Aktiv Grotesk – The Helvetica killer?

Typographer Bruno Maag sets out to eliminate Helvetica with his own alternative called Aktiv Grotesk. I’m all for anything that would remove Helvetica yet over the years there’s been plenty of types that are much better than Helvetica though only one has managed to dent its dominance. Why? Simply because Helvetica is available as a system font while alternatives such as Univers, Haas Unica, Frutiger, and many other similar typefaces are not.

Arial, the ugly doppleganger to Helvetica is popular thanks to Microsoft’s and Apple’s inclusion of the typeface in their respective operating systems.

If they were to include one or more of the alternatives, it would probably be much easier to reduce, if not unseat, the position of both as the seemingly dominant typeface.

Google launches a brand new mobile interface that works with HTML5 compatible browsers. Translation: new mobile YouTube page works with iOS, Android, and webOS mobile devices.

The “installable” web app is exactly the kind of web app Apple has been championing since launching the iPhone in 2007. As soon as web apps achieve capabilities on par with native apps, the distinction between native vs web applications erodes.

This certainly allows YouTube to add, remove, and modify features much faster than having to rely on Apple to update the built in YouTube app in the iOS. The built in app in iOS is yet to conform to the new YouTube rating system and does not allow for built-in advertising, something that Google has been pushing for on the full website.

Of course, this is in line with Google’s position that web apps are the future.

The interface on the new mobile site works really well and evokes familiarity with the Facebook app for iOS. Search is augmented with a suggestion list and everything works really fast. The landing page is laid out very clearly as you can see on the screenshot.

Supposedly the video is much better than on Apple’s YouTube app because it uses a new delivery format but I can’t tell the difference.

It probably will take over the YouTube app in how I watch videos. Also, when you install the app to the home screen, the icon is the YouTube logo. You can’t miss it.

On Fair Use in quoting newspapers

Associated Press issued a takedown to ColoradoPols against entries quoting a newspaper, claiming fair use is irrelevant because they only sent a handful of traffic back to the newspaper’s site.

Since when is fair use measurable?

On Fair Use in quoting newspapers

Nokia pulled an Apple, wants phone back from blogger

Turns out Apple’s not the only one who lost a phone to a blogger before it was made public. Nokia actually asked the Russian police to help get its N8 back in April.

Nokia pulled an Apple, wants phone back from blogger

The iPhone fashion shoot

A few weeks ago I did a full fashion photo shoot with my iPhone 3gs. I posted a few of the images and asked people to critique them (never exposing that they were shot on my cell phone). I couldn’t help but laugh when a few of our readers claimed that these were “the best images I had ever taken.” Nobody ever claimed that they were too grainy, too soft, or lacked detail.

That’s on iPhone 3GS. Have you seen the photos from iPhone 4?

The iPhone fashion shoot