The End of an Era
Posted: June 29, 2011 Filed under: Twek Comments OffWow. It has been over a year since our last post here, and since then, a lot has changed. After our editors entered high school, writing for Twek wasn’t a priority anymore. Yet our post on iWork vs. Office seems to have the number one spot in Google search results and gets a consistent 100+ views per day.
But all good things must come to an end. Twek will no longer be maintained, and all current posts and comments will be frozen in place for posterity. For fresh, new content, we recommend Daring Fireball, MacStories, The Brooks Review, and This Is My Next.
Of course, we’re still active on Twitter. You can follow @kevinchen or @daylenyang for random daily ramblings.
With that out of the way, it’s finally time to say goodbye. Farewell!
Why an Internet enthusiast quit Facebook
Posted: May 11, 2010 Filed under: Web | Tags: Facebook, privacy 1 Comment »Scathingly true article about how “Internet enthusiast” Laura McGann pulled the plug on Facebook:
I never imagined this set of problems when I joined Facebook back in 2006, while a journalism graduate student. A friend had posted some photos from a class barbeque. It sounded like the next Friendster or MySpace — the latest social-networking fad, not something that was destined to reshape the Internet. I simply saw it as a way to deepen new friendships.
In the ensuing years it also became about rekindling old friendships (or feeling smug about avoiding the same), promoting my work as a journalist, and showing loyalty to media outlets, causes, and yes, even brands. But somewhere in that transition from a social site meant to deepen interpersonal relationships to a self promotional, commercial tool, Facebook lost its appeal. The various facets of my life merged into a web of connectivity where I could no longer clearly create distinct relationships with friends, foes, and fast food — either because I can’t figure out how or because Facebook is preventing me outright. For me, the overwhelming connectivity to everyone and everything, without much control over those ties, feels like I’m no longer connected to anything, and meanwhile, outside groups benefit.
You can read the whole thing here. Follow @FacebookProtest on Twitter and commit to not logging into Facebook on June 6, 2010.
Why I still haven’t jailbroken my iPod touch
Posted: April 9, 2010 Filed under: Apple, Hardware, Phones, Software | Tags: Apple, Dev Team, Hardware, iPhone, iPhone OS, iPod touch, jailbreak, Software 1 Comment »
Here are my top 10 reasons to not jailbreak my iPod touch. Please don’t flame me in the comments.
- I like new stuff. I want to be able to jump on the latest firmware as soon as it goes live. I don’t like waiting for the Dev Team to find a new workaround every time.
- I want complete backups. I want iTunes to back everything up, every single time. When you jailbreak and sync, your mods aren’t backed up. Since iTunes (on my computer, at least) is constantly crashing and stores data like a sieve stores sand, I need as many safeguards as I can get for my data. Also, switching devices (if I ever get a new iPod) will be a major pain.
- I hate lag. I’ve seen iPhones where you have to wait 30 seconds before the Phone app opens.
- Backgrounder? See previous reason. Besides, my iPod barely handles a single app at a time.
- Apple does it better. Copy and paste and multitasking, anyone?
- I hate bugs. When something goes wrong on my clean iPod touch, I know who to blame: Apple. And I know who to call: Apple. After you jailbreak and install a bunch of unofficial plugins, patches, hacks, and software, who knows what went wrong?
- SBSettings? I don’t need to change my brightness every 30 seconds. I don’t find entertainment in swiping the Wi-Fi switch across the screen. Do you?
- I want a polished UI. It certainly feels like most of the people writing Cydia apps specialize in command prompts, not GUI design.
- Who needs Cydia? Maybe jailbreaking was fun and thrilling in the pre-2.0 days, but with the App Store, I can get pretty much anything I could possible need or want — sans Wobble iBoobs.
- I like developers. Why should I pirate apps if it doesn’t support the people who invest their time and money into making great software?
What are your top reasons to jailbreak / not to jailbreak? Share them with us in the comments.
P.S. “Hey, look! I can listen to Pandora, Last.fm, and my the music app with this ugly chrome skin while watching YouTube, surfing the web, changing my screen brightness, downloading 1,000 pirated fart applications, and applying a new theme with colors that are so badly matched they’ll burn your eyes out — all at the same time! And my battery lasts up to 15 minutes!”
Five Awesome Free Mac Applications
Posted: February 16, 2010 Filed under: Apple, Software | Tags: Apple, application, Aqua, Aqua Inspiriat, BitTorrent, Cyberduck, Dropbox, FTP, Mac, SSH, sync, ThemePark, Tweetie, twitter, uTorrent 8 Comments »As a new author on Twek, I’d like to start with a list of my favorite Mac applications.
Tweetie
Just as Tweetie 2 is the best Twitter client for the iPhone, Tweetie is the best Twitter client for Mac. Tweetie is deceptively simple yet extremely powerful.
Cyberduck
Cyberduck is a simple, fast FTP and SSH client. It’s great for SSHing into an iPhone or iPod Touch or FTPing into your own server.
uTorrent
uTorrent is a small, fast BitTorrent client.
ThemePark
Ever wish you could replace Mac OS X’s Aqua theme? With ThemePark and Aqua Inspiriat, you can. Head over to MacStories for the full installation instructions.
Dropbox
Dropbox is software that syncs your files online and across your computers. Put your files into your Dropbox on one computer, and they’ll be instantly available on any of your other computers that you’ve installed Dropbox on (Windows, Mac, and Linux too!) Because a copy of your files are stored on Dropbox’s secure servers, you can also access them from any computer or mobile device using the Dropbox website.
Apple announces iPad
Posted: January 27, 2010 Filed under: Apple, Hardware, Software, Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, Apple Tablet, iPad, iPhone, iPhone OS, tablet Comments Off
Image credit: Apple
It’s finally here and official — the Apple tablet. Dubbed the iPad, this thingamajig runs a scaled-up iPhone OS on a custom 1 GHz CPU.
- Runs all iPhone apps
- 9.7 inch multi-touch display
- 0.5 inches thick, 1.5 pounds
- Uses Apple 30-pin Dock Connector
- Humongous on-screen keyboard
- Runs modified version of iWork
- 10-hour battery
- 16-64 GB storage
- Optional wireless with AT&T
- Optional docking station with keyboard
Talking to some teachers, they’d definitely like something like this in the classroom. The question is, can they afford it? And for the regular consumer, is there really that much space between smartphone and computer for this device?
Head over to the Gdgt liveblog for all the juicy details!
