It's a holiday weekend here in Canada. Victoria day if you must know. Except in Quebec where it's Patriot's day. Yeah, I don't care beyond the "holiday" part either. Actually, I don't care about the "holiday" part either -- I've heard of such things but rarely if ever experienced one myself. Still, I have family and friends congregating, and they're pressuring me to "get off that damn machine", so I'll keep this brief. Ish.

Grappling with Google+

I'm trying to use Google+ again. It's not easy but I'm trying. I go to Twitter and the last post is seconds or minutes old. I go to Google+ and the last post is hours if not almost a day old. I go to Twitter and I can interact with most of the people I know online. I go to Google+ and mostly I only see my friends from Android Central. And Scoble.

Maybe iOS and Google+ don't mix the way iOS and Twitter do, but Google put some effort into the new iPhone app. And Phil Nickinson swears it's a great platform for discussion.

So if you're there too, give me a shout and let me know what you love about it. Or hit me up on Twitter and tell me what you don't.

You can find me at +Rene Ritchie (or @reneritchie) -- and you we have a fantastic forum thread going where you can swap user names with other iMore members.

Do I believe

A 720p, 16:9 display at 4-inches would both shrink existing app UI elements and touch targets, and require an even larger letter and pillar box.

One of the most frequent questions I get asked online is "do you believe Apple will do XYZ." Right now it's "do you believe Apple will do a 4-inch iPhone."

Here's the thing -- my personal belief doesn't matter, and often doesn't exist. I'm not all Mulder or Scully about this stuff.

If Apple announces something, I'll report it. If we get a story from a solid source, or we can corroborate a story with a solid source, I'll report it in that context.

If you think I have secret information I'm not sharing, then either I don't or I can't. Either way, it won't inform any answer I give before it does a story I'll write.

So if you ask that question, the answer I'll give you is "I don't know".

Now if you ask me what I'd like or what I'd want...

Meet Gary, he's here to help

One of the biggest challenges we face at iMore is the incredible range of our audience -- from hard core geeks who want nothing more than the latest tweaks, to the soccer parents who just want to know how to iMessage a photo. It's an incredible challenge to balance our content and coverage to serve both extremes, and the many, many people somewhere in the middle.

Our current strategy is to do lots of really good stuff for both, and hope readers will congregate around what interests them, and either pass over, or pass along what doesn't.

And helping us do that is Gary Mazo, Mobile Nations' newest Senior Editor and all around how-to guru. Some of you might be familiar with Gary from the Made Simple Learning series that covered everything from BlackBerry to iPhones and iPads and back again.

Gary's done a few reviews and ninja-level how-tos for us so far, but this month he's going to be kicking it up another several notches.

If you want to know everything you can possibly know about iOS, or want handy links to pass on to friends and family so they can learn to do without you, he'll have you covered.

And he's starting a new series tomorrow.

3D movies are terrible

I've had 4 family birthdays in the last couple of weeks and all of them wanted to go see the Avengers. Yes, my family has good taste in movies. The first 3 times I saw it in blessed 2D. The last time I saw it in 3D. The 3D was, as expected, horrible.

Human eyes didn't evolve to focus and converge on different planes. That's why 3D makes overly sensitive people nauseous. The technology also isn't there yet. It's dark, and in the case of post-produced 3D, it looks more like layered paper bring dragged across the screen than actual depth.

It makes fight scenes look jumbled, special effects look cheap, and interferes with the narrative far more than it accentuates any experience.

The industry likes to tell us it's the next evolution and as natural a progression as silent to sound, black and white to color. It's not. It's a gimmick. And that they use it as a way to hike up ticket prices is a joke.

Hopefully Apple never announces anything 3D. Not a 3D display, not 3D content in iTunes. Not anything unless and until a technology comes along that works.

Like a holodeck.

Picks of the week, now more picky

One of the editorial goals of iMore is to more carefully curate what we present to our readers. We want everything we post to be deserving of your attention. With that in mind we're changing the way we do picks of the week.

Instead of editors and moderators choosing apps that interest them, we're reducing the quantity and upping the exclusivity considerably. Georgia, Leanna, Simon, and yours truly, with input from everyone, will make the calls.

Starting this week, we're picking one app, one game, and one accessory each week. And that's it. It might be brand new, or it might be a classic. It might be über popular or it might be a hidden gem. But it will absolutely be the best thing we could find.

Check it out, and let me know what you think. (We might even do them as three separate posts next week, if that works better?)

Features

Once again, an embarrassment of riches.

• The 4 inch iPhone by yours truly. If Apple does make the iPhone screen bigger, how could they do it, what would the benefits be, and what problems would it cause?
• Best free iPad games by Simon Sage. The definitive list of the best fun to be had on your iPad.
• Instacast vs. Downcast vs. Pocket Casts: iPhone podcast app shootout! by Ally Kazmuch. Which podcast app for iPhone reigns supreme?
• What Samsung's rise and Nokia's fall means for Apple and the iPhone by Chris Umiastowski. The smartphone market has almost literally turned upside down. Can the iPhone keep on capitalizing on the disruption?
• Facebook Pages Manager for iPhone review by Leanna Lofte. She had to review the Canadian App Store version, because Facebook hasn't seen fit to release it in the U.S. yet. Seriously.
• How to integrate all your social networks into your iPhone and iPad Contacts by Gary Mazo. He misses web OS and Windows Phone style social network integration. A lot.
• How to stop Twitter from tracking you across the Web by yours truly. Because knowing is half the battle.
• Pogo Sketch Pro vs. Kuel H12 vs. Jot Pro vs. Bamboo: iPad stylus shootout by Georgia. The results of our week long look at pro-level stylus pens. Which one is best, and which one is best for you?

Reading List

• Multiple Nexus devices could be a game-changer for Google and Android by Alex Dobie. If Google does press ahead with several hero devices from several manufacturers, what if anything does it mean?
• Four years of App Store by Federico Viticci. MacStories interviews developers about the state of Apple's mobile marketplace, and how it's changed -- and hasn't changed -- since 2008.
• Are apps bought or rented? by Ricard Gaywood. TUAW's resident number cruncher takes a look at the push-back on Instacast's new paid + in-app-upgrade pricing model.
• iCloud is the Difference Between Great and Excellent by Benjamin Brooks. iCloud is Apple's next generation digital hub. Competitors should be very afraid. (But probably aren't.)
• Web design manifesto by Jeffrey Zeldman. Finally, someone who proudly types even larger than Kevin Michaluk.
• Creating the Windows 8 user experience by Jensen Harris. An interesting look at the design decisions behind Microsoft's "no compromises" desktop to tablet to phone interface.
• How Yahoo! killed Flickr and lost the Internet by Mat Honan. A no-holds barred takedown of one of the worst corporate mismanagements in recent history. Something HP likely followed to the letter when running Palm.
• Hey did I miss anything? by Dan Harmon. Sony pictures drops the creator and show runner of the up-until-now-fabulous TV show Community, and apparently all the writers along with it, yet someone expects us to think the show will still be returning next season.

And now...

I'm getting off this damn computer.

Namco Bandai has announced that it will be bringing its weapons based fighting game Soul Calibur to the App Store this week. Soul Calibur was originally launched in arcades back in 1998 and has also been available for the Sega Dreamcast and more recently the Xbox 360.

The iOS port of the classic arcade and Dreamcast fighting game features all 19 fighters and a mode list that includes arcade battle, time attack, survival, extra survival, practice and museum modes. Of these, time attack, survival and extra survival are compatible with Game Center's Leader Boards.

Source: Andriasang

An iPad with a 3D display is supposedly being shown off by display vendor CPT at the Display Taiwan show. The device which has been caught on video, appears to be a first generation iPad; however all product branding has been covered. The display requires the use of special polarizing glasses.

Netbooknews discovered the device and is speculating that this may be a prototype of the iPad 3. It looks much more likely to us that this is a publicity stunt by CPT to gain some attention to its display products. Maybe they decided to modify an original iPad with a 3D display just as a proof of concept. Take a look at the video after the break then head back here to let us know what you think!

[Netbooknews via 9to5 Mac]

Could Apple's iPad 3 end up being an iPad 3D? That's what RC Wireless has heard from "Hollywood Insiders":

“The fact that the iPad is 3D is a dead cert,” one Hollywood insider close to the big movie studios told RCR, adding that the screen would be the real magic. She went on to say that the big film studios were currently running around like blue arsed flies trying to gear up to release plenty of 3D content in time for Apple’s next launch.

We've seen 3D attempted before on everything from the Nintendo 3DS to LG Android tablets and so far it has seemed much more like a gimmick than a feature. Would Apple really go there? If they do, could they somehow come up with a better way of doing it, something that doesn't seem as unnatural as split convergence and focus? Maybe head tracking via the front facing camera?

We don't know, but we might just find us this fall, as it's looking like rumors of a second iPad release this year could pan out. Perhaps at the same fall event that'll bring us the iPhone 5. (And no, we haven't heard any iPhone 5D rumors... yet.)

Could Apple figure out a way to do 3D that isn't a gimmick?

[RC Wireless via MacRumors. Picture via ECHI concept app.]

The EHCI Research Group has produced a demonstration video of 3D without glasses on an iPad 2 and iPhone 4 that will make your jaw drop to the floor! The possibility of glasses–free 3D hitting iOS devices has just become a reality.

Head-Coupled Perspective (HCP) on mobile devices allows to create a glasses-free monocular 3D display. It is based on a efficient head-tracker that uses the front-facing camera of the device. We use an off-axis projection in order to adapt the perspective of the 3D scene according to the head's position of the user. Such spatially-aware mobile display enables to improve the possibilities of interaction.

[EHCI via macstories]

AppleInsider has discovered patent applications showing that Apple may be interested in including dual rear-facing cameras and additional sensors for a new 3D image technology in mobile devices such as the iPhone.

The hardware-based system would be an improvement over recent Android devices that include 3D camera technology due to software that takes "guesses" at how to conduct stereo disparity compensation on 3D images. The more guesses needed to process these images result in loss of quality and artifacts.

Apple's documented patent, entitled "Systems and Methods for an Imaging System Using Multiple Image Sensors", would provide higher quality 3D images based on multiple image sensors and hardware processing, eliminating artifacts and other quality issues. The patent also describes 3D video recording capability. (This would require Apple to include a 3D display on the iPhone.)

If Apple were to pack this technology into the iPhone 5 would you actually use it, or are 3D cameras on mobile devices just another gimmick? Let us know in the comments!

[AppleInsider]

3DBoard uses the iPhones accelerometer and gyroscope to present a "3D" view of the Springboard/Home Screen icons and it looks pretty nifty. Sure it's pure eye candy and not as functional a tweak as SBSettings or LockInfo, but cool has to count for something, right?

It's coming to Cydia soon and will cost $4. Anyone going to grab it?

Video after the break!

[YouTube via Gizmodo]

How would you fancy viewing 3D content on your iPhone without the need for any nerdy glasses or a hardware upgrade? Well, Media artist Jitsuro Mase has invented an add on for iOS devices, which he is calling i3DG.

i3DG is a playful analog extension to an iPhone or an iPodTouch, converting its 2D display into a layered 3D view. Using the old technique of placing a half-silvered mirror at a 45-degree angle in front of an image, in a new context, the project extends upon 3D displays and iPhones. As a peripheral gadget, i3DG can support a wide range of different applications, from 3D videos and animations to accelerometer-based games.

The system used is known as the Pepper Ghost technique, more information can be found at the Pepper Ghost wiki page, it is all a bit of smoke and mirrors, well without the smoke anyway.

All that is needed to watch 3D content on an iOS device is the i3DG which is a small slip on box that contains the mirrors and of course media created in the correct format; which apparently is extremely easy to create.

The device has already won a honorary mention at Ars Electronica Festival 2010, it will be shown off again at The International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2011.

Take a look at the video after the break and let us know in the comments if you can see yourself using something like this.

[UEDA via Creative Applications]

Remember that Apple patent for hyper-reality 3D displays that tracked user's head location and automagically rotated objects? The folks over at Construction Software Advice sure do, and they let us know about a little demo they're calling Apple 3D Head-Tracking - The Ultimate Display for Construction.

Will we see this live on our iPhone or Mac any time soon? Who knows, but the future is coming and concept previews help make the wait just a tad easier. (Seriously, future, get here now!)

Tis the season for Apple patents, with both hyper-reality 3D displays, and a dynamic music and video system for better battery life on the iPhone and iPod.

First up, the hyper-reality 3D display -- perfectly timed for the Avatar hype as well, we'll note -- involves changing the perspective of 3D object on the display to match the tracked head position of the user. As MacRumors points out, this sounds similar to what Johnny Chung Lee has previously demonstrated with a Wiimote (see video embedded above).

Next up, Apple wants to track user preferences for volume and other settings and automagically apply them, and de-emphasize or skip songs the user seldom listens to. MacRumors also points out a second patent which would also alert users when there's not enough battery life left to play the movie they've just selected and offer to downgrade the video quality and/or reduce the brightness levels to try and get the whole thing in anyway.

As always, no one outside Steve Jobs knows if we humble consumers will ever see products using these patents, but it's nice to glimpse one of our possible infinite (loop) futures.

Okay, my first thought was "finally, they've figured out how to use the iPhone to power optic blasts!", so I was ready to strap one on, grab the rest of the X-Men, and go take down known BlackBerry Storm user, Magneto.

Alas, turns out that while optic blasts didn't make the final release, this new cable does support using the iPhone with a set of Vuzix 3D headgear. With more and more video making the leap to 3D, no doubt this opens the iPhone up to watching those leaps in even more realistic -- and scarier -- ways.

Not sure I'm ready to strap on a visor for my next plane trip though. How about you? Can't wait for Monsters vs. Aliens or Avatar, or are you holding fast until they can just beam the stuff straight into your brain?

[via Engadget]

Ars Technica has a great article up on the future of web design, involving 2D and 3D graphics and transformations, and what's most interesting is that it's the iPhone's Mobile Safari browser that right now seems to be leading the way in surfacing this next-gen (Flash killing?) goodness for general users:

The WebKit team added CSS Transforms to nightly builds of WebKit back in October 2007, transforms that included scaling, rotation, skewing, and translation in 2D space. As the specification matured, 3D and animation capabilities were added. Eventually, the 3D transforms were broken out into a specification of their own. Though WebKit has had these 3D transform capabilities for some time, only Mobile Safari on the iPhone and iPod touch has them enabled.

Check out some of the other demos, and get the full scoop, over on Ars.

WebKit is Apple's open source evolution of the old Linux Konquerer KHTML browser, and it forms the foundation of Safari on both the desktop and the iPhone (and Google Android, Palm Pre, Nokia tablets, etc.). Their Surfin' Safari blog has just announced CSS animation support, but the better news (via MacRumors), is that iPhone (and iPod touch) Safari already supports both CSS animation and 3D.

Want to check it out? Just hit up this awesome animated falling leaf demo on your iPhone!

Overly provocative headline not withstanding, and while this doesn't address the ubiquity of Flash video, it should go a long way towards enabling more scalable and open interactivity on the web. (Flash sites don't always scale well to small screens, after all).

Okay, I'm a web geek, I admit it, but is anyone else excited? Or do we just fear that it will all-too-quickly be perverted into iPhone optimized punch-the-monkey banner ads?

UPDATE: Our ace commenters point out this is something Google has been pushing for a while now, pre-2.1, although it may be slowly moving across the US and hasn't been getting tons of attention everywhere yet. As the effect is likely part of the image downloads, Google can probably push new images any time they like, and not have it bound to any specific point release, so that makes the kind of sense that does. Still, pretty awesome feature!

Original post:

Eagle-eyed reader Gregory just sent this in and as Neo would surely say -- WHOA!

Looks like for San Francisco, which is pretty much home turf for both Google and Apple, the built in iPhone Maps App now boasts 3D buildings! The renderings are in Map mode (Satellite and Hybrid modes have photographic buildings, after all!) and are pretty dang spiffy if you ask us.

Now, while I can see them if I search for San Fran, when I search for my hometown of Montreal, I get no such love. How about you and your city? Got 3D?

Thanks Gregory!