On February 24, 1955, Steve Jobs was born in San Francisco. Some years later, he and Steve Wozniak created Apple, Inc and the world was changed forever. Wherever you are Steve, thank you for the innovation and for inspiring us all. Happy Birthday!
Archive for the ‘Steve Jobs’ Tag
Happy Birthday Steve Jobs
The New Face of Twitter
I must say I love Twitter. I have a few accounts, personal, professional, and of course, our @TecWhat account, which I hope you are following. I use is daily to connect with friends and family as well as promoting TecWhat. I follow the best people I know on Twitter and have made some really great friends. You can often say just what you need in 140 characters.
In the past year, Twitter has been doing a lot of re-vamping of their site including better integration of photos. Some of their upgrades have been a little disappointing and alarming for its users, but all that has changed.
Today, Twitter released a totally new layout for both the web and mobile phones. The new look and feel is quite different from what we’re all use to seeing, but in moments you should feel right at home. So what’s changed? Just about everything, from the logon to the menu to the way you navigate the site. The design looks cleaner and more thought out, placing everything in framed sections that allow for better and easier viewing. It’s almost as if Steve Jobs had a hand in the renovation.
The Home page is distinctly different. The information side bar is now on the left side of the page topped with your immediate stats followed by “Who to Follow” and “Trends.” A cool new feature is the pop-up that shows when you select someone. In the old version it would be a side-out that covered everything on the information on the right side bar. Now, the pop-up gives you all the same info without covering up your side-bar. The column of tweets gives you more information as well, such as “In reply to @Someone” instead of just the “Retweeted by @Someone”
The @Connect page is a little different too giving you the options to easily choose Interactions or Mentions right at the top. The #Discover page gives you Stories and Activity. Both give you Who to Follow and Trends.
Viewing you own profile is better too. It’s a clean feel unlike the busy page of Facebook. This is more Google+ inspired, Web2.0. Information is readily and easily available in menus that right there instead of the clunky underlined links of past versions.
Basically, the only thing that hasn’t changed is the Settings page. It remains the same, useful and functional.
If you aren’t using Twitter or you’ve left for any reason, go have a look-see at the new design. Twitter is working hard to give you the best experience possible and they’re getting really close to it. If you’re already there, then enjoy the new design and let me know what you think!
Related articles
- Twitter Rolls Out a New Redesign (pcworld.com)
- Twitter’s New Look (failbook.failblog.org)
- Twitter launches new version of its site (guardian.co.uk)
- Twitter Launches Brand Pages for Business Accounts (hubspot.com)
iPhone 4 vs. 4S
iPhone 4S
Okay, so the hype is over! Kind of. The iPhone 4S has been released and all your friends have one but you’re still stuck in a contract with your mobile carrier and it’s going to be awhile before you get that upgrade for your old iPhone 4. The question is: Do you upgrade or stick it out until the iPhone 5? Well here are some things to consider.
The iPhone 4 is only a little over a year old. According to Apple the iPhone 4 was released on June 24th 2010 here in the US, the UK and elsewhere. I actually got mine about five weeks later and two weeks after I ordered it. While you may feel the need to jump to the next model, the iPhone 4 technology is not so old. I find that my own iPhone 4 is more than capable and sufficient for what I use it for. Granted the 5 mega-pixel camera is a little lame, but beyond that, I am happy with it. It’s still useful to me.
So what’s new in the iPhone 4S? Well, notably the dual-core A5 chip, which definitely speeds things up a bit. The iPhone 4 only has the A4 chip, which is not dual-core, but is still speedy enough for most people. What the A5 chip will do is give the 4S the ability to run faster graphics, up to seven times faster, which means faster games. Also launching apps, surfing the web, and basically anything else you might be doing will be quicker. Though, if you are my age, then you know any 14 year old is going to smoke you in a texting contest.
Siri, the on-again-off-again assistant is amazing, even with the troubles she’s had recently with server issues. That aside, I’ve seen her in action, “Find the closest park” or “Call Sam” or “Text Heather.” She answers and does almost everything you tell her. She appears to be the info genius she is purported to be. On my iPhone 4, I use Vlingo which does similar tasks without the sexy female voice talking back to you. If you can live with the silence, then you’re good to go. It’s also available for other mobile devices. Unfortunately, rumor has it that Apple will not be making Siri available for older iPhone models as the A5 chip is needed to run it.
Apple has completely redone the camera for the iPhone 4S. An 8 mega-pixel camera with newer, more advanced optics, including a lens with a larger f/2.4 aperture. No, it’s not for the professional photographer, but for your family get-to-gathers it’s a step in the right direction. The 4S even comes with a few editing features such as cropping, image rotation, red-eye removal, and image enhancement. In addition to the camera features, you can record video in 1080p HD, yes High Def! Edit and send your Spielberg-like creation on the fly.
Of course, the iPhone 4S comes with iOS5; however you can upgrade your 4. I love the 200+ features added to iOS5. The pull-down Notification Center is something I’ve been wanting since I bought the phone, and I can see it on my locked screen. Other new features in iOS5 are iMessage, Reminders, and my favorite Twitter as part of the OS. Apple’s online storage, iCloud, which gives you 5GB of storage for free, is also available with iOS5 so you can manage and store all your files in the cloud.
This is just a small sampling of what you get with the iPhone 4S. So do you upgrade or do you wait for the iPhone 5? Well, this is Apple, even without Steve, I think it’s safe to say that they will introduce some amazing new features when the 5 is released. If we are lucky, the iPhone 5 will be released in 2012. But really can I wait that long. I’m trying but it’s getting harder and harder. I’m up for an upgrade next month.
I’ll let you know.
Related articles
- If You Want an iPhone 4S, Check Your Upgrade Date Now [Iphone 4s] (lifehacker.com)
- Cruising Dreams and Desires, iPhone4S Unlocked @ $649 (knowledgetree12.wordpress.com)
Scott
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