The idea behind Square Panda came from Tom Boeckle, an entrepreneur who struggled with dyslexia as a child. Agassi, who dropped out of school after eighth grade, can empathize with the frustration. “Literacy is meaningful to me because I’ve seen the ramification of not having it,” he said.
This summer, Square Panda shipped its phonics playset, which retail for $119. The set comes with two free apps: Lagoon and Bowling. On a recent (and rare) slow day in the office, we took the kit for a spin.
Chen reads by listening: he uses a screen reader at his desk, where he’s usually standing (when he’s not working on a nearby treadmill desk), and the VoiceOver function on his iPhone. Typically, Chen has the speed set at around 620 words a minute, a speed that is, to the untrained ear, incomprehensible.
The general consensus is that the hiss is somehow related to the A10 Fusion processor due to the fact that it only emerges when the device is under heavy load and emanates from the general area where the processor lives.
Step 2 is what people who don't use 3D Touch need to go through now, and it feels like a regression.
When I was using the iPod everyday to listen to podcasts and audiobooks and music, I believed that the click-wheel was the best user-interface ever built. I could use it to scroll through lists extremely quickly. I could use it to easily turn the volume up and down. I couldn't imagine an Apple hand-held device to ever not have the click-wheel. (Even when Apple gave us the iPod shuffle.)
Of course, the click-wheel has long disappeared from Apple's devices.
So, while everyone is speculating that the home button will be moved to be part of the screen when iPhone goes to full-screen without the bezel (next year?), perhaps, one other option is that the home button will be removed from the user interface.
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