Since making that blog post, my mind has been dramatically changed about Windows 8 and its new Metro Start screen and UI. At the time, I was judging based on videos I had watched of people using the Windows 8 Developer Preview. More recently, however, Windows 8 Consumer Preview was released, and me, being a consumer, decided to install it. I wasn't prepared for how great it was, even for being pre-beta. Something I mentioned in the GameBoy post was the banishing of the desktop in favor of the Metro Start screen being the main GUI. I was wrong there. The Start screen feels more like an addon, not a replacement. It's like a bigger, more comprehensive Start menu. The layout and design are still geared for touchscreen interaction, but it works well enough with a mouse & keyboard. Most Metro apps aren't working for me because my system specs aren't that great, or they crash because they're only pre-beta and that can be forgiven. I don't feel like I'm missing out on too much yet. I still use the Desktop the most. In fact, I still use it just like I did on Windows 7. I installed the programs I most used on Win7, like Google Chrome and Paint.NET. Compatibility between the 2 Windows versions is almost seamless. There are a few programs that have to be used in compatibility mode, but it's excusable. And to me, Windows 8's Desktop environment is much less laggy than Windows 7's, but that could be my bogged down install of 7. As far as functionality goes, Windows 8 is doing pretty well with the coexistence of Start screen/Desktop. The same can't be said about UI, however.
Unique insight into the world of ever-evolving technology.
Windows 8: a follow up
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This is a follow up of the post I made titled "Windows 8 (a GameBoy)"
The iPad and why it's good without the "3"
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Unknown
About a week ago, the next generation iPad was announced and released. "The new iPad" has a much better screen, a better processor with better graphics, a new iSight camera, and various other changes and improvements. Certainly a step up from the iPad 2. Why, then, doesn't its name show that? It isn't the iPad 3, it's just iPad, according to Apple. There was a general uproar from the Apple fanboys and really anyone who payed attention to Apple and could see a pattern being broken. First comes the iPad, next the iPad 2, so where is the iPad 3? We have had iPod Touch 1 through 4. Why did the iPads stop at 2? The answer may lie in another part of Apple's marketing: Macs. Macintosh computers, or Macs, have been around awhile. Was the first iMac released called iMac 1, then the second iMac 2? No, they've never been numbered. This can be seen with Macbooks as well. Macbook Pros are continually refreshed, but do you ever hear about the Macbook Pro 7? No, just the mid-2011 Macbook. Apple knew the Macs were going to have a legacy, a long-running future ahead of them, and a number system would have gotten old. So, they kept it simple. This could very well be the fate of the iPad, meaning the lack of a "3" could be a good sign. It could mean Apple sees the iPad going far, and by the sixth iPad, the naming would just get repetitive. If consumers saw the launch of the iPad 3, iPad 4, and iPad 5, what's the excitement in the name "iPad 6"? The new name could show strength in the line, and hopefully a long and prosperous future for the iPad.
iOS .ARTWORK editing
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.ARTWORK files are basically collections of images used by iOS. They contain things like the status bar images and Emoji icons. I figured out a fairly simple way to edit them, so I composed a guide, which can originally be found on iFans. I may have made a few changes from that one, but nothing major.
***This requires a bit of skill. It isn't as easy as "push button, get results." It'll take some command prompt usage, and following some instructions.
Also, doesn't work for every artwork file, only ones from iOS, specifically
The supported iOS versions areKeyboard-Common.artworkKeyboard-Emoji.artworkKeyboard-Emoji@2x.artworkKeyboard-Emoji~ipad.artworkKeyboard-Latin.artworkMobilePhonePackedImages.artworkMobilePhonePackedImages.artworkOther.artworkShared.artworkShared~ipad.artworkShared~iphone.artworkShared@2x.artworkShared@2x~ipad.artworkShared@2x~iphone.artwork
2.0
2.2
3.2
4.1
4.2.1
4.3.2
4.3.3
5.0
5.0.1
5.1What you need:
- Python 2.7 (for ease of explanation, leave the default install location of C:\Python27)
- Python Imaging Library 1.1.7
- .ARTWORK compiling tool
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