With talk of a flatter user experience, many thoughts immediately gravitated towards a Windows 8 like experience.
Today’s keynote at the World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC), introduced the new iOS7 look, and functionality.
You can learn more about all things iOS7 here.
Your local grocery store is the one area of the retail sector that e-commerce has yet to significantly impact. But that may be changing.
Reuters reports that Amazon may soon be rolling out grocery delivery services in markets beyond its Seattle home.
Unlike other grocery delivery services, Amazon could, conceivably, afford to make their delivery a loss-leader, as they offer their more traditional retail offerings in the same transaction or process.
Grocery delivery, however, has proven a tough nut to crack. The infrastructure remains significant.
From the web
Amazon plans major move into grocery business.
Just in time for the summer tourism season:
Wikipedia announced a new feature this week: Wikipedia Nearby
The feature will work on mobile devices, as well as the standard browser version of Wikipedia. The device will look for geotagged articles, and present them in a list format based on distance. It also prioritizes articles that are missing media, with a goal of encouraging photos and media uploads from mobile users.
There seems to be a nice balance in making the product better for the user, and encouraging the user to make the product better.
From the web:
Go on a Wikipedia scavenger hunt with Wikipedia Nearby — Wikimedia blog.
New data from Experian Marketing Services gives us a glance at how we are using our phones:
The average American smartphone user:
What this means for my mom:
Your son out performs the average American!
From the web:
Americans spend 58 minutes a day on their smartphones
A new industry forecast indicates that, by 2015, tablet shipments could outpace PCs by 2015 (combined laptops and desktops).
Shipments are going up, and prices are expected t0 fall nearly 11% in the next year. Also declining, is screen size, with “sub-8-inch” screens expected to outsell larger tablets.
“What started as a sign of tough economic times has quickly shifted to a change int he global computing paradigm, with mobile being the primary benefactor” – Ryan Reith, IDC Mobility Trackers.
What this means for my mom:
From the web:
IDC Forecasts Worldwide Tablet Shipments to Surpass Portable PC Shipments in 2013, Total PC Shipments in 2015 – prUS24129713.
9-5 Mac is quoting sources indicating a very different looking operating system for iOS7.
Essentially, textures will give way to flatness, and black & white interface elements.
What this means for my mom:
From the web:
Jony Ive’s new look for iOS 7: black, white, and flat all over | 9to5Mac.
AT&T Wireless has added a $0.61 “Administrative Fee” to their wireless bills. It’s small, and somewhat vague. But it’s there, and I probably wouldn’t have noticed.
What my mom should know:
From the web:
Shazam’s latest iPad update includes a new “Auto-tagging” feature that allows the user to set up a more passive background tagging process, when watching TV.
Rather than having to remember that Shazam allows you to tag every program, or watch for the little Shazam icon on a commercial, the new feature allows constant listening. Identified items will be loaded onto an in-app carousel.
(Side note: Am I the only one who fumbles after seeing the Shazam icon during a 30 second commercial to pull out my phone, open Shazam, and tag a commercial?)
How I would explain this to my mom:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKOowwejuAQ
You’ve gotten the tweets:
LOL… check out this picture of you…
And you know that guy you sort of met at that one thing a few years ago, has had his Twitter account compromised.
Twitter just launched a new 2 step authentication process that can help you from falling into the same trap.
What this mean for the non-geek:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsdvJI0AK5M
Mailbox, the Gmail client for iOS, is designed as “Modern tech for an ancient medium”. It is designed to help the user get to the enviable “Inbox Zero” every day with the ability to easily archive or even “snooze” emails on your mobile device.
This morning, it’s app is launching in the Apple App Store for iPad.
I always enjoy seeing how app designers differentiate between different experiences.
Mailbox founder Gentry Underwood talks about the design issues in this article.
“Constraint is the friend of design,” Underwood said. “It’s easier for us to create a simple mail experience [for the phone]. We have to resist the temptation to take all these pixels and put in all these bells and whistles.”
via Mailbox Takes Its Email App To iPad, With Android Waiting In The Wings – ReadWrite.
(Image: Mailbox)
