November 2012 – Bostin

Letterpress: Perfecting the Perfect Word Game

2020-05-252012-11-20 by jw

This article first appeared on iPad.Appstorm, a popular Envato website reviewing iPad apps. The site was subsequently sold to a new owner and, a number of years later, the article was lost. I have republished it here for reference.

It’s only been out since 24th October 2012, but Letterpress (the new iOS app from Loren Brichter of Tweetie fame) has taken iOS gaming by storm. The crashing of Game Centre — the weekend following the launch of Letterpress app — has been attributed to its huge success. So what is the appeal of Letterpress, is it really the perfect word game? Following it’s update to version 1.1, on 17th November, is there really any room for improvement?

The Future for Apple Human Interface Design

2020-05-252012-11-16 by jw

This article first appeared on Mac.Appstorm, a popular Envato website reviewing Mac apps. The site was subsequently sold to a new owner and, a number of years later, the article was lost. I have republished it here for reference.

In recent iterations of iOS — Apple’s mobile operating system for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad — and in recent versions of OS X on the desktop, you will undoubtedly have noticed a move towards visual elements that mimic real-life objects. The ruled, yellow notepaper for the Notes app, the torn-paper effect at the top of the stitched, leather-bound Calendar app, and more are examples of this.

These software design elements mimicking real world objects have introduced a new word into our vocabularies: skeuomorphism. Such effects have, however, divided opinion, and it is just possible that we will see Apple shift away from these elements in future.

How to Set Up Shared Reminder Lists in Mountain Lion

2018-03-202012-11-12 by jw

One of the new features to included in Mountain Lion and iOS 6 is the iCloud-enabled reminders app. Reminders is a basic reminder list management application that incorporates the ability to wirelessly synchronize reminders across your iOS and desktop devices using Apple’s iCloud.

Reminders can also share reminder lists with other people. Let’s see how.

How to Reveal the Library Folder in Lion or Mountain Lion

2018-03-202012-11-09 by jw

Did you know that you will find Library folders in three locations on your Mac? There’s a Library folder at the root-level of your hard drive, there’s a second Library folder inside the root-level System folder and another Library folder in each User’s Home folder. In the normal day-to-day course of events, you don’t need to worry about any of them, and that’s fine because they’re all hidden away from you by default.

There are, however, occasions when you may need to access the User Library folder (also known as ~/Library) and this article will show you how.

The OS X Recovery Partition: What It Is, Why It’s There and How to Remove It

2018-03-202012-11-01 by jw

When you upgrade your Intel Mac from Snow Leopard to Lion, Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion, or even Snow Leopard to Lion and then again to Mountain Lion, the installation process creates a special “Recovery Partition”.

There are, however, certain circumstances where you will want to remove this recovery partition. This article looks at what the Recovery Partition is, what it does, and why you might want to remove it. I’ll also walk you through the removal process.