Kieth Lang at UI & Us tells a story of how rounded rectangles, a shape very common in Apple’s software and hardware design, took off. The primary players in this story are graphics developer Bill Atkinson, a parking sign and Steve Jobs.

Steve took Bill on a walk, pointing out the ubiquity of rounded rectangles in [...]

The biggest announcement from today’s WWDC conference isn’t new MacBooks or Snow Leopard, it’s the ability for hardware accessories to communicate directly with software on your iPhone. This means finding, reserving and unlocking a ZipCar with your phone. Or doing blood-glucose monitoring on the spot. The possibilities are endless.

Apple says the iPhone 3.0 software detailed today will be available “this summer”. Here’s how you should decipher that: There will be a new iPhone out this summer.
I find it hard to believe Apple would allow consumers to run out and check out the new Palm Pre without first causing some necks to crane [...]

Apple will be hosting an event today at 1pm PT where they will announce the features of the upcoming iPhone 3.0 software. (You can follow a live blog of the event on Macworld.)
For those not a member of Apple fandom (or a shareholder), here’s what this means:
For the business, the event is aimed at keeping [...]

All this talk about new electronics this week at CES has me pretty frustrated at the lack of ideas that are in line with the actual needs of consumers. Not many electronics companies are really designing to aid people’s daily lives. Rather, more of them are trying to create a bloated, needless marketplace for technology [...]

Okay, I’m finally jealous of another phone. Palm just announced the Palm Pre and it’s clear they’ve done their homework. The Pre is everything you’ve come to expect from a sophisticated mobile device – easy access to communication, media, apps and web in a touch interface – but refines it by improving the human-machine interactions [...]

As of today’s keynote address at Macworld, iTunes is now DRM Free. This means Apple and music labels no longer care what you do with your purchased music: Share it with friends, listen to other iTunes libraries without being prompted to login with someone else’s credentials, put it on your Zune, put the entire library [...]

Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard

Great article here about how Altec Lansing is banking on design to help improve the bottom line.
Normally, I write off these stories as desperate last ditch attempts from stuffed-shirted CEOs who see Apple making “pretty” products and want to capitalize on it by doing an aesthetic redesign vs a true re-thinking of their product line. [...]

teehan+lax helps out the iPhone app developer in you with a handy PSD containing all the essential iPhone UI elements.