Tech
Google Reader for iPhone: A Step Backward
Google announced yesterday that they have a new version optimized for the iPhone and MobileSafari. They mention that the new version is better for the iPhone than their standard mobile version in that it utilizes javascript to do more from one view. “Starring, sharing, and keeping unread are done in place, so you never have to leave the list view or refresh the page.”
I think that all sounds well and good. But the truth is that the mobile version was actually better because it wrapped the original article in javascript and stripped out everything but the text and pertinent graphics. This was useful on EDGE and made it easy to keep up with my RSS feeds while away from my computer. I’ve been happily using the mobile version since I bought my iPhone almost a year ago and I wasn’t even asking for a change. The mobile version was such a great iPhone application. You just got the text, perfectly presented in your browser.
My biggest gripe about the new version is that they actually took features away. The mobile version has a Settings link that allows you to “Reformat linked web pages for mobile browsers.” You can turn that on or off as you see fit. I could choose to display 5, 10, or 20 articles at a time on the old version. The new iPhone version doesn’t even give you settings at all.
On both versions, there are 2 links at the bottom of your feed list: “Load More” and “Mark These Items as Read.” On the mobile version these links are stacked on top of one another and take up the same amount of screen space. Clicking either link is easy. But on the iPhone version the “Load More” link is left-aligned and significantly larger than the “Mark These Items as Read” link which is right justified. The first time I tried to click the mark-as-read link I actually clicked the load more link because that link spans the width of the iPhone’s screen. It’s awesome that they do that so I don’t have to be so specific with my touch but the mark items as read link doesn’t span the width of the iPhone and you must be very specific with your touch on that link. And the space it takes up is so much smaller than the load more link that it’s too easy to accidentaly touch the load more link.
Obviously the iPhone version is still in beta and these things can be easily fixed. But I wish more developers would remember that it’s never a good user experience to take features away (unless it’s proven that the feature is little-used and gets in the way of completing tasks). You should start with you already have and then add functionality to improve the user experience. I just hope they add those settings back. I won’t be able to use the iPhone-specific version until they do. Luckily for me, the mobile version was already an awesome iPhone app to begin with.
Music Subscriptions Feel So Wrong
I rent movies because I might watch them once. Maybe twice. I have about 40 DVDs of movies I know I’ll watch more than a few times. The way I consume movies is much different than the way I consume music so renting or subscribing to Netflix makes sense. Music matters to me. I have over 5000 tracks in iTunes, most of which are from my CD collection, and all of that music matters. The very idea of being able to listen to all the music ever made in exchange for a subscription sounds ridiculous. There’s only so much music a person can enjoy. And if you are the type of person that needs to hear the latest and greatest song by whatever hot teen the labels are pimping then you aren’t the kind of person that really likes music. You like synthetic garbage.
So I hope that this plan the Financial Times is reporting isn’t a mandatory thing. I hope they keep pushing for more songs to be in the non-DRM iTunes Plus format for purchase. I don’t ever want my music hijacked by a company because I don’t want to pay the monthly extortion for their subscription anymore.
UPDATED: 3/24/07: According to CNet, sources say it’s Universal who is putting this on the table. I seriously should have know that, after all Doug Morris would love nothing more than to put his hand in every music buyer’s pocket every month for the rest of their lives. Here’s my favorite quote:
“These guys at Universal,” said one music insider, “are so obsessed with this subscription thing…but there are publishing issues involved with bundling and I don’t think they make much money off it.”
The Unused Forward Button
I was watching a video of the new gestures for the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pros and noticed that they are touting the ability to swipe from right-to-left to go “back” in a browser or go left-to-right to go “forward” in the browser. And that got me thinking, have I ever used the forward button? I started to think back on all the years I’ve used web browsers from Netscape to IE to Firefox to Safari and I can’t remember a time when I ever even thought to use the forward button. And that got me thinking about the behavior of other people and whether or not they use the forward button. If people do find that button useful, how do they use it? And what percentage of web users find the forward button useful? I’m very curious about this because ever since the introduction of tabbed browsing I barely even use the back button.
Do you use the forward button? How do you use it?
IE Takes a Slice out of Web Clips
I just read an article about the new beta of IE 8 on CNet:
One of the new features, WebSlices, allow users to break a Web site into parts and only get updates from the part they want.
Boy, that sounds familiar. I wonder where Microsoft gets their ideas?
Understanding People
Dennis O’Reilly wonders why so many people use IE, if it’s such a crappy browser:
Part of the reason may be that it’s so tightly integrated with Windows: It takes an effort to download Firefox or another alternative browser, while the little blue “e” icon is omnipresent on the desktop, start menu, quick launch toolbar, and elsewhere in Windows.
Ya think? Maybe if you understood human beings at all, you’d understand that people choose the path of least resistance. When Microsoft decided to embed Explorer into the operating system, they created an anti-competitive environment which is why they’re being watched for another 2 years. And IE is a crappy browser, no one should be using it.