Posts in Linked

Google Introduces Spaces→

Google announced a new app/service today to share media and links with friends. From their blog:

Group sharing isn’t easy. From book clubs to house hunts to weekend trips and more, getting friends into the same app can be challenging. Sharing things typically involves hopping between apps to copy and paste links. Group conversations often don’t stay on topic, and things get lost in endless threads that you can’t easily get back to when you need them.

We wanted to build a better group sharing experience, so we made a new app called Spaces that lets people get people together instantly to share around any topic.

With Spaces, it’s simple to find and share articles, videos and images without leaving the app, since Google Search, YouTube, and Chrome come built in.

I like how they’re going to use it at Google I/O this week to connect developers with technical sessions, but I don’t have a lot of faith when it comes to social apps from Google. Pretty clever to bring the smart search of Google Photos (which is amazing) to Spaces too, but I don’t see how I could use this aside from occasional, topic-based events.

Google has a point that most group conversations are endless threads of stuff, but am I going to switch to Spaces just for better search/sharing? I doubt it.

I’ll still be checking out Spaces when it launches later today on the App Store (the app isn’t out yet, but it should be at this link eventually).

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Apple Invests $1 Billion in Chinese Ride-Hailing Service Didi Chuxing→

Major Apple news this evening:

Apple Inc said on Thursday it has invested $1 billion in Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing, a move that Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said would help the company better understand the critical Chinese market.
[…]
The investment gives Apple, which has hired dozens of automotive experts over the past year, a sizeable stake in Uber Technologies Inc’s chief rival in China. Cook said in an interview that he sees opportunities for Apple and Didi Chuxing to collaborate in the future.

According to Apple, they’re doing this to understand “certain segments of the China market”. Didi Chuxing is similar to Uber – it offers taxi services and designated drivers through smartphone apps.

See also: yesterday’s article by Neil Cybart on Apple’s R&D spending and the rumored Titan car project.

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“It’s Still a Camera”→

Armin Vit has a smart take on the Instagram icon redesign (via John Gruber):

Unlike Uber, that replaced it’s “U” for a metaphysical atom, the change here is only aesthetic. It’s still a camera. Yes, at first it will be hard to recognize it, but when you have 200 million people tapping on it everyday, multiple times a day, that’s the kind of brand engagement that Coca-Cola or Nike would kill for. When it comes to “brand impressions” and “brand touchpoints”, Instagram (and Facebook and Twitter and, yes, even Uber) have no shortage of opportunities so it will only be a matter of time — three months, probably — before this is known, recognized, and considered as the Instagram app icon. Simply by repetition and usage. Hell, I was starting to get used to the Uber icon until they pulled out of Austin this Monday.

If people ever stop checking Instagram obsessively, I don’t think it’ll be because of an icon change.

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Remaster, Episode 10: Nintendo’s Plans for E3 and the NX→

Nintendo has announced that they are only bringing Zelda to E3, and that their next console will launch in March. How is this going to effect the company, and what do their launch plans look like for the NX?

Oh, and the new Pokemon trailer is out.

This week’s episode of Remaster is an old-school one: we talk about Nintendo’s latest NX rumors, what they’re doing at E3 in June, and the latest announcements for mobile games. You can listen here.

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Connected, Episode 90: A Set of Unlucky Coincidences (Plus T-Shirts)→

Stephen’s collected all the iMacs, there’s a new shirt and things are happening with Apple Music. Pretty normal week.

Short and sweet episode of Connected this week with a focus on Apple Music. You can listen here.

And, don’t miss the new Connected t-shirts, available for a limited time here.

New Connected t-shirts.

New Connected t-shirts.

I love the new design (for those who missed it, it celebrates Stephen’s successful iMac collection). Get yours before it’s too late.

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WhatsApp Launches Mac App→

WhatsApp has announced today they’re launching desktop apps for Windows and OS X. From the WhatsApp blog:

Today we’re introducing a desktop app so you have a new way to stay in touch anytime and anywhere - whether on your phone or computer at home or work. Like WhatsApp Web, our desktop app is simply an extension of your phone: the app mirrors conversations and messages from your mobile device.

The new desktop app is available for Windows 8+ and Mac OS 10.9+ and is synced with WhatsApp on your mobile device. Because the app runs natively on your desktop, you’ll have support for native desktop notifications, better keyboard shortcuts, and more.

Note how WhatsApp continues to use apps for other platforms as extensions of the phone app – the Mac app is, effectively, an interactive display for the WhatsApp database stored on your mobile device.

Side note: I’ve used WhatsApp Web on my iPad, and it works okay if you request a desktop site in Safari or use something like iCab to permanently change the browser’s user agent.

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Jobs, Healthcare, and the Apple Watch→

Tim Bajarin, writing for TIME:

I recently spent time with Apple executives involved with the Watch. I asked them to explain the real motivation for creating the device. Although Apple has made fashion and design a key cornerstone of its existence, it turns out that this was not at the heart of why they created this product.

The late Apple CEO Steve Jobs developed pancreatic cancer in 2004. He then spent a great deal of time with doctors and the healthcare system until his death in 2011. While that personal health journey had a great impact on Jobs personally, it turns out that it affected Apple’s top management, too. During this time, Jobs discovered how disjointed the healthcare system can be. He took on the task of trying to bring some digital order to various aspects of the healthcare system, especially the connection between patients, their data, and their healthcare providers.

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Building a Photography Workflow with the iPad Pro→

Perhaps it should have been obvious to me — and maybe it’s always been obvious to you — but I’m just now realizing that the more and more I embrace each creative process, the less time I want to give to anything but the act of creating. Over time I begin to build negative associations with each creative act, mentally, but it’s not because of the ‘art’ itself; it’s because of all the work I put into a thing after the component I love most is over and done with.

These realizations have led me to try and create ‘less workflow’ in my life, not just in writing, but across the board. For photography, that means if I innately desire more than anything else to just shoot, then I need to learn more about composing and ‘editing’ in camera, and being happy with the result.

So, I’ve begun building a new way of processing photos using only the device I love — the iPad Pro — but it’s been a challenge.

Drew Coffman has been trying to rebuild his established photography workflow on an iPad Pro. His post has a good rundown of photo editing apps (with a final pick I didn’t know), but, more importantly, it highlights how iOS still needs improvements for basic tasks such as bulk editing and exporting.

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