On sub-standard apps
Steve Jobs (via TechCrunch): Intermediate layers between the platform and the developer ultimately produces sub-standard apps and hinders the progress of the platform.
That’s the first thing I read this morning… I agree with Greg Slepak (CEO of TaoEffect) who wrote:
Crappy developers will make crappy apps regardless of how many layers there are.
That doesn’t mean that all developers using a specific layer will build crappy apps.
Chroma Circuit by Bowlerhat Games is a very good example. Chroma Circuit started out as a Flash based web game. It was one of the first apps that got packaged as an iPhone app using the Packager for iPhone. Apple didn’t seem to mind playing Chroma Circuit on their iDevices as they featured it as a staff pick on iTunes a while ago.
Fickleblox by BlueSkyNorth is another good example. This application started out as a Flash Lite game and is thereby available on a broad range of devices. It was also packaged using the Packager for iPhone and thus available in the app store.
Both applications (and there are dozens like this in the app store today) are fun to play, easy to use and perform well on the iDevice. You can hardly call that sub-standard! You can also hardly say that they hinder the progress of the platform. In fact… I think it is Apple who is now effectively hindering the progress of the iDevice platform. By allowing “intermediate layers” like Flash but also Unity, Titanium, MonoTouch, Corona, … the platform has become more open and appealing to non Obj-C/C/C++ developers. More developers (regardless of which technology they use) on the platform = more applications in the appstore. I wonder how many apps in the appstore today were built using one of these intermediate layers…
I’m with Adobe and all other intermediate layer providers, for that matter!
Talking breaking news application
Hi… My name is Serge and I am a news junkie… While there are a lot of breaking news services on Twitter, you can’t always leave your Twitter client running to get the latest breaking news updates (for instance at work or while presenting). In some cases you may still want to stay up to date on any breaking news which is why I started creating this little app last night…
It’s not quite finished yet but almost. I’ll release this when we release AIR2 and will also try to build a Windows version of it (although I am not sure if Windows also has a command line tool for their speech synthesizer).
Now that’s a tablet!
Powerful CPU? Check! 1.6GHz Intel Atom.
Capable of HD video? Check! 1080p!
Camera? Check! 1 front, 1 back.
Flash Player 10.1? Check!
Adobe AIR 2? Check!
HDMI-out? Check!
USB port? Check!
Expandable storage? Check! SDHC card slot.
Pen/digitizer support? Check! Perfect for your finer art/graphics projects.
I can install whatever I like? Check! Runs Windows 7 Home Premium.
Multi-tasking? Check!
Easy to use touch UI? Check! HP built their own touch enabled layer on top of Win7.
Cheaper than Apple’s tablet? Check! $549 for 32GB model vs $599 for Apple’s 32GB model
Available now? Not yet… but I can wait! I want this one soooooo bad! :D
The leaked specs also mention that it comes with a 5-hour battery. While that may seem a lot less than the 10-hour battery Apple promises, we all know that you have to take Apple’s battery promises with a grain of salt. My MBP is supposed to be able to give me 8 hours but I’ve never gotten more than 4 out of it. Perhaps if you switch off WIFI, turn down the brightness to 1 and don’t do anything you get the 10 hours they promise but you can hardly call that usable… 5 hours sounds decent and honest enough.
Update: As pointed out in the comments, some reviewers are posting some good reviews about the battery life of Apple’s tablet. However, keeping my experience with my MBP in mind, I think it’s only fair that I am a bit skeptical about that.
Now this is a tablet I can get excited about!
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