Empty states are places in apps that have no content or data. They are empty. A blank page. Traditionally empty states are overlooked as most designers focus on how best to display lots of content or data.

Great article. When I see an app where the empty pages have seen some attention, I’m confident that the designer has thought about the details of the app. Strangely, it’s these pages that often make you feel like the designer missed something.

While Apple released one new iPhone last year, Samsung let loose a whopping 37 different phone variations. (For those keeping score, HTC released 18, Nokia introduced nine, and LG launched 24.) Certainly good hardware design played a role in Samsung’s healthy sales. But it also didn’t hurt that the company flooded the market.

Apple puts all of its efforts into making one great product for users. Clearly everyone else is just throwing as much at the market as they can.

Scarbee Rickenbacker Bass captures the unmistakable sound of a Rickenbacker 4003 for the first time in software. Delivering meaty, low end thunder and the crisp, defined midrange that has shaped rock and pop history, Rickenbacker BASS is the first software instrument to be officially approved by Rickenbacker.

Sounds good.

Matthew Panzarino for The Next Web:

Apple SVP of Worldwide marketing Phil Schiller gave an interesting interview to Chinese newspaper Shanghai Evening News yesterday. In the interview, he directly addresses the rumors surrounding a potential cheaper iPhone, saying that this will ‘never be the future of Apple products’.

This doesn’t entirely discount the possibility that Apple is looking to move into emerging markets, but Schiller’s comments reinforce Apple’s image as an innovator rather than a mass-market supplier.

Rebecca J. Rosen’s well-intended editorial in The Atlantic suggests that the right course of action to promote gender diversity at tech conferences is to simply boycott the ones that feature all-male speaker lists. The editorial has been bouncing around the blogosphere since it was posted last week, and Rosen’s comments are a response to a larger debate about gender diversity that’s been bouncing around the tech industry for some time.

Brittany Tarvin, in an editorial on her own Tumblr blog, thinks this is the wrong approach and offers more constructive suggestions, like mentoring a minority in your own personal network to speak on topics they’re knowledgeable and passionate about, and advocate for them to be part of the speaker list at conferences you attend or are interesting in.

Tarvin’s point, if I’ve interpreted it correctly, is that in order to affect change, sometimes it’s more important to act positively than it is to just say no.

If the topic interests you, make sure to read both posts and feel free to share your thoughts with us.

Jim and Dan discuss people’s expectations of Apple now and in the future and the top stories coming from Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

Sponsored by Hover (use code DANSENTME for 10% off), Harvest (use code 5BY5 for 50% off), and Lynda.

Dave Masters, The Sun:

A pub has started serving 150oz supersized steaks – ten times bigger than your average portion and believed to be the largest in the world.

The outrageous rumps are 12 inches wide, 12 inches long and four inches thick.

They tip the scales at 9lb and more than half a stone – about the same weight as a newborn baby.

Glad to see gluttony isn’t a uniquely American virtue.

The only explanation is that the people doing the social media hate their own company.

I agree with Michael. If you do a review, don’t waste your readers time.

This small but important update shuts down a widely used scam tactic, where developers would upload game screenshots to get an app approved by Apple and then switch them out with screenshots from another popular app.

Great move by Apple.

Philip Michaels for TechHive:

In a world where dozens of games can fit on a device tucked neatly into your pocket, why would you want a pinball machine to call your very own? Because pinball machines are undeniably awesome. And the machines made by Stern Pinball fit very nicely into your home.

One of the first truly awesome, “OMG I WANT THIS” things I’ve seen from CES coverage this year. Seems like the perfect addition to a man-cave, play room or just about anywhere in the house I’d like to hang out for a few hours.

Now, which one of my kids do I sell to organ harvesters to come up with the money? Decisions, decisions…

Joseph Leray for Touch Arcade:

Let’s clear the air: clean lines and futuristic stylings aside, Pixelbite Games’ Repulze [$0.99] shares little in common with Wipeout. One is an iOS racer that costs less than a dollar, the other is one of Sony’s most popular and enduring racing franchises. That’s not to discount Repulze, though — it’s from the same team that developed the excellent Reckless Racing 2 [$1.99]. Whereas RR2 included drifting mechanics and a dynamic difficulty system, Repulze is comparatively stripped down: it only does one thing, but it does it really well.

So begins a very thorough review of a new racing game I downloaded the other day from the App Store. I’m having a lot of fun with it and it looks like Leray did too. If you’re fond of fast and furious futuristic racing games, there’s a lot to recommend there. Check out Touch Arcade’s review.

The company put together a little slideshow of the high points from last year. Some fascinating numbers.

And you think delays traveling today are bad.

In one of the first usability tests I ever did, I met a lovely old lady who could not use a mouse. She kept lifting it in the air and pointing at the screen, speaking words of encouragement to the cursor. At the end of the test I got absolutely nothing, but she did think I was a “lovely boy” who should meet her granddaughter. Very quickly I learned the value of setting very clear criteria for participant recruitment.

That’s classic. Thankfully Damian Rees offers some tips to improve your results.

You have to admit being a “Freelance sperm donor” is unique.

Rock on Da Vinci.

Great article from Gannon Burgett.

The matter came to light when one developer said he’d received a request for support from someone who’d purchased the BB version of his app, despite the fact that he’d created no such version.

Oh RIM.

Creative block, writers block or whatever you call it, is a terrible thing to overcome. It’s that point when your mind will just not think, not let any ideas or words through this giant wall it’s erected in your mind. Stacey Kole offers some ideas on how to get around it.

What a fascinating story.

Kind of the opposite of Steve Jobs’ reality distortion field.

Chris Welch, The Verge:

AT&T drew particular criticism, with Legere — like so many others before him — labeling Ma Bell’s network as “crap” in New York City. Verizon didn’t come out unscathed either, with Legere joking, “the way they covered those dust bowl states with LTE I think is admirable.” Shared data plans also came under fire. “A 5-gigabyte, 10-device shared data plan, when Joe Schmoe Jr. starts to watch porn on his phone, isn’t gonna work.” And even after crediting Verizon’s network as “beautiful,” he concluded “they’re not the cool company.”

That’s great. I’ll be more impressed when T-Mobile’s coverage in my area isn’t spotty as hell.

T-Mobile plans to sell the iPhone this year. The company is also doing away with phone subsidies, requiring users to pay the full price of their new phone up front, but allowing them more flexibility to end service without paying huge early termination fees.

T.C. Sottek for The Verge:

We just sat down for a rare and wide-ranging interview with Valve CEO Gabe Newell, who opened up to The Verge with details about the company’s upcoming “Steam Box” gaming hardware, the future of the Steam digital distribution platform, and even gaming itself. For starters, Valve isn’t just attacking the living room; the Steam Box will be designed to work across multiple screens in the home using networking standards like Miracast, ideally allowing users to effortlessly transition between rooms and monitors to enjoy gaming and other content. But Valve’s goal isn’t just to put a box into everyone’s living room, it’s to help build an ecosystem of content developers — including the gamers themselves.

An interesting interview with the ever-influential and visionary Gabe Newell. He offers up details about what Steam is planning with its own hardware. Some Mac press have repeated a line that he threw out about Steve Jobs being hostile to games, but it’s a one-off and really irrelevant to the larger issues that he tackled. If you’re a gamer and what Valve is doing with Steam interests you, make sure to take a gander.