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iTunes UI: Deconstructing 8 to 9

Written on September 16, 2009 by Chris Ryan and 45 people have commented

The one thing many people did not expect with a new version of iTunes was that Apple would use the opportunity to cause dissent among its fanbase by introducing another new user interface. Some classify the new styling as “needed” and “elegant and refined” while others have resorted to a variety of hacks to return [...]

Rumor Has It: Apple Tablet Video Surfaces, Impresses, Not Likely Real

Written on August 13, 2009 by Darrell Etherington and 11 people have commented

Even though I will warn you, as I was warned, that these videos are almost certainly clever fakes, the Mac addict portion of your brain will likely still experience a pleasurable thrill when you see them. I first saw these over at Cult of Mac, but they’ve been making the rounds, with TechCrunch and Gizmodo [...]

The Pursuit of Perfection: Hidden Gems in Apple Design

Written on July 15, 2009 by Chris Ryan and 63 people have commented

If you ask any of the Apple “fanboys” in the world why they are so devoted to Apple, at least one of the reasons you will hear is that Apple “sweats the small stuff” that really proves their dedication to user experience and attention to detail. Here’s a few of my favorites, covering Apple’s attention not just to their hardware and software, but even the product packaging. See how many you may have noticed before, and feel free to add your own that I might have missed in the comments below.

BumpTop as a Finder Replacement: Unlikely

Written on April 09, 2009 by Nick Santilli and 12 people have commented

Most people have seen the BumpTop videos on YouTube and TED by now. (If you haven’t, I’ve embedded their current demo vid below. Take a look!) The official desktop replacement has been in private beta (for Windows only) for a little while now, and I’ve had the pleasure of playing along at home. The [...]

Customizing Your Mac: Changing Icons

Written on November 12, 2008 by David Appleyard and 8 people have commented

Apple’s user interface is heralded as a sleek, modern experience. A great deal of attention is paid to the design of icons, and a guide is published to help ensure that developers also create icons which meet the standards of OS X.
If you’d like to use custom icons in OS X — whether for applications, [...]

Microsoft SideSight: Should Apple Really Worry?

Written on October 22, 2008 by Darrell Etherington and 4 people have commented

Keen not to be left behind by Apple’s increasing repertoire of multi-touch interface control gestures, Microsoft recently previewed a new technology called “SideSight.” SideSight is not just Redmond’s version of Apple’s tech, though. In fact, Microsoft’s new offering is not touch tech at all. More like proximity tech.
Gearlog provides an overview of SideSight, based on [...]

Organizing Apps on the iPhone

Written on September 16, 2008 by Nick Santilli and 23 people have commented

Ask my wife about how neat I am, and she’s very likely to laugh at you for referencing me and the word ‘neat’ in the same sentence. But when it comes to my digitized life, “neatnik” couldn’t be a better descriptor for me. Ever since the iPhone went 2.0, and third party applications [...]

Want to design the future of Apple’s Pro Apps?

Written on February 07, 2008 by Eddie Hargreaves and 2 people have commented

Do you possess a relentless attention to detail, a gifted eye for aesthetics and the ability to quickly grasp and distill highly complex matters? Then you just may be qualified to design future versions of Final Cut Pro, Motion and Soundtrack Pro!
Apple always has job openings, but it’s a bit rarer that they post one at [...]

UI Customization in Leopard

Written on November 26, 2007 by Stephanie Guertin and 18 people have commented

As you might have guessed from my past articles here, I tend to heavily customize the appearance of OS X on any machines I use regularly. Looking at my desktop, I see no default icons, my dock isn’t much better, and every time I use someone else’s machine, I’m generally surprised by the candy-colored [...]