John's Blog

I’m dreaming of a #FFFFFF Christmas!

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 13:07:03 -0500

I’m dreaming of a #FFFFFF Christmas!

Story of my life.

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 21:50:35 -0400

Story of my life.

fdny: FDNY firefighters and EMS members participate in drill at...

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 11:27:51 -0400

fdny:

FDNY firefighters and EMS members participate in drill at JFK Airport.

youlikeairplanestoo: Flying to SFO on the wings of an Airbus....

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 18:52:12 -0400

youlikeairplanestoo:

Flying to SFO on the wings of an Airbus. Continuing with the iPhone theme of today. Photo by kris krüg.

parislemon: buzz: Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide...

Sun, 29 Jul 2012 15:31:21 -0400

parislemon:

buzz:

Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, and a NeXT cube during the opening ceremonies for the 2012 Olympics in London. Background here and here.

Naturally, the TV commentators had no clue who Tim Berners-Lee was.

View From International Space Station at Night, by Knate Myers....

Sun, 22 Jul 2012 17:28:56 -0400

View From International Space Station at Night, by Knate Myers. (Via joelaz)

I want whatever job I have to come with this car. (Taken with...

Tue, 10 Jul 2012 15:16:38 -0400

I want whatever job I have to come with this car. (Taken with Instagram)

My new custom business cards just arrived from @overheardatmoo! ...

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 14:26:51 -0400

My new custom business cards just arrived from @overheardatmoo! (Taken with Instagram)

arstechnica: It has officially been half a decade since the...

Thu, 28 Jun 2012 17:11:35 -0400

arstechnica:

It has officially been half a decade since the original iPhone was introduced on June 29, 2007. The iPhone has evolved—and altered the course of the smartphone industry. Full story

Apple Announces iOS 6

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 15:55:00 -0400

At today’s WWDC keynote, Apple took some time to demo the exciting new features of the latest release of what they dub the “world’s most advanced mobile operating system”. With hundreds of new features, changes and improvements expected when the software is released this Fall, Apple highlighted some of the major changes we can look forward to.

Maps

There’s been a lot of buzz about Apple ditching Google and they confirmed it today, releasing their own in-housing Maps application (and custom cartography). In addition to Apple-designed maps, the application now supports turn-by-turn directions (thanks Siri) as well as crowd sourced traffic updates and something called Flyover, a beautiful 3D view of large cities around the world.

Siri Gets Smarter

Many people forget that technically, Siri is still a product in beta. Apple has been working to improve it’s ability to recognize speech but also what the personal assistant can help with. Some improvements coming with iOS 6 include powerful support for sports, movies and restaurants. Ask Siri how tall your favorite basketball player is, what time a new release is playing and where to go for a great steak (based on Yelp reviews).

Facebook Integration

As with Mountain Lion, Facebook is now integrated directly into iOS. Post directly to Facebook, sync your contacts and calendars and see what apps, movies, songs and TV shows your friends are downloading.

Passbook

With iOS 6 comes a new native application from Apple called Passbook. Now your boarding passes, movie tickets, rewards cards and coupons are all in one place. With Passbook, you can scan your iPhone or iPod touch to check in for a flight, get into a movie, and redeem a coupon. You can also see when your coupons expire, where your concert seats are, and the balance left on that all-important coffee bar card.

Phone Improvements

One of the most “neglected” apps of iOS has been the phone application, seeing no real changes in any of the releases. Apple has added a few convenient features to the phone application . Now, when a call comes in you’ll be presented with more options than just to answer the call. You can choose to quickly reply with a message (including some pre-made messages from Apple) or set a reminder to call the person back later.

A new feature, Do Not Disturb can be used to suppress all incoming calls and notifications. Enable it manually or schedule a recurring time, like after 10:00 p.m. on weeknights. Or allow calls from your favorites or specific contact groups.

Mail

Mail sports some cool new changes including something known as Mail VIP. You can now specify important contacts and be quickly notified anytime they email you. All mail from VIPs will now also be collected in a separate inbox. There’s also a new inbox for flagged messages. Finally, you can now easily insert photos and video from directly within mail, swipe up to refresh and yes - each mail account can now have its own signature.

Safari

iCloud Tabs can keep track of your open tabs and share them with your other devices. You can now open a page on your Mac and continue viewing from your iPhone or iPad. Apple’s Reading List can now also be viewed offline giving you media rich content even if you’re not connected to the internet.

Other Improvements

With hundreds of new features, Apple only had time to demo a few. Other changes you can expect in iOS 6 include greater accessibility control such as the ability to limit how people can interact with an application, the ability to lock an iPad down to a single application and support for those with disabilities. Refreshed App Stores, new settings for Chinese users, improvements to Find My iPhone are just some of the things you can expect when iOS 6 is released sometime this Fall.

Apple Previews OS X Mountain Lion

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 15:30:00 -0400

Today was a big day at Apple’s WWDC keynote address, highlighting major changes to both hardware and software for their entire line of laptops as well as desktop and mobile operating systems.

Previously announced, OS X Mountain Lion is the next major release of Apple “revolutionary” desktop operating system. At WWDC, Apple execs took some time to reveal some of the new features that they’ve been working on.

iCloud Improvements

Building on the success of iCloud, Apple has continued to bridge the gap between their mobile devices and their operating system. Notes and Reminders both gained applications on the desktop, and improvements to Documents in the Cloud make it even easier to make changes to documents on any device and have these changes instantly appear everywhere else.

iMessage

Earlier this year, Apple released a beta version of Messages for Mac - a replacement for iChat that can send/receive iMessages and integrates with legacy chat clients such as AIM, GChat and Facebook Chat. When you start a conversation on Messages for Mac, it will update on all your devices. If your phone buzzes with a new message, you can now quickly respond right from your desktop.

Notification Center

Taking cues from iOS, Notification Center has come to the Mac. Sporting a Growl-like interface, Notification Center sits to the right of your desktop and is accessed with a single swipe. When apps want to notify you, a small box will appear and then fade into the background. With social integration included, you can now also Tweet and post to Facebook right from the sidebar.

Power Nap

Wouldn’t it be great if your Mac could work for you while you sleep? Power Nap is a new feature that keeps your Mac updated while it (or you) are sleeping. With minimal impact to battery usage, your Mac will keep notifications, appointments, reminders, tweets, emails and more updated so there’s no need to refresh when you decide to get back to work.

Dictation

The relationship between Apple and Nuance is continuing to be integrated into Apple’s many products and services. Voice Dictation, which was first seen with Siri and on the iPad is now available on the Mac. Simply talk and see your words appear in any application you’re working in. The application gets to know you so Apple says that the more you use it, the more accurate it will become.

Sharing

It’s now even easier to share from almost anywhere within Mountain Lion. Tap the Share icon to email, Tweet, Facebook, iMessage or save any document, webpage, photo or video you’re looking at. Integration is found in most of the OS including apps like Photo Booth and iPhoto.

Facebook

It’s been a longstanding rumor that Facebook would follow Twitter in becoming integrated at the OS-level. Facebook is now built right in to OS X including sharing settings, contacts, calendars and notifications.

Safari

Safari 6 will see a host of updates including a unified search/address bar, something known as “Tab View” to visually flip through open tabs and offline Reading List. iCloud support is built right in and with tab sharing, you can now see and navigate to tabs that may be open on your iPhone or iPad right from your Mac.

Other Stuff

With over 200+ improvements, it’s hard to highlight all of them. Apple also announced AirPlay Mirroring for Mac, to project your Mac onto a TV or other screen. Further improvements to Twitter integration, Game Center, Gatekeeper and international settings have kept OS X as the “world’s most advanced operating system”.

Polly is getting in on the #WWDC action too. @macrumorslive...

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 13:54:51 -0400

Polly is getting in on the #WWDC action too. @macrumorslive (Taken with Instagram)

thisistheverge: Twitter introduces weekly ‘best of’ email...

Mon, 14 May 2012 19:44:38 -0400

thisistheverge:

Twitter introduces weekly ‘best of’ email digests

Twitter has announced a new service that doesn’t use its apps or website — it’s based in your email inbox. The social network is introducing a new weekly email digest that should help make sure you don’t miss any popular tweets or stories from those that you follow.

fuckyeahaircraft: FedEx Boeing 757.

Sat, 05 May 2012 23:50:28 -0400

fuckyeahaircraft:

FedEx Boeing 757.

nycgov: NYC’s aviation industry is soaring. Just last week,...

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 20:49:27 -0400

nycgov:

NYC’s aviation industry is soaring. Just last week, Jetblue opened their new headquarters in Long Island City—and now, Delta is making news with a major service expansion at LaGuardia Airport. When the work is completed, LaGuardia will see 100 more Delta arrivals and departures per day. The Mayor stopped by to celebrate Delta’s progress.

New York City is already the aviation capital of the country. The region’s three big airports host more flights and carry more passengers than any other aviation hub in the US. Last year, over 105 million passengers came and went through our airports—generating $65 billion in economic activity and supporting 68,000 employees.

Delta’s decision to invest even more in New York will pay off for the city for years to come. New York’s status as an air travel hub already helped us attract a record 50.5 million visitors in 2011, and it will help us reach our new goal of 55 million by 2015.

Watch the video at nyc.gov.

thisistheverge: Outlier: creating the most high-tech pants...

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 17:04:43 -0400

thisistheverge:

Outlier: creating the most high-tech pants you’ve ever worn

Five years ago, New Yorker Abe Burmeister decided that he needed some new pants. He’d ripped through every previous pair of jeans he’d owned through biking to work every day, so he went on a grand adventure to find the perfect pair of agile yet classy pants. All he came up with after a year of looking was a pair of Swiss shorts made of some moisture wicking and stretchy material he’d never seen before. He called up the shorts makers, who said they had no intention of selling any pants. So Abe Burmeister decided he’d just make his own pants, even though he knew nothing about pants.

The evolution of @square. (Taken with instagram)

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 16:56:56 -0400

The evolution of @square. (Taken with instagram)

Got a little plane spotting in on the drive to the airport...

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 11:23:17 -0400

Got a little plane spotting in on the drive to the airport yesterday. (Taken with instagram)

Today’s the day! Who wants to guess how many times I...

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 01:28:13 -0400

Today’s the day! Who wants to guess how many times I neurotically call FedEx? #iPad3 (Taken with instagram)

That is all.

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 13:02:23 -0400

That is all.