Federico Viticci

10865 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

Responding To iOS 7→

Winning apps won’t merely take Apple’s default look and mimic it. Think about how boring it would be if all of our apps looked like iOS 7 Calendar or Settings. It would get old really fast. But that’s nothing new. Think about if all the apps on iOS 6 looked like iOS 6 Calendar and settings… Yep, it would be really boring.

Jeremy Olson has some great thoughts on how designers and developers should respond to iOS 7 in the coming months. From what I’ve seen so far, this summer will be an interesting one.

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Apple Details iOS 7 Business and Education Improvements→

Last night, Apple updated its iOS 7 mini-site to include links to two webpages that detail improvements coming for Business and Education users.

For Business, the biggest additions are Per app VPN, more controls on “Open In”, third-party app data protection, and more options coming to MDM with streamlined enrollment. New MDM options are also coming for Education users, alongside single sign-on for an institution’s apps, App Store license management, and more.

Macworld has a good overview of the changes coming in iOS 7 for Business and Education. As noted by Bradley Chambers, the new Apple ID features for students under age 13 are a notable addition.

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Mr. Reader 2.0 Adds Support For Feedly, Feed Wrangler, Fever, and More

Mr. Reader 2.0

Mr. Reader 2.0

With Google Reader shutting down in less than a week, developers of RSS clients for iOS and OS X are rushing to get updates approved by Apple and let App Store customers continue using their apps with other RSS services. In the past two weeks, details have emerged on a variety of new RSS platforms that are launching on the brink of Reader’s demise, such as Feedly, Digg Reader, and AOL Reader; I’ve already covered Feed Wrangler, the service I’m currently using, and Reeder’s update with support for Feedbin. It’s not clear if one service will stand out as a “winner” in a post-Google Reader world; for now, what’s apparent is that most third-party developers are deciding to support various Google Reader alternatives rather than picking a single service (as it happened with Google Reader in the past three years). Today, my favorite Google Reader app for iPad, Mr. Reader, has been updated to support six new RSS services, with a version 2.0 that doesn’t add new sharing or reading functionalities, but that ensures the app will continue working after July 1. Read more

Pushpin 2.0: A Powerful Pinboard Client for iPhone

Pushpin 2.0

Pushpin 2.0

On the first episode of The Prompt podcast, I chose Pushpin 2.0 as my weekly pick, and I thought the app deserved a mention here on the site as well.

In January, when I first reviewed Pushpin, I noted how the app didn’t look as good as Pinbook, another Pinboard client that, back then, didn’t support some of the power-user functionalities that were available in Pushpin. Many Pinboard clients have come out in the past few months; as MacStories readers know, my choices have always been Pinbook, Pushpin, and Pinbrowser – while these three apps were all made for Pinboard, each one of them had a peculiar feature that made it stand out. With Pushpin 2.0, I feel like the difference is now marginal, as the app takes important steps towards becoming the only Pinboard client you’d ever need to add, manage, and browse Pinboard bookmarks. Read more

iOS 7 and Virtua Fighter→

Then one day, on a trip to my local arcade, I saw something completely new: Virtua Fighter. The first ever 3D fighting game sacrificed a lot of visual detail in order to achieve real depth rendered via multiple polygons on a projected z-axis.

When I first saw Virtua Fighter I was not impressed. The graphics were terrible compared to my favourite at the time, the also just released Mortal Kombat II, but it was the start of a new era that still continues today: the vast majority of new videogames are first or third-person perspective 3D.

James Russell has come up with an interesting analogy for Apple’s prioritization of depth in iOS 7 (and, as an old-time watcher of the Nintendo vs. Sega wars, one that I can understand and reminisce).

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Instagram Video→

Today, Instagram has officially introduced video. With a new camera interface, users can now take videos up to 15 seconds long, choose between 13 custom filters, and post quick videos alongside photos in the main Instagram feed. Videos can be viewed on the web and through the just-updated iPhone app; third-party apps with access to the Instagram API, like Tweetbot, will have to be updated to support inline video viewing.

Video on Instagram is obviously reminiscent of Vine, Twitter’s service for 6-second videos. While there was no explicit mention of Vine at Instagram’s press event, it was clear that founder Kevin Systrom was presenting a product aimed at doing mobile video sharing better than Vine – which has been growing but isn’t quite as mainstream as Instagram is. For the past couple of years, finding the “Instragram for video” has been a recurring theme on the Internet, and I find it curious that Instagram decided to tackle this just when Vine was starting to take off.

The 4.0 update to the iOS app is nicely built and put together. I like how video capture sits right next to the standard camera interface (you can tap a button or swipe to access it), and I also appreciate the options to delete clips (portions of a video) and choose a cover thumbnail – two features that I always wanted to see in Vine. Instagram is setting a minimum duration for videos, which is displayed through segments in the video interface’s progress bar.

I do wonder if, with the addition of video, some of Instagram’s immediacy has been lost. Three years ago, when I first reviewed Instagram for iPhone, I predicted how it would become a new paradigm for camera apps. While the Instagram team has tried to keep the new experience as simple as possible, there is an intrinsic complexity about video that will likely be frowned upon by Instagram purists – this is exemplified by Instagram’s approach to video editing, which only allows you to delete entire clips and not individual frames. And Instagram’s upload speed, a marquee tenet of photo sharing, will inevitably be affected by videos.

Overall, from what I’ve seen so far, I think Instagram for video is polished and nice – an obvious addition perhaps, but it’ll be popular in the short term. It’ll be interesting to see how much Instagram’s nature and community will change with videos.

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The Potential of iOS 7 Game Controllers

Chris Plante:

If Apple finds a way to standardize traditional controls, every iOS device will become a transportable console. In a year, both iPhones and iPads will approach the processing power of the current-generation devices. Companies will have the ability to port controller-based games for the mobile devices in millions of pockets — an install base far greater than they’ve ever had before.

Today, using Airplay and an Apple TV, players can stream their games from their iOS device to their high-definition television. With controller support, players will be able to play more traditional, non-touch games.

I agree with Chris’ take: the new game controller APIs for developers have great potential, but, ultimately, it’s up to Apple to believe in this opportunity. What’s indisputable is that later this year, when controllers will be released by third-parties, games supporting them will already work with the existing Apple TV’s AirPlay streaming features. It’ll be interesting to see if Apple will publicly acknowledge this new scenario for gamers and Apple TV owners (as Tim Cook often notes, Apple doesn’t advertise the Apple TV aside from a product page on Apple.com).

We’ve already discussed how the potential of dual-screen AirPlay gaming is largely untapped, and I suspect the addition of physical controllers will allow iOS game developers to explore even more possibilities. Essentially, controllers that will attach to iPhones will create a DS-like experience – with the “top screen” being the Apple TV.

Today’s hardware, as recent ports show, isn’t yet capable of handling the same amount of power and definition of modern console games. The App Store needs improvements (especially for curation and discovery), but Apple has the advantage of having a solid platform where free-to-play is an established model and where everyone can develop games (with great new game-related APIs coming in iOS 7) as long as they are registered developers. With 575 million iTunes Store accounts with credit cards on file, Apple also has the largest user base – customers already buying software from the App Store. And, let’s not forget the iPod touch, Apple’s cheapest way into App Store gaming, which recently received an even cheaper option.

On the other hand, in the current state of App Store economics, it’s difficult to imagine how Apple could lure major console publishers to release AAA titles under $30 and that aren’t low-res ports, companion apps, or dumbed-down versions of console/PC games. Does Apple care about having the next Destiny on iOS first? The new Call of Duty? Will future iOS hardware be capable of running those kinds of games? Or is Apple just fine with attacking the market from the low end, taking more time to see how game developers will react to new iOS software and hardware in the next five years?

Will Apple ever develop a culture and appreciation for gaming as a medium, not just an App Store category? While others (namely Microsoft) are trying to add more media and entertainment layers on top of existing game infrastructures, Apple is in the opposite situation – running the largest media store and selling devices that are increasingly used as gaming machines, but that still lack the catalog and support of dedicated home consoles.

As far as third-party developers are concerned, things have changed since 2008. Five years ago, imagining a console hit like Metal Gear Solid 4 on iOS would have been absurd; today, we have a port (albeit low-res) of XCOM eight months after the original release. Compare this example to Metal Gear Solid Touch, “based on” Metal Gear Solid 4 and released nine months after the original game, in 2009. What’s the App Store going to be like in 2018? Can we imagine, two or three years from now, simultaneous and equal releases of AAA games across consoles and iOS? And if so, how will the App Store’s numbers play to Apple’s advantage against Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, and Valve?

Apple is testing the waters (having to buy separate iOS devices, Apple TV, and third-party game controllers isn’t a simple message) and they seem extremely cautious with their Apple TV strategy, but it does look like some pieces of the gaming puzzle are slowly coming together. We’re seeing more full ports of console games nowadays, alongside, obviously, the brand new iOS gaming experiences that have shaped the modern industry. iOS 7 game controllers will likely make developers more comfortable with the idea of “serious” games on iOS (although Apple wants controllers to be optional…for now), and I’m curious to see which parts of Apple’s grand vision for TV will relate to games, the App Store, and iOS.