Fortune: Apple granted ‘the mother of all smartphone software patents’:

Both sides of the smartphone wars agree that the 25 patents granted Apple (AAPL) on Tuesday contain some powerful legal weapons.

One patent in particular — No. 8,223,134: “Portable electronic device, method, and graphical user interface for displaying electronic lists and documents” — stands out.

I was ready to use the Obi-Wan line, ‘If you strike me down I shall become more power than you can possibly imagine’, but I realized, Apple is already there. More importantly, Apple doesn’t need this patent to continue it’s trajectory of success.

Derek Thompson over at the Atlantic shares 11 ways consumers are hopeless at math (via Flowing Data):

You walk into a Starbucks and see two deals for a cup of coffee. The first deal offers 33% extra coffee. The second takes 33% off the regular price. What’s the better deal?

“They’re about equal!” you’d say, if you’re like the students who participated in a new study published in the Journal of Marketing. And you’d be wrong. The deals appear to be equivalent, but in fact, a 33% discount is the same as a 50 percent increase in quantity. Math time: Let’s say the standard coffee is $1 for 3 quarts ($0.33 per quart). The first deal gets you 4 quarts for $1 ($0.25 per quart) and the second gets you 3 quarts for 66 cents ($.22 per quart).

If you’re like me and fascinated by behavioral economics, I suggest you read Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely.

A beautifully produced short film with team members at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on the challenges of getting to Mars.
via Public School

via DesignJargonBullshit

Some quick thoughts on the new Podcasts App for iPhone:

1. It’s extremely laggy on my iPhone 4. Sometimes when I click to download an episode from list within a podcast the app becomes unresponsive for over more than 5 seconds. For instance, when I’m in a list of episodes within a podcast, the list won’t scroll when I flick, and when I tap the ‘Podcasts’ or ‘Library’ button in the top left corner to go back to the previous list, it also won’t acknowledge my taps. I have to hit the Home button, and relaunch the app, at which point the app reflects whatever tap sequence I tried while it was frozen.

2. While the reel-to-reel is unnecessary, it doesn’t get in the way for me. I see it as designers at Apple having fun, and it’s clear a lot of work went into all the little details — watch the rocker arm wiggle when you hit the pause button.

3. The scrubber bar. What’s the deal with the needle thin red line you have to scrub the track with? Not only is it hard to see where you’re dragging, but it’s also another area with choppy responsiveness.

1. Elapsed/Remaining time labels – why is the type distorted? Look at the image above, It’s smushed. Nasty looking.

2. Radio dial interface for Top Stations. Again, I don’t mind the skeuomorphic dial they use, what I mind is how chuggy it is.

Update: While scrolling through Top Stations, the app froze, so I hit Home, but on every subsequent relaunch the app quit after a few seconds. The only way I could fix it was to delete the app and re-download it from the App Store. I like having a separate application for my podcasts. It’s particularly helpful when I’ve been listening to my music library on shuffle and then I decide to listen to a podcast.

Before, the Music app controlled playback of both music and podcasts, so there was no way for me to continue where I left off in my music shuffle playback. Now with two discreet apps, I can pick up where I left off on both music and podcasts.

Apple just really needs to resolve the performance issues in this app. I would like to think an application for audio download and playback doesn’t require a lot of processor power and/or system resources.

From The Big Think, Henry Rollins recounts the one decision that changed his life forever.
via Open Culture

UPDATE: I incorrectly attributed Harry McCracken as being against the idea of the iPad as a content creation device. I meant Richard Gaywood.
Harry McCrackenRichard Gaywood still thinks content creation on the iPad is a silly idea (via DF).
Apparently he hasn’t talked to David Hockney.

How many logos have been set in the Gotham typeface? Enough to start a Tumblr with, that’s how much.

I’M COMIC SANS, ASSHOLE. Another classic from McSweeney’s.

Words of wisdom from Jory.