Category: Columns & Opinion

Apple iPhone application development: can't do right by some

andy-merrett.jpgAndy Merrett writes…

Thanks to the amount of hype and spin surrounding the iPhone, it seems that, when it comes to third party applications, Apple can’t do right by some people.

Apple were criticised right from the start when it looked as if they wouldn’t offer any kind of third-party application support for the iPhone.

Now that their initial solution has been unveiled – Web 2.0 and AJAX – they’re being slated again. Pick a derogatory word about Apple’s solution and it’s probably been used against them.

It seems few people stop to consider that this is Apple’s first-generation iPhone. As with the first Apple TV, the first iPod, the first Mac, the first iMac, or the first MacBook Pro, it will have first-generation functionality.

Everyone knows that future generations of the iPhone will feature more functionality. Take a look at the evolution of the iPod, now imagine what an iPhone could look like in five years’ time.

Andy Merrett Columns & Opinion, iPhone

iPhone opens up to developers via current web standards: No complicated SDK needed

Andy Merrett writes…

Developers have been waiting for some time to find out exactly if and how they can create applications for the iPhone – and yesterday Steve Jobs told them.

At his opening Keynote speech to the World Wide Developers’ Conference, he made it clear that the iPhone would handle applications, and they’d all run using Web 2.0 and AJAX technologies via the updated version of the Safari web browser.

I’ve already written that developers may now take notice of Safari because of the iPhone, and this effectively seals the deal.

Andy Merrett Apple WWDC 2007, Columns & Opinion, iPhone, Mobile phones, Web 2.0

Does the Church of England have any rights over a virtual Manchester Cathedral?

andy-merrett.jpgAndy Merrett writes…

An almighty row (no pun intended, honest) has broken out between two giants: Sony and the Church of England.

It’s all down to the highly controversial use of Manchester Cathedral in Sony’s hit game “Resistance: Fall of Man”.

Both the Church, and relatives of victims of Manchester’s gun crime, have condemned Sony for producing the game, branding it “sick” and “highly irresponsible”.

Sci-fi it may be (the first-person shooter is annihilating aliens as they dash around the sanctuary toting a huge gun) – and that’s the line Sony is sticking to – but the Church of England is considering legal action if the game is not removed from shelves and if Sony do not apologise.

In the highly unlikely event that Sony do remove the game voluntarily from shelves, they’ll be reaching up to the number one shelf position – this controversy will probably just increase the game’s popularity.

So does it matter?

Andy Merrett Columns & Opinion, Gaming

Review: Ask3D – Ask's revamped search engine

askcom.gifI’m choosing to forget Ask’s rather bizarre ‘propaganda’ advertising of their new search “Ask 3D” search engine as I take a look at how effective it is as a tool, and whether it’s going to pose a threat to Google.

There’s more to Ask3D than the slightly shiny, icon-based eye candy that greets you when you arrive at their front page.

Both Google and Ask are keen to offer a more holistic approach to search results. A search for “Steve Jobs” in Google brings up the usual listing of results, but interspersed with news and video. It’s easy to find these items by scrolling through the results, but they’re not particularly distinct at first glance.

Ask, on the other hand, clearly separates regular web pages, listed in the middle column, from multimedia content and the latest news, displayed in sections in the right-hand column. It’s an elegant layout, marred only slightly by the “Sponsored Results” boxes which don’t integrate as well as their Google counterparts, and can sometimes take up to half of the screen before search results are displayed.

Andy Merrett Columns & Opinion, Internet, Reviews, Web 2.0, Websites