Apple needs to put a feature into Safari that allows you to bypass a stupid "mobile site," if you want, automatically for particular domains. If the likes of Extremetech care nothing for our experience as tablet users, why should we give a damn about their value to their sponsors?
No, I'm not going to download your bullshit app
191–200 of 222 posts
Re: No, I'm not going to download your bullshit app
#192It's a strategy to dismantle the Web, which had the "disadvantage" of being simultaneously free and a level playing field, and replacing it with a loose network of fiefdoms, each a walled garden (a term often used to describe Apple in its entirety). Most of these apps are advertising delivery mechanisms masquerading as utilities. Another role they have is to prevent copying of content or links from one fiefdom to ano…
> Another role they have is to prevent copying of content or links from one fiefdom to another. I have a hard time believing that considering the prevalence of the "share" button in apps. There is certainly a "walled garden" problem on iOS, with all the jailbroken nonsense linked to it, but on Android (don't know about MS phones) I can run whatever I want. The app store is just curation, not limitating. Granted there…
I don't know if its intentional or not, but I've run into several apps where highlight and copy isn't implemented / enabled. That's pretty very frustrating. Sometimes I just want to take notes, or google something, not share whatever it is on facebook / twitter / snapchat.
Re: No, I'm not going to download your bullshit app
#193Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It'd be nice if there was a standard that allowed users to subscribe to push notifications directly from websites without having to install an app. Is using a single RSS app for all content feeds not sufficient?
> Is using a single RSS app for all content feeds not sufficient? Yes, true, but companies can't sell you RSS, it's free in the same way that a browser is free, so that's right out. The basic idea is to take what already exists and is free, and think of a way to capture it and sell it back to people.
Well, iOS does have its "Newsstand" app, which is essentially a reader for paywalled RSS feeds.
Still, the standalone apps for every publication that this thread is complaining about are free, too. I don't see paywalls being effective for anything but the most established media properties - NY Times can (sort of) get away with it, but can everyone else?
If the propagation of native apps really is because of an "everyone else is doing it" mindset, there's no reason not to just use RSS instead.
And all of these sites, even NY Times, already have RSS feeds of their content anyway.
Re: No, I'm not going to download your bullshit app
#194Key insight: "do I buy a separate radio to listen to different stations?" Actually, I do use two news apps on my iPhone (aside from Safari and an RSS reader). They're the BBC, and The Guardian. The BBC app is free, and ad-free, at least in the UK, because it's provided by a public service organization with a non-advertising-based revenue model. (You pay your TV license fee, you get your ad-free app.) The Guardian cha…
> Actually, I do use two news apps on my iPhone (aside from Safari and an RSS reader). They're the BBC, and The Guardian.
I'll also use the NPR app from time to time. Its design isn't bad, and I like being able to switch from print to streamed audio sometimes.
> it's not so much about providing a better service as it is about obtaining a monopoly lock-in on the user's eyeballs while you feed them ads.
Apps and mobile sites that make you wait five freaking seconds so they can load ads and all of the metrics for their sponsors -- who are they fooling? Have they even tried to use their own app?
Re: No, I'm not going to download your bullshit app
#195Earlier quoted context omitted.
We've been conditioned to want apps. Or... many people have. iPhone is synonymous with 'apps'. My grandmother understands 'apps' (well, mostly!) I was on a project last year, and we built a mobile website (could work in iPhone/Android and probably winphone, but we didn't test). Got a lot of immediate "yeah that's great" from some people. Partners reached out for potential customers/sales - every single one returned w…
I'm continually disappointed by the non-proliferation of webapps. The iPhone has hooks enabling you to make it fullscreen, have an app icon, work offline, even control the colour of the status bar... but no-one knows how to use them. And Android doesn't even support them- I thought Google was supposed to be a friend of the web?!
In theory you're right. Unfortunately in practice most webapps better stay in the browser on iOS. The Javascript engine on full-screen webapps is slower than the one in Safari (that's why the previous Facebook app was slow as hell).
Aside from that, offline app cache is a PITA to implement.
Things have got better though. Web audio works on iOS 6, and Chrome on Android finally delivers a proper browser. I hope in a few years time we'll actually be able to serve games in WebGL to the browsers on both platforms.
Re: No, I'm not going to download your bullshit app
#196I agree for the most part with this article. I think the major problem is that apps are being developed that offer absolutely no advantage over viewing the website in a browser - in fact many offer disadvantages. This is what happens when a market crowded with some shockingly bad app developers is combined with ignorant executive mandates that companies must have apps simply to be able to say that they have them.
> This is what happens when a market crowded with some shockingly bad app developers is combined with ignorant executive mandates
You may be a clueless pointy-haired boss if...
Re: No, I'm not going to download your bullshit app
#197Earlier quoted context omitted.
Neither will having an app that you didn't launch and sync before getting on the subway. Seems like the same amount of effort to me. There's an advantage to Instapaper and company in that it's centralized and you only have to launch the one app to pull down all of your content regardless of the source.
> Neither will having an app that you didn't launch and sync before getting on the subway. Seems like the same amount of effort to me. And here I thought in 2013 apps could download their content in background when phone is idle. Maybe when the owner is sleeping at home with fast wifi all around. Might make too much sense though.
I can't tell if you're being purposefully obtuse or not.
iOS does not allow background downloading, unless your app is part of Newsstand. While it would seem to make sense to make your news delivery app appear in Newsstand, it does come with some trade-offs, most significantly that your app is locked inside the Newsstand shelf and can't be placed in a primary app slot.
And, even if your app is in Newsstand, you have to actively go into Settings and turn on background download on an app-by-app basis.
Finally, even then, the app will only background-download if you're on a WiFi connection. I agree, this makes sense in this age of metered WAN bandwidth.
So, if you're using iOS, there's a really good chance that you will not have that content before getting on the subway, unless you remember to click into it on the walk over to the station.
Re: No, I'm not going to download your bullshit app
#198Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Neither will having an app that you didn't launch and sync before getting on the subway. Seems like the same amount of effort to me. And here I thought in 2013 apps could download their content in background when phone is idle. Maybe when the owner is sleeping at home with fast wifi all around. Might make too much sense though.
I can't tell if you're being purposefully obtuse or not. iOS does not allow background downloading, unless your app is part of Newsstand. While it would seem to make sense to make your news delivery app appear in Newsstand, it does come with some trade-offs, most significantly that your app is locked inside the Newsstand shelf and can't be placed in a primary app slot. And, even if your app is in Newsstand, you have…
I'm not being purposefully obtuse. I was not aware of this particular limitation of iOS (and probably numerous others). Permission-controlled background downloading would seem like a reasonable solution to this particular problem to me.
Re: No, I'm not going to download your bullshit app
#199Earlier quoted context omitted.
Neither will having an app that you didn't launch and sync before getting on the subway. Seems like the same amount of effort to me. There's an advantage to Instapaper and company in that it's centralized and you only have to launch the one app to pull down all of your content regardless of the source.
> Neither will having an app that you didn't launch and sync before getting on the subway. Seems like the same amount of effort to me. And here I thought in 2013 apps could download their content in background when phone is idle. Maybe when the owner is sleeping at home with fast wifi all around. Might make too much sense though.
Perhaps not with iOS, but Android allows such things in their SDK. Guess iOS is just more restrictive in that manner.
Re: No, I'm not going to download your bullshit app
#200Technology for technology's sake.