ℹ️ This is an archived legacy site for link purposes only.
If you’re an avid Twitter and iOS user, chances are you’re using Tapbots’s Tweetbot. I used to do that, but something about it didn’t really connect with me. Twitterrific on the other hand, did. It’s not without its quirks but I prefer it to other options.
The latest update lets you change your app icon, a feature I haven’t seen before. It’s pretty cool, don’t you think?
9to5mac doing what an Apple blog should, listing everything Apple released in 2015 year by year.
[…] 2015 has been one where Apple has truly released new products all across the year. So many, in fact, that it’s probably difficult to recall every single new hardware and software product without referencing the history books. Starting with the X released in X to the X released in X, we’ll take a retrospective look at everything new that came out of Apple this year and what to expect in 2016.
Mozilla joins the content blockers – I don’t know, arms race? – with an option of their own for iOS, called Focus by Firefox. This content blocker isn’t about stopping ads, but rather limit tracking scripts. It only works in Safari in accordance with Apple’s content blocker rules.
Prune developer Joel McDonald, in a comment to Polygon:
In fact, from a developer’s perspective, Android has been the most pleasing experience of any of the platforms I’ve released on, not to mention that the players have been great,” he continued. “But as a dev you’ve also got to take the platform’s particularities into account. One thing I knew going into it was that the ‘unpaid install’ rate would likely be around 95 percent and this is exactly what I’ve observed. In a lot of cases the smart thing to do is to convert your premium game to be free-to-play on Android, but that just didn’t make sense for Prune, nor was it something that I was personally interested in.
Emphasis mine. The Polygon piece, written by Ben Kuchera, is about switching from Android to iOS because the games launch faster there. While true, the more pressing matter at hand is the piracy, and the fact that this will lead to more crappy/greedy free-to-play business models. This means that there are no premium, pay once and play, games to pirate, but also none to enjoy. From a gamer’s perspective, this can’t be a good thing.
There’s no doubt it my mind that the iPad is enough for most people, and it has been for quite some time. Updates to iOS, especially the introduction of extensions in iOS 8, and the Split View/Side View updates in iOS 9, has made being productive with an iPad easier. That, and the apps, which are getting better and better all the time. With the iPad Pro, which I’m using to type this, eyes are once again on the iPad as a potential alternative for the traditional PCs, or at least as a laptop replacement. I’ve got a lot to say on the matter, but for now, I urge you to read Thaddeus Hunt’s three part blog post series on how he took an iPad Air 2 on the road, while still performing his duties as a freelance web designer: Part 1, part 2, and part 3.
Oh, and some shameless promotion while I’m at it. I’ll have some initial thoughts on the iPad Pro in the next issue of my newsletter, RE:THORD. It’ll be out soon, so if you’re not subscribing, now’s the time.
Ben Bajarin, writing about the iPad Pro, but also touchscreen devices in general:
There is truly something happening with this generation growing up spending the bulk, if not all, of their computing time using mobile operating systems and doing new things with new tools. Being the techie that I am, I was a bit disheartened that my twelve-year-old was getting more out of the iPad Pro and pushing it further limits than I was. But she is a part of the mobile generation after all. For them, the future will look quite different and the tools they use to make that future might look quite similar to the iPad Pro.
This is a good point, and something to take to heart if you’re among those who believe that there’s a place among the mainstream for traditional personal computers in the future. No matter if they’re iPads or iPhones or Androids – it’s all magic glass.
Apple has launched its Apple Music service (and iOS 8.4, of course), which I’ll talk more about after having given it a proper go, as well as the Beats 1 always on radio channel. If you’re curious about the latter, check out beats1radio.com, which incidentally is powered by Tumblr, as is the rest of the Apple Music site. Is this the new, hip, Apple?
Federico “the iPad is my primary computer” Viticci writes about iOS 9 and the multitasking iPad:
iOS 9 is going to be a watershed moment for iPad users. For many, the iPad is about to graduate from utility to computer. Apple is envisioning a future where users can do more with iPad apps without the inherent complexities of OS X – and they’re largely relying on developers to help build this future.
It’s a great read, mirroring my thoughts overall. I share Viticci’s concern regarding adoption, since proper multitasking (not to be confused with the slide over feature) is for iPad Air 2 and beyond only, but not for the same reasons, it would seem. To me, this is something a lot of developers will rush to add, because the slide over feature will be made anyway, and that, I suspect, is the roadblock. No, my concern is user adoption, since iPads tend to stay in use for a long time. I don’t think the iPad Air 2 and beyond features are compelling enough for most users to upgrade.
Jeff Hunter of AnyList wrote an open letter (let’s not dwell on that…) to Apple CEO Tim Cook. He suggests a tiered revenue share, instead of the 70/30 split between app developers and Apple of today’s App Store.
For an independent developer, the difference between their gross revenue and their net revenue after Apple’s 30% cut could very well be the difference between being able to work full-time building for the App Store or not. At $100K in net revenues per year, you may be a successful independent developer. At $70K in net revenues per year, your spouse could be telling you to get a day job.
I had intended to pass Hunter’s post up, but too many linked to it, and sent it to me for that matter, with the general consensus that this is something Apple should do. Give more money to the developers, and we’ll get more and better apps. Win-win, right?
9to5mac, pointing out the problem of apps that stop working due to iOS version updates. This time, it’s a game from Square Enix, who should be ashamed for not pulling this right away, thus fooling its customers.
But what happens when an app — marketed as compatible with current iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches — is never updated for the latest version of iOS, and either stops working after an iOS upgrade, or never works at all on new devices? That’s the situation buyers of Square Enix’s $18 The World Ends with You: Solo Remix (and $20 iPad version) have found themselves in since iOS 8 was released. The game’s description claims that it “requires iOS 4.3 or later” and is compatible with devices that shipped with iOS 8, but it wasn’t actually iOS 8-compatible.
Apple should consider stepping in and removing this game.
Apple has released iOS 8.1.3, and this should make everyone running low on storage happy:
Reduces the amount of storage required to perform a software update.
Grab the update by opening the Settings app, go to General, and then Software Update.
Malware target Macs and iOS devices, delivered through a Chinese Mac app store:
Palo Alto Network explains that the malware has so far infected 467 applications designed for Apple’s Mac OS X operating system. It’s done that via a third-party Chinese Mac application store called the Maiyadi App Store. Over the last six months, those applications have been downloaded over 356,104 times—possibly infecting the Macs of hundreds of thousands of users.
But the malware also appears to infect iOS devices when they’re plugged into a Mac via USB.“WireLurker monitors any iOS device connected via USB with an infected OS X computer and installs downloaded third-party applications or automatically generated malicious applications onto the device, regardless of whether it is jailbroken,” explains Palo Alto Networks. “This is the reason we call it ‘wire lurker.’”
This is the price of being the industry leader, being targeted by these sorts of things. The Mac has been more or less malware and virus free for so long, it was bound to change. As for iOS, it’s obviously less sensitive for malware and viruses since they’d have to get into the App Store first, but it both can and will happen. Then there’s workarounds such as the one mentioned above, and if you jailbreak you need to take additional measures.
There’ll be an Apple event on October 16, and it’ll be livestreamed for all to see. The previous event, announcing the iPhone 6 models and showing off the Apple Watch, was a major fuckup for most viewers, so Apple’ll want to get this one right.
The tagline, “It’s been way too long”, hints at a new iMac, I think. The fact that Apple’s using the rainbow colors makes me think there’ll be color variations of the new iMac yet again. All speculation of course. I’d also expect a Mac mini, but I don’t think there’ll be anything particularly interesting in terms of design there, just a bump and possibly some minor tweaks.
The iOS 8 adoption rate is lagging behind iOS 7. From 9to5mac:
iOS 8 gained only 1 point from 46% to 47% since September 21st which should have well exceeded 1% gain by the millions of new iPhone 6/Plus shipments alone – even if not one person had updated their iPhone 5/s/c. Even more confusing is that the “Earlier” category of iOS 6 and before devices actually grew in percentage from 5% to 6% over the previous two week period.
I’m not sure if this is such a big deal just yet. There are a lot of 16 GB phones out there, and they tend to be pretty jampacked with apps, photos, and movies. That makes the iOS 8 update tough to install, since it’s requiring some 6 GB, at least in some cases. Still, if developer feels they can’t rely on iOS 8 growth similar to that of previous versions, then they won’t dare to rely on iOS 8 features exclusively. That’d be a shame, because iOS 8 is an under the hood release and it’s in all our best interest to see it widespread.
I’m not much for making public predictions about events, but the past few weeks have been littered with conversations about what Apple will and will not show and/or release on WWDC this year. So here you are, my predictions, pulled out of the blue, just like every other analyst out there.
I’m looking forward to see what WWDC will bring. The tech press will no doubt be disappointed, but that’s how the song goes these days. Luckily you can still make up your own mind based on hard facts and your own experience, and I urge you all to do just that.