AndyIhnatko posts

Filed under: Odds and ends, Blogging, iPhone

Andy Ihnatko on Verizon Droid "iDon't" ads: baloney (mostly)

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Nov 5th, 2009

Most American television viewers have been treated recently to endless reruns of Verizon's "iDon't" advertisements. These ads attack the iPhone, playing music that's similar to that played in iPhone ads while displaying a series of messages stating such brilliant and cutting phrases as "iDon't have a real keyboard," "iDon't run simultaneous apps," and so on.

Mac fan and Chicago Sun-Times writer Andy Ihnatko was apparently as fed up with the ads as most of us here at TUAW, so he took Verizon to task in a Wednesday column. In the column, he takes on Verizon's claims and for the most part finds them lacking or at least overblown.In describing the faults of the ad campaign, Ihnatko says "Its claims about the limitations of the iPhone are baloney (Mostly.)"

Andy has been testing the new Motorola Droid phone for an upcoming review, and he does like the phone -- a lot. But his take on the ad campaign is right on the mark: "Verizon's 'iDon't' is a terrible commercial. It provokes experienced iPhone users like me to get all Tyra Banks on the phone and the Android 2.0 OS. That can't possibly be good for business."

Don't mess with us iPhone fans, Verizon...

[via Chicago Sun-Times]

Tags: advertisement, andy ihnatko, AndyIhnatko, droid, iphone, verizon

Filed under: Rumors, Apple

Ihnatko says Apple tablet could play hero to comic books

by Ken Ray (RSS feed) on Oct 21st, 2009

Speculation based on rumor can be frustrating. But when the rumor is of Apple's fabled tablet, and the speculation is of a new golden age for comics, the 13-year-old kid in me comes alive.

Writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, Andy Ihnatko says there are hints that Apple is getting into the digital comic book market, a statement he likens to saying "Apple is helping to create the digital comic book market." Digital comics today, he argues, are where digital music was in 2002. Legitimate businesses are so fractured, clumsy, and behind the times that pirated comics (online illegally one day after hitting store shelves) provide the best user experience.

Enter LongBox, a company that has made the rounds at comic book conventions this year pitching an iTunes-like store for buying and selling digital comic books. Ihnatko talked with LongBox CEO Rantz Hoseley, peppering him with questions and looking for reasons that LongBox was doomed to failure. What he found instead was a company that respects the comic book as a medium, that has made publishing to the LongBox format (.LBX) as simple as adding a plug-in to the software publishers already use, and that has plans for outfits as big as Marvel or DC all the way down to the lone artists publishing on their own.

Continue reading “Ihnatko says Apple tablet could play hero to comic books”

Tags: andy ihnatko, AndyIhnatko, comic book, ComicBook, comics, dc comics, DcComics, digital comics, DigitalComics, itunes store, ItunesStore, longbox, marvel comics, MarvelComics, tablet

Filed under: OS, Other Events, Developer, Deals, iPhone, iPod touch

Get your TUAW discount to the Voices That Matter: iPhone Developers Conference

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Aug 5th, 2009

Addison-Wesley Professional, the publishers of many books on both Mac and iPhone development, is hosting the Voices That Matter: iPhone Developer's Conference October 17 and 18th in Boston. TUAW wants to make sure that the budding iPhone devs in our readership are able to attend the conference, so we have an exclusive discount code for you to use when you register.

The conference is focused at experienced Mac developers who are looking for a quick way to get the skills required to build, test, and distribute iPhone and iPod touch apps. The speaker list for the conference is impressive and includes:

TUAW's very own Erica Sadun (Conference Program Chair)
Aaron Hillegass, author of Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X (Keynote Speaker)
Mac and technology pundit Andy Ihnatko (Keynote Speaker)
Peter Bakhirev
Lee Barney
Erik Buck
Bill Dudney
Dan Grover
Daniel Jalkut
Steve Kochan
Bill Licea-Kane
Mike Morton
Jonathan Rentzsch
Fraser Speirs
August Trometer
Marcus Zarra

TUAW readers can save $150 on their conference registration by providing the special priority code PHNTUAW when registering. If you register before September 12th, you can combine your TUAW discount with Early Bird pricing and save a total of $350.

The iPhone app market is still going strong even in this execrable economy, so this is a great opportunity for Mac developers to get the smarts to make the leap to the iPhone market.

Tags: andy ihnatko, AndyIhnatko, big nerd ranch, BigNerdRanch, conference, developers, development, iphone

Filed under: Rumors, Hacks, Odds and ends, Steve Jobs, Blogs

On the trail of Fake Steve Jobs

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Jul 13th, 2007

Everybody's favorite anonymous Mac commentator might be a little closer to becoming not-so-anonymous. If you checked out Fake Steve Jobs's site yesterday, you might have seen a short post about a marginally funny iPhone Haiku site. I've still got the post in my Google Reader, as you can see in the pic. Seems harmless, right?

That's what FSJ thought. But apparently, the link was sent to him by the guys at Sitening (who also created the Haiku site as a lark), and the link he was sent was a specially created link, made up just for FSJ by the Sitening guys. See where this is going? When he clicked the link, they tracked his IP, and here it is: 68.160.21.224. That IP traces back to a Verizon service, which the Sitening guys say is in Boston, MA.

And then the story gets even stranger. Diego Barros at the Radio Active Code Blog posted a comment on FSJ's post about the tricksey linkses, and then the post itself was removed completely. FSJ usually seems pretty easygoing about this stuff, so the fact that he actually took it down gives credence to Barros' suggestion that FSJ is on the run.

So who does all this point to? So far, this evidence all says Andy Ihnatko, who lives near Boston, has written for both MacWorld and Playboy, and has worked anonymously before-- apparently he wrote parts of Roger Ebert's movie guides. TUAW dropped him a note asking him about the rumors, and we'll let you know if we hear anything back.

Thanks, Diego!

Tags: andyihnatko, bloglinks, blogs, fakestevejobs, haiku, iphone, link, radio active code, RadioActiveCode, sitening

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPhone

iPhone runs Leopard says Ihnatko

by Scott McNulty (RSS feed) on Jan 18th, 2007

You can add Andy Ihnatko to the short list of people who have played with an actual iPhone, not a paper cutout. Andy spent a good 45 minutes clicking around the interface and let's us know that the how experience was smooth. The phone reacted quickly to his commands (something my Q doesn't do) and he even claims that the virtual keyboard let him type faster than a physical keyboard (that is something I'll have to try myself before I form an opinion of it).

The most interesting note Andy has is that the iPhone is running Leopard. Those fancy onscreen effects are courtesy of Core Animation. Sadly, Andy also confirms that a Flash plugin for the web browser isn't in the cards, at least not yet but we have months to go before the iPhone ships.

Tags: andy ihnatko, AndyIhnatko, apple, iphone

Filed under: Macworld, Humor, Odds and ends

Let's go to Macworld and get married!

by Dave Caolo (RSS feed) on Jan 13th, 2006

Isn't it sweet when geeks fall in love? You may know Shawn King as the host of the great Your Mac Life internet radio show. You may not know that he met his wife-to-be at the Macworld expo of three years ago, and got engaged at last year's expo. How else could you possibly wrap up this story than with a Macworld wedding?

A host of notables from the Mac community will be in attendance when Shawn and his bride tie the knot at the end of this week, including Chris Breen on piano, David Pogue (who will give away the bride) and Andy Ihnatko (who will actually perform the ceremony; he's a deputy marriage commissioner in the State of California). Good luck, you crazy kids!

[Via Cult of Mac Blog]

Tags: andy ihnatko, AndyIhnatko, chris breen, ChrisBreen, david pogue, DavidPogue, macworld, shawn king, ShawnKing, your mac life, YourMacLife

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