Books about fast-evolving fields can, obviously, get out of date pretty quickly. One solution: turn it into an iPad app that gets updated as needed.
In the new version of Paper released last week, you mix colors with your fingers, like it’s paint—only somehow more beautiful. This one magical feature burned a year of development time, resurrected the work of two dead German scientists, and got Apple’s attention.
Half a million people are still living without electricity in the New York area, but there’s a three-blocks-long line at the Apple store (source).
According to our Mark Wilson, with the iPad Mini, Apple switches from offense to defense. Apple is growing. The iPad Mini is a sign of growth’s costs.
For a full summary of today’s announcement, click here.
Lessons For Building A Tablet Magazine That’s Actually Worth Using
Tablets might save magazines someday, but we’re not there yet. In May, Hearst International reported that it was selling around 600,000 tablet editions a month. That’s not bad, but it’s nothing compared to the 22 million magazines the publisher sells every month in print. That disparity will diminish as more people buy tablets, but there’s another significant hurdle standing in the way of the tablet magazine: no one has really figured out how to do them right.
So when Opening Ceremony, the taste-making international clothing boutique, was planning its new once-a-year magazine and attendant iPad app, they decided to do something a little bit radical.
Today Hipstamatic will launch Snap, a free monthly culture and lifestyle magazine for the iPad featuring original editorial content and, naturally, gorgeous spreads of Hipstamatic photos. Snap reads like a traditional magazine: Eight sections (with names like “Cultured” and “Obsessed”) detail the hippest in music, fashion, food, and travel, gussied up with plenty of large and lush photographs. But more than a magazine, it’s also a clever pull for new Hipstamatic users, who CEO Lucas Buick tells Fast Company he draws in by capitalizing on a concept called FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out, for the misanthropes).
“Everyone wants to know why your friend’s photos are better than yours,” Buick says. “That gives us another opportunity to highlight our users. And when we highlight any of our users, they become evangelists for life.”
Snap: Hipstamatic’s New iPad Magazine Is A Field Guide For Sharpshooters
It’s a clip-on iPad keyboard with a milled aluminum chassis and integrated speaker that ostensibly converts the iPad into a MacBook. Other products like this exist, but Brydge is a bit more minimal than the others, and doesn’t fall into the trap of trying to make the iPad look exactly like a Macbook Air.
Kickstarter Project Turns The iPad Into Apple’s First Touchscreen Laptop
Khan Academy, the wildly popular Youtube lecture series, is slated to launch its iPad app any minute now in Apple’s store. The enhanced version of Khan Academy will include time-syncing between devices—no Internet connection required—an interactive transcript of the lectures for easy searching, and a handy scrubber for moving between parts of the lectures.
And The Oscar For Best Short Film Goes To … An iPad App
Here’s the backstory on Morris Lessmore’s creators, Moonbot Studios:
At Moonbot’s Louisiana Studio, Hollywood Vets Dream Up Magical, Interactive Stories
With Moonbot Studios, a children’s animation star remakes the cinematic experience. And that’s just his first trick.
The Numberlys: With New iPad App, Ex-Pixar Designer Unleashes A Masterpiece
Moonbot Studios, which astounded us with “The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore,” avoids the sophomore slump with its latest story-app.
Made in China? Nuh-uh. How about made in the U.S. of A? Fast Company went hunting for homemade goods. Turns out there’s plenty that’s still crafted at home. Check out our new iPad app and read more about The Best American-Made Design of 2011.
We all know the people who collect Coke everything—shirts, fridge magnets, art. The company has a remarkable history of iconic ads. And now the ultimate Coke fiend can own that rich history in an app and a gorgeous book that goes for $650—or roughly the cost of 464 twenty-ouncers.
Take a look at this exclusive sneak peek of Coke’s new iPad app and read more about it here.
