Jonathan Ive speaks on the brilliance of Apple design [Video]

Mon, Nov 9, 2009

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Objectified is a 2009 documentary about Industrial Design, and Apple design guru Jonathan Ive was naturally a perfect choice to be interviewed for the film.  Ive, of course, has behind some of Apple’s most memorable designs, such as the iPod, the first iMac and its subsequent updates, and the iPhone as well.  Below, check out Ive’s contribution to Objectified where he discusses the impetus behind what he feels signifies good design.

Solid stuff, and one of the more telling quotes, we feel, is when Ive discusses the design of the iPhone:

a lot of what we seem to be doing in a product like that is actually getting design out of the way, and I think when forms develop with that sort of reason, and they’re not just arbitrary shapes, it feels almost inevitable, it feels almost un-designed, it feels almost like “of course it’s that way, I mean, why wouldn’t it be any other way?”

Indeed, when you look at an iPhone, the design seems so blatantly obvious that it’s sometimes hard to appreciate Apple’s design prowess until you hold and use devices from other manufacturers.  There’s a quote from the under-appreciated TV Show Futurama that aptly describes Apple design - “When you do things right, people won’t be sure you’ve done anything at all.”

And lastly, make sure to get a good look at the Apple design facility wherein Ive is interviewed - it’s probably the most extensive ‘tour’ of the place you’ll ever see.

Apple's original tablet

by Dave Caolo (RSS feed) on Nov 23rd, 2009

In 1979, the Apple II Plus was a badass piece of hardware, and the Apple Graphics Tablet was a flashy accessory. At $650US, it let users sketch with a wired stylus. Measuring 3/4 in x 15 1/2 in x 15 3/4 in, the Graphics Tablet was eventually discontinued when the FCC discovered that it caused radio frequency interference problems.

Sure, the wired stylus is a kludge, as is the general design (don't look at the back), but remember that 1979 was 5 years before the first Macintosh was released and computer mice became ubiquitous.

Edible Apple has some additional photos and an old ad promoting the tablet and Utopia software. Go and check out an interesting piece of Apple history -- complete with vintage scotch tape!

sweet!

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cool

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MacRumors discovered that a bug had been filed for the open source component launchd, which manages running processes on Mac OS X. The bug report referenced build number 11A47 of Mac OS X. As MacRumors explains, the numbering scheme for builds of Mac OS X follows a predictable pattern—for example, Mac OS X 10.6 is build 10A432, while 10.6.2 is build 10B504. The first number refers to major versions, so build 11Axx would refer to the next major version: 10.7.

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Previously, clicking iTunes Store links would load a webpage that merely said, "One Moment Please. Connecting to the iTunes Store." It would then attempt to load the album or artist page that the link referred to in iTunes—on the Mac, iTunes would launch if it wasn't already running. Now, a page that includes album artwork, track listing, reviews, and other information will load in the browser while the link is re-directed to the iTunes application.

Respected developers begin fleeing from App Store platform

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