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AIM Starts Cutting Off Access for Third-Party Apps→

Adam Clark Estes:

In what feels like a death blow to everyone’s early-Aughts nostalgia, it looks like AOL will soon cut off third-party access to its famous Instant Messenger service. The service turns 20 years old this year, and at this point, it’s unclear if it will see its 21st birthday.

AOL shared news of this tragedy quietly. Adium users, at least, got a brief warning when they signed on Wednesday morning, explaining that their AIM access had less than a month to live. It reads like sad notice for an imminent memorial service.

Adium was one of the first apps I installed when I switched to the Mac in 2008. (Does anyone remember checking out the latest Adium skins and icons on MacThemes?)

End of an era, though AIM feels like a lifetime ago in the age of Facebook and iMessage.

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Twitter Announces More User Safety Initiatives→

Continuing the company’s recent efforts geared at stopping abuse on its platform, Twitter today announced several changes in a blog post by Ed Ho.

One behind-the-scenes change is in how Twitter monitors potential abuse and proactively addresses it. The company has implemented algorithms meant to detect potentially abusive behavior and address it without the need for users to report the behavior. Ed Ho gives the examples of an account “repeatedly Tweeting without solicitation at non-followers or engaging in patterns of abusive behavior that is in violation of the Twitter Rules.” He admits that mistakes will likely be made as they begin this proactive monitoring, but states that the algorithms and tools will be continually worked on for improvement.

A change more visible to users involves additional tools found in the Twitter app. Ho writes:

We’re also introducing new filtering options for your notifications to give you more control over what you see from certain types of accounts, like those without a profile photo, unverified email addresses or phone numbers…We’re also expanding the mute feature to build on the work we did in November which lets you remove certain keywords, phrases, or entire conversations from your notifications. Now, you’ll be able to mute from your home timeline and you can decide how long this content is muted – one day, one week, one month, or indefinitely.

The final change announced today has to do with Twitter’s transparency in responding to reported harassment. Notifications will be used to confirm that a report of abuse has been received, and also to share if/when an action is taken in response to that report.

The user-facing features announced today will be rolling out soon to all users.

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Connected, Episode 131: The High School Reunion of Phones→

This week, Stephen yells at the cloud, Myke gets new emojis and Federico speaks wisdom to the masses.

Another fun episode of Connected this week, with plenty of speculation about USB-C on future Apple devices and what other companies are doing with smartphones in 2017. You can listen here.

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Tim Cook Affirms Apple’s Commitment to Pro Users in Annual Shareholder Meeting→

Apple hosted its annual shareholder meeting today, and Zac Hall of 9to5Mac has the scoop on Tim Cook’s remarks.

Besides mentioning that this would be the last shareholder meeting at Town Hall because Apple Park will open soon, Cook showed shareholders an unreleased AirPods promo video and called the new product “quite the cultural phenomenon.”

Perhaps the most interesting tidbit from the meeting had to do with Apple’s efforts in the pro market:

Cook also hinted at Apple’s product pipeline by promising Apple will “do more in the pro area.” Cook called out the creative field as especially important to Apple while pushing back against the notion that Apple is too consumer focused now. “Don’t think that something we’ve done or something we’re doing that isn’t visible yet is a signal that our priorities are elsewhere.”

While this isn’t confirmation of a new Mac Pro in the works, or substantial investment in pro software, it is good to hear Cook reaffirm that creatives are an important customer base. He seems convinced that Apple’s product pipeline will prove that the company’s priorities haven’t shifted when it comes to creative professionals.

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The Power of Apple TV’s Top Shelf→

Michael Rockwell of Initial Charge shares how the Apple TV’s Top Shelf feature impacted his recent reorganization of his Home screen:

As it turns out, if you create a folder on your Apple TV and place it among the top row of apps, you can scroll through its contents from the Top Shelf.

I hadn’t made use of this feature until this most recent reorganization, though. And it brought me to a conclusion that, perhaps, many others have already come to — the Top Shelf is the most powerful user interface element on tvOS. It turns the Apple TV’s boring grid of icons into an immensely practical display of content from within your favorite apps, that you can play straight from your home screen.

The Apple TV is regularly criticized for its iPhone-like interface of a grid of apps. Rockwell makes a good point though in highlighting how a feature like Top Shelf makes that grid of apps significantly more useful, whether as a tool to navigate folders of apps or to get straight to the content you want.

Despite the navigation improvements made possible by Top Shelf, very few apps make the most of the feature. Currently on my Apple TV’s Home screen, only the App Store and TV app have Top Shelf implementations that I find valuable.

Top Shelf seems to be one of the casualties of a weak App Store on the Apple TV. Because the demand for Apple TV apps appears weak, developers don’t have a strong incentive to take advantage of features like Top Shelf.

As a daily Apple TV user, I’m hopeful Apple will put more concerted efforts into the platform that sparks greater activity in the app ecosystem.

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The iMessage App Store’s Discoverability Problems→

Adam Howell sums up some of the major issues affecting the iMessage App Store and iMessage apps:

I love the idea of the iMessage App Store. I love Apple’s focus on privacy. I love building on top of an app I use all day everyday. But not only is the iMessage App Store dying —I’m afraid it might already be dead.

I agree with most of his design and functionality-related points. Using stickers and iMessage apps requires too much effort; a lot of users are still confused by iMessage-only apps; and I don’t understand why Apple thought Digital Touch was so important. I like his proposed solution for iMessage app activation, too.

On curation, though, I believe Apple has been doing a decent job with refreshing featured apps and sticker packs on weekly basis. A few months ago, Apple’s editorial team also started highlighting iMessage apps and stickers on the front page of the iOS App Store, which must drive some visibility. Every week, we discover new stickers to feature in our newsletter also thanks to Apple’s curation and the store’s top charts, which are dominated by Disney stickers as it’s a massive brand that has absolutely nailed the idea of selling “premium” iMessage sticker packs.

Aside from design and functional issues (in short, Apple should redesign the entire iMessage app drawer), I think the reality most iMessage apps are facing is a repeat (at a smaller scale) of what happened with the main App Store. Apple should make meaningful improvements to make developers’ lives easier, but it’s always going to be a tricky business to figure out in such a competitive landscape.

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iOS 10.2.1 Has Reduced Unexpected iPhone 6s Shutdown Issues→

Matthew Panzarino, writing for TechCrunch following a statement from Apple:

Over the past couple of iPhone versions users have complained of “unexpected” shutdowns of their devices. Some iPhone 6, 6s, 6 Plus and 6s Plus devices could basically go dark unexpectedly, forcing a user to have to plug them into an outlet to get them to power back on.

Apple has been working on this very annoying bug and it says it has come up with a fix of sorts that should mitigate the problem on a majority of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s devices. The fix is actually already on your iPhone if you have installed iOS 10.2.1 — something that around 50 percent of iOS users have already done. After letting the fix simmer on customer devices, Apple now has statistics to share on how it has improved the issue, citing 80 percent reduction on iPhone 6s and 70 percent reduction on iPhone 6 devices.

These unexpected shutdowns were a different issue than the iPhone 6s battery recall. From personal experience, I’ve heard quite a few friends mention how their iPhones’ serial number weren’t eligible for the battery replacement program despite frequent shutdowns. iOS 10.2.1 should fix that, and Apple is also rolling out a new message in the Settings app in case a device’s battery has to be replaced.

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Remaster, Episode 29: Waiting for the Switch→

We are just one week away from the Nintendo Switch. What do we know?

The Nintendo Switch is launching in a week. On the latest Remaster, we go over the latest details we know about the console, the games that have been announced, and all the hardware we’re buying. You can listen here.

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Doctors Report Findings from ResearchKit Study of Seizures→

Tim Hardwick of MacRumors reports on the results of a recent ResearchKit-powered study:

The 10-month study involved 598 people who tracked their seizures with an iPhone app called EpiWatch, which was built by Johns Hopkins using Apple’s ResearchKit software framework. The app features a custom Apple Watch complication that provides patients with one-touch access to record accelerometer and heart rate sensor data. When participants felt a seizure aura coming on, they were asked to launch the app to let it record their heart rate and movements for 10 minutes.

Apple reported on the launch of this study back in October 2015, so it’s exciting to have some of the data from the study brought to light. Triggers for seizures was a major data point gleaned from those participating in the study.

Stress was revealed to be the most common trigger, and was linked to 37 percent of the seizures, while 18 percent of sufferers identified lack of sleep as another contributing factor. Meanwhile, menstruation was found to be a cause in 12 percent of recorded seizures, and overexertion accounted for 11 percent.

In the full press release on the study’s results, study author Gregory Krauss, MD, notes:

“Seizures are very unpredictable,” said Krauss. “Our eventual goal is to be able to use wearable technology to predict an oncoming seizure. This could potentially save lives as well as give people with epilepsy more freedom. The data collected in this study helps us take a step in that direction.”

ResearchKit was first announced by Apple in March 2015 at its spring event. At March 2016’s event, we received an update on the health initiative. If recent tradition holds true, we may receive another update from Apple soon.

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