't work well in practice. The first issue with this approach is that a UX designer's perception and usage of a real-world object may not be the same as users. Secondly, unless all aspects of the physical object are translated, the metaphor can break, leading to unexpected behaviors in the application. These problems can be seen even in Apple's own apps, such as Notes on the iPad. Notes visually resembles a traditional notepad, but its pages cannot be flipped. To start a new page, one must tap the "+" button, and the sidebar or a popover is used to navigate between each note. Ultimately, it's not clear which parts of the interface are supposed to function like an application and which like a real a notebook. Due to these kinds of problems, when it comes to skeuomorphic design or heightened realism, the general recommendation is to avoid them. In the not too distant future, application interfaces are going to be the more common and known interaction models. So there's no need for the UX of iPad applications to be hampered by old, aging, or historical metaphors. 4. Split (Headache) Views While not a holdover from the iPhone, split views come from the first days of the iPad, resulting in their over-used as a primary landscape view and way to navigate an application. The classic example of the split view (which also helped popularize it) is Mail on the iPad. The split view is typically represented with a smaller master pane on the left that aides in navigation, along with a larger detail pane on the right, which focuses on displaying content. The split view is so prevalent on Apple's own iPad applications (it appears in Mail, Notes, Messages, Reminders, and Settings) that it almost feels like the default view for the iPad when in landscape orientation. The major shortcoming of the split view is it creates a busy and unfocused screen. That's not a big deal in the Settings application, but in Mail, where every email that must be responded to, filed, or deleted is always a tap away, users shouldn't have to rotate into portrait to get a more focused mode. The split view isn't going anywhere just yet though, so here are some takeaways: Don't simply default to using a split view when designing landscape views on the iPad. Although it’s not recommended by Apple yet, consider an option to hide the master pane when using a split view. A more daring approach would be to follow the portrait model of using a popover for showing a list view even when in landscape (see iA Writer). If a list view is not needed but it's helpful to keep navigation visible, consider putting the navigation in a sidebar (see PBS for iPad) or in the toolbar. 5. Think Different, Think iPad As a concluding thought, some of the best iPad apps to date have looked at the larger iPad screen as a blank canvas, creating new and innovative user experiences. Apps that showcase fresh perspectives on what’s possible with one of Apple's most "magical" products ever include: Pennant (a 2011 Apple Design Award Winner) Nursery Rhymes Flipboard The History of Jazz Paper and Magic Piano These apps follow Apple's slogan, "think different," while still embracing human interface guidelines and community-established standards. With the iPad already in classrooms, kitchens, automobiles, offices, and coffee shops, it's an exciting time to be creating iPad applications. The only way for UX and design professionals to keep up with the ever-changing iPad landscape is to be as obsessive as consumers about trying the latest apps to see what works and what doesn't work. At least for the time being, it's the age of the iPad, so it's time to truly think different. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, arakonyunus |
| Instagram Has 'Jumped the Shark,' Says Top Apple Exec [UPDATED] | |  The $1 billion photo-sharing app Instagram -- once named "app of the year" by Apple -- has now "jumped the shark," according to Apple's marketing chief Phil Schiller. And not only is Schiller trashing the service (in a brief message to Apple enthusiast Clayton Braasch), he has also deleted his Instagram account (@schiller) entirely (much like some thousands of other users.) What got Schiller so upset? Not the billion-dollar acquisition by Facebook, apparently. "It 'jumped the shark' when it went to Android," was all the Apple executive wrote to Braasch Thursday. Instagram launched its Android version earlier this month. In the first five days, the Android app saw five million users sign up. That's not huge compared to the 30 million iPhone users, but the rate of growth was stunning -- and strongly contributed to Mark Zuckerberg's decision to offer Kevin Systrom $1 billion for the app. What exactly Schiller meant is unclear. How can five million new users on a slightly different platform make an app "jump the shark"? Many iPhone Instagram users have seen their follower counts swell, but it's hard to see what's wrong with that. You wouldn't be hard pressed to see further evidence that the "nuclear war" Steve Jobs vowed to wage against Android is being continued by his successors at Apple. If a favored iOS app launching on Android is enough to earn a rebuke from a top Apple executive, that may serve as a warning to other app makers who are currently on iOS alone. Remember, Apple is a company where practically every executive comment is a calculated one. (Naturally, we've reached out to Apple for comment and will let you know if we hear back.) SEE ALSO: Sorry, Larry Page, Steve Jobs Wanted to Destroy Android But it's got to be galling for Instagram. Just four months ago, Schiller was congratulating them on his Twitter feed, where he also plugged his own Instagram account: Congrats to @foofighters @instagram and all the iTunes Rewind 2011 winners! (btw: @schiller on Instagram ;->)— Philip Schiller (@pschiller) December 9, 2011 Follow that account link now, and all you'll see is an Instagram error page. You could well argue that with Zuckerberg's backing and $1 billion in the bank, Systrom et al have no more need for Apple's patronage. But the majority of Instagram's users are still on the iPhone, and the iPhone's handlers apparently just turned hostile. UPDATE: Braasch reached out to Schiller for clarification, and got the following via email: Instagram is a great app and community. That hasn't changed. But one of the things I really liked about Instagram was that it was a small community of early adopters sharing their photographs. Now that it has growmuch larger the signal to noise ratio is different. That isn't necessarily good or bad, it's just not what I originally had fun with. What do you make of Schiller's comments? Can Instagram patch things up? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. |
| Why Politicians Should Talk About Technology | | Thursday, April 19, 2012 9:18 PM | Ethan Riegelhaup |
|  Ethan Riegelhaupt is senior vice president for corporate and public affairs at Edelman. Previously, he served as vice president for speech writing and internal communications at The New York Times Company. He was also a senior staff member for New York Gov. Mario M. Cuomo. Follow him at @Ethanriegelhaup. The Republican primary process has mercifully come to an end. Now that we are gearing up for the general election, President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney might want to get away from dramatic declarations and focus on a topic that speaks to what is really making the electorate anxious: rapid technological change. Or as I like to call it, technological anxiety. Technological anxiety is all about the impact current advancements are having on economics, jobs, self-worth, and identity. The changes are so exponential that people are often left with the feeling that they lack the skills or the opportunity to earn a decent wage or improve their quality of life. SEE ALSO: 5 Essential Mobile Apps for Keeping Up With U.S. Politics Campaign strategists will respond to this suggestion by arguing that polling data shows the public is primarily focused on the economy and jobs. They need to look below the surface. Technological innovation outpacing political thinking has been a theme in American elections ever since the mid-19th century when the United States was in the midst of the Industrial Revolution. At the time, we imagined ourselves as an agricultural nation, and for decades we adamantly resisted our increasingly urban identity. This mindset helped to motivate the populists of the 1880s and 1890s, as farmers bitterly fought the Eastern Establishment for fiscal control of the nation. While readers will be spared how difficult it was for farmers to pay their loans to the banks in the midst of a series of serious recessions (sound familiar?), the underlying tension between technology, politics, and an overall anxiety about the future was in full display. Of course, there are unique elements to the current relationship between technology and politics in this campaign cycle. Unlike past eras, there are very few luddites around, and no one seems to want to smash anyone's tablet or smartphone. We are fascinated by each new digital device that comes on the market, but we worry about whether these same advancements will render our skills irrelevant five years from now. When this concern turns into protest, we use those same tools to try and preserve a lifestyle. As we move towards November, the political conversation will hopefully dig deeper into what truly concerns the public. Campaigns should want to address technological anxiety because it will provide them with an excellent opportunity to shape whether Americans see the future through a lens of hope or fear. This ultimately dictates the results of every election. This hope-fear scenario need not be a battle between cherished images of the past and scary visions of what is to come. Instead, in the months ahead, it can provide an opportunity for presidential candidates to use technological themes and ideas to engage the electorate in a far more in-depth discussion about what the U.S.'s shared future might actually offer. President Obama and Gov. Romney might be surprised by the overwhelmingly positive response to this. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, manley099 |
| Next iPhone to Be Made of 'LiquidMetal', Arrive in October [REPORT] | | Thursday, April 19, 2012 8:21 PM | Emily Price |
|  Apple's next iPhone will be available in October, according to Gene Munster, analyst for Piper Jaffray. Munster also says the phone will have a redesigned body, and will run on 4G data networks such as LTE. The analyst predicts the phone will be available in October based on a statement made yesterday by Qualcomm, which is currently having trouble meeting customer demand for its radio chips. Those chips would be used by Apple to connect the new iPhone to faster data networks. Apple released an LTE version of its iPad on both AT&T and Verizon. It seems like almost a given that the company would choose to support the faster data network on its new iPhones as well. Another report Thursday focused on what materials Apple will be using to build that redesigned body. Computerworld claims Apple will be using an exotic material known as LiquidMetal to create the phone. Apple spent $30 million acquiring the rights to use LiquidMetal in 2010. Rumors have circulated before that it plans to use the alloy to build a phone, however, recent reports indicate that the company will make good on those rumors with the release of the iPhone 5. LiquidMetal is a mix of several different metals, allowing the phone to be more durable while giving it a liquid-like exterior feel. Light like plastic but durable like aluminum, LiquidMetal would allow the phone to weigh less and have a thinner profile. LiquidMetal announced it started shipping its first commercial parts in December of last year. "We are very excited about the use of amorphous alloy technology to deliver stronger, lighter, and more corrosion resistant parts to our customers in varying industries globally." President and CEO Tom Steipp said in a press release. "These initial shipments represent a significant milestone in our efforts to provide a new class of materials for our customers to consider when designing complex parts." What do you think Apple has planned with the iPhone 5? What features do you hope will be a part of the phone's design? Would you buy a LiquidMetal phone? Let us know in the comments. |
| Why Dyson Hasn't Made Its Own Roomba Robot -- Yet [VIDEO] | | Thursday, April 19, 2012 7:10 PM | Pete Pachal |
|  Dyson may have branched out recently into fans and hand dryers, the company's name is synonymous with vacuum cleaners. On that score, its products are considered some of the most high-tech available. But there's one competitor that's arguably even more advanced: the Roomba. The little robot vacuum cleaner has gobbled up headlines (and market share) the past few years, and the company behind it, iRobot, has subsequently launched robots that scrub floors and clean gutters. But so far Dyson hasn't responded with a similar product. Why not? Mashable had a chance to sit down with Dyson's industrial design director, Alex Knox, and we asked him why the company hasn't made a robot vacuum. "We got into robots years ago," Knox says. "We've never been satisfied that we've cracked it yet. We want a device that really will clean the carpet incredibly well and will do it in an intelligent fashion, and actually that's a pretty difficult challenge." SEE ALSO: Dyson's New Space Heater Is Stylish, but Expensive/a> Obviously, companies like iRobot and LG have taken that challenge head on. But the results so far aren't good enough for Dyson, Knox says. "We don't think they're really good enough. I don't think they clean carpets as good as a full-size vacuum cleaner would, and that's got to be the objective." As for when Dyson may come out with a robot vacuum, Knox demurs, but he says they company continues to work on the issue. You can see everything he has to say about potential Dyson robot vacuums in the video above. What would you like a Dyson version of the Roomba to be? Sound off in the comments. BONUS: Dyson's Ball Vacuum, Inside and Out |
| 10 Google Bombs That Will Live in Infamy | | Thursday, April 19, 2012 4:50 PM | Stephanie Buck |
|  What does it mean to "Google bomb" something -- or someone? For starters, a Google bomb isn't as sudden and life-threatening as it sounds. Some of these bombs can actually take months to execute. And there are several kinds of Google bomb. The most well-known tactic involves linking a specific term to a specific site as many times as possible all over the Internet. For instance, say you had a completely irrational hatred for man sandals (true story), and you were making it your life's mission to tarnish the "mandal" industry. You would link the phrase "Mandals are ogre shoes" to a site like Urban Dictionary's definition for mandals. And you would copy/paste the heck out of that linked phrase -- all over the web. Soon, presumably, you would have associated the definition of mandals with the term "ogre shoes" so many times that a Google search for "ogre shoes" would bring up the Urban Dictionary mandal page in search results. (Fun fact: A current search for the phrase "ogre shoes" brings up about 2 million results. Go figure.) SEE ALSO: Google's Amazing Growth, By The Numbers/a> Google bombs were originally known as "search engine bombs" before Google became the ubiquitous, default term for online search. That should signify that these "bombs" have been around for quite some time, the first dating back to 1999. They've been used in political campaigns to associate a negative word or phrase with certain politicians. They've even been employed to accompany Internet memes like Chuck Norris. Some Google bombs are still active, despite the fact that Google usually takes measures to remove the forced search results. We've found 10 infamous Google bombs that have taken advantage of search results for decades now. Let us know whether you think all's fair in love and war -- or whether these web pranks deserve repercussions. |
| Energy-Saving Light Turns On and Off as You Blink | | Thursday, April 19, 2012 4:39 PM | PSFK |
|  Are you aware that when blinking, the brain temporarily switches off? Taking this idea – coupled with energy saving technology – to the extreme, inventor and Instructables technology editor, Randy Sarafan devised an innovative solution to making us aware of our electricity consumption habits. With his ‘Energy Saving Light,’ Sarafan has created a wearable lamp device that operates only when your eyes are open. The light reacts to each blink – bringing light when needed and darkness when not. Sarafan provides step-by-step instructions on the Arduino programmed and EMG sensor controlled device that connects to your face with electrodes. He advises: Caution!!! Connecting your face to a DIY device that is plugged directly into the wall is a terrible idea. This Instructable was for entertainment purposes only. You should never replicate this. He’s hoping to encourage a dialogue where other inventors will begin developing other use-sensing technologies for televisions, computers, and electric cars. Be wowed by the animated .gif below showing the lamp in use. |
| Create a Stop-Motion Masterpiece With 'Lego Super Hero Movie Maker' | | Thursday, April 19, 2012 4:28 PM | Emily Price |
|  Building block giant Lego has released a new iOS app that allows you to create your own stop-motion videos using your iPhone. Called Lego Super Hero Movie Maker, the app lets you bring your blocks to life through a short video and even add tunes to your creation. Designed to be used with Lego's DC Universe Super Heroes blocks, the app lets you plan, create, and shoot the next big summer blockbuster on your smartphone. Creating videos simply entails setting up your smartphone and blocks and snapping a shot. After taking one photo, you then move the blocks ever so slightly and snap another photo, repeating the process until your masterpiece is complete. The interface is exceptionally kid-friendly, but adults are also likely to have a good time with the app making their own Lego adventures. While you don't technically have to own a tripod to use the app, you'll find that having one --or at least a stationary surface -- will come in handy for creating consistent shots. To help with the storytelling process Lego has included 11 title cards in the mix with images from Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and more. The app also has five different soundtracks you can add to enhance your crime-fighting tale, and offers the option to add a colored filter to your shot to give a scene a particular look or mood. Finished flicks can be saved to the camera roll on your phone and then shared with friends or uploaded to YouTube. Lego Super Hero Movie Maker is compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad, and 3rd and 4th generation iPod touch. The free app is available now from the Apple App Store. |
| Google Offering Analytics for Your Email Inbox | | Thursday, April 19, 2012 3:27 PM | Samantha Murphy |
|  Want Google to analyze your email habits? The search engine giant highlighted on its Official Blog on Thursday a program called Google Meter that allows Gmail users to learn more about their inbox, from whether they're more likely to write long emails to information on how long it takes you to typically reply. Called Gmail Meter, the program analyzes email patterns to give a better sense of overall inbox activity. Gmail Meter was developed by Romain Vialard, a Google Apps Script Top Contributor, so it wasn't created by Google but the site supports it. Gmail Meter runs on the first day of every month and sends users an email containing different statistics about your Inbox. For example, Gmail Meter provides stats about the number of important and starred messages in your inbox, as well as how often you email with others. Additional features include a tool that reveals stats on how you manage your inbox and how you how long it takes for you to reply (and how long it takes for them to respond). It also tracks whether you are prone to writing short or long emails, and averages what your usual word count might be. SEE ALSO: Beyond Signatures: BrandMyMail Adds Analytics to Email for Cheap For those interested in installing the feature, there's a few steps you need to take. Go to Google Docs and create a new spreadsheet (and save it). Click on Tools, followed by Script Gallery, then search for "Gmail Meter" and click Install. Although the creator's email address may appear near the install button, Google confirmed to Mashable that the download is completely safe and no information will be shared. An authorization prompt will ask for you to grant the tool access. A new menu item called Gmail Meter will appear on the spreadsheet. Select Gmail Meter and then Get a Report. You will get an email once the report is ready. If you're having problems with the install button -- in some cases, it's been taking awhile to download -- Google said that the influx of people trying to access the feature has slowed the process. It's working to correct the issue soon. Last month, Google announced a feature called "Account Activity" that gives you a monthly summary as to how you use the site. UPDATE: This story has been updated from its original version to reflect that Gmail Meter was not created by Google, but supports the tool which was created by a Google Apps Script Top Contributor. We regret the error. Thumbnail image courtesy of iStockphoto, alija |
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