John is MacStories' Managing Editor, has been writing about Apple and apps since joining the team in 2015, and today, runs the site alongside Federico.
John also co-hosts four MacStories podcasts: AppStories, which covers the world of apps, MacStories Unwind, which explores the fun differences between American and Italian culture and recommends media to listeners, Ruminate, a show about the weird web and unusual snacks, and NPC: Next Portable Console, a show about the games we take with us.
Adario Strange of Mashable takes a look at how artist Kyle Lambert created the 80s-style poster art for Netflix’s original series Stranger Things using an iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Procreate, a Mac, and Photoshop.
I used the iPad Pro to do the preliminary composition ideas and the sketch that became the final Stranger Things poster. I chose to use the iPad Pro for the drawing stage of the poster because I find that I am able to sketch in a very natural way on the device using the Apple Pencil. The device in general is nice to hold for long periods of time, it is really portable and Procreate, the app that I used, has some really great Pencil brushes for drawing with.
Lambert exported the image to Photoshop on a Mac to do detail work using an Wacom Intuos tablet, which involved editing hundreds of layers. In the final stage, Lambert exported a flattened version of the art back to Procreate on an iPad Pro to add a “more fluid sketch style” to parts of the final product.
Image: Kyle Lambert
The depth and detail of Lambert’s process and artwork are fascinating and demonstrate just how powerful Procreate combined with an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil can be in the hands of a talented artist. Check out the full article on Mashable to learn more about how Kyle Lambert created the Stranger Things poster.
Rick Tetzeli, co-author of Becoming Steve Jobs, interviewed Tim Cook, Eddy Cue, and Craig Federighi for an article about Apple’s approach to product development that was published by Fast Company yesterday. Tetzeli does an excellent job exploring critics’ ‘Apple is doomed’ refrain, putting it into historical context, and exploring what Apple’s long-term approach to product development might mean for the company’s future.
Apple often seems to be criticized for simultaneously doing too much and too little. The ‘Apple is doing too much’ criticism typically points to recent product misses as evidence that Apple has lost its focus under Tim Cook’s leadership and needs to return to its core products. But as Tetzeli points out, product failures at Apple are not a new phenomenon:
Indeed, the iPod, iPhone, and iPad—and the financial success they engendered—obscured the fact that Jobs oversaw almost as many flops as hits during Apple’s resurgence: the circular, nearly unusable mouse that came with the first iMac in 1997; 2001’s beautiful PowerMac G4 “Cube,” which was discontinued after one year; Rokr, a music phone Apple released with Motorola in 2005; the iTunes social recommendation network Ping, and many more.
The complaint that ’Apple is doing too little’ seems to come from fear that Apple is missing out on technologies announced by companies like, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. But as Tim Cook explains:
“What tends to happen with Apple, not just today but in the 18 years I’ve been here,… is that invariably some people compare what we’re doing now to a vision or a product that somebody says they will create in the future.”
Apple’s approach is different. It doesn’t announce technologies; it announces products. As Tim Cook puts it:
“People like things they can do now, not just think about…. I’ve been thinking about The Jetsons since I was a kid. But occasionally you want The Jetsons to come to reality. That’s what Apple is so great at: Productizing things and bringing them to you, so you can be a part of it.”
Tetzeli concludes by looking at what the future may hold for Apple. Acknowledging that the iPhone may have been a once-in-a-lifetime product, Tetzeli makes the case that there are other large markets for Apple to conquer with this closing remark from Tim Cook about the health care industry:
“When you look at most of the solutions, whether it’s devices, or things coming up out of Big Pharma, first and foremost, they are done to get the reimbursement [from an insurance provider]. Not thinking about what helps the patient. So if you don’t care about reimbursement, which we have the privilege of doing, that may even make the smartphone market look small.”
Tim Cook’s perspective on health care is classic Apple. The company developed the Mac by building computers for people, not corporate IT departments. It’s not hard to see how Apple’s approach to PCs could play out similarly in the health care industry if it builds products that are patient-focused.
Yeah, it’s important, it really is important. Human curation allows you to have the emotion and feel music, because it is a very emotional thing. It makes you feel happy, it helps you when you are feeling sad, gets you pumped up, calms you down. You want me to keep going? Because I could preach. I think it is a very emotional thing and you should treat it as such. We as humans have that and we can express it.
There have been an interesting series of features about Apple Music since WWDC. First, BuzzFeed had a behind-the-scenes look at the people who create playlists for Apple Music and other services. Then, Eddy Cue discussed Apple Music’s integration with Apple’s products, curation, and radio in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter. The message from Apple is clear. Apple Music is distinguished from other streaming services by human curation. I like the emphasis on the human touch, but remain skeptical about whether Apple’s editorial team can create new playlists regularly enough to keep them feeling fresh, which has not always been the case in the past.
Severed is a dungeon adventure game for iOS from DrinkBox Studios that originally debuted on the PS Vita and will be available later this Summer on the Wii U and 3DS. The game tells the story of a one-armed warrior named Sasha in search of her family in a strange world populated by monstrous creatures.
The move to bring Severed to iOS is a new beginning for DrinkBox Studios, which published its prior mobile titles on PS Vita. But with the Vita in decline, DrinkBox has moved on. In an interview with Engadget, the Toronto-based company announced that it is finished with the Vita. That’s a shame because I love my PS Vita and DrinkBox’s Guacamelee! was one of my favorite Vita games, but Sony’s loss is Apple’s gain.
Severed, described by its creators as an RPG-light adventure, is a visually arresting journey through a bizzare landscape. The unique artwork style will be immediately recognizable to anyone who has played Guacamelee!, while still creating an atmosphere and look of its own. Sasha, the main character, has just one weapon, a sword given to her by a mysterious figure at the outset of her quest. As you encounter enemies, you attack with slashing touch gestures reminiscent of Fruit Ninja and block counterattacks by swiping along the course of incoming blows. Early in the game you are confronted by single enemies. Things get more complicated as you advance and have to defeat multiple foes that are better at defending themselves.
But there’s more to Severed than just frantic slashing. There’s a strategic element too. During the course of a battle, Sasha’s ‘focus bar’ slowly fills. Kill an opponent when Sasha’s focus bar is full and you can sever its limbs. It sounds more gruesome than it actually is. Collect enough limbs and you can trade them for armor, equipment, and other upgrades. As a result, it doesn’t pay to simply kill a monster as fast as possible, which adds depth to the battles.
There are two levels of play – ‘casual’ and ‘standard.’ Severed can be intense and absorbing in standard mode, which makes casual mode a nice option if you would rather play a more relaxed game, soaking in the visuals and soundtrack.
The touch-based gestures of Severed are outstanding on iOS. The game is a Universal app, so you can play it on an iPhone or iPad, but it really shines on the iPad, especially an iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil. Suddenly, that Apple Pencil that you may use to take notes or sketch becomes Sasha’s sword. Using the Apple Pencil this way adds immeasurably to the fun.
I’ll be playing Severed a lot more as I sit by the shore of Lake Michigan for a mini-vacation this weekend. Severed is expensive as iOS games go, but at less than half the price you’d pay for the PS Vita version, you get a game that fits with the iPhone and iPad hardware in a way that it can’t on the Vita. Sure, the Vita has a touch surface, but it’s still designed primarily for button-based games, while the large touch surfaces of iOS devices make it easier to get lost in Severed’s action and story.
Stranger Things TV Series Watch on Netflix Stranger Things is another big original programming win for Netflix. The first season of eight episodes was released by Netflix less than a month ago and continues to get considerable buzz. The story follows three friends, who discover a mysterious girl, and something dangerous that has escaped...
A Personal Approach to App Marketing When I started this column, I did a series on attention, which became a presentation I did at CocoaConf Chicago this past Spring. I like using the term attention instead of marketing or branding, which carry so much baggage. You can probably hear Marco Arment in your head right...
First rumored by Bloomberg last week, Apple has updated its Apple Store app to include personalized product recommendations that use customers’ buying history to make suggestions. Contrary to rumors, the recommendations are not part of a separate ‘For You’ tab in the Apple Store app. Instead, product recommendations and local Apple Store events are included under the app’s ‘Discover’ tab. In addition, Apple has unified the Apple Store iPhone and iPad apps into a single Universal app that is available to download free from the App Store.
Apple’s Shot on iPhone ad campaign has been around on billboards, in magazines, and on television since 2015. The campaign has featured both still photography and videos shot by customers on the iPhones, usually highlighting a specific feature of the iPhone camera or a specific theme, like Mother’s Day.
Today, Apple released a new Shot on iPhone television ad called ‘The Human Family,’ which according to Fast Company will air during the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Rio, Brazil on Friday. The ad features photographs and video taken by iPhone users of people from around the world with narration by poet Maya Angelou, who reads a version of her poem ‘The Human Family’ backed by a piano piece called ‘I Already Am a Great Matriarch’ by Rob Simonsen from the score of the Zach Braff movie ’Wish I Was Here’.
Earlier this week Apple introduced new and redesigned emoji as part of iOS 10 developer beta 4 and public beta 3. Among the new emoji are a pride flag, single-parent families, and more emoji featuring women. Apple also changed the existing pistol emoji from a realistic image of a gun to a water gun.
According to Jeremy Burge of Emojipedia, Apple’s change to the pistol emoji has been the single most poorly received emoji change since he started Emojipedia. The range of criticism has been wide and varied, but as Jeremy points out:
The real issue here is that emoji is bigger than Apple. Or to put it more succinctly, this is dangerous:
If Apple goes ahead with this change in the public iOS 10 release, one person could innocently tweet a toy and have that be seen by others as a weapon.
Burge proposes an alternative way to handle the situation without changing the meaning of the pistol emoji in a way that is inconsistent with other platforms – simply hide it so the pistol emoji isn’t available from the iOS keyboard.
I like Burge’s solution. Regardless of your view of whether there should be a realistic representation of a gun emoji on iOS, changing the meaning of the emoji is problematic when considered in the context of other vendors that use a realistic gun for the pistol emoji. Apple’s change only creates confusion that, as Burge rightly points out, could be dangerous.
For another great discussion of the changes to the pistol emoji in the iOS 10 beta, I also recommend Episode 102 of Connected, which does an excellent job of exploring the difficult issues Apple’s change raises.
