I just wanted to write a quick post about something I implemented a while ago but never mentioned on the blog. When Apple announced the iPhone Firmware Update 1.1.3, one of the new features was the ability to create Web Clips. Web Clips allow you to bookmark certain web sites by putting icons on your iPhone’s home screen.
We all love using BatchBook on our iPhones, because it is so easy to look up and connect to phone numbers or open a Google Map from any address. So, right away I went to work playing with this feature. By default, the iPhone creates a Web Clip with a small thumbnail of your web site. A shrunken version of BatchBook isn’t exactly what I had in mind for my iPhone’s home screen, so I did a little digging to see how you could customize the icon.
Turns out Apple’s Developer site had an article about how to quickly customize your Web Clip icon. So, I did it. I created a 57×57 pixel PNG file and named it “iphone-itouch-icon.png”. I then added this bit of code to the <head> of BatchBook (and batchblue.com, while I was at it):
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/iphone-itouch-icon.png" />
(more…)
Tags: batchbook, iphone
I went apartment-hunting this week. It’s tough. But it’s not as difficult as it could be. I’ve got craigslist in my pocket. Thanks, iPhone.
iPhone is not the first web-enabled phone I’ve used. But it’s the first phone that makes it seem natural. It’s not a matter of “Gee, look, I’m browsing the web on my phone.” I need answers, and the iPhone makes it easy to get at them, wherever I happen to be. And when I’m looking for an apartment, that’s all over the place.
The iPod wasn’t the first MP3 player, or even the first high-capacity MP3 player. But it was the first high-capacity MP3 player that people found usable. The iPhone presents a similar case.
There are plenty of gadgets that do what iPhone does: Not just browse the web, but send and receive email, manage your date book, and map out the neighborhood. Many of them are even phones. But up until now, they haven’t made it easy. They made it possible, but possible isn’t enough. Possible is for gadgets. And gadgets are for geeking out, not for getting things done.
Jason Fried of 37 Signals came to Providence the other day to speak to the Business Innovation Factory Summit. 37 Signals produces the Ruby on Rails software that powers BatchBook. We’re fans. Talking about 37 Signals’ design philosophy, Jason said that they try to avoid cluttering their applications with gratuitous functionality just to be “cool”. “Useful is cool” is their watchword.
(more…)
Tags: apple, BIF, BIF-3, iphone, jason fried, Ruby on Rails
With the launch of the Apple iPhone merely a few days away, Apple’s legion of loyal developers entered the week still anxiously awaiting word on how they are supposed to develop applications for the thing. The answer, most assumed, would come this week at the Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC07) this week. The timing was frighteningly close to the iPhone’s launch, but better late than never.
Well, they got their answer. And many didn’t like it. As Michael Calore of Wired put it:
Suddenly, a sound that’s rarely ever heard in a Jobs keynote welled up in the giant conference hall. Crickets.
Apple’s self-proclaimed “sweet” solution is an interesting one. They essentially told the developers to “make web apps.” The iPhone runs a full version of Apple’s Safari web browser. (X)HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Ajax are all fully supported, so essentially if a web app uses web standards, it will work on the iPhone.
(more…)
Tags: batchbook, iphone, microformats, mobile browser, mobile web, mobility
