Calvin Blog Carl
Calvin Ross Carl • Artist and Designer • Portland, OR
I write about #art, #design, and what is happening in my #studio.
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The "Completely Redesigned" iTunes 11 is Out Now →
Overall, looks much nicer and they removed the mostly pointless left sidebar, which always took up too much real estate when compared with how often you actually interacted with it. Design-wise, it’s occasionally a little too valueless, so it has some of the same hierarchy problems as the Rdio design. But hey, the iTunes Store is actually fast and useable again!
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Fantastical Calendar for iOS →
Downloaded it immediately. Then promptly moved the iOS Calendar app to a folder labeled “Apple” where I tuck away all the crap Apple iOS apps I never use.
Fantastical doesn’t place importance on a day’s location on a calendar. Instead it just provides an easily scannable, well designed list of events, and just shows it in relation to the next couple days near the day you are viewing. Much more sensible.
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How Google, Apple, and Nokia Maps show (or don't show) high security sites →
From highly detailed photos to artfully done Photoshop filters for censorship. There is quite a variance in how all these confidential military sites are displayed. I’m assuming Apple and Nokia have more detailed photos, simply because they are the new kids on the block, and haven’t yet had G-men in black helicopters sent to their homes to threaten them.
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Sparrow bought by Google
From the Sparrow team:
We’re excited to let you know that Sparrow has been acquired by Google!
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We will continue to make available our existing products, and we will provide support and critical updates to our users. However, as we’ll be busy with new projects at Google, we do not plan to release new features for the Sparrow apps.
Such a shame. Sparrow on Mac and iOS are two of my absolute favorite apps, and they are still far too young to be sunsetted. I assume this means the Gmail iOS app will be updated with some of Sparrow’s thinking, but let’s not kid ourselves. This means the death of some great apps, potentially at the risk of making some mediocre Googleified versions of Sparrow.
All that being said, the Sparrow team are incredibly talented, and they deserve their payday too.
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The Apple clothing line from 1986.
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Guess who just made their design portfolio web app ready for iOS. It’s ridiculously easy thanks to Apple’s documentation, but I never got around to it. No idea why you would want to, but you can go to my design portfolio in Safari, then add the site to your homescreen. It’s just kind of fun to see how differently it feels when you launch it as a web app directly from your homescreen.
Also, isn’t it nice to see an icon that sticks out in the ocean of corporate blue icons?
And yes, just like my everyday attire, my background is always black.
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Design is in the Details
Or in this case, it’s in the details Apple decides to leave out. I decided to compare the ways Apple and Verizon are promoting the Verizon iPhone on their homepages. Unsurprisingly, Apple practices restraint, and Verizon adds enough cheesy marketing text and cliche design flourishes to bore you half to death. Here’s the evidence:
Which one would you rather click on?
For added fun, look what phone AT&T is promoting on their homepage. Featuring Windows Phone 7, while your competitor is featuring an iPhone, is probably a mistake since Phone 7 isn’t selling too well by comparison.
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First time I’ve ever seen a page on Apple’s site broken. Apparently the new Macbook Air page isn’t quite ready.
