I really love the return of the browser wars. It looked for a while like Firefox was going to slowly eat away at InternetExplorer’s dominance until it became The One True Browser, but the burst of activity around WebKit and its Safari/Chrome offspring has really shaken things up. We’re seeing some pretty innovative stuff going on for developers, opening up a whole new can of “Browser as Operating System” sauce and pouring it all over HTML 5, CSS 3, WebM video, etc. That’s pretty exciting stuff if you like writing code, but what about the vast majority who prefer using it?
I covered some Firefox 4’s user experience sweetness in the previous Tabs position: the toilet paper roll of UI design, which digs into Mozilla’s decision to switch from tabs-on-top to tabs-on-bottom. That’s not all that innovative in and of itself — Chrome does tabs on top too — but some of the details in there are pretty tasty sounding (like mini tabs on the left for web apps). Good thing they’ve got some other tricks up their open source sleeves!
A new video came out a few days ago, this time from Firefox’s Creative Director Aza Raskin, talking about The Thing that Will Change Browsing Forever (Again). Seems hard to believe now, but there was a time when Firefox was the first real browser to support tabs at all. Remember when your browsing session was a mess of open windows, each showing a single page? Ah… the good old days. Now I’d be totally lost without tabs. Problem is, I’m frequently totally lost within tabs, so we’ve really traded one form of information overload for another. Tab Candy is the solution.
It’s like the best parts of Apple’s Exposé (Mac OS X) and App Folders (iOS) were mashed together with a Zooming User Interface (ZUI, pronounced zoo-ey) and then deliciously layered on top of Firefox’s tasty tabs. I’m practically drooling with anticipation.
Aza’s been talking about and researching ZUIs for a long time. Here’s a talk he did at CHI2007 (and again as a Google TechTalk) on the Death of the Desktop:
It’s great to see some of this work making it into a product with such an awe-inspiring large install base. I don’t know that I’d want everything I do to be done through a ZUI (visions of computer-induced-motion-sickness), but they’re awesomely effective in the right application. And this is definitely one of those applications.
There’s an age-old debate about which way the toilet paper roll should face — paper comes over the top or around from under the bottom? I’m an over the top kind of guy myself. And it turns out I feel the same way about tabs in my browser as I do about paper in the [...]
This is the final episode of Mr. Mobile, but you haven’t seen the last of host Jay Goldman. Jay revisits episode 1 of Mr. Mobile on Fizz Weather for the iPhone by taking a look at an awesome weather app for the iPad. Weather HD uses your iPad’s glorious screen to give you a glimpse of what the day’s going to look like.
Jay Goldman takes a look at SportsTap, the ultimate Android app for sports nuts. Just about every competitive sport is covered here: NBA, NHL, MLB, NFL as well as NCAA sports, motor sports, golf, tennis and, of course, football AKA soccer. SportsTap is by far the best way to keep on top of all pro and college sports, including teams that are close to you using LocalTap. If you’re looking for the best Android app to keep on top of the FIFA World Cup, look no further.
Basecamp is a great way to keep your projects in order. It’s like a virtual project manager that keeps the team on track with milestones, to-do lists, chats and whiteboards. Jay Goldman takes a look at Insight, the best way to access Basecamp and all your projects, lists and all that good stuff right from the Insight app. You can post, read messages, view files and see the overall progress of your projects.
Basecamp is a great way to keep your projects in order. It’s like a virtual project manager that keeps the team on track with milestones, to-do lists, chats and whiteboards. Jay Goldman takes a look at Insight, the best way to access Basecamp and all your projects, lists and all that good stuff right from the Insight app. You can post, read messages, view files and see the overall progress of your projects.
Two cool apps that extend the functionality of your iPad. One adds the missing camera feature (sort of) and the other turns your iPad into a second monitor (sort of).
Both of these apps can be a little buggy, but it’s pretty cutting edge stuff and definitely worth a look, if only as a proof of concept.
Android games suck. No disrespect meant to the hard working devs out there, but it’s largely true. Jay Goldman, AKA Mr. Mobile, scoured the Android Market to find the best Android game going as a look at what’s possible on Google’s mobile platform.
If you’ve ever woken up to a blaring alarm only to feel like you just went to bed five minutes ago, you’re not alone. The problem, if Sleep Cycle alarm clock is to be believed, is that you’re getting woken up at the wrong time in your sleep cycle, when you’re in a deep, restful slumber. Sleep Cycle alarm clock uses your iPhone accelerometer to judge when you’re ready to be woken up and as a result, you’ll feel better rested. Jay Goldman explains.
You’ve got a brand spanking new iPhone, iPod or iPod Touch. You’ve got a less than brand spanking new car though. While many newer cars are offering USB ports or at least an AUX in jack to crank your MP3 player’s tunes through your car speakers, it’s a fairly recent phenomena. Chances are, you’ll need a work-around to get the music from your iPod running through you car stereo. Jay Goldman abides with two simple and elegant solutions from Belkin.
If you’re a travelling salesperson or otherwise a road warrior or if you particularly enjoy printing out pages that look like they came out of a circa 2000 fax machine, Jay Goldman has just the device for you. The PrintStik prints from your Windows PC, BlackBerry
Should your need for bombast, rhetoric, and general shenanigans not be satisified by the above selection of savory soliloquys, perhaps you might find your personal nirvana in the solitude of the Archives.
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