iPad, iPhone, and Foxconn

• Did you know that it took 325 people to make an iPad, and that they made it over a period of 5 days?!
• Did you know that an iPhone was put together in 141 steps?!
• Did you know that Foxconn, the Chinese supplier of Apple employs 235,000 workers at its Shenzen plant, where iPhones and iPads are assembled?!

Read more about what Nightline’s reporter has to say about life and work at Foxconn here.

I’d like to thank Nancy for this excellent link.

Steve Jobs Passes Away – October 05, 2011.

Yesterday when we were talking about the iPhone 4s, a legend was leaving this world.  Steve Jobs, the maverick who possibly changed this world the most, died at the age of 56.  I find myself wishing that there were another Steve Jobs who’d have changed the medicine industry the way Jobs changed the computing industry – and we might’ve had a cure for the rare form of pancreatic cancer that took him away.

All I know is that I am distressed. It’s a bit like a friend passing away.  Steve Jobs steered Apple to bring it where it is, and made it what it is – the largest company in the US. Usually, when a company grows in size, it loses its ability to innovate and it stops being creative. Apple however is (and hopefully will remain,) different.  It was so because of the indomitable temperament that Jobs possessed. He refused to be cowed down by the Board, the competition (that he never considered a competition), and even the demands of people (recall the Flash debacle – even though he decided that Apple would give Flash a chance, in the long run he turned out to be right – how many “good” Flash games do you see on the App store?)

I hope that Tim Cook and others at the helm of Apple’s business affairs, will continue to carry the spirit of Jobs and use it in the decisions that they make. In the last five years, Apple’s decisions have been right on spot.

Steve Jobs is irreplaceable. In a world where creativity, quality, and innovation seldom get their due, he used them to create a company that makes money while sticking to its values.

For once, I find myself hoping that there is indeed something called rebirth.  I hope that he is reborn – as half-a-lifetime isn’t really for Jobs to put all his ideas to work. But then this is wishful thinking.

I hope that he has gone to a better place and that in that world there’s no pain and no criticism. Perhaps it’s time for everyone in heaven to get their own computers, which I don’t doubt would be better than the fantastic Macs; and their own tablets, which would be faster and even more user-friendly than the fabulous iPad 2.

May he rest in peace.

iPhone 4 vs. iPhone 4s – A Comparison

The speculation has ended. Tim Cook launched iPhone 4s yesterday. So…it wasn’t iPhone 5 that he had wanted to talk about when he invited people to “talk iPhone.”

I checked out how iPhone 4s was different from iPhone 4, heaved a huge sigh of relief, made myself a whole-peanut sandwich,  and got back to work ( I am currently working on the interface of one of the best puzzle games that the world has seen in a long time…but then who cares about the graphic designer. Sigh!)

Okay…so here’s your Nifty chart that compares iPhone 4 vs. iPhone 4s.

iPhone 4s vs. iPhone 4

(A Nifty Comparison Chart)

Synopsis – iPhone 4s vs. iPhone 4

iPhone 4s looks exactly the same as iPhone 4.  It also has the same resolution is iPhone 4 (which is 326 ppi,)  which obviously is something that has made many graphic designers happy. I know that there are some iPhone users who’d love to have a higher resolution phone,  but they must know that “retina display” or a resolution of 326 ppi is the highest resolution that the human eye can appreciate – any increase in the resolution would be completely useless.)

What has changed however is the performance of almost everything.

For instance,

• The iPhone 4s boasts of an 8 Megapixel camera with face-detection, and auto-focus.
• The storage space has gone up.
• iPhone 4s is expected to give us higher download speeds (double perhaps.)
• iPhone 4s comes equipped with Siri, an assistant that will help you type by speaking, thus making email/messaging and other activities easier.  Siri will respond to your questions (talk to you,) and follow your voice commands.
• iPhone 4s is a tiny bit heavier (a few grams) than its predecessor – but you’ve got to be a princess to feel the difference.

BTW, they are saying that the “s” in iPhone 4s stands for “speed.”

More later…
I need to go out for some cheese. A dangerous mission, if you ask me. I forgot to tell you but the lady of the house has got this evil contraption called a mouse trap. Horrible, horrible woman!

iPhone 5 – Releasing on October 4, 2011.

Whenever Apple launches anything – it instantly becomes the biggest techno-news of the world. Right now, it’s the launch of iPhone 5 that’s making waves.  Apple-lovers, Apple-critics, and Apple copiers have been doing overtime at the rumor mills, and to the best of everyone’s intuition, Apple is indeed launching the iPhone 5 tomorrow.

Here’s what the world expects it to be:

• Smarter (work with iCloud, capable of running on both GSM and CDMA networks)
• Bigger (and Smaller too – some wonder if there would be two versions,)
• Faster(a faster processor, 1 GB RAM, 4G Speed – 3 times faster than the previous iPhones),
• and more skillful (higher resolution camera – 8 mega pixel, a new voice command system).

Here’s more on what everyone’s been expecting from iPhone 5.

According to International Business Times here, “Tim Cook is expected to unveil the iPhone 5 at 10 a.m. Pacific time in Cupertino, California, in a special event.”  Nifty feels that in this event, we’ll experience the first tangible impact of Steve Jobs’ resignation.

But then not everyone’s upbeat about the launch. For instance, David Magee says, “Apple may not be able to keep up the momentum,”  so there are people out there who believe iPhone 5 launch might be a damp-squib. Your Nifty however, is an Apple-loyalist who refuses to agree with David Magee.

More on this page at Daily Mail UK website.  Please share your expectations (and also apprehensions.)

Some say (and they say it with a great deal of conviction, as they’ve found some clues at iTunes) that we’ll see only iPhone 4s on October 4th.  This might well be true, because the invite that went out from Apple very mysteriously said, “Let’s talk iPhone.”

Tell me what you think.

1. Will iPhone 5 be launched on October 4th?
2. Will iPhone 5 have a larger screen area than iPhone 4 (rumors have it that it’s diagonal measurement would be 0.5 inches more than that of the previous iPhones)?

Nifty’s Diary – Post 8: Lots of New things to Share :)

Nifty’s Nook
August 06, 2011 – 8:30 AM
“I’ve got news that I’ve ferreted out from the core of Apple – a place you can’t reach if you aren’t a mouse “

I wish I could say that, but I can’t. The truth is that though I have a lot of stuff to share with you, most of it is from the rumor-mills that are driving me deaf with their incessant stream of rumors.

And yes…I’ll also tell you about the new iPhone and iPad games that I think you should spend your time downloading and checking out. With approximately 40 games (and about 300 apps) being published on the App Store every day, you don’t want to spend your precious time downloading every game, playing it, and then deleting it off (granted that deleting hardly takes any time…still.)

For me, going through the games is an occupational hazard. I go through about 5-6 games everyday…hoping for that one game to come up, which’d set standards for this graphic designer – so far, only a dozen or so have cast any impression on me.  But every once in a while I chance upon a game that I don’t delete from my iPad for days. So, I’ll talk about those games here. To start with, I’ll do that once a week; then depending upon your response, I could increase the frequency.

That’s all from Nifty’s Nook today.

I’ll see you again…soon

 

What’s New in the World of Apple? OS X Lion, The Thunderbolt Display, and the Fake Apple Store in China.

I don’t know if you heard about that truck that broke down near our house the day before. It was loaded with peanuts, and I couldn’t let the golden opportunity go waste. So I was busy lugging one peanut at a time, to my nook. This kept me away from the blogosphere and I couldn’t really share these nifty news bytes with you.

So, chin up and chest out! Apple’s got us not just Lion with all those cool features that I talked about here – but also the Thunderbolt.

The Thunderbolt

According to Apple:

Thunderbolt is a revolutionary I/O technology that supports high-resolution displays and high-performance data devices through a single, compact port. It sets new standards for speed, flexibility, and simplicity. And it’s on MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac mini.

So, what is the Thunderbolt display?

Here’s what it means – in neat nifty-speak.

Apple’s expertise with Firewire and Intel’s expertise with USB came together to create Thunderbolt, an extremely fast input output technology. You can now connect external devices (video cameras etc.) directly to your iMac/Macbook, through a single Thunderbolt cable. Thunderbolt also provides 10 Watts of power to the peripheral devices.

Thunderbolt  technology allows 10 Gbps of throughput in both directions, which means data transfer happens 20 times faster than in case of USB (and 12 times faster than in case of Firewire.) You can also connect multiple devices to the same Thunderbolt chain. Read more about Thunderbolt here.

 

The Fake Apple Stores in China

 

And now the Fake Apple Store story, which was broken to the world by a nifty fellow WordPress blogger at birdabroad.wordpress.com

You possibly know what happened, but here’s the gist once again.

This American blogger (A bird, A broad, abroad,) sniffed out this fake Apple Store at a place called Cunmings in China.  She shot some pictures and made a post. Her post was freshly pressed by WordPress, and people flocked to her blog to read the story. One thing led to another, and then the News Channels caught on. Eventually, the Chinese Government woke up and made 3 out of 5 Fake Apple Stores pull their shutters down. However, the store from where the story had begun, is still happily in business. They even had the nerve to write to Apple for a Reseller’s license.

I am waiting to see whether or not they get it or not…and I seriously hope that don’t.

Apple’s Mission Statement 2011 – Found.

Dr. Diana Hamilton’s Post “Top 10 Company Mission Statements in 2011” presents the Mission Statements of 10 organizations, including Apple’s and Microsoft’s.

Apple’s Mission Statement

(with Nifty Highlights.)

Apple:  Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings.

Note the use of the terms “best” and “innovative.”

I’d love to contrast it with Microsoft’s, which doesn’t include these words, but I am a nice little mouse so I won’t. However, you can read it here.

Apple’s Mission Statement?

I don’t know why but I googled for Apple’s Mission Statement. I should begin by admitting that I didn’t really find the mission statement of Apple. My mission remains incomplete, and except for “What is Apple’s Mission Statement” here, I really didn’t find anything substantial.

According to Kenny Yu,  who added this statement on this page, it was Tim Cook, the Acting COO of Apple,  who said this in 2009 when Steve Jobs was on a leave of absence due to medical reasons.

I believe that I see traces of this mission/vision statement in what Apple does.

For instance, read this.

We believe we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products that we make and participate only in markets where we can make a significant contribution.

They do own and control the technologies that drive their products. This seamless integration makes the experience of owning and using an Apple product unique.

And then…

We believe in saying no to thousands of projects so that we can focus on the few that are meaningful to us.

I think they believe in it, but once in a while they deviate from this philosophy. Including Adobe Flash as a App development tool for iOS Apps is one of those deviations. I am still not sure why in April 2010 Steve Jobs gave a 6-point-list called “Thoughts on Flash“, which told us why Adobe and Apple don’t mix (and which I completely agree with),  and then in September 2010, Apple decided to allow Apps created using “any tool” including Flash in the App Store?

It was good to read about Apple’s mission. Yet I feel that there’s a lot that this mission statement doesn’t share,  but which makes Apple what it is – a true leader in Information Technology.

 

 

 

Apple’s Lion Launched…July 20, 2011

Apple launched Lion yesterday.

Read about the Nifty features that Lion offers here, or follow the preceding link.

BTW, if you’ve bought your Mac after June 6th 2011 (I didn’t – I bought it earlier – sniff!) you get to take home your Lion, for Free.

That’s all for now…I’ll return with more news and information soon

Nifty’s Diary – Post 8: Game Salad Experiments made me miss my Developer.

Nifty’s Nook

July 19, 2011

What designer doesn’t dream of creating an iPhone game independently?
(Actually, none of the sane designers dream such impossible dreams – but then how many designers can claim to be sane? 3?!!)

Your Nifty too got caught in this I-can-develop-too frenzy. She had discovered this cool site, GameSalad.com and they said that they’ve got this fab App creator, which could help a designer create a game without writing a single line of code. Now that’s like winning a lottery…right? I mean, you don’t write code and you create one of those fabulous games that you see on the App-store! And everyone knows that it’s actually the graphic designer who is responsible for the success of any game – in’nit?

So I downloaded the kit and kaboodle and got down to creating my first game. A simple concept with 1 protagonist (the gamer’s avatar) and a couple of enemies. I must’ve spent a total of 6 minutes drawing the three critters…and it’s now around 6 hours in which all I have done is created two scenes, and made the enemies move around aimlessly, while the avatar stands rooted to its spot…shamelessly.

I think that GameSalad is fantastic, and if I really were motivated, I could do it. I might do it still – but when you’ve got ready access to an Objective C Developer who’d program a game with your graphics… … well… your motivation can falter.

That’s all there is for today. Enjoy the wait for Lion.