January 2010
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Apple has the iPad's features almost all figured...
It’s a whole lot easier to talk about what the iPad can’t do right now because no one has an iPad in their hands to rave about. It’s important to remember that Apple is positioning the iPad in between your everyday computer and your cell phone. There are features that both your laptop and cell phone do much better than the iPad ever could. Apple will obviously never make the...
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Do's and Don'ts: iPhone app UI design
Do’s: Use these colors in the UI: blacks, greys, greens and blues consistent with the iPhone SDK Create fluid, invisible controls Use standard input fields with a different color selection Implement familiar gestures Don’t: Be inconsistent within the app Over-style controls Create a confusing navigation in the app Make users relearn how to use the iPhone through your app Get...
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Hurricanes, Earthquakes and Plane Crashes - Oh My!
Did you know: Hurricanes - The costliest hurricane to occur in the United States since the year 1900 was undoubtedly Hurricane Katrina. The main areas of damage occurred during Hurricane Katrina were southeastern Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi. In total, the total cost of damages were around $81 billion. Source: The National Hurricane Center Earthquakes - Staying safe during an earthquake...
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“Steve Jobs is typing actually NOT with his thumbs, but with fingers, like on a...”
– Gizmodo 
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Blogging, Twitter, and the mainstream media
It seems as though the shift in the mainstream media to an entertainment model rather than a news model was complemented perfectly by the emergence of blogging. In the wake of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, where what organizations heard almost became more important that what they could prove, the rise and popularity of 24-hour news networks opened an avenue for blogs and self-proclaimed experts. ...
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Assignment: An introspective look at...
Blogging has taken many forms in the years since its inception. One of the most interesting takes on blogging is an extremely popular photoblog entitled, oddly, “icanhascheezburger.” Icanhascheezburger.com is a website consisting of a collection of images of animals, though mostly cats, with funny captions included. These images have become known as LOLcats (pronounced lawl-cats) and...
Netflix - just signed up, what should I rent?
I just signed up for Netflix and I’ve got one depressing empty queue. What should I add to rent? Throw anything out there and I’ll look into it.
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Four reasons the 4th generation iPhone will not...
(photo: nowhereelse.fr) The picture above has been making its way around the Internet this afternoon and claims, unfoundedly, that there is a 70% chance the 4th generation iPhone will have a front-facing camera. I’ve never been quite sure why there is a demand for a front-facing camera in addition to the obvious rear facing one. Regardless, here is why the 4th generation iPhone will not...
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RTD Mobile Bus Times 1.1 and 2.0 announcements
I wanted to make few brief announcements about the next two versions of RTD Mobile Bus Times. We’ve teamed up with InspiringApps to develop future versions of the app. I’m very excited about the direction the application is going, moving towards the 2.0 release and beyond. RTD Mobile Bus Times has been downloaded in surprising places like the UK, Canada, Argentina and Australia....
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“The news of the day as it reaches the newspaper office is an incredible medley...”
– Walter Lippmann - Liberty and the News (1920) 90 years later, in a world on 24-hour news networks, do Lippmann’s words still hold true? Are journalists still sacred gatekeepers to the world of facts? No they aren’t. The problem in our society is a rather laughable paradox: we are both... 
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“Battery life lasts around a day with normal use, which includes calling,...”
– Gizmodo’s Nexus One Review Bookstore Game - Where's Malcolm?
I invented and refined a game over the past few weeks. It’s called Where’s Malcolm? To play, enter a bookstore, retailer that sells books or walk through a mall or airport. See how far you can get into the venue before seeing anything (usually a book) with Malcolm Gladwell on it. Give it a try, email me your results and most of all, have fun!
ShutUpInternet.com is now ZackShapiro.com
I’ve been in the process of making some changes to this blog over the past few months. I debated leaving Tumblr for a more traditional form of blogging (read: Wordpress) but in the end I liked this format, the people and the system way too much to leave it. I’ve got some great people who read my blog regularly, why give that up? I love you guys too much. Still left are a few minor...