Floating Windows In Mail's Full Screen Mode

Floating window good. Full screen bad. I'm not sure if anyone else finds this annoying but I can't stand being forced, when Mail is in full screen mode, to respond to an email on the same screen. 

You know what I mean, right? If not, let me clarify. 

When Mail is set to run in full screen mode it has its own desktop in Lion or Mountain Lion. So let's say you receive a new email. You three-finger swipe across to the Mail desktop and click Reply to respond to the email you received. At this point, the New Mail window appears above the main Mail interface which is greyed out and inaccessible. 

But what if you want to copy and paste something from another email while you write? What if the email takes you longer than expected and more emails arrive while you write? It used to be that the New Mail window floated and could, therefor, be dragged to any location while you accessed your Inbox. Not in full screen mode. 

Now, the standard process to get back to your Inbox when in full screen mode is to click Cancel, save a draft of the message, access the emails you want and then head back to editing your draft. Either that, or drop out of full screen mode and work that way. Not very efficient and pretty slow. 

So today I tried something and, like most things Apple, "it just worked". 

To retain full screen Mail use while having a floating New Mail window, all you need to do is select the message you want to reply to, swipe back across to your main desktop and hit CMD+R. The New Mail window now appears as a floating window on your desktop and you can access your Inbox as you would normally. Brilliant! 

Perhaps people have been aware of this feature since full screen Mail was introduced but, for those of us who might be a bit slow on the uptake, I hope this will be of use. 

Mountain Lion - Why you need OS X 10.8

If you're excited about upgrading to OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion this month or you're yet to make up your mind, check out my latest feature for MacFormat magazine. 

In it, I delve into all the clever new features added in Mountain Lion, showcase the brand new apps and techniques on offer and also answer the annual question for Mac users: "Is my computer ready for the new OS?" 

The feature appears in issue 250 of MacFormat which, in celebration of this milestone edition, has undergone something of a transformation in design and interactivity terms, so it's definitely worth checking out in print or through the new iPad edition. 

Making Movies with your iPhone shortlisted by Barnes & Noble

I'm very pleased to announce that my book, Making Movies with your iPhone, has been shortlisted as part of Barnes and Noble's Summer Reading promotion. 

Now, I'm sure that information isn't the highlight of your day by any means, but the fact that the book is now available for half the regular price may well pique your interest.

If you're in the mood to shoot a home movie or something more professional using only your iPhone, head over to Barnes & Noble and grab a great book (if I do say so myself) at a bargain price. 

If you're interested in checking out my other books, click here.

Best man for the Jobs: Aaron Sorkin to write Steve Jobs biopic

In an upcoming movie, Sony Pictures is set to bring about a pairing of writer and subject that could not be better.  

Aaron Sorkin, the scribe behind my favourite TV series, The West Wing, the recent Brad Pitt-starring Moneyball, The Social Network and Charlie Wilson's War has been announced as the writer of Sony's upcoming film covering the life of Apple CEO Steve Jobs.  

Not only will Sorkin's insight into the workings of Silicon Valley, gleaned from his Oscar-winning script that charted the rise of Facebook, stand him in good stead, but his ability to truly understand the people he writes, fictional or otherwise, will be essential.

Jobs, who died in October last year, was the type of complex character that an inferior writer could easily stereotype and, as a result, damage his legacy. 

Sorkin will draw heavily from the only authorised biography of Steve Jobs, written by Walter Isaacson, and no doubt perform his own research to assemble a character whose motives and mantras many to this day don't quite understand or appreciate, as he did with Congressman Charles Wilson who helped fund an Afghan resistance to Soviet invasion in the 80s, and with Mark Zuckerburg who, some might say ruthlessly, cut a path to owning one of the world's most valuable companies.

Even in his fictional works, Sorkin layers his players with equal amounts of positive and negative attributes. The West Wing's MS-suffering president Jed Bartlet, with an extraordinary mind and distaste for military action, was wholly believable as a troubled yet brilliant commander in chief. 

Jobs could be unreasonable and unforgiving but was also an inspirational leader with more levels than simply those of the cult guru many saw him as. He also changed the world for the better in more ways than the general public might realise. 

Aaron Sorkin will not only educate the world on Jobs but also, I hope, not shy away from the darker and often manic sides of the man when building a complete picture of his exceptional life. As with 2010's The Social Network, Sorkin isn't one to gloss over a person's flaws in his writing even when, to coin a phrase from his breakthrough A Few Good Men screenplay, some "can't handle the truth". 

Unlike Zuckerberg, Jobs will not be able to direct acerbic sentiment toward the film of his life when it is released, but there will be plenty of informed onlookers ready to do just that and even more neutral bystanders who stand to learn a great deal about the genius of Jobs, despite his failings. 

Win a free copy of Make Music with your iPad or Moviemaking with your iPhone

You may have heard, through this site or any number of social media outlets, that I've written a few iPhone and iPad related books in the last year. 

In order to make up for the constant bombardment of tweets and Facebook updates on the subject (as well as the fact I have tons of copies piled up in my office), I thought I'd use both social networks to run a little competition. 

If you want to be in with the chance of winning a free copy of Make Music with your iPad or Moviemaking with your iPhone, simply head over to Facebook and Like my page or retweet the link to this page on Twitter. It's that easy!

Next week I'll pick one retweet and one Facebook Like at random to receive a free copy of the book of their choice. 

I'll keep this competition going until I run out of copies so look out for more updates on Twitter and Facebook when the next competition begins. 

Good luck! 

10 Features I'd like to see added to Draw Something

I resisted at first, but now I’m utterly hooked on playing OMGPOP’s Draw Something on the iPhone and iPad. The simple fun of doodling and guessing the doodles of others has me up late at night trying to clear a backlog of turns and questioning whether or not to buy a stylus in order to up my game. That said, there is room for improvement. Below are the ten tweaks I’d like to see made to Draw Something, especially now it’s under new and better funded ownership. 

1. Zoom

Especially important for iPhone users, the lack of a pinch-to-zoom option means that fine detail isn’t really possible in Draw Something. This is especially true for those of us endowed with fingers more suited to a butcher’s window display than drawing on a screen. Trying to fill in a shape with colour is suddenly as difficult as it was when you were four years old and wondering why staying within the lines was so important to your teacher.

2. Undo

How many times have you forgotten that you have the largest pencil size selected and slapped a huge great line across your brilliant drawing? Surely we should be allowed at least one undo rather than being forced to trash the whole thing or crudely erase and recolour the ruined parts of your picture. 

3. Points for speed

If you’re familiar with the available words in Draw Something (See number 4) or you have one of those Countdown Conundrum-solving über brains that can magically unjumble a selection of letters in seconds, you should be pretty quick at guessing. Yet, those of us who can recognise in record time that a drawing that looks like male genitalia is in fact a spaceship are still awarded the lowly single coin whether we guess it in four seconds or four hours.

4. More words!

There are only so many times and so many different ways you can draw a bench, a birthday or Bart. It also means that those playing regularly don’t experience the magical (if not a little frustrating) process that the drawer has gone through to achieve their end result when you can spot a common word among the letters and guess within seconds. Note: I upgraded to the full version of the app and apparently received an additional set of words but there's definitely still some repetition. 

5. Fast forward

Having said what I said above, sometimes waiting for a drawing to finish is as dull as watching virtual paint dry. Drawers relentlessly attempting a shape and then trashing it is akin to wathing a drunk person trying to cross an icy street... just far less entertaining. The option to jump ahead a few seconds or skip to significant points (colour change, selecting a new pencil size etc) would be a joy to the impatient guesser. 

6. Location-based spelling

It’s pyjamas, not pajamas!!

7. Comments

Sometimes you are simply wowed by a picture in Draw Something. Other times you can’t help but think you’re playing against a careless former buzz saw operator. Wouldn’t it be nice to add a comment while you watch a drawing or send a message of congratulation or abuse when the turn is over? Instead we’re stuck scribbling messages as part of our turn before trashing them and starting the drawing proper.

8. Custom stamps

Perhaps a little too detailed for a casual game, but it would be handy to be able to create a set of custom stamps for commonly drawn items. Let’s say you nail the shape of a coffee cup when drawing “breakfast” and then get “espresso” the very next turn. Rather than redraw the cup, you simply jump to your custom stamp screen, select the shape and paste it into your current drawing. Actually, wouldn’t that be cheating?

9. Save pics

I’m not going to lie, sometimes I’m pretty proud of my drawings. Rather than have to take a screenshot each time I impress myself, why isn’t there the option to save your pictures and those drawn by your friends? A Facebook/Twitter upload button would be even better.

10. Leaderboards

Coin prizes for top rated drawings, fastest guesses and longest streaks. I want more competition here. I also want to be seen as better than those who think it’s acceptable to write “This is smoked salmon” next to an unidentifiable pink blob when drawing a bagel. You know who you are... 

Update on Thursday, April 19, 2012 at 8:56AM by Ben Harvell

Update:

Since writing this post, Draw Something has been updated to include a number of features I listed. This means that either my influence in the technology world knows no bounds or, more realistically, a lot of people were interested in seeing these features added. The new version now includes comments, posting of pictures to Twitter and Facebook and the option to undo. The update is available now from the App Store.