Spectre is a new specialized camera app from the team that created Halide, one of our favorite camera apps on iOS. The Halide team describes Spectre as a computational shutter for the iPhone, which allows the app to do things like remove people from a crowded scene, create artistic images of rushing water, and produce light trails at night. The same sort of images can be created using traditional cameras, but getting the exposure right, holding the camera absolutely still, and accounting for other factors make them difficult to get right. With Spectre, artificial intelligence is used to simplify the process and make long-exposure photography accessible to anyone with an iPhone.
Apple’s Month-Long Celebration of International Women’s Day
A week from tomorrow is International Women’s Day. To mark the day, Apple has announced a series of events throughout the month of March.
In the US, Apple is partnering with Girls Can Code to bring programming to more girls and young women. The program includes Swift training for club leaders and will use the company’s Everyone Can Code Curriculum to make the programming language available nationwide to 90,000 girls. Apple’s Lisa Jackson:
“Women have earned the opportunity to have our ideas shape the future,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives. “We’re excited to support Girls Who Code as they empower girls to be the developers and tech innovators of tomorrow.”
In addition, Apple retail stores in Singapore, Kyoto, Hong Kong, London, Milan, Paris, Dubai, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles will host a special ‘Made by Women’ series featuring artists, scientists, entrepreneurs, musicians, developers, photographers, and others.
On the App Store, Apple will run special features all month long. Every March App of the Day will feature apps by women, and on Fridays the App Store will go behind the scenes with stories of the women behind apps and efforts being made to bring women into the tech industry. On March 8th, there will also be a special collection of games featuring Captain Marvel that coincides with the release of the film.
Apple Music will include special editorial and playlist content featuring women and Beats 1 will have a 24-hour takeover highlighting the work of women musicians. Apple’s movie, TV, books, and podcast storefronts will include content made by and featuring women too. Finally, on March 8th, Apple Watch users who complete a 1.6 kilometer walk, run, or wheelchair workout will receive a special Activity award and stickers for Messages.
Patiently Waiting for Apple to Fix Banking and Healthcare
Last week The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple is working with Goldman Sachs to develop a credit card with features to help people manage their money. This wasn’t the first time The Journal reported that Apple and Goldman are working on a credit card, but now the newspaper has more details. The Journal...
AppStories, Episode 100 – App Trends→
On this week’s episode of AppStories, we discuss some of the trends we expect will drive app development on iOS and the Mac this year and into the future.
Sponsored by:
- MacStadium – Private clouds and dedicated Macs for developers and teams doing iOS/Mac app development. Start a Mac mini subscription and get two months for the price of one with the code APPSTORIES.
- Luna Display – The only hardware solution that turns your iPad into a wireless display for your Mac. Use promo code APPSTORIES at checkout for 10% off.
App Trends
FedericoBig Grocery Update Adds Recipe and Meal Planning Support Along with Other Refinements
I’ve used Grocery on and off for a long time, but what finally made it stick in a way that it never did in the app’s early days was the addition of a HomePod in my living room/kitchen area. The app is built on top of Apple Reminders, which means that even from the earliest days of the HomePod, adding items to our family grocery list using Siri was reliable. Grocery’s Siri support was available before the HomePod, but the ability to add things to the list while I’m cooking or rummaging through the refrigerator transformed Grocery into an app I use throughout the week.
With version 2.0, Grocery has added a new level of power to the app by creating a flexible system that allows you to do everything from storing a template grocery list that you can reuse over and over to recipe management and meal planning. The new features add some complexity to Grocery, but if you invest a little time in understanding how the app works and take advantage of its Shortcuts integration, the update opens up interesting uses far beyond what was possible before.
Third-Party Vendors Fill the Void Caused by Overwhelmed Apple Geniuses→
Molly McHugh writing for The Ringer:
The saturation of iOS and Mac products means more and more people own Apple devices—which means more and more people need help using them. Each iOS and MacOS release reveals a new suite of tools and capabilities, but also new challenges and complications (and sometimes bugs). At the same time, Apple’s Genius Bar has become a purgatory no iDevice owner wants to find themselves stuck in.
That in a nutshell is one of the greatest challenges facing Apple retail today, and one that’s been years in the making. It’s not really surprising either. Especially since the introduction of the iPhone, the number of Apple devices in consumers’ hands has grown exponentially, while the number of Apple Stores and Geniuses that work in them has not.
McHugh ultimately resorted to a third-party repair shop to solve a software problem with Voice Memos and had a good experience. The story, however, strikes an increasingly common refrain that highlights a problem Apple needs to address.
Holedown
The final stage of Holedown is appropriately named Black Hole. I powered my way through Holedown’s other levels long ago, but I’ve been caught in the pull of the Black Hole ever since. I’ve set the game aside for stretches, but inevitably come back for more. Like many hit iOS games, Holedown pairs simple...
Q&A
Question: I have a Logitech K120 Windows keyboard that I use with my Mac mini. It works fine, and I have remapped the modifier keys to work the “Mac” way, but is there a way, perhaps with a third-party utility, to remap the top-row function keys? I’d especially like the play/pause and volume controls, but...