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Weekend Poll: Thinsperational or Ugly?
A wave-themed banner goes up at Moscone West. It joins the iOS 7 banner revealed earlier today. Beautiful? Or a horrifying glimpse of art over usability? Some are saying it means OS X will be Sea Lion. Some are saying it's just a wave. Others are speaking in hushed riddles... What does it mean? We set up a poll below so you can tell us what you think it means. Of course we'll know by next Monday, won't we? %Poll-82858% As for us, we're all about the thin. Here's our new TUAW banner, chock full of Ivedesign. (just kidding)
Weekend Poll: What would you have asked Tim Cook at All Things Digital?
On Tuesday, Tim Cook took the stage at D11: All Things Digital. Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg spent nearly an hour and a half asking Cook about Apple's future plans and directions, questions he evaded with dignity and forbearance. Topics included wearable tech, Apple's potential foray into television sets, and diversification of Apple's iPhone line. As we sat and watched here at TUAW central, we shook our heads at what we perceived as wasted opportunity after wasted opportunity. Anyone could have guessed that Cook would not reveal Apple's internal development secrets. Here, they had Cook, a man sitting at the forefront of mobile and desktop development, and, frustratingly, asked him product questions they knew he wouldn't answer instead of exploring the man's insights. As one anonymous TUAW blogger put it, "It was 81 minutes of 'I can't tell you.' It gave me a headache" So where was the philosophy? How is user interaction developing over the next few years? What is the future of the desktop? What trends are pushing the evolution of accessible computing? What role does design language play in Jony Ive's interface refresh? What lessons is Apple taking from the Surface -- what did Microsoft get right, and what did they get wrong? It's been a year since "Toaster Fridge", looking back did you have it right? We were bursting with questions like these, ones we felt that Cook could have openly addressed. Of course, Monday morning quarterbacking is easier than being in the hot seat ourselves -- especially with such well respected interviewers. But surely, Mossberg and Swisher would have gone into their discussion with an agenda they'd discussed and considered. We're just befuddled by the questions they chose to prioritize. What did you think of Cook's D11 interview? Valuable as is? Or would you have ran things differently? You tell us. Join in this poll and then tell us in the comments what questions you would have asked. %Poll-82712%
Weekend Poll: What apps did you discover via the 50 billionth download contest?
On Wednesday, Apple sold its 50 billionth iOS app. TUAW was there keeping track of the excitement and monitoring the iTunes store. Many of our colleagues and readers used this contest as an opportunity to stock up on numerous free apps, to test and explore. Were you one of them? What apps did you download and which ones do you love? Here at TUAW, most of our choices were word of mouth -- Megan downloaded Moves while I gave the Target app a try. I managed to convince Steve Sande to pick up Enigma. Sadly, none of us won. What about you? Did you discover a really great app while trying to win the prize? Drop a note in the comments and share your discoveries. And take part in our little poll. We're curious as to how many times people "entered" with the intent of winning big. %Poll-82542%
Weekend Poll: What rate, innovation?
Over the past year, things seem to have slowed down at Apple. OS upgrades have spaced out. The iPhone seems to have stabilized to a fairly consistent product -- the 4, 4S, and 5 aren't markedly different, other than a small bump in size. OS X has become more a matter of bug fixes, smoothing and refinement, than new features. So where's our big wow? It's not that Apple really needs innovation at this point. Its stable of products has a continued high demand, and consumers are responding to channel inventory in a gratifying way. Most of Apple's newest products have been upgraded in subtle but important ways, but "subtle" doesn't always feed the public's perception of innovation and revolution. So does Apple need that innovative push right now? The competition, certainly, has not stood still. From handsets the size of baby dolphins to low-cost high-definition tablets, the market is trying to find new device expressions. Where does Apple stand in all this? You tell us. Join in our poll and then drop your opinions into the comments section, and tell us where you see Apple innovating over the next few years. %Poll-81772%
Weekend Poll: Retina MacBook Pro
The MacBook Pro has always represented the best of business computing. With its powerful processors, superb screen sizes, and now Retina display, it's the belle of Apple's showroom. The MBP with Retina display has had a rougher time of things, however, than the standard-issue debutante. Screen ghosting, heat problems, battery deficiencies, and UI lags, this past year has been anything but magical for Apple's flagship business product. What are your thoughts on the rMBP? Best thing Apple has ever made? Or a problematic product with growing pains? Join in this poll and then share your comments explaining your thoughts. %Poll-81613%
Weekend Poll: Desktop Hygiene
How do you organize your OS X desktop? That topic became a matter of much heat and passion in the TUAW back channels recently. That's my desktop you see up there. It's not particularly pristine but I don't feel it's overly cluttered either. I keep links to all my current project folders on the desk, and store all my must-have utilities in an always-visible dock to the right. The background is plain white to support better screen shots, a big part of my daily work. I've disabled spring-loaded items. Those are aliased folders at the bottom of the dock, so they open to real Finder windows. I have many apps set to Quickeys macros. Everything else I find with Spotlight. Other TUAWians spoke passionately about the mouse-sensitive bottom dock, of well-organized Launchpads. Some of us like to use menu bar utilities to store quick-access items, allowing the desk to be perfectly clean. And then there are some who don't worry about the perfect desktop. They just place whatever items they need wherever they need it. There's no snap-to-gridding for them! What about you? What does your desktop look like? Are you a neat fetishist, a file slob or something in-between? What tools do you use to organize your workspace? Join in this poll and then leave comments (and screenshots if you like -- upload to imgur.com or similar and include the URL) below. %Poll-81313%
Weekend Poll: What's up for Apple this Spring?
Normally as February and March roll around, our minds start drifting towards iPads and OS X. Until this past year, when Apple seemed to reset its iPad clock in October, we saw new hardware ticking by each Spring. Late Winter is also usually the time we hear the first meows of Apple's newest OS X cat. So what about this year? With iPad shifting to pre-Christmas updates, will we see a refresh? And with Federighi spearheading a joint iOS/OS X restructuring, have we seen the last of the felines? Is it time for OS Xi? Will this be the year that Apple moves past traditional OS X and AppKit and introduces a grand unified operating system along the lines introduced by Steve Jobs in October 2011? You tell us. Join in these polls and then share your thoughts in the comments. %Poll-80761% %Poll-80768%
Weekend poll: Why the long OS upgrade delays?
iOS 6.1. OS X 10.8.3. What do they have in common? They are Apple operating system updates that many expected to debut way earlier than now. So why the delay? Is Apple fixing engineering issues from previous teams? As Craig Federighi (at right) takes control over a joint OS X/iOS team, are new directions being explored? Is this extra time allowing code review and bug fixes? Or is something else at play? Could someone have exposed the engineers to water and/or bright lights? You tell us. Jump into this poll and then add your comments about the latest OS delays. %Poll-80327%
