Application icons on the high-resolution iPad are 144x144 pixels.

The Verge has a great comparison shot:

Stephen Hackett at 512 Pixels:

The new iPhoto for iOS does not use Google Maps. The tiles brought up when you use the locate feature of iPhoto, in order to display where the photo was shot, almost definitely do not have the traditional Google Maps in the Maps app of iOS.

The new map data appears to be active only on the new iPhoto for iOS app that Apple released today. You can view a map tile that is being pulled directly from Apple servers here.

I think this is a much bigger deal than it appears to be.

Related: Foursquare ditches Google Maps

Update: John Gruber “asked” and was told that the maps are still from Google.

Problem: “Android Market” gives people the impression that Google’s marketplace is only focused on Android. In the future, it needs to be a more comprehensive brand that can be used on Google TV and other platforms.

Sane solution: Change the name to Google Market. All problems are solved.

Google’s bizarre solution: Change the name to “Google Play,” redesign the entire interface, and demote the importance of apps by giving them the lowest entry in the navigation menu.

I can’t wait to “play” the books I buy on Google Play. Or “play” the Facebook Android app. Or see the look on Mark Pincus’ face when he realizes that Google has ruined the word “play,” which Zynga has been trying very hard to own.

Two stories.

iChat-worthy

When I was in high school, I often communicated with my friends using AOL Instant Messenger. One of my favorite features was the ability for someone to leave a status message that would show up next to their screen name in the buddy list. When someone said something interesting, or had a witty thought, my friends and I would call it “iChat-worthy.” I kept a text file with a list of my iChat-worthy updates.

There was something interesting about the ability to set a “this sentence defines me right now” message that would be broadcasted to people who wanted to know. I remember getting a weird feeling that something was there, that the feature was important, but I could never complete the thought. I even made a mockup of a site that would store the messages for you, but it seemed useless at the time.

A few years later, Twitter was born.

A private network

A...

The Foursquare blog:

Starting today, we’re embracing the OpenStreetMap movement, so all the maps you see when you go to foursquare.com will look a tiny bit different (we think the new ones are really pretty). Other than slightly different colors and buttons, though, foursquare is still the same site you know and love.

Strange decision. OpenStreetMap with MapBox is cheaper, more detailed in some areas, and easier to customize. But it’s fundamentally worse than Google Maps in the one area where it matters the most: cartography. (Updated to include the map Foursquare is using, which is actually pretty decent for their uses but still, I think, worse than Google Maps.)

See the screenshot above at full size. Which one is easier to parse?

Mark Pincus, CEO of Zynga:

Today, we’re proud to share a new platform for play. The Zynga Platform is designed with two simple goals: more access to the best social games and more people to play with. In a few days we’re turning on a beta of Zynga.com which will feature our most popular games: Words with Friends, CastleVille, Zynga Poker, Hidden Chronicles and CityVille.

Bad news for Facebook. But good news, possibly, for social gaming:

It’s our hope that our Platform partners, and eventually anyone in the industry, can extend the reach of their games and connect to even more players on Zynga.com. Later this year we’ll make our platform available for all social game developers through a Zynga API.

Zynga is on a great trajectory. If they can overturn the US ban on online gambling, and improve the quality of their games, they will be in a very powerful position.

DISCLOSURE I own...

In a great article called “Give it five minutes” on Signal vs. Noise, Jason Fried talks about gut opinions:

A few years ago I used to be a hothead. Whenever anyone said anything, I’d think of a way to disagree. I’d push back hard if something didn’t fit my world-view.

It’s like I had to be first with an opinion – as if being first meant something. But what it really meant was that I wasn’t thinking hard enough about the problem. The faster you react, the less you think. Not always, but often.

I have recently discovered the same thing about myself, so I’ve started forcing myself to ask the other person at least three questions about their opinion. Forming those questions helps me think. Often, my gut negative opinion changes. Sometimes, the questions change the other person’s opinion. There is no downside.

An Italian espresso is a polyphasic beverage prepared from roasted and ground coffee and water alone, constituted by a foam layer with a partiucular “tiger tail” pattern, on top of an emulsion of microscopic oil droplets in an aqueous solution of sugars, acids, protein-like materials, and caffeine, with dispersed gas-bubbles and solids … The distinguishing sensory characteristics of italian espresso include a rich body, a full fine aroma, and equilibrated bitter-sweet taste with an acidic note, and a pleasant lingering after-taste, exempt from unpleasant flavor defects.

ERNESTO ILLY

“The best” is not a thing. It’s a reward for winning the battle fought between minutiae and desire. Reasonable people would probably not spend the time to read all six of the linked pages, buy expensive equipment, develop and refine a proper technique, and slowly build up the necessary experience required...

Samsung’s press release:

Samsung’s projector smartphone offers unforgettable shared experience for playing multimedia content anytime, anywhere.

GALAXY Beam lets users spontaneously share photos, videos or other digital media with family or friends by beaming content stored on the device directly onto walls, ceilings or improvised flat surfaces, so that everyone can share the fun without the need to huddle around smartphone or pad-sized screens. GALAXY Beam’s ultra-bright 15 lumens projector allows users to freely share life’s memorable moments instantly and in crisp clarity, even in outdoor environments.

Absurd. Just another gimmick.

Also, it has Android 2.3, which is, obviously, the bleeding edge.

Source: Engadget

I played with a prototype of Readability for iOS a few weeks ago, and it is an impressively well designed app. Can’t wait to use it.