Gizmodo: copy and paste

The Origin of the Twin Copy-Paste T-Shirts

Jesus Diaz — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:40:00 EDT

Back in 1986, Gizmodo reader and artist Christopher C. DeSantis foresaw the twin copy and paste t-shirts. There is only one problem, Christopher. Blonde sisters or mischievous brothers? Cute. Two bald guys with pony tails walking through a park? Creepy.

Christopher created this cartoon for Macworld magazine, back in 1986. Thanks for sending it!

Twin Apple Fangirls Pwn Twin PC Clones

Jesus Diaz — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:03:57 EDT

See what I meant? The command + C and command + V t-shirts look so much better. And I'd rather have daughters than sons. The latter are just too rambosterous. [Flickr via Geeks Are Sexy]

I Want to Have Twins Just to Get Them These Awesome T-Shirts

Jesus Diaz — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:51:09 EDT

So cute, those two and their t-shirts. Mine would say cmd + c and cmd + v, however. [The Daily What]

Clippy Adds Copy and Paste to Jailbroken iPhones

Mark Wilson — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:40:00 EST

It's not App Store approved, but for those in the audience who've jailbroken their iPhones, the Clippy add-on offers some reasonable functionality to copy and paste across apps.

Clippy works by adding copy and paste buttons to the iPhone's keyboard which can be activated on any editable text (emails and SMS). To begin copying, you click "copy." Then you highlight the text. Then you click "copy" again.

Alright, copying is done.

To paste, you just click "paste."

The solution is obviously not super quick, but it's a lot better than using a piece of paper to write down an address before entering it incorrectly into Google Maps. [Clippy via TUAW]

Question of the Day: Which Missing iPhone Feature Would You Like to See Most?

Sean Fallon — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:50:00 EDT

Over the weekend we learned that the iPhone firmware 2.2 beta was going out to developers sans copy/paste (again). Apple claims that it is not a top priority but, to be honest, I'm beginning to think that it will never happen. Nonetheless, AT&T released a survey to customers in an attempt to determine what the level of demand was for the most bitched about missing iPhone features. Out of curiosity, I have replicated the survey responses in the poll after the break. Which missing feature is on the top of your must-have list?

Results for "Would You Buy a Refurbished Laptop?"

Yes: 32%
Yes, I have bought one. (Good experience): 30%
Yes, I have bought one. (Bad experience): 2%
No: 22%
Maybe: 14%

BlackBerry Storm Can Cut and Paste, Multitouchily

John Herrman — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 06:30:00 EDT

If browsing through the leaked PowerPoint and User Guide showing how to sync your contacts or, you know, send an email didn't get your heart pumping, BGR has found a punchier little feature that might. RIM's documentation indicates that multitouch (!!) cut and paste functionality will be built into the Storm's software, something that Apple has been stubbornly disinterested in. Hopefully BlackBerry is saving more multitouch announcements for later. [BGR]

Apple Kinda Had iPhone Copy/Paste Figured Out with Newton 15 Years Ago (But Not Really)

Jack Loftus — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 15:30:00 EDT

There's a lot of hypothesizing and App Store creating going on today because the supposedly simple act of cutting and pasting is absent from the iPhone. What's strange about all this is that Apple sorta had it figured out 15 years ago with the Newton. As the video shows, cutting and pasting with a touchscreen or stylus on a Mac product, circa 1993, couldn't have been easier. Of course, back then it was with a stylus (not a finger); and then there's the fact that touching and dragging on an iPhone is reserved for the magnifier function... wait, maybe this isn't as easy as it appears. Back to the drawing board. [Boing Boing]

iPhone 2.1 Firmware Has Tiny Glimmer of Copy-and-Paste Shining Inside

Kit Eaton — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:20:00 EDT

When Apple said it didn't care about cut and paste on the iPhone, it's possible that it meant "not right now, but soon, possibly." Because over at MacNN they're reporting that the developer firmware 2.1 may have hints of copy-paste within it. "In exploring the Localizable.strings entry under English.lproj in the current iPhone WebKit framework, there are entries for several commands the firmware does not currently support, including cutting, copying and pasting," apparently. There's also a reference to a "mobile radio" but whether that pertains to internet radio functionality for the phone is impossible to divine. [MacNN via Macrumors]

Apple Doesn't Have a Problem With iPhone Cut and Paste, They Just Don't Care

John Herrman — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:25:22 EDT

In an interview with Extreme Tech, Apple product head Greg Joswiak explained the lack of cut and paste in the iPhone: it's just not a priority right now. He says Apple worked its way as far down its "priority list" of features for firmware 2.0, but just not far enough to reach cut and paste. He then went on the explain why there wasn't a full native office suite ready for App Store launch, and that turn-by-turn navigation is allowed and likely to be released soon, though by a third party.

According to Joswiak, David Pogue's report that the iPhone's GPS antenna is too weak for real-time navigation is false. He cites "complicated issues" as holding up development, but expects to be "dazzled" by software makers in the near future. When pressed about the availability of an office suite, he says that the lack of a cross-application file structure would make such programs difficult to design. Though honestly, I'm not even sure I'd want a text editor if I couldn't select or copy text. [ExtremeTech via Crunchgear]

Copy and Paste on Your iPhone With iCopy

Sean Fallon — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 17:30:43 EDT

Everyone wants it, but for some strange reason we have been denied copy and paste functionality on the iPhone. With a new bookmarklet called iCopy, we can finally copy text and URLs that can be plugged back into Safari or an email later on. To get this miraculous technological development, simply visit the iCopy site and follow the instructions. It isn't a perfect solution by any means (all of the text you paste is sent across the internet), but it should tide you over until someone at Apple decides to make an official solution. Videos of iCopy in action are available after the break.

[iCopy via iPhone Atlas via Wired]