TBH, I think 5$/issue is a bit steep. In Canada I currently pay 40$/yr for my print subscription and I know that an American Print subscription is 20$/yr, so the price difference is pretty substantial.
I will be keeping my print subscription until prices are more reasonable.
Did you see the video? This isn't just a PDF of the magazine, it's a 530 MB presentation with video and interactive 3D graphics. I would pay more than $5 for this.
I'm expecting Wired will do something that motivates current print subscribers to keep the magazine and also grab the iPad version.
That said, the iPad experience is really nice. It's a hefty download as all the media is included (like the Toy Story 3 clip on the front page), but it's so well done.
Translated from Flash to Objective-C by computer program: Not OK
The good news, I guess, is that Apple is apparently confirming that "originally written in Objective-C" doesn't mean "the first concrete representation of the program was in Objective-C", which means people are free to prototype an app in whatever language they want, as long as they totally rewrite it in Objective-C by hand.
The original cross-compile from AIR may have had its own optimization issues. But oh, the irony if the speed at which Adobe has had to port this to Objective-C has resulted in a more sluggish app!
Ha... I definitely get what you mean. Others have compared these "rich site" apps to CD-ROM, another dis.
I think they are generally uninteresting, and not "the future," but could be an OK short-term product idea for legacy media companies. (But not business model)
Old-school publishing companies have lots customers who might not exercise the same effort in discovery that you and i do.
Let's compare to familiar territory: tech companies:
Shrinking technology paradigms (giant life cycle desktop OS's like Microsoft Windows, Sun's SPARC) can launch new products, and make money off of shrinking, but existing customers. That doesn't mean they're being realistic about how to survive the future. Or that these "short burst" products are a good use of their time.
(Sun maybe spent too much time denying SPARC's disappearance. MS seems to be doing just fine with Windows 7.)
Coming back to magazine apps... it's a short-term blast kind of thinking.
Sometimes those things work out great, and get you enough money to survive to the next era... sometime it doesn't.
I won't buy 'em. But depending on what else is going on inside of their organization, I don't necessarily blame msm for trying it out.
It's really very well done. Lots of obvious spots where it's 1.0 (can't select text, lots of ads for iPhone apps that don't link to the store [fail!], some interactions are nonobvious or a little clunky), but the experience is fantastic.
Unlike most Flash websites, the tablet Wired is generally a genuine improvement over dead-tree, merging the interactivity of the web site with the design and browsability of the magazine with the UX capabilities of the iPad. Really, it's an accomplishment.
Too bad most of Wired's content is so resoundingly meh...
Edit: It's worth noting that 99% of the iPad magazine apps are roughly comparable to Flash websites: gain a little glitz, lose a lot of usability. The Wired magazine is the first one I've felt really nails it.
Pretty cool that Adobe came through with an approvable version of the Wired app after the 3.3.1 change. I'm sure it was originally going to be one of the flagship examples of the CS5 export to iPhone functionality.
[+] [-] mgrouchy|16 years ago|reply
I will be keeping my print subscription until prices are more reasonable.
[+] [-] sp332|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jonknee|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tyweir|16 years ago|reply
I'd like both, and would pay $60/year for that.
I'm expecting Wired will do something that motivates current print subscribers to keep the magazine and also grab the iPad version.
That said, the iPad experience is really nice. It's a hefty download as all the media is included (like the Toy Story 3 clip on the front page), but it's so well done.
[+] [-] WiseWeasel|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jcl|16 years ago|reply
Translated from Flash to Objective-C by hand: OK
Translated from Flash to Objective-C by computer program: Not OK
The good news, I guess, is that Apple is apparently confirming that "originally written in Objective-C" doesn't mean "the first concrete representation of the program was in Objective-C", which means people are free to prototype an app in whatever language they want, as long as they totally rewrite it in Objective-C by hand.
[+] [-] tvon|16 years ago|reply
Assuming you're referring to the CS5 feature, it converts Flash to byte-code, not Objective-C.
[+] [-] jodrellblank|16 years ago|reply
Rewritten in Objective-C: OK
Translated from Flash to Objective-C by computer program: Not OK
It's like the difference between hiring a translator and using Google translate or hiring a typist versus using speech recognition.
[Edited for clarity: meant to change translated by hand to rewritten by intelligent human, and keep the second one the same].
[+] [-] mortenjorck|16 years ago|reply
Fortunately, it looks like the native app is actually an improvement. Look at the video from February: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/02/the-wired-ipad-app-a-... The paging, zooming, and scrolling really does look smoother to me.
[+] [-] Timmy_C|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cwilson|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] smackfu|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] foomarks|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thesethings|16 years ago|reply
I think they are generally uninteresting, and not "the future," but could be an OK short-term product idea for legacy media companies. (But not business model)
Old-school publishing companies have lots customers who might not exercise the same effort in discovery that you and i do.
Let's compare to familiar territory: tech companies:
Shrinking technology paradigms (giant life cycle desktop OS's like Microsoft Windows, Sun's SPARC) can launch new products, and make money off of shrinking, but existing customers. That doesn't mean they're being realistic about how to survive the future. Or that these "short burst" products are a good use of their time. (Sun maybe spent too much time denying SPARC's disappearance. MS seems to be doing just fine with Windows 7.)
Coming back to magazine apps... it's a short-term blast kind of thinking. Sometimes those things work out great, and get you enough money to survive to the next era... sometime it doesn't. I won't buy 'em. But depending on what else is going on inside of their organization, I don't necessarily blame msm for trying it out.
[+] [-] qwzybug|16 years ago|reply
Unlike most Flash websites, the tablet Wired is generally a genuine improvement over dead-tree, merging the interactivity of the web site with the design and browsability of the magazine with the UX capabilities of the iPad. Really, it's an accomplishment.
Too bad most of Wired's content is so resoundingly meh...
Edit: It's worth noting that 99% of the iPad magazine apps are roughly comparable to Flash websites: gain a little glitz, lose a lot of usability. The Wired magazine is the first one I've felt really nails it.
[+] [-] sosuke|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mcantelon|16 years ago|reply