Federico Viticci

10766 posts on MacStories since April 2009

Federico is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of MacStories, where he writes about Apple with a focus on apps, developers, iPad, and iOS productivity. He founded MacStories in April 2009 and has been writing about Apple since. Federico is also the co-host of AppStories, a weekly podcast exploring the world of apps, Unwind, a fun exploration of media and more, and NPC: Next Portable Console, a show about portable gaming and the handheld revolution.
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@viticci.macstories.net
viticci@macstories.net

Evernote Brings Widget, Share Extension to iOS 8

I save everything into Evernote. While I’m almost religious about plain text and Markdown for my articles, anything else goes into Evernote: PDFs, screenshots, photos with GPS information, my shared shopping list, and any other note that has a visual component (such as formatting or hyperlinks).

I started using Evernote in 2009, and it’s become an external brain where I archive everything that I need to remember but not store in my own brain. Evernote suffered in its transition to iOS devices as it couldn’t be as flexible as the Mac app: Evernote is only as good as the ways it gives you to create notes, and the iOS app couldn’t use the best one – the clipper.

This is changing today with Evernote 7.5, which adds extensions for iOS 8 to let you save anything from anywhere with just two taps.

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MyFitnessPal Adds HealthKit Support, Bringing Its Data to iOS 8’s Health App

Popular food tracker and calorie counter MyFitnessPal, available for free on the iPhone, iPad, web, and other platforms, has today introduced an update for iOS 8 users that adds support for Apple’s new Health app. I’ve been testing the updated MyFitnessPal, and I believe that Health integration has the potential to be a great way to let the app integrate with other services on iOS 8.

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VARIDESK Adjustable Standing Desk [Sponsor]

It’s no longer a question, it’s a fact: sitting all day is bad for your health. The VARIDESK is a height adjustable standing desk that sits on top of your existing furniture, and allows you to raise from a seated to standing position in just 3 seconds.

It ships fully assembled, and is ready to use right out of the box. There are 4 models to choose from for single and dual monitors starting at just $275; VARIDESK has no fixed installation, there’s a risk free 30-day guarantee, and there’s even a desktop app to set the times you wish to sit and stand during the day.

You can learn more at VARIDESK.com.

Our thanks to VARIDESK for sponsoring MacStories this week.

The First Ferrari FF with CarPlay in Italy→

Ferrari:

The first FF equipped with the Apple CarPlay system has gone to an Italian client. Deliveries of the Ferraris sporting the innovative integrated Apple technology commenced over the last few days and the cars are now arriving at their final destinations and will hit the road all over the world. In Europe, they are bound for Germany, Great Britain, France and Switzerland while others have been dispatched to the United States and Japan.

We didn’t get any mention of CarPlay by Apple this week. I think the demo in Ferrari’s video looks pretty good. I wish I had that car to review it.

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A Watch Guy’s Thoughts On The Apple Watch→

The Apple Watch can take an integrated strap or bracelet, or one with wire lugs. It totally changes the look of the watch, and swapping them couldn’t be any easier. Changing straps is one thing, but the attention to detail on the straps and bracelets themselves is downright incredible, and when I mentioned above that nothing comes close in this price range, it is very visible when talking about straps.

I’ve argued that the Apple Watch is first and foremost a watch. Benjamin Clymer has a great analysis of Apple’s announcement from the perspective of a “watch guy” with a deep expertise in this field.

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Apple Watch Dimensions→

Apple didn’t announce a lot of specs of the Apple Watch besides the 2 different face sizes. There’s a 42 mm one and a 38 mm one. Thickness or screen size are nowhere to be found in Apple’s marketing material.

Based on the 42 mm Watch and several images on Apple’s website I did some measurements to determine some of the specs we don’t know yet.

Nice work by Paul Sprangers. To me, the watch looks as thick as many other watches in that price range on the market today. It’s interesting to imagine how this could look in four years (think original iPhone to iPhone 4).

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Supertop Buys Unread→

Great news for Unread fans: Supertop, the makers of Castro, have acquired the app from Jared Sinclair and will continue to develop it going forward.

Jared writes:

Supertop, the folks behind Castro — my favorite podcast app — are the new home for Unread, the RSS reader for iPhone and iPad that you have probably heard of by now. I am really happy for this news. Since I moved on to my new job at Bloglovin, Unread had become something akin to a beloved but grumpy family dog in a home with a fragile new baby. It’s better for everyone that Unread has moved on to a new home: better for me, for Supertop (obviously), and most of all for Unread’s users.

From the Supertop blog:

Unread makes an excellent companion to our podcast app, Castro. Both apps are news/entertainment focused, share similar design goals and even rely on the same underlying feed technology. We are grateful to Jared for trusting us with the future of Unread and look forward to developing and refining both of these apps for years to come.

Unread is a fantastic app, and I hope that Supertop will soon add a native share sheet and better cache management. You can read my original review of Unread here.

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iPhone 6 Screens Demystified→

Few days ago, Apple introduced iPhone 6 Plus. The new iPhone substantially changes the way graphics are rendered on screen. We’ve made an infographic to demystify this.

Over the past two days, I’ve seen a lot of designers and developers ask questions about the new screens in the iPhone 6. The folks at PaintCode have posted a useful guide to understand the new resolutions. I’d be curious to know how the Display Zoom feature works, though.

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