OMFG TECH

With iOS 7, Apple will drop the shiny, transparent time bar on the top of the Lock screen in exchange for a shine-free, black interface. Additionally, the square-grid for entering a pin code has been replaced with round, black buttons with white text and white borders. Additionally, sources say that notifications on the Lock screen may see improved manipulability with gestures.

Sounds nice.

Twitter unveiled the Lead Generation Card today, a new expandable tweet format which allows users to show their interest in a particular discount or offer.

Doing everything Facebook does, but doing it right and doing it better.

I am betting Twitter will monetise better than Facebook. I am also betting that Twitter may well prove to be more valuable than Facebook.

But Apple’s alleged scheme to avoid paying taxes on billions of dollars of profits has deflected attention from a more fundamental issue facing the company: what’s next?

Quite. It seems ridiculous that now they are being chased for doing what every company does – maximising value for shareholders. Is this not an American principle?

And does anyone really think this money is better spent in government hands?

staff:

Everyone, I’m elated to tell you that Tumblr will be joining Yahoo.

Before touching on how awesome this is, let me try to allay any concerns: We’re not turning purple.

Well, I guess it’s happening. Doesn’t change anything right now, but let’s see. I’m sure the pressure will quickly be on to generate more than $10m(!) revenue for such a large user base.

As long as we don’t turn purple or adopt a Facebook ad strategy.

Nintendud.

Could an investment in or purchase of the hipster blogging service take years off the Silicon Valley Internet giant?

Please, no.

continuations:

Two years ago I wrote a blog post titled “Is Google the New Microsoft?” hedging it with a question mark. I think after the announcements at Google IO there can be very little doubt that Google is the new Microsoft.

Here is a short check list. Dominant position in one market that generates huge…

Gruber:

Facebook Home isn’t an iPhone idea. It’s just a bad idea. Facebook is an app, not a platform.A good home screen interface is one that accommodates any app or service, not just one.

Absolutely.

Tim Green:

To me, there is a distinct movement towards a particular style and I would be very surprised if Apple were ignorant of it. It’s not ‘flat design’ per se and it’s certainly nowhere near the ‘Metro’ levels that people are suggesting they may follow, but it’s a mellowing out of the visual indicators that people need to trigger the idea of a tappable element

A good overview of current design trends in iOS, some thoughts and even a mock-up. A nice way to see where mobile design in general is trending.