I don't think it is tired. It is a very, very slick app. What it tired is the pricing. I am not gonna buy until as a Wired subscriber I can have it included for free. I already paid once. twice is a big customer no-no.
As far as the navigating the app, give me a break. Its a non issue. What are we in the stone ages? The same "confusing" ui issues could be brought up with mouse and keyboard. Despite the mouse and Kb being around forever there are still people who dont know how to use them properly.
Marvel Comics has the same problem.
These big media companies needs to get their pricing under control.
Another curious question, if I bought an issue of the magazine, read it and passed it onto you to read or photocopy (as a friend), that's perfectly fine for personal use, right. What about in the digital world? If I purchased the app and "shared" the .ipa with you, is it alright for you to install it (via crack/jailbreak) or not...? And why?
@Lord Dark Helmet Seriously? There is NO indication if you can scroll down the pages, or only sideways.. it's trial & error testing! The 'interactive' features are scrolling JPG's. it's a FLOP!
It's a PNG viewer at best, with a few ACC files and a Movie to play.
But then again, they had it all done in Flash with Adobe, and then came Apple saying they can't port Flash over.. Maybe they should just have done it right from the start - and not been using Flash...
@Almo I believe so, as long as the person wants it, and as long as the distribution rights allow it to be done legally. If the app or file shared is not permitted to be distributed illegally such as through jailbreaking or if there's fine print that doesn't allow to be distributed to anyone else at all, then I don't think it's right to distribute it.
For instance I share legal MP3 files with my friends, and I believe that's right, but instances such as a copy of CS5 or a movie, that's a different story.
@marook really do you need to know where to scroll and when not to? Its not that hard folks. I think you miss the point of the app and the device to a certain degree. The point when they made the app the way they did was to force you to explore it, it comes with this whole touch screen digital magazine territory. The app is /italics/ Interactive /italics/
Its no different than when website designers push the boundaries and make brand new websites with sometimes funky navigation.
Again its a non issue. The price however is bullshit.
as far as sharing it. Whats to stop you from going to the public library and borrowing movies, ripping, digitalizing them and not deleting?
@N900 There's a difference between right and legal, I'm not trying to defeat your point on semantics. I'm just saying that what's "right" is when companies deal with their customers as their partners and give them limited sharing rights, perhaps that's what your saying with legal MP3 (a term I'm unfamiliar with, not sure how common that term is).
What's wrong, is not jailbreaking/sharing then, it might be illegal but that doesn't make it wrong. Wrong would be sharing with the intent to make a profit or to perhaps circumvent another client who would otherwise pay for the content. Surely, it isn't wrong to give someone a taste or sample of something that in every other format existing you can get a taste or sample of first. Online - free. Print - open it in the store (it's "wrong" to read the whole thing there.) Digital - whadda joke, another place where consumers are getting more "screwed" in the digital age.
I'm sure there will be more than one person who thinks, and perhaps responds, that it's the content owners property and they have the right to do whatever they want with it. Yes, and I do agree that you are correct, however, I'm not talking about rights here, I'm talking about what is "right". If you discover the fix for world hunger, you own it and you can do whatever you want with it, but that doesn't make it "right" to keep it to yourself. It wouldn't make it right to sell it to 5 governments, then have the countries that want it but were waiting to hear the reviews from the richer countries. Then it turned out that the reviews were disappointing, still you go on tell them "Well, you see, you have to buy it, we can't just give you a sample...Yes, we understand that in the old system, that country could give you their leftover food, however, this food is more special than that..." When in reality it's not really special, the only thing that is special is the new way they've found to give the consumers more rope to hang themselves with.
I read that 3 times over. Closed my eyes and read it once more. I honestly don't understand the point you're making or what you're trying to say. Can we have a punchline? So... it's okay to share? I'm confused. :(
1) I've never read a magazine where you had to scroll to read one page. Scrolling down is a fail and yet web designers still can't figure this out.
2) Wired in the 90's was wired but even by the late 90's it was tired, lost the edge and become an advert riddled non source of information.
3) funny that the cost/value complaints have only really started with e-mags, audio and video are already destroyed with less quality for more cost. Did no one notice we are paying more for less?
I used to be a paper subscriber, stopped. I used to read the wired website, stopped years ago. Nothing there.
Inconsistent navigation is an issue. It might not be for only a few pages but when you're going through a 50 pager or 100 pager magazine (or the equivilent of it as navigation), it can get confusing and after a certain point, near unusable. Consistent navigation is a must and while there are plenty of convoluted websites out there, they are badly designed.
Design is equal parts usability and aethetics. We fail when we favor one over the other.
How about scanning a barcode on your already-owned Wired magazine to scoop it up into your iPad? That would be a fun, interesting way to (copy android) get your magazine in your iPad, no extra cash necessary!
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
I don't think it is tired. It is a very, very slick app. What it tired is the pricing. I am not gonna buy until as a Wired subscriber I can have it included for free. I already paid once. twice is a big customer no-no.
As far as the navigating the app, give me a break. Its a non issue. What are we in the stone ages? The same "confusing" ui issues could be brought up with mouse and keyboard. Despite the mouse and Kb being around forever there are still people who dont know how to use them properly.
Marvel Comics has the same problem.
These big media companies needs to get their pricing under control.
@Lord Dark Helmet
Another curious question, if I bought an issue of the magazine, read it and passed it onto you to read or photocopy (as a friend), that's perfectly fine for personal use, right. What about in the digital world? If I purchased the app and "shared" the .ipa with you, is it alright for you to install it (via crack/jailbreak) or not...? And why?
@Lord Dark Helmet
Seriously?
There is NO indication if you can scroll down the pages, or only sideways.. it's trial & error testing!
The 'interactive' features are scrolling JPG's. it's a FLOP!
It's a PNG viewer at best, with a few ACC files and a Movie to play.
But then again, they had it all done in Flash with Adobe, and then came Apple saying they can't port Flash over.. Maybe they should just have done it right from the start - and not been using Flash...
@marook Well, this is why Apple doesn't want Flash on the iPad.
@Almo I believe so, as long as the person wants it, and as long as the distribution rights allow it to be done legally. If the app or file shared is not permitted to be distributed illegally such as through jailbreaking or if there's fine print that doesn't allow to be distributed to anyone else at all, then I don't think it's right to distribute it.
For instance I share legal MP3 files with my friends, and I believe that's right, but instances such as a copy of CS5 or a movie, that's a different story.
@marook really do you need to know where to scroll and when not to? Its not that hard folks. I think you miss the point of the app and the device to a certain degree. The point when they made the app the way they did was to force you to explore it, it comes with this whole touch screen digital magazine territory. The app is /italics/ Interactive /italics/
Its no different than when website designers push the boundaries and make brand new websites with sometimes funky navigation.
Again its a non issue. The price however is bullshit.
as far as sharing it. Whats to stop you from going to the public library and borrowing movies, ripping, digitalizing them and not deleting?
@N900 There's a difference between right and legal, I'm not trying to defeat your point on semantics. I'm just saying that what's "right" is when companies deal with their customers as their partners and give them limited sharing rights, perhaps that's what your saying with legal MP3 (a term I'm unfamiliar with, not sure how common that term is).
What's wrong, is not jailbreaking/sharing then, it might be illegal but that doesn't make it wrong. Wrong would be sharing with the intent to make a profit or to perhaps circumvent another client who would otherwise pay for the content. Surely, it isn't wrong to give someone a taste or sample of something that in every other format existing you can get a taste or sample of first. Online - free. Print - open it in the store (it's "wrong" to read the whole thing there.) Digital - whadda joke, another place where consumers are getting more "screwed" in the digital age.
I'm sure there will be more than one person who thinks, and perhaps responds, that it's the content owners property and they have the right to do whatever they want with it. Yes, and I do agree that you are correct, however, I'm not talking about rights here, I'm talking about what is "right". If you discover the fix for world hunger, you own it and you can do whatever you want with it, but that doesn't make it "right" to keep it to yourself. It wouldn't make it right to sell it to 5 governments, then have the countries that want it but were waiting to hear the reviews from the richer countries. Then it turned out that the reviews were disappointing, still you go on tell them "Well, you see, you have to buy it, we can't just give you a sample...Yes, we understand that in the old system, that country could give you their leftover food, however, this food is more special than that..." When in reality it's not really special, the only thing that is special is the new way they've found to give the consumers more rope to hang themselves with.
I know, TLTR.
@juanvaldez
I read that 3 times over. Closed my eyes and read it once more. I honestly don't understand the point you're making or what you're trying to say. Can we have a punchline? So... it's okay to share? I'm confused. :(
@Lord Dark Helmet
1) I've never read a magazine where you had to scroll to read one page. Scrolling down is a fail and yet web designers still can't figure this out.
2) Wired in the 90's was wired but even by the late 90's it was tired, lost the edge and become an advert riddled non source of information.
3) funny that the cost/value complaints have only really started with e-mags, audio and video are already destroyed with less quality for more cost. Did no one notice we are paying more for less?
I used to be a paper subscriber, stopped. I used to read the wired website, stopped years ago. Nothing there.
@Almo
Basically, if they're gonna screw us over with DRM and overly high pricing then we should screw them over by sharing our files.
That's what I read anyway.
@Lord Dark Helmet
Inconsistent navigation is an issue. It might not be for only a few pages but when you're going through a 50 pager or 100 pager magazine (or the equivilent of it as navigation), it can get confusing and after a certain point, near unusable. Consistent navigation is a must and while there are plenty of convoluted websites out there, they are badly designed.
Design is equal parts usability and aethetics. We fail when we favor one over the other.
@Lord Dark Helmet
How about scanning a barcode on your already-owned Wired magazine to scoop it up into your iPad? That would be a fun, interesting way to (copy android) get your magazine in your iPad, no extra cash necessary!
@Almo Illegal doesn't make something "wrong", legal doesn't make something "right"
"...and you know what DRM is? getting fucked" Tony Montana