Feb
21
2013

Twitterrific 5.1 Adds Muffling, a New Font, and Picks Up Speed

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Muffling

Sorry Zac! I promise I did it just for the screenshot.

When The Iconfactory launched Twitterrific 5, they launched an app that reflected a specific vision of what a Twitter client should be. Twitterrific certainly hasn’t lost its charm since it launched back in December. Setting itself apart with a modern interface and clever gestures, Twitterrific started anew with a clean slate and plenty of room to add features thanks to feedback from their fans. Throughout the last few months, The Iconfactory has been progressively iterating Twitterrific, leading up to the first major update which launched yesterday evening.

The most notable feature in Twitterrific 5.1 is muffling. It’s muting made simple.

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→ Behind The Scenes Of Twitterrific 5

Behind The Scenes Of Twitterrific 5

The Iconfactory’s Craig Hockenberry has published a “behind the scenes” look at their most recent release, Twitterrific 5. I recommend reading it, as it doesn’t involve too many technical aspects of the software, but instead puts the decisions made by The Iconfactory in more context:

We are well aware that people are going to complain about missing features: push notifications and streaming are obvious examples. But so are trends, and video support, and in-line photos, and… well none of that matters. We believe in building opinionated software.

Our Cody Fink, in his review of Twitterrific 5 posted last night:

It may be completely redesigned, but the core tenets that Twitterrific were founded upon remain in 5. Twitterrific has always been opinionated, decidedly simple, and never wanted to compete for your attention. And at its heart, Twitterrific 5 is still a Twitter app built with the same passion The Iconfactory builds into all of their apps. Twitterrific 5 is simply a better Twitterrific.

Here’s my take on Twitterrific: it is the result of a very specific vision. The Iconfactory doesn’t prioritize notifications, filters, third-party service integration, or custom image uploads as much as they strive to build an extremely polished Twitter client meant for reading.

I am what you may call a “Twitter power user”. There’s truth to that: I use filters, custom uploads, web services, and I spend most of my day on Twitter. Twitterrific isn’t meant for me. Thinking to rely on it as my go-to Twitter client will probably make me frustrated in the end, leading me to “hate” an app that’s actually made by nice people. I don’t want to do that.

So I have a simple suggestion. If you don’t think Twitterrific 5 can be your main client, it doesn’t have to be. No one is forcing you to buy the thing everyone is talking about. You’re probably not “missing out”. But I will also say this: if you have three bucks and you’re genuinely interested in trying something new — a fresh experience — go get Twitterrific 5 and try it. I’m not saying it’ll become your favorite app, but if you care about quality handcrafted software, maybe you’ll take away something from it.

I’m glad I did, because even if Twitterrific won’t be in my dock, as someone whose job is to write about software, now I know that other things are possible.

Posted by Federico Viticci on – ∞
→ CandyBar Goes Free, Heads To The Iconfactory

CandyBar Goes Free, Heads To The Iconfactory

Panic has announced popular Mac customization utility CandyBar has gone free and unsupported due to system changes in Mountain Lion (namely, code signing). The app will also head to The Iconfactory, where it “may turn into something new”.

Since we’re unsure about the long-term future of changing system icons, we’re not comfortable charging money for CandyBar, and we’re also not comfortable simply making it disappear, instead we’re going to make the current CandyBar free — but unsupported.

And here’s from The Iconfactory blog:

We and our good friends over at Panic have taken a hard look at the future of desktop icons on the Mac and unfortunately, the writing is on the wall. There may come a time, very soon in fact, when it won’t be possible to customize any system level icon on the desktop except perhaps folders. Apple’s push to sandbox applications, the addition of signed apps and the increasing unification of OS X and iOS mean CandyBar’s days (in its current form) are numbered.

First launched back in 2007, the ease of use of CandyBar spurred the proliferation of websites and communities aimed at showcasing icon and UI replacements for OS X, such as MacThemes and IconPaper. In an interview with MacThemes from 2008 (via Shawn Blanc), Panic’s Cabel Sasser said:

The innovation, the elegance, the lack of focus testing, the general feeling that people care about the end product, it makes us want to keep doing what we do. It’s a feedback loop of inspiration.

Goodbye, CandyBar. You’ve been a trusted companion and served us well in moments of deep crisis.

Posted by Federico Viticci on – ∞
→ Astronut

Astronut

One of my favorite iPhone games, Astronut by The Iconfactory, was released on the iPad earlier this week. In 24 levels fully optimized for the Retina display, you can enjoy Astronut’s well-known game mechanics (a floating astronaut jumps from planet to planet avoiding enemies and obstacles) with controls reworked for the device’s larger display.

Graphics and sound effects aside (they are both top-notch), I am liking Astronut for iPad even more than the iPhone version because of its control scheme. Astronut for iPad plays in portrait mode, with buttons to jump and activate boost placed at the sides of the screen where your thumbs typically are. This is extremely intelligent game and interface design. But there’s more: you can use Astronut for iPhone as a remote — this has allowed me to prop my iPad on a stand in my living room, and enjoy the game with my friends, sharing the iPhone as a controller.

Only $1.99 on the App Store. Don’t miss the video.

Posted by Federico Viticci on – ∞
Jan
20
2012

xScope 3: Measure. Inspect. Test.

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Any designer will tell you how important image sizes and spacing are to their craft — graphics, the web, etc.. Measuring each element can take tedious time unless you have all the right tools. There are ‘measuring’ and ‘location’ tools out there, but none work better or have more bells and whistles than Iconfactory’s (and Artis Software) xScope. xScope 3.0 is out today and it brings over 70 new features to its already complete pixel toolkit.

xScope 3.0 (Mac 10.6 and higher) is a huge update to version 2.x with two components: a Mac side and an iOS side for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. If you feel a little bewildered at first with all these new features, be sure to use the useful in-app help, as it outlines everything and answers many questions. I’ll cover some of the great new highlights of version 3.0.

The most notable feature of xScope 3.0 is the Mirror tool. Remote viewing lets you easily view the contents of any Mac desktop window on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch with the accompanying iOS app (via iTunes, Free). Once xScope for Mac is open, launch the iOS app and it will find your Mac over Wi-Fi and ask you to pair them together.

Once paired, the Pin & Lock tool lets you move the Mac window anywhere, always staying in focus on iOS. The iOS app has a chromeless UI: there’s no overlaid chrome to get in the way while you’re working. Multiple iOS devices can connect and view the same window on a single Mac, which is great for demos or meetings. (more…)

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Aug
9
2011

Twitterrific 4.3 Syncs Timeline Position With Tweet Marker

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Twitterrific 4.3 is now available on the iOS App Store and on the Mac App Store, featuring timeline sync via Tweet Marker. Tweet Marker is a service that enables developers to remember where you stopped reading your timeline on one device, so you can start where you left off on another. If you value reading every tweet (and not just what’s happening right now), Tweet Marker gives Twitterrific tremendous value. There’s virtually very little users have to do on their end to enable Tweet Marker, but we’ll break down all the juicy details pertaining the purple bookmark past the break.

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Jul
5
2011

Take Five for Mac Updated to Give You More Control

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Back in March we covered Take Five for Mac from the Iconfactory crew. The app is simple and efficient and does one thing and does it very well – stopping and restarting your music so you don’t have to remember.

Today, Take Five has been updated to version 1.1 which may sound like a minor update but in actuality is very significant. Version 1.1 brings two new and requested features; one is the ability to pause music in the following apps/services: iTunes, Ecoute, Pulsar, Radium, Rdio and Spotify. The other is that Take Five can also now pause your music without a timer by holding down the option key while clicking the pause button. The update also addresses a bug where Take Five would stop responding when used with CoverSutra.

I am a heavy Ecoute user (and future Spotify user if it ever gets service in the US) and the additional control within the new Take Five is welcome. Spotify and Rdio users will also love the 1.1 update as well as users of the other services listed. Take Five is only $3.99 in the Mac App Store, or if you’re already a Take Five user, check for updates.

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Jun
14
2011

Twitterrific 4.2 Updated for Mac & iOS: MLKSHK, Pikchur, Read It Later, and More!

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Twitterrific 4.2 is available on the App Store for both Mac and iOS right now if you’re so inclined to keep on top of the latest updates, and there’s some new major additions that we think you’ll really love. There’s also some big changes to how you’ll sign in–thanks to the way Twitter is requiring 3rd party clients to authorize your account–thus making 4.2 a mandatory update to comply with Twitter’s rules.

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Apr
22
2011

Twitterrific 4.1 for iPhone & iPad Unifies Mac, iOS Experience

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Launching late last night, Twitterrific 4.1 is now available in the App Store for immediate consumption! I’d consider this a milestone update for the iOS version of Twitterrific, as it greatly improves usability on the iPhone and continues the march towards feature parity with the desktop app. I’d say now, Twitterrific has unified their ecosystem such as that replies for example are now handled similarly. This change is most noticeable on the iPhone, where users are no longer taken to the single tweet view to perform actions. Quite frankly, that change alone should address the main complaint many had when wanting to perform simple actions: what used to take three taps now only takes two. 4.1 is a significant update and brings much requested features into the spotlight.

(more…)

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