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iPad + Office + Apple + Microsoft: Why It All Makes Sense→

iPad + Office + Apple + Microsoft: Why It All Makes Sense

Rumors of Office for the iPad flared up again this week after The Daily posted an alleged photo of it, after apparently getting some hands on with a near-complete build. Some of you may recall me tweeting that day, what I thought was a crazy thought: Apple inviting Microsoft on stage next month at the iPad 3 keynote to demo Office for iPad. Apparently it wasn’t as crazy as I originally thought, because others are thinking it might just happen.

Office for the iPad makes total sense, though. And I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple did give Microsoft some stage time to unveil it at the new-iPad event in a few weeks.

Those are the words of Dan Frommer of SplatF, someone who (in my mind) has always made strong, rational cases for his arguments, never sensationalising or using hyperbole for the sake of it. In an article published a few hours ago, he lays out why “iPad + Office + Apple + Microsoft” actually makes sense. In it he lists out all the big arguments for such a Microsoft appearance at Apple’s iPad 3 keynote.

This isn’t like when Microsoft had to scratch and think before making Office for the Mac in the ’90s, when it would be lucky to sell a couple million copies per year. The iPad is way different: It should easily pass 50 million unit sales this year alone, and that’s potentially tens of millions of Office buyers for Microsoft. (Office, by the way, represented significantly more of Microsoft’s sales and profits last quarter than Windows.)

I strongly encourage you to read the full list of arguments in his article, I don’t think anyone could have laid out the argument for such a proposition any stronger than Dan did. On the flip side though, Daring Fireball’s John Gruber doesn’t think it’ll happen.

But what would be in it for Apple to offer such a spot to Microsoft? You can argue that the iPad with Office available is an even more attractive platform/device than the iPad as it stands today, sans Office. But why share the spotlight with Microsoft? Apple doesn’t need to.

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Buzz: My New Phone App Replacement and Contact Hub

I’m not typically one that likes to replace Apple’s core iOS apps with third-party alternatives, but Savvy Apps’ latest iPhone app, Buzz, allows me to access my contacts faster than Apple’s own Phone software, and I had to leave a spot for it in my Dock.

For the past two weeks, I’ve been testing Buzz, the latest production by iOS design and development firm Savvy Apps by Ken Yarmosh. Similarly to Agenda, also by Savvy Apps, Buzz comes with its own clean, custom UI focused on presenting text against a light background that contributes to increasing readability and finding things in seconds. Whilst I believe Agenda benefits more from this design aesthetic because of how it handles information density (a calendar app can get pretty busy), the same focus on clarity and simplicity works equally well for Buzz, which is a quick dialer/contact management app that emulates many of Apple’s Phone functionalities in a completely new interface.

Think of Buzz as a minimalist take on Apple’s Phone app, aimed at enhancing a few important functionalities, leaving out many others that are (at least in my workflow) rarely used. Whilst Phone.app obviously offers control over recently missed phone calls, the voicemail, and your system favorites, Buzz takes the “quick shortcut” aspect of apps like Launch Center and Matt Gemmell’s Favorites, combines it with group management and native integration with the Address Book, and comes up with a rather unique implementation that allows for a very lightweight usage, or deeper full-blown contact interaction. I believe many out there will find it hard to completely give up on the native Phone app – especially for the Recents view – but I found Buzz to be enough for me and, if anything, a better solution for my daily Address Book needs. Read more

Apple Purchases Land In Oregon For Another Large Data Center

An Apple spokeswoman has confirmed to news agency KTVZ.com that it has purchased land in Prineville, Oregon and plans to build a data center. The land, purchased from Crook County covers 160-acres and was purchased for a reported $5.6 million. Apple confirmed the purchase after they were named as the purchaser in a February 15th filing in Crook County.

Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet confirmed Tuesday that “we purchased the land and it’s for a data center,” but could not speak to details beyond that, other than to say it will be a “green” facility.

Rumors of Apple scouting out land in Prineville for another large data center emerged in December last year when it was reported that Apple was in discussions over purchasing the land. The land Apple purchased is nearby Facebook’s data center in Prinneville, which is pictured above.

[KTVZ.com via MacRumors]

Storify for iPad Review

Since its release in April 2010, the iPad has been widely regarded as a “consumption device” not really suited for “content creation”. Whilst we have already examined the issue with dismissing the iPad as a device that’s not capable of doing the same things a computer can – and my friend Shawn has a good take on why “content” generally is an awful marketing umbrella – the Storify iPad app, coming today for free on the App Store, is yet another example of how the iPad is changing the way we create through unique interfaces built around touch and the strengths of iOS.

Storify is an interesting service. Per se, Storify isn’t strictly focused on allowing you to create original content (images, text, or a combination of both) that you can share with your friends; rather, Storify is a curation tool that, among other services, leverages Twitter and the openness of the web to let you create “social stories” based off elements shared by people you follow, or just about anyone else on the Internet. Storify wants to tell stories by “curating social media”. I have covered the topic of curation – especially Twitter curation – several times on MacStories, and I recently mentioned Storify in my review of Tweet Library, an iOS app by Manton Reece that enables you to create collections of tweets for future reference. As I detailed in the article, Storify integration in Tweet Library means you can easily collect tweets from a variety of sources (people you follow, Twitter lists, favorite tweets – Tweet Library does a great job at breaking up Twitter sections in neatly organized “sources” panels) and publish them online as a bundle on Storify. The first official Storify iPad app, however, brings the full feature set of Storify (or at least the majority of its online functionalities) to the tablet, mirroring the web counterpart available at storify.com to allow you to create visually rich social stories that go beyond collecting data from Twitter.

I have been able to test Storify for iPad in the past weeks, using it to create and edit stories that I’ve embedded on MacStories such as this one, or this one. When I first talked to Storify CEO Xavier Damman about their upcoming iPad client, I wondered how well the team had managed to port the desktop user interface and experience of Storify, which is largely based on drag & drop, to the iPad. Furthermore, the Storify web app benefits from the desktop nature of the web browser, which makes it easy to switch between dozens of tabs, collect links, snippets of text, and images, or simply open links from other applications without having to worry about “switching back” using a multitasking tray, such as the one we have on iOS. These are all problems a native iPad app should somehow address, I thought, as it’s not just as easy and quick to switch between the browser and multiple sources on an iPad, and I wouldn’t want the Storify creation process to become slow or, worse, cumbersome. It turns out, the Storify team solved the problem with converting mouse interaction to multitouch, and quite beautifully. Read more

Apple Extends Mac App Store Sandboxing Deadline to June 1

With a notice posted on the Mac Dev Center’s App Sandboxing webpage, Apple has informed developers that the sandboxing deadline, previously delayed to March 1, has been extended to June 1.

Starting June 1, all apps submitted to the Mac App Store must implement sandboxing. Take advantage of new sandboxing entitlements available in OS X 10.7.3 and new APIs in Xcode 4.3.

We have extended the deadline for sandboxing your apps on the Mac App Store from March 1st to June 1st to provide you with enough time to take advantage of new sandboxing entitlements available in OS X 10.7.3 and new APIs in Xcode 4.3.

Starting June 1, if you have an existing app on the Mac App Store that is not sandboxed, you may still submit bug fix updates without sandboxing your app. In addition, if you have technical issues that prevent you from sandboxing your app by June 1, let us know.

Sandboxing is a new technology in OS X Lion that limits the functionalities of Mac App Store applications to a list of “entitlements” that cover various areas of the operating system an app can access, such as networking, printing, or a user’s files. A sandboxed application would be unable to harm the system outside of its operational scope (managed by the entitlements), and this has caused some concerns as apps would lose access to the Mac’s entire filesystem, which is required by some functionalities of certain applications that aren’t necessary malicious or “compromised”. Similarly, inter-app communication would be a technical issue with sandboxing, as apps like TextExpander, Keyboard Maestro and CoverSutra – utilities that perform actions in the background without asking for user’s interaction in some cases (user-initiated actions can override the sandbox) – couldn’t get past the sandboxing requirement for the Mac App Store.

Since the release of Lion last summer, Apple has been touting the advantages of sandboxing as a way to increase security on OS X, whilst third-party developers began asking for more clarity from Apple in regards to the list of entitlements made available to them. For instance, sandboxing has been heavily criticized in the past months as it would theoretically prevent apps that rely on system-level technologies such as AppleScript from working, as they would require an entitlement that Apple isn’t providing. Similarly, apps that would require access to an entire user’s filesystem would be problematic with sandboxing fully enforced (think backup utilities such as SuperDuper).

Sandboxing recently became a topic of discussion again as Apple announced the next version of OS X, Mountain Lion, featuring a new security measure called Gatekeeper, while claiming that sandboxing would still be enforced starting March 1. With Gatekeeper and Sandboxing seemingly aimed at fixing different problems with OS X security, a number of third-party developers asked Apple (again) to reconsider the list of entitlements for the sandbox and figure out a way to work with longtime Mac developers to keep their apps in the Mac App Store.

Notably, Daniel Jalkut of Red Sweater Software wrote:

Apple should embrace the utility of sandboxing by shifting their focus away from sandboxing only Mac App Store titles, to a strategy that would sandbox virtually every Mac app, inside the store or out. Given the current limitations of sandboxing, a significant number of developers will not adopt the technology, so its usefulness to users and to the security of the platform will be diminished. Apple can turn that around so that sandboxing is a worthy counterpart to Gatekeeper, and a technology that any developer in his or her right mind would feel foolish not to incorporate.

To increase adoption, Apple should expand the current list of entitlements until it covers every reasonable behavior that users expect from Mac apps.

As a result of the uncertainty surrounding the sandboxing deadline prior to today’s announcement, some developers have decided to stop supporting the Mac App Store, keeping their applications available for purchase on their website – something that Mountain Lion will continue to support thanks to Gatekeeper. A notable example is Riverfold’s Manton Reece, who wrote a blog post explaining the reasons behind his decision to remove Clipstart from the Mac App Store:

Clipstart also falls into the same “needs to access the whole file system” category as Transmit. It’s not just one feature; the whole app is based on the fact that it can point to video files anywhere on the system, or manage your video library in a central location on any hard drive. These are things that are difficult to do in the sandbox, but even worse, I don’t see a clear path forward for existing customers to move into such a restrictive environment.

Maybe I could file bugs with Apple for exemptions, and reduce the functionality of my app to fit within the limits of the sandbox, but I’ve made the decision that it is just not worth it. I would much rather spend 100% of the time I have for Clipstart on new features only, not playing catch-up with Apple.

Following today’s notice sent to developers, Reece told us: “The delay is great news for developers who have been scrambling to meet the deadline. With brand new sandboxing APIs in 10.7.3, it just wasn’t realistic to expect developers to be ready. And for some apps, there are still areas where the current entitlements fall short.” As for Clipstart, Reece says he’s still planning to remove his app from Apple’s storefront: “I still expect to transition away from the Mac App Store. These delays show that Apple is listening, but also that sandboxing isn’t a stable environment yet. I want to focus my time on adding new features for users instead.”

With Apple extending the Sandboxing deadline, the company will hopefully have time to come up with a broader selection of entitlements developers can use in their apps. As a side note, Apple is expected to hold its annual WWDC in June, and Mountain Lion is set to become available this summer on the Mac App Store. Apple seems to be very flexible with the new June 1 deadline, too, promising developers that they will be able to submit bug fixes without implementing sandboxing, and asking them to “get in touch” if technical issues are preventing them from implementing the new technology.

Things Cloud Goes Public Beta

Originally announced last year, Things Cloud, a cloud syncing platform for Cultured Code’s Things GTD app, is now available as public beta. Available on the Mac and iOS, Things is one of the most popular applications to manage todos and projects, and the app even won an Apple Design Award for its ease of use and simplicity. Cultured Code, however, has been heavily criticized by its user base over the years for the lack of a cloud syncing solution that would allow Things for iOS to stay up to date with Things for Mac; the criticism was also exacerbated by the fact that other GTD apps for the Mac and iOS, namely OmniFocus and Firetask, implemented working, reliable cloud databases in a relatively short period of time, whilst also adding new functionalities to their apps for paying customers.

We’ve had incredible feedback from our users, telling us that Things Cloud is proving to be both fast and stable. Some of our users have adopted the beta entirely and created exceptionally large databases. In the coming weeks we are going to work out some kinks and performance bottlenecks related to such large databases. This is an important final step towards enabling the import of existing data. Once the import feature is ready, we’ll post another update.

Whilst we’ll leave our thoughts for a review once the software leaves beta, it’s important to note that Cultured Code has always claimed its syncing solution would require more work (thus additional time to be implemented) because of a different technology being used to effortlessly push tasks and data across devices. For what it’s worth, I have been able to test Things Cloud, and its sync process was indeed pretty fast both on WiFi and 3G. I’ll save further considerations and tests for a proper review.

To enable Things Cloud, you can head over Cultured Code’s website and download the Mac beta. Cloud syncing can also be enabled by downloading the public version of Things for iOS, following the instructions provided on Cultured Code’s website.

Screens 2.0 Review

I’ve always been a huge fan of Edovia’s take on VNC, Screens. Originally released in late 2010 for the iPad, Screens was also ported to the iPhone and later the Mac, allowing iOS and OS X users to connect to remote machines using standard VNC protocols (Lion logins are also supported by Screens), as well as Edovia’s own ScreensConnect utility to assign a unique hostname to computers behind networks that allow for outside access. To get an overview of Screens, you can take a look at some of your previous coverage.

Today Edovia is releasing a series of major updates to Screens for iOS and Mac, as well as ScreensConnect, which is now available at screensconnect.com to create a unique Screens ID for your Mac or Windows machine. I have been able to test the new Screens suite prior to its App Store release, and it’s still my favorite utility to quickly access my remote Mac mini, iMac, or MacBooks (Air and Pro) on my local office network. With its touch-driven UI, ease of use, and wide availability across devices (Mac, iPhone, and iPad for the Screens client; Windows and OS X for the desktop ScreensConnect utility), Screens is one of the most accessible VNC apps available on the App Store.

Since its release, I’ve always liked two things about Screens: touch controls and zero configuration. Once you download Screens, you’ll be able to search for computers that are advertising their screen sharing capabilities on a local network (on a Mac, make sure Screen Sharing is active under System Preferences -> Sharing), or add a machine that’s been configured to be reached using ScreensConnect. In the “Nearby & remote computers” window (a popover on the Mac), you’ll see computers from your local network, as well as those with an antenna icon next to them, indicating that they accept remote connections through ScreensConnect. The beauty of ScreensConnect, which is a free utility, is that it should make your computer accessible from outside your local network with literally no configuration, as the software takes care of (most) router settings and establishes a secure connection between a remote computer and Screens. As explained from the app’s Help section:

We could bore you with technical mumbo-jumbo but in a nutshell, Screens Connect monitors network changes, configures your router and sends this information on our server through a SSL encrypted connection so that Screens knows were your computer is and connect to it.

A note on ScreensConnect: whilst most modern routers support UPnP and NAT-PMP (required by Screens’ remote connection), some do not, so make sure you have a compatible model before considering Edovia’s Screens for its ScreensConnect functionality alone. I, for one, got ScreensConnect working just fine with my Fastweb connection in Italy (through Apple’s AirPort Extreme), as well as Telecom’s Alice (through an AirPort Express). Performance, as usual, depends on your Internet connection, so don’t expect ScreensConnect to magically improve speeds – there’s only so much smart connection scaling (from millions of colors to hundreds) can do.

Screens 2.0 comes with a new UI. Gone is the wooden texture of the previous versions, leaving room for a darker, more elegant background that will surely make your computer’s desktops pop. Whilst the change in visual presentation is welcome, much more functional is iCloud integration in version 2.0, which now allows you to keep your stored screens in sync across devices – and it’s just not “sync”, I was able to create a new screen on the Mac app, wait a few seconds, and see it coming up automatically on the iPhone and iPad, which were running Screens 2.0. Support for iCloud is fairly impressive and a godsend, because, honestly, adding the same screens over and over on multiple devices wasn’t really a great experience.

Alongside bug fixes, improved security and performances, and better support for wake-on-lan, Screens 2.0 comes with some additional new features. When controlling a computer, for example, Screens now displays a unified bottom toolbar that collects a series of shortcuts – including two types of keyboards, and an action button to grab a screenshot of the remote desktop (a new feature), disconnect, and open the Settings. On the iPad, this toolbar can be configured to become a swipe gesture area whilst in landscape mode, allowing you to associate a variety of commands to left or right swipes. The same app/Mac/window shortcuts can be configured with three and four finger gestures to perform directly on screen, and the selection here is very rich – for instance, you’ll be able to set up shortcuts to send the contents of your clipboard, or launch Mission Control.

Also new in Screens 2.0: you can reorganize screens in grid mode on the iPad, you can send the remote screen to an Apple TV using AirPlay Mirroring, and SSH Keys are now supported for SSH Tunneling. On the Mac, you won’t obviously get the iOS version’s custom keyboards and gesture support, but Screens 2.0 will support iCloud and auto-resume for ongoing connections.

With a new UI, better handling of remote connections, gestures, iCloud support, and a very intuitive touch-based VNC control system, Screens 2.0 is a fantastic update. ScreensConnect works as advertised, the iPad app benefits from the screen real-estate, and, overall, the app is very easy to use and configure. Screens, however, doesn’t come cheap, as the iOS app (universal) and Mac app will set you back $50 when combined. If you’re willing to pay for quality software and believe Screens’ feature set is right for you (make sure your router can work with ScreensConnect!), I’d personally recommend starting with Screens 2.0 for iOS today. Read more