Ever since iPhone firmware 1.1.3 users could add Safari bookmarks to their home screen. This allowed web developers to create custom icons to be used whenever a user would add it to their own iPhone’s home screen. And, since firmware 2.1 developers could set a meta tag on their web pages forcing those web pages to open up in Safari without the browser chrome (address bar/search bar and bottom toolbar) when opened from the home screen.

This full screen Safari option is left up to the developers though, which is the exact wrong way to do things. When adding an icon to your home screen in Safari you should be given the option to open that web page as full screen. Now, theoretically someone could build a javascript bookmarklet to add the meta tag and therefore allow the user to decide but I have yet to see such a bookmarklet in the wild.

To make matters worse, I have only seen one web page that actually includes the meta tag in it. The web page is used for Transmission’s (a bitTorrent clients) browser based remote feature. But, maybe you don’t want it to open as a full screen page, you don’t have that option.

I would like to be able to have Google Reader open up in a full screen browser, but I can’t. Currently I don’t even have a Google Reader icon on my home screen, in fact I don’t have any web pages saved as home screen icons, and there is a simple reason why. The reason is that if Safari currently has a a web page loaded that isn’t the same URL as the home screen bookmark, Safari will open that web page in another browser window, even if the URL is on the same domain, meaning that when I leave Safari if it had Google Reader’s starred items page open, when I try to open Google Reader from the home screen it will load it in a new browser window.

Clearly this isn’t the most elegant solution to this problem. Letting the user choose what home screen bookmarks open as full screen pages would solve all of these problems. Users might actually use the feature and web site developers wouldn’t have to weigh the pros and cons of adding the meta tag to their pages, they could have it both ways. Hopefully Apple will eventually address this problem, but for now I guess we’ll just settle for Push Notifications (which is obviously unrelated, but cool none the less).

Update 4/1/09: After initially writing the post I did find a bookmarklet (bookmarklet and instructions can be found here) that would allow you to force any web page to open in full screen. But, this still isn’t the optimal solution, Apple really needs to bake this into an upcoming release. Expecting users to seek out a bookmarklet is just silly, and adding the feature probably wouldn’t take that much effort anyway.

In an effort to make the service more useful, Twitter has turned replies into Mentions. The reason for this change is because so many Twitter users will use the @username phrase in the middle of a tweet. Before this change Twitter would only treat it as a reply if the @username was placed in the beginning of a tweet, but now Twitter will treat a tweet with @username as a mention no matter where it is placed.

This is a good move for Twitter but I still think there is room for improvement with regards to replies (now mentions). Twitter needs to place a link next to every tweet pointing to a list of replies to it. Several times a week I will find myself looking at a tweet by a popular user, that user is asking a question in the tweet, I would like to see answers to it but the tweet was posted 6 hours ago. In a circumstance where the tweet is fairly new I can just jump over to Twitter Search and type in @username, but when it is an old tweet trying to find replies to that specific tweet is terribly difficult to find.

The data to filter like this is there, Twitter knows what tweet you are replying to (or mentioning) when you use @username in a tweet, but currently the only use (that I know of) of that data is showing you what tweet someone is replying to.

For example I’m looking at a tweet by @gruber with @dooce in it, underneath it is the link: “in reply to dooce”, this is very useful because I get some context about what @gruber is talking about, but what would be more useful is if @dooce’s original tweet would allow me to find @gruber’s tweet.

Twitter Blog: Replies Are Now Mentions.

Jim Van of Logicomm, an I.T. support shop in Providence, Rhode Island recently posted a few tweets talking about the Palm Pre.

The most important tweet is regarding the release date of the Palm Pre which Van claims is April 30. All of this could be fake of course, but since he is from Logicomm and the Twitter account has since been set to private it could be real.

The Palm Pre is a greatly anticipated phone, even by me, a huge iPhone fanatic. The Palm Pre could be Palm’s ticket back to the big time in terms of market share (or at least mind share) in the realm of smartphones. If the suggested release date is indeed true it would mean Palm is going to release the Palm Pre before Apple releases their next hardware iteration, which would be a huge win for Palm and might help them steal some customers from AT&T (while in the process locking them into a 2 year agreement).

All of @Logicomminc’s tweets regarding the Palm Pre:

• Got Pre to work on Twitter, but it’s a tad cludgy…#Palm Pre
• Sprint claims that 4/30 is a line in the sand, according to my acct mgr there…he’s usually right on #Palm Pre
• UI is VERY clean, well thought out, made for fingers. Somebody used their brains on the design. Palm’s always been cool like that
• Just used browser to remote in and play on our doc server..almost like computing w/out kbd…loaded word doc quickly..nice #Palm Pre

Jim Van (LogicommInc) on Twitter.

Update 3/30/09: Jim Van also tweeted the price of the device, which he claims to be $299.99 with a 2 year contract.

Update 4/16/09: There have now been a couple other rumors for Palm Pre release dates. May 17 and June 29.

Update 4/28/09: SprintGurus claims June 7 as a possible release date.

Update 5/5/09: April 30 has come and gone and still no Palm Pre, obviously Jim Van hasn’t got a clue.

Update 5/6/09: The Boy Genius Claims Palm Pre Release on June 7 for $199.99

Update 5/13/09: A Boy Genius Report tipster claims that Palm will be making an announcement in the Wall Street Journal on May 19, there is a distinct possability that Palm will reveal the Pre release date then.

Update 5/15/09: A Palm Pre giveaway by Sprint says May 29 is the date of the drawing, also saying that $542.01 is the price of the device (probably unsubsidized including accessories). This suggest that the Palm Pre won’t be coming out until after May 29.

Update 5/19/09: Palm Pre to Release on June 6 for $199.99

Companies have started to cave into customer demand by going DRM free, practically all music labels sell DRM free music online now and game many game companies (even if they are indie) are beginning to do the same.

This is all happening at the same time that another set of companies are putting more DRM on their content (like TV Show and Movie studios). But all that aside clearly some companies get it right while others DRM policies go horribly wrong.

EA’s recent release of Spore was one of those horribly wrong cases. EA isn’t going to go DRM free (although The Register says they are, which is wrong, they clear it up in the body of the article but the title is misleading), but they aren’t going to add any more DRM to their most popular PC game franchise, The Sims. Just like every other iteration of The Sims, The Sims 3 is just going to ask you for a serial code (which must be valid) when installing the game and check for The Sims 3 disc whenever you play the game.

It makes me really happy when companies go DRM free but when websites like The Register praise companies for not getting any worse it just grinds my gears. Why can’t we focus on convincing companies to release their content with absolutely no DRM and give zero priase to content providers that do use DRM.

I’m not telling you to completely stop buying DRM media, I do it several times a week, but I find it hard to take someone seriously when they complain about DRM but continue to buy DRMed content.

EA: No DRM for Sims 3 • The Register.

Pre-Order The Sims 3 in Standard or Collector’s Edition.

Lately there has been a lot of talk about Snow Leopard’s supposed new UI theme, called “Marble” by those in the know. There have been many sources of this rumor, from AppleInsider to John Gruber but there still isn’t too much hard evidence proving its existence.

The new UI theme has been said to be closer to the current look of iTunes (UI elements pictured below) than anything else, darker window chrome and light text on dark background menu bars. But it is easy to point towards iTunes and tell you that this is what Snow Leopard will look like. If only it were that easy, although there have been some screenshots of Snow Leopard leak depicting a new look for QuickTime (shown above and which hasn’t been confirmed, the screenshot may be fake) no one really knows exactly what Snow Leopard will look like.

What makes matters even more confusing is the recent release of Safari 4 Beta which doesn’t have very many (if any at all) of the UI tweaks that we are all expecting to appear in Snow Leopard. Safari’s chrome has actually appeared to get lighter, not darker in the switch from version 3 to version 4. The scroll bars in Safari didn’t the same design change that we’ve already experienced in recent releases of iTunes. So, unless Apple has decided to leave these elements out of the current Safari 4 release and plans to release it with Snow Leopard, something is awry.

AppleInsider claims that this UI overhaul will come with the next developer build of Snow Leopard. I find this incredibly hard to believe since Apple has publicly announced that there won’t be any new user-facing features in Snow Leopard, if they neglected to factor in the UI changes then one would assume it would be a big selling point for Snow Leopard, releasing it in a developer seed would surely allow it to leak online. But, Apple wouldn’t want it to leak online, Apple wants to control when users find out about Marble, my guess is that we won’t be seeing too much hard evidence of Marble until WWDC, which will be held at Moscone West in San Francisco June 8-12.

image credit to feber.se

Update 5/20/09: Mac Magazine Posts Images of Snow Leopard

Update 6/10/09: The Marble UI theme isn’t going to be coming in Snow Leopard. There are hints of it in applications like QuickTime X but it seems as though Marble is being pushed into 10.7. WWDC Keynote 2009.

Update 7/2/09: Dock Expose and QuickTime X Screenshots

Update 7/15/09: Slight Changes in Snow Leopard 10A402

Update 7/25/09: Snow Leopard Build 10A421a

Update 8/2/09: Pre-Order Snow Leopard From Amazon

Update 8/16/09: Snow Leopard Disc and Retail Packaging

Update 8/21/09: Snow Leopard Coming August 28

Update 8/24/09: Snow Leopard Officially Coming August 28

One problem that comes up at least two times a day for me is the inability to empty my trash in OS X. I’m sure you’ve seen the dialog before telling you that an item in your trash cannot be deleted, you can either stop or continue emptying the trash.

This is terribly frustrating for people like me, who hate having items just sitting in the trash, if I know something is in there, I empty it. But, when you know for a fact that the file isn’t being accessed by any application, there is a solution.

Just copy and paste the following command into Terminal and your trash will be emptied, no dialog boxes, no nothin’.

rm -rf ~/.Trash/*

Just make sure that there isn’t anything in the trash that you’d like to see again because once this command is entered, it is gone.

Apple has added more and more functionality to the headphone jack in recent years and the click wheel iPods seeming more and more barbaric to many of us who use an iPod touch or iPhone (touchscreens rock). I wonder what Apple will do to keep people moving up from the lower end iPods and also continue to improve/change the lower end iPods.

The most recent update of the iPod shuffle (you know, that buttonless one that you either hate or love) has made me think a lot about the headphone jack and what Apple will be able to do with it in the future.

They can already charge, sync, and control an iPod through the headphone jack, how long will it be before they remove the dock connector altogether from their remaining click wheel iPods?

First, let’s look at what is keeping Apple from removing the dock connector? In my mind it is video output and the ability to power accessories, such as FM transmitters, with the iPods internal battery. I would expect Apple to solve these problems by the end of next year (that is if they actually intend on tackling it). They previously had video output on the headphone jack but later removed it in favor of support the earphone remotes that are now supported by all iPods currently shipping. Since video is just data being sent, I expect Apple could somehow stuff that functionality back into the headphone jack. And with regards to powering accessories, headphone jacks already push electricity out to power the speakers in headphones,uch like the USB port on the MacBook Air, Apple could over spec the power output when an appropriate accessory is connected.

Although I don’t expect to see dock connectors removed from iPods any time soon, the extension of “Made for iPod” branding to accessories that only communicate through the headphone jack make me believe that it is possible and makes me wonder if the iPod dock is even necessary at all anymore (iPhone 3.0 may force me to change my tune now that developers can communicate through the dock connector, but click wheel iPods won’t benefit from that).

Since Apple is constantly trying to make there products increasingly elegant the removal of another connector would be a giant leap toward that goal of having the most über-elegant device out there. Not to mention the hours saved not having to clean pocket lint out of your dock connector before syncing that newly purchased album.

Update 3/27/09: I’ve thought a little bit more about this idea and decided to quickly explore the idea of Apple deciding against doing this because they don’t want to upset users. Apple would not hesitate to upset some of their users by removing the dock connector from their iPods. Apple has never been adverse to upseting users, just think about the buttonless iPod shuffle, or their refusal to build a two button mouse, or the fact that you can’t get a non-glossy display from Apple unless you purchase a 17″ MacBook Pro.

Apple may care a little bit about upseting users but they will never let it get in the way of what they may consider to be their “artistic vision.”

Pioneer had previously announced that they would cease production of HDTVs but now we hear that if you would like to purchase a Pioneer Plasma you better do it soon.

After May they will essentially be impossible to find, I’m sure you will be able to get one second hand or there may be a few of them lying around in a warehouse somewhere for you to purchase but basically they are going to be gone.

It is sad news for all of us who enjoy good picture quality, Pioneer made the best HDTVs and were of significantly better quality than any other television manufacturer. There is still the possibility that Panasonic would be able to pick up the baton and build better plasma TVs, but it is more likely that LED based LCD displays will completely takeover the HDTV market.

On April 1 Pioneer will roll out their final four models, two 50-inch and two 60-inch TVs. Pioneer will continue to service televisions in Japan until 2017 (details of other markets isn’t currently available).

Announcement end plasma TV production. (Google Translated version).

These steps will show you how to create an iPhone ringtone using only iTunes (it’s cheap and it’s easy).

• First you need an unprotected audio file that can be played back using iTunes.
• Import the audio file into iTunes.
• Once imported go into iTunes Preferences, under General, click on “Import Settings.”
  
• Under the Import Settings choose Import Using the “AAC Encoder,” and Setting as “High Quality (128kbps).”
  
• Choose OK, then OK again.
• If your audio file needs to be trimmed (it must be under 40 seconds to be used as an iPhone ringtone), listen back to the file and use the progress at the top of the iTunes window to make note of what section of the song you would like to use as a ringtone.
  
• Right click on the audio file and choose Get Info. Under options you may choose when the song starts and ends, this is how you control what section of the song you would like to have be the ringtone.
  
• Be sure to double click on the audio file and make sure you got exactly what you want, edit the start and end times accordingly.
• Once you have found the perfect start and end time, right click on the audio file and choose “Create AAC Version.”
• After a few seconds you should have a second file with the same name, right click on the new file and choose “Show in Finder” (or “Show in Windows Explorer,” if you use Windows).
• Once the file is located change its file extension from .m4a to .m4r.
• If you have trouble importing it as a ringtone after changing the extension to .m4r I would suggest dragging the file to your desktop before double clicking it.
• Double click the file and it should open up in iTunes as a ringtone.
  
• Now Sync and they should show up on your iPhone.
• Once you know everything is working properly you can go ahead and clean up that <40 second file you created that is most likely still sitting in the Music section of your iTunes Library.

So happy ringtone making.

Update 5/21/09: If you are having problems getting the ringtone to work:

• Try right clicking on the audio file, choosing Get Info, and change the extension to .m4r from there, sometimes Finder doesn’t want to change the file extension unless you do that.
• I would also suggest moving the .m4r file to your desktop, deleting the ringtone from iTunes and then double clicking the .m4r file from your desktop, iTunes sometimes has trouble recognizing that the file extension has changed and will just play the ringtone as if it was in your Music Library (instead of your Ringtone Library).

On Tuesday EA Mobile discussed their 2009 iPhone game lineup including specific titles that previously hadn’t been announced..

Some of the games discussed had previously been announced, such as Tiger Woods PGA Tour
, The Sims 3, and Need For Speed. But, here are the new titles:

• Wolfenstein RPG
• FIFA Soccer
• Madden NFL
• NBA Live
• Spore Creatures
• Mystery Mania
• American Idol
• Command & Conquer
• SSX
• Connect 4
• Battleship
• Risk
• Monopoly “classic”
• Trivial Pursuit
• Clue

I’m most excited about SSX and Command & Conquer. Interestingly enough, yesterday I was thinking about how much I wanted a snowboarding game (like SSX) on my iPhone. I really hope that they get the controls right, it’s going to be really easy for EA to get them wrong and really difficult for them to get right.

GDC: EA Mobile reveals 2009 iPhone game lineup | Software | iPhone Central | Macworld.

EA Games in App Store.

Update 7/26/09: Added links above.

Update 8/11/09: Wolfenstein RPG has just been released to the App Store. Touch Arcade claims that the game has been ready since May but was held until now due to confusion concerns between it and Wolfenstein Classic.